Amazoniac
Member
Needless to write, but writting anyway: ideally you should read those in context directly from the book.
I have to listen Shia Labeouf's encouragement at least 10 times before I consider adding those to our Quotations.
Some selected parts:
[..]men produce estrogen, especially under stress such as starvation or alcoholism or liver damage. In a famine, men may even lactate.
Quantitatively, progesterone [not estrogen] is the main female hormone, and progesterone improves brain structure and function.
The primary male hormone, testosterone, has chemical and functional properties of both estrogen and progesterone; this combined function gives males a short-term stability (fewer goiters, migraines, etc.) but a lack of adaptiveness in the longer range (higher mortality in infancy and old age).
Estrogen is the hormone for beginnings, a sort of biochemical eraser which can eliminate recently recorded information, restoring the underlying primitive capacity for growth. When we are threatened, by injury or aging, we need the capacity for renewal of cells.
Male apes who are bullied have decreased levels of testosterone, and this effect persists long after their environment has improved. The stress of subjugation seems to lead to an adaptation of passivity. Their passivity prevents further injury, but we don't know how stressful their continuing submission is.
Behavior affects hormones, and hormones influence behavior. Life in a rat-box society makes brains grow smaller, and makes people do the things that maintain the oppressive conditions.
Our culture doesn't explicitly teach us that life is pleasureless, though it does make life pleasureless for many, and it does teach that pleasure is worth less than virtue, utility, possession, etc. By improving life conditions (in many ways) the hormones of pleasure can have a bigger role in our physiology.
[..]very large babies are delivered with great ease when the mother is in good health, because the factors which support growth of the baby also promote elasticity of the mother's tissues. Progesterone is such a factor - almost a "chemical obstetrician."
When the liver doesn't remove estrogen from the body rapidly enough, estrogen accumulates in the body - this is why male alcoholics often grow breasts. [..] Poor nutrition makes it impossible for the liver to function properly.
Normally, the liver treats estrogen like a poison, removing it immediately from the body. If the liver gets sluggish from malnutrition or too much estrogen (or other damage), it can allow the hormone to build up to very high levels.
Copper seems to be synergic with estrogen, and could have a similar effect - could this have something to do with the de-emphasis of sex among some vegetarians who eat lots of copper-rich soy beans?
If a person (especially, though not necessarily, a woman) has unsatisfying orgasms, or no orgasms at all, I think it would be advisable to eliminate the possible causes of a hormone imbalance (including high copper intake), and also to help the liver function as effectively as possible by getting good nutrition. High protein, all the B vitamins, vitamins A, C, and E, and zinc and magnesium are especially important.
Vitamin E does several things biochemically which are exactly the opposite of what estrogen does, so it has been called the "anti-estrogenic vitamin."
Vitamin E preserves ATP.
In a vitamin E deficiency, certain tissues lose enough ATP that they can't function normally. Muscles cramp, and eventually can harden and become dystrophic. Magnesium also helps to maintain ATP levels, and for example can be used to stop menstrual cramps.
In a healthy animal, arousal means expectation: the longer arousal can be sustained without distraction, the higher the energy charge will be, and the more intense and satisfying the completion will be.
In hypothyroidism there is little stomach acid, and other digestive juices (and even intestinal movement) are inadequate, so gas and constipation are common. Foods aren't assimilated well, so even on a seemingly adequate diet there is "internal malnutrition." Magnesium is poorly absorbed, and a magnesium deficiency can lead to irritability, blood clots, vascular spasms and angina pectoris, and many other problems.
Because iodate is used as a "dough conditioner" (to make bread water-heavy), the American eater often gets ten times more iodine than is recommended. Combined with unsaturated oils, as organic iodides, excess iodine can powerfully inhibit the thyroid.
Manganese is needed to synthesize thyroxin, so a deficiency can interfere with thyroid function (coffee is a major source of manganese, and caffeine also stimulates the thyroid).
Contrary to popular ideas about thyroid, the gland will resume its functioning after stopping the use of a supplement even if it has been suppressed, and sometimes taking thyroid will increase the gland's function to normal.
[..]estrogen diminishes hepatic glycogen (Brunelli, 1935), while progesterone increases both blood sugar and liver glycogen (Gaunt, et al., 1939).
Estrogen causes hypoxia at every imaginable site, from lung, through vascular fibrin and extracellular collagen and edema, to intracellular metabolism. Estrogen is also synergic with insulin, lowering blood sugar and promoting fat synthesis.
Estrogen, and another common respiratory toxin, excessive unsaturated fats, have both been demonstrated to cause the birth of small-brained, retarded animals.
Dark cloudy winters in England or the Pacific Northwest are powerful stressors, and cause lower progesterone in women and testosterone in men. Toxins, such as copper and lead, can produce similar symptoms.
A very common cause of an estrogen excess is a dietary protein deficiency - the liver simply cannot detoxify estreogen when it is undernourished[..].
Since progesterone can be converted into cortisone to handle stress, this could explain why well trained athletes (who need lots of cortisone) so often miss periods. It seems to be a simple over-consumption of progesterone, which is probably a reasonable biological adaptation, preventing pregnancy during times of stress.
Vitamin A is required for progesterone synthesis, as well as for proper maturation of cells in membranes and glandular tissue.
A response to stimulation is the production of more energy, with a proportional increase of oxygen and sugar consumption by the stimulated tissue; this produces more carbon dioxide, which enlarges the blood vessels in the area, providing more sugar and oxygen.
Carbonated water can provide enough carbon dioxide (sometimes) to improve the delivery of blood (and glucose) to the brain.
[If the adrenals are depleted] pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium and potassium should be provided in addition to other nutrients.
Pantothenic acid is needed by the liver to destroy insulin (insulinase), so hyperinsulinism, causing hypoglycemia, can sometimes be remedied with this nutrient.
Inflammation is a relatively non-specific, and hopefully local, reaction, serving to isolate the problem if it is a toxin or infection.
Hans Selye sometimes used an injected metal, such as iron salts, to experimentally sensitize animals to stress, making it easier to produce arthritis. He found that vitamin E could offset this effect of iron.
Insulin should be about 30% destroyed by the liver each time the blood circulates to the liver, but a pantothenic acid deficiency will prevent this regulation. Low thyroid also interferes with liver function limiting the storage and release of glycogen.
Potassium is necessary for utilization of sugar, and should probably always be tried as a supplement in the diabetic diet, especially since fruits, an important source of potassium, may be avoided because of their sugar. Some B vitamins (B1 and B2 and probably niacin) are said to have similar effects on the utilization of sugar.
Excess estrogen causes the body to accumulate copper, and copper poisoning itself (often caused by water that is contaminated, for example by plumbing, a hot water heater, or utensils) is known to cause symptoms of schizophrenia.
Since it is easier to test for excess copper than for excess estrogen, it might be worthwhile to have this test done when there are emotional problems during menopause, around menstruation, or in the first weeks after giving birth.
Fasting, liver damage, and increased estrogen levels can raise the concentrations of certain [..] substances; they seem to promote urinary loss of zinc and vitamin B6. Estrogen promotes copper (and iron, and calcium) retention, and copper tends to displace zinc.
The high levels of copper, iron and lead which are found in many people with mental problems may be secondary to a hormone disturbance.
I feel that any "diagnosis" (naming in Latin) of a "functional mental disturbance" is at best irrelevant, and may be very destructive.
Light and smell are known to affect hormone production. A musky material (Le Magnen's "exaltolide," probably includes androstenol) is probably a social regulator of hormones - perfume containing musk might affect the woman who wears it. Bright light for 18 hours per day can correct some hormone-mood problems.
During and after cancer treatment the "hypoglycemia" diet seems desirable: frequent small feedings, liver (or similar nutrients), magnesium, potassium. Vitamins A, E, C, and pantothenic acid are particularly important in stress, but all nutrients are necessary.
The vitamins most commonly used for resisting stress are A, C, E, and pantothenic acid. The minerals magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc can help in the first stages of stress, and sodium supplements may be needed in the last extreme stage of stress when the adrenals have been exhausted.
Vitamin A offsets a protein deficiency, and a protein deficiency can damage immunity.
Enforced inactivity, and inability to achieve what was intended, are powerful stressors.
Vitamins C, E, and pantothenic acid are needed in especially large amount in stress. Vitamins A and B2 are also essential for production of the anti-stress hormones.
