Dental Health

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

One of the most common concerns that arise regularly in the various raw food circles is dental health. This concern, however, is not limited to the raw food community, it is just more highlighted as we improve all other aspects of our health. We expect our teeth to improve right along with our health but often the opposite happens and we start to notice more tooth decay and irritation as we heal instead.

“More than 36 million Americans do not have any teeth, and 120 million people in the U.S. are missing at least one tooth. In the geriatric population, the ratio of edentulous [without teeth] individuals is 2 to 1.” -American College of Prosthodontists

But this was not always the case, as evidenced by ancient skulls tooth loss is a modern problem:

“Geologists and paleontologists often unearth the skulls of peoples long dead, the teeth of which show no signs of decay and the enamel on which is often almost double the thickness and much harder than the enamel on our teeth.”

“Today most of the civilized portions of the race are a race of dental cripples. We are face to face with the fact that our teeth begin to decay in childhood. Indeed they sometimes have cavities in them when they erupt.” – Herbert Shelton

The decay of the teeth is due to malnutrition. It is a progressive condition that begins before we are even born. The health and strength of our teeth start in the womb based on the minerals available in our mother’s body.

The health of our teeth then progressively degenerates throughout our life due to the consumption of cooked and processed foods, acid-forming foods, and a lack of proper exercise of the teeth.

Hugh W. McMillan, D.D.S., M.D., of Cincinnati, says:

“To a careful observer of dental conditions at the present time in clinic and private practice, it is very evident the ravages of dental caries and diseases of the gums are daily increasing, in spite of the increasing number of dentists, in spite of the multiplicity of patented and personally-designated tooth brushes, in spite of proprietary pyorrhea cures and gum massaging pastes, in spite of acid, alkaline, neutral, mucin dissolving and film destroying tooth pastes and mouthwashes and in spite of the type of periodontologist who aims to prevent by either applying or removing something from the tooth surface in the same manner that some unintelligent physician might expect to cure by external applications a skin disease of general origin.”

OUR NATURAL FOODS KEEP OUR TEETH STRONG

Our natural foods are dense and require vigorous chewing which exercises the teeth, jaw, and gums. Just as a strength training exercise is recommended for the elderly to maintain bone density, our teeth require strength training to keep them strong and healthy. They of course also need adequate nutrients to build from, which are found in the organic minerals in fruits and vegetables but they need exercise in the form of us masticating thoroughly to put those nutrients to use.

“That the teeth and bones are similar in structure has been recognized by nearly all physiologists. Chemically they are very much alike. According to Hoppe-Seyler, the inorganic constituents are the same for bone and for dentin, about 85 percent, calcium phosphate and from 10 to 12 percent, calcium carbonate. The density of dentin cartilage is about equal to that of bone.

The processes of calcification are analogous. In the teeth the calcification occurs about the processes of the odontoblasts, just as in bone it occurs about the bone cells and forms lacunae. In both, the inorganic constituents are laid down in a colloidal matrix. It would therefore seem reasonable to infer that a pathologic condition which affected one might affect the other. This, however, has not been the opinion of dentists. They believe that dental caries is a purely local affair. The present theory is that carbohydrate material adheres to the teeth and, there fermenting, with theformation of lactic acid, forms the cavity of tooth decay. This idea has not been supported by animal experimentation. Twenty guinea-pigs, fed on a diet to which were added large amounts of sugars, viz., dextrose, lévulose, lactose, saccharin, dextrin and white flour, showed no dental effect at the end of a year. The sugars and starches adhered to the teeth constantly, and bacterial examination disclosed a fermentative flora ; but no dental effects could be detected.” – P. Howe “Decalcification Of Teeth And Bones, And Regeneration Of Bone Through Diet”

The problem we are often seeing in the raw food communities is that our already impaired dental health makes it difficult to chew and our weak jaws get tired working through a large salad or bag of apples. For this reason, many raw foodists turn to smoothies, juices, dips, sauces, raw soups, and other blended and processed fares which allow us to get in the nutrients but not the jaw and teeth exercise we need for strong teeth.

The same study goes on to talk about the destruction of teeth when fed a scorbutic diet, which is a diet devoid of vitamin c, scorbutic meaning causes scurvy. The study found an “increase of magnesium in pathologic décalcification of bone.” Even when adequate calcium is supplied the lack of vitamin C, most prevalent in leafy greens and fresh fruits, led to dental caries (cavities), inflammation of the gums, loss of teeth, and purulent discharge from the gums. The correction is also found, “Feeding orange juice is followed by complete clearing up of the trouble.”

Shelton confirms the need for Vitamin C in dental health as well as Vitamins A and D:

“Tooth enamel is made up largely of calcium and phosphorus with small quantities of iron. But the fusion of these substances into enamel requires the presence of vitamines A, C and D. At least half a dozen elements and factors are essential to the production of this tissue. In the absence of either of these factors the enamel of the teeth cannot be made. It is folly to feed much calcium in an effort to produce good teeth and to ignore the other essential elements of the teeth.”

And yet it is exactly this folly that most succumb to, seeking out calcium supplements of inorganic and therefore harmful sources of minerals, or seeking high calcium foods without asking what else might be needed here.

“If man were to subsist wholly on alimentary substances in their natural state, or without any artificial preparation, by cooking, he would be obliged to use his teeth freely, and by so doing not only preserve his teeth from decay; but at the same time and by the same means, he would thoroughly mix his food with the solvent fluid of his mouth.“ – Sylvester Graham

“Sugar and fruit acids do not injure the enamel of normal teeth. Sound teeth have been immersed in a sugar solution and in fruit acids for months without suffering any erosion. Dr. E. Howard Turison and others have proved this.”- Herbert Shelton

“Lactic acid does not injure the enamel of the teeth. No experiments have been able to show that bacteria of any type, when cultured on the teeth, are responsible for dental caries.” – Herbert Shelton

“Experiments by Drs. Howe and Hatch (1917) in America, and by Sir James McIntosh, Warwick James and Lazarus-Barlow, working together in England, in trying to produce dental caries by using acid forming bacteria all resulted negatively. Dr. Howe says that “so long as the diet is normal it has been found impossible to cause caries or pyorrhea by maintaining fermentation in the mouth or by feeding or injecting the bacteria believed to be most actively associated with dental caries.” – Herbert Shelton

OUR UNNATURAL COOKED DIET BREAKS DOWN OUR TEETH

“Cereals, especially, seem to induce defective teeth, particularly when not counter-balanced with large quantities of green foods and fresh fruits.” P. Howe

“Investigations have revealed that those races whose diets include no cereals have teeth and mouths practically free of any kind of disease, while those races whose staple diets are cereals and meat with relatively small amounts of fruits and vegetables have jaws and teeth like those so common in America. Wheat is the most damaging of all the cereals, regarded from the point of view of its acidity. Little meat and cereals and an abundance of fruits and vegetables produce teeth like those found in Polish and Irish peasantry and those of the vegetarian races of the Orient.” – Herbert Shelton

When we cook our foods we create a soft mass that requires little chewing. Our unnatural cooked foods diets are abundant in soft mushy foods – pasta, bread, cereals, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and even the vegetables which would supply adequate nutrients to build strong teeth are softened to mush by cooking and have their organic minerals converted to inorganic minerals in the process. Uncooked food in comparison requires vigorous chewing, supplying the teeth with much-needed exercise.

WHY THEN DOES IT APPEAR SOMETIMES THAT DENTAL DECAY OCCURS AFTER TRANSITIONING BACK TO THE NATURAL DIET?

There are a few reasons why we might see an increase in dental decay when we begin to transition to the natural diet. As mentioned above, the heavy reliance on blended and processed raw foods that most use as a transitional tool does contribute to the underuse of our teeth. As the body begins to heal and release old acidic waste from storage the body will take alkaline minerals from the bones and teeth to neutralize those acids.

