Health

Health – C is for Champ

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Vitamin C, also known by its chemical title ascorbic acid, is an essential nutrient for humans. Where most organisms can provide their own vitamin C in appropriate levels, the human body cannot synthesize this chemical on its own. Instead, we depend on our diet to provide the necessary nutrient in adequate dosages. Although ascorbic acid was not identified and isolated until 1933, its vital role in the body was recognized long prior. “Simple grains, fruits, and vegetables have all the nutrient properties necessary to make good blood.” Healthful Living, 63. This is, in large part, due to the high value of vitamin C in fresh produce.

Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin. Practically, what this means is that our body does not store this vitamin for very long and we must replace it daily through our diet and/or supplements. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin C has been under scrutiny for quite some time. Since the distance between too little and too much is too great, the FDA fell somewhere in the low-middle to compensate for the spread. To prevent scurvy (a terribly painful disease caused by the lack of vitamin C which causes bleeding both external and internal, loose teeth, sore joints, extreme fatigue, and anemia) the body needs only 10 mg daily. On the flip side, when more than 200 mg are taken at a time, the body passes any more than this out through the urine. To compensate for the spread, the RDA was set just high enough to prevent scurvy should there be a shortage of vitamin C for a couple weeks. The RDA was reevaluated in 2000 and raised from just 60 mg to 75–90 mg (depending on gender and weight). However, most believe that the recommended levels are still not high enough for optimal function. In 1996, researchers said that 200 mg per day was optimal while others still believe that this is still too low—more than twice the current recommendation. Decades of research show very clearly that vitamin C, taken in large dosages, improves many health issues including asthma, as well as if not better than prescription drugs (the difference is that vitamin C does not cause harmful side effects).

The main argument around vitamin C is the use of greater amounts since the body excretes any more than 200 mg taken in a day. A healthy person’s body contains approximately 5,000 mg of vitamin C at a fairly constant basis. When stressed by illness or injury, the level lowers and it is necessary to take in larger levels than normal. The body will only excrete excess vitamin C if the maximum level has been reached. For most people in our world today, maximum health is not a normal state and consequently, the milligrams that a person consumes will most likely boost the level to the optimal height. The beneficial results tend to be seen only at levels of more than 200 mg per day.

Listing the innumerable benefits of vitamin C to the body would take more space than allowed for our health feature, so to put it simply, there is very little that vitamin C does not do for the body. There are over 300 uses that the body finds for vitamin C, so just to list a couple of appetizers, Vitamin C is required for the production of collagen. Collagen is a strong bonding or connective tissue that keeps your skeleton together, attaches muscles to bone, keeps blood vessels strong, and holds skin and organs in place. Simply put, collagen is to the body as the egg (replacer) is to your favorite cookie recipe and what water is to concrete, holding all the components together. Because collagen is needed for healing wounds, vitamin C is an integral agent in the healing process.

Vitamin C also serves as one of your body’s top antioxidants. Antioxidants are molecules that slow or prevent the oxidation of other molecules. In the body, oxidation reactions can produce molecules with unpaired electrons, aka free radicals, which must be closely regulated by the body so as to prevent them from mutating cells. Vitamin C is a key component in preventing this. It also supports the body’s other antioxidants in their work. Vitamin C’s job is to capture free radicals and neutralize them before they can do damage to the body. This is actually a primary focus of a lot of the different minerals and vitamins. But vitamin C is particularly useful because it is water-soluble. This means that it can travel anywhere in the body, just like free radicals.

Without Vitamin C, other vitamins and minerals, such as iron and folic acid, would not be able to perform their work in the body. In fact, many vitamins and minerals depend on one another’s presence to get their work done, so it is important to make sure that we have the appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals in our bodies.

Vitamin C has been indicated as a beneficial agent in everything ranging from the prevention of heart disease (the National Center for Health Statistics, or NCHS, found that if adults in America added 500 mg of vitamin C to their diet each day, 100,000 deaths would be prevented each year.) to battling asthma. It is shown that children with asthma have significantly lower levels of vitamin C in their blood. Vitamin C has also been cited as being instrumental in the prevention and/or treatment of cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, kidney stones, cancer, and arthritis.

Until canning and refrigeration were common place vitamin C deficiency was quite rampant in many areas during the winter months particularly due to the lack of fresh produce. Now that fruits and vegetables are available year-round most people get all the vitamin C that is necessary despite the season, although the level is not nearly as high as some health professionals believe it ought to be. In some instances, however, an extra dose may be necessary. The cells of a person with diabetes do not keep vitamin C levels as well as someone who does not suffer from this ailment. Smokers also should take care to maintain a good level of vitamin C as cigarette smoke breaks down the content in the cells. They need vitamin C also to help the body repair the damage done to the body through smoking. Those combating asthma or allergies use up more vitamin C than most in order to fight the reaction. When you are sick, your immune system needs an extra boost to arm your body against the illness and return to a state of wellness. Patients who have just undergone surgery, heavy drinkers, those who take prescription or over-the-counter drugs or steroids, older adults, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and people who are under excessive mental and physical stress such as athletes also need an extra boost of C.

Just about every fresh fruit and vegetable contains some level of vitamin C. The food that has the highest level is native to the West Indies and is not seen frequently in the Americas. However, it is used most frequently in adding a boost of C to foods and drinks. Acerola, per serving, contains 1,644 mg of vitamin C, more than four times the amount of the common fruit or vegetable that are “high” in the vitamin.

Vegetables like kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and turnips are also excellent sources of vitamin C. Surprisingly, so are bell peppers, particularly yellow which has 341 mg per serving! Any adult who consumes 5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day easily reaches 250 mg of C in their diet. However, the quality of produce has a lot to do with how much you get. Produce that has been prepared and sits out looses its nutritional value the longer it sits. Canned fruits and vegetables have had their vitamins and minerals virtually processed out of them. Although they do still contain some levels of their original content, it is minute.

To enhance the benefits of vitamin C in your diet, there are some things that act as a catalyst or an aide. All other vitamins and minerals have some effect on the use of vitamin C, but particularly the use of the B family, calcium, flavonoids, and magnesium. Vitamin C blockers include alcohol, some antibiotics and antihistamines, estrogen, barbiturates, birth-control pills, steroids, and baking soda. Although some of these are unavoidable, being aware of this will assist in maintaining proper levels of vitamin C in your body.

Now, to address a very common problem when looking at the supplement isle of your local grocers or health food market, what should you do about supplements? There are so many options on the shelves that scream their superiority. But which one do you believe? Is there really one that is better than another? And what about the ‘organic’ claims?

Vitamins come in all sorts of forms now—from chewable tablets, capsules, lozenges, syrups, even gummy bears! Some claim to be organic, others claim the supremacy of synthesized ingredients and others boast of their rate of absorption. Here’s a quick run-down for reference. Most people will tend to take the tablets and capsules, in large part due to convenience. The capsules usually have 500 mg and are swallowed with a liquid or food. Most people find this to be the easiest and most economical. The capsules are easiest on the pocketbook.

Chewable tablets are usually about 250 mg. Children are not adept at swallowing pills, neither are some adults for that matter. These are generally a good source of vitamin C; however, there are usually artificial additives such as sweeteners and flavors to make them more palatable. Vitamin C can also come in the form of powder and added to food or beverages. A teaspoon of this form has approximately 2,000 mg.

