Health Thru Nutrition

Health Thru NUTRITION
1. Introduction
2. Disease and its CAUSE
3. The Healing Capability of the Body

Dr. Robbins did his undergraduate work at San Jacinto College in Houston, TX, majoring in pre-med. In 1978 he graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO. with a degree in Chiropractic, (DC). He did a residency in Clinical Nutrition and received his Doctor of Naturopathy (ND) degree from anglo-American Institute of Drugless Therapy. Dr. Robbins received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the British West Indies College of Medicine. Dr. Robbins has been operating his Health and Wellness practice in Tulsa, OK since 1978. His goal is to find truth concerning health and disease and then pass this knowledge on to sincere health seekers, so they too can have the gift of health.

INTRODUCTION:
If we take an honest look at nature, we will observe that three things are present:
1) Nature follows definite laws which are not subject to opinion or variance; and
2) Every aspect of life is reflected by nature.
3) Nature is governed by the law of CAUSE and EFFECT.
If we have violated a natural law, we have created a Cause, for which we will suffer an Effect.
Our ignorance of the laws of Nature does not change these laws.
There are two reasons for disease, or lack of health
1) Ignorance
2) Laziness
In the field of health, there are a few good rules to follow to achieve health.
1) Follow the laws of Nature
2) Let Truth be your authority, not authority your truth.
One of the Laws of Nature is that the innate intelligence of the body strives to keep the body alive, regardless of the cost. The "cost" is what we call "disease". Disease is the effort of the body to keep us alive.
WHAT IS REAL FOOD?
The body will keep us alive and healthy provided that we feed it "Real Food". Real food is a food which is compatible with the body; that in no way takes from the body, but lends itself to the building up of health and maintaining life. It contains nothing that is harmful, toxic or non usable by the body.
Real Food is defined for us by Nature as follows:
1) Something edible grown by Nature - of the Plant Kingdom
2) Food which can be eaten without processing in any way.
3) Food which comes to us from Nature as "complete packages", that is, they contain naturally everything in them necessary for the body to process and assimilate that food.
WHY DO WE EAT FOOD?
The only qualities of food which the body requires in a complete package are the following:
GLUCOSE, PROTEIN, FATTY ACIDS, MINERALS, ENZYMES, WATER.
If all of these components are in the food, the food is complete. If any of these are missing, the food is not "Real Food".
Real Food is provided by Nature in this form as raw fruits and vegetables. Raw fruits and vegetables contain all of the parts mentioned above. If food has been processed, cooked or altered in any way so as to change or eliminate any of the above ingredients, it is no longer "Real Food" as far as the Human Body is concerned.
PLANTS ARE THE SOURCE OF REAL FOOD FOR ALL LIFE FORMS
The plant kingdom utilizes sunshine, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water and organic minerals in the process of photosynthesis to feed itself and grow. The result is a living plant (food for animal consumption) containing:

* glucose
* protein
* fatty acids
* organic minerals
* organic enzymes (vitamins)
* water (pure)

Inorganic Mineral from the Earth + Photosynthesis = Organic Minerals from Plants which provide Protein and Enzymes for animals and humans.
The animal kingdom does not possess the ability to perform photosynthesis, therefore must rely on the plant kingdom to prepare its food.
Any form of processing nature's foods (such as pasteurization, cooking, adding preservatives, etc.) breaks the bonds between the food components and their attached enzymes as well as destroys the enzyme. The result is inorganic or denatured food components and thus inorganic food.
The enzyme must be alive and attached to the mineral or food component in order for the body to utilize it. The enzyme acts as a "passport" to get the mineral into the cell of the body and aids in the cell's utilization of that mineral. Raw foods are living and thus produce life in the body; because they have intact enzymes they are organic. Enzymes are catalysts - substances which help the body work more efficiently in utilizing food for life maintaining purposes.
An example of an inorganic substance is table salt. It is simply sodium and chloride. No enzymes, thus it is dead and the body cannot use it. Our bodies cannot attach an enzyme to inorganic substances, except at great cost. It is only the plant kingdom, through the process of photosynthesis, that can attach enzymes to inorganics and make them living or organic.
The more we process a food, the less nutrient value it retains. This is because living foods are organic foods. Processed foods, to various degrees, are inorganic or "dead" foods.
The following is the hierarchy of food preparation starting at the top with no preparation leaving the food with its full nutrient content, ending at the bottom with the most processing, rendering the food dead and useless to the body - little or no nutrient value retained:
RAW and WHOLE
JUICED and consumed immediately once the skin of fruits or vegetables is broken, oxygen combines with the enzymes and kills them (this process is called "oxidation")
DEHYDRATED or DRIED
loses 2-5% of nutrient value dried without chemicals or additives
commercial brands of dried fruit contain sulfur dioxide; exception: raisins)
FROZEN
freshly picked and frozen immediately
loses 5-30% of nutrient value
STEAMED
loses 15 - 60% of nutrient value
steamed means the green bean is still a bit crispy (if it's limp, its cooked)
COOKED
baked, broiled, boiled, grilled, steamed too long, home canned
the green bean is limp
loses 40 -100% of nutrient value, depending on how long it is cooked
COOKED LEFTOVERS MICRO WAVED
Loses 90 - 99% of nutrient value
COMMERCIALLY CANNED FOODS-- FRIED FOODS-- FOODS with ADDITIVES
these not only lose 100% of their nutrient value, but have toxins added to them

