Here is a concept that is difficult for some folks to wrap their minds around - many health problems are related to our food. One of the most dangerous additives in our food, connected to many serious health problems, is MSG. Monosodium Glutamate has been linked to many symptoms that puzzle doctors and to many conditions that go un-diagnosed. See if you can find yourself in this list from Debby Anglesey's website. http://www.msgmyth.com/symptoms.html
The concern about food does not end with MSG alone. The "glutamate" part of this additive is found naturally in foods. Once a food is processed through heat, strong acids, alkalis, enzymes or other chemical processes, the glutamic acids become free and unbound from other amino acids. The free glutamate is a threat to various parts of the body. We have glutamate receptors all over our body which respond to natural levels of glutamic acid. However, the levels of free glutamate in processed foods are so high that they become toxic to the nervous system. To avoid free glutamate in foods, a person must read every label, refrain from eating in restaurants, prepare more meals from unprocessed whole foods and use caution at pot-lucks!
Read this list of hidden names for free glutamic acid.
What if processed food doesn't bother me? A health scare may sneak up on you as a great surprise in your future. Food industries are adding increasing levels of free glutamic acid without restriction by the FDA and without clear labeling. As the amount of this additive rises in our nation's food supply, more health concerns will arise. A person's body can only tolerate a toxin for a period of time before it begins to show signs of failure. Our nation's health is on the brink of a failure right now! Don't wait until a crisis happens to you!!!
Here is a good series, about 6 years old, exposing the danger of glutamate in food. The information is reliable and helpful for anyone ready to purge their pantry of processed foods.
The Dangers of MSG part 1
The Dangers of MSG part 2a
The Dangers of MSG part 2b
The Dangers of MSG part 3
The Dangers of MSG part 4
For more links and information about MSG on my blog, go to the October 24, 2012 post "Whole grain bread baking tips..."
What do I mean by "sick"? Who should eliminate fat from his or her diet?
There are some studies that link oils in the diet to diseases of affluence. To have a disease is to be sick. To be sick is to require the help of a physician. Physicians commonly prescribe medication to treat disease. It is my opinion that being on medication is the marker of someone who is "sick". To get well, one must find and eliminate the cause of disease.
What you put into your mouth is just as important as what you don't put into your mouth. Every ingredient in my vegan butter is there for a purpose. In addition to the compliment of flavors, the ingredients provide more "touches" of food for health in our diet.
Some beneficial agents in my vegan butter:
Curcumin - The dietary agent in turmeric. This agent has been shown to assist apoptosis (cancer cell death) through multiple cellular mechanisms.
Caffeic acid and phenethyl ester - Raw honey has many healing properties, one of which is to trigger apoptosis. The propolis in raw honey comb has colon-cancer-preventive properties, antibacterial and antiviral properties, and can be used in combination with the honey in dressing open wounds.
Lauric acid and medium chain triglycerides - virgin, organic coconut oil is processed by the liver and converted quickly into a source of energy. It is also a booster to the immune system. My guess here: perhaps someone with a weakened liver should be cautious about consuming anything that is solely processed by the liver.
Grape seed oil
There is hype about grape seed oil right now. It may have some good qualities and it is worthy of investigation. The only caution that I have with grape seed oil is that grapes are one of the food sources that can take up arsenic from the soil where pesticides are used. Brown rice is similar in its uptake of arsenic. I think that grape seed oil would be safe if sold under an organic label, but anything else would warrant further investigation regarding arsenic content.
Coconut oil is great for cooking. It is also a good source of quick energy for times of strenuous physical and mental activity! Coconut oil gets burned or eliminated but is not thought to be a fat that gets stored.
