PART THREE:- HOW FOOD CAN TREAT DISEASES, SHARPEN INTELLIGENCE, PREVENT DEPRESSION

So which foods are truly healthy that can help combat diseases especially at the early stages? 

This is not an attempt to do away with professional  medical or health care services when needed. This is to ensure that  people  can heal completely, even after seeking medical care.

 It is also to reduce or if possible totally prevent instances of people dying before they are able to get the medical treatment. It is to prevent living perpetually in pains or minimise instances of lives tied perpetually to medications  for survival – what if something happens and they cannot get the needed medication when needed? 

Currently many people have to manage body pains for very prolong period. Some still die as a result in spite of spending so much on getting reputably advanced medical  care.  

The human body is not a car or any other automobile that usually breaks down due to usage.  Automobiles were produced by humans, so it’s understandable that they constantly break down especially after few years of usage. 

But the human body was designed by an Almighty, All-wise God to live for very very many years  in good working condition. If it is not working well, something has been done or is being done to it - the cause may not be the fault of the carrier of the body.

As constantly reiterated, what causes most diseases are toxic substances that get in or on the body.  Those substances are things never intended by God, the Creator of that body to get into that body. The various means those things get in have been mentioned in previous parts and series.

The damaging effects of those toxic substances become even more pronounced when absorbed into the bloodstream. Even if the liver purifies the blood and separates those substances, if they are too toxic or stony - hard inorganic toxic substances, the kidneys may not be able to pass them out of the body  through urination. Their attempts at passage could damage the kidneys.

 If the toxic substances are such that the kidneys can pass out, if a person constantly takes in too much toxins through food or medications or substance abuses or body care products or air pollution, the kidneys would be overworked. Some of those  toxic substances would have to wait for expulsion  – so the organic and inorganic toxins will remain in the bloodstream.

As the blood circulates, they will be taken by the blood to different parts of the body- internal organs, tissues, cells causing aches and pains. They may even be deposited in some parts of the body  such as in the breasts, the cervix, in the prostrate  area.

When such constantly get to the brain, you can imagine what they’ll do – disrupt normal functioning – such a person would likely have mental blocks when toxins are visiting/passing by the brain. If it happens constantly, especially if some toxins get deposited around the brain, even if they don't amass to  form a tumor, wouldn’t it affect the brain's functioning?

Before calling any child dullard, why not find out what the child is constantly being fed or feeding on?

 I had Dyslexia  as a child – from what I can recollect, I would completely forget some things I had been taught. It was such that I couldn’t write letter A at age 5years – I was flogged by a teacher at an afternoon lesson as a result.

When I cast back my mind to what was happening about four and half decades ago, I remembered something – my mother did not allow it so I was doing it secretly. – I used to have lots of coins at my disposal so I would leave our apartment making older family members believe I was going to play – partly true. I would go and buy very sweet candies – my favourite then was called ‘ekona Gowon’ – Gowon’s fingernail  and  very sweet chewy chocolate  - Goody-Goody which I called Kudi-Kudi. I would buy as much as the money with me and chewed them fast instead of licking so I wouldn’t be discovered. 

I did that almost everyday and would often have low appetite for nutritious meals – I disliked that ‘eba’  made from cassava and the ‘ewedu’ – vegetable soup  with stew that we often ate for lunch. 

If I could escape eating the meal,  I would – but I struggled academically such that I repeated Primary 1. I was then more closely-monitored, so my secret childhood indulgence on extra sweet treats was on and off.  

When I was in Primary 5 , my family condition changed.  By then there were no longer  extra money for such treats. For some years afterwards, my grandmother would often bring foodstuffs from the village grown under her supervision. You may think it is coincidence but it was around that period that the mental blocks I often suffered which had been on and off from Primary 1 to Primary 4 cleared.  

It was in Primary 5 that I was actually able to read clearly and simultaneously started writing stories that got attention of the teacher. In Primary 6, I wrote my first novel on  a 2A exercise book. I also graduated with a Distinction  from Prinary school

Also when I was teaching children as a private  teacher in their homes, I noticed something  similar.  There’s this particular boy  in a wealthy home. He has siblings, some of which I also taught. The boy had attended the best private schools but was struggling academically. He had a very sweet tooth  -  he loved frizzy sugared drinks so much then. Two of his younger ones that I also taught whose mouths were  not so wide, learnt faster and improved remarkably academically. 