“…in order to neutralize the acids formed by the decomposition of excess protein, the body was forced to give up its mineral salts. Thus the teeth, bones, cartilages, nails, hair, etc., were leeched of these elements.” – Herbert Shelton

If we are properly exercising our teeth during this time the body will see the strength of the teeth as a necessity and will replenish the teeth faster than it pulls from them because we are supplying an abundance of minerals in the form of leafy greens, fruits, and vegetables. But if we are relying heavily on blended, juiced, and processed foods or focusing our diet too much on soft fruits and not enough on tough fruits, leafy greens and vegetables that require working our jaw and supply ample minerals, then the body will see the teeth as expendable compared to the vital organs.

Another reason some experience issues is that despite meat causing many health issues the gristly tissues are a workout for the jaw. The shift then from that workout without replacing it with another can lead to the weakening of the teeth during this time.

We are also dumping symptom suppressants along the way. Often as we learn to take better care of ourselves we also stop using fluoridated toothpaste which creates a false strength to our teeth while we are using them but which the body tries to eliminate as soon as we stop. The internal damage to our teeth has already progressed and when we stop the fluoride which fills the gaps where the calcium is missing, the holes show up quickly. If we are eating abundantly of mineral-rich greens and working our jaws these holes will fill back in eventually, but in the short term dental issues may arise.

Then we have the issue of dead teeth. Since dental decay is a progressive process that occurs gradually over time and from the inside out, we have been destroying our teeth since childhood but the major issues tend to begin to show up for all people between the ages of 30 and 50. If you are a woman who has given birth to children that may start even earlier as creating new life takes lots of minerals from the body to give them to the child. As the body starts to clean and heal it wants to discard the unrepairable. Sometimes this means that old filings are pushed out, and sometimes this means that damaged and dead teeth are broken down for their materials instead of being rebuilt. Only the body can decide whether a tooth is salvageable or in need of discarding.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE OUR DENTAL HEALTH AND MINIMIZE TOOTH LOSS?

“We examined the jaws of some of these animals after they had died. The jaws showed that while the guinea pigs had been on a vitamin-deficient diet, the bony structure of the jaw had been mined of its calcium and when the normal diet was restored, areas of calcium had been replaced, showing very definitely that the body calls on the bones for calcium when it is needed in the blood, and that the blood gives calcium back when there is an abundance of this element.” P. Howe

The good news is, our teeth can and do rebuild to some extent when we feed them adequately. Before I knew much about healing I used to say, “An apple a day keeps the dentist away as well as the doctor.” I had always noticed how much better, cleaner, and stronger my teeth felt when I was regularly eating apples and apparently both Tilden and Shelton confirm the benefits of the apple.

Dr. Tilden especially recommends apples for rachitic children, and for building good bones and teeth. Dr. Claunch stated that cavities in his teeth healed while he was on an apple diet. – Herbert Shelton

This makes sense when combined with our knowledge about the importance of exercising our teeth, as apples are one of the foods that work our jaws the most.

Oranges are another great food for dental health. Although they don’t require much of a dental workout they do supply a generous amount of building materials, including Vitamin C.

Leafy greens and tender vegetables are mineral-rich and a great workout for the jaw. I recall early in my journey how tired my jaw would get from all the chewing. Now I realize how weak my jaw was back then. Over time my jaw has strengthened and now eating a huge salad is a joy, but early on it was truly a workout.

A variety of fruits and greens are going to supply the necessary building materials for our teeth, but crisp fruits, greens, and vegetables are the keys to the working of our teeth.

As they say, “use it or lose it!” If we don’t work our teeth with vigorous mastication we will lose our teeth.

Overall though, there is no one thing, no magic cure for poor teeth, instead, we must focus on health overall and by correcting all of our bad habits that injure the body as a whole we then put the conditions in place for good dental health as well.

As Herbert Shelton so eloquently exclaims:

“Good teeth depend upon good health and not vice versa as the tooth-extracting fad proclaims. No cause of impaired health, however insignificant it may seem to be, should be neglected if the teeth are to be preserved. There seems to me to be no way to preserve the teeth by any plan that falls short of a complete system of health building. No one-idea plan can succeed. Soundness of the teeth will be preserved by the same mode of living that preserves soundness in all the tissues and structures of the body. We must learn to think in terms of health-building. We must learn to think in terms of health of the whole organism and cease thinking in terms of local health.”

This is an article from The Natural Diet Support Group. A new group starts on the first of every month teaching the natural human diet, how to transition away from disease-causing foods and how the self-healing body operates, to learn more about our support group or join click here-> https://www.therawkey.com/the-natural-diet-support-group/

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

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Reader Q&A

Cancer – Understanding Natural Health Versus the Medical Model Can Save Your Life!

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question:

The conventional position is that cancer cells are abnormal cells that grow and divide uncontrollably. How does that mesh with NH’s position that cancer is nothing more than toxic waste safely enveloped by the body in a protective sac? 

Answer: 

The medical industry takes a wide range of symptoms and labels all of them as cancer. They do not delineate between different symptoms or the progression of the condition other than to say that Cancer is in stages 1-4. In Natural Hygiene or Life Science, the medical diagnosis of cancer falls into both the sixth stage of disease and the seventh stage of disease depending on the exact conditions.  The sixth stage is the body putting the toxic material into a specific area, as opposed to it being circulated around the body.   

I would clarify that “toxic waste safely enveloped by the body in a protective sac” is not quite an accurate description of how natural hygiene explains cancer.  The backlog of waste is never safe for the tissues.  It remains problematic until the body has been freed of it.   However,  the body isolates that material in one area to protect the rest of the cells in the body from the toxic materials.  This is what I mean when I say the body is intelligently encapsulating the waste.   Not that the material is safe, but the body is making the best of a bad situation by isolating the materials in one area.  The cells in that localized area though are continuing to be injured. If the causes of disease are not removed the area will continue to grow and spread as the amount of waste in the system continues to grow. Eventually, this will result in the failure of the person to survive the toxic conditions present in their body.  

Natural Hygiene agrees with medicine that cancer cells are abnormal cells and at some point what the medical industry calls Cancer will progress to a state where the individual cells grow and divide uncontrollably.   However, the majority of Cancer diagnoses will fall in Stage 6 of disease, induration, rather than stage 7. In stage 6, the body creates tumorous tissue (scar tissue) to bridge the lost tissue which occurs in Stage 5 ulceration and encapsulates the poisonous materials that destroy the tissue.  The ulcer (stage 5) and the toxic material in that area are encapsulated by the hardening of the tissue around them.   

If at this point the causes of disease are not remedied then the body will enter Stage 7, Cancer, where body vitality is at a very low energy, cells are no longer under the control of the body’s master control system and the cells begin to multiply and grow abnormally.  

This is due to 2 malfunctions occurring in the cell.  In normal cells, there is a process called contact inhibition, whereby the normal cell continues to grow until it touches or comes in contact with the neighboring cell, at which point its growth stops.   In a cancerous cell, the conditions surrounding the cell cause malfunction that results in the contact inhibition being faulty and the cell continues to grow past the point of contact.  

The second malfunction is in the lifespan of a cell.  In a normal cell, there is a limited lifespan of the cell and when the cell is no longer functioning optimally the cell is recycled.  

“…normal cell divides in two at a constant rate, then the two daughter cells into four, and so on, but along the road of reproduction some of the cells die at a constant rate equal to the rate of reproduction. Balance is therefore maintained. But not so for cancer cells. They do not have a finite life span. Nor do they die in the same proportion as those that reproduce.” – T.C. Fry, Life Science Course, Lesson 75

Natural hygiene recognizes that the abnormally growing and multiplying cancer cell has reverted to a simpler form and become disconnected from the network of cells.   In a normal healthy body, all cells are coordinating and working together for the greater organism. In an abnormal cell, the conditions surrounding the cell are so toxic that the cell can no longer operate in coordination with other cells.   Its functions then become simplified to the basic survival of the individual cell, as opposed to the survival of the entire body.   The cell focuses only on its own needs instead of being tied to the other cells and coordinating its actions.   

