Tag: symptoms

Can you keep your disease?

Disease Labels vs Biological Reality – Understanding Toxemia, Cellular Waste, and the Body’s Healing Response

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.

Most people these days believe in the incorrect medical narrative that there are different illnesses, thousands or hundreds of thousands of unique diseases, of which medicine has no cures. What the medical industry is actually referring to are different collections of symptoms, of which they place various disease labels. A disease label is not an entity; it is just a marketing tool. In biological reality, there is only one disease, which is toxemia, which is an over-acid condition of the body, created by impaired removal of cellular wastes, which leads to cellular malfunction.

There are two types of symptoms: expulsion symptoms and malfunction symptoms. Expulsion symptoms are how the body cleanses and heals from the damage caused by the wrong foods and other unhealthy lifestyle choices. These symptoms are how the body actively removes itself from the conditions of disease.

Malfunction symptoms develop when cells are chronically surrounded by their own accumulated waste. When this waste burden becomes excessive, either because eliminative symptoms are repeatedly suppressed with drugs or because we continually add to the load through cooked foods, animal products, processed foods, smoking, alcohol, and other intoxicants, the body can no longer keep up with removal. The retained waste irritates and damages cells, interfering with their normal function. What we call cellular malfunction is not a disease in itself, but a symptom of an underlying toxic state.

Health is the state in which the body operates with ease. Disease is simply the loss of that ease. When we burden the body with waste through cooked foods, animal products, chemical poisons, and other abuses, it cannot function at normal efficiency. If we continue those habits, the body either maintains the same state of dysfunction and produces the same symptoms or it declines further and produces new ones. Symptoms do not appear randomly; they reflect the conditions we create.

The medical industry collects clusters of symptoms, groups them together, and assigns them names. These labels are not explanations; they are classifications. Symptoms themselves are not diseases. They are the body’s response to underlying conditions. When harmful conditions remain in place, the body produces symptoms to manage them. Remove those causes, and the body no longer needs to produce those symptoms.

If we want the body to function normally, we must provide normal conditions. When we introduce inappropriate inputs, the body adapts the only way it can: it responds with symptoms. Many of those symptoms represent the body’s steady effort to eliminate the excess waste created by improper food choices and unhealthy habits. The body does not malfunction without reason. It responds directly to the environment we create. Symptoms are the body giving us usable feedback about the inputs we are providing.

When we restore the conditions required for normal operation, the body returns to normal operation. Once the causes are removed, disease labels lose their foundation. It actually takes considerable effort to maintain the disease. We must overeat, overwork, ingest stimulants and drugs, and continually burden the body with irritants. Health, by contrast, requires far less strain. We eat foods suited to our physiology—simple, ripe, whole foods that digest and assimilate easily. We rest. We breathe clean air. We engage in work and relationships that nourish rather than exhaust us. Health often requires subtraction, not addition.

It is far more laborious to manufacture disease than to support health. Disease demands the preparation of heavy, stimulating meals, constant exposure to toxins, and continuous energy expenditure through difficult digestion and recovery. Health can be as simple as eating a ripe apple. No complex preparation. No chemical stimulation. No aftermath that taxes the system. The body thrives when we stop interfering with it.

You cannot maintain disease—no matter the label—once you remove its causes. It does not matter what name has been assigned. If you stop burdening the body, it stops producing the symptoms required to cope with that burden.

If you would like to understand this process in greater depth, begin with Disease 101 – How We Create Disease on a Cellular Level (and How We Reverse It)

For a broader foundation on the purpose of symptoms and the body’s healing efforts, read The Nature and Purpose of Disease.

And if you are ready to apply these principles practically, start with What Is the Natural Human Diet?

These articles will give you the framework to understand not only how disease develops, but how to reverse the conditions that created it.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment
Reader Q&A

Reflexology – Does it help or Hinder Healing?

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 Natural Hygiene or Terrain Model position on Reflexology?

Answer:

Reflexology would be considered to be minimally harmful, but it is based on the idea of cures for disease. Cures cannot exist. Only removal of cause corrects disease conditions. So ultimately, these types of programs, reflexology, massage therapy, acupressure, acupuncture, etc all work at symptom suppression rather than removing the underlying cause of the disease. They may offer temporary relief but they will not create health because they do not provide for the requirements of health.

To explain further, here are TC Fry’s comments on Reflexology:

Reflexology (Zone Therapy)

Reflexology is a specialized form of massage and, among the many claims, it is said to be able to restore normalcy of function and give relief from pain to virtually any part of the body. The two basic modes of this therapy are foot reflexology and hand reflexology.

According to reflexology therapists, organs or parts on the right side of the body have their reflex areas on the right foot or hand. Organs on the left side of the body have their reflex areas on the left, foot and hand. Organs extending past the middle or center of the body will have reflex areas on both feet and hands. Where there are two like organs or parts (kidneys, ovaries, etc.), each has a reflex area on its corresponding foot and hand. The lower half of the body has its reflex areas on the lower half of the, foot, and the upper half of the body has its reflex areas on the upper half of the foot. The waistline is located approximately halfway between the base of the toes and the lower part of the heel.

It is said that reflexology stimulates the internal organs and increases circulation. It is based on the theory that if the body is in a healthy condition, with no congestion in it, no tender areas should be found on the feet. The tenderness, they say, is caused by crystalline deposits that form at the nerve endings in the feet. The purpose in doing compression foot massage is to break up these deposits (or crush them) so that they may become solvent and be carried away with the rest of the waste material in the body. Once these deposits are dissolved, the congestion is relieved, and the circulation to the body is improved.

This theory sounds reasonable, but like other therapies, it is based on symptomatic relief. It does not restore health because it does not remove the underlying cause of ill health. There can not be any “cures” through this method or any other if the causes of disease are left in force. Calcium deposits that may be deposited in the feet are the result of incorrect living habits. Simply removing these deposits does not create health.

Lauren FarrisLeave a comment

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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