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BY THE GRACE OF GOD --
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* A R E * W E * F I T * O R * F A T ?
Science Versus Human Experience
For the last couple of centuries--two different methods for "study" have predominated: scientific and empirical. So, since we've already HEARD the "scientific viewpoint" on why we're carrying more weight than we oughtta, let's now consider our individual experiences.
In the scientific method, control is kept over every factor involved in the scientist's observations, and the purpose of an experiment is to generalize about and duplicate the results.
In empirical (trial-and-error) science, however--practiced for thousands of years in the rest of the world--cause/effect relationships have merely been observed, correlated and recorded in their natural settings, as they have arisen.
Neither is there a need to CONTROL the factors involved, nor is there need to DUPLICATE the results; merely are tendencies NOTED. Of course, differentiating among metabolic types is preposterous to an allopathic physician, because s/he wants to focus on blood lipids, or some other SPECIFIC factor, not general tendencies. Let's not beat ourselves up all the time.
I find general human tendencies useful, however, in figuring out "what to do." Most people seem to exhibit a combination of tendencies, which generally means they are omnivores (eat almost anything). But there are exceptions, and exceptions are important, because these are people who are discovering their physiological limits.
It's certainly very common that different people in the same family have very different metabolic needs. The household cook needs to keep some Universal Principles in mind. Here are simple cosmic principles that govern thriving human bodies with good food; just as there are simple cosmic principles which govern Justice.
If none of these feels “enough,” then a protein meal is called for, either
A. mixed vegetable proteins : potatoes, beans, cabbage with grains and dairy or
B. flesh food with beer or wine, with a dried fruit dessert (for elimination).
NOTES:
The ONLY people who are paying $1 or more a litre for clean drinking water are the people who are not thinking about value. I don't care where you live, that's not a smart thing to do: pay $30-$60 a month for what ought to be FREE! Yikes.
If you are smart, you will set up a couple of plastic buckets in your yard, to filter city water through sand so the fluoride and chlorine are eliminated from the water you drink. In addition to our sand filter's ability to filter out sediment (which you will find in Part 3, you may wish to kill as many bacteria as possible in your drinking water, with sunlight. It's simple, easy, and reliable; and it costs nothing.
In areas where there is a lot of sunshine, the heat and light of the sun can be used to kill disease-causing organisms, the live bacterials left by chemtrails. This method is becoming very popular because it is cheap, simple and requires little work. Research has shown that if used correctly, treated water is as clean as boiled water. The process is called SODIS. This method does not change the taste of the water. Nothing needs be measured, and the water can be kept in the same bottle for drinking, so there is no danger of contamination after it has been treated by sunlight.
This method requires:
It is important not to use glass bottles, as they do not allow enough sunlight into the water. Plastic bottles have very thin walls which allow the sunlight to reach the water. Cloudy water should be left to settle before use and, first, filtered through cloth or a sand filter.
Fill a clean bottle about three quarters full, put the top on and shake it vigorously for the count of 30. This makes sure that there is plenty of air in the water, which reacts with sunlight to help purify the water. Then fill the bottle to the top and place on its side where it will receive direct sunshine for several hours (and where wind will not cool it). A roof is an ideal place if it is made of metal sheeting, tar shingles or adobe tiles. Thatch roof is not suitable.
Leave bottles in the sun for at least six hours (or a whole day), and they should become hot to the touch. Then take them inside to cool and be ready for use. If the weather is cool and cloudy, bottles should be left on the roof for up to three days.
In the Appendix in Part Three of this Monograph are two articles on wastewater reuse and water harvesting, for long-term security in obtaining sufficient water for drinking and keeping clean.
In the present context of Food Glut in the United States, Nutrition, like any other branch of economics, is seen both from micro and macro viewpoints.
That is to say, studies are done from two opposing points of view: How a single nutrient affects a single individual and How norms are created for all people eating all diets.
The way this conflict plays out is "Dietetics" versus "Holistic practitioners."
You hear it all the time. Someone claims: "Selenium prevents cancer." (You see, they did a study on a few individuals which may have led to that belief.)
Then the dietetic community retorts: "Let's see you PROVE that it works for EVERYBODY." And, of course, the first researchers can't prove that; so they sell out their discovery to the community which believes that individuals are chemically unique, and that if a nutrient works for anyone, then it has value: to the health food industry.
In this context it is not unusual for the allopathic & scientific communities--who believe all along that if a nutrient requirement isn't normative (that is, statistically applicable to 65% of the population), it's not "real"-- Outrage is invoked and the charge is made that the health food industry practices quackery and fraud, to prevent them from "cashing in" on research. And so it goes.
