Newsletter
"The Source"
BETTER
HEALTH
by Linda Van Donk, Shidoshi
Nutrition.......
People have been dying from poor nutrition for thousands
of years. Although malnutrition certainly exists and has
taken its toll on the human race we are not discussing lack
of food here. We are discussing lack of the proper nutrients
which the body needs to be healthy. You may be eating plenty
and yet not be feeding your body what it needs to keep going.
After Columbus brought corn back from the New World to Europe
there were epidemics of pellagra because the poor in Europe
started using the easy-to-grow miracle corn plant as their
main dietary staple. Corn is lacking in niacin. The Native
Americans from whom the plant came knew that corn had to
be balanced with other foods like beans, squash and chilies
but the Europeans didn't and thousands died even up until
1928 (7000 died in that year alone-people in the poor southern
states of the U.S. ate corn morning noon and night and couldn't
afford anything else to go with it).
Scurvy seems trivial nowadays but it was no laughing matter
for the huge numbers of sailors who died over the past few
centuries until lemons were finally introduced to their
diet for the vitamin C content.
And people take a child's right to have a childhood very
seriously these days but up until child labor laws were
passed this was not the case. Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency,
was the scourge of children from medieval times until well
into the 20th century. There were so many people afflicted
with it that it seemed normal to have curved spines, swollen
joints and bent legs. Vitamin D can easily be had from sunlight
but children in cities, especially during the Industrial
Revolution worked from dawn until after dark in factories
at least 6 days a week and when they did get outdoors the
air was so full of coal dust that very little sunlight got
through. Someone finally came up with doses of cod liver
oil and sunshine - both good sources of vitamin D.
Of
course we're smarter now aren't we? We have computers
and television and newspapers to educate us. We know better
now, don't we?
Twenty- five percent of our modern diet consists of added
sugars which contain no nutrients, just calories.
15 to 30% of our daily calories come from processed fats
- cooking fats, mayonnaise, margarine, salad oils and
fats added to baked goods.
People who drink beer, wine or other liquors on a fairly
regular basis add another 20% of their caloric intake
from alcohol, which has very few nutrients to feed our
cells. And then people wonder why they develop nagging
little problems that don't go away. Is it really any wonder?
If your diet is typical you may not be getting the nutrients
your body needs to stay healthy and repair itself on a
daily basis. Between all the sugar, fat, and alcohol the
average modern American is now getting approximately half
of their daily calorie intake from sources that have no
nutrients to offer the body, only empty calories that
make it feel full and satisfied.
This is why vitamins and mineral supplements have become
a multi million dollar business - most all of us need
them.
From ABD Ninja Source Newslettter 2/96
For the past 70 years the tendency has been to think that
disease is caused externally by things like bacteria,
viruses, and lately chemical toxins wreaking havoc with
our immune systems. Truthfully this is only part of the
answer. Two people can be exposed to the same bacteria
and one will get sick, the other stay well. Why?
It is important to
realize that the source of disease can be twofold; the cause
can lie both outside the body and within it. In actuality
the inner cause is the most significant for it is your own
physical condition which plays a major factor in determining
your health. Although deadly chemicals and drug resistant
viruses are a reality, the likelihood of the average person
dying from one of these is minuscule in the scheme of everyday
life. It is far more important to pay attention to what
you put in your body both mentally and physically.
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