It is important to note that coconut oil is high in omega 6. However, coconut oil is a saturated omega 6 fat making it different from the omega 6 used in cancer research. Many doctors who speak about healing disease through nutrition will often tell patients to omit oils from the diet (with the exception of flax seed). Dr. Blaylock states in his publication, JANA vol 3, No. 3 Fall 2000, "There is considerable evidence that the polyunsaturated N-6 (Omega 6) oils enhance tumor growth and spread, and that the N-3 oils inhibit growth in breast, colon, and possibly prostate cancers."(1. Kollmorgen GM, King MM, Kosanke SD, Do C. Influence of dietary fat and indomethacin on the growth of transplantable mammary tumors in rats. Cancer Res. 1983; 43:14-19. 2. Wang Z, Pei H, et al. Mammary cancer promotion and MAPK activation associated with consumption of a corn oil-based high-fat diet. Nutr Cancer. 1999;34:140-146. 3. Hurston SD, Thornquist M, Henderson M. Types of dietary fat and the incidence of cancer at five sites. Prev Med. 1990; 9:242-253.) He also sites that omega 3 fatty acids play a role in tumor angiogenesis (the reduction of blood vessels within tumors). Dietary sources of omega 3 fat is highest in walnuts and ground flax seed.
I think reducing or omitting oils is an excellent approach to health. However, I get the sense from what I have read that coconut oil should be considered as a beneficial oil along with flax seed oil. I have not been able to completely eliminate added oil from my diet. Since I try to use as little oil in my diet as possible, I have used only coconut oil and olive pomace oil - the second run of oil from the olives which is more stable when heated. My fat consumption has gone from a stick of butter over a 3 day period of time (in addition to the fat in whole milk, half-and-half cream, sour cream, and cheese on a daily basis) to using only coconut oil / vegan butter on one or two pieces of toast a day and the olive pomace oil used in my homemade bread recipe. In spite of the moderate consumption of oil, my cholesterol lowered from 234 to 177 after 14 weeks of a plant based (meat and dairy free) diet.
Flax seed oil
The Omega 3 fats are the most beneficial with regard to cancer prevention and treatment through nutrition. A person can acquire the necessary amount of Omega 3 fat by consuming 2 Tablespoons of freshly ground flax seed daily. This should be taken fresh, uncooked and in the ground state, not the whole seed. Use a coffee grinder or a blender to grind the seeds so that the fat can be released and digested. It is delicious sprinkled on top of cereal, added to smoothies or juiced vegetables. This is the most affordable way to consume flax seed oil. There is cold pressed oil available in the refrigerator of your health food store, but it is expensive and has the potential of becoming rancid before you purchase it or while you store it in your home. Do not cook with flax seed oil.
Dr. Mercola interviews Dr. Rudy Moerck on cooking oils
More on coconut oil from Dr. Mercola.
Coconut oil has been studied regarding its benefit for treating dementia and other diseases. When the brain cells are unable to utilize glucose as an energy source, the ketones in coconut oil can provide the much needed source of energy for optimum function. The next video is "Coconut Oil Touted as Alzheimer's remedy" CBN.
Toothpaste is easy to make at home. No recipe required!
Have you ever wondered why your toothpaste tastes sweet when it is supposed to help fight cavities? Toothpaste has artificial sweeteners in it to appeal to the consumer. The companies that make toothpaste know that the general public follows its tongue. Since sweetness is our favorite taste and sugar causes tooth decay, toothpaste is sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Can you imagine having to check the label of your toothpaste to make sure that it is sugar free? How silly!
It turns out that the ingredients in commercially produced toothpaste can be of greater consequence to our health than tooth decay. I decided to start making my own toothpaste about a year ago. Since then, my tooth sensitivity has disappeared (I used to buy the special paste for sensitive teeth). My own toothpaste does a fine job of cleaning the plaque from my teeth and leaving my mouth feeling fresh for hours. Best news of all, there is no recipe for my toothpaste. I just make up a jar of baking soda mixed with essential oils which are good for oral use, such as peppermint, clove bud and spearmint. The oils go into the baking soda by drops and mix in until it looks like, well, baking soda. However, the mixture smells like toothpaste. By giving it a trial "brushing of the teeth", I can tell if I have added enough flavor to appeal to my taste. The essential oils are not necessary because baking soda, alone, could do the job of cleaning teeth.
The ingredients to avoid in commercially produced toothpaste are numerous. I will list a few of the most toxic and why I avoid them.