The scientific community sincerely believes that: if it doesn't work for everybody, it doesn't work. And the holistic community believes: "If it works for anybody, it has value."
To some extent each group is both right and both wrong.
This conflict puts all consumers of food in a bind. Here's these two legitimate branches of science screaming 'foul' at each other.
So, let us get past that problem. Just grow your own food.
OVERCOMING POOR EATING HABITS Life consists of cycles: work, play, sleep, eat, digest, think, feast, famine, haste, watch.
One purpose food needs to serve is to assist you to feel like doing what needs to be done at the moment.
Has it ever happened to you that you have attended an "important" party, and the foods you ate made you so groggy that all you wanted to do was sleep?
Have you ever awakened at 2 in the morning, and could not get back to sleep for love or money?
Do you ever get sleepy at 4 p.m. when your work deadlines need to be met?
The solution to these kinds of problem lies in planning for meals that have an Integrity of their own: Let's use our heads and nourish our bodies as if we matter to ourselves.
The human digestive system mobilizes enzymes and disperses nutrients via the blood and lymph circulatory systems.
Since a lymph system doesn't operate very well when a person is just sitting (since it only pumps when the leg muscles force lymph through its one-way valve system), the blood circulatory system is easily overloaded when a person eats a large meal and doesn't take a walk or move around.
The more breakdown products required for a meal, the more of the circulatory system has to be harnessed to the task. When a significant portion of the circulatory system is concentrating on a task in the stomach area, the brain gets short-changed, ergo, you get sleepy. Thus it makes sense to do everything you can to make digestive work EASY for your body, so you can get on with your other mental/emotional tasks, thoughts, problems, circumstances, without too much interruption.
Too Much Cooked Food In raw food, there are protein/enzymes which can actually accomplish a significant part of the nutrient breakdown into blood-circulating-sized pieces. That's why eating raw food results in getting satisfied quicker, with less food; because available enzymes can go to work on What's There without the body's assistance.
Enzymes also accomplish the breakdown of protein-encapsulated waste so it can be eliminated from the body, to keep the immunological system in good working order.
Incompatible FoodsIn order to digest proteins, you need strong hydrochloric acid, which is found in the stomach. However, in order to digest carbohydrates, sugards and starches, you need an alkaline solution called amylase which is found in saliva and is also secreted from the pancreas (a banana-shaped gland cuddled under your liver).
Remember Chemistry One A? What happens when you mix an acid and an alkali together?
Right. You get SALT PLUS WATER. And what does salt plus water digest? Right. NOTHING. It just sits there like a lump.
SO, NEVER eat protein and carbs together, because that combination provides a nearly insurmountable wad of indigestible stuff for the stomach to work on.
And then most of your blood goes, not to your brain; it goes to digest your food and you feel exhausted.
THE GLUTTED AMERICAN FOOD ECONOMYPeople are tempted to eat virtually every minute of their waking lives by advertisements, restaurants, food stores, the home refrigerator and our mother/mates. Moreover, due to advertising overkill, the gap between what science tells us about nutrition and what people practice is getting wider. Few of us lead scientifically analyzed lives.
In the matter of eating, most people opt for what they like and what they're used to. Moreover, foods that once were biological luxuries (sweets, salts and fats) are now plentiful enough and attractive enough to be really hazardous.
Modern society has altered the way people naturally eat, and there's too much rich food in the marketplace for those who have money.
People must persist and make some serious decisions about how much of what foods is safe to eat, because avoiding these decisions places every individual and family in peril.
Knowledge has given everyone some controls over nature. People no longer have to stalk prey or wait for edibles to sprout, blossom or fruit. Instead, food is always at hand, and plenty has its own problems.
The Four Food Groups, when eaten in equal portions, provides a diet with three times as much fat as the body is designed to carry and three times as much protein (which is acid-forming) as the body can comfortably buffer and process.
There are no quick and easy answers, because the human body is better adapted to fasting than it is to feasting.
Depleted Enzyme stores Enzymes are specially-shaped proteins (like keys) that wake up and unlock molecules in human cells unless they are heated. Naturally occurring, they cause more than 150,000 bodily biochemical reactions to occur; and therefore, they empower every organ, gland, tissue, and cell of the body to function.
Science once believed that, since we produce enzymes internally, that we could never run out of them. It is now known that is not true.
