One of the consistent experiences that people have in our current time is that they are tired. In my practice it is one of the two most common complaints. People are fatigued. Deeply fatigued. Chronically fatigued; and they have no answers for their dilemma, as nothing they try seems to work.
The issue is a complex one, however invariable it can be traced back to diet; both the cumulative and current affects of our modern day food choices. Specifically choices which are consistent with the five new food groups: Fast, Frozen, Fried, Processed and Nuked. If it comes from a box, is individually wrapped, can be picked up at a window, someone else serves it, is beige in colour, or has a cute jingle that accompanies it, IT COULD BE A PROBLEM. Further exacerbating this situation is the fact that there are over 600,000 known chemicals in our environment. If the food label reads like a grade ten chemistry experiment or like the name of an offshore holding company, has edible petroleum by products, or contains enough preservatives that would make an Egyptian Pharaoh envious, IT COULD BE A PROBLEM.
We live in a society where burger is king and dairy is queen. We have a plethora of anti-acid, anti-cholesterol, anti-depressant and laxative products to help us with digestion and its affects. In one generation our eating habits have changed dramatically. The risk to our health is that we are eating the wrong foods and are not eating the required amounts of healthy, whole, life supporting foods.
Our food choices are a direct result of an increased pace of life, sedentary leisure and work activities, advertising and social pressures. There is less time for food preparation and the traditional sit down meal, which often results in eating prepared foods and/or on the run. The food industry is large, second only to the automobile industry worldwide, and powerful. Its ability to buy advertising shelf space is enormous, and it has generally worked hard to escape close scrutiny. What is sold as nutritious and healthy often has undesirable side effects. Furthermore, food production is compromised by a number of factors, including but not limited to: over farming, soil depletion, chemicals in the environment, and over processing.
Consumption of foods that fall into the five new food groups are detrimental to the body because they lack water, enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals and generally can be categorized as beige or lacking life. The cumulative effects of this consumption leads to weakened immune systems, allergies, hormonal imbalances, increased bacteria and parasite levels, digestive difficulties, compromised energy levels, and potential complications too numerous to mention. The human body becomes a toxic cesspool of harmful sludge, making life more difficult than it should be.
In my practice which employs live Blood Cell Analysis as the primary screening tool, I see the gamet of cases from healthy to very disturbing. One of my most shocking diagnoses was for a seven year old boy. His parents brought him to me because they had exhausted traditional means of dealing with his severe alopecia (hair loss). Upon examination, I discovered his diet consisted of boxed sugar coated cereal and milk for breakfast, canned pasta for lunch, fish or chicken fingers with fries for dinner. Only the rarest of occasions were cooked or raw vegetables introduced to his diet. He also had a dislike of fresh fruit. His situation is an unfortunate example of a lack of live whole food, lack of minerals and vitamins and over reliance on processed food. Not all children react as severely and at such a young age, but the cumulative effects of modern diets are only starting to show up on the radar screen of health. It is believed that degenerative diseases reserved for mid and later years will set upon current generations, at increasingly earlier rates. I am also troubled by the number of teenagers and young adults that I see who have started calcium extraction from their bones due to an overly acidic diet.
Much media attention has been heaped upon diets, fat and sugar consumption, and obesity in our society. It is predicted that early onset of diabetes is the next mass societal disease. The average North American consumes more than 150 lbs of sugar per year, and most of the available fast and snack foods contain trans-fatty acids. This deadly combo creates an environment that saps energy out of individuals, and speeds degenerative disorders.
The best way to combat the intake of bad foods is to increase your consumption of whole raw foods. The quickest and most efficient form of energy comes from carbohydrates (sugars and starches), fruits, vegetables and grains. I generally recommend a total of 10 fruits and vegetables per day. They burn clean in the body, without leaving a residue. The problem is that people are eating refined carbohydrates, which is where most of the bad publicity comes from. If it is not found in nature, it probably involves processing.
Diets and food fads seem to work in cyclical fashion. Our society has eating habits that have come under enough scrutiny, that changes are imminent. The Ontario government is considering banning pop machines at schools, mothers are reinventing school cafeteria menus and food labeling will need to detail trans-fatty acid content. Education about food is the cure to many of the problems we face. A good perspective to start your search for answers is to look back a hundred years or so. Think of what our ancestors would have eaten: raw fruits and vegetables, unbleached grains, nuts, and meat or fish on special occasions. Not a bad starting point.