ACID/ALKALINE BALANCE
The Textbook of Medical Physiology by Arthur C. Guyton, M.D., probably the most recognized authority on human physiology states: "...the regulation of hydrogen ion concentration (pH or acid/alkaline balance) is one of the most important aspects of homeostasis." (Homeostasis is where the components involved seek an equilibrium.)
DEFINITIONS:
ph = measure of how acid or how alkaline a substance is.
ph scale = scale of measurement for acidity and alkalinity.
acid neutral alkaline
1 7 14
All chemical processes have an ideal pH at which they are most efficient. For example the body functions best with an internal chemistry being slightly alkaline (pH of 7.0 to 8.0). The pH of the blood is even more specific:
BLOOD ph 7.4 = Normal 7.2 = DEATH
Our internal body chemistry functions in an alkaline environment. Our blood must maintain a pH of 7.4. If it drops below that to 7.2 we die.
The cells of the body in health are alkaline. In disease the cell pH is below 7.0. The more acid the cells become, the sicker we are and feel. The cells won't die until their pH gets to about 3.5. Our bodies produce acid as a by-product of normal metabolism. This is the result of our bodies burning or using alkaline to remain alive. Since our bodies do not manufacture alkaline, we must supply the alkaline from an outside source to keep us from becoming acid and dying.
Food is the means of replenishing the alkaline to the body. The main determining factor of alkaline is the organic minerals. One can equate organic minerals with alkaline for better understanding. Foods are of two types, acid or alkaline. This refers to the ash value of a food. (Meaning the type of residue that remains after the food is digested and processed). Is it acid, or is it alkaline? If there is an acid residue (inorganic acids), the body must neutralize this acid to keep the blood from getting acid. The acid is neutralized with alkaline.
Ideally there is adequate alkaline in the diet to do this. However, if there is not, the body must extract alkaline from its cells to neutralize the acid. This, of course, causes the cells to become acid, and thus diseased. Because our bodies are an alkaline entity, in order to maintain health, the majority of our diet must consist of alkaline ash foods.
We can remain in health by consuming a diet that is 70-80% alkaline and 20-30% acid. The more alkaline the better. If we become too alkaline by eating a majority of alkaline foods, we will lose our appetite and automatically want to fast, during which time the normal acid metabolic by-products will return the body's pH back to normal. It is interesting to note that some foods which qualify as a real food have an acid ash reaction. This is probably nature's way of keeping a balance so that the real food consumer does not become too alkaline. Also note that the acid content of these acid ash real foods is very low and they still contain valuable nutrients which can be utilized by the body.
On this page is a chart of the acid and alkaline foods:
ACID/ALKALINE BALANCE
The breakdown of foods into acid ash and alkaline ash categories would generally be as follows:
NOTE: Foods in the Acid Ash column are listed in order of least acid to most acid; in the alkaline ash column, foods are listed in order from most alkaline to least alkaline.
ACID ASH ALKALINE ASH
SOME RAW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES (cranberries, blueberries, plums, prunes, squash)
WHOLE GRAINS - COOKED
OVERCOOKED FRUITS / VEGGIES
DAIRY PRODUCTS (cheese, eggs, milk, etc.)
SUGAR and REFINED GRAINS
WHITE MEAT (fish, fowl) Raw, Rare, Well Done
RED MEATS (beef, pork, mutton) Raw, Rare, Well Done
FRIED FOOD, COFFEE, TEA, SALT, ALCOHOL DRUGS & MEDICATIONS, TOBACCO RAW FRUITS
DRIED FRUITS
FROZEN FRUITS / VEGGIES
LIGHTLY STEAMED FRUITS & VEGGIES
RAW NUTS (almonds, pecans, cashews, etc.)
SPROUTED GRAINS
HERBS, SPICES, CONDIMENTS, SPICY FOODS (garlic, hot peppers, onions, horseradish, etc.)
The average American diet consists of: 20-30% alkaline foods, & the diet should consist of at least: 70-80% ALKALINE FOODS & 20-30% ACID FOODS. It is not unusual for the average American to go 7 to 14 days without eating ANY alkaline foods.