For people who have sensitive stomachs, sodium or calcium tablets create a buffer for your stomach and prevent unrest. Timed-capsules are also available which do not reach your system until the substance is in the intestines, beyond the reach of the stomach. Vitamin C also comes in combinations with bioflavonoids or potassium. Caution is required in taking the potassium due to risk of overdoses, particularly in small children or those with heart or kidney problems.

Unfortunately there are very few government regulations where dietary supplements are concerned. Because of this, manufacturers have too much leeway to manipulate the general public. One way to ensure the quality of the product you are purchasing is to look for the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification on the label. Although this is not a guarantee, it is generally a good sign.

Understanding the body and what it requires for optimal health is a matter not just of physical health, but also mental and spiritual. The different vitamins and minerals that play a role in our overall health must be replenished such that our beings are in the best of condition for the roles that God gives us in our lives. “Between the mind and the body there is a mysterious and wonderful relation. They react upon each other. To keep the body in a healthy condition to develop its strength, that every part of the living machinery may act harmoniously, should be the first study of our life. To neglect the body is to neglect the mind.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 485.

Health – The Busy B’s

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The B-vitamin family truly is just that—a family—and they are really busy. The B’s have a role in more than 50 different body processes! Each one performs a vital role independently, but the body also depends on them to work together to maintain vital body functions. Take the heart for example—it depends on folic acid (or B9), pyridoxine (B6), and cobalamin (B12), for optimal health. The job that B12 does cannot be done by two B6. The body needs both of them. This group of vitamins carries many important responsibilities from assisting in cell growth and reproduction to breaking food down into a fuel usable by the body.

Each of the B vitamins has an accompanying number—why? These numbers serve no other purpose than for identification. The first B vitamin was called water-soluble B. The second B recognized was riboflavin, or B2, hence the 2. Thus a system was developed—a faulty system however, because later in 1926, B1 was found to actually be two separate vitamins. Since thiamin was already named and there was a preexisting B2, niacin took the vacant slot of B3. As more B’s were found, more numbers proceeded them. Once again, though, the system was proven inadequate since scientists discovered that some of the ‘vitamins’ they named with the B group were not really vitamins at all but wholly different substances, hence the missing B4, B8, B10, and B11.

Here is an abbreviated rundown, starting with B1, of the B-family and their most recognized roles in the human body.

Thiamine (B1): Sometimes called aneurin, is responsible for keeping the body’s cells working properly. Nerve and brain cells particularly benefit from B1. The body also needs thiamine to convert food into a fuel that the body can use.

Riboflavin (B2): Works with B1 to release energy from food. It is necessary for creation of hormones, normal body growth, and red blood cells.

Niacin (B3): This B-member wears many hats, having a hand in over 50 different body functions; from releasing energy from food to detoxifying chemicals.

Pantothenic Acid (B5): Your body needs B5 to make vitamin D, hormones, and red blood cells. In addition to this, it also serves as a helper to several of the other B’s to turn fats, proteins, and carbohydrates into energy.

Pyridoxine (B6): The human body needs over 50,000 different proteins to operate properly. We turn to B6 to help the amino acids fill these many positions.

Biotin (B7): Sometimes known as vitamin H, it is also involved in breaking down carbohydrates, proteins, and fats into a usable energy for the body.

Folic Acid (B9): First and foremost, B9 helps cells grow and divide properly. This means, for pregnant women, folic acid is essential for the prevention of birth defects. Additionally, it helps to keep veins and arteries open which, in turn, lowers chances of related health issues. It also has a hand in making chemicals in the body that control things like sleep patterns, mood, and appetite.

Cobalamin (B12): Although that scrape on your knee feels like raw nerves, those nerve cells actually have a protective covering that are formed by B12. Cobalamin helps with the other B’s in the fueling of the body from food.

The B-family has some closely related relatives that almost made the cut to become part of the group, but the body normally makes them in high enough quantity to supply need: choline, which the brain uses to store memories; inositol, helps make healthy cell membranes; lipoic acid works hand in hand with the B’s to convert food into energy, is a great antioxidant, and works to help the body get more use out of vitamins C and E; and lastly, PABA (Para-aminobenzoic acid) helps protect the skin from UV rays (it is commonly found in sunscreens).

As with most vitamins and minerals, there is much controversy over the amounts of the B vitamins that we ought to take in each day. Like vitamin C, the B’s are also water-soluble so they need to be replenished through diet or supplements on a regular basis. The daily recommended intake has changed several times, being lowered in the late 1980’s and then raised again in the 1990’s. Much to the chagrin of dieticians and nutritionists, though, the recommended intake was not raised to the levels that most were seeing that their patients needed. Most believe that higher levels of intake would do much good for overall health, especially of folic acid. Vitamin B deficiency is generally acknowledged in older patients even with the recommended daily dosages. Because vitamin B plays such a huge role in the development and division of cells during the years of major growth (0-25), it is imperative that there is an ample supply of vitamin B. As the body develops from infancy to childhood to puberty to adulthood the need for vitamin B only increases as the body goes through its changes before reaching a plateau. Women who are pregnant also require higher levels of vitamin B. After all, they are eating for two!

Some people may need to be extra aware of getting the levels of vitamin B in their systems. Those who drink alcohol may need a higher intake since alcohol blocks the body from using the vitamin B and also excretes it faster. Elderly people also absorb less and often do not get adequate nourishment to begin with. Smokers have the same issue as someone who uses alcohol; their bodies do not absorb vitamins properly. Those with digestive issues and special diets may also need to monitor closely their vitamin levels more so than usual.

Vitamin B, for the most part, is easily obtained through a proper diet. Thiamine is found in peanut butter, oranges, beans, wheat germ, and grains. Riboflavin is in dairy products, beans, nuts, avocado, leafy vegetables, and beets. These foods are also good sources of Niacin, and folic acid. Pantothenic Acid is in whole grains and nuts. Peas, bananas, potatoes, beans, and avocado are good foods to eat to get pyridoxine. Oatmeal, bananas, and peanut butter are great for Biotin. Cobalamin is found mainly in dairy so those who practice a vegan diet must be aware of this.

There are many benefits of keeping the B’s replenished in bounty. A study conducted in 1995 by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that people with high levels of vitamin B lowered the levels of homocysteine in the blood. (People with high levels of homocysteine are at greater risk of stroke and heart disease.) The people in the study with the highest levels of vitamin B were 50% less likely to suffer from either stroke or heart disease; whereas those with lower levels of vitamin B had higher homocysteine levels in their blood and twice as likely to suffer from either one! The lower levels of homocysteine and higher B’s also raise the strength of bones. Niacin is used in prescription drugs to lower cholesterol. One in four people who are hospitalized for depression are seriously low in pyridoxine and cobalamin. Pyridoxine, folic acid, and cobalamin are important for the immune system as they assist in making the white blood cells that constitute it.

See a reference table for the current vitamin B RDA’s (recommended daily allowance).

Obviously, the recommended daily allowances for the B vitamins are very small. However, no matter how small, it is easy to see how vital these amounts are to the body and its ability to operate. As was mentioned before, most nutritionists and health experts are quite dissatisfied with these low numbers. The best option would be to consult with your physician to decipher what is best for you.

We have only one life and one body on loan to us. No one would borrow another’s property and destroy it. When we become aware of the fact that our beings are the property of our heavenly Father, the careful care of His property becomes important to us. Awareness of what the body needs allows us to put the optimal effort into our lives for good health. God is the key to an enriching life.

Health – Are You Breathing?