Copper is a "specific" oxidant for vitamin C. It is associated with many inflammatory diseases, and should probably be better investigated in "degenerative" diseases, including arthritis and glaucoma.
Pantothenic acid in very large doses was recently found to protect against stress even when an animal's adrenals were removed.
Hypothyroidism often involves arthritis - sometimes the tiny bones of the ear which transmit sound are affected. Ringing of the ears and deafness for high sounds are common in hypothyroidism.
When muscles mass is diminished, loss of fat becomes difficult.
I have experimentally reversed a variety of degenerative changes with special nutrition, but the problem always exists within a particular person's physiology, and can't necessarily be solved by a standardized diet. You have to learn to know what your body needs at a particular time.
[..]vitamins which are involved in progesterone synthesis (vitamin A, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E)[.]
[..]nutrients that are known to be "wasted" by excess estrogen: folic acid, zinc, and vitamin B6, particularly.
Brittle fingernails are likely to result from too much estrogen, or inhibited thyroid function; vitamin A and eggs are useful, but calcium and gelatin are not.
Since a healthy liver will produce cholesterol to make up for what is lacking in the diet, avoiding high cholesterol foods won't necessarily lower blood cholesterol.
High cholesterol usually indicates low thyroid function.
The real cause of heart attacks seems to be hypothyroidism and its effects, including loss of magnesium.
Women, like cows [beef industry profit], will puff up with water and fat under the influence of estrogen, and wrinkles will naturally be smoothed out, but the skin itself is actually losing its elasticity faster when estrogen is used.
Butter contain some progesterone.
A vitamin E deficiency (and estrogen is known to increase the need for vitamin E) causes calcium to be retained in muscles. Any toxin, in fact, causes calcium retention in the soft tissues - for example when the heart is deprived of oxygen, it absorbs calcium. Since no skeletal improvement can be demonstrated by x-rays, I suspect that the improved calcium retention is merely a toxic effect of estrogen.
Vitamin E promotes oxidation in many ways, and seems to specifically oppose many of the effects of excess estrogen. For example, it can help protect the liver against damage by toxins (all the nutrients are needed by the liver though).
[Vitamin E] opposes the tendency of estrogen to create "age pigment."
Recently it has been found that some natural vitamin E is contaminated with estrogen from the plant source, e.g., alfafa.
Stress can be produced by dark cloudy northern winters, by inadequate nutrition, by the use of estrogen and many other drugs, and by the use of foods which inhibit the thyroid gland (bakery bread, lacking available manganese and containing iodate and bromate; cabbage family, and many cereals and nuts containing nitriles, cyanide or thiocyanate; meats "refined" from animals whose thyroid tissue is sold to drug companies).
Light deprivation can be remedied artificially, but the necessary brightness is usually underestimated.
Vegetarians often notice temporary exhilaration when they stop eating meat, probably because their thyroid has been suppressed. But a more serious hypothyroid state often follows, from a low protein inadequate vegetarian diet.
Low protein diets definitely interfere with the liver's ability to detoxify estrogen and other stressors.
There are several reasons to suspect that a magnesium deficiency is often involved in heart disease; in a clinical study, for example, injected magnesium sulphate helped in angina pectoris and coronary thrombosis, and tended to lower blood lipids. [..] Magnesium also opposes clot formation and vascular spasm, which can be promoted by an excess of calcium.
Atherosclerotic damage (fatty deposits) of blood vessels is made worse by sugar supposedly, since insulin is involved in cholesterol damage. There is evidence that lecithin iand other phospholipids protect the body against fatty degeneration. Eggs, for several reasons might actively protect against the formation of cholesterol deposits.
Avoiding stress (coffee, tea, and other stimulants produce a stress-like reaction in many people) should be part of a multiple sclerosis program.
Folic acid, known for its ability to cure some anemias (red blood cell deficiency) also improves the function of white blood cells, improving antibody production.
Vitamin A, besides strengthening membranes, is necessary for protein synthesis, and so helps form the immune tissue.
Zinc [..] possibly has a direct "viricidal" capacity, as observed in vitro, which would account for its release (and loss) during viral infetions.
Vitamin A (and possibly folic acid) mediate the body's response to light, and so modify its neural control of immunity, thyroid and adrenal and sex hormone function, etc.
[Vitamin C is] more concentrated in white blood cells than in any other tissue (about a 60 to one ratio between white blood cells and surrounding fluids), and their immune function depends on its presence in adequate amounts.
Up to 200mg. daily intakem vitamin C concentration in blood and tissues increases rapidly, and the kidneys work to reabsorb it; at about that intake, the kidney's ability to conserve it becomes "saturated", so that higher doses are retained at lower efficiency.
Many people lose their allergies (even hay fever and poison-oak sensitivity) when they take supplements of the vitamins A, C, and pantothenic acid.
Plants evolved special toxins to protect their seeds from animals, so "seed poisoning" is probably a more accurate description than "allergy to grains, nuts, legumes, seeds."
Oily things enter the body very easily through the skin. Toxic solvents should never touch the skin, just as they never should be breathed. Oily vitamins and hormones can be applied to the skin. [..] Mineral oil, vaseline, and rancid vegetable oil should not be put on the skin.
Vitamin A is needed for proper differentiation of various types of cell, and has been used successfully in blocking cancer formation and in causing precancerous tissue to return to normal. Progesterone "spares" vitamin A, and has been used in cancer therapy.
[..]when body temperature is below normal, there is typically a progesterone deficiency (or estrogen excess, which may be functionally equivalent to a thyroid deficiency).
Just as rigor mortis can be softened by injection of ATP, the hardness of a tumor probably reflects ATP deficiency (softening of cervical tumors was observed during progesterone treatment).
Milk is a rich natural source of tryptophan. Since tryptophan promotes formation of serotonin which stimulates release of prolactin, and prolactin activates the formation of sebum (oil) by the skin, large amounts of milk could promote a tendency toward acne, when there is a deficiency of B6, thyroid, progesterone, etc.
HCG, the hormone which helps sustain pregnancy, raises the blood sugar to meet the fetus' need for abundant sugar. So diabetes and pregnancy have much in common. And as a woman gets older she tends towards diabetes, and so tends to nourish the fetus better, especially its brain. [On older women having smarter babies, countering the idea that younger pregnancy is better]
The potassium in fruit has an effect like that of insulin, so that sugar from the fruit can become available to cells without over-stimulating insulin secretion. Since insulin persists after disposing of excess sugar, it tends to keep blood sugar low and to intensify cravings for carbohydrates.
During pregnancy the mother's body adapts to live increasingly on fat, so that most of the sugar which is available can be used by the baby.
The brain uses most of the body's glucose, so mental fatigue can easily affect the blood sugar level.
If you are sick, reconsider everything you are doing as a contributing factor.
Estrogen is regulated - centrally or crucially - by the liver.
Calorie intake should increase slightly (e.g., 200) in pregnancy, and considerably in nursing (e.g., 1000).
Hypothyroidism is a common cause of anemia, possibly acting through the simple mechanism of lowering body temperature so much that blood production is retarded.
Since dietary proteins can get into the blood, early feeding of non-human milk would seem most likely to promote the development of allergies.
Among other animals, even momentary separation following birth damages social behavior.
[..]other amino acids, such as aspartic acid, can be just as poisonous as glutamate. [..] Now the FDA has given its approval to a new sweetener, aspartame, which is a molecule containing aspartic acid. [On MSG, substitutes, etc]
[..]nearly half of the calcium contained in commercial bread may come from the dough conditioner and mold inhibitor, with the rest being provided by the milk and wheat.
Animal experiments show that giving estrogen to the mother causes brain damage in the fetus. This could result from a folic acid deficiency, or from various other effects of estrogen, such as low blood sugar or high copper.
Human and animal experiments have shown that good general nutrition, including adequate protein and vitamin C and a high ratiot of calcium and magnesium to phosphate, can improve dental health.
A deficiency of vitamin B1 causes loss of appetite.
As our tastes evolved, they had to be satisfied by whole foods, so a craving for carbohydrate wouldn't disrupt our physiology if we didn't have such easy access to highly purified (or distorted) carbohydrates.
Low thyroid can cause loss of appetite.