Where natural hygiene diverges with medicine is in how we respond to this information and what steps are taken to remedy the malfunction.  Medicine treats its various collections of symptoms as unique, separate, and individual diseases. Natural hygiene recognizes that disease is a progressive condition, starting with the first cries of discomfort of the infant, building into the first colds the child experiences, and progressing steadily over years and decades as we fail to provide for the needs of the body and fail to allow the body adequate energy and materials to maintain its internal conditions.   

Medicine says, the cancer cell is a virus that is attacking the body, while natural hygiene says, the cancer cell is the result of repeatedly damaging a normal cell through the repeated ingestion of toxic materials.   In the medical narrative, the solution to a virus is the application of poison to the body to kill the invading force. Meanwhile, the natural hygiene explanation says to remove the causes of injury and the body will stop being injured.   

Medicine seeks to cut, poison, or burn the malfunctioning cells out of the body. This causes injury to the healthy cells along the way and forces the body further into the upper levels of disease. Medicine approaches the abnormally functioning cells with the idea that they can apply poison to the body to correct the abnormality.  The poisoning of a healthy cell would result in disease, but in medicine applying poison to a malfunctioning cell will return the cell to normal function.   

Alternatively, the natural hygiene approach is to remove the causes of injury that led to the cells behaving abnormally and provide the conditions of health to allow the disease conditions to progress in the opposite direction.    

Cancer is stage 6 or 7 of disease and medicine wants to add to the causes of progressive disease, keeping the body in stage 6 or pushing it to stage 7 while removing the symptoms which are the warning bells and whistles.   Natural hygiene wants you to listen to the warning bells and whistles and move your body from stage 6 or 7 back to stage 5, then 4, then 3, and onward until you return fully to completely normal operation of all cells. 

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group? New Groups start on the 1st of every month! https://www.therawkey.com/the-natural-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

  

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Reader Q&A

Ointments, Herbs, Poultices, Antibiotic Creams, and other Suppressants

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

T.C Fry on why using herbs/remedies or pharma drugs to “heal” is not healing but suppression:

Question:

I think you’re wrong about all healing being self-healing. I’ve personally seen a woman who had a leg ulcer for over a year. Topical application of comfrey poultices healed it in less than ten days. How can you deny that?

Response:

I do not deny that the leg ulcer healed, and I do not deny that the comfrey poultice was the agency that precipitated the healing process of the leg ulcer. But the body is probably worse, not better for the treatment.


What happens physiologically to cause the ulcer in the first place? Why do they sometimes persist only to heal later? What happens when the agency of toxic materials such as in garlic, aloe, comfrey, or in pharmacological preparations are applied and the ulcer is healed?


The comfrey poultice neither caused nor healed the ulcer. The body created the ulcer in the first place just as it creates a boil, fever, pimple, or other so-called infection. The body creates these conditions as outlets for an extraordinary load of toxic materials. As long as the body is burdened with toxicity that it cannot eliminate through normal channels, it will utilize vicarious outlets, i.e., outlets other than normal. As long as the practices introduce into the body toxic materials and the sufferer’s habits are such as to cause the body to retain its own metabolic wastes, then the body will protect itself against a death-dealing situation by getting rid of its problems any way it can.


An ulcer is created in two ways. First, a lesion can be created by the body through self-autolyzation of its tissues. The body causes the self-digestion of a hole to the surface in the case of a boil or pimple. It is the body that forces toxic materials into the hole it has created to the surface. It is the body that creates the tremendous pressure necessary to keep the pus and debris near the surface in the form of a boil until drainage or expulsion occurs.


Just so it is the body that causes the ulcer in one way or another. Probably the leg ulcer was caused by the body’s collection and concentration of poisons in a given area until the cells and tissues of the area were totally destroyed. Then the body utilizes the open sore as a drainage outlet much as a teakettle will discharge its steam through a blown hole after the hole is blown. When aloe vera, comfrey, or certain pharmaceutical preparations are applied, they do not solve the body’s problems. Herbs and drugs have not the intelligence or power to create cells and new tissue to bridge the chasm or gulf that constitutes the ulcer or lesion.


What happens is that the poultice or drug application applied to an open sore poses a new danger. Absorption of poisons from the outside causes the body to change strategy. Where it had been exuding poisons to keep them low, the body is now absorbing poisons there. To obviate this new threat the body closes up the dumping ground and seals it off from the outside by scarring it over.


Though the body healed the ulcer, it is now worse off than before. It is retaining the toxic material previously expelled through the open sore or ulcer. Either it must now create a new extraordinary outlet or suffer the retention of the toxic materials it previously expelled through the ulcer.


Had the ulcer sufferer fasted, the ulcer would have healed more quickly than with the application of a poultice. Moreover, the body would, under the fasting condition, be free of the input of toxic materials and toxigenesis due to enervating habits. Under this condition it can accelerate expulsion of toxic materials through regular channels. Once the level of toxicity has been reduced below a certain tolerance level, the body will promptly proceed to heal the ulcer. Healing takes place much more quickly under the fasting condition than any other. While fasting, the body can concentrate its energies and its material resources to the healing process, thus affecting healing much more speedily.


So, the comfrey poultice did not do anything other than become a source of irritation. The body “closed up shop,” so to speak, at the ulcer site and did business elsewhere. Keep in mind that all healing is a body process and never that of drugs. And let us not mistake the drug nature of comfrey. It contains pyrrholizidine and allantoin, two quite toxic alkaloids or glycosides.

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Emotional Eating

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who are celebrating today. I thought I would share some thoughts from T.C. Fry that may help you make better decisions as temptations abound today. No matter how the day goes, tomorrow is another opportunity, so don’t stress being perfect but do try to hear your internal dialogue as you navigate any temptations!

Emotional Factors and the Foods We Choose

By T.C. Fry

Eating an optimum diet would be simple if we were all rational beings, freed from emotional conditioning. However, in the realm of diet, it is often the emotions and past habits that are king and queen instead of reason and clear perception.

We eat ice cream, spicy foods, candy and other destructive foods primarily because of emotional needs and emotional associations with these foods—not because of any true physiological need or premeditated reason.

People form emotional attachments to foods as a result of childhood experiences, past associations or self-conditioning. Consequently, certain foods are often eaten during particular emotional states, such as depression, etc., or in hopes of inducing a specific emotion, such as contentment or happiness.

For instance, ice cream is often associated with the rewards of childhood. When we were children, ice cream represented a treat or perhaps a sign of parental approval or indulgence. “If you’ll be good, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone,” is a common promise of harried parents.

Thus, at an early age, ice cream is associated with “being good” and with parental approval. Consequently, when we have been good (such as staying on a good diet for a few weeks), we decide to play both parent and child and reward ourselves with a bowl of ice cream. Similarly, if we are feeling depressed or overwhelmed by life’s problems, we may eat other childhood “reward” foods to temporarily escape our adult troubles.

Holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving are intimately associated with strong emotions and certain festive foods. So strong is this emotional association of food with holiday fun that some health-conscious individuals may eat turkey, pastries and sweets on a holiday in an effort to capture the childhood memories of days long past, as well as for parental approval in the present.

Please note that no value judgement is placed upon the emotional associations and attachments to food. To a certain extent, all of our food likes and dislikes are based upon emotions. Few people eat out of purely rational reasons, nor is it necessary to do so. What is necessary, however, is to be aware of the role emotions play in our food choices. If we are eating certain foods that are not conducive to health because of a disturbed emotional state, we should be aware of our behavior and try to approach our problems in some other manner besides food.

Foods themselves cannot satisfy emotional needs. If we are depressed, eating chocolate chip cookies may stir the memories of a carefree childhood, but they do not remove the cause of that depression. Indeed, the foods we are eating may be creating the emotional problems we are trying to escape from.