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One can live for many days without food and for several days without any liquid, but within a few minutes without air and you run out of life.

We do not stop to think very often about the first thing Adam did when the Lord breathed into his nostrils. Of course, he breathed! What a most wonderful thing. The first thing we do when we come bouncing into this world is to catch that first breath of air. God gives us the breath of life. Unfortunately, the majority of us take the gift of breathing for granted and forget that we belong to God and that our breath belongs to Him, the One who created us.

Sometimes we bind ourselves up so tight in our clothes that we cannot inhale. “When the waist is compressed, the circulation of the blood is impeded, and the internal organs, cramped and crowded out of place, cannot perform their work properly. It is impossible, under such circumstances, to take a full inspiration. Thus the pernicious habit of breathing only with the upper part of the lungs is formed, and feebleness and disease are often the result.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 88.

Some years ago suspenders came in “style” for a little while. I rushed down to get a couple of them to use with my skirts. I thought they really looked cool. One of the best things about them was that I could breathe easily and they were also fashionable. But then, as suddenly as they came in, they went right back out. Fashion took preeminence and most of us wanted to look smart instead of being able to breathe more comfortably. So we all went back to belts and our breathing again began to be suffocated. A few years ago Ellen White wrote the following:

“But the teacher should impress upon his pupils the importance of deep breathing. Show how the healthy action of the respiratory organs, assisting the circulation of the blood, invigorates the whole system, excites the appetite, promotes digestion, and induces sound, sweet sleep, thus not only refreshing the body, but soothing and tranquilizing the mind. And while the importance of deep breathing is shown, the practice should be insisted upon. Let exercises be given which will promote this, and see that the habit becomes established. ” Child Guidance 365.

Let’s perform a little experiment. Fasten a candle to the end of a wire and light it and then lower it to the bottom of a wide mouth quart jar. Place the cover on the top of the jar and wait to see the result. Soon the candle will burn dimly and in a short time the light will completely go out. This is similar to what happens to our breathing when our lungs are suffocated by tight clothing. Our bodies need lots of fresh air to function properly just the same as the candle needs fresh air to burn.

If you put a little animal into a jar and cover it, its life would go out just as the light of the candle. A child shut up in a close place would die from the same cause in a very little time. In fact, many children are dying every day for want of a sufficient supply of pure air.

Air contains oxygen, and it is the oxygen in the air which is necessary for the candle or wood to burn and produce heat. So it is the oxygen that burns in our bodies and keeps us warm. When wood is burned, heat is produced; but some parts of the fuel are not made into heat. While the fire burns, smoke escapes through the pipe or chimney and a part of the fuel remains in the stove in the form of ashes. Smoke and ashes are the waste parts of the fuel.

The burning which takes place in our bodies produces something similar to the smoke and ashes produced by the fire in a stove. The smoke is called carbonic acid gas, an invisible vapor, and escapes through the lungs. The ashes are various waste and poisonous matters which are formed in all parts of the body. These waste matters are carried out of the body though the skin, the kidneys, the liver, and other organs.

We cannot see the gas escape from our lungs, but we must breathe to get rid of the carbonic acid gas, which is brought to the lungs by the blood to be exchanged for oxygen. Breathing has two functions: to obtain oxygen, and to get rid of carbonic acid gas.

If you were to watch a frog breathe you will notice that the frog has a very curious way of breathing. He comes to the top of the water, puts his nose out a little, and then drinks the air. You can watch his throat and see him swallowing the air, one mouthful at a time just as you would drink water.

We do not drink air as the frog does, but like the frog, we have an air bag in our bodies. Our air bag has to be emptied and filled so often that we cannot live under water as long as a frog does. We call this air bag, lungs. We need so much air and have to change the air in our lungs so often that we would not have time to swallow it as a frog does.

So how do we use these lungs? When we are about to take a long breath, the muscles pull upon the sides of the chest in such a way as to draw them apart. At the same time the diaphragm draws itself downward. By these means, the cavity of the chest is made larger and air rushes in through the nose or mouth to fill the space. When the muscles stop pulling, the walls of the chest fall back again to their usual position, and the diaphragm rises. The cavity of the chest then becomes smaller and the air is forced out through the nose or mouth. This process is repeated every time we breathe.

We breathe once for every four heart beats and this is about eighteen to twenty times each minute. Every time we breathe we take into our lungs about two-thirds pint of air and breathe out the same. Our lungs can hold much more. After he has taken a full breath, a man can breathe out a gallon of air, or more than ten times the usual amount. After he has breathed out all he can there is still almost half a gallon of air in his lungs which he cannot breathe out. Our lungs hold almost one and a half gallons of air.

Why has God given us so much room in our lungs? Try running up and down the stairs three or four times and you will see why we need extra lung room. It is because when we exercise vigorously the heart works very much faster and beats harder, causing us to breathe much faster and fuller to enable the lungs to purify the blood as fast as the heart pumps it into them.

Besides carbonic acid gas, the air which we breathe out also contains other invisible poisons. These poisons make the air of a crowded or unventilated room smell very unpleasant to one who just comes in from the fresh air. This air is unfit to breathe.

“The effects produced by living in close, ill-ventilated rooms are these: The system becomes weak and unhealthy, the circulation is depressed, the blood moves sluggishly through the system because it is not purified and vitalized by the pure, invigorating air of heaven. The mind becomes depressed and gloomy, while the whole system is enervated; and fevers and other acute diseases are liable to be generated. … The system is peculiarly sensitive to the influence of cold. A slight exposure produces serious diseases.” Healthful Living, 61.

Did you know that the carbonic acid gas which is so poisonous to us is one of the most necessary foods for plants? Plants take in carbonic acid gas through their leaves, and send the oxygen back into the air ready for us to use again.

All of this shows how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. So we need to breathe deeply and breathe fresh air for air is also God’s medicine for us, just as much as food is. The lungs should be allowed the greatest freedom possible.

Loosen up and breathe! Open your windows and breathe! Stand up straight and breathe. Sit up straight and breathe. Walk and breathe. Breathe deep and let your body live. Superficial breathing does not give life. Stomach, liver, lungs, and brain are suffering for want of deep, full inspirations of air.

“The whole body is designed for action; and unless the physical powers are kept in health by active exercise, the mental powers cannot long be used to their highest capacity. The physical inaction which seems almost inevitable in the schoolroom—together with other unhealthful conditions—makes it a trying place for children, especially for those of feeble constitution. Often the ventilation is insufficient. Ill-formed seats encourage unnatural positions, thus cramping the action of the lungs and the heart. Here little children have to spend from three to five hours a day, breathing air that is laden with impurity and perhaps infected with the germs of disease. No wonder that in the schoolroom the foundation of lifelong illness is so often laid. The brain, the most delicate of all the physical organs, and that from which the nervous energy of the whole system is derived, suffers the greatest injury. By being forced into premature or excessive activity, and this under unhealthful conditions, it is enfeebled, and often the evil results are permanent.” Education, 207, 208.

Survival in the 21st Century

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God’s moral law not only involves spiritual and mental health but also physical health. The sixth commandment states, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13.) This means not to commit homicide, which is to kill somebody else. It also means not to commit suicide, which is to kill yourself.

There are two basic ways a person can commit suicide: with an overdose of sleeping pills, a knife, a gun, etc., or a much slower way that might take twenty or thirty years, but nonetheless, suicide.