Since fat has a very low rate of metabolism, people who lose muscle by fasting are going to have increasing difficulty in losing weight, since they will have less active tissue to consume fat. Building up muscle and lymph tissue for optimum health - even if it initally causes a light weight gain - will make reducing easier by increasing the mass of metabolically active tissue.
Progesterone is the only steroid hormone I know of which will cause the thymus to regenerate.
[..]Coca-Cola claims that phosphoric acid and sugar the only nutrients in their product, yet a standard text book indicates that Coke is rich in potassium (while Pepsi has more sodium than potassium). [On companies overlooking nutrition that comes along with the extracts from plant or animal tissue]
Coffee improves circulation to the brain; Benjamin Franklin and Goethe are said to have used 30 to 65 cups daily. This amount would be close to the maximum safe daily dosage of caffeine, 6 grams (Bennett and Bondy, Principles of Internal Medicine, p. 795).
Very small doses of caffeine have a "paradoxical" sedative effect, but this is a familiar effect of anything which raises the brain's energy level.
[..]during fasting, coffee and/or adrenalin might speed the depletion of the glycogen reserves and thus speed the appearance of hypoglycemia.
An interesting study in the USSR suggests how complex [..] experiments can get: animals were fed either boiled water or unboiled water, and it was found that the animals receiving boiled water had significantly higher serum cholesterol levels than the animals drinkin unboiled water.
Caffeine, acting through nerves as well as directly, can increase immunity.
Caffeine stimulates the thyroid, and hypothyroidism can cause extreme susceptibility to infection.
[..]coffee makes many people anxious and can produce a stress-like reaction. Whether to use it or not is largely an individual matter.
Chelation does not necessarily improve assimilation of a mineral - in fact it often prevents absorption of a nutrient, as in the case of phytic acid.
[..]it is simply unscientific to say that supplements aren't necessary when "well balanced" meals are eaten. [..] Individual peculiarities and stress can make it extremely difficult to stay healthy on a normal diet; however, if meals of liver, broccoli leaves and oysters and papaya can be considered normal, then supplements might generally be unnecessary.
Low blood sugar, as shown by H. Laborit, will induce allergic reactions even when there was no sensitivity at a higher level of blood sugar.
It is hard to separate cadmium from zinc, and cadmium is toxic, so zinc supplements should be used carefully. Biological purification (as in oysters) is usually more effective than industrial refining.
Hans Selye has demonstrated that vitamin C can prevent heavy metal (e.g., mercury) toxicity; it reduces the metal to a less toxic form, and also helps solubilize and remove it.
When excess phosphate (from meat or wheat germ, for example) is eating, calcium and magnesium are removed from the teeth and bones to be excreted with the phosphate. Using a large amount of milk improves the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, but doesn't supply enough magnesium to prevent tooth decay, heart trouble, and cramps.
[..]extra carbohydrate will make you need more vitamin B1.
Excess protein increases the amount of B6 needed.
If we added up all of the special "avoidance" diets, no one could eat anything. Many people are ruining their health by avoiding too many foods.
[..]the acetic acid in vinegar not only is a component of fat molecules, but it also serves to activate the process of converting glucose into fat (Adv. Lipid Res. 9, p. 111. 1971).
[..]animals fed large amounts of cod liver oil nearly all died of cancer, but when they were fed the same amount of oil with a large vitamin E supplement, their cancer rate was normal.
In a [..] study, people who ate large amounts of unsaturated oils were judged to be older in appearance than people who ate less.
An extra benefit of carrot fiber, besides the bulk and moisture-holding properties, is that it captures and holds fat molecules, removing them from the body and making weight loss easier. The small amount of sugar in carrots is released slowly, so that it doesn't disturb blood sugar as much as would the same amount in a different form.
Mineral oil isn't just a benign lubricant, it is an irritant. Years ago, autopsies of chronic users of mineral oil found that the oil had entered fat tissues, where it stayed because it can't be metabolized.
If a person really needs a laxative, one with fewer dangers would be preferable - maybe epsom salts or aloe vera.
Chronic constipation is a very common sign of hypothyroidism.
[..]an active brain can burn about half of all the energy consumed by the body. If brain activity is depressed, a very large percentage of the food consumed becomes available for making fat.
[..]the metabolism shifts toward fat mobilization at an early stage of cancerization.
Cancers, like embryos, live mostly on sugar. High blood sugar is maintained by causing the body to consume itself (fat and protein) while leaving sugar for the growing tissue.
--Coffee, unlike other stimulants, activates the thyroid gland.
Stress damages lymphoid tissues, and tonsils are composed of this tissue; Hodgkin's disease affects the same kind of tissue.
[Some recommendations:]
Fiber, such as two raw carrots per day. Coffee, as a trial, when there aren't reasons against it. Avoiding cabbages (unless cooked), mustard, radishes.
Vitamin A and pantothenic acid promote natural progesterone synthesis.
Iodine, manganese, and cobalt are all possible problems in thyroid functioning.
Related to hormones and blood sugar, get the liver healthy, for example by eating liver[..] Consider allergens, like onions, etc., that could be disturbing the liver.
Vitamin B12 and vitamin E are both needed to make use of vitamin A efficiently.
Gelatin helps keep the blood sugar up, by stimulating glucagon release, and so helps control hunger.
Medium chain fatty acids, found in coconut oil, are effective in turning off fat synthesis in the liver.
If the liver isn't functioning well, or if there is general stress, or if there isn't enough protein in the diet, [circulating] proteins tend to disapper, with the result that water accumulates outside the blood vessels. In the morning, this water will be visible as puffiness in the face, especially under the eyes, but by evening gravity will have moved it to the feet and ankles.
Besides eating adequate protein, it is necessary to have adequate vitamin A and zinc for efficient protein synthesis. Vitamin C and rutin (grapefruit is a good source) are needed to maintain integrity of blood vessel walls.
While jogging became popular for preventing heart disease, we were frequently told by experts how many miles a person has to run to burn off a pound of fat. However, in Russia, physiologists always remember to include the brain in their calculations, and it turns out that a walk through interesting and pleasant surroundings consumes more energy than does harder but more boring exercise. An active brain consumes a tremendous amount of fuel.
In the last century, Sechenov found that exercising one hand strengthens not only that hand, but also the other. Brain activity stimulates growth and alteration of tissues, such as the muscles.
Once I decided to attend a modern dance class which began the next week. After two or three days of visualizing myself in unusual postures and movements, my muscles started feeling the way they do the day after a long hike, though I hadn't actually done any exercise. This effect of nerves on other tissues is called their trophic effect; it actually changes the chemical composition of muscle, its weight, and other properties.
[..]some of the Hindu yogic traditions considered the visualization to be the point of the exercise, and recognized that the body could be powerfully influenced by mental activity.
Recently psychologists have claimed that attention and visualization can cause breasts to enlarge.
Lactic acid production (getting out of breath) is the main signal of the need to produce new glucose. Therefore, "aerobic" exercise is the most stressful.
Stress uses progesterone and can cause menstrual periods to stop. Girls who begin regular exercise (such as dancing) before puberty have later sexual development.
Exercise increases blood clotting, and so can increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
Walking is a better form of exercise.
[For mere curiosity, Ray's suggested requirements to deal with stress back then:]
Ninety grams a day of protein, preferably including liver, eggs, milk and seafoods. Fruits and starchy vegetables can make up the rest of the calories. Calcium and magnesium, 1200 mg. each; potassium chloride 2 to 4 grams; zinc 20 to 30 mg.; iodine about a fifth of a milligram; and manganese and other trace minerals from seafoods, such as kelp. Vitamin B1, 5 to 20 mg.; Vitamin B2, 20 to 30mg.; Niacin, 100 to 500 mg., with the requirement somtimes increasing just before menstruation; Vitamin B6, 10 to 50 mg.; Pantothenic acid, 100 to 500 mg.; Folic acid, from 1 to 5 mg.; Biotin, 1 mg.; Vitamin B12, 25 to 100 micrograms (100 micrograms is the same as one tenth milligram).; Inositol and choline, about 500 mg. each.; Vitamin A, 50,000 to 100,000 units, always taken with vitamin E (200 to 400 units of d-alpha tocopherol). Rutin and the bioflavonoids are sometimes used when capillaries are abnormally fragile (some types of purpura, petechial hemorrhages, and spontaneous bruising have this cause).; Vitamin D from fish liver oil. up to 2000 units a day in winter unless pregnant. The evidence for vitamin D toxicity is based on the synthetic form of the vitamin, but remember that vitamins A and D (and other oils) can be toxic in large amounts.; [..] vitamin K is available only by prescription, but is contained in leaves.
