|
|
Food Quality, Diet and Human Development
|
Preservation
of health is a duty. Few people seem to be conscious
of such a thing as physical morality.
Hippocrates
|
By Richard
Kieninger
One of the more readily attainable requirements
for initiation into the Brotherhoods is the development of superlative health
and stamina. Just as acquisition of the Great Virtues is not possible unless
preceded by the virtue of Sincerity, health is a foundational step in the
development of the other requirements. This is so because there is a physical
aspect underlying the attainment of each of the requirements for Initiation.
The personal disciplines that one must develop to move away from the typical
American diet and towards one that is essential for proper physical
functioning are stepping stones in furthering ones work towards Initiation.
An Overview of the Effects of Diet on Human Development
It
is a fact of record that studies of teeth preserved in the remains of
"primitive" people, recently and remotely extinct, have (in
general) excellent teeth and skeletons. Learning how they maintained this
aspect of their health is beyond our remembrance. Even though learning about
and improving human health and longevity are usually conducted by clinical
studies of specific afflictions of Alaska, the Indians of northern Canada,
Western United States and Florida, the Melanesians and Polynesians on eight
archipelagos of the Southern Pacific, tribes in eastern and central Africa,
the Aborigines of Australia, Malay tribes on islands north of Australia, the
Maori of New Zealand and the ancient civilizations and their descendants in
Peru both along the coast and in the Sierras, and in the Amazon Basin.
Chemical analysis of foods of these isolated peoples versus the displacing
foods of modem civilization revealed the elements that give a high immunity
to the serious afflictions plaguing mankind. But these immunities lasted only
as long as they remained isolated from modern civilization and continued to live
in accordance with nutritional dictates directed by the accumulated wisdom of
their respective groups. In every instance examined where individuals of the
same racial stocks lost this isolation and had adopted the foods and eating
habits of modern civilization, they inevitably displayed an early loss of the
high immunity characteristic of their isolated group. It was apparent that a
chain of health disruptions started immediately and continued into the first
generation after the adoption of the modernized diet, rapidly increasing in
severity to parallel the degenerative health processes characteristic of the
North American and European societies. A high percentage had not only
diet-related physical injury, but also personality disturbances, the most common
of which is a lower-than-normal mental efficiency and acuteness, observed as
so-called mental backwardness, and includes school-age children who are
unable to keep up with their classmates. Their IQs are generally lower than
normal and they readily develop inferiority complexes growing out of their
handicap. From this group, a certain percentage develop personality
disturbances which they act out in socially unacceptable behaviors.
Nutritional surveys in the United States and Canada have indicated that malnutrition
is just as prevalent on this continent as in the so-called "backward
countries." Since individuals in all walks of life are affected, the
problem would seem to be primarily one of neglect in the production of truly
nourishing foods, together with ignorance regarding the selection,
preparation and use of those available in the marketplace. In addition, since
most of us have been deprived of proper nutrients for many generations, our
need for nutrients is greater than ever before. Therefore, most individuals
need larger amounts of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fatty acids and
amino acids than can be obtained from even the best foods, and we will never
be well until these are supplied as supplements.
The results of this research have shown that diet has a greater impact on the
development of human beings than genetic influences. While much emphasis has
been placed on the effect of the social and emotional environment on one's
character development, brain functioning is as disturbed by dietary input as
it is by incidents such as personal loss and disappointments. Brain
functioning is as biologic as digestion. The data indicate that associated
with abnormal development of the bones of the head, disturbances also occur
in the development of the brain. Such structural defects usually are not
hereditary factors even though they appear in other members of the family or
parents. They are products of the environment rather than from genes
transmitted from one's forebears.
Significant factors affecting human development are biologic and directly
related to both the nutrition of the parents and to the nutritional
environment of the individuals in the formative and growth period.
Contributing to food deficiencies is the nutrient depletion of the soil, and
this is seen to produce degeneration of the human population on a mass scale.
People have been at the process of building cultures and civilizations
through many millennia, and our culture has not only its own experience to
draw from but also that of parallel races living today as well as those who
lived in the past
The Scope of the Dietary Playing Field
A
simple definition of ecology is the relationship of man, beast, fish, fowl,
vegetation and all other forms of life to each other, to the living soil, and
to the total environment. Recently the relatively simple life of primitive
man and beast has gradually been changed to a complex, artificial and
chemicalized civilization posing new and difficult problems of adaptation.
