Nutrition Wisdom
by Paavo O. Airola, N.D.
[all quotations from Are You Confused?]
Natural
Foods Are Best
"What
are natural foods? Foods grown on fertile soil under natural conditions, and
consumed in their natural state are natural foods. Foods grown in depleted
soils with the help of chemicals and processed by heat, irradiation or chemical
treatment, are not natural foods.
"Here
are some examples:
"Eggs
laid by hens running outdoors in sunlight and eating grass, seeds, insects and
worms--and in the company of roosters!--are natural, fertile eggs, with dark
yolks and full, nutritional value. But eggs produced by "cooped-up"
chickens in an "egg factory," by hens who never see daylight or
rooster and are fed only synthetic medicated mash, are not natural eggs. Such
eggs are infertile, they will not produce chickens, their yolks are pale, their
chemical composition is altered, their vitamin content is lower and their total
nutritional value is way below that of a natural egg. Among other things, eggs
produced by cooped-up chickens contain twice as much saturated fats as the
natural eggs do.
"Natural,
raw, unpasteurized milk has more vitamins and enzymes; the proteins and
minerals of such milk are easily digested and assimilated by the body.
Pasteurization reduces the vitamin and enzyme content and makes minerals, fatty
acids and proteins less assimilable and digestible.
"Natural
fruits, vegetables and grains should grow in healthy, humus-rich soils, without
chemical fertilizers or toxic sprays. Natural foods contain more protein, more
vitamins, more minerals and other nutrients, particularly the vital enzymes,
than the canned or packaged, unnatural or processed foods bought at your
supermarket." (p. 42)
"Scientists
who tried to feed test animals a synthetic diet composed of all the nutritive
substances known to science, have found that animals could live in seemingly
good health, and even have reproductive capacity. However, from the second and
third generation, animals lost their power to reproduce and the whole strain
gradually died. Also, their health condition and the growth rate were adversely
affected by the synthetic diet. These experiments prove that natural foods
contain more than just all the known or discovered nutrients." (p. 43)
"Dr.
Weston A. Price, Vilhjalmur Steffansson, Dr. McCarrison, Arnold DeVries, and
many others, who made extensive travels and studies of diet habits and their
relation to health and longevity of practically every "primitive"
people in the world, have found that when the diet was made of natural, fresh,
unprocessed foods, grown in their own environment, the people had no disease or
tooth decay. . . . Moreover, regardless of the composition of the diet--whether
it was exclusively vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, predominantly meat or largely
dairy-product diet--as long as the foods were natural, unprocessed, and largely
eaten raw, the people maintained vibrant health, lived long, and enjoyed
youthful vitality." (p. 43)
Disease
and Pain in Childbirth Unknown Among "Primitive" Peoples
"Arnold
DeVries has studied the historical records of the North and South American
Indians, Eskimos, Asians, Africans, Australian aborigines, New Zealand Maories,
and people living on Pacific and Atlantic islands, and found that all of them
enjoyed glowing health, great fertility and almost incredible endurance.
Diseases were almost unknown. Woman had fast and painless childbirths, and were
usually back to their work in the fields an hour later. Men could run all day
without fatigue. There was no tooth decay, or loss of sight or hearing, or gray
hair. Although statistical life expectancy was low because of the poor
sanitation, most of those who survived lived to be 100 years or over. DeVries
also found that as soon as "civilized" foods were introduced to these
people, their health began to decline. Childbirth became painful and prolonged;
tooth decay made its impact; vitality and endurance abated; and they gradually
became subject to all the diseases of "civilized" people." (p. 43)
Whole
Foods Vs. Fragmented Foods
"Whole
foods are simply foods which still contain all the nutrients nature has put
into them--not less and not more!--complete, unfragmented, unrefined, neither
fortified nor enriched. Whole wheat bread, potatoes in jackets, brown rice,
sugar cane, oranges--are whole foods. White bread, instant potatoes, polished
rice, white sugar and orange juice--are not whole foods. They are fragmented,
concentrated or refined foods from which important nutrient factors have been
processed out, destroyed, or removed." (p. 44)
"The
two worst examples of fragmented foods are white sugar and white flour--these
two nutritionless monstrosities, disguised under the name of food, are
responsible more than anything else for the deterioration of health in civilized
countries. During World War II, in European countries, the consumption of white
flour and white sugar was sharply reduced due to rationing. The statistics also
showed a sharp reduction in the incidence of many degenerative diseases during
these years, notably a sharp decrease in diabetes. Note that although the use
of refined carbohydrates decreased, the consumption of whole, natural
carbohydrates, such as whole grains, actually increased during the war. . . .