Potassium chloride should not be used by anyone with bad kidney function since it could accumulate, slowing or even stopping the heart. It should not be taken in tablet form, since a high local concentration stops intestinal movement, leaving the tablet in one spot where it can burn and cause ulceration. A potassium chloride powder (such as Morton's salt substitute, which is not contaminated with ammonium chloride) can be sprinkled on the food. It is best to get your potassium from foods, such as fruit.
Changing to any new diet, or ending a fast, should be done gradually, allowing at least several days for enzyme adaptation.
If gas is a problem even when change of diet isn't responsible, a thyroid deficiency should be considered. Lack of stomach acid is typical in hypothyroidism, but is only one aspect of a generalized digestive depression.
ATP is more stable than many chemists realize - it is only a lack of magnesium or an excess of calcium which destabilizes its molecular structure. This seems to be involved in the sedative and anti-cramp actions of magnesium.
A.E. Needham (Growth Process of Animals) has discussed the possibility that [ATP] is a "vitamin": when added to the diet of animals, it increases their growth. This must have some relevance to our nutrition, since fresh food contains abundant ATP. A day or so after an animal dies, "rigor mortis" develops because of the disappearance of ATP; a similar loss of ATP occurs in plants as they die.
[General principles of good nutrition]
1. Minimize your requirements by avoiding unnecessary stress. In Oregon in the winter, use bright lights, balacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent tubes.
2. Avoid toxins. Run water 1 minute before using, and then only from the cold faucet. Do not cook tomatoes or fruit in iron or copper pans. Don't use pewter dishes. Avoid mineral oil and other solvents on skin or in air (most cosmetics contain mineral oil, and worse). Minimize contact with allergens. Be very careful with unsaturated oils, such as safflower, corn, and cod-liver oil: they destroy vitamin E and can cause cancer. The "heart diet" is a menace based on weird professional ignorance. The oils interfere with the thyroid gland.
3. Grains, legumes, and some nuts (e.g., walnuts and peanuts) are highly allergenic. Soaking or sprounting them is very desirable. Cooking cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard, etc., will destroy chemicals which poison the thyroid gland. Laetrile and PABA inhibit the thyroid. Greens and potatoes (cooked) are good to substitute for bread (especially the factory-made kinds) and for beans. Soy beans are terribly over-rated.
4. Eat frequently, using protein, fat, and carbohydrate at the same time, e.g., an egg and an orange, or a carrot with cheese. Fruit is the best source of carbohydrate; avoid uncooked starches such as nuts.
5. Use complex foods, things close to their living state: eggs, sardines, leaves, milk, etc.
6. Heat degrades protein. Canned or powdered milk has lost significant amounts of lysine, an important component of protein. The same applies to toasted cereals, nuts or beans. The heated lysine forms a carcinogen if a sugar is present, as in soybeans.
7. Any drug alters your nutritional needs. Tobacco, iron, aspirin, estrogen, tranquilizers and diuretics must be taken into account. There are special diets for special needs.
8. Don't get a "diagnosis" from anyone but a physician or other licensed person. But don't think that diagnosis is so scientific that you take an individual's opinion as the last word. For example, a girl had wasted away to 90 pounds and thought she would soon die from "pituitary atrophy," but switching from raw foods to milk and eggs allowed her to regain her weight. Diagnoses also sometimes label a serious condition as something less serious. The appropriateness of any diet will depend on the accuracy with which your nutritional needs are known.
9. Besides their content of the essential nutrients, all foods contain other materials, such as hormones. There are many nutrients which are useful, without being "essential" in the narrowest sense. Under some conditions, nutrients which are not normally essential may become so. Nutrients that are synthesized by intestinal bacteria must be taken in the diet when antibiotics are used.
10. If supplements are necessary, don't use them excessively - find what is enough, but don't forget the contaminants and adulterants which may be present in pills, capsules and powders. Amino acids such as tryptophan or glutamic acid should not be used as isolated supplements.
11. A few years ago, most of the nutritional problems that I saw were caused by physicians, by refined convenience foods, and by poverty. Recently, most of the problems seem to be caused by badly designed vegetarian diets, or by acceptance of the idea that 40 grams of protein per day is sufficient. The liver and other organs deteriorate rapidly on low-protein diets. Observe the faces of the wheat-grass promoters, the millet-eaters, the "anti-mucus" dieters, and other low-protein people. Do they look old for their age?
12. Everyone should know the basic principles of nutritional physiology and have a general idea of the chemical composition of foods. Otherwise, you will be confused by conflicting claims. Become your own expert - for example, if someone tells you not to eat fruits and proteins at the same meal, get a book on digestion and absorption of food from the library, and read about interactions.
13. Examine your basic assumptions about food and life and health, and those of the experts. Is the organism a rigidly determined genetic mechanism? Is it the sum of its past environments? Does it really assimilate the environment? Is it a desire for more life? What is pleasure? Is a person a spirit temporarily trapped in a large piece of meat? Scientific questions often take on a clearer meaning when you can see the ideological context.
14. If someone who claims to be an authority belongs to a "professional organization," look at the publications of that organization. What were they advocating 5 or 10 years ago? Are there financial motives behind their recommendations? Be suspicious, keep asking questions.
When iron salts are added to food which contains vitamin E, the vitamin E is destroyed by the iron.
[..]a Russian found that atmospheric nitrogen was incorporated into body proteins by higher animals. It had been thought that only certain bacteria (such as live in the roots of legumes) could fix atmospheric nitrogen, turning it into ammonia for use in amino acids and proteins. [..] Then a group in Illinois (Dudka et al., Nature 232, 265, 1971) found that the amount of atmospheric nitrogen breathed in was not the same as the amount breathed out.
What is essential seems to be the "carbon skeleton" of the essential amino acids. If the diet supplies these along with other nutrients, then protein seems to be not so essential in the diet. If fruits and vegetables can be found which contain these substances, then the world food problem could be easily solved.
When you start looking for ulterior motives, you might conclude that your physician is greedy, that your chemistry professor has a contract with the rubber company that makes ice cream, and that food producers are so pleased with their profits that they don't care about the increasing numbers of deformed and mentally retarded babies, or the increasing rate of cancer and diabetes. If you do this, then you are probably involved in a demystification of the world. Eating good food can alter your consciousness; so can thinking about how we're going to get it.
Occasionally, when I feel very energetic, especially on sunny days, I have an intense sensation of sweetness that seems to travel up from behind and below my navel, to a spot behind my sternum. I call this my body's smile energy, because it feels the same as the pleasure which goes with a smile.
When the thyroid is low, less oxygen is needed, so this is a useful adaptation for increasing endurance.
If someone has never experienced a full sexual response, it is meaningless to ask about the occurrence of "orgasms." Ease or difficulty in responding sexually, though, and perceptions of bodily emotions, might serve as a subtle indicator of hormone balance, especially thyroid sufficiency.
Men, out of touch with their energies and natural desires and dreams, have kept women in chains. Passive and weak, women have kept to themselves the wholeness and richness of their experience.
Reasoning and competing men have believe that they possessed women, but the centered and prolific human female world was overlooked by the greedy devouring male, who took part of her existence and believed he had taking it all.
Wishing to be liberated, no longer passive and weak, many women are becoming reasoning competitors, but in doing so are losing contact with their bodily energies, desires, and dreams.
[..]
Gaining the social, economic, cultural, intellectual, and sexual rights of men will not liberate anyone, because these rights and roles where the ugliness of maleness is. It is not the penis that is fascistic, domineering, exploitive, corrupting. The penis is the male animal-flower, a soft-firm dildo, a warm dream.
All objects are desirable, no object enslaves; imposed systems enslave.
Men relate by looking at the world together. Men and women relate by seing each other as perspectives on the world.
Change and adventure are important for our energy system, and the present authoritarian culture is opposed to fundamental change.
A woman's need for security, in a society which makes women dependent, will cause her to be attracted by wealth and power, without reference to her subtler needs.
Experience is stored in our tissues, and is passed on, but not as Darwinian "gemmules." What is stored is flexibility, potential, and energy capacity.
