Poison In Our Food 

This week we are not going to talk about junk food or health food. Just had a sandwich with white bread? Maybe you didn’t understand some of the things the label on the bread wrapper did and didn’t say. The product of bleach interaction in the flour, ammonium chloride (dough conditioner), mono and diglycerides and polyoxythylene (softeners), ditertiary butylparacresol (antioxidants), nitrated flour or coal tar dye (to give it the yellow color suggestive of egg yokes and butter), artificial vitamin fortifiers (to replace the nutrients removed during milling), etc., etc.

And don’t think that only your sandwich bread is suspect. Certainly nothing was added to the fresh eggs you ate for breakfast this morning, right? An egg is an egg. Wrong! Do you know what chemicals, sex hormones and antibiotics went into the chicken who laid it? I bet you didn’t know that the tossed salad with dressing you had for lunch also contained sodium alginate (stabilizer), mono-isopropylcitrate (antioxidant), and the poisonous pesticides, fertilizers and weed killers.

Today, we are surrounded by toxic substances in our air, water, soil …and food. Most food manufactured or processed is treated with chemical preservatives, dyes and other food additives. A healthy body can usually eliminate these harmful substances through the liver and kidneys. But a diet high in refined sugars, and an overload of these food chemicals reduces the chances of getting rid of them. When this happens disease begins.

Toxins in food may not all be poison in the classic sense They often do their damage more insidiously, inhibiting the actions of enzymes in our bodies. Many things can go wrong if enzymes don’t do their work. Activators of almost every digestive and energy-producing activity in the body, or digestive systems become sluggish and slow down if they are adversely affected by toxins, with serious results. Our kidneys and liver become overloaded, and fat is deposited on our arteries. The final result is a lowered quality of life, cardiovascular illness, and degenerative disease.

Toxic substances may also severely depress the immune system. It’s only in the last half of the 20^th century, with the increase in environmental pollution and dependence on processed food, that we have seen a rapid rise in cancer, heart disease, arthritis and other maladies unknown not too long ago, that a healthy, normal immune system would be able to keep at bay. Some experts even say this may have been a contributor to AIDS.

While those who live in polluted or suburban areas may say they have little control over many toxic substances—like air pollution—there are things we all can do. People can stop smoking, drinking alcohol and other toxic drugs, and eating processed food. What we need to do instead is to start eating fresh, untreated foods, raw organic foods, and fresh juices. Offer the body the right nutrients. Allow the body to open to the eliminative processes in which the liver and digestive tract play key roles. Start to detoxify by getting used to natural juices, natural mineral sources and other organic substances. Supplemented by enemas and medically supervised short duration fasts.

There are a variety of detoxification techniques available. Many are similar to getting rid of drugs for a urine test. Several can be used in combination to improve your well being, as well as increase your self-awareness.

It’s estimated that nearly half of all illness originates in the intestinal tract. Anything that passes through the intestines will have an impact, positively or negatively, on your health. Cleansing the intestines will help free the body of some hazardous toxins. If we eat toxin-free foods that can be digested quickly, transit time in the colon will also be fast. This helps keep bacteria in balance while diminishing harmful bacteria activity. However, if we eat animal protein, such as meat and hard cheese, food transit time slows down, and things clog up creating a breeding ground for illness.

Another concern in keeping the colon healthy is the deleterious effect of antibiotics on our digestive system. Most antibiotics destroy the friendly flora in the colon, allowing the proliferation of two harmful organisms, E Coli and Candida Albicans.

We are exposed to antibiotics in many ways. In addition to taking them as medication, antibiotics (which are not destroyed in cooking) come to us though the chickens, beef, pork and lamb we eat.

Modern nutritional experts (not the kind that design hospital diets), such periodic colon irrigation, where water and sometime oxygen is used to clean the colon, or by eating plenty papaya and watermelon. Fresh carrot, celery and cucumber juice mixed in a one-to-one ration is also an ideal intestinal cleanser.

Detoxification with herbs is another key approach to renewed health. Green Life Grocer in Chattanooga has a number of good books on the subject, as well as organic veggies to begin your cleansing.

Once you’ve decided to make a change in your diet and lifestyle, you may wish to underdog some simple, and relatively inexpensive tests to determine whether there are specific aspects of your health that should be taken into consideration in your diet, such as food allergies which can also cause health problems. These include the Glucose Intolerance or blood sugar test, and the ESR, or red blood cell sedimentation rate test.

Remember, in our capital-driven society, the food you eat has not necessarily been processed with your health in mind, as much as it was for the stock owners of the company producing it. Interesting thing to consider. And, if you think Big Brother, like the FDA is watching and taking care of things, guess again. It ain’t so! The FDA follows the guidelines established by the "extensive testing" of the food manufactures themselves, sort of like letting the chickens play with the wolf. I know from personal experience, because I used to be involved in FDA research, and have visited their meager facilities in Washington, DC, and other locations, including meat inspectors at slaughter houses, who I know receive handsome gifts for "looking the other way" on occasion!

Well, happy eating. Until next week, watch what you put into your body by reading the labels...that is if you enjoy living, and expect the unexpected.

Virato lives in Ooltewah, and is editor of New Frontier Magazine (See http://newfrontier.com ), an internationally respected journal on holistic health. You may send him e-mail at virato@mindspring.com

Chattanooga Spirit
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