Modern Medicine

[Guest guest]

http://www.freedomyou.com/nutrition_book/Body%20in%20Chaos.htm

Modern Medicine Excerpt from NORTH AMERICAN DIET

The quickest way to learn the mechanics of a car is to own one that repeatedly breaks down. Few people discover the complexity of their bodies until they get sick. Looking for the answer to illness can be overwhelming. We are bombarded with information on health and nutrition. Your local health food store displays walls of vitamin and mineral supplements, tree bark extracts, antioxidants, even love potions, all claiming to be the answer to your problem. Some work, but no amount of pills and poisons can replace a healthy diet. The problem with any pill is that it comes from a fix it mentality. You cannot fix the North American Diet, there has to be complete change.

The government has spent billions of dollars in research into disease, yet very little is spent on prevention. There is more money spent on advertising aspirin than nutritional education.

THE PATH OF MODERN MEDICINENorth America has ignored all the statistics that clearly define the modern diet as being destructive to health. Having one of the highest standards of living has resulted in a nation with the greatest rates of heart attacks and cancer. Due to medical care, people are living longer, but seniors are taking an average of eight to twelve prescription drugs daily for multiple, health problems. We have prolonged life, which tragically often translates into prolonged suffering.

Until recently, modern medicine has ignored diet as a preventive measure against disease. Did you ever stop and wonder why?

About 90 years ago, there were two men, Pasteur and Beachamp, who were at the forefront in their fields of science. Two men who would forever define our understanding of health and medicine in very distinct ways. Pasteur believed that we lived in a hostile environment where disease was always trying to invade our bodies in the form of harmful bacteria. Pasteur’s attitude towards sickness was to protect the body from these harmful bacteria.

In contrast, Beachamp believed that a healthy body would be immune to harmful bacteria. Only when the cells became weak and sick did bacteria have a destructive effect on the body. But Pasteur insisted that healthy tissue is sterile of bacteria.

Beachamp disagreed. He discovered that healthy tissue was constantly being exposed to bacteria but as the body started to deteriorate, the bacteria changed due to alterations in the cell's bio-chemistry.

Beauchamp’s and Pasteur's research seemed in conflict. In the end, Pasture's theory was adopted and Beachamp's was ignored. This resulted in a prejudice towards preventative treatment of disease that is still present today in our medical communities.

When cells are healthy and vibrant, the immune system is effective in fighting and controlling bacteria. However, through poor eating habits, cells become weak and sick, and harmful bacteria are able to multiply. Beauchamp’s and Pasteur's theories are equally important for a healthy life. Unfortunately, medications for killing bacteria had become a large industry. It is convenient to have germs to blame rather than being responsible for one’s eating habits.

For example, candida is a bacteria that exist in two forms. The form, usually found in the intestine, is harmless and does not migrate to other tissues. In the event of the colon becoming toxic, candida changes into its fungal form. It then penetrates the intestine wall and infiltrates other body tissues, causing a multitude of metabolic disturbances.

Beachamp discovered that germs are opportunists, waiting for the right conditions. Otherwise most are harmless to the body. Bacteria are in the air that we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that we eat. For the majority of the time, bacteria do not affect the body. The stomach secretes hydrochloric acid to kill harmful bacteria. The large intestine has beneficial lactic acid-secreting bacteria which fend off harmful bacteria. However, when the body is not being fed correctly, harmful bacteria are able to multiply.

Medicines powerfully adjust the body's metabolism in an attempt to stimulate healing. The symptoms can disappear, but the cause of the imbalance is ignored which is mostly an impoverished diet. The effect lasts only for so long until the imbalance sets off a new set of symptoms. If you are tired, stressed out, and living on junk food, the immune system, your God-given defense system, will break down. Medicine may keep you breathing, but will not supply the vibrant zeal of life so few experience.

Antibodies travel throughout the blood and lymph to identify foreign molecules, and guide the body's vast defense system. They latch onto and neutralize foreign invaders, even coating microbes to make them palatable for the scavenger cells. Antibodies respond swiftly to toxins and enable us to fight and resist infections. The immune system has the unimaginable ability of creating 1,920,000 different types of antibody constructions.