Fluoride - accumulates in humans over lifetime exposure, toxic byproduct of chemical fertilizer, consumption of fluoride is linked to diseases (see video below "Fluoride and The Pineal Gland")
For more on fluoride, see "Fluoride's Deadly Secret" by Russell Blaylock
Carrageenan - Inflammatory agent, significantly enhances tumor growth~This should be of concern in our food as well. Carrageenan is a common additive to enhance flavor in foods.
(Sources: 1. Raz A. Levine G, Khomiak Y. Acute local inflammation potentates tumor growth in mice. Cancer Lett. 2000;148:115-120.
2. Morecki S, Yacovlev E, et al. Induction of antitumor immunity by indomethacin. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2000;48:613-620.)
Artificial sweetener - Simply stated: nerve toxic chemical
Titanium Dioxide - carcinogen when inhaled based in laboratory animal studies. This may not be a concern when the manufacturer is using optimum caution regarding quantity and structure of titanium dioxide.
In the past, I have used gum like a medication which helped me to keep swallowing when I had acid reflux. Little did I know that the gum was actually making my heartburn worse. The toxic effects of artificial sweeteners can begin when they are absorbed by the lining of the mouth and esophagus. Once in the blood stream, the chemical stimulates nerve cells to be excited, and over-excitement of nerves causes cell death. For me, this was a vicious cycle of heartburn, swallowing gum sweeteners (aspartame) and having more heartburn, which required another piece of gum.
My nutrition based diet has freed me from the troubles of having GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease). When I first gave up chewing gum, I missed the fresh flavor. The habit of constantly chewing on something in my mouth required breaking, but this was not a difficult task. There is a natural replacement for gum. Whole clovesare a wonderful way to freshen the breath when away from your toothbrush. Keep a small container of them in your purse, glove box or on your desk; pinch one between your teeth and feel the freshness of the clove oil bursting flavor into your mouth!
Who doesn't want to sit down to a hot bowl of creamy potato soup on a chilly fall day? In my case, I have given up the delicious flavors of whole milk and fried bacon in my potato soup in order to experience restored health. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered a way to enjoy potato soup again, without the animal products! This recipe is simple, satisfying and offers food sources that provide strength, energy and cancer protective qualities. Just be sure to resist the temptation to drain the vegetables after boiling! Everything goes in this soup - especially the boiling water with its nutrients.
Potatoes - about 5 pounds
7-10 carrots
5-7 stalks celery
2 large sweet onions
1 head cauliflower - cook seperately!
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (added in 1/4 cup increments)
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Wash and cut potatoes, with skin in tact, into 1/2 inch pieces. Cut carrots, celery and onion into bite sized pieces and add to potatoes. In a 6 quart covered pan, boil potatoes and vegetables with as little water as necessary for cooking - about 2 quarts of water. Add 1/4 cup of the nutritional yeast and parsley. Do not allow water to boil away. Cook until tender, about 20-25 minutes.
While the potato mixture boils, cut cauliflower into pieces, place in covered pan and steam with 2 cups of water until very tender - about 10 minutes. Do not drain. Place cauliflower and water into a blender and blend until creamy. Once the potato mixture is tender, add 1 cup of the potato / vegetable mix to the cauliflower mixture and blend. Add the second 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast and blend. Taste. Add salt and pepper as desired. Pour cauliflower "cream" into the cooked potato and vegetable mixture. Add frozen corn and stir until heated. Season againwith salt and pepper as needed. *A delicious variation is to add chopped broccoli to this soup. Broccoli would add more calcium, protein, phase II liver detoxifying enzymes as well as cancer fighting agents like isothiocyanates and indol-3-carbinol.
