FOOD AS MEDICINE Part 3
Essential oil and essence are extracted from plants. There are many essential oils available with many different uses and for many different ailments. There are also specific essential oils for specific chakras/energy centers. (specified in my ‘Know your Body, Know Yourself’ book).
It covers a vast spectrum: skin irritation, gum problems and toothache, muscular spasms and pain, coughs and sore throats, stimulation of the liver and gallbladder, reducing fermentation and decomposition in the intestines, protection of stomach lining. Some stimulate appetite, help the mood and anxiety, alertness, sleep, and more. One of the most important effects are to stimulate the secretion of digestive enzymes.
Bitters, in fresh plant juices, are mostly digestive in function and boost the secretion of digestive enzymes and have a calming effect on the muscle of the gut. A traditional African example is Wilde Als/wormwood/artemisia.
Plant hormones, like the gibberellins, have a beneficial effect on the human immune system. Abscisic acid is another hormone in avocados, cabbage and potatoes that help the body to use gibberellins.
The structure of plant hormones is so similar to human hormones that they can be used to boost their actions, like Sage, soya and others.
Secretins stimulate the pancreas’s production of hormones necessary for a youthful skin.
Enzymes are completely destroyed by cooking
There are -just in the liver alone, 50 000 enzymes- for the breakdown of food and to assimilate it, for repairing and building new tissue.
A body grows old when more and more injuries are inflicted on the enzymes. The enzymes in raw food support the body’s own enzyme functions, without which the body’s own enzyme -producing abilities will wane with age.
Each food contains the enzymes and vitamins and minerals that is needed to break down that particular food.
The papain in paw-paw and the bromelain in pineapple are two examples of digesting enzymes.
Fermentation, toxemia and putrefaction in the gut can lead to cancer and other dis-eases but the enzymes in uncooked foods alters the colon bacteria and eliminates free oxygen which remedies that.
More benefits for the gut in the fiber of raw plant food:
The good bacteria in the gut needs the fiber and nutrients from raw food to survive, flourish and do their job.
Leads to less detrimental bacteria that can cause putrefaction, cancer-causing substances and chemicals irritating the bowel lining.
Raw fiber leads to better peristalsis (moving of food through the gut).
Decreases the time in the colon so that harmful substances don’t damage the mucus membranes.
More bulk that again leads to better peristalsis and makes you feel fuller so helps to maintain weight.
A steady rate of nutrient absorption. (beneficial to diabetics)
Enough beneficial micro-organisms in the gut to synthesize the B and K Vitamins.
Less fat absorbed during digestion.
-A sick gut is a leading cause in the development of cancer-
Plant fiber is more than bran, it is lignan, pectins, mucilages, hemicellulose.
Pectin metabolize fats and lowers cholesterol- Grapefruit, oranges, apples are high in pectin. Pectin also eliminates toxic heavy metals from the body. Seaweed reduces the damage of radiation and strontium. Alfalfa counteracts against the toxic effects of drugs, chemicals and food additives.
The pigments in plants – anthocyans, chlorophyll and bioflavonoids – are more compounds that carries the goodness of nature that our bodies need. As said before, chlorophyll closely resembles hemoglobin that carries the oxygen in the body. Chlorophyll is brilliant to treat anemia and spinach and cabbage are two of the best (raw beetroot are also brilliant for the treatment of anemia). Raw juices full of chlorophyll is used for malabsorption and allergies. It is also used in the treatments of heart disease, hardening of arteries, sinus, inflammation of the bone marrow, depression. It helps to alkalize the body which is beneficial to the kidneys. It helps to stop the putrefaction of proteins in the gut.
Anthocyans features in the treatments of cancer and leukemia. Raw beetroot in particular.
Bioflavonoids are in high concentration in the pith of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, but are also in other plant foods. Those in oranges and tangerines can significantly reduce blood clots, blockages of tiny blood vessels and cause blood to flow more easily, and decrease blood viscosity. Of course, we know their efficiency against colds and flu. It corrects the fluctuations in the body during illness. They prevent disease in plants and do the same in humans. There are bioflavonoids that have higher anti-inflammatory powers than cortisone.
Rutin can help with depression, alters brain-waves, prevents broken blood vessels in the skin and superficial bruising.
More information on Food as Medicine in the next post : Part 4