I have to listen Shia Labeouf's encouragement at least 10 times before I consider adding those to our Quotations.
Some selected parts:
[..]men produce estrogen, especially under stress such as starvation or alcoholism or liver damage. In a famine, men may even lactate.
Quantitatively, progesterone [not estrogen] is the main female hormone, and progesterone improves brain structure and function.
The primary male hormone, testosterone, has chemical and functional properties of both estrogen and progesterone; this combined function gives males a short-term stability (fewer goiters, migraines, etc.) but a lack of adaptiveness in the longer range (higher mortality in infancy and old age).
Estrogen is the hormone for beginnings, a sort of biochemical eraser which can eliminate recently recorded information, restoring the underlying primitive capacity for growth. When we are threatened, by injury or aging, we need the capacity for renewal of cells.
Male apes who are bullied have decreased levels of testosterone, and this effect persists long after their environment has improved. The stress of subjugation seems to lead to an adaptation of passivity. Their passivity prevents further injury, but we don't know how stressful their continuing submission is.
Behavior affects hormones, and hormones influence behavior. Life in a rat-box society makes brains grow smaller, and makes people do the things that maintain the oppressive conditions.
Our culture doesn't explicitly teach us that life is pleasureless, though it does make life pleasureless for many, and it does teach that pleasure is worth less than virtue, utility, possession, etc. By improving life conditions (in many ways) the hormones of pleasure can have a bigger role in our physiology.
[..]very large babies are delivered with great ease when the mother is in good health, because the factors which support growth of the baby also promote elasticity of the mother's tissues. Progesterone is such a factor - almost a "chemical obstetrician."
When the liver doesn't remove estrogen from the body rapidly enough, estrogen accumulates in the body - this is why male alcoholics often grow breasts. [..] Poor nutrition makes it impossible for the liver to function properly.
Normally, the liver treats estrogen like a poison, removing it immediately from the body. If the liver gets sluggish from malnutrition or too much estrogen (or other damage), it can allow the hormone to build up to very high levels.
Copper seems to be synergic with estrogen, and could have a similar effect - could this have something to do with the de-emphasis of sex among some vegetarians who eat lots of copper-rich soy beans?
If a person (especially, though not necessarily, a woman) has unsatisfying orgasms, or no orgasms at all, I think it would be advisable to eliminate the possible causes of a hormone imbalance (including high copper intake), and also to help the liver function as effectively as possible by getting good nutrition. High protein, all the B vitamins, vitamins A, C, and E, and zinc and magnesium are especially important.
Vitamin E does several things biochemically which are exactly the opposite of what estrogen does, so it has been called the "anti-estrogenic vitamin."
Vitamin E preserves ATP.
In a vitamin E deficiency, certain tissues lose enough ATP that they can't function normally. Muscles cramp, and eventually can harden and become dystrophic. Magnesium also helps to maintain ATP levels, and for example can be used to stop menstrual cramps.
In a healthy animal, arousal means expectation: the longer arousal can be sustained without distraction, the higher the energy charge will be, and the more intense and satisfying the completion will be.
In hypothyroidism there is little stomach acid, and other digestive juices (and even intestinal movement) are inadequate, so gas and constipation are common. Foods aren't assimilated well, so even on a seemingly adequate diet there is "internal malnutrition." Magnesium is poorly absorbed, and a magnesium deficiency can lead to irritability, blood clots, vascular spasms and angina pectoris, and many other problems.
Because iodate is used as a "dough conditioner" (to make bread water-heavy), the American eater often gets ten times more iodine than is recommended. Combined with unsaturated oils, as organic iodides, excess iodine can powerfully inhibit the thyroid.
Manganese is needed to synthesize thyroxin, so a deficiency can interfere with thyroid function (coffee is a major source of manganese, and caffeine also stimulates the thyroid).
Contrary to popular ideas about thyroid, the gland will resume its functioning after stopping the use of a supplement even if it has been suppressed, and sometimes taking thyroid will increase the gland's function to normal.
[..]estrogen diminishes hepatic glycogen (Brunelli, 1935), while progesterone increases both blood sugar and liver glycogen (Gaunt, et al., 1939).
Estrogen causes hypoxia at every imaginable site, from lung, through vascular fibrin and extracellular collagen and edema, to intracellular metabolism. Estrogen is also synergic with insulin, lowering blood sugar and promoting fat synthesis.
Estrogen, and another common respiratory toxin, excessive unsaturated fats, have both been demonstrated to cause the birth of small-brained, retarded animals.
Dark cloudy winters in England or the Pacific Northwest are powerful stressors, and cause lower progesterone in women and testosterone in men. Toxins, such as copper and lead, can produce similar symptoms.
A very common cause of an estrogen excess is a dietary protein deficiency - the liver simply cannot detoxify estreogen when it is undernourished[..].
Since progesterone can be converted into cortisone to handle stress, this could explain why well trained athletes (who need lots of cortisone) so often miss periods. It seems to be a simple over-consumption of progesterone, which is probably a reasonable biological adaptation, preventing pregnancy during times of stress.
Vitamin A is required for progesterone synthesis, as well as for proper maturation of cells in membranes and glandular tissue.
A response to stimulation is the production of more energy, with a proportional increase of oxygen and sugar consumption by the stimulated tissue; this produces more carbon dioxide, which enlarges the blood vessels in the area, providing more sugar and oxygen.
Carbonated water can provide enough carbon dioxide (sometimes) to improve the delivery of blood (and glucose) to the brain.
[If the adrenals are depleted] pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium and potassium should be provided in addition to other nutrients.
Pantothenic acid is needed by the liver to destroy insulin (insulinase), so hyperinsulinism, causing hypoglycemia, can sometimes be remedied with this nutrient.
Inflammation is a relatively non-specific, and hopefully local, reaction, serving to isolate the problem if it is a toxin or infection.
Hans Selye sometimes used an injected metal, such as iron salts, to experimentally sensitize animals to stress, making it easier to produce arthritis. He found that vitamin E could offset this effect of iron.
Insulin should be about 30% destroyed by the liver each time the blood circulates to the liver, but a pantothenic acid deficiency will prevent this regulation. Low thyroid also interferes with liver function limiting the storage and release of glycogen.
Potassium is necessary for utilization of sugar, and should probably always be tried as a supplement in the diabetic diet, especially since fruits, an important source of potassium, may be avoided because of their sugar. Some B vitamins (B1 and B2 and probably niacin) are said to have similar effects on the utilization of sugar.
Excess estrogen causes the body to accumulate copper, and copper poisoning itself (often caused by water that is contaminated, for example by plumbing, a hot water heater, or utensils) is known to cause symptoms of schizophrenia.
Since it is easier to test for excess copper than for excess estrogen, it might be worthwhile to have this test done when there are emotional problems during menopause, around menstruation, or in the first weeks after giving birth.
Fasting, liver damage, and increased estrogen levels can raise the concentrations of certain [..] substances; they seem to promote urinary loss of zinc and vitamin B6. Estrogen promotes copper (and iron, and calcium) retention, and copper tends to displace zinc.
The high levels of copper, iron and lead which are found in many people with mental problems may be secondary to a hormone disturbance.
I feel that any "diagnosis" (naming in Latin) of a "functional mental disturbance" is at best irrelevant, and may be very destructive.
Light and smell are known to affect hormone production. A musky material (Le Magnen's "exaltolide," probably includes androstenol) is probably a social regulator of hormones - perfume containing musk might affect the woman who wears it. Bright light for 18 hours per day can correct some hormone-mood problems.
During and after cancer treatment the "hypoglycemia" diet seems desirable: frequent small feedings, liver (or similar nutrients), magnesium, potassium. Vitamins A, E, C, and pantothenic acid are particularly important in stress, but all nutrients are necessary.
The vitamins most commonly used for resisting stress are A, C, E, and pantothenic acid. The minerals magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc can help in the first stages of stress, and sodium supplements may be needed in the last extreme stage of stress when the adrenals have been exhausted.
Vitamin A offsets a protein deficiency, and a protein deficiency can damage immunity.
Enforced inactivity, and inability to achieve what was intended, are powerful stressors.
Vitamins C, E, and pantothenic acid are needed in especially large amount in stress. Vitamins A and B2 are also essential for production of the anti-stress hormones.