Sugar becomes fat when we eat it! Particularly the fructose part of sugar. This is why high fructose corn syrup, HFCS, is so damaging to our bodies. Being comprised primarily of fructose, entirely processed by the liver and turned immediately into fat for storage, HFCS makes a huge contribution to obesity and related diseases. This prompts us to ask what foods contain HFCS. The answer - nearly everything that is processed including, but not exclusive to, the following: bread, condiments, sweetened beverages, cookies, salad dressings, ice cream, sauces, syrups, packaged and ready to eat meals, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, cold cereals, granola bars, and candy. HFCS is cheaper than sugar and provides a longer shelf life for processed foods and is therefore the sweetener of choice for the food industry.
This video is a portion (episode 2) of the UCTV Prime special "The Skinny on Obesity". Dr. Lustig gives an excellent explanation of how sugar and fructose is metabolized in our bodies. If you like this video, there are 8 parts that you can watch through YouTube.
Agave nectar is composed of glucose and fructose. Because of the way it is processed, agave nectar is high in fructose, ranging from 50-90% of its total composition.
Brown rice syrup may be a better choice as a sweetener because it is composed of glucose rather than fructose. The negative about this is that brown rice, particularly basmati, takes up arsenic from the soil and stores it in the grain. When rice with a high arsenic content is made into syrup, I suppose there would be reason for concern. To be cautious, you would want to use brown rice syrup that was from organically grown rice where arsenic was not used as a pesticide. My personal take on this sweetener is that it is a processed sweetener. I prefer things in their natural state, so I am inclined to discourage this type of sweetener.
Artificial sweeteners are definitely wrong for anyone to consume. Artificial sweeteners are chemicals, toxic to the nervous system, acidic to the blood and intestine, and sold to consumers without regard to public safety. 'Nuff said.
HoneyThe ratio of glucose to fructose in raw honey is nearly the same as sugar, 1 to 1. Therefore, we must not consider honey as a better alternative to sugar for its molecular structure. However, raw honey offers many health benefits in its cancer protective qualities, antimicrobial benefits and immunity benefits. Don't eliminate honey from your diet, but be aware that it is taxing on the liver and pancreas in the same way as sugar when consumed in unhealthful quantities. Processed honey has no more benefit than sugar because honey loses its antimicrobial qualities when heated. Consume only raw honey. Buy local.
Maple syrup varies in grade and quality, so the ratio of glucose to fructose is commonly believed to be 1 to 1 with slight variance. Maple syrup should be considered a better alternative sweetener to sugar in that it has some mineral content that would be advantageous. However, the same caution should be taken as with honey. Use maple syrup in moderation.
Stevia is an herb and is a very good replacement for sugar. It is important that stevia is used only in its pure form, without an additive artificial sweetener. Stevia can be used from its natural fresh state as cuttings from your planted stevia in your herb garden or as a dried leaf. When steeped like tea, the water can be used to make sweetened beverages and tea without any glucose or fructose. It is also sold in liquid form as an extract which is very potent and requires very little for sweetening. My caution with stevia is that a person might have a tendency to consume too many stevia sweetened foods without training the tongue to enjoy wholesome, health promoting foods.
Most alternative sweeteners, other than raw / organic honey and maple syrup, are not a good replacement for sugar. The best replacement of sugar is fresh fruits, vegetables and legumes!
Here is another interesting study that shows some evidence that HFCS could contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - a condition of the liver where fat stores are bogging down the life dependent organ and which poses threat to its function.
I encourage you to reduce your sugar intake for the sake of your health. Sugar addiction is difficult to overcome, but there are a few things that you can do to help make the transition easier.
Keep fresh raw fruits available and ready to consume after you have eaten a nutritious whole-food meal. Keep them washed and packaged in snack sized bags in your refrigerator if you tend to overeat fruit.
The use of L-glutamine supplement has been helpful for some people trying to break a serious sugar addiction.
Do not consume any foods with hidden MSG - glutamic acid - under the names listed in the following brochure http://www.truthinlabeling.com/brochure_ad.pdf Consumption of processed foods, with glutamic acid as a flavor enhancer, trigger food addiction and over consumption of foods that damage your health.
Avoid or limit other addicting foods which stimulate the pleasure center of the brain. These foods are: milk, cheese, chocolate and sugar. Replace addictive foods with nutritious foods like dark green vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, squash, apples, grapes, and herbs like peppermint and oregano.