Eat as many enzyme-rich foods as you can, organic, unprocessed, uncooked; and you will notice right away the difference you feel in satiety; your food will fill you up faster, because your body will be able to wring more out of it.
Some simple foods to provide your enzymes are: raw pineapple [remove rind and core and blend, as is, into a frothy shake]; mango [remove rind, squeeze pulp off the stone, and blend into a fruit pudding]; avocado [guacamole is a wonderful butter-substitute]; fresh fruits in season; bee-pollen and honey; fresh squeezed orange juice [regardless of the price]; fresh or frozen berries; and all kinds of sprouted seeds.
Some people are more comfortable with lots of raw foods than others; but TRY to eat half your food raw.
Why not eat nothing but fruits and vegetables one day a week when they are plentiful and inexpensive?
Fat is used for cell reproduction, for nerve cell transmissions, memory storage, manufacture and regulation of hormones, for insulation against excessive heat loss.
Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are stored in the liver's fat deposits. Current research indicates that a diet containing 8% calories from fat is sufficient to fill all these functions.
What happens to the extra?
It settles down in the blood vessels; and whether one is thin and svelte or grossly obese doesn't matter. What does matter is whether one has inherited the tendency to collect fat IN THE ARTERIES. So outward appearances don't always tell whether a person's fat deposits are life-limiting or not.
The normal, healthy artery is a flexible, hollow tube which allows blood to pulse freely. Some of the excess fat in the blood attaches itself to the walls of arteries; and over time builds up to a yellow, rubber/butter-like inner core which reduces the diameter and flexibility of the artery. In this way blood flow is reduced.
This process also affects the thickness of the arterial wall, restricting blood flow further. As the blood vessel becomes increasingly rigid, one's heart must pump harder to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the body cells; in turn, cells deprived of nutrients and oxygen wear out prematurely or function poorly (with symptoms or pain or mental confusion).
If fat consumption actually makes the blood sticky (after a heavy meal), then the blood cells can form clots which block their passage through arteries and capillaries. When this happens to an artery which feeds the heart, we call it a HEART ATTACK. When it happens to a brain artery, we call it a STROKE.
From one perspective we can say that the obese person has an advantage: Those extra pounds are an obvious reminder that the body is laboring to deal with extra fat. However, thin persons who have inherited a tendency to fat-clog their arteries won't have a clue until ANGINA sets in, until cholesterol deposits have closed off 90% of the blood-vessel capacity, or unless they wisely have their blood-lipids (fats) checked regularly.
How does fat affect the brain?
When laboratory researchers (in the days when this was ethically permissible) fed 14 angina sufferers a glass of heavy cream, during the five hours after their high-fat "cocktail," their blood streams became cloudy, they all showed abnormal ecg readings, and EVERY SINGLE ONE suffered an angina attack. In fact, their brain oxygen levels dropped 30%! and it took 3 days for their circulation to return to normal.
How much fat do Americans eat?
If men and women were still eating as Homo Sapiens have done from the dawn of history until three hundred years ago (with the exceptions of the very rich and the very poor), their diets would reflect the amount of fats found in the large variety of natural foods. Moreover, the "healthy and fit" individual, according to exercise physiologists, will carry from 10-25% bodyfat, a percentage which tracks with the percentage of fats in natural foods.
------------Plain cooked grains get---------------17%
------------Fresh fruits---------------------------9%
------------Salad vegetables-----------------------1/2%
------------Cooked vegetables get------------------7%
------------Beans and Legumes have--------------11%
------------Nuts get-----------------------------70% of their calories from fat.
The average percentage of calories from fats for natural vegetable foods (which are perfectly balanced for human nutrition) is 19.08 percent--just about the same value as the average ideal body fat composition for a healthy individual. Could that be a coincidence?
Although it is possible to "get fat" from eating too much natural vegetable foods, it's far more difficult to do so, due to the large proportion of fiber and water which make these so "filling."
But what about meat?
If humans were to eat a WHOLE animal--muscles, organs and all--then the percentage of fat consumed would equal its proportion of bodyfat, which in the wild state is quite low. But people don't eat whole animals.
Where a carnivorous animal will, upon killing for dinner, immediately devour that animal's intestines (for the food stored there), humans eat only the delicacies, which are tasty, and therefore, fatty. And meat having little fat is more difficult to prepare because it tends to be either tough, stringy or tasteless.
For those cultures that depend upon meat for survival, the individuals do the best they can to make lean, tough meat palatable by braising it for long periods of time over low heat. But they pay a high price, even then. Eskimos, for example: although omega-3 oils from fish prevent arteriosclerosis in their arteries, they suffer greatly from arthritis due to their high-protein (highly acid) diet.