The industrial revolution started a migration to the cities, which, in turn,
created a demand for foods that could be transported long distances and
stored without spoilage. Food-formerly fresh from fertile soil or the sea-has
been replaced, for the most part, by refined, processed and preserved produce
of inferior nutritional qualities.
In the past few hundred years, the natural fertility of our soil has rapidly
declined. At first, when crop failures appeared, settlers simply abandoned
their farms and moved west to virgin areas. Later, the application of manure,
composed of animal or crop residues, and the rotation of crops were effective
in maintaining fertility. More recently, the increasing availability of
artificial fertilizers of high nitrogen content has enabled the grower to
harvest one crop after another without allowing the land to lie fallow-a
custom which encouraged the multiplication of soil organisms which, in turn,
would release soil nutrients as needed by plants. Often against his better
judgment, the modern farmer has been forced to use monoculture, artificial
fertilization, pesticides, herbicides and mechanization in order to keep
ahead of ruinous taxation, inflation and the ever-increasing costs of
production. The result has been production for "quantity" rather
than "quality," and the gradual destruction of our precious topsoil
and mineral reserves, in or beneath the soil.
Mineral depletion of the soil resulting primarily from thousands of years of
natural rain-leaching processes and secondarily from a lack of a consistent
soil re-mineralization program has resulted in markets being flooded with
attractive, but relatively tasteless, vegetables and fruits. The protein
content of wheat and other grains has steadily declined, this being a
reliable index of soil fertility. Animal foods such as fowl and meat reflect
similar changes. Fowl are usually raised in cramped quarters and their food
limited to that dictated by their owners resulting in cirrhotic livers and
inferior egg quality. Animals are frequently treated with antibiotics,
anti-thyroid drugs and hormones which produce castration, myxedema and
waterlogged tissues, practices designed to stimulate more weight gain on less
feed. The advantages to the producer are obvious; to the consumer, they are
indeed unconscionable.
|
The
doctor of the future will give no medicine,
but will
interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet,
and in
the cause and prevention of disease.
Thomas Edison
|
Moreover, in this day and age, human beings are increasingly exposed
to thousands of chemicals in the air, food and water including dosing
themselves-or of being dosed-with a multitude of drugs and cosmetics.
Chemical contacts include food additives, pesticides, herbicides, nitrates,
and the effluents from modern industry, many of which are coal tar products
or their derivatives and other synthetic compounds completely foreign to the
experience of man's biochemical makeup. Many of these compounds are
completely un-processable by the human body and are stored at various body
sites, where their toxic effects are felt on a daily basis.
Long-lasting, chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, such as DDT, have
penetrated our food chain. In some areas, herbicides such as 2,4-D and
2,4,5-T-contaminated by the highly toxic and teratogenic
3,4,6,7-tetrachloro-p- dibenzodioxin-have entered our food and water
supplies. This is also true of other chlorinated diphenyls which are products
of modern industry. These compounds may pose more of a threat than DDT as
2,4-D and 2,4,5-T have been shown to produce birth deformities in animals.
Residues of DDT and related chemicals are now found in most living creatures
from the Arctic to the Antarctic, including phytoplankton, which not only
furnish the basic food for fish, but produce much of the oxygen essential for
our survival. Through biological magnification, the amounts tend to
accumulate and increase in vertebrates high in the food chain. Many animals
are threatened with extinction, because DDT interferes with the production of
hard egg shells. Abnormal softness seems to follow pathologically rapid
destruction of sex hormones by liver enzymes whose actions are speeded up by
DDT. (As a result, nesting mothers crush their eggs before they hatch.)
Similar mechanisms are operative in mammals, with some equally bizarre and
irreversible changes related to propagation. Perhaps our current alarm about
the "population explosion" is premature.
