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Food as Preventative Medicine | Creating Reality
| Harvesting The Fruits
Food as Preventative Medicine
By Daniel Ebaugh, M.Ac., L.Ac.
The foundation for the study of acupuncture is an understanding
of nature, natural laws - i.e. water puts out fire - and the cycles
of the seasons. Each season offers a particular gift which can inform
the daily choices we make.
In the Chinese agrian culture, the time between summer coming to
a close and fall approaching was know as late summer. It was the glorious
time when all that had grown and matured throughout spring and summer
was harvested. For agrian cultures it was a time to celebrate the
fruits of their labor and rest in the peace and security of the abundance
provided by Mother Earth. The Chinese said, simply by observing what
happens in each season and living in harmony with the energy of the
season, we can move toward being healthy. Therefore, honoring that
the energy of late summer is so intensely associated with the harvesting
of food from Mother Earth, it would be useful to explore nutritional
steps we can take to create such a quality of health in our bodies
that infection is thwarted and disease is impossible.
While the use of food to promote health has been largely ignored
by Western medical culture, it was the cherished wisdom passed from
generation to generation in the Chinese culture. Driven by the weaknesses
of my own digestive system, I have been compelled to explore ways
to comfort myself including this ancient nutritional wisdom. Based
on our training, research and experience, we at Bubbling Spring believe
a large part of self-care must focus on using food as preventative
medicine.
I grew up with the this concept as my mother was a home economics
teacher. Based on her learning in the late 30's she said it was important
to eat from the four food groups each day and believe me, we did.
While in Acupuncture school ('82 - '84) I shared a house with a fellow
student who introduced me to the concept that food is energy. He said,
by eating foods which resonate and nourish a particular energy in
the body, one can influence one's energetic state or health. (For
example, popcorn and tomatoes promote the body's warming energy. If
you are always too hot, a steady diet of popcorn and tomatoes will
only exacerbate this uncomfortable state.)
In the late 80's I discovered Auryvedic medicine. At the core of
this energetic medicine lies a deep understanding of food as a potent
substance which can be used to influence one's state of health. In
fact, the system is so user friendly that just by answering two dozen
questions about your preferences you can, with relative accuracy,
categorize or "type" your self. Once your category is determined,
then you can learn which foods are most likely to support your energetic
system.
Two years ago, I was introduced to Richard Salome, M.Ed, a nutritionist
who shares my understanding of food as energy and introduced me to
the importance of eating both raw and cooked foods. With the information
below, I pass on to you bits of my current learning about the use
of food as preventative medicine. What I offer here has benefited
both my wife and I, and many of our friends and patients. I hope you
find something to nurture you as you read about Bubbling Spring's
Conscious Eating/ Conscious Living seminars; illness prevention just
by monitoring the body's pH level; digestive ease with enzymes; improved
health with liquid minerals, bee pollen and flax seed oil; and handling
chronic digestive issues with acupuncture treatment and/or biofeedback
evaluation.
Richard Salome is a nationally know nutritional expert and author
of two books who designs nutritional programs for both individuals
and retreat centers around the country. He has presented his nutritional
seminar entitled Conscious Eating/Conscious Living three times at
Bubbling Spring. Each time I left the seminar with a wealth of information
and a feeling of complete freedom to choose how I eat.
In this one day workshop Richard offers nutritional information taken
from the wisdom of Chinese and Auyrvedic medicine, and the studies
of Western Science. At the end of the day I had a full understanding
of how to eat for the purpose of regen- erating, not degenerating
my body. Additionally, I learned how to observe my body with such
precision that I can make decisions about what to eat based on what
my body's needs. There are no rigid rules as he gives the information
and says, try this. Let your body's response to what you eat inform
your food/health choices. At Bubbling Spring, we believe this represents
true self-care. As an acupuncturist who is trained to look for the
cause of symptoms, I was particularly impressed with Richard's suggestion
to monitor the acid/alkaline state of the body. He said, one of the
easiest ways to prevent illness is to create a balanced pH environment
within the body. A pH between 6.3 and 6.9 will not support the growth
of bacteria and viruses. A diet high in acid ash forming foods such
as meat, fish poultry, eggs, grains, milk and milk products, roasted
nuts and refined sugar produces excessive mucus. Mucus is the "fertile
ground" in which bacteria and viruses grow best. By eating a
diet high in alkaline ash forming foods such as raw almonds soaked
in water overnight, and fresh fruits and vegetables, the excess mucus
will not form and the environment conducive to the growth of bacteria
and viruses is eliminated.