The older boy also did improve academically but it was a whole lot of struggle for him and I had to take very painstaking measures in teaching him. If I had known what I know now, I may have insisted that he cut off or reduce his excessive intake of those processed foods. I did discover that one of the younger ones I taught  didn’t like processed foods – he even wanted to give away  the processed foods they had at home. 

Also with  depression,  unhealthy foods which may or may not be expensive affect moods. Circumstances of life can and does make people unhappy but unhealthy foods aid the slip into depression.  I also have traced periods of depression to consumption of certain foods. 

Substance abuse,  side effects of some medications  and exposure to certain pollutants in the air can also affect moods and the slip into depression.

Just remember this as a formula- for most diseases, depression and mental blocks, some things have got into your system, get them out as fast as possible.

Formula:

Toxins in – Toxins out = Relief or Good Health + S.M.E = Total Healing

Healing is of course holistic- you also have to take care of your Spiritual, Mental and Emotional health through what you do, listen to and relationships. 

In those periods of examples I cited, to minimise toxins through food, people who were aware, simply avoided processed foods as much as possible – the processes such as whitening of some processed foods, making them  have certain qualities or use of some preservatives to extend their shelf-life often introduce substances that are not ideal, even harmful to the human body.

These then become toxic to the body if unable to pass through the kidneys or if taking longer than normal to pass out.  It can result in insulin resistance leading to Diabetes, Hypertension, Blood Clotting, Stroke etc or even Chronic Kidney failure or Disease.

But in recent times, apart from processed foods, use of certain harmful growth boosters in growing  plants or rearing animals for human consumption  have also increased.

They gradually damage the body – they are slow poisons and should be No – No. 

While we wait for a change that prohibit/ eliminate the use of harmful substances in farming and  food processing, let’s consciously remove toxins from our bodies using about the safest means – truly healthy foods – at least edible leaves, seeds, fruits, other vegetables. Even some carbs, proteins and oils produced without the use of toxic substances can help soak up, reduce the effects and/or eliminate toxins from the body.

All such foods cannot be mentioned in this write--up but know that most  foods grown or produced without toxic substances have healing effects - find out more.

To specifically remove toxic substances from the body so that they can pass through the kidneys or be flushed out, I’ll mention a few.

1. Pawpaw leaves taken as tea help soak up and remove toxins.

2. Seeds of crops such as Pawpaw can remove toxins from the body – they can be blended and taken as tea or used in spicing food.

Some toxins are so hard they get stuck in the kidney(s), described as kidney stones. 3.Avocado seeds – grated and soaked in water to drink or boiled as tea. They can also be dried and blended into powder. Swallow about a teaspoonful of the powder and drink water or hoil and drink as tea. You may sieve but it’s also safe without sieving. 

4. African cherry leaves – agbalumo  leaves I have found to be a kidney stone breaker. I boil with other leaves and use in making soft drink. When the mixture leaves drink ferments a little, it tastes like wine.

5. If you soak locally-well-made gari in water and drink the water, it can help calm the body – the tummy in particular.

6. If rice has not been grown or processed with chemicals, the parboiled water can have some healing effects but DONT TRY IT. Why? Because you can hardly get rice produced without chemical boosters. 

As much as possible try to get organic-grown ones of any food being used for healing effects. 

How do you know when toxins  get into your body? 

There will be inflammation  - a sort of burning sensation in your body minutes or hours after eating or drinking or taking the medication or substance or inhaling. 

If you constantly ignore this inflammation, most or all the toxins may get absorbes by the blood. Even with detoxification by the liver, thry msy pose challenges to the kidney(s) and flow through the blood as explained watlier.

Part 2 of this series explains how to reduce the amount of toxins absorbed by the blood. 

Afterwards you can eat foods or drink teas of leaves that remove the toxins. Plant edible leaves, for instance pawpaw in buckets if you don’t have the land. At least you can harvest the leaves to make drinks. 

Note: since the leaves remove toxins from the body, they also remove fat – toxins that have stayed in the body would likely be deposited in fatty areas of the body. So they can result in weight loss. For someone who does not want to lose so much weight, ensure to eat well.