It is now common knowledge that we are faced with the inevitable consequences
of our profligate use and abuse of natural laws and resources. The laws of
God and nature are immutable and they ire only broken with a corresponding
payment. As summarized by the nineteenth century historian, H.T. Buckle,
It is proven by history, and especially by statistics, that human actions are
governed by laws as fixed and regular as those which rule in the physical
world. Climate, soil, food, and the aspects of Nature are the principal
causes of intellectual progress.
Practical Steps to Superlative
Health and Stamina
In
our increasingly urbanized and mechanized society, we have almost completely
lost track of the fundamentals of good nutrition. Yet, even though we cannot
and must not turn back the clock in all areas, we can return to the dietary
ways of our forefathers, wherein they always had access to fresh food from
the fertile sea and the soil. Taking action on a local level is a good way to
overcome and compensate for the mischief and ignorance of the past. Here are
a few examples:
1) Reduce the volume
of industrial effluents, including fluorides, now contaminating our air,
water and food as rapidly as possible.
2) Ban the use of
untested food additives. Reduce the number to only those tested, considered
harmless, and approved for use to an absolute minimum.
3) Rapidly phase out
the use of long-acting pesticides and herbicides, unless proven harmless. Ban
the sale of these pesticides for household use. Seek control of insect pests
and weeds through other means, including soil improvement, companion
planting, introduction of beneficial insects, etc. Well-nourished plants are
much more resistant to insects and fungi than deficient ones.
4) Sound a public
warning that all petrochemicals, whether in food, water, air, pesticides,
cosmetics, detergents, drugs or other environmental contacts, are potentially
dangerous to many, and probably to all, individuals. The least contact is the
best.
5) Provide wide-scale
access to the fundamentals of good nutrition. If we are to survive, this must
be taught in every school grade from kindergarten through college. Primitive
wisdom tells us that the production of healthy, normal babies depends on
optimum parental nutrition before conception, as well as during pregnancy.
Breast-feeding is most important and should be followed by a diet high in raw
and unprocessed foods. Most birth deformities are unnecessary. Good bones,
good muscles, attractive skin, normal endocrines, a healthy liver, good
reproductive capacity, good intelligence and good looks depend on good food.
Everyone must know food values-and nourishing food is not necessarily
expensive.
6) Compost wastes at
the neighborhood level for use as fertilizers: return organic materials,
minerals and trace elements to help rebuild our plundered soil; and reduce
the use of synthetic fertilizers high in nitrogen content which are
contaminating our water and food supplies. Demonstrate to farmers that this
approach is economically feasible.
7) Raise foods for
quality rather than quantity. High-protein, high-vitamin and high-mineral foods
have much higher survival value than those with more calories but less of the
essential nutrients. Calories alone are not enough.
8) In line with the
concept of "biochemical individuality," which postulates the
inheritance of acquired partial enzyme blocks, most people need vitamin and
mineral supplements for optimal health, and even for normal metabolism. These
are to be taken along with a basic diet, as deemed necessary by the
experience and knowledge of the individual practitioner.
9) Aside from a study
of nutritional values, there are a few simple steps available to everyone.
When these are publicized and universally followed, the immediate and
long-term benefits are incalculable; and the results would certainly be
obvious in six months. They are as follows:
a)
Reduce the consumption of sugar in all forms to an absolute
minimum.
b)
Avoid white or ordinary whole wheat bread. Eat only whole-grain
breads made from freshly ground flour, free of chemical preservatives. (The production
of such bread would require a mill and adequate bakeries in every community.)
Use fresh brown rice in place of white, polished rice. These simple changes
in food production and habits would result in a much higher intake of
protein, Vitamin B complex, minerals and Vitamin E. The latter has been
recognized as essential for man. It is appalling to think of the millions of
tons of these vital nutrients that have been extracted from our foods and fed
to animals over the past century.
c)
When available, use only fresh fruits, vegetables, dark green
leaves of lettuce and other greens such as watercress that have been raised
in fertile soil without the use of insecticides. Ordinary fruits should be
peeled because of possible pesticide residues and vegetables should be
thoroughly washed for the same reason. Home gardens need to be the rule
rather than the exception. Frozen or canned vegetables and fruits are
nourishing but less desirable. Steam or lightly cook all vegetables that are
not eaten raw and save any cooking water for tomato juice cocktails or soup.
