(This is Part 2 of a 2-part series. Go back to Part 1.)
Because of the secondary effects, drugs fundamentally work against our health long-term. But now let's look at what does support our health and well-being:
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, 01/31/01 for Jan 31
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