Someone has called me a researcher. I think of myself as someone that loves to learn. I also love to pass on what I have learned to others. That is one reason I enjoy the writing of these newsletter articles. One of the things I am currently learning is the interaction of vitamins and minerals in the human body. This is a big subject. I currently have ten more books on my desk that I want to read on this subject.
What I have learned so far is that the human body is uniquely designed. Although it has some characteristics that are duplicated in animals it is not just another animal. It has been designed in such a way that if given the proper nutrients, and protected from an overload of toxins it will maintain health. I am not saying that the human body will not age, but given the right circumstances it will age gracefully, and without debilitating disease. If this is so then why do we have so much disease in our world today?
Because, we haven't taken care of our world!
Our environment is a little like our bodies. Left alone it will provide the perfect balance of nutrients. If you are in doubt look at the rain forests. Before man came in and started changing things it was considered a perfect ecosystem. Forests take the carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with carbon dioxide. They take nutrients from soil and organize them into plants. Animals feed on those plants. Then they leave little piles of fertilizer throughout the forest to replenish the soil. The plants, when they die also return to the soil to replenish it. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that there is no room for mankind in all this, but I do think that lately we have made a mess of things.
Early farmers knew the value of putting back nutrients into the soils. They followed the example of nature in returning plant and animal wastes to the land. They also learned to rotate crops so that plants that took an excess of one mineral from the soil would not deplete the soil. Then along came science. Scientists figured out how to duplicate the major minerals that were found in the soils. They didn't pay much attention to the minor minerals, because of course they were considered to be of minor importance. They found ways to replenish the soils in such a way that the plants grown there looked healthy, without the hassles of collecting the plant and animal wastes and redistributing them back to the soils. What they didn't realize was that over time the lack of those minor minerals and the absorption of the synthetic major minerals would reduce the food value of the plants that were grown.
Another thing the scientists figured out was that bugs were a problem to farmers. Bugs could make a food look less appetizing, or worse they could wipe out a whole crop before harvest. It seemed like a really good thing to spray a solution on the fields and get rid of all the bugs. What they didn't realize was that sometimes we need those bugs for pollination and other good purposes. Bugs are what help the nutrients from plant and animal wastes to return to the soil.
Now we have foods coming from the fields that don't have as much nutrition as they used to, and they contain small amounts of poisons from the insecticides as well. In addition to this we have found ways to make food preparation faster and easier. We have invented food factories that take the raw, natural foods and process them into ready to eat meals. A lot of those meals have the fiber taken out of them, because the manufacturers learned that busy people didn't want to take the time to thoroughly chew their foods. Instead they wanted foods they could gulp down quickly. What they didn't realize was that the process of making these convenience foods killed the enzymes that starts the digestion process in our bodies. It also kills the vitamins that our bodies need to maintain health. Now we are eating foods that have very little nutrition while at the same time reducing our body's ability to digest and utilize the nutrition that is left. Is it any wonder that disease in running rampant in our society?
Don't forget the pesticides used on the foods!
Not only are we getting those from the plants we eat, but also from any animal products we eat. The animals are eating the pesticides on the plants, and the farmers are not being as cautious about their use for animal feed verses human food. Because of all the pesticides and the poor living conditions of our food animals the farmers are filling them full of antibiotics in order to keep them from being too sick to be taken to market. Scientists have also helped the meat farmers because they found out if you give animals certain hormones they grow faster and bigger. That means more money for the farmers when they take their animals to market. More money is a good thing, right? For the farmer it is, but not necessarily for the human body.
Those hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides remain in the meat when we eat it. This is one reason why there is an epidemic of 'super bugs' that are resistant to antibiotics. The other reason is that we as humans are taking more antibiotics than ever before in history, but that is another part of the story. The hormones in the meats are making us, just like the animals, grow faster and larger. The average age of puberty is getting younger and younger. The average size of a child is getting larger and larger. So is the average size of our adults, but those measurements are usually horizontally and not vertically.
All this makes you want to stop eating, doesn't it?
Unfortunately that is not the way we were designed. Our bodies need to replenish their vitamins and minerals on a regular basis to stay healthy. We also need to provide them with the building blocks to produce energy. Notice I didn't say calories. In our society we are getting enough calories, but most of us are sadly lacking in nutrition. In the coming weeks I will delve into more detail about what our bodies need to stay healthy, and the best ways to provide those needs.
