Meeting, October 21, 2009

Topics:
--How The Industrial Revolution Changed the Human Species
--Acid/Alkaline (pH) Balance
--Live Enzymes: The Basic Principle of Life and Health
--The Importance of Greens and How to Easily Incorporate More of Them Into Your Day


How The Industrial Revolution Changed the Human Species

In the beginning, man was strong and sturdy, had a high level of endurance and energy, and was capable of living over 900 years. In contrast, today’s humans are small, weak, prone to sickness and disease and the average life expectancy is 77 years. Many of the diseases that are commonplace today were extremely rare only 100 years ago. For instance, in 1900 only 64 people out of every 100,000 died of cancer. By 2000 that number tripled and continues to rise rapidly.
When we look at animals in nature we see that the diseases of civilization (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lupus, etc.) are very rare, or do not exist at all. However, animals in captivity do have the same diseases as modern humans.
About 180 years ago the way humans eat took a dramatic turn. We went from eating wild game, raw (unpasteurized) dairy, and a diet primarily of home garden or organic farm grown produce, to a diet of almost, if not entirely, processed, denatured foods. With the industrial revolution came the trends of caned, packaged, and frozen meals. We learned about food preservation and the ability to kill bacteria by heating. At the time these discoveries were very exciting. No one could have predicted the effect they would have on us as a species.
As more and more denatured foods began to fill pantries, less and less live foods were eaten. We are the 7th generation of people to eat this way. Today we have even more working against us with the widespread availability of denatured foods. Everywhere we turn there is toxic food, restaurants, fast foods, convenience and grocery stores packed with the newest “edible” inventions. The average person currently consumes 160 pounds of sugar per year (picture 32 5lb bags of sugar), and that is only counting sucrose from refined white sugar, not the sucrose consumed from cooked starchy vegetables (when vegetables are cooked starch converts to sucrose). The foods we eat today are laden, not only with sugar, but also with refined flour and oil (fat), pesticides, animal products, environmental toxins, and artificial preservatives and colorings. Another hindrance to health that occurred during this time was the increased availability of prescription drugs, which interfere with nutrient absorption.
We are now living in a country full of overweight people, who are starving to death. We cannot get the nutrients we need for survival from the foods most of us eat, so our bodies constantly feel hungry, craving more and more food, hoping to get enough much needed nutrients to continue life. In the process all of the dead matter we consume piles up as fat and waste, which clogs the digestive tract and blood vessels.
There are many theories out there about what constitutes “healthy” food. I have been studying nutrition for the past 15 years and have read about and tried many diets. I’ve come to learn that following The Word of Wisdom, and mirroring the eating habits of early humans as closely as possible is the key to weightloss, optimal health, and to obtaining the promises contained in The Word of Wisdom. Caring for our bodies gives us the energy, strength, and clear, sound mind to accomplish our spiritual missions.


Acid/Alkaline (pH) Balance

When food is digested it leaves an ash residue that is either acid or alkaline in nature. This creates either a high or low pH balance in the body. The more acid a food is, the lower the pH in the body. While we do need some amount of acidity in the body to maintain a healthy balance, most of the foods we eat are overly acidic. When our bodies are too acidic, we create the perfect environment for disease.
There is a natural process that our bodies go through. As we near death we become increasingly acidic, which activates bacteria, viruses, and yeast that have been lying dormant our entire lives. The purpose of these is to decompose the body. So, when we eat overly acidic foods (which all processed/cooked foods are) we are causing our bodies to prematurely decompose. Another drawback to an unbalanced pH is that it destroys enzymes. See below for the importance of enzymes.
We should choose the foods we eat wisely, eating only those foods which are alkaline in nature. We need very little acid in our diets and it is easy to come by.
For a list of acid and alkaline foods, please see handout 1.