For example, in our culture, most children are brought up to associate sweet, sugary foods with approval, love, affection, etc. A child is often given candy as a reward. This type of conditioning becomes an internal pattern which is carried over into adulthood.

When grown-up people feel lonely, bored or in need of reinforcement, they may buy an ice cream cone or put money in the nearest carbonated drink machine. They eat the sugary reward food and feel somewhat better emotionally for a few minutes. This illustrates that a negative emotional state, (boredom, insecurity, loneliness, etc.) may influence the selection of and eating of nonfood items (candy, cookies, snack foods, etc.).

These nonfood items then contribute to a nutritional imbalance which may, in turn, re-create the emotional state that one is trying to escape from. For instance, the refined sugar in sweet foods gives a temporary rise in energy and a false emotional “high.” After this energy surge, the sugar has the effect of depleting the body of B-vitamins and other nutrients. This sugar-created depletion then sets the stage for additional emotional distress and depression.

A seemingly inescapable cycle is thereby created: A person is continually eating sugar-filled foods in an effort to escape the depression that the foods themselves are helping to create.

Today, as you move through the day, keep T.C.’s words in your mind and ask yourself what patterns am I carrying, how do they fulfill my emotional needs, where might they have developed from and are they still serving you? Every choice is a new opportunity to build a better you. Have a wonderful holiday if you are celebrating and if you are not, have a lovely Thursday – or Friday for those ahead of us! 

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Reader Q&A

Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question:

What is flesh-eating bacteria and how do people get it?

Answer:

Flesh-eating bacteria is a myth of the medical industry based on their wrong foundational understanding of bacteria’s purpose in the body.

Bacteria only feed upon dead and dying cells and cell debris. It does not feed on healthy living cells.

When a person is diagnosed with “flesh-eating bacteria” what is really happening is the body is extremely toxic and an open wound has become a port for the expulsion of the toxic waste material. The wound is pushing out lots of acidic waste which is causing more and more cells to die in the area surrounding the wound. The bacteria is present to break down those dying cells for recycling or elimination. The bacteria is there in response to the conditions, it is not creating the conditions. When this happens under the care of the medical industry the patient will have many poisons applied to the wound directly or to their body generally. The initial wound or ulceration was caused by the chronic application of poisons and wrong foods to their body and then the medical treatment is to apply more poisons to the body. This means the body is going to have a continuous stream of material it needs to push out in order to survive. This leads to the wound area continuing to ulcerate, destroying more and more tissue in the area and causing more and more bacteria to be created to keep up with the workload.

If the patient was fasted and no more poisons were applied to the body then the body would stop having material to push out, it would be able to catch up on the backlog of waste, the ulceration would stop and the waste load would fall and as the waste load falls the bacteria populations would be reduced by the body in direct correlation to the reducing waste load.

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Reader Q&A

Blackleg and Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) in Cattle

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question

I see the term blackleg come up often when people talk about vaccinating livestock. They also mention BRD a lot too, which is like pneumonia. These cattle farmers are insistent that they must use the immunizations to prevent the loss of the animals. So why does this work in cattle? The 1st seems to be spore-related and carried until a minor injury turns the muscle into a feast for a toxic soup-creating bacteria. The 2nd seems to be commonly, possibly caused by stress… but stress alone can’t create the disease of mucus-filled lungs. How would the terrain model explain these claims?

Answer

Whenever we are looking at a medical label blaming bacteria or viruses for disease there are always clues that point to the answers we seek within the medical literature narrative that can help us see through the false science, misconstrued, misinterpreted, or misinformed opinions, and sales pitches and get a clearer picture of what is actually happening.

Here is one source that we can look at for clues – Blackleg: A Preventable Disease of Cattle from the West Virginia University Extension

As usual, they have the fearmongering statements “Clostridium bacteria have developed the ability to survive extreme environmental conditions by developing into highly resistant spores. As spores, the bacterium can live in soil for many years, waiting for its opportunity to strike and infect a host.”

The Bacteria is present in healthy animals without causing infection

Looking at this first one, we can see that the spores are present with no negative impact on the cattle and can live in the soil for many years, which means hundreds, if not thousands of cattle are exposed to them, but only a some of the cattle suddenly start dying from the bacteria according to the medical literature.

Here is another confirmation”If sheep or cattle have ever grazed the land you are currently pasturing, it is most likely you have the Clostridium chauvoei spores.”

A Narrow “Infection” Window

“It is not uncommon for prime blackleg conditions to affect an area for a period of 10 days.”

So beyond 10 days the bacteria suddenly becomes inert and not harmful? It’s everywhere that cows or sheep have grazed previously, thousands of cattle are exposed to it with no health issues. This is the same pattern used to blame e-coli, MRSA, tetanus, etc in humans when these bacteria are found in all healthy humans.

It’s highly unlikely that the material would only become harmful within such a narrow scope, but perhaps we can find a more rational explanation within the article for why a cow would succumb within 10 days of injury.

“It is not entirely understood what causes the bacteria to proliferate, but one theory is muscle bruising associated with handling and shipping may be a major cause. “

“There are several signs and symptoms an infected animal will exhibit, including lameness, loss of appetite, depression, rapid breathing, fever and swelling. Sometimes the animal will appear lame on the affected leg before any other sign is noticed.”

When these cattle are transported they are crammed into metal trailers and very often become injured. Since the cattle are fed a completely unnatural diet, and raised on pastures that are abused and devoid of nutrition, they start out very weak. The cows are given a wide range of toxic injections and supplements, and antibiotics are fed “preventatively” leading to a chronic state of disease from birth to slaughter. The pastures are often planted with only one or two grasses, which are chosen to maximize short-term weight gain, not nutrition. All of these conditions lead to an animal that is not in a good condition to recover should they experience a traumatic injury.

In chicken farming, they feed the birds a feed that makes them grow so heavy in such a short period of time that it is common for the bird’s legs to break under their own weight. In cattle, we see the same pattern of fattening for the fastest return on investment leading to bodies that grow rapidly, but not strong. No care is given to the animal’s nutrition because the cattle farmer only cares about getting them to maximum weight as quickly as possible, they don’t care about their long-term health. They have no desire to allow the animal to live to its natural life span, so there is no incentive to feed them properly for longevity.

Poor Nutrition leads to weak bodies that easily succumb to injury

Most people recognize that livestock that live in a feedlot system are getting very poor nutrition and a stressful life with little care for their wellbeing. However, we tend to get the false impression that “grass-fed” cows are getting good nutrition and living naturally. This is the furthest thing from the truth. A grass pasture is just a field the farmer has planted with rye, wheat, or other grasses. In nature, cows would eat flowers, shrubs, fruit, legumes, clover, wild herbs, and a wide variety of greens and grasses that would be growing next to each other on wide tracts of natural land. Grass-fed cows are fed a mono-crop or possible a small mix of grasses, flowers and legumes in a small grass field. In nature they would not be limited to a few high-protein grasses selectively chosen for maximum weight gain. In nature, they would grow slowly and naturally. On a farm the goal is to get them fattened for sale or slaughter as quickly as possible to maximize profit.

A “grass-fed” cow is the equivalent of a McDonald’s fed child. A body that has been fed poor nutrition is far more likely to succumb to an injury than a body that is strong and has the materials needed to heal properly.

So we have an animal that is severely injured during transportation and then dumped into a field that offers no rest and little nutrition, likely they are also given their preventative antibiotics (poison) and supplements (poison) because the grass field is lacking in many of the natural materials they need. As a result, the conditions of health are not being provided and therefore we cannot expect the body to heal in effective way and we can expect many of these cows to succumb to injuries which would not be fatal in a healthy animal but becomes the straw that breaks the camels back in these weak mis-fed animals.

Why do the injections appear to work?

Using the same article as above –  Blackleg: A Preventable Disease of Cattle from the West Virginia University Extension

We start with the sales pitch, the favorite of the industry is the “better safe than sorry”, “we offer the solution for very cheap so make sure you use the prevention.” Here it is in the article: “It is a very inexpensive insurance policy to protect animals with vaccination. Most blackleg products will cost producers approximately $1.20 to $1.60 per head, plus the cost of labor, depending on the product used.”