"Whole
wheat, for example, is a good source of vitamin E. But it would take more than
200 slices of white bread to secure a proper daily requirement of this vital
vitamin, because most of it has been removed with the wheat germ in processing.
The same goes with the B-vitamins, minerals, best proteins and the natural oils
of the wheat. If you eat enriched bread, do not think you get these nutrients
anyway since they allegedly have been added to the bread. None of the vitamin
E, oils, minerals, or proteins have been added; and from more than 15 vitamins
of the B-complex that have been removed in processing, only 3 have been
returned in insignificant amounts. If this is enrichment, I'd like to know what
is impoverishment!" (p. 45)
"Whole
foods are an absolute must for optimum health. Whole foods contain not only
complete nutrition, but also all the enzymes and other factors necessary for
the proper, effective digestion and good assimilation of each particular
food." (p. 47)
Whole
Foods Save Denmark
"The
value of whole, unrefined foods was dramatically demonstrated on a grand scale
during the First World War. Denmark was plagued by a serious food shortage. The
government assigned Dr. M. Hindhede, the director of the Danish Institute of
Nutrition Research, to design a program for protecting the nation from the
hunger threat. The first action of Hindhede was to increase whole-grain
production by limiting livestock production and curtailing the sale of meat,
thus saving grain for human consumption. Production of alcoholic beverages was
banned for the same reason. Also, grain processing was stopped and only
whole-grain bread and cereals were allowed to be sold. Farmers were directed
and encouraged to produce more grain, green vegetables, fruits, milk and
butter, instead of meat.
"These
simple, but from a nutritional standpoint revolutionary, changes in eating
habits resulted in spectacular and rapid changes in the health condition of the
whole nation. The death rate dropped over 40% in one year. Diseases that
affected other European countries, including the dreaded influenza epidemic,
bypassed Denmark. In only a few years, Denmark became the healthiest nation in
all of Europe!" (p. 46)
Sugar
Cane Vs. White Sugar
"In
Africa, where natives eat large quantities of sugar cane, there is virtually no
diabetes or dental caries. When these natives, however, move to the cities and
begin to eat white sugar, they rapidly develop caries, diabetes, ulcers and
other diseases of civilization. Dr. John Yudkin, of London University, has
conclusively demonstrated that white sugar and white four products are the
major cause of heart disease." (p. 46)
Cooking
Destroys All Enzymes
"Cooking
destroys enzymes 100%. Enzymes are vital catalysts, absolutely essential for
the proper digestion and assimilation of the food, as well as for all other
functions in your body. Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Virtanen, from Finland,
has demonstrated that in the process of chewing raw foods, new active
substances are formed in the mouth with the help of enzymes. It is estimated
that about 600 various enzymes are essential for human health, but all enzymes
in foods are destroyed in cooking. In addition, cooking destroys many of the
vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins B and C are particularly vulnerable to the
effect of heat and cooking. Minerals also are depleted by cooking and are
usually thrown away with the cooking water.
"Even
moderate heating destroys the nutritional value of foods. Pasteurization of
milk destroys some of the vitamins and all of the enzymes. Lewis J. Silvers,
M.D., says that at least three factors in mild are destroyed by the process of
pasteurization: an anemia-prevention factor, an ulcer-prevention factor, and an
arthritis-prevention factor." (p. 48)
Raw
Foods Are Therapeutic
"The
therapeutic value of raw foods is well known. In most European biological
clinics raw foods are used in the healing of many common diseases, such as
cancer, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc. The famous Gerson cure for cancer
is based primarily on raw foods and raw juices. In animal tests, arthritis was
experimentally caused by feeding animals cooked foods exclusively.
"Raw,
living foods contain all the nutritive elements in the right proportion and
balance. Contrary to popular notion, most foods in their raw state are easier
to digest than the same foods in their cooked state. This is true of all fruits
and most vegetables and grains.
"Raw,
living foods are equally known for their prophylactic (or disease-preventive)
value. Furthermore, raw foods act as a cleansing agent on the digestive and
eliminative systems and are the best preventive measure against
constipation." (p. 48)
"The
aging-preventive and rejuvenative property of raw foods was scientifically
demonstrated and explained in European and Japanese research. Raw plant foods
increase the micro-electric tension in cell tissue, as was discovered by the
Viennese scientists investigating cell permeability. Increased micro-electric
tension in the cell tissue improves cell oxygenation, stimulates cell
metabolism, increases the cell's resistance to aging, speeds the process of
cell renewal--in short, improves the cell's metabolism and prevents biochemical
suffocation. Japanese researchers at the University of Kyushu have shown that
raw plant foods contain substances that help the body in its fight against
disease-producing agents." (p. 49)
Food
Industries Sponsor "Scientific" Research
"There
is virtually no independent nutrition research in the United States. Almost all
research is done and/or sponsored by the commercial food industries involved.