Every cigarette a person smokes shortens the life an average of six to ten minutes. If a person smokes forty a day for twenty years, his/her life is shortened by 3 ½ to 5 ½ years on average. This does not include extra sicknesses the person could suffer during his/her lifetime from cigarette smoking.

It is important to know how to survive in the 21st century and to find the path to real health. It seems to many that health comes in a bottle or by making sufficient visits to a physician. Our greatest need is for a new lifestyle. Health is not a matter of chance and does not come out of a bottle or a pill. Everybody wants health, but few people have it.

How can we find health? The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written about health. It shows the path to good mental, spiritual, and physical health.

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10.

There is a startling message sent to the people living in the last days. This message involves a message about health. Revelation 14:6, 7 says, “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

The people of earth are called to worship God because He is the Creator. The crowning work of creation was man. “And God said, Let us make man in our own image, and in our own likeness.” Genesis 1:26.

The Bible is very clear that we did not evolve from some lower creature. We were created at the beginning in the image of God.

David said in Psalm 139:14, “I will praise you; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] your works; and [that] my soul knows very well.”

It is very serious to destroy the most wonderful thing God made in this world.

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] you are.” I Corinthians 3:16, 17. (Literal translation.)

In I Corinthians 6:19, 20, He asks, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [who is] in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Why are you not your own? “For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

The Bible says that you were bought with a price so, “Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31.

Our lifestyle is killing us slowly. The devil’s plan is to get us into habits that will destroy us. He has a counterfeit for everything God has made and a plan to destroy our health.

When God made air it was fresh, but all kinds of ways have been invented to pollute the air. At Slone-Kettering Institute for cancer research, substances are extracted directly out of cigarettes, painted on the skin of white mice which then develop skin cancers. Some of the diseases that cigarette smoking contributes to are:

  • Heart diseases—three times as many heart attacks among smokers
  • Strokes
  • Various forms of cancer—twenty times as much lung cancer
  • Emphysema
  • Premature births
  • Poor circulation
  • Shortness of breath

Smoking affects your health, and also that of your loved ones. New evidence links smoking to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). God doesn’t want us to kill somebody else or ourselves. He says, “You shall not kill.”

Some think smoking is a hard habit and impossible to get over. However, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Many have been delivered from all sorts of bad habits. The Lord wants you to have better health. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] a brawler: and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

Alcohol is deceptive, addictive, and destroys brain cells. When I was in Graduate School, a visiting lecturer said, “If you were to watch an autopsy, you would easily tell by looking at the human brain with your naked eye, without a microscope, if that person was an alcoholic.” Alcohol destroys so many brain cells that the brain smoothes out and you can tell the difference between a normal brain and the brain of an alcoholic.

Every drink destroys brain cells and dramatically affects the ability to reason. The Bible says, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its colour in the cup, [when] it moves itself. At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Your eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.” Proverbs 23:31–33.

The Bible says it is best to abstain.

“Well,” somebody says, “aren’t there places in the Bible where we are advised to drink some wine?”

The Bible uses the word “wine” to refer to two distinct grape beverages. One is unfermented and the other fermented. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament and the Greek word in the New Testament can mean either the fresh unfermented juice of the grape, or the fermented intoxicating drink. You have to look at the context to see which it is talking about.

Actually, the Bible says in no uncertain terms, not to use alcoholic beverages, but it does condone the use of unfermented grape juice which it calls wine, fresh wine.

The Lord said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have brought on the Egyptians: for I [am] the Lord God who heals you.” Exodus 15:26.

What kinds of diseases were these people suffering from in ancient Egypt? We know from studying mummies that they had a problem with atherosclerosis and their arteries were clogged up just like people today. They suffered heart disease, strokes, obesity, cancer, tooth decay, and stress.

When God created the world He gave to Adam and Eve a diet. He told them what they were to eat. “And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of the tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat (or for food).” Genesis 1:29.

Unfortunately, our first parents not only ate these things, but they ate from the forbidden fruit and were sent out of the Garden of Eden. When man sinned, God made an addition to His diet. Unfortunately, many of our children today do not like this addition to our diet but by its omission, millions of people have developed osteoporosis and other afflictions.

What was this addition? “You shall eat the green herb of the field.” Genesis 3:18. Things like spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens, mustard greens, and all those things are not our children’s favorite food, but the literal translation of Genesis 3:18 is, the Lord told our first parents they were to eat the green herb of the field. At first, the people lived on this diet and they lived many years. “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years: and he died.” Genesis 5:27.

During the first ten generations before the flood, people lived between 750 and 950 or so years. The Lord told Noah, “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female: and two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.” Genesis 7:2.

Prior to the flood the people knew the difference between clean and unclean animals. After the flood, God gave His people permission to eat some flesh foods. However, in the book of Leviticus, it is made very clear that there are some things that should never be eaten. “It [shall] be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” Leviticus 3:7.

My grandparents did not know about that verse in the Bible for a long time, so they ate things like blood pudding. The very things that God said not to eat, is what the devil wants you to eat. The devil has a counterfeit diet. God told the children of Israel that there were certain things they were free to eat. God said, “Speak to the children of Israel saying, These [are] the animals which you may eat among all the animals that [are] on the earth. Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, have cloven hoofs [and] chewing the cud, that you may eat.” Leviticus 11:2, 3.

Some animals they were told not to eat. The Bible says, “Nevertheless of those that chew the cud or have cloven hoofs, you shall not eat such as these, the camel, the hare, for they chew the cud, but do not have cloven hoofs; they are unclean for you. Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hoofs, yet does not chew the cud: you shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.” Deuteronomy 14:7, 8.

The devil wants everybody in the human race to eat exactly what God said not to eat. But remember what the Bible says: “No good [thing] will he withhold from those that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11.

If God tells you not to do something, there is always a very good reason for it. Every instruction given by God is for the benefit of man.

There are many health related problems with eating pork. It is loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol. Cancer in the pig’s skin, kidneys, lymphatic system, and other internal organs is common. Pork products are regularly preserved with nitrates which are known to produce cancer producing compounds. Pork also contributes to numerous digestive and stomach problems.

Looking under the microscope at the flesh of pork, we find things like worms. People who eat a lot of pork will often get these little worms, trichina worms which embed themselves in the human muscle causing neuralgia, and different kinds of muscular problems.

The Lord said there are other foods that “you shall not eat.” Some fish they were told were clean and could eat and others that were unclean and not to be eaten. “These you may eat of all that [are] in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the river, that you may eat. But all in the seas, or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water, or any living thing which [is] in the water, they [are] an abomination to you.” Leviticus 11:9–10.

In 1988 nearly 300,000 Chinese of Shanghai developed Hepatitis A from clams which the Bible describes as unclean seafood. In addition to fish, the Lord told the people that there were some things that flew in the air that were scavengers, or birds of prey that were also an abomination to eat: “The eagle, the vulture, and the buzzard.” (Leviticus 11:13–20.)

The Bible talks about three different kinds of diets. First, is the ideal diet given to man when he was created. Then an acceptable diet with the use of clean flesh foods from clean animals, birds, or fish and also a diet that is unacceptable, one using unclean meats.

Some though may question that the health laws of Leviticus were nailed to the cross allowing the freedom to eat and drink anything you please. Some quote the story where God told Peter to not call any meat unclean.

A closer look at that story in Acts 10 sees Peter in a trance or dream seeing a sheet let down from heaven, tied at the four corners. In this sheet were snakes and all kinds of four footed creatures, and birds, and as he was looking at this, he was told to arise and to kill and to eat.