While a diet of 80% alkaline ash foods and 20% acid ash foods is
often recommended, it is best to allow the body to inform you what
the optimum mix is. This is very easily done in your home by dipping
pH paper, (Bubbling Spring stocks this hard to find item) in a urine
sample. It is useful to test the urine periodically so as to be aware
of the pH level since over-acidity is not only caused by diet but
also by exercise and stressful emotions.
During the past two years I have eaten a mostly alkaline ash producing
diet with the result that I have lost weight effortlessly, improved
my digestion and felt quite healthy. This summer, I found myself wanting
a fruit smoothy (raw soaked almonds, fresh fruit, and bee pollen mixed
in the blender) for breakfast, a fresh salad for lunch and cooked
vegetables and a grain for dinner. (As cooler weather approaches,
I look forward to eating more grains and lightly heated soups.) On
special family occasions I have eaten seafood or turkey along with
cooked vegetables.
After eating these acid ash producing foods, I have found it useful
to drink fresh vegetable juice to quickly restore the pH balance.
Sometimes, I just haven't had time to make fresh vegetable juice so
I supplement my diet with The Alkalizer, (a powder mixed with water
or juice) a unique blend of organic minerals from concentrated vegetable
juice. This quickly restores my pH balance.
The body gets enzymes from two sources -- those it makes internally
and those it gets from outside the body. Raw foods have only enough
enzymes to digest "themselves." Any cooked or processed
food eaten with the raw food requires additional enzymes to help with
digestion. When the "additional" enzymes are taken from
the body's store house, it requires a large expenditure of energy
for the body to generate an increased level of digestive enzymes to
compensate for food enzymes destroyed by cooking or processing.
Additionally, the body has a genetically determined, finite enzyme
pool which is gradually depleted throughout the aging process. The
rate of enzyme depletion in the body is a determining factor of longevity.
Adding enzymes to your diet brings this constant drain on your valuable
enzyme supply under control. This, then, is the case for taking digestive
enzymes. I have found taking digestive enzymes has greatly improved
my digestion. I have less cramping, bloating and gas especially after
my evening meal which is generally made up of cooked vegetables and
grains.
Over the course of the past two years, I have discovered that my
body will muscle test well for different enzyme products at different
times. So I'll use one product for several weeks and then my body
may be attracted to something different. All this is to say, not all
digestive enzymes on the market are the same, and it is useful, when
using any supplements for a period of time, to ask your body periodically
if it still wants the substance you are taking. A regenerative diet
also includes organically grown fruits and vegetables which contain
higher amounts of nutrients, minerals and trace minerals than commercially
grown crops. However, due to the depleted quality of our planet's
soil, nutritionists generally agree , whether you eat organic foods
or not, the best and most reliable source of minerals and trace minerals
is obtained from liquid mineral supplements. The human body can not
directly absorb minerals found in the soil. It can only assimilate
minerals which have first been absorbed through the roots of plants
and transformed by the plants into "Pollycolloidal Organic Minerals"
the size of an ion. Without these minerals, the enzymes manufactured
by the body, mentioned above, can not be produced and consequently,
vitamins can not be absorbed. If one is very depleted in minerals,
he cannot use the vitamins which he takes in through food or pills.
Additionally, the body is only capable of absorbing 5 to 10 % of the
elemental minerals taken in tablets or capsules. The rest of these
elemental minerals are elim- inated from the body, held as trapped
heavy metals or stored in deposit for later use.
Thus, it is useful to take liquid mineral supplements absorbed at
almost 100% by the body. I have found a product called Optimim which
is based on a liquid extract of minerals from plant life found in
clay that lived two or three thousand years ago. Optimin contains
70 major and trace minerals as they are configured in nature so it
is like getting minerals from fruits and vegetables. In my practice,
I recommend a supplement to a patient only if, through muscle testing,
the patient's body is strengthened by the energy in the product.