Live Enzymes: The Basic Principle of Life and Health

Anytime a food is heated above 118 degrees F, the living enzymes in the food die. When a food is heated above 130 degrees F the vitamins die and minerals are no longer able to be absorbed by the body. The purpose of enzymes is to break down (digest) foods and to assimilate the nutrients in them. When we eat a food without its living enzymes intact our body has to go through a process of rebuilding the lost enzymes in order to digest the food. This process uses essential stored energy reserves in the body. The result is premature ageing, weight gain, low energy levels, and impaired immunity, as well as vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Furthermore, our bodies do not have the ability to continue rebuilding enzymes indefinitely. There comes a point where we reach the maximum amount of rebuilt enzymes possible, and cooked food is no longer able to be used by the body.
All processed foods are cooked, and therefore, are not good for the body. Cooked foods are also more acidic than raw foods. When food is cooked it undergoes a chemical change, it is not the same substance that it originally was. It becomes a pile of dead matter. You cannot get life (or vitality) from something that is dead. As the saying goes, live food, live body, dead food, dead body.
When we eat cooked foods we ingest toxins faster than our bodies are able to eliminate them. This is made worse by the loss of soluble fiber in cooked foods. Our digestive tracts become toxic waste dumps, jam packed with rotten food. We no longer eliminate food waste by parastalis (the natural movement of the bowel), but rather by old waste being pushed down and out as new waste is piled on top of it. We will discuss digestion and elimination in detail in the next meeting.
Most people in our society are also chronically dehydrated. People always ask the question of how much water we need each day, and everyone has a different answer. The truth is that humans who eat raw foods need very little water to drink. Cooking dehydrates food, think of all the steam that comes off of foods while they are cooking. That is the much needed moisture vaporizing. If you are a cooked-foodist, or a new raw-foodist, you should be drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of pure water daily.
Most people need to eat a diet of at least 70% raw foods in order to experience great benefits. I feel that the easiest way to do this is to picture your plate in 3 sections and make sure that 2 of those sections are raw. It is also important to eat as much organic food as possible. Organic food is not only good for the environment and the economy, it also contains 80-300% more nutrients than commercially grown produce. The difference is in the soil, which is not overworked and deplete and which contains an abundance of beneficial bacteria.
There are two concerns I hear from just about everyone I mention raw foods to. The first is the cost. A first glance at the price tag on many raw organic foods may have you thinking you cannot afford to eat this way. However, I can honestly say that your food bill won’t change much. When you take out meat and dairy, sugar treats, sodas, fast foods, etc. you will save A LOT of money. Also, consider the fact that since your body will now be receiving nutritionally packed foods and will no longer be “starving to death” you will not need to eat nearly as much to satisfy your body’s nutritional needs. There are several ways you can go about eating raw, and some options are cheaper than others.
The second thing I hear consistently is, “I could never eat like that, I NEED my sugar!” This is always a bit amusing to me because I was incredibly addicted to sugar and had tried everything to cut back on it and never could until I went raw. You DO NOT have to give up desserts! I eat pie, ice “cream”, brownies, cake, smoothies, “milk” shakes, fudge, cookies, etc. They taste better than what I used to eat, and I can eat all I want without gaining weight and without feeling ill!


