As
we enter a new year in the West, I would like to share with you 3 concerns, as
follows:
1) Threats to animal and plant species
and ecosystems that support them around the world continue unabated, due to
industrial pollution and expansion of human developments.
2) Threats to human health continue
unabated, in the form of atmospheric and water pollution, as well as food
supply adulteration, both chemical and genetic, world-wide.
3) Ignorance of natural principles of
health continues unabated.
To
me, the first two grow out of ignorance of the third. Ignorance of natural principles of personal
health spawns disregard for, and ignorance of, natural principles that support
ecosystem health.
Consuming
foods and beverages produced by factory processing produces identification with
the man-made world instead of the natural world that is our true benefactor and
origin. As the connection with the
natural world is lost, the importance of respecting the natural world
fades. We have become enamored with the
man-made world, and see it as our only hope of survival.
Anyone
whose health and life has been restored by eating foods naturally produced from
the Earth knows the importance of farming in natural ways that help preserve
fertility of the soil.
Our
food crops are all the result of selective breeding over many generations. Selection of the best seed to plant the next
growing season is not the same thing as genetic manipulation.
According
to studies by a team of researchers at the
However,
in immune-compromised individuals, and those with leaky-gut syndrome, in which food particles enter through small
perforations in the intestinal wall, the body can absorb not only normal,
un-modified food particles (monera), but those that have been modified as well.
The
immune system normally detects what is beneficial and what is not, and attacks
any foreign invader, whether it is a virus, bacteria, mold or other foreign
protein before it can invade the body.
However, in immune-compromised individuals, the ability to recognize and
block invaders is weakened or destroyed.
Consequently, the body must fight the invading organisms, proteins or
other non-body objects within the bloodstream and even in the cells once the
organisms/proteins, etc. have passed through cell membranes and entered the
body cells.
Many
modern disorders are due to the body’s reaction to such foreign protein
invaders. By trying to get rid of them,
the body may end up attacking itself, especially if the foreign protein
fragments have lodged in cells of the nervous system, joint tissue or other
organs like the pancreas, liver or kidneys, etc.
When
this happens the symptoms of resulting disorders are given names like Multiple
Sclerosis (MS), Arthritis, Diabetes, Hepatic and Renal Failure, Hepatitis or
Nephritis, etc.
However,
the underlying common cause – breakdown of digestive system integrity and
immune system disorders that result – is not understood. The common cause of digestive and immune
breakdown, improper diet, goes largely unnoticed by the majority, and medical
researchers and health practitioners who recognize the link between modern
disorders find they face an uphill battle to educate people to eat properly.
Eating
is such a common, universal, daily act that it is hardly noticed by the
majority of people on the Earth today.
Indeed, the daily concern for the majority remains how to get enough
food to keep from starving, not whether the food is wholesome and appropriate
or not.
Macrobiotics
is such a radial departure from the status quo for the majority of the
industrial world’s population that it appears to be out of step with progress of civilization.
“Progress”
is italicized because one begins to question whether civilization has progressed
at all in the field of nutrition. Indeed
it seems to have drifted into ignorance of simple principles of health instead. An example of such folly is removing the outer part from the grain called the bran.
Scientists
are now discovering there are over 120 different food nutrients in rice bran
whose identity and significance was not understood until recently (http://www.macrobiotic.org/antioxidants.htm). The folly of such destruction of our primary
and vital food sources is becoming glaringly self-evident as nutritional
research advances.
However,
lacking the Macrobiotic concept of balanced nutrition there is no principle
that can tie all this research together in a unified manner. For example, the importance of whole grain as the main food or staff of life is not understood by the majority
of people today.
In
the Macrobiotic scheme, this importance is vital to restoration of balanced
health. Lacking whole grain as the
center of the diet for people living in temperate and warmer areas, health is
difficult to maintain. By consuming
meals built around whole grains, vegetables, beans and sea vegetation, health
is much easier to maintain.
To
produce these vital health foods, the soil must be enriched with organic
materials and be free of pesticides, industrial waste and chemical
fertilizers. The air and water must be
free of pollution; the pollination of these crops must be free of genetically-modified
plant strains. Genetically-modified food
strains may well be the death knell of civilization if we do not stop it before
it can no longer be contained. When
immune disorders become widespread and the culprit is traced to
genetically-modified foods, it will be way too late to do anything about
it.
That
is, one begins to realize our health depends on the health of our planet. All life is co-dependent and
inter-dependent. Humanity and nature
depend on each other. We must work
toward rebuilding a healthy co-dependency and acknowledge our interdependency
with the natural world.
If
we continue to ignore principles of natural health, a crisis in health and
health care may very well bring modern civilization crashing to its knees. Those who survive (if any do) may very well
be those who have rebuilt the immune system’s integrity to the point that it
can maintain health and not succumb to disorders during the trials and
tribulations looming ahead.
Dependence
on drugs and medical science to protect us is the wrong direction. Every time we rely on antibiotics instead of
our own immune systems, we weaken the immune system further. Many children who are given antibiotics for
ear infections have found their ability to resist infection decreases further
and further over time, and the ability of antibiotics to successfully treat
disorders diminishes at the same time.
Modern
medicine will not save humanity.
Humanity cannot afford modern medicine even if it could. A crisis looms, yet most are oblivious to its
nature and portent. We have only one
alternative: to start a self-help program of Macrobiotic studies as soon as
possible so that we can rebuild our natural immunity.
Today,
over 65% of adults in
With
the start of the New Year come New Year’s Resolutions. Let us resolve to rebuild the one world where
we can make a real difference: the world within.
Thankfully,
we still retain the right to decide what we allow to enter our bodies. Let us take advantage of this right and make
our demands known by the most powerful means available: the power of the
pocketbook. That is, if we will not buy
genetically-altered foods, or foods grown with pesticides and chemical
fertilizers, and we will stop purchasing products made from refined grains and
refined sugar and refined salt, chemical additives, preservatives, colorings
and other adulterants, the food processors will have to start producing foods
we demand or they will go out of business.
Either we control the marketplace, or it will control us.
We
can take back our health, our freedom and our lives. It is up to us to do it. Freedom is never won by letting someone else
do it. Today, the battle has come to
everyone, everywhere, in every walk of life, of whatever ethnic background or
religious persuasion. The battle is
against ignorance, and truth is the weapon that will allow us to overcome. Let us seek the truth, for the truth will set
you free.
I hope 2003 will be the year in which you
decide to make a difference in your life, the life of your family and
consequently in the future of our world.
May
you experience the Happiest of New Years!
--Fred
Pulver