d)
Sprouted beans, alfalfa and other seeds contain desirable
nutrients and are free of contamination. They can be sprouted in every
kitchen. The consumption of sixty percent, or more, of food in the uncooked
state is desirable.
e)
Avoid foods cooked in fats, such as potato chips, French fried
potatoes, chicken, etc. Scientific evidence shows that partially rancid fats,
rather than animal fat per se, may be one of the real villains responsible
for atherosclerosis. Sources of stale fats include products such as bread,
crackers, pastries and commercial cereals made from stored processed flour.
f)
Two servings daily of foods with an alkaline residue such as
potatoes, unsprayed beet greens, turnip tops, spinach, dandelion greens,
dehydrated grasses, or sorghum cane juices are of great importance in
maintaining the body's alkali reserves. Further studies suggest that good
diets providing a moderate excess of alkali to neutralize acid foods such as
meat, bread, eggs and other nutritious staples are not only beneficial to
health, but a major factor in the prevention of dental caries.
g)
Elimination of the "empty calories" in a. and b.
(above) alone normally results in increased resistance to infection, a marked
reduction in the bizarre and disabling symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia,
fewer attacks of so-called viruses, a renewed supply of energy, more zest for
life and a gradual reduction in the incidence of degenerative diseases, which
unfortunately has become one of the hallmarks of our civilization.
h)
Recognition of the foregoing physical health and diet condition
of the majority of Americans is important because these conditions and
recommendations were researched and presented almost 60 years ago.
The preceding research results was excerpted and edited from a
book entitled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, written by Dr.
Weston Price, D.D.S., last published in 1938. It is clear to see that the
myriad of government and private agencies charged with curing diseases and
promoting physical and mental health have not only produced no discernable
increase in our well-being, but have been operating during the period when
American health has plummeted towards that of the 'undeveloped"
countries. We can see that the plan of institutionalizing health care has
failed to improve the health of Western Civilization. Outstanding wellness
(and not mere survival) must more and more become our individual goal as we
provide our bodies with proper nutrients, exercise, and a positive mental
attitude.
10) To the foregoing, these items can be added:
a)
Eliminate all forms of tobacco.
b)
Eliminate food-like substances containing caffeine, such as
chocolate, soft-drinks, coffee, tea and those containing chemical additives
including preservatives, food colorings, stabilizers, anything with a
"propyl", hydrolyzed, modified, etc. in the name, especially from
the diet of children.
c)
Eliminate 'hard" alcohol and drink only high-quality beer
and wine in moderation.
|
"Everything
needed for the body can be produced within itself provided that ample,
wholesome food is ingested."
The Ultimate Frontier
|
The presence of food additives can be found by eating a single
food type at one sitting and noticing the effects in your body. Typical
allergic reactions occur from 30-60 minutes after eating and include a
sleepy, tired feeling and a mental and or physical restlessness or
listlessness. In most cases both lethargic and aggressive behaviors in
children are immediately and permanently cured when the offending food
substance is discovered and eliminated. The benefits of a clean diet are
many: reduced allergic reactions, less pain, clearer thinking, lowered
stress, a leveling out of mood swings, and a stabilized, more predictable
pathway towards the other requirements for Initiation.
A Personal Commitment to Improving Health
The minimum daily requirements for splendid physical health are:
·
Vitamins
·
Minerals
·
Enzymes
·
Essential fatty oils
·
Amino acids
·
Pure water
·
Daily exercise
·
Adequate sleep
·
Generous touch
·
Happiness
·
Spiritual direction
·
Community support
|
Keep it [your body] vigorous, strong,
and youthful, for your life's work will demand a great deal of energy.
Strengthen your body with physical labor, and eat pure food. Use your knowledge
of chemistry and medicine to avoid harmful foodstuffs. Maintain a balanced
diet of natural foods, for the body can be no better than the building
materials provided it The responsibility for its proper nourishment is
yours alone. If your body fails you, the lord cannot use you Moreover, a
sound mind cannot exist in a poor body, nor is a sound body compatible with
a distraught mind. Spiritual harmony and advancement demand a vigorous,
stable mind and body. Be watchful over your vehicle.
The Ultimate Frontier
|
|
|