Experiments have shown that white blood cells, called lymphocytes, can attack cancer cells and hold them in check. Our immune system is a powerful mechanism. One B lymphocyte can pump out more than 10 million antibody molecules an hour.

Compared with a lymphocyte, modern medicine is like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly. For instance, nitroglycerine is prescribed to relieve chest pains. This explosive drug works to relieve the pain but does nothing to improve the disease.

Our hospitals are far from being a haven of healing. More than one out of twenty hospital deaths occur due to an adverse drug reaction. If you break an arm or a leg, medical technology is helpful. But, when it comes to internally adjusting the intricate working of the human body, most times, medicines fail.

Medical cures are not a solution to disease. We need to take personal responsibility in how and what we eat.

Sickness resulting from neglect and a foolish diet is not God’s will. God has gone to such great trouble in creating the human body with the capacity for good health and vibrancy. He has created foods which, in their natural state, are full of life-giving properties. It is up to us to take these wonderful resources and show the world that God is the Author of Life.

[Guest guest]

Jerri,

I'm with you here... I know I'm affected but the signs are so vague to a

regular MD that I can't do a whole lot about it now... bummer. I hear " Oh,

your RBC count has always been low so that's normal for you " .

I'm sorry to hear about the mitral valve prolapse... I know that some mitral

valve problems can be related to immune dysfunction... I think I have heard

that about mitral valve stenosis, not sure about the prolapse.

I think modern medicine has come a long way in some things (like, oh, say

anesthesia and dental work), but is in still in the dark ages for others.

I'm looking forward to the time when there will be more preventative care

and less slicing and dicing to remove/fix/replace things when they fall

apart.

Caroline

> From: Jerri Gann <njgann@...>

> Reply-< >

> Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:28:38 -0700

> < >

> Subject: Re: Re: Nasal Sprays and Allergy Meds

>

> Very true! I am always thinking I have to take care of myself so I can

> take care of my son in case he never becomes self-sufficient but tests

> I've had just seem to be inconclusive. They have found that I have

> Mitral Valve Prolapse but that is about it. I don't think modern

> medicine can catch anything unless you are about dead. Personal opinion

> only here, Jerri

[Guest guest]

Hi Sheba,

I agree with you that medicine has come a long way. I even see that with my

Dad

and his heart problems. His father and his mother both died of heart related

problems.

He had a 5 bypass several years ago and now has a pacemaker and defib.

but he has lived many more years than we thought he might.

My aunt who is his sister has RA. and her hands are terribly deformed. She has

been on many meds in the last few years but I wonder how long she had it

before

she was actually diagnosed.

I think it also has to do with their personalities. They are both fighters and

have great

families to help them.

Joy

just call me Sheba <queen_o_sheba@...> wrote:

Something to be thankful for.

I was just diagnosed in 2007 and so have not been dealing with RA as

long as many of you. I've also been fortunate in that MTX started

working for me almost immediately. I still have to see where this

journey takes me but...

I am incredibly thankful for new advances in medicine that now make

me hopeful that this disease can be arrested and controlled.

I am 48 now. When I was a child in the 60s I can remember visiting my

great-grandmother. I think she was in her late 80s/early 90s. She had

been suffering from RA for years (it runs pretty strongly in my

family). This woman could not use her hands at all and they were

horribly deformed. She could not turn her head, and could not walk

without the aid of a walker. Even the walker was so painful that she

rarely stood up or moved around. As a young child, I had no idea why

this woman terrified me so. She was always incredibly cranky and

unhappy. As an adult, and especially as an adult with RA, I now

understand that she lived a life of restriction and pain.

I am so grateful that, even if my disease progresses, modern medicine

will most likely prevent it from ever becoming the monster that it

was for my great-grandmother. I'm tired beyond tired, and achey, and

frequently hurting....but it's still far better than when my great-

grandmother was dealing with RA.