The giant, multi-billion dollar food processing, chemical and drug industries
finance most of nutrition research in the United States, both in private
research centers and in the form of grants to the various universities. For
example, the Nutrition Department of one of our leading universities, Harvard,
is lavishly financed by America's largest food processors and chemical and drug
companies. (p. 22)
"There
are huge economic interests --the multibillion dollar livestock, dairy and
meat-packing industry--involved in promoting the high-protein diet. These
industries sponsor most of the protein research." (p. 29)
The
Protein Myth
"You
have been told that "you need lots of protein each day." This is a
typical example of half-truth. It is true that your body needs proteins each
day for its vital functions and new-building of cells. But you don't have to
eat proteins each day. Your body can exist without any food, and consequently
without any proteins, for weeks and months, as evidenced by prolonged
therapeutic fasting. It is a general observation that the protein level of the
blood (serum albumin reading) of fasting patients remains constant and normal
during the whole fasting period, in spite of the fact that no protein is
consumed. The reason for this is that the proteins in your body are in the
so-called dynamic state: they are constantly changed from one form to another,
being decomposed and resynthesized from blood plasma amino acids. Amino acids
from the old and broken-down cells are not wasted, but are re-used for the
building of new cells. Thus the body is using and re-using the same proteins
again and again where they are needed." (p. 34)
"The
actual daily need for protein in human nutrition is far below that which has
long been considered necessary.
"World-famous
Swedish nutritionist, Dr. Ragnar Berg, whose works on nutrition are used as
text books in many medical schools, made an extensive research on protein and
concluded that 30 grams of protein in the daily diet is a generous allowance.
Finnish scientist, Dr. V.O. Siven, arrived at the exact same amount--30 grams.
American scientist, Dr. R. Chittenden, found, in his extensive experiments with
athletes and soldiers, that 30 to 50 grams of protein a day is sufficient for
maximum physical performance. . . .
"Dr.
D. M. Hegsted, of Harvard University, found that 27 grams a day is the average
person's daily need for protein. And research made by Dr. William C. rose has
shown that only 20 grams a day of mixed proteins (of which only about 2/3 are
so-called complete) is sufficient for our needs. The recent studies by German
Professor, Dr. K. Eimer, showed that athletes' performance improved after they
switched from a 100 gram-a-day animal protein diet to a 50 gram-a-day vegetable
protein diet. And, finally, recently a Japanese researcher, Dr. Kuratsune,
showed that 25-30 grams of protein a day is sufficient to sustain good
health." (p. 30)
"Here
is a partial list of what too much protein in your diet can cause:
1)
Toxic residues in the tissues.
2)
Biochemical imbalance in tissues and resultant over-acidity.
3)
Accumulation of uric acid, urea and toxic purines in the tissues.
4)
Diminished strength and endurance. Drs. Chittenden and Fisher conclude that
uric acid, urea, and purines of meat poison and interfere with muscle and nerve
function.
5)
Intestinal putrefaction and resultant constipation and auto-toxemia.
6)
Vitamin B6 deficiency.
7)
Arteriosclerosis, heart disease and kidney damage.
8)
Arthritis." (p. 31)
Are
Meat Eaters Healthier Than Vegetarians?
"A
recent study conducted by several medical doctors shows that Seventh-Day
Adventists, who do not eat meat for religious reasons, have:
40%
less coronary disease
400%
less death rate from respiratory diseases
100%
lower mortality rate from all causes
1000%
lower death rate from lung cancer...
50%
less dental caries among their children
[study
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association]" (p. 35)
"Vegetable
proteins are higher in biological value than animal proteins. For example,
proteins in potatoes are biologically superior to proteins in meat, eggs or
milk. Raw proteins have higher biological value than cooked proteins. You need
only one-half the amount of proteins if you eat raw vegetable proteins instead
of cooked animal proteins." (p. 32)
* * *
Jock
Doubleday
Director
Natural Woman, Natural Man, Inc.
http://www.GentleBirth.org/nwnm.org
http://www.SpontaneousCreation.org
director@spontaneouscreation.org