When you are working through withdrawal symptoms, remind yourself that you are working toward a very positive health result. There is an end to the withdrawals and you will begin to crave more nutritious foods in just a few days - as long as you are consuming them as you reduce your sugar intake.
Our country has seen a group of diseases, metabolic syndrome diseases and diseases of civilization, rise to epidemic proportions in the last 30 years. There are many reputable doctors and scientists who have been studying this upturn in disease and come up with an array of causation. Here is a new and interesting find for my husband and me: methanol sources in foods that are heated and canned.
Methanol(Thanks, Jen, for catching my misspell in this post!) occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables, but the levels are lower in their raw state. It is the heating process that brings out the potentially harmful levels of methanol in foods. There is a recommended list in the following link of methanol sources to avoid as well as cooking techniques for tomatoes.
Now, I have always canned everything that I could get my hands on because of our frugal lifestyle and love of gardening. In spite of my wholesome efforts to pursue nutrition, my husband developed cancer and I developed some allergies to foods. Could my home-canned foods have contributed to health problems? I don't know, and I'm not going to ponder that any longer. I will, however, consider some facts and try to improve our diet by avoiding foods that rob us of our health. Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables offer the best and most whole form of phytochemicals because they have been unaltered by processing. This is a pure and simple truth to me. Heating foods changes the chemistry of the food (ie. raw egg in the frying pan). My response to the awareness of menthol is to keep our vegetables as close to their raw state as possible, keep eating salads daily and consume fruits in their raw state only.
I am thankful that I could never tolerate Aspartame and never consumed it after my first violently ill experience with diet pudding. There are some serious diseases linked to the toxic chemical, aspartame, such as MS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases. Of course, the "truth" for you depends on what study you read and the directional bend of your opinion! Dr. Russell Blaylock, now a retired neurosurgeon, has studied and written much on the topic of nerve toxins such as MSG and aspartame. I believe the research that Blaylock reviews because he has no financial gain in proving a particular outcome of the studies. This YouTube video gives a little background on Aspartame from his CD, The Truth About Aspartame.
The following link will take you to the website of a retired Professor of Food Science, Woodrow Monte, with his recommendations to avoid aspartame in order to save your life!
Dr. Mercola interviews Woodrow Monte (also a toxicology expert) who explains why aspartame is so dangerous to your health.
If you are consuming Aspartame, I beg you to consider the damage that it is doing to your nervous system. If you are willing, please watch one more movie that puts Aspartame on a very personal level.
What an incredible salad! Spinach, romaine, cauliflower, organic grapes and walnuts.
Packing food for the day in town or for a road trip is the story of my life. Many times, it is a burdensome task when I have not been diligent to cook large quantities of food on the weekends. Furthermore, we have made a commitment to refrain from fast food which is a serious contributor to chronic disease in our country (see movie "Super Size Me" - I posted link to movie on YouTube below).
So what should I pack? Salads are perfect for meals away from home. There is no reheating required. Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables provide a full feeling, offer much needed fiber during travels and provide the needed mental clarity when on the road. Restaurant salads are often sprayed with glutamic acid and preservatives that cause a lot of intestinal distress, so we avoid everything sold as a ready to eat item. However, we have been known to make a grocery store visit, while away from home, to pick up an organic apple, some nuts or seeds and dried fruits.
When available, a pint jar of home made soup from the refrigerator makes a hot food offering away from home on cold days. Cooked cereal such as oatmeal and corn meal with nuts and dried fruits make a great cold snack on the road or heated up when you reach your destination. Last night, I cooked up a large pot of oatmeal and corn meal mixed with ground flax seed, bananas, raisins, cinnamon and walnuts! With a dash of salt and some home made maple syrup stirred in, the creation tastes like banana bread on a spoon.
I have also found it safe to keep some organic refried beans on hand for emergencies. In a pinch, I can throw the can in my bag for town with a head of romaine, some salsa and olives. The romaine makes a great scoop to hold the ingredients or they could be put on a bed of lettuce and eaten with a fork. A whole grain wrap would make it even better!