Copper is a "specific" oxidant for vitamin C. It is associated with many inflammatory diseases, and should probably be better investigated in "degenerative" diseases, including arthritis and glaucoma.
Pantothenic acid in very large doses was recently found to protect against stress even when an animal's adrenals were removed.
Hypothyroidism often involves arthritis - sometimes the tiny bones of the ear which transmit sound are affected. Ringing of the ears and deafness for high sounds are common in hypothyroidism.
When muscles mass is diminished, loss of fat becomes difficult.
I have experimentally reversed a variety of degenerative changes with special nutrition, but the problem always exists within a particular person's physiology, and can't necessarily be solved by a standardized diet. You have to learn to know what your body needs at a particular time.
[..]vitamins which are involved in progesterone synthesis (vitamin A, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E)[.]
[..]nutrients that are known to be "wasted" by excess estrogen: folic acid, zinc, and vitamin B6, particularly.
Brittle fingernails are likely to result from too much estrogen, or inhibited thyroid function; vitamin A and eggs are useful, but calcium and gelatin are not.
Since a healthy liver will produce cholesterol to make up for what is lacking in the diet, avoiding high cholesterol foods won't necessarily lower blood cholesterol.
High cholesterol usually indicates low thyroid function.
The real cause of heart attacks seems to be hypothyroidism and its effects, including loss of magnesium.
Women, like cows [beef industry profit], will puff up with water and fat under the influence of estrogen, and wrinkles will naturally be smoothed out, but the skin itself is actually losing its elasticity faster when estrogen is used.
Butter contain some progesterone.
A vitamin E deficiency (and estrogen is known to increase the need for vitamin E) causes calcium to be retained in muscles. Any toxin, in fact, causes calcium retention in the soft tissues - for example when the heart is deprived of oxygen, it absorbs calcium. Since no skeletal improvement can be demonstrated by x-rays, I suspect that the improved calcium retention is merely a toxic effect of estrogen.
Vitamin E promotes oxidation in many ways, and seems to specifically oppose many of the effects of excess estrogen. For example, it can help protect the liver against damage by toxins (all the nutrients are needed by the liver though).
[Vitamin E] opposes the tendency of estrogen to create "age pigment."
Recently it has been found that some natural vitamin E is contaminated with estrogen from the plant source, e.g., alfafa.
Stress can be produced by dark cloudy northern winters, by inadequate nutrition, by the use of estrogen and many other drugs, and by the use of foods which inhibit the thyroid gland (bakery bread, lacking available manganese and containing iodate and bromate; cabbage family, and many cereals and nuts containing nitriles, cyanide or thiocyanate; meats "refined" from animals whose thyroid tissue is sold to drug companies).
Light deprivation can be remedied artificially, but the necessary brightness is usually underestimated.
Vegetarians often notice temporary exhilaration when they stop eating meat, probably because their thyroid has been suppressed. But a more serious hypothyroid state often follows, from a low protein inadequate vegetarian diet.
Low protein diets definitely interfere with the liver's ability to detoxify estrogen and other stressors.
There are several reasons to suspect that a magnesium deficiency is often involved in heart disease; in a clinical study, for example, injected magnesium sulphate helped in angina pectoris and coronary thrombosis, and tended to lower blood lipids. [..] Magnesium also opposes clot formation and vascular spasm, which can be promoted by an excess of calcium.
Atherosclerotic damage (fatty deposits) of blood vessels is made worse by sugar supposedly, since insulin is involved in cholesterol damage. There is evidence that lecithin iand other phospholipids protect the body against fatty degeneration. Eggs, for several reasons might actively protect against the formation of cholesterol deposits.
Avoiding stress (coffee, tea, and other stimulants produce a stress-like reaction in many people) should be part of a multiple sclerosis program.
Folic acid, known for its ability to cure some anemias (red blood cell deficiency) also improves the function of white blood cells, improving antibody production.
Vitamin A, besides strengthening membranes, is necessary for protein synthesis, and so helps form the immune tissue.
Zinc [..] possibly has a direct "viricidal" capacity, as observed in vitro, which would account for its release (and loss) during viral infetions.
Vitamin A (and possibly folic acid) mediate the body's response to light, and so modify its neural control of immunity, thyroid and adrenal and sex hormone function, etc.
[Vitamin C is] more concentrated in white blood cells than in any other tissue (about a 60 to one ratio between white blood cells and surrounding fluids), and their immune function depends on its presence in adequate amounts.
Up to 200mg. daily intakem vitamin C concentration in blood and tissues increases rapidly, and the kidneys work to reabsorb it; at about that intake, the kidney's ability to conserve it becomes "saturated", so that higher doses are retained at lower efficiency.
Many people lose their allergies (even hay fever and poison-oak sensitivity) when they take supplements of the vitamins A, C, and pantothenic acid.
Plants evolved special toxins to protect their seeds from animals, so "seed poisoning" is probably a more accurate description than "allergy to grains, nuts, legumes, seeds."
Oily things enter the body very easily through the skin. Toxic solvents should never touch the skin, just as they never should be breathed. Oily vitamins and hormones can be applied to the skin. [..] Mineral oil, vaseline, and rancid vegetable oil should not be put on the skin.
Vitamin A is needed for proper differentiation of various types of cell, and has been used successfully in blocking cancer formation and in causing precancerous tissue to return to normal. Progesterone "spares" vitamin A, and has been used in cancer therapy.
[..]when body temperature is below normal, there is typically a progesterone deficiency (or estrogen excess, which may be functionally equivalent to a thyroid deficiency).
Just as rigor mortis can be softened by injection of ATP, the hardness of a tumor probably reflects ATP deficiency (softening of cervical tumors was observed during progesterone treatment).
Milk is a rich natural source of tryptophan. Since tryptophan promotes formation of serotonin which stimulates release of prolactin, and prolactin activates the formation of sebum (oil) by the skin, large amounts of milk could promote a tendency toward acne, when there is a deficiency of B6, thyroid, progesterone, etc.
HCG, the hormone which helps sustain pregnancy, raises the blood sugar to meet the fetus' need for abundant sugar. So diabetes and pregnancy have much in common. And as a woman gets older she tends towards diabetes, and so tends to nourish the fetus better, especially its brain. [On older women having smarter babies, countering the idea that younger pregnancy is better]
The potassium in fruit has an effect like that of insulin, so that sugar from the fruit can become available to cells without over-stimulating insulin secretion. Since insulin persists after disposing of excess sugar, it tends to keep blood sugar low and to intensify cravings for carbohydrates.
During pregnancy the mother's body adapts to live increasingly on fat, so that most of the sugar which is available can be used by the baby.
The brain uses most of the body's glucose, so mental fatigue can easily affect the blood sugar level.
If you are sick, reconsider everything you are doing as a contributing factor.
Estrogen is regulated - centrally or crucially - by the liver.
Calorie intake should increase slightly (e.g., 200) in pregnancy, and considerably in nursing (e.g., 1000).
Hypothyroidism is a common cause of anemia, possibly acting through the simple mechanism of lowering body temperature so much that blood production is retarded.
Since dietary proteins can get into the blood, early feeding of non-human milk would seem most likely to promote the development of allergies.
Among other animals, even momentary separation following birth damages social behavior.
[..]other amino acids, such as aspartic acid, can be just as poisonous as glutamate. [..] Now the FDA has given its approval to a new sweetener, aspartame, which is a molecule containing aspartic acid. [On MSG, substitutes, etc]
[..]nearly half of the calcium contained in commercial bread may come from the dough conditioner and mold inhibitor, with the rest being provided by the milk and wheat.
Animal experiments show that giving estrogen to the mother causes brain damage in the fetus. This could result from a folic acid deficiency, or from various other effects of estrogen, such as low blood sugar or high copper.
Human and animal experiments have shown that good general nutrition, including adequate protein and vitamin C and a high ratiot of calcium and magnesium to phosphate, can improve dental health.
A deficiency of vitamin B1 causes loss of appetite.
As our tastes evolved, they had to be satisfied by whole foods, so a craving for carbohydrate wouldn't disrupt our physiology if we didn't have such easy access to highly purified (or distorted) carbohydrates.
Low thyroid can cause loss of appetite.