In the disease-for-profit industry, they have inbuilt protections to keep their system running. Hundreds of thousands of different disease labels for a small number of symptoms. A set of symptoms can point to one of 10, 20, or 100 different disease labels, but the presence of any particular bacteria or virus is the definitive factor that provides the specific diagnosis in many diseases.

The way a vaccine works is you give it long before any symptoms are apparent and you give it en masse to thousands or hundreds of thousands of victims.

“Vaccines are very effective if given to young, healthy animals in time for them to increase their immunity before being challenged by the disease.”

Since most of the victims would never acquire the disease in the first place you simply credit the vaccine for the lack of symptoms rather than the statistical norm that already existed prior to the invention of the vaccine. Now all the animals that never would have gotten the “disease” in the first place we are told only didn’t get it because they were vaccinated and therefore protected from it.

Then when inevitably symptoms arise in some of the animals or humans that match the disease that the vaccine is supposed to protect for, they simply change the disease label. In humans, we vaccinated for polio, and then anyone who got the symptoms associated with polio from being exposed to a neurotoxin but is vaccinated, they are now diagnosed with transverse myelitis, guillain-barre, spinal cord stroke, meningitis, brainstem stroke, botulism, or other medical labels instead of polio. Polio is ruled out because they were vaccinated for polio already. Instead a different label is chosen. In areas where the vaccine was not given en masse, they are still given a polio label and we rarely see the other diagnosis labels being used.

You see, if an animal has been vaccinated for a particular disease then that by default removes that disease from the diagnosis choices the vet is choosing from and they choose another label instead. Plenty of labels are available to diagnose the same limited spectrum of symptoms, so it’s easy to simply relabel.

In this case, “C septicum, C novyi, C sordellii, and C perfringens may resemble those of blackleg.” and malignant edema, tetanus, enterotoxemia, red water, and botulism all share the same symptoms and can be used as an alternative diagnosis.

But to add a further level of protection for the narrative we are also told “calves vaccinated under three months of age must be vaccinated again at weaning or at four to six months of age to be protected.” and ” Animals must be vaccinated annually.”

So if the vet wants to diagnose blackleg they can also claim that the farmer did not vaccinate enough times.

“Delaying vaccination until a calf is older can be inviting disaster” -Source: Alabama Cooperative Extension article Blackleg and Other Clostridial Diseases in Cattle

The industry sales materials always have the call to urgency and the moral imperative – if the farmer does not vaccinate they are “inviting disaster” and being neglectful and abusive. This type of social pressure helps keep questioning to a minimum – no one wants to be labeled abusive or neglectful so “just to be safe” they inject the poison.

“Intramuscular injection of clostridial vaccines causes significant muscle damage and, therefore, clostridial vaccines must be injected under the skin (subcutaneously or SQ) in the neck area. This will prevent injection-site damage to high-value cuts of meat.“

The result of “just to be safe” is “significant muscle damage” but that is socially acceptable because it is a result of medical “care” which is deemed necessary and appropriate as long as its not in the high value cuts of meat.

Bovine Respiratory Disease

“Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD), sometimes described as “shipping fever,” is the most common and costly disease affecting the North American beef cattle industry.” “BRD refers to any disease of the upper or lower respiratory tracts”

Here the cause is right in the description, “shipping fever”. The extremely high stress the cattle are under during shipping leads to many of the cattle developing detox symptoms after the ordeal.

Symptoms of BRD in cattle:
Fever (up to 42°C)
Watery nasal discharge progressing to a thick mucoid nasal discharge.
Depression and lethargy.
Lack of appetite.
Cough.
Rapid, shallow breathing.
Unwillingness to move, standing with neck extended.

All of the above are detox symptoms. This is the body’s natural healing and repair processes being instituted as a result of exposure to toxins or stress. When an animal or human is under high levels of stress this creates an overacid condition of the body due to the overworking of the cells. All disease is a result of the overworking of the cells, so stress, especially prolonged stress can certainly result in detox symptoms.

In humans, prolonged stress results in cold or flu symptoms, which are detox symptoms, also known as a healing crisis. In cattle, the medical industry has labeled this collection of healing symptoms as BRD just like they have labeled the symptoms pneumonia, flu, or cold in humans. It’s the same process just with different labels depending on who invents the label first.

However, there are some caveats to stress creating these symptoms. Under normal conditions in a healthy body the body would quickly eliminate the results of the stress in the body and no lasting symptoms would occur. If anything the symptoms would be minor. In a body that is misfed, however, the body is already under a chronic burden and is unable to rapidly eliminate byproducts of stress. The body is dehydrated and as such the lymphatic system is backed up and moving more slowly than it would naturally. This results in slower elimination of waste products and therefore more damage at the site of the cells when the waste is not able to be rapidly eliminated from the area. Therefore, a normal condition that a healthy body would rapidly eliminate with minimal symptoms becomes a major issue with major symptoms and discomfort for a body that has been chronically misfed and poisoned.

On top of this, if the care given to the animal is rest, fasting, clean water, and species-appropriate food that provides the highest quality nutrition then the body will recover rapidly. If the opposite is done, if the animal is applied with poisons and force-fed, not allowed proper rest, and not provided with the needs of health, then the symptoms will linger, the elimination will drag on and the symptoms may worsen depending on the amount of poisons applied to the body by the medical person in charge of their care.

As with any condition of disease, we cannot poison a poisoned body back to health. Stress creates poisonous conditions, and the body responds to these poisonous conditions by creating expulsion symptoms, the medical industry responds to the body healing expulsion symptoms by applying additional poisons in the way of antibiotics, supplements, and other symptom suppressants, attempting to poison away the symptoms which were brought on by the initial poisoning.

If the body survives the initial poisoning and the secondary poisoning the medical poisons are touted as the savior. If the animal succumbs to the secondary poisons the body’s healing processes are blamed for the death rather than the poisons. The explanation always protects the profits of the disease-for-profit industry.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

Hydration

The Importance of Hydration and Water Consumption in Achieving or Restoring Optimal Health

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

In our previous article, “Humans are Herbivores, Comparative Anatomy” we established that eating watery fruits and fresh greens is the optimal diet, what about water consumption? Many people seem to believe that if you consume optimally hydrating foods that water is no longer necessary.  However, this is a grave mistake. Perhaps if someone has been following this ideal diet their whole lives this may be the case, however, virtually all of us have spent years and decades consuming non-ideal foods:  Processed junk, meat, dairy, etc. Making sure you get enough water in addition to eating as clean as possible will help speed up your healing process tremendously.  Why? Virtually all of our unnatural lifestyle decisions will eventually result in dehydration.

Eating processed foods? Dehydration


Caffeine?  Dehydration

Pushing yourself too hard? Dehydration

Not drinking enough water? Dehydration

Eating acidic foods? Dehydration

Need to burn off excess fat for energy? Takes a lot of water

Consuming animal products? Dehydration

Alcohol?  Dehydration

Bowel troubles? Water will help clear it

Exercise or physical activities? Dehydration

Body temperature regulation? Consumes water

Eliminating oils and lymphatic waste? Consumes water

Virtually all bad diet and lifestyle issues lead to dehydration eventually.  Consuming more water will help reverse most health issues. Often since we are not accustomed to drinking appropriate amounts of water we go through phases where we can’t take in very much, which is why it is generally recommended to start slow and go by feel.

I was on a raw, fairly ideal diet for about 3 years before I put together the water piece thanks to Sam Kovalyov, and my health improved dramatically in just the few months after I began drinking water regularly again. At first I was only able to drink about 2 quarts per day and I was urinating constantly.  Only a few short months later I was up to over a gallon each day and I was no longer feeling a need to urinate all the time.