Don't be embarrassed about your packed lunch. Remember that what you take from your home to eat is going to provide health to your body and give you resistance to diseases. The take-out options that everyone else is eating is not good for them! Hot and cold beverages on the road are really dangerous to consume as well. They are full of high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, imitation flavorings and addictive additives that will eventually rob you of your health. Don't be ashamed to make healthier choices. Maybe you can encourage someone else by example.
Watch this and see how, in just one month, a person can put his or her liver and general health at serious risk of failure by eating processed foods. I will add a disclaimer, however; this documentary contains some foul language and sexual references. I would not recommend this a good viewing for young children. It is rated PG-13 and you can view a Christian review of this film on the following link.
Beet kvass is a fermented beverage that provides lactobacillus strains of probiotics, making it a good source of helpful intestinal flora. Because it is made with raw beets, this beverage is said to have liver detoxifying properties. I will show you step-by-step instructions so you can do this at home.
You will need the following ingredients:
3-4 medium fresh beets
2 tsp. unrefined salt (no iodine or additives)
1/4 cup starter: finished beet kvass, whey, brine from vegetable ferment or water kefir
non-chlorinated or fluoridated water
2 quart glass jar
Peel and cut beets into 1/2 - 1" pieces. Place in bottom of 2 quart jar.
Add 2 teaspoons unrefined salt.
Add 1/4 cup starter: water kefir, finished beet kvass, whey, or brine from finished vegetable ferment.
Fill jar with water leaving at least 1" of head space.
Mark lid with the date and cover to make it air tight.
Allow to sit on counter for 5-7 days. Taste to see if it is getting tangy to determine length of fermenting time.
After fermenting, pour off 1 quart of kvass.
For a second round of kvass, add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the remaining kvass and beets. Fill the jar again with water, leaving 1" head space and cover tightly. Allow to ferment at room temperature for 2-4 days according to desired flavor. Refrigerate the 1 quart jar of kvass. Drink 4 oz twice daily, morning and evening.
It will look pale, but will darken with fermentation time. The second batch will be weaker than the first. A third round can be made just like the second, but will be even weaker. After your last batch, save some of your finished kvass as a starter to make a new batch starting with fresh beets.
The next photos show my kim chee after it had fermented for four days on the counter. There were so many vegetables that I had to use two jars to ferment them. The first photo shows that I used a leaf of cabbage to hold the vegetables under the brine. This helps to prevent yeasts from growing on top (which has never happened to me, but I like the extra measure of prevention).
I used a large stainless steel bowl to mix the two quantities of kim chee. (As vegetables ferment, they shrink.) I was hoping that it would all fit back into one jar. It did!
I filled the 2 quart jar with kim chee and poured as much brine as would fit back into the jar. The remainder of the brine went into the refrigerator to be used as a starter in my next vegetable ferment. This isn't necessary, but it will give the next ferment a jump start.
My husband was away when I was taking care of this finished kim chee. When he came home he let out a hoot! Apparently, the kim chee had given the entire house a fermented aroma. It tastes great, though! :) For more information on vegetable ferments, see my first blog on the topic in the following link which includes a video with water kefir. http://restoringhealththroughnutrition.blogspot.com/2012/10/vegetable-ferments-and-probiotics_27.html
Here is a lady that does fermenting on a huge scale - for pay! This is super COOL!
So when it comes to fermenting vegetables, there is no exact science. Getting the right proportions of salt to water for vegetable ferments is important if you don't have a starter to inoculate it with good bacteria. Without a starter, just use 1 Tablespoon of salt to 1 quart of water. Fermentation will be complete in just 3 days at room temperature.
The benefits are great: immunity to bacteria, immunity to viruses, prevention of colon cancer, resistance to H. pylori ulcers, aid for digestion, bowel regularity, resistance to some parasites, prevention of UTI's, prevention of yeast infections and so much more!