Peter, while in this trance told the Lord, “I’ve never eaten anything common or unclean.” Verse 14. He had never heard from Jesus, either before or after the resurrection, that it was all right to eat unclean animals, and he remonstrated with the Lord and said, “Look, I’ve never done anything like that.”

An angel appeared to a Roman centurion named Cornelius and said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up before God. And you are to send to Joppa, to a man by the name of Simon Peter, and he is going to come, and he’s going to tell you what you need to do.” Verses 31, 32. So he sent his servants to Joppa to get Peter. And as they were approaching the house where Peter was living, God gave Peter this dream and Peter was wondering what in the world does this dream mean?

Then the voice spoke the second time and said, “What God has cleansed, don’t call common.” Verse 15. And this was done three times and then the sheet was taken back up to heaven again.

And while that happened, the men from Cornelius came before the gate. The Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and said, “There’s three men seeking you, go with them. Don’t doubt anything because I’ve sent them.” Verses 19, 20.

They told him about what had happened with Cornelius and so Peter is going to go with them. It says, “And then he invited them in and they lodged with him, and on the next day Peter went away with them and some brethren from Joppa went with him.” Verse 23.

It says the following day they came to Caesarea and Cornelius was waiting for them and he had called his friends and relatives. Verse 24.

“Then he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with anybody of another nation; but, God has shown me that I should not call any man uncommon or unclean.” Verse 28.

Peter did not start eating unclean foods at this point. He understood that God was trying to teach him to not call any man common or unclean.

Jesus said that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him; but what comes out. (Matthew 15:11.) Those things that come out are, “evil thoughts and murders, and adulteries, and thefts, and blasphemies.” Verse 19.

Everybody has some habits that are undesirable, that cause discouragement, realizing they are hooked and are slaves to those habits. So how can a person have victory over their undesirable habits?

Mark Twaine said, “It is not hard to quit smoking, I’ve quit a thousand times.”

We become slaves to these habits. The Bible says that people become bound, or enslaved, by their sinful habits. But God can deliver you from your evil habits. The Bible says, “But as many as received him, (that is, Jesus) to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” John 1:12.

Some people think it doesn’t matter what the food is, as long as you have prayed over it. A clergyman one time took this position and there was a young lady who said, “All right, I’m going to test this out.” This lady fixed a dish, and invited the clergyman to dinner. She said, “Before you eat this food I need to tell you something. I have put some strychnine into the entree, but pray over it and bless it, and you will be able to eat it.”

The clergyman decided not to eat that day. God wants you to have good health, but He needs your cooperation and to remember the reason He said to stay away from certain foods and chemicals. It is so you will not suffer the consequences of using them, and get the diseases that go with their use.

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10.

He wants to give you eternal life, and very soon He is going to come in the clouds of heaven to give you eternal life. But right now, before He comes, He would like you to have good health.

Maybe there is somebody saying, “I’m such a slave to my evil habits, I cannot get free.” You may not be able to get free, but God can set you free. The Bible says, “The things which are impossible with man are possible with God.” Matthew 19:26.

God wants to set you free. “Beloved,” John wrote, “I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health.” III John 1:2.

You can be delivered from evil habits, and have better health if you can believe that “all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23. Jesus wants to set you free from every habit. He wants you to have health right now and if He is going to give you health right now, you need to choose to cooperate, to obey, and to live according to what is written in His word.

An evangelist was having some meetings. He presented in one meeting what the Bible said about food and drink and different things like that.

After the meeting a man came to him and said, “I have to talk to you.”

“I’m in trouble for what you said tonight, because there is almost no food that I can eat. Any kind of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, anything, even beef, I can’t eat without breaking out in allergic reactions. There is only one kind of food that I can eat, and not get sick.”

The evangelist enquired what food that was.

“Well,” the man said, “it is pork. That is the only food I can eat. If I eat anything else, I get sick and you just showed me from the Bible that God said not to eat it. Now what am I going to do?”

The evangelist told him he was willing to go to this man’s house and take some elders with him. They would pray over him and ask the Lord to deliver him so that he could eat other kinds of food that the Lord allowed to be eaten.

The man was willing to try it so they came to his house. It was in the evening and they knelt around this man who could not eat anything but pork, and prayed to the God of heaven. “Lord, You have said in Your word that You do not want Your children to eat pork. You have said it over and over again in Your book, both in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This man can’t eat anything except pork. We pray that You will deliver him from whatever his bodily affliction is that keeps him from eating anything besides pork without getting sick.”

When they finished the prayer, they got up and went home. The evangelist was very nervous that night. He wondered what would happen.

The man went to bed at about 10:00 at night and as he was lying in bed he was thinking, “If there is a God in heaven, and He said in His book that I am not to eat pork, and He is going to deliver me so that I don’t have to eat pork, that means that I don’t have to eat pork now and I can eat whatever I want to.”

He decided he was going to find out, so he got up. It was late at night but he went to a fast food place. He hadn’t been able to eat any dairy products for a long, long time. But he thought, “The Lord has delivered me. They prayed that the Lord would deliver me; I believe that He did and I’m just going to take God at His word. The Bible says not to eat pork so I am going to eat something else.”

He went to a Dairy Queen and he said, “I want you to fix me a banana split sundae and I want you to put everything on it; all the fixings.” They even put a maraschino cherry on top. Here it was late at night, he had a big banana split and he ate the whole thing. Then he thought, “Well, I don’t feel bad; I am going to go back to bed.”

So he went back to bed and slept all night. The next morning he was so excited. He hadn’t had any indigestion or any problem at all. He was so excited, he got up and got dressed and went straight to see the minister and told him his story.

He said, “The Lord delivered me.” And from that time on, he never ate any pork again and he wasn’t sick either. The Lord delivered him that night.

God will deliver anybody from whatever their affliction or slavery to habit is that is contrary to His word, when they want to do His will and simply ask Him for victory.

I have seen God deliver people over and over again, both men and women from their old habits. God wants you to have good health, and if you are willing to cooperate, God will work. Don’t let the devil discourage you over anything we have studied here.

Remember what God told the Israelites that, “if you will keep my laws, you are not going to get the diseases the Egyptians are getting.” What were those diseases? Heart disease, cancer, atherosclerosis, tooth decay, and all those kinds of things.

The Lord said, “You are not going to have to get those diseases if you will keep My laws, and do what I want you to do.”

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316–788–5559.

Health – Corn Facts

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God is so good and He always answers our prayers. When we pray to the Lord and ask him to “hold up my goings in thy paths, [that] my footsteps slip not” (Psalm 17:5), He answers. I know that God wants us to be in good health and to know what we are eating and drinking. Everything we do should be to the glory of God. He leads us on a path in order to teach us and we need to be willing to learn.

In 2007 the corn harvest in the United States was 13 billion bushels, making it America’s most highly planted and subsidized crop. The fructose syrup produced from one bushel of corn sweetens around 400 sodas. The average weight of high fructose corn syrup consumed by Americans in 1970 was 0.6 pounds compared to 73.5 pounds in the year 2000. What a huge change we have seen in diet over the past 30 years! The effects of these changes can also be seen in today’s society. For example, in 1971 the percentage of overweight Americans was 47.7% compared to 66% in 2004. The odds that a current first grader in America may develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime are one in three.