When I first began putting emphasis on water again in February of 2020, I went through phases of edema (swelling) in various parts of my body as the water pooled up in areas of my body which it was being used to help clean. Our bodies will use water to help dilute acids and waste as they are cleared out.  Just like raw diet, the water piece takes time for your body to become accustomed to and some time for your body to utilize it.

Frequent urination is usually a sign that your body is passing toxins.  This is very common for most people when they begin to drink more water because most people are chronically dehydrated. Water helps break up the toxic gunk and as it becomes urine, the urine is more harsh than normal, so our bodies want to pass it sooner rather than later.  Frequent urination is a great sign you’re doing some cleaning. This step usually won’t last very long.

Ideally you will get to a point where it’s easy and you feel better consuming about a gallon or more per day, but if you are not used to this yet, it is recommended to work up to it slowly. Start with maybe 2 quarts and work up from there. If you need to hold at 2 quarts per day for a week or two then that’s totally fine.  As usual, go at your own pace.  Frequent urination will slow down over time and it will be easier to drink more and more.

It took me about 3 months of habitual water drinking before I began to be able to feel my own thirst impulse again.  Talking to others in similar situations, this seems fairly normal.  Just try to go slow and don’t feel like you need to force excessive amounts of water down as this can result in other types of issues. Drinking excessive amounts of water can result in a condition called hyponatremia which happens when we drink so much water that the concentration of sodium or other minerals in our bodies gets too low.  Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, loss of energy, restlessness, muscle weakness, and can even progress into seizures or coma. If you begin to suffer from these symptoms, simply stop drinking and wait and your body will utilize the excess water in your system and everything will rebalance naturally.

So again, as always, go at whatever pace is comfortable to you.

Healthy adult kidneys can process about 1 liter or 1 quart per hour at most, so exceeding this rate of consumption is not useful.

Ideally we sip and keep water throughout us throughout the day.

I recommend getting a large water bottle. I use a one gallon tank that I fill once or twice a day and lug around with me everywhere I go.


These days I also really prefer to get in most of my water in the mornings.  I usually wake up anywhere from 6-8 a.m., and I refill my gallon every morning right after waking if it wasn’t full from the night before.  I like to try to get a whole gallon in before my first meal of the day, which is usually somewhere between 12 noon and 2 p.m.  This way I can just sip water the rest of the day in between meals without feeling any pressure to try to stay ahead of dehydration.

Addendum / Clarification from Sam Kovalyov and Lauren Whiteman

Sam: Water helps keep our extracellular fluid hydrated and mobile so it can transport nutrients to where they are needed, when they are needed… intracellular fluid is best affected by the water from fruits and veggies because it has minerals in it that give it different physical properties from plain drinking water… toxins get recycled into our digestive system and back into our extracellular fluid over and over again until they are broken down enough to be eliminated by the kidneys or mixed with enough fiber in the digestive system that they make it to our colon for elimination… either way, water is a necessary component to this process… cellular hydration is a result of a fully hydrated extracellular environment, as the ECF will pull water from the cells if it is lacking, and since fruits and veggies contain substances in them besides water, they do not help to dilute and remove old toxins from the system as readily as plain water does. It is a currency that is spent in the detox process and thus gets to be replenished. As the need for detox goes down, so does our need for water, and the body communicates this to us with subtle signs of discomfort when drinking water, which should tell us that we’ve had enough to drink, just as we eat food until we feel subtle signs of discomfort, which tell us we have eaten enough food for now.

Lauren: We have always had the same position on water. All humans today require water because they have old waste compacted in their bowels. 1-2 gallons per day. Humans are not physiologically designed to drink water, but we are also not physiologically designed to eat cooked foods, so when we make the mistake of eating inappropriate foods we must counter that by replenishing the water lost via the cooking and digestion processes. We do not have a drinking anatomy because our anatomy was designed for fruits, but when we put in anything other than our ideal foods we must replenish that water to heal.

Nat FarrisLeave a comment

Heavy metal detoxing, cilantro, and the chelation myth

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

If you have been in the natural health community for any length of time you have probably heard about the supposed magical powers of cilantro to pull heavy metals from your body.   Heavy metal detox smoothies with cilantro, detox tinctures, powders, potions, and various other products claim to use the magical power of cilantro to pull metal out of your body.   

With heavy metals being the big scare tactic in natural health, anything that can “assist the body in detoxing” them has a huge appeal, which means money in the pocket of those who sell them.   You may have even seen popular terrain theory gurus like Dr Kaufman profiting off selling you some expensive cilantro concoction to help you “pull out heavy metals.”   

All of this marketing is a scam.  

The people pushing it may not realize it is a scam, having fallen for some false correlations, lacking an adequate understanding of why the body creates symptoms, or having missed some lapses in logic in these claims, but it is a scam nonetheless and one which ultimately is keeping true health out of reach for you.  

Cilantro is not a magical herb that can float around your body and suck out the heavy metals and there is nothing – no product, herb, pill, potion, or tincture – which can ever  “assist the body in detoxing.”  Anyone selling you on the idea of “assisting the body in detoxing” either is scamming you or is ignorant of how the body operates.  They are selling you science fiction that belongs in Star Trek, not real life. 

The body takes all action

When we consume any substance the substance itself is acted upon by our body.  The substance is inert, meaning incapable of action, or dead.  The food is chewed by the body and swallowed by the body.  It enters the stomach where it is broken down and softened by the contractions of the stomach. The body creates and releases enzymes and acids to break apart its bonds.  Then the body moves the substance from the stomach to the digestive tract, where additional contractions break the material down and the body’s bacterial colonies go to work on the substance.  The body breaks down the material and the bacteria moves the material to the cells by passing through the walls of the digestive tract.   Every step from the first bite to the elimination is an action taken by the body on a substance that takes no action.  

Let us compare this to the cilantro chelation myth.   In the claim, cilantro is said to attract heavy metals, pull heavy metals, remove heavy metals, or assist the body in removing heavy metals, often the claims state that it will remove heavy metals from our brains or improve cognitive function, presumably by its power of removing those heavy metals.   How is this possible?   Inert objects take no action.   As we just saw, all actions are taken by the body against the substance.   At no point does the cilantro gain the ability to direct its own action. The cilantro does not jump out of the stomach and swim up to the brain in order to work like a magnet to suck out heavy metals.  This is biologically impossible.   

Many people have fallen for this logical black hole, however cilantro is inert.  Perhaps when bottled and sold for $120 for 1.58 oz it can suddenly perform magical feats.  Back in reality, cilantro cannot push or pull, it can not attract or repel anything.  It can no more take action on the body than a virus can.   (https://www.therawkey.com/are-viruses-real/ ) Inert objects or substances cannot take action.  Until that changes, cilantro cannot assist us in detox. 

How did we get the idea that cilantro can detox us?

At this point, you might be wondering how this fallacy became a common claim in the natural and alternative health communities.   There must have been some type of science that led to these beliefs.  As with any bit of misinformation there is always some kernel of truth that they grow out of and the same is true with the idea of cilantro chelation.   

In this case, an observation was made, heavy metals in water moved towards the cilantro in water.  Much like a magnet pulling a metal paper clip, rather than remaining stationary the metal in the water moved towards the cilantro.  

Here is the problem:

In vivo is not ex vivo.   

In vivo means “performed or taking place in a living organism.”   Ex vivo means “that which takes place outside an organism”.   Cilantro in water is ex vivo, occurring outside of the body.  Cilantro in the stomach is in vivo, occurring inside of the body.   When we study something in science we are either observing an action in vivo, occurring inside the body, or we are observing ex vivo.   Things that occur outside the body do not react in the same way inside the body.  Outside the body, there may or may not be a living organism taking action against the substance.  In vivo, the body is taking action.  

Metal floating towards cilantro in a glass of water does not equal metal being pulled from the brain or some other tissue.  The cilantro remains in the stomach until the body breaks it down and eliminates the waste. There is no way for the cilantro to magically pull from the brain to the stomach.    The body takes all action.  The cilantro is inert; it is dead.   Nothing inert can move something from one area of the body to another. If anything was moved from the brain it would be by the action of the body.