With patients who test positively for a mineral supplement such as
Optimim, I have found that during the test their body is strengthened
beyond belief. Moreover, these patients typically report marked increases
in strength and energy after taking the supplement for just a few
days. For example, I have been treating one patient for over a year
with homeopathic remedies. Upon taking Optimim, he said, "This
has done more than any remedy or set of remedies I have taken to date."
In my opinion, this just points to the severe mineral depletion which
exists in people because our food source is grown in an exhausted,
depleted, empty soil. This points to the need for a reliable natural
food source-one that can be counted on to regenerate the body and
keep one healthy.
Such a food source is available in raw bee pollen. Pollen is the
male seed of flowers formed at the end of the flower's stamen. The
bees collect the pollen dust and stuff it into their pollen basket
attached to their leg. On the way back to the hive the bee mixes the
pollen dust with a drop of honey forming the mixture into golden granule
we call raw bee pollen. It is interesting to note that bee pollen
cannot be duplicated in a lab- oratory and even modern science cannot
identify all of its component parts. Nevertheless, it is known that
bee pollen is rich in proteins, free amino acids, vitamins, and folic
acid. "It is often referred to as nature's perfect food because
it is the richest source of vitamins found in nature in a single food.
It is richer in proteins than any animal source and it contains more
amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equal weight. Bee pollen
is particularly concentrated in all elements necessary for life."
(How to Live the Millennium, p.145)
I put two tablespoons of bee pollen in my fruit smoothy each morning
and I use it as a gentle "pick-me-up" snack during the day.
I began using bee pollen when I made all the other changes in my diet
several years ago, so it is hard for me to attribute any specific
changes to its use. I nevertheless rest in the knowledge that bee
pollen contains all the nutrients mankind needs for complete life
support and I eat it for the purpose of building a strong foundation.
Another food which you can include in your diet to support the foundation
is flax seed oil. Flax seed oil, nature's richest source of essential
fatty acids, taken daily, has the capacity to lower triglycerides
and cholesterol levels. Additionally, flax seed oil, high in ligians,
is said to aid the body in thwarting the onset of cancer. Before moving
to a diet high in living foods two years ago, both my cholesterol
and triglyceride levels were elevated. This summer, I had a physical
and both indicators were reported to be in the normal range. Like
the bee pollen, I have included flax seed oil in my morning smoothy
when my body muscle tested for it. I have no proof that there is a
direct cor- relation between taking flax seed oil and the decrease
in my cholesterol level, but all the changes I have made to my diet
obviously have moved my health in the right direction.
Not only changing my diet has contributed to my health, but also
finding the exact herbal formula or homeopathic remedy has greatly
helped me deal with several chronic digestive issues. By using a biofeedback
machine to communicate with my body's energy, I have been able to
identify precisely which remedies are needed to support my digestive
process. While acupuncture treatment alone can be very effective in
dealing with digestive issues, it is my experience that the very material
or substantive nature of digestion resonates more deeply with the
material nature of herbs, enzymes, homeopathics, and the like. Additionally,
placing the herbs or remedies in the body along with food two or three
times per day often times is exactly what is needed to aid the digestive
process. So I recommend people with digestive issues use herbs along
with acupuncture treatment.
While it is possible to test for food allergies using biofeedback,
I find it is more useful to look for the cause and ask the question,
How can I support the affected organ(s) to make it stronger so that
it does not protest when certain energy in the form of food is introduced.
Typically, we look for toxins which block the system, support the
body's ability to eliminate the toxins and then, using homeopathic
remedies, pull the toxins out of the system. Simultaneously, we nurture
and build up the depleted organ(s). When it is indicated, we use flower
essences to assist the bodymindspirit in dealing with the emotional
component associated with the digestive issue. I have found this to
be a very powerful and effective system for dealing with chronic issues.
The biofeedback machine coupled to a very sophisticated computer
program allows us to communicate directly with the energy in the body.
The body can tell us exactly which remedies it needs to move it in
the direction of balance. Alone, this is a very powerful and effective
process. When it is used in conjunction with acupuncture, I find patients
move very, very quickly toward health. I have shared with you things
I have done to implement a program of nutritional self-care.
If you wish to explore a nutritional self-care path for yourself,
please feel free to call me @ 301-613-4449 to talk about what would
be best for you or browse our list of nutritional books to find one
that will increase your understanding of food as preventative medicine.