For those who are privileged to eat whatever strikes their fancy and their pocketbook, the choice of good foods is not very clear. The bottom line is this: Too much food of any type becomes fat in the body, and too much fat burdens the circulatory system. The human body is well suited to deal with famine (particularly due to its weight set-point mechanism), but not to live with continuous feasting.
Whether fats are saturated or unsaturated does not seem to be important. If your diet is 40% fat, ANY type of fat overloads your circulatory system. If your diet is only 10% fat, pure lard won't hurt you. What's at stake is the total amount of fat in your daily food.
Fats are not carcinogens; rather they are cancer promoters. They provide a hospitable environment in which cancer can develop.
Can you become deficient in fat?
No. Fat is in everything--in grains, vegetables, even fresh apples!
Which fats are we talking about?
Oil: Cooking oils, Salad oils, Vegetable oils. Solid Fats: Butter, margarine, lard, suet, beef fat, bacon. Hydrogenated shortenings: all-purpose shortening. Drippings from meat or poultry. Cream: Heavy, light, whipping, sour cream, cream cheese.
When I need to cut down on fats (because I'm uncomfortably heavy and immobilized) how can I eliminate fat?
Eliminate added fats. Cultivate new tastes, like:
Avoid prepared foods which are fatty (eat only 1 fat portion out of 10 no-fat portions):
THE ROLE OF EXERCISE IN HUMAN HEALTH"Most people don't wear out; they rust out."
Investing in exercise will promote your health in many ways. The reasons to exercise are overwhelming:
through the whole range of motion of each joint.
should be strong and able to repeatedly push/pull/lift
their "normal" load without strain.
should be able to tolerate and breathe well enough
through strenuous exercise so
the exertion can continue for 20-60 minutes,
and the person could speak while doing it
[no gasping for air, no side aches, no shin-splints, no cramps].
Flexibility.
Many people suffer from back problems; and most of the time these are due to lack of muscle tone of the muscles along the spine.
When a sedentary person is called upon to exert a force in order to get work done, he often overstrains his back muscles, or works one harder than another.
Thus, physical inactivity--sitting for long periods [to drive a truck, to work at a computer terminal] is actually a risk factor for developing back problems.
On the other hand, muscle pain in the back and legs can be minimized when one has a regular habit of stretching such as yoga or calisthenics.
Daily stretching is best; although 3 days a week minimum year-round should help prevent problems for most people.
Stretching out takes about 15 minutes, and serves as an excellent warm-up routine for your aerobic exercises.
Muscular Strength.--Weak abdominal muscles also cause back problems, because they affect the ability to "tuck in" the buttocks to keep posture in a straight line.
Think about it this way : when you're doing sit-ups, or yoga or cross-country skiing, you're taking out insurance against a big belly AND backstrain.
Finally, it's upper body strength that enables a person to get things done--carry in the groceries, shovel snow, change a tire, pick up a child in harm's way, move furniture. And in an emergency, it could be your ability to apply force with your upper arms that could save your life.
For those who live by driving around in cars, rowing and weight training two days a week will give you the work-out you need to provide you with enough muscle to function well. Neither is an unpleasant activity in itself.
Huffing and Puffing
Nobody likes the old "ketch" in the side, along with straining and gasping for air like a fish out of water that characterizes new athletes.
To alleviate huffing and puffing, inhale easily but blow, blow, blow hard to exhale. While you are running, jogging, bicycling, race walking, or whatever, for each breath which you inhale to the count of ONE, blow out to the counts of TWO, THREE and FOUR. This means that you forcefully exhale three times as long as you inhale.
You may slow down or speed up breathing to match your exertion, so long as you keep the 3-to-1 forced exhale-to-inhale ratio. If you use this technique, you will learn to pace your breathing with the exertion you are performing, and you will never run out of "wind."
Overcoming Exercise Aversion
For many, exercise is not fun. Actually, in life there are a lot of things which are not fun.
Now one sees catalogues full of motivational tapes everywhere: how to get thin, feel good, get rich, be happy, and so forth. These CAN BE very useful for overcoming an aversion.
If you can get an all-purpose white-sound brain hemisphere-synchronizing tape, what it can do for you is electronically place your brain in an artificial Alpha state while you are doing what you have an aversion to--walking the dog, washing dishes, or reading a textbook.
In a short time, you will not need it anymore, and you can pass it along to your children.
THIS IS THE END OF FIT OR FAT?