For the first time in American history the present generation is at risk of having a shorter lifespan than their parents all because of what they are eating. The issue to be addressed here is not the consumption of corn in its natural state but the high fructose corn syrup which is used as a material to sweeten common items such as canned products and fruit juices. As you walk down the cookie isle in your local supermarket you can find many products listing ingredients made from corn, such as cornstarch, corn gluten, corn meal, hydrolyzed corn protein, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, and hydrolyzed corn protein.

Corn is a giant grass plant, very closely related to the grass that grows around your house. Native corn originated in southern Mexico, and after arriving in the United States was gradually changed and replaced by one variety, the corn we know and eat today. Over the last 40 or 50 years there have been many changes and developments to production, all with the goal of maximizing yield. It takes only about 18 minutes using the corn planter to plant 31,000 kernels per acre of corn for industrial production. Planting methods have been developed to make the plants tolerate closer planting and anhydrous ammonia is used to make the plants produce up to four times as much as what our great grandparents would have grown on the same piece of land. With yields of around 200 bushels of corn, or 10,000 pounds per acre, 5 tons of food can be produced on one acre of land. That is an amazing amount of food.

The corn we commonly eat is grown from genetically modified seeds which were developed to resist the herbicides necessary to kill weeds. This means that you can be standing in a corn field in Iowa in the midst of an immense amount of food but none of it is edible because it is a commodity corn and must be processed before we can eat it. This raw material is used as a basis for all these other processes and it is ironic that an Iowa farmer can no longer feed himself.

Of the 10,000 pounds of corn that can be produced on one acre, 32% will be exported or turned into ethanol, in neither case ending up as food. About 490 pounds will be made into corn sweeteners, like high fructose corn syrup, and the other 5,500 pounds, more than half of a one-acre crop, will be fed to animals which end up on American tables as meat.

The meat that is commonly consumed in this day and age is produced from animals which are fed corn silage in feedlots. Grain-feeding produces a characteristically obese animal whose muscle tissue looks more like fat tissue than the lean muscle of a wild animal. This means that a T-bone steak from a grain-fed cow may have as much as 9 grams of saturated fat compared to 1.3 grams of saturated fat in the same steak from a grass-fed animal. America´s favorite meat, hamburger meat or ground beef, is produced from the same grain-fed animal and about 65% of the calories in hamburger meat is saturated fat. Beef from corn-fed cows is cheap and easy to produce, and as a result it is more than likely that a person born in the last 30 years in America has tasted only corn- or grain-fed beef.

With so much surplus corn around it made sense to look for ways in which to derive maximum benefit from this versatile product. At the same time, food and beverage manufacturers were looking for a lower cost sugar substitute, and the corn sweetener industry was the perfect answer. Prior to about 1970, nobody ate high fructose corn syrup because of the high production expenses. Today, the most common form of sweetener in the western diet comes from corn. Corn is very cheap and therefore it was logical that food producers began to use high fructose corn syrup as a more available and economical option. By the late 80s high fructose corn syrup had taken over half of the sweetening market in the United States. High fructose is known to enhance the flavor of spices and fruits, lessen the acidic quality of spaghetti sauces and also provide good browning properties for the bread industry. Low cost and innovative corn production provided the market with a highly versatile product that offered a variety of choices at a low cost.

Almost every single item you see in the supermarket isle contains corn syrup. In the last 30 years America’s consumption of table sugar has fallen, but overall consumption of sweeteners has gone up 30%, largely because of a dramatic increase in the consumption of high fructose corn syrup.

The corn which is grown in Iowa has been selected for high productivity, meaning high volume starch production at the cost of nutritional value. From a nutritional standpoint, most of the developments and so called improvements in processing have a degrading effect on our food. The original corn from Mexico was a grain with a higher protein content, but with the focus on mass productivity, the nature of the corn kernel was transformed. Increased yield has mainly been possible due to an expansion in the endosperm or the starch fraction of the kernel of corn. The extra starch that is produced can be converted to high fructose corn sweetener which has basically no nutritional value.

One of the great changes in the American diet during the last 20 years is that we are now not only eating, but also drinking many more calories than before. In Brooklyn, New York, about 139 million gallons of soda are consumed each year, soda which is sweetened by approximately 20,000 acres of corn. There seems to be something about drinking calories in the form of soda, for example, that just does not generate the stop signals like it might with food and as a result we have an explosion of obesity. I can use one example of a person who used to be over 300 pounds, a size 60 in pants, to demonstrate the effect of drinking soda. He stopped drinking it completely and with that being the only change in his diet, lost about a third of his weight.

Obesity is probably the most conspicuous symptom of the nutritional crisis occurring in America, but in reality is only a part. Excessive consumption of sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup has adverse metabolic effects, and long term studies show that it also produces higher risk of type 2 diabetes. In a recent analysis it was found that drinking one soda per day on average almost doubled the risk of type 2 diabetes compared to only occasionally drinking a soda beverage, or none at all. One in eight New Yorkers have been diagnosed as having diabetes, and this statistic does not include those who do not know they have diabetes and remain undiagnosed. Diabetes essentially means the blood sugar level is too high for the pancreas to control and maintain within the normal range. Diabetes is not a condition treatable with only medicine; it is not something that goes away. Diabetes and obesity are conditions which are strongly linked to the environment factors of both diet and exercise.

The most important message that can be taken from this information is the eventual cost of the damage that we are doing to our systems. Highly processed foods, sodas, and fast foods all contain some variant of the corn products that have been discussed in this article and are perfect examples of the easy and sometimes cheaper mainstream options that make up the diet of many Americans. Eating healthfully often seems to be a more expensive option, but the long-term effects of such dietary habits are worth consideration. Are we really saving money if the outcome can be a serious medical condition or a level of obesity that limits our everyday activities and puts our health at risk?

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19.

For more information visit

www.kingcorn.net.

Shared with permission.

Health Nugget – Nitrate

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The Nutrient You Need but Probably Don’t Know About

Nutrition and biochemistry form two sides of the same coin: our diet provides the raw materials for complex biochemicals that form the structure of the body and the myriad substances that enable it to function.

One particular biochemical is nitric oxide, not to be confused with nitrous oxide, or so-called laughing gas. Back in 1992, the journal Science declared nitric oxide to be the “molecule of the year.” Six years later, three scientists earned the Nobel Prize for their research on nitric oxide.

The story, like almost everything that occurs in nutritional biochemistry, follows a series of steps. Cells “talk” with each other, and nitric oxide functions as a key cell-communication molecule. It signals endothelial cells lining blood vessels to dilate, or relax. Because of this property, nitric oxide plays a key role in maintaining normal blood pressure.

Nitric oxide’s nutritional precursors are the amino acid L-arginine, and the body can make some L-arginine from L-citrulline. But an excellent and often overlooked source is dietary nitrate. The body converts nitrate to nitrite, which is then converted to nitric oxide.

Many fruits and vegetables are good sources of nitrate, and there are significant amounts of nitrate in celery, lettuce, arugula, and spinach. But the hands-down richest source is beetroot and, in particular, beetroot juice and concentrate. (The juice is extracted from the red beetroots you cook with or use in salads, not the sugar beets used for making sucrose.)

How to “Beet” Hypertension

The studies on the benefits of beetroot juice and blood pressure show remarkably consistent benefits. Amrita Ahluwalia, PhD., of Queen Mary University, London, and her colleagues asked 68 people with hypertension to drink either one cup (150 ml) of nitrate-rich beetroot juice or nitrate-free beetroot juice daily. The drinks were switched so everyone in the study eventually consumed both types of juice for two weeks.