#shieldyourblood 

#foodsandhealing

PART TWO: HOW FOOD CAN TREAT DISEASES, SHARPEN INTELLIGENCE, PREVENT DEPRESSION

PART TWO:
HOW FOOD CAN TREAT DISEASES, SHARPEN INTELLIGENCE, PREVENT DEPRESSION

When we were growing up as children, I noticed many mothers at that period were very focused on ensuring their children eat nutritious though not necessarily expensive foods. They didn't have so much for expensive foods anyway.

It was the processed foods that were  so much more  expensive then.  In fact, a lot of nutritious foods were relatively very cheap at that period – organic-grown fruits, vegetables and a whole lot of fresh foodstuffs.

I understand now from those childhood days and from my experience in teaching children how truly nutritious foods made children very strong, vibrant with life and affected Intelligent Quotient.

This was also evidenced in many adults whether literate or not. I will tell those life stories another time.

Nutrients are substances that a living organism must obtain for growth and the sustenance of life, according to Science Direct.

The nutrients, basically got through healthy foods, especially if uncontaminated, will help keep the body strong and able to fight off diseases.

When there is a disease in that body or the manifestation of an ailment like a mild headache or body aches, it means that certain factors have overpowered the body’s natural ability to defend itself, stay strong and function normally.

The causes of diseases according to scientists can be  nutritional deficiencies, harmful or toxic substances getting into the body through air pollution, food, drinks, body care products, medications, vaccines, hard substance abuse, genetic or hereditary factors, pathogens like viruses and bacteria, etc.

The long and short of cause(s) of disease(s) is  simply this, certain things that were never intended by God the Creator to get into the human body have got in.

They weaken the body’s ability to resist the factors causing diseases mentioned above – a virus even the Covid19 virus is powerless in a healthy body regularly taking TRULY NUTRITIOUS FOODS.

Hence reason during the Pandemic some people tested positive to the virus but didn’t fall sick in spite of the fact that a pathogen would fight hard to overpower the life, even end the life of the host.

The life cycle of the virus would end without drama in a healthy person, likely get expelled from the body and the person would test negative.

Not all of those toxins that have got into the body need get into the bloodstream. Those toxins that don’t get absorbed by the blood  may still do some damage as they pass through the respiratory tract on one hand or the digestive tract out the body through the large intestines to the rectum through defecation.

The damage can be greatly minimised through taking certain foods that have lots of roughages – dietary fibre. 
Foods high in dietary fibre include legumes such as beans, groundnuts or peas, fruits,  vegetables especially the dark leafy greens like spinach but also includes carrots  and other vegetables,  whole grains such as oatmeal, brown rice, nuts, and seeds.

Many of us throw away the skins of fruits like mangoes but to boost fibre intake,  eat the edible skins of  fruits very well – just ensure they have not been sprayed with chemicals.

The fresher and more unprocessed the foodstuffs, the more the dietary fibre it will have over the processed foods.

Countries especially developing ones need to develop small or cottage fruit-drying businesses – these fruits need not be treated with chemicals before drying well. Rather than fruits wasting away, they should be processed without the addition of  toxic drying agents or toxic preservatives and sold as fruit snacks.

It would really help a lot to avert diseases or reverse diseases like cancer of the colon and other bowel diseases if people snack on dried fruits like mangoes, bananas, carrots, apples.

Nuts including almonds, other seeds, dates, prunes are also good fietary fibres. Eating of Sweet potatoes and other potatoes with their skins boost roughage intake.

Other foods with roughages  are maize, oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat bread,

Some seeds  may not be so palatable to eat but also very vital in treating diseases or getting rid of pathogens.

Seeds of various organic-grown edible crops such as pawpaw, dates, oranges, grapes, lemon not needed for planting can be dried, blended and sprinkled into or on foods and beverages.

They will aid the passage of pathogens and other toxic substances causing diseases out of the body. Seeds are very powerful anti-pathogens especially those seeds taken from pure bred crops

The less the toxic elements in the body, the better the body functions. Better to be conscious and adopt some, if not all of these to avert or reverse diseases like colon cancer.

Roughages help some wastes including toxic substances  to bypass being absorbed by the blood. But some of those toxins that got into the body may still find their way into the blood.

If absorbed by the blood, the health issues that may result are often described as chronic. If the disease has got to critical levels, it is better to consult with or seek treatment  with professional healthcare providers.

But to avert or reverse the Chronic diseases  that are blood related at least at the early stages, truly healthy foods can still be used.

To be continued

#shieldyourblood
#preventdiseaseswithfood
#treatdiseaseswithfood