Since fat has a very low rate of metabolism, people who lose muscle by fasting are going to have increasing difficulty in losing weight, since they will have less active tissue to consume fat. Building up muscle and lymph tissue for optimum health - even if it initally causes a light weight gain - will make reducing easier by increasing the mass of metabolically active tissue.
Progesterone is the only steroid hormone I know of which will cause the thymus to regenerate.
[..]Coca-Cola claims that phosphoric acid and sugar the only nutrients in their product, yet a standard text book indicates that Coke is rich in potassium (while Pepsi has more sodium than potassium). [On companies overlooking nutrition that comes along with the extracts from plant or animal tissue]
Coffee improves circulation to the brain; Benjamin Franklin and Goethe are said to have used 30 to 65 cups daily. This amount would be close to the maximum safe daily dosage of caffeine, 6 grams (Bennett and Bondy, Principles of Internal Medicine, p. 795).
Very small doses of caffeine have a "paradoxical" sedative effect, but this is a familiar effect of anything which raises the brain's energy level.
[..]during fasting, coffee and/or adrenalin might speed the depletion of the glycogen reserves and thus speed the appearance of hypoglycemia.
An interesting study in the USSR suggests how complex [..] experiments can get: animals were fed either boiled water or unboiled water, and it was found that the animals receiving boiled water had significantly higher serum cholesterol levels than the animals drinkin unboiled water.
Caffeine, acting through nerves as well as directly, can increase immunity.
Caffeine stimulates the thyroid, and hypothyroidism can cause extreme susceptibility to infection.
[..]coffee makes many people anxious and can produce a stress-like reaction. Whether to use it or not is largely an individual matter.
Chelation does not necessarily improve assimilation of a mineral - in fact it often prevents absorption of a nutrient, as in the case of phytic acid.
[..]it is simply unscientific to say that supplements aren't necessary when "well balanced" meals are eaten. [..] Individual peculiarities and stress can make it extremely difficult to stay healthy on a normal diet; however, if meals of liver, broccoli leaves and oysters and papaya can be considered normal, then supplements might generally be unnecessary.
Low blood sugar, as shown by H. Laborit, will induce allergic reactions even when there was no sensitivity at a higher level of blood sugar.
It is hard to separate cadmium from zinc, and cadmium is toxic, so zinc supplements should be used carefully. Biological purification (as in oysters) is usually more effective than industrial refining.
Hans Selye has demonstrated that vitamin C can prevent heavy metal (e.g., mercury) toxicity; it reduces the metal to a less toxic form, and also helps solubilize and remove it.
When excess phosphate (from meat or wheat germ, for example) is eating, calcium and magnesium are removed from the teeth and bones to be excreted with the phosphate. Using a large amount of milk improves the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, but doesn't supply enough magnesium to prevent tooth decay, heart trouble, and cramps.
[..]extra carbohydrate will make you need more vitamin B1.
Excess protein increases the amount of B6 needed.
If we added up all of the special "avoidance" diets, no one could eat anything. Many people are ruining their health by avoiding too many foods.
[..]the acetic acid in vinegar not only is a component of fat molecules, but it also serves to activate the process of converting glucose into fat (Adv. Lipid Res. 9, p. 111. 1971).
[..]animals fed large amounts of cod liver oil nearly all died of cancer, but when they were fed the same amount of oil with a large vitamin E supplement, their cancer rate was normal.
In a [..] study, people who ate large amounts of unsaturated oils were judged to be older in appearance than people who ate less.
An extra benefit of carrot fiber, besides the bulk and moisture-holding properties, is that it captures and holds fat molecules, removing them from the body and making weight loss easier. The small amount of sugar in carrots is released slowly, so that it doesn't disturb blood sugar as much as would the same amount in a different form.
Mineral oil isn't just a benign lubricant, it is an irritant. Years ago, autopsies of chronic users of mineral oil found that the oil had entered fat tissues, where it stayed because it can't be metabolized.
If a person really needs a laxative, one with fewer dangers would be preferable - maybe epsom salts or aloe vera.
Chronic constipation is a very common sign of hypothyroidism.
[..]an active brain can burn about half of all the energy consumed by the body. If brain activity is depressed, a very large percentage of the food consumed becomes available for making fat.
[..]the metabolism shifts toward fat mobilization at an early stage of cancerization.
Cancers, like embryos, live mostly on sugar. High blood sugar is maintained by causing the body to consume itself (fat and protein) while leaving sugar for the growing tissue.
--Coffee, unlike other stimulants, activates the thyroid gland.
Stress damages lymphoid tissues, and tonsils are composed of this tissue; Hodgkin's disease affects the same kind of tissue.
[Some recommendations:]
Fiber, such as two raw carrots per day. Coffee, as a trial, when there aren't reasons against it. Avoiding cabbages (unless cooked), mustard, radishes.
Vitamin A and pantothenic acid promote natural progesterone synthesis.
Iodine, manganese, and cobalt are all possible problems in thyroid functioning.
Related to hormones and blood sugar, get the liver healthy, for example by eating liver[..] Consider allergens, like onions, etc., that could be disturbing the liver.
Vitamin B12 and vitamin E are both needed to make use of vitamin A efficiently.
Gelatin helps keep the blood sugar up, by stimulating glucagon release, and so helps control hunger.
Medium chain fatty acids, found in coconut oil, are effective in turning off fat synthesis in the liver.
If the liver isn't functioning well, or if there is general stress, or if there isn't enough protein in the diet, [circulating] proteins tend to disapper, with the result that water accumulates outside the blood vessels. In the morning, this water will be visible as puffiness in the face, especially under the eyes, but by evening gravity will have moved it to the feet and ankles.
Besides eating adequate protein, it is necessary to have adequate vitamin A and zinc for efficient protein synthesis. Vitamin C and rutin (grapefruit is a good source) are needed to maintain integrity of blood vessel walls.
While jogging became popular for preventing heart disease, we were frequently told by experts how many miles a person has to run to burn off a pound of fat. However, in Russia, physiologists always remember to include the brain in their calculations, and it turns out that a walk through interesting and pleasant surroundings consumes more energy than does harder but more boring exercise. An active brain consumes a tremendous amount of fuel.
In the last century, Sechenov found that exercising one hand strengthens not only that hand, but also the other. Brain activity stimulates growth and alteration of tissues, such as the muscles.
Once I decided to attend a modern dance class which began the next week. After two or three days of visualizing myself in unusual postures and movements, my muscles started feeling the way they do the day after a long hike, though I hadn't actually done any exercise. This effect of nerves on other tissues is called their trophic effect; it actually changes the chemical composition of muscle, its weight, and other properties.
[..]some of the Hindu yogic traditions considered the visualization to be the point of the exercise, and recognized that the body could be powerfully influenced by mental activity.
Recently psychologists have claimed that attention and visualization can cause breasts to enlarge.
Lactic acid production (getting out of breath) is the main signal of the need to produce new glucose. Therefore, "aerobic" exercise is the most stressful.
Stress uses progesterone and can cause menstrual periods to stop. Girls who begin regular exercise (such as dancing) before puberty have later sexual development.
Exercise increases blood clotting, and so can increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
Walking is a better form of exercise.
[For mere curiosity, Ray's suggested requirements to deal with stress back then:]
Ninety grams a day of protein, preferably including liver, eggs, milk and seafoods. Fruits and starchy vegetables can make up the rest of the calories. Calcium and magnesium, 1200 mg. each; potassium chloride 2 to 4 grams; zinc 20 to 30 mg.; iodine about a fifth of a milligram; and manganese and other trace minerals from seafoods, such as kelp. Vitamin B1, 5 to 20 mg.; Vitamin B2, 20 to 30mg.; Niacin, 100 to 500 mg., with the requirement somtimes increasing just before menstruation; Vitamin B6, 10 to 50 mg.; Pantothenic acid, 100 to 500 mg.; Folic acid, from 1 to 5 mg.; Biotin, 1 mg.; Vitamin B12, 25 to 100 micrograms (100 micrograms is the same as one tenth milligram).; Inositol and choline, about 500 mg. each.; Vitamin A, 50,000 to 100,000 units, always taken with vitamin E (200 to 400 units of d-alpha tocopherol). Rutin and the bioflavonoids are sometimes used when capillaries are abnormally fragile (some types of purpura, petechial hemorrhages, and spontaneous bruising have this cause).; Vitamin D from fish liver oil. up to 2000 units a day in winter unless pregnant. The evidence for vitamin D toxicity is based on the synthetic form of the vitamin, but remember that vitamins A and D (and other oils) can be toxic in large amounts.; [..] vitamin K is available only by prescription, but is contained in leaves.