The researchers measured the subjects’ blood pressure using three different techniques. All three techniques found a reduction in blood pressure among people drinking the beetroot juice with naturally occurring nitrate.

A separate study by the same researchers involved giving 69 patients a cup of either nitrate-rich beetroot juice or beetroot juice without nitrate daily for six weeks. All of the subjects had elevated cholesterol levels. Using ultrasound, researchers determined that the nitrate-rich beetroot juice led to a 24 percent improvement in blood vessel flexibility and tone, technically known as endothelial function. The subjects also had a slight decrease in blood clotting, another sign of improved cardiovascular health, and an improvement in aortic pulse wave velocity, both signs of improved cardiovascular risk. These factors worsened in the placebo group.

Reducing Glaucoma Risk

Harvard medical researchers recently reported that eating nitrate-rich vegetables can lower the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease.

Jae H. Kang, ScD, and her colleagues analyzed health data that had been collected every two years, starting in the mid-1980s and continuing through 2012, and that included 63,893 female nurses and 41,094 male physicians as study subjects. She reported that people with the highest daily intake of nitrate—approximately 240 mg, mostly from leafy green vegetables—had a 21 percent lower risk of open-angle glaucoma and a 44 percent lower risk of glaucoma with the early stages of vision loss.

Boosting Athletic Performance

Finally, Michael J. Berry, Ph.D. of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his colleagues tested the effects of beetroot juice on 15 people diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The juice substantially increased blood levels of nitrate and nitrite.

Studies conducted in Europe show that concentrated beetroot improves exercise performance and increases tolerance to high-intensity exercise. The studies involved “recreationally fit” athletes and elite athletes training under controlled conditions, such as cycling or running on a treadmill in an exercise laboratory.

The dietary nitrate in beetroot works in a couple of different ways. First, it enables blood vessels to flex (instead of remaining stiff) under pressure. Second, the nitrate enables athletes to use less oxygen while exercising at the same intensity. This makes “exercise seem easier, and it should be possible to continue it for longer,” says Andrew M. Jones, Ph.D., a professor and exercise physiologist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

These studies have found that blood nitrate levels peak two to three hours after consuming beetroot, and that levels remain elevated for six to nine hours. That means the key is to drink beetroot juice three hours before exercising, and to have it daily to maintain higher blood levels of nitrate, according to Jones. The juice also led to significant reductions in post-exercise and resting blood pressure.

How to Use Beetroot Juice

Most blood pressure studies have used 180 g (6.35 oz.) of beetroot juice daily, although more might be helpful to some people. (Beet juice can cause nausea and vomiting, so this amount should be spread over the course of the day in 2–3 doses.) A beneficial effect on blood pressure should be apparent within 10 days.

Please note that the juice may turn your urine pink, but this is a superficial, not harmful, side effect.

The Nutrition Reporter, Jack Challem, August 31, 2016.

God has freely given us life giving, nutrient abundant vegetables, fruits, juices for building, repairing, rejuvenating, and healing of blood and cells. Consuming a diet rich in nutrition can prevent and even reverse disease conditions. Let each eat and drink that which will offer radiant, energetic and truly optimal health.

Testimony – Coffee–As God intended

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Antioquia, Colombia – One of my world’s favorite places. Antioquia is a province in Colombia renowned for its stunning natural beauty and coffee plantations. The country produces the world’s best coffee and Colombians are proud of their coffee culture. Coffee farms surround Antioquia’s largest city, Medellin. The Forbes magazine lately named Medellin as one of the world’s coolest cities to visit in 2018. The surrounding coffee farms are a part of the tourist draw – they’re picturesque. Although I’m no coffee addict, a coffee farm visit is a must in Colombia. And little did I know that I would become a coffee aficionado. But from the beginning …

Coffee beans are harvested by hand, for the same reason that strawberries are hand-picked. The coffee berries do not all ripen at the same time; so the picker has to pick only the red ones, while leaving the green ones on the vine. It is a slow process and the pickers get paid very little. The coffee farmer also gets paid very little. Coffee should cost several times the amount than it costs today so that growers and harvesters could receive a decent return for their efforts. The farmers often subsidize their earnings with banana or tomato production, just to survive.

Many farmers will allow you to pick some coffee berries. I thought I would be able to pick one basket full but was exhausted after picking just a third of a basket. Then my hard-picked coffee berries went for processing where a machine separates the pulp from the pit – the coffee bean. Each berry has two pits or seeds. The coffee beans are then laid on special platforms to be sundried. When I asked what is made from the delicious pulp, I was in for the shock of my life: It is discarded for compost. “But it’s a delicious fruit!” I opposed the farmer. “Yes, it is, but consumers want only the pits,” the farmer replied. His wife later shared that she uses the fruit in her home-made cakes, but there is no other commercial use, so the fruit is discarded for compost that is later used to fertilize new coffee plants.

It is as if you harvested peaches or plums, threw away the pulp, and used the pit for consumption. How upside down! But that is exactly what is happening with coffee berries. Could we pervert God’s plan any better? The coffee fruit tastes delicious and is meant to be consumed, not the pit! As I returned home, I searched the Internet and I could find very little information on coffee fruit. Very few companies have commercialized it. I found only one company that dehydrates the fruit and grinds it into powder which is used as an antioxidant to be added to other drinks. I have never seen, for example, a coffee fruit jam in any country. It would be a health food at its best and sweet enough without adding sugar.

Coffee berries are perhaps the planet’s most forgotten fruit, hiding in plain sight. While coffee is the world’s most popular beverage, most people haven’t heard of coffee fruit. People living in countries where coffee is not produced don’t even know coffee fruit exists. They think the coffee bean is the fruit. What we know as coffee beans are actually seeds of a delicious fruit. The seed is a very hard piece of wood that can only be cracked with a hammer. Its hard structure is compromised only after roasting, just as any piece of wood disintegrates when burned. Then the burned (roasted) coffee seeds are ground into powder.

Coffee drinkers then run water through the burned wood which results in a dark slush. We call the result “coffee.”  The process itself tells us that this was never meant to be done. Why would a slush derived from burned woody material become the world’s most popular drink? The answer is simple: it contains the addictive substance caffeine, which God never intended to be consumed.

Yet the most valuable and delicious part of the plant – its fruit – is discarded. I left the coffee farm with a sense of sadness. We humans tend to twist everything that God made.

The following text came to my mind: “There is no class guilty of greater perversion and abuse of His precious gifts than are those who employ the products of the soil in the manufacture of intoxicating liquors. The nutritive grains, the healthful, delicious fruits, are converted into beverages that pervert the senses and madden the brain.” Counsels for the Church, 102. While coffee is no liquor, this quote’s principle applies spot on. We employ the products of soil intended for our nutrition to produce intoxicating substances.

The coffee plant has a purpose. It bears delicious fruit whose red pulp has free-radical fighting antioxidants. Antioxidants help maintain your body’s natural protections against oxidation, a potentially damaging process. In other words, antioxidants are like your body’s bodyguard.1 Coffee is a healthy fruit low in calories and may protect from ailments such as type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s and liver disease.2 It is a true superfood. A juicy secret full of nutrition. After my coffee farm visit, I’m a coffee fruit aficionado.

If you ever travel to areas where coffee is produced, do stop by a coffee farm. The coffee fruit grows year round. So whenever you visit you will always find ripe red berries that taste not only delicious, but that are a nutritional powerhouse. It is coffee as God intended.