The Importance of Greens

When we look around our world we see one color: green. Its everywhere we look. It’s so abundant, we may not even notice it most of the time. Green foods contain all of the essential enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids needed to sustain life. The only thing that is lacking in greens is vitamin B12, which is present in meat. However, in a healthy (clean) digestive tract, B12 is made by the beneficial bacteria, which are naturally present. The human body runs optimally on a diet of only greens and fruit!
Iron is one of the most essential nutrients, it is also one of the most abundant and can be found in both plant and animal foods. Yet, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency. Currently, over 50% of people are deficient in the 5 most vital nutrients, and over 80% are deficient in 1 or more essential nutrient.
Today it is common for children to wear glasses and braces, or to be overweight and have acne. These are all the effects of nutritional deficiency on the human race, and the problem will only continue to get worse through the generations if we don’t take action and change our diets now.
Vitamin K is found only in greens. We are seeing serious complications due to vitamin K deficiency. Humans are now being born with smaller ears, as this deficiency affects cartilage in the body. In America more than 200,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed per year, a direct result of vitamin K deficiency. Some other examples include: skin cancer, liver cancer, heavy menstrual bleeding, nose bleeds, hemorrhaging, easy bruising, osteoporosis, hematomas. Birth defects: shortened fingers, cupped ears, flat nasal bridges, underdevelopment of the nose, mouth, and mid-face, mental retardation, and neural tube defects. And yet, vitamin K is the most understudied vitamin.
Deficiencies of vitamin K, calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients are also causing underdeveloped facial structures, which is why we are seeing more and more braces. It is also the reason that most humans now do not have sufficient space in their mouths for wisdom teeth.
A human body needs the equivalent of 2 full heads of lettuce in leafy green foods per day. For most of us, eating that many greens is not possible. It would take an incredible amount of time to properly chew all of that. We live different lives now than we did in nature, when we would graze on greens and fruits as we worked and walked and wandered about. Today, humans are busy and always on the go, separate from nature. The best way to get the greens we need is to blend them. Blending breaks down the tough cellulose cell walls of the plant and releases the nutrients for optimal and immediate absorption. You actually begin absorbing the nutrients through your mouth.
For those of us who do not enjoy eating greens, blending greens with fruit offers the benefit that the fruit covers the taste of the chlorophyll, which many of us are put off by. The reason most people don’t enjoy greens is that as the body becomes more deficient in nutrients, the hydrochloric acid (digestive juice) in the stomach is reduced, making the digestion of greens difficult. The body will then attempt to defend itself from the foods which are difficult to digest by forming a distaste for them, which of course causes us to eat less of the foods, get less of the nutrients, and we end up with even less hydrochloric acid. The best way to break this cycle is to drink green smoothies. You will know that you have low quantities of hydrochloric acid when you start drinking the smoothies if your bowel movements are green. They will change slowly as your acid content builds and your health improves. The first clue I, personally, had that my hydrochloric acid was low was when I discovered that I could not eat raw broccoli without suffering from very painful gas. Some may also notice that when they vomit it does not burn in their throat the way that it did in childhood.
People often wonder what the difference is between juicing fruits and vegetables and blending them. Juicing is great for people who have a severe health problem, such as cancer, or who are not able to digest or keep down any solid/fibrous foods. When foods are juiced all of the fiber is removed, what you have left over is water and pure nutrients. The nutrients are easily and quickly absorbed into the blood stream, allowing the digestive system a chance to rest and rebuild itself, while offering the body large amounts of nutrients. Juice fasting is the most successful cure for cancer, lupus, and other degenerative diseases. A juice fast should be done, as a general rule, at least 4 times per year (1 with each season). Juice should be consumed within 10 minutes, because after 10 minutes oxidation will occur and enzymes will die. Blended produce (smoothies), on the other hand, oxidize much more slowly and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. With smoothies we get the benefit of the whole food. When we keep the fiber sugars from fruits are absorbed much more slowly (which is important especially for those of us with diabetes or hypoglycemia). Another benefit of keeping the fiber is that it eases the symptoms of cleansing by moving toxins out of the bowl, where they tend to accumulate as they are released from the body. We will discuss that in more detail at the next meeting. Smoothies are also more filling than juices. Both blending and juicing are great ways to improve health, but we are all different and our bodies even have different needs at different times, so which one is best for you at this time is for you to decide.
When I began drinking 32 oz of green smoothie each morning weight just melted off of me. My sugar cravings also diminished, and I have been a sugar addict since childhood! I have tried everything I could think of to stop eating sugar all day, everyday, and it wasn’t until I started drinking green smoothies and eating mostly raw foods that I was finally able to stop. It has been 6 months, and I can honestly say at this point, I DO NOT miss sugar at all. Of course, I went through several months in the beginning where I had relapses, but each time I got stronger and picked myself up and did better. Don’t beat yourself up when you’re less than perfect, it is a process! What is important is that you keep educating yourself, keep asking your body what it needs, and do the best that you can to treat yourself better everyday.
So here is the challenge for month 1: Drink a green smoothie everyday (see handout 2 for recipes, or get creative and try your own!). 32 oz is ideal, but if you can only do 8, or even 4 for now, DO THAT. The point is to do better than you have been, not to be perfect. Also, eat more fruit. Try replacing 1 of your regular daily snacks with a piece of one of your favorite fruits. And one last thing, read 1 book from the recommended reading list.

Best of luck on your journey toward optimum health and reaching your full spiritual potential, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!