Adding to the inaction of inert substances we must also realize that the stomach is a filter.  The digestive tract and the stomach are outside the body, not inside.  Picture the body as a donut and the stomach and digestive tract as the donut hole.  Substances enter the mouth and exit the anus and the entire time they remain in the tube which is the digestive system.   Only the body’s workers, the bacteria, and microscopic organisms can pass from the digestive tract to the interior of the body.   These workers break down the usable material and carry that into the body while leaving behind all of the unusable material.   The original food does not enter the body cavity, only the materials the body wants and can use will enter.   

Now that we are clear on how dead material cannot take action, let’s look at why some people are confused into believing that cilantro, as well as other toxic materials like herbs, liver cleanses, kidney cleanses, etc., are “assisting their body with detox.”  

Nothing can detox the body

When it comes to healing the body we cannot use products to start a detox, speed up detox, or influence detox in any way. All we can do is create a burden or not create a burden. What we can do instead is put the conditions in place to lift enough burden from the body so that the body is able to initiate the detoxification of old waste which is impairing cellular function.  Rather than initiating detox for new poisons, when we remove burden the body can remove old waste and improve cellular function. We can stop putting in the poisons and toxins that require detoxification or rapid removal from the body and instead, the energy can shift to repairing decades-old damage and removing old waste.

Most importantly we can stop burdening the body with foods that are difficult to digest, assimilate, and eliminate and that drain our nerve energy and steal that energy away from the cleaning and healing processes.

In other words, healing is all about subtraction and not addition. Healing requires us to put less in the body, put less burden on the body, do less, and rest more. Healing is not about addition. We don’t add things to assist the body, we take things away to remove the burden from the body.  To learn more about what detoxing is please read: https://www.therawkey.com/what-is-detox-really-its-probably-not-what-you-think/ 

Cilantro is a mildly toxic herb

Our body is equipped with certain defensive mechanisms to protect us from harming ourselves.  Unfortunately, over many generations of social conditioning, we have taught ourselves to ignore or fear some of our greatest defensive protections.   

The ones we fear are the expulsion symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, coughing, sneezing, fever, and other symptoms. These are all used by the body to remove poisons, toxins, acidic cellular debris, and other waste that impair the body’s ability to function normally.   Modern medicine has taught us to fear these healing processes and to apply either pharmaceutical poisons or more natural plant-based poisons to shut down the body’s healing processes and suppress the symptoms, rather than addressing and removing the cause of the excess waste.    We apply poison to the body and then when the body responds by trying to remove the poison we apply more poison to the body until the body runs out of energy to expel it and instead moves further up the disease ladder. This is the basic premise of the medical model.

The defensive mechanisms that we ignore are our senses.  We are gifted with a sense of taste and smell which are designed to protect us from consuming irritants, toxins, and poisons.   When a food smells sour, we know that it is rotten and should not be consumed.  If we ignore this sense and eat some yogurt or fermented foods, drink alcohol, or otherwise consume a rotten substance the body has to deal with this via other means, usually diarrhea or vomiting.   

The sense is meant to protect us and avoid the expulsion symptoms from having to be used.  But most of us have been well trained by society to ignore this protective sense when it comes to certain traditional “foods” and toxic beverages.   

If we drink alcohol our first reaction is to pucker and have discomfort at the taste of the alcohol.  The alcohol is not pleasant to consume.  It is dry or bitter and if strong enough creates a burning sensation.  The feeling we register is not one of comfort, even if we have been trained to associate positive emotions with drinking.  This is our first warning that we are consuming a poison.  Next, our stomach will register discomfort.   We keep going though and eventually, we become intoxicated, which simply means we have been poisoned.  

The body responds by activating all of its defensive mechanisms.  If we are lucky we have enough vital energy in our body to vomit and remove the poisonous beverage out the way it came in, minimizing the damage to our cells.  If our body lacks the energy from years of chronic abuse then the poison travels through our system and the liver has to spring into action to break down the poisons.    

With each substance we consume our senses tell us if it is a beneficial substance or a toxic substance.  Our natural foods cause no discomfort when eaten.  https://www.therawkey.com/our-natural-foods-do-not-create-discomfort-or-disturbance-to-the-body/   

Toxic substances cause some form of discomfort.  The most common ways we register this discomfort are spicy, bitter, excessively salty, or sour (fermented).   When we consume these substances our body becomes stimulated as it takes action against the material to remove it.   This is akin to a red-alert, all-hands-on-deck reaction.  The body ramps up its energy to defend itself from the damage the substance is causing.  Unfortunately, we subject our bodies to these abuses from a very young age, long before we are capable of refusing the foods our parents force-feed us.   Many children spit them out and cry but well-meaning parents keep forcing them to eat, not understanding the rejection because they were force-fed these same substances long ago and no longer have the awareness to realize the discomfort they cause.  

This is how we have trained ourselves over many generations to ignore the senses God gave us.   We do so at our own peril.   

Cilantro is one of those substances.   If your system is clean and you have awareness and vitality you will notice that cilantro is bitter and spicy.   You would never sit down to a large bowl of cilantro because to do so would cause great stomach pain and likely vomiting.   In small quantities, the poisonous herb is added to cooked foods to stimulate us.  We eat it often enough that the body has stopped responding aggressively against the poison, the body simply doesn’t have the vital energy available to do so, but we do still get a mild rush from the injury that is caused each time it is eaten. This rush is stimulation and it is behind most of our food addictions and cravings.   

Cilantro is just one of many ways the average person ingests toxins each day. Since we are burdening the body on a daily basis the body must conserve its energy.  When we ingest a new irritant the body will respond to this with vigor, but if we eat irritants chronically the body becomes tolerant and conserves its limited energy for more concentrated poisons.   However, when we return to the natural diet and return vitality to the body, we immediately notice the burning, the bitterness, and the discomfort.   Regaining our connection to our senses allows us to omit this harmful herb from our plates.    

However, for those who are not eating naturally, their connection to their protective senses is dulled.  Instead of hearing the body’s warnings and heeding them, they consume the cilantro as a culinary spice or as a magic potion in hopes of ‘assisting detox’ and their body responds by ramping up detox symptoms.  Then the unwitting victim sees the detox symptoms and believes the cilantro is “assisting detox.”   What is really happening is the body is taking action against the cilantro itself, which is then taking energy away from the body being able to heal and do deeper cleaning.   By taking the cilantro, they not only are not assisting detox but they are both causing injury to the body and taking energy away from the body that the body could be using to detox and heal removing old waste.   Cilantro is not only not helping them detox but it is impairing detox by distracting and robbing energy.   

This same misunderstanding has been used to sell other detox herbs, tinctures, TRS and heavy metal detox sprays, spirulina, chlorella, and other non-food supplements.  In all cases, the increase in detox symptoms is a result of the body taking action against the supplement and not a removal of the heavy metals.   They are only impairing and slowing the removal of heavy metals.   

Only the body itself can remove heavy metals and the only way it can do so is if we stop causing the daily injuries that drain the energy from our body and impair the detox processes. 

Do you want to learn more about how our self-healing and self-cleaning body remedies disease conditions and returns to a state of health when the conditions of health are supplied?   Start by reading “Why do we get sick? – https://www.therawkey.com/why-do-we-get-sick/

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: Consultations – https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! Support Group Information and Sign-Up Form – https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/

Eat fruit and be well my friends.

Lauren Farris7 Comments
Reader Q&A

The Flu and Saunas

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Question

What is the flu? After being at a sauna spa, I got bad flu symptoms. Would you say it is a detox or a virus I picked up in the spa?

Answer:

Flu symptoms are expulsions symptoms, this is a healing process. The Flu is a detox process in which the body is expelling poisons, toxins, or an overload of cellular waste that was recently encountered or had been building up in the body. Virus particles are simply spent cellular debris – pieces of broken-down cells. They cannot take any action because they are dead, inert, and have no nucleus, a requisite for life.

