It's helpful to understand the difference between the primary and secondary effects of drugs.
The primary effect is the reason we take the drug. For instance, we take an antacid to reduce stomach acidity, or we drink a cup of coffee to give us a lift, or we take a tranquilizer to calm us down, etc. That's the primary effect.
But let's look more closely at this. Let's say we take a stimulant of some kind to give our energy a boost. The stimulant can be coffee or cocaine or speed; it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's "stimulating" the body.
Or is it? Where is that extra energy coming from? From the body of course. That extra living energy can't come from a dead pill. It can only come from the body, which obediently supplies the extra energy.
When we give the body a stimulant what we're really doing is asking the body to give us more energy than it wants to do in that moment. And it does.
But then there's a cost long-term. It's like Newton's gravitational law—that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same is true of the body.
Thus, when we keep taking the "stimulant" the body pays a price long-term. Its energy account falls lower and lower, and eventually we're feeling fatigued a lot and not knowing why.
That's the secondary effect of the stimulant, long-term exhaustion. Notice that it's the exact opposite of the primary effect.
Or suppose we take an antacid to counteract acidity. Studies have shown that antacid-takers produce more stomach acid long-term. The body compensates in the opposite direction. That's the secondary effect.
Or suppose we take something to calm us down. It can be valium, it can be heroin, it can be a barbiturate, it can be alcohol. The primary effect is that we get more calm in some way that we like.
But have you ever seen someone in withdrawal from one of these "calming" drugs? In all cases, what is left when the drug is withdrawn—and the reality is revealed—is that the person is much more anxious. Then they medicate the increased anxiety with more of the drug.
So when taking any drug, finally we reach a point where we are taking the drug to temporarily reduce the condition that the drug is making worse long-term!
The powerful radiation and chemotherapy that we take to get the primary effect of reducing cancer makes the body much more toxic long-term, and thus paradoxically, more prone to cancer long-term. That's the secondary effect.
The secondary effect of every drug is to produce a result that is the exact opposite of—and eventually greater than—the primary effect.
With people who feel a lack of energy, everything that's given to the body as a "tonic" or "stimulant" results in more exhaustion and fatigue long-term.
Thus, because of the powerful secondary effects, drugs fundamentally work against our health long-term.
Now let's look at what does support our health and well-being long-term:
We can use a useful metaphor, that the body has a certain amount of "life-force" at any given moment.
As the body over a period of time takes in heavy metals, drugs, excess fat and protein and calories, emotional and physical stresses, radiation, pesticides and free radicals and fighting pathogens—all of these things and more—an increasing degree of toxicity slowly builds in the body.
This toxicity shows up as greater and greater levels of pollution in the six trillion cells of the body. This increasing pollution causes the cells to become less and less efficient at doing what they are doing, whether it's firing a nerve impurse or manufacturing a hormone. And symptoms show up wherever the weakest links are found.
When we allow the body to de-toxify, either from 1) fasting or 2) eating just juices or fruits, or 3) eating raw foods or 4) becoming a vegan—the body naturally begins to devote the greater energy that's available to the ongoing process of cleansing and rebuilding itself. This is particularly true if we are getting extra rest and sleep.
Let's take an example: If we have high cholesterol and clogged arteries, say (and the reduced energy that goes with that), we can take an anti-cholesterol drug to lower our cholesterol. But in no way does this get at the cause of the high cholesterol, which is caused by a diet too high in fat and cholesterol.
Such a result usually means that the diet has contained animal products—meat, fish, poultry, dairy or eggs, all of which have saturated fat and cholesterol. (In contrast, plants have zero cholesterol and are generally much lower in fat.)
So in this example, we could take a drug to lower our cholesterol, which in no way would get at the cause of the underlying disease, but rather would reduce the symptoms of it short-term while helping to make it worse long-term.
Or we can go for a more fundamental solution and begin de-toxifying.
One good way to do that is by switching to a low-fat plant-based diet with lots of raw fruits and vegetables. Then the body itself will lower the excess fat and cholesterol, just as it will cleanse itself of any other pollutant if it can.
All the body asks is that we give the conditions for the health that only the body itself can supply.
Those conditions, in general, are 1) to concentrate on giving the body what it wants—basically fruits, greens, grains and beans, the diet of the healthiest, longest-lived peoples on earth (Hunzas, Vilcambans, Abkasians and Tarahumarans).
Then, 2) avoid giving it anything else that contributes to its toxic load. And 3) give the body the extra rest and sleep that it needs to repair itself.
Over time, as we are patient and give the body the simple conditions for health, the body, this wise, truly miraculous organism, rebuilds itself. That's the truly desirable primary effect.
—jim sloman, 1/31/01 for Jan 31
|