Potassium chloride should not be used by anyone with bad kidney function since it could accumulate, slowing or even stopping the heart. It should not be taken in tablet form, since a high local concentration stops intestinal movement, leaving the tablet in one spot where it can burn and cause ulceration. A potassium chloride powder (such as Morton's salt substitute, which is not contaminated with ammonium chloride) can be sprinkled on the food. It is best to get your potassium from foods, such as fruit.
Changing to any new diet, or ending a fast, should be done gradually, allowing at least several days for enzyme adaptation.
If gas is a problem even when change of diet isn't responsible, a thyroid deficiency should be considered. Lack of stomach acid is typical in hypothyroidism, but is only one aspect of a generalized digestive depression.
ATP is more stable than many chemists realize - it is only a lack of magnesium or an excess of calcium which destabilizes its molecular structure. This seems to be involved in the sedative and anti-cramp actions of magnesium.
A.E. Needham (Growth Process of Animals) has discussed the possibility that [ATP] is a "vitamin": when added to the diet of animals, it increases their growth. This must have some relevance to our nutrition, since fresh food contains abundant ATP. A day or so after an animal dies, "rigor mortis" develops because of the disappearance of ATP; a similar loss of ATP occurs in plants as they die.
[General principles of good nutrition]
1. Minimize your requirements by avoiding unnecessary stress. In Oregon in the winter, use bright lights, balacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent tubes.
2. Avoid toxins. Run water 1 minute before using, and then only from the cold faucet. Do not cook tomatoes or fruit in iron or copper pans. Don't use pewter dishes. Avoid mineral oil and other solvents on skin or in air (most cosmetics contain mineral oil, and worse). Minimize contact with allergens. Be very careful with unsaturated oils, such as safflower, corn, and cod-liver oil: they destroy vitamin E and can cause cancer. The "heart diet" is a menace based on weird professional ignorance. The oils interfere with the thyroid gland.
3. Grains, legumes, and some nuts (e.g., walnuts and peanuts) are highly allergenic. Soaking or sprounting them is very desirable. Cooking cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard, etc., will destroy chemicals which poison the thyroid gland. Laetrile and PABA inhibit the thyroid. Greens and potatoes (cooked) are good to substitute for bread (especially the factory-made kinds) and for beans. Soy beans are terribly over-rated.
4. Eat frequently, using protein, fat, and carbohydrate at the same time, e.g., an egg and an orange, or a carrot with cheese. Fruit is the best source of carbohydrate; avoid uncooked starches such as nuts.
5. Use complex foods, things close to their living state: eggs, sardines, leaves, milk, etc.
6. Heat degrades protein. Canned or powdered milk has lost significant amounts of lysine, an important component of protein. The same applies to toasted cereals, nuts or beans. The heated lysine forms a carcinogen if a sugar is present, as in soybeans.
7. Any drug alters your nutritional needs. Tobacco, iron, aspirin, estrogen, tranquilizers and diuretics must be taken into account. There are special diets for special needs.
8. Don't get a "diagnosis" from anyone but a physician or other licensed person. But don't think that diagnosis is so scientific that you take an individual's opinion as the last word. For example, a girl had wasted away to 90 pounds and thought she would soon die from "pituitary atrophy," but switching from raw foods to milk and eggs allowed her to regain her weight. Diagnoses also sometimes label a serious condition as something less serious. The appropriateness of any diet will depend on the accuracy with which your nutritional needs are known.
9. Besides their content of the essential nutrients, all foods contain other materials, such as hormones. There are many nutrients which are useful, without being "essential" in the narrowest sense. Under some conditions, nutrients which are not normally essential may become so. Nutrients that are synthesized by intestinal bacteria must be taken in the diet when antibiotics are used.
10. If supplements are necessary, don't use them excessively - find what is enough, but don't forget the contaminants and adulterants which may be present in pills, capsules and powders. Amino acids such as tryptophan or glutamic acid should not be used as isolated supplements.
11. A few years ago, most of the nutritional problems that I saw were caused by physicians, by refined convenience foods, and by poverty. Recently, most of the problems seem to be caused by badly designed vegetarian diets, or by acceptance of the idea that 40 grams of protein per day is sufficient. The liver and other organs deteriorate rapidly on low-protein diets. Observe the faces of the wheat-grass promoters, the millet-eaters, the "anti-mucus" dieters, and other low-protein people. Do they look old for their age?
12. Everyone should know the basic principles of nutritional physiology and have a general idea of the chemical composition of foods. Otherwise, you will be confused by conflicting claims. Become your own expert - for example, if someone tells you not to eat fruits and proteins at the same meal, get a book on digestion and absorption of food from the library, and read about interactions.
13. Examine your basic assumptions about food and life and health, and those of the experts. Is the organism a rigidly determined genetic mechanism? Is it the sum of its past environments? Does it really assimilate the environment? Is it a desire for more life? What is pleasure? Is a person a spirit temporarily trapped in a large piece of meat? Scientific questions often take on a clearer meaning when you can see the ideological context.
14. If someone who claims to be an authority belongs to a "professional organization," look at the publications of that organization. What were they advocating 5 or 10 years ago? Are there financial motives behind their recommendations? Be suspicious, keep asking questions.
When iron salts are added to food which contains vitamin E, the vitamin E is destroyed by the iron.
[..]a Russian found that atmospheric nitrogen was incorporated into body proteins by higher animals. It had been thought that only certain bacteria (such as live in the roots of legumes) could fix atmospheric nitrogen, turning it into ammonia for use in amino acids and proteins. [..] Then a group in Illinois (Dudka et al., Nature 232, 265, 1971) found that the amount of atmospheric nitrogen breathed in was not the same as the amount breathed out.
What is essential seems to be the "carbon skeleton" of the essential amino acids. If the diet supplies these along with other nutrients, then protein seems to be not so essential in the diet. If fruits and vegetables can be found which contain these substances, then the world food problem could be easily solved.
When you start looking for ulterior motives, you might conclude that your physician is greedy, that your chemistry professor has a contract with the rubber company that makes ice cream, and that food producers are so pleased with their profits that they don't care about the increasing numbers of deformed and mentally retarded babies, or the increasing rate of cancer and diabetes. If you do this, then you are probably involved in a demystification of the world. Eating good food can alter your consciousness; so can thinking about how we're going to get it.
Occasionally, when I feel very energetic, especially on sunny days, I have an intense sensation of sweetness that seems to travel up from behind and below my navel, to a spot behind my sternum. I call this my body's smile energy, because it feels the same as the pleasure which goes with a smile.
When the thyroid is low, less oxygen is needed, so this is a useful adaptation for increasing endurance.
If someone has never experienced a full sexual response, it is meaningless to ask about the occurrence of "orgasms." Ease or difficulty in responding sexually, though, and perceptions of bodily emotions, might serve as a subtle indicator of hormone balance, especially thyroid sufficiency.
Men, out of touch with their energies and natural desires and dreams, have kept women in chains. Passive and weak, women have kept to themselves the wholeness and richness of their experience.
Reasoning and competing men have believe that they possessed women, but the centered and prolific human female world was overlooked by the greedy devouring male, who took part of her existence and believed he had taking it all.
Wishing to be liberated, no longer passive and weak, many women are becoming reasoning competitors, but in doing so are losing contact with their bodily energies, desires, and dreams.
[..]
Gaining the social, economic, cultural, intellectual, and sexual rights of men will not liberate anyone, because these rights and roles where the ugliness of maleness is. It is not the penis that is fascistic, domineering, exploitive, corrupting. The penis is the male animal-flower, a soft-firm dildo, a warm dream.
All objects are desirable, no object enslaves; imposed systems enslave.
Men relate by looking at the world together. Men and women relate by seing each other as perspectives on the world.
Change and adventure are important for our energy system, and the present authoritarian culture is opposed to fundamental change.
A woman's need for security, in a society which makes women dependent, will cause her to be attracted by wealth and power, without reference to her subtler needs.
Experience is stored in our tissues, and is passed on, but not as Darwinian "gemmules." What is stored is flexibility, potential, and energy capacity.
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LOL @ :