The body creates colds and flu when the level of toxicity in the body rises above the body’s tolerance limit. This occurs primarily because we are eating foods that are far removed from our natural diet and which are a burden on the body. As we eat cooked and processed foods day in and day out the level of cellular waste builds inside the body and the body is not able to keep up. When the level of toxicity reaches its tipping point the body initiates a healing event, which we call disease but in reality, is the solution to the already existing disease conditions.

Working out, and exposing ourselves to extremes in temperature from saunas or ice baths, or even very hot and very cold weather can trigger a healing event because we are overworking the body creating a large flush of excess waste. Saunas are detrimental to our health because of the strain they place on our cells. Our body works hard to maintain internal temperatures within very narrow ranges. Outside of these ranges, we will die. When we expose ourselves to extremes of heat in a sauna the body has to work exponentially harder to maintain survival temperatures. When our cells work harder they create more waste. It is the cellular waste that the body creates which creates disease conditions. So overworking the body by overheating creates lots of cell waste which then requires the body to initiate an expulsion event to catch up on the backlog of waste.

The more we eat our natural diet the easier it is for the body to maintain its temperature in extreme conditions, but ideally, we do not want to unnecessarily expose ourselves to extremes of temperature.

Lauren Farris2 Comments

Drug Addiction 

by Dr. Herbert M. Shelton

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.

Science, as medicine is commonly called, is never-ceasing in its search for cures. In his syndicated column, Albert Edward Wiggam once wrote that science has not discovered a surefire cure for alcoholism, but it has found a drug that helps. He said that, after a drunken man sobers up the drug Equanil quiets his tense nerves and helps reduce the desire for another drink. This is to say, the drug substitutes for alcohol. The drug is sufficiently dangerous that it can be obtained only upon a physician’s prescription.

Drug addiction is frequently an aftermath of the employment of drugs in the treatment of disease. Sedatives, narcotics, and stimulants are employed with which to provide evanescent, but fictional, relief from discomfort and pain. Somatic awareness, no less than psychic awareness, is benumbed by the taking of sedative drugs and the housecleaning that is so urgently needed is not undertaken. Each repetition of the dose tends to build a drug habit. A rebirth of awareness follows the excretion of the drug. It is then that the drug user becomes aware of his actual condition. His physician will call his symptoms withdrawal symptoms. He should realize that they are the outcries of an organism that has been outraged with poisons. Drug addiction grows out of the search for relief from the unease, weakness, discomfort and pain that result from the employment of drugs and is not a genuine demand for a repetition of the drug. There is no craving for a drug, but a subconscious demand for relief.

For fifty years I have insisted that what is called drug addiction arises out of the search for relief from the unease, discomfort, distress and misery caused by prior taking of a drug. The narcotic addict obtains a brief respite from his misery by renarcotizing his nerves. The stimulant addict receives a brief illusion of renewed strength by goading his nerves with the stimulant the prior taking of which is responsible for his weakness. In July of 1971 a former drunkard was interviewed on television here in San Antonio. When asked what made him drink he stated: “I would drink today to get relief from the misery caused by drinking yesterday.” Thus speaking from his personal experience, he confirmed my view.

So persistent and so insistent is the demand for relief from the drug caused misery, the victim of the drug practice finds himself unable to resist the temptation to return again and again to the source of his misery for the temporary “relief” this affords. To provide this “relief” requires a progressive increase both in the size and the frequency of the dose. The standard procedures in such cases continue to revolve around efforts to break the vicious circle by a gradual reduction of the dose, both in size and frequency, and to substitute one addiction for another. Both of these plans have proved very unsatisfactory, for the reason that each of them continues to outrage the nervous system by continuing drugging and the search for relief through drugs. Instead of stopping the drug to which the habitue is addicted, it is continued or an effort is made to substitute another drug—one narcotic for another or one stimulant for another. The addict continues to be smothered in his drug-induced miseries. No effective means of promoting the health of the individual is employed, hence the addict does not recover normal health. In those few cases where apparent recovery from addiction occurs, the tendency to relapse is great.

Diseases and vices, growing out of the same general causes, and being essentially the same, are therefore, to handled on the same general plan. That mode of care that will restore health to the sick man, will just as effectually relieve the vicious man and vice versa. If it fails in one, it will fail in both. When either disease or vice becomes thoroughly matured, it is, to a large extent, beyond control of the will. A proper environment and a Hygienic life provide the best hope in this case. It is idle to suppose that a man who has violated nature’s laws until his sensations are all abnormal, and the mainsprings of his life are all befouled, representing poor diseased conditions and vicious habits, can merely exercise the will to recover, and even recovery would not be at all sufficient unless good habits and a thorough revolution of life follow. To appeal simply to the intellect and moral sense of a tobacco smoker or an opium eater or a drunkard, as a means of inducing him to relinquish his indulgence is generally about as effective as to ask an ague patient to stop shaking. [Ague – Fever with chills]

When Professor Carlson, who was a habitual cigar smoker, underwent a short fast in his studies of hunger, he found that after the second day of abstinence, he did not enjoy smoking. “In fact,” he reports, “smoking tended to produce nausea.” It is not an unusual experience for the fast to compel the smoker to discontinue the practice. Many have been able to continue smoking through a fast, but all who discontinue smoking at the outset of fast find that after two to three days without food, they have no more craving for the weed. The same is true of other forms (chewing, for example) of tobacco addiction. 

A similar experience is seen in other drug addictions. It is a simple matter to give up coffee, tea, marijuana, alcohol, opium, morphine, and similar addictions by fasting at the same time the drug is discontinued. It is best to abandon all addictions at once and abruptly. For example, the average alcoholic also smokes tobacco and drinks coffee. He will find it easier to discontinue the alcohol if he also abandons both the coffee and the tobacco at the same time. This will be easily understood when the true character of addiction is understood.

Most addicts think it will be easier to give up one drug at a time or to give up one drug habit and continue the others. An organization in California has a home where drug addicts are taken in. By a program similar to that employed by Alcoholics Anonymous, they slowly eduate the addict out of his addiction. Frequently two years or more are required to whip the morphine habit. The addicts eat a conventional diet, smoke tobacco and drink freely of coffee. This is the hard way: it is the long way and it probably registers many failures. There cannot be any doubt that their educational program and their cultivation of self-reliance are useful features of the rehabilitation of the addict, but the education program does not go far enough.

Faulty education is the chief, if not the only cause of all drug addiction. It may be and probably is true that individuals with neuropathic tendencies most readily fall prey to so called habit-forming drugs, but the fact remains that the initial use of drugs arises out of false education. Had the whole population not been wrongly educated from infancy up, they would not turn to drugs to “sustain” them when some unusual circumstance puts a heavy tax upon the nervous system. Pain, sleeplessness, profound and lasting emotions, losses, etc., cause the nervously unstable to turn to those sources of palliation they have been, educated to believe will supply the desired, relief. For this false education and all the evils that grow inevitably out of it, we are indebted to the medical profession and to no other.

The legitimate pharmaceutical industry has flooded today’s market place with great quantities of addictive drugs which are being sold, especially to the young, through, both legitimate and illegitimate channels. Most of the drugs now being taken by youth are supplied the drug pushers by duly licensed manufacturers of the drugs. If we assume as is popularly done, that these drugs have valid medical usage, we are still faced with the fearful fact that the drug manufacturers are turning out thousands of times more of these drugs than the medical profession can possibly find valid medical use for. So great is their profit hunger that the manufacturers of drugs are willing to destroy the minds of all of today’s youth in order to increase their dividends. I marvel at the apathy and indifference of the parents of this country that cause them to sit by and watch the destruction of their children, instead of rising in their collective might and putting an eternal end to the drug industry.

Reprinted from Fasting For Renewal Of Life

Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/

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Eat fruit and be well my friends.

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