It is possible to have control over your health! To rephrase, you can control what diseases you will not develop. Dr.T. Colin Campbell states in The China Study, "The authors of a major review on diet and cancer, prepared for the U.S. Congress in 1981, estimated that genetics only determines about 2-3% of the total cancer risk." The other 97-98% is determined by the environment - the largest contributor of environmental influence being DIET. Another prominent report, sited in The China Study, from the University of Oxford (U.K.) submitted that the same 2-3% of all cancers are attributed to genes. What does this mean? You can determine, within 97-98%, whether you will have cancer in your lifetime! In fact, your diet can determine whether you will fall prey to any of the diseases of affluence - colon cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, childhood brain cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, diabetes, and artery disease (including coronary).
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, has done a long-term study on the link between the Western diet and artery disease. His study proves that heart (or artery) disease is a disease of affluence and can be halted or reversed by changing from the Western diet to a plant based diet. Dr. Esselstyn grew up on a farm and can understand the crossroads of health and the American diet. Here are a few short clips of his message to those who have ears.
The following video is quite lengthy and of much poorer quality, but Dr. Esselstyn gives great information with slides to explain how artery disease leads to so many more illnesses. There is a good Q&A at the end of his presentation.
I would like to take liberty, now, to speak as a believer in Christ. As I pour into the Word of God, I find many instructions about food. It is clear that food is desirable to all of mankind, and particularly rich foods - namely meat. From creation, man was given "every plant yielding seed and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." (Gen. 1:29) The post-flood diet included meat as God instructed Noah and his family, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood." (Gen. 9:3) It is easy to deduct that green things were not readily available in abundance immediately after a world-wide flood. Meat was given to man for sustenance So my point is not that God frowns on meat-eating. My point here, is to say that America is rich; therefore, we must look at what God says about the rich.
The rich. Two passages regarding the rich and their food point to gluttony, self-indulgence and indiscretion. The first one, I Corinthians 11: 17-34 is Paul's instruction to the Corinthian church regarding their eating habits at church gatherings. They were getting together, eating with indulgence and disregarding those among them who were hungry. As Paul instructs a proper approach to eating in worship, he instructs communion. In this spiritual time of worship, believers are to examine his/her heart to identify any unrepentant sin (vs. 28). In contrast, Paul addresses their gluttony in eating meals. Meals should be eaten at home (vs. 34). However, it is interesting that Paul gives them insight as to why they are weak, ill and many have died. He tells them (vs. 29), "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement on himself." If our bodies are weak, if we are ill, if we are dying, then we should heed Paul's instruction to discern signs from our bodies . We should respond to our condition by eating what is healing and by surrendering our gluttonous stomachs (gluttony is idolatry which leads back to the examination of our hearts during communion).
The second scripture passage is a warning to the rich (James 5:1-6). The warning begins simply with a call to repentance, "weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you." The scripture continues on to point out that the rich are laying up their idea of "treasure" in this world but the treasures will not last into eternity. There is a judgement coming, and the end is not looking good for the rich. Among their self-serving acts is gluttony. "You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter." (vs. 5) Our response to this passage should be to humble our hearts before God, desire simplicity, and to give freely of all that God has provided.
Here are a few more passages for your study if you are interested in looking into this a bit more:
Job 20:17-23 the rich are never satisfied
I Corinthians 10:31 do everything for God's glory
Romans 14:2 the weak (literally meaning physically weak) eat only vegetables
Proverbs 23:20-21 regarding gluttonous eaters of meat
Exodus 16:31-32 God provided high carbohydrate plant food for hungry Israel
Psalm 111:5, Ps. 34:9-10, Ps. 136:5, Proverbs 10:3, Matthew 5:25-34
God provides food for the righteous, don't fear hunger, seek God
"Dear Father and Creator of all things, I pray that you will speak to those who are searching for direction and for truth regarding their health. Help them to be enlightened by Your Word and by Your Voice in their lives. Give them the desire through the power of Your Spirit to obey Your direction. Please heal them of their diseases in order to live out the fullness of the number of their days, in Jesus name. Amen."