1 www.drinkbai.com/whats-inside

2 www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/06/coffee-fruit-natures-wasted-superfood.html

Food for Life — True Beauty

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What is true beauty? “One of the chief elements in physical beauty is symmetry, the harmonious proportion of parts. And the correct model for physical development is to be found, not in the figures displayed by French modistes, but in the human form as developed according to the laws of God in nature. God is the author of all beauty, and only as we conform to His ideal shall we approach the standard of true beauty.

“Another evil which custom fosters is the unequal distribution of the clothing, so that while some parts of the body have more than is required, others are insufficiently clad. The feet and limbs, being remote from the vital organs, should be especially guarded from cold by abundant clothing. It is impossible to have health when the extremities are habitually cold; for if there is too little blood in them there will be too much in other portions of the body. Perfect health requires a perfect circulation; but this cannot be had while three or four times as much clothing is worn upon the body, where the vital organs are situated, as upon the feet and limbs.

“In order to secure the most healthful clothing, the needs of every part of the body must be carefully studied. The character of the climate, the surroundings, the condition of health, the age, and the occupation must all be considered. Every article of dress should fit easily, obstructing neither the circulation of the blood nor a free, full, natural respiration. Everything worn should be so loose that when the arms are raised the clothing will be correspondingly lifted.

“Women who are in failing health can do much for themselves by sensible dressing and exercise. When suitably dressed for outdoor enjoyment, let them exercise in the open air, carefully at first, but increasing the amount of exercise as they can endure it. By taking this course, many might regain health and live to take their share in the world’s work.

“Let women themselves, instead of struggling to meet the demands of fashion, have the courage to dress healthfully and simply. Instead of sinking into a mere household drudge, let the wife and mother take time to read, to keep herself well informed, to be a companion to her husband, and to keep in touch with the developing minds of her children. Let her use wisely the opportunities now hers to influence her dear ones for the higher life. Let her take time to make the dear Saviour a daily companion and familiar friend. Let her take time for the study of His word, take time to go with the children into the fields, and learn of God through the beauty of His works.

“Let her keep cheerful and buoyant. Instead of spending every moment in endless sewing, make the evening a pleasant social season, a family reunion after the day’s duties. Many a man would

thus be led to choose the society of his home before that of the clubhouse or the saloon. Many a boy would be kept from the street or the corner grocery. Many a girl would be saved from frivolous, misleading associations. The influence of the home would be to parents and children what God designed it should be, a lifelong blessing.” Ministry of Healing, 292–294.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Place in Blender:

2 cups water

2 bananas

1 1/2 cups cashews

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup date pieces

1 tsp. vanilla

Whiz thoroughly, then add:

1 package frozen strawberries

1 cup water

Whiz again and pour into divided freezer trays and freeze. When frozen, drop cubes into Champion Juicer for delicious homemade ice cream. If you do not have the Champion, try just using your blender or stick popsicle sticks in the cubes before they freeze.

 

Health – The Effect of Your Thinking

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How we think affects our actions and health. There is a spiritual battle raging over your mind. Your mind should always be in control of your body—your body should not be in control of your mind. We constantly have choices to make. God says, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). The choice of which gate you enter is always yours. So guard the avenue to your mind in order to make wise decisions.

When you are thinking, you are building thoughts, building your brain. “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Good thinking = good choices = healthy thoughts; toxic thinking = toxic choices = toxic thoughts. We are told in Deuteronomy 30:19: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.”

“Eric R. Kandel, a Nobel Prize-winning neuro-psychiatrist for his work on memory, shows how our thoughts, even our imaginations, get ‘under the skin’ of our DNA and can turn certain genes on and certain genes off, changing the structure of the neurons in the brain. (In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, New York: Norton, 2006)

“So as we think and imagine, we change the structure and function of our brains. Even Freud speculated back in the 1800s that thought leads to changes in the brain. (Sigmund Freud, quoted in D. Church, The Genie in Your Genes, Fulton, CA: Energy Psychology Press, 2008)

“Our brain is changing moment by moment as we are thinking. By our thinking and choosing, we are redesigning the landscape of our brain.

“Our mind is designed to control the body, of which the brain is part, not the other way around. Matter does not control us; we control matter through our thinking and choosing. We cannot control the events and circumstances of life but we can control our reactions. In fact, we can control our reactions to anything, and in doing so, we change our brains. It’s not easy; it is hard work, but it can be done through our thoughts and choices. …

“Our thoughts produce words and behaviors, which in turn stimulate more thinking and choices that build more thoughts in an endless cycle. …

“According to Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D., president of Harvard Medical School’s Mind-Body Institute, negative thinking leads to stress, which affects our body’s natural healing capacities. Toxic thinking wears down the brain. …

“You cannot control the events or circumstances of your life, but you can control your reactions. And controlling those reactions is the difference between healthy minds and bodies and sick minds and bodies. Here are just a few statistics:

  • A study by the American Medical Association found that stress is a factor in 75% of all illnesses and diseases that people suffer from today. (Sheldon Cohen et al., ‘Psychological Stress and Disease,’ JAMA 14 (2007); 1685, …)
  • The International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organization have concluded that 80 percent of cancers are due to lifestyle and not genetics., and this is a conservative number. (Cancer Statistics and Views of Causes, Science News 115, no. 2 (January 13, 1979): 23.

“Negative thinking leads to stress.”  Excerpts from: Switch on Your Brain, by Dr. Caroline Leaf, published by Baker Books, 2013.

God tells us that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). Do you believe God’s word? “Let praise and thanksgiving be expressed in song. When tempted, instead of giving utterance to our feelings, let us by faith lift up a song of thanksgiving to God.” The Ministry of Healing, 254.

“The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces and to invite decay and death. …

“Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love, promote health and prolong life. A contented mind, a cheerful spirit, is health to the body and strength to the soul.” Ibid., 241.

We are all children of the Lord—make a joyful noise unto the Lord—serve Him with gladness (see Psalm 100) and you will be blessed, physically, mentally and spiritually!

Also remember: “If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 310.

We are given some fabulous counsel which, if followed, would save us from much physical, emotional and spiritual stress. It is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18.

  • Rejoice evermore.
  • Pray without ceasing.
  • In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

If you truly believe “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), then you will rejoice, pray without ceasing and give thanks in everything.

Health – Just Push a Button

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A thought question: What need have we for brains or muscles?

As I was sitting in our living room looking out the window, my eyes focused on a young man with a leaf blower. I was really fascinated with watching him trying to corral leaves into one pile. After a long while, I began to laugh. I thought about when we were younger and my brothers and sister and I would go out and rake our back yard and end up with a huge pile of leaves and then jump into them or hide under them. Oh, those were the fun times. This person lost out on the exercise of raking those leaves in less time than that machine took to blow them into a pile.

Did you notice I said “rake” those leaves? It is sad that man has created wonder machines that do all the work and rob us of health building exercises. There is a machine for everything that we don’t have time to do ourselves, which means we can add more activities and then need more machines. There is a robot for everything.

Less personal contact with children – Therapy robots are already used in classrooms to help kids with autism learn social skills, but they’re also used to help kids who aren’t on the spectrum learn art and other subjects. Other personal assistant robots currently in use in China can help your toddlers re-read their favorite book for the 100th time. Through a tablet, you can check in on your 3–8-year-old kids with a baby-cam feature.

No need to cook meals – One robotics company is in the midst of developing a robotic cook that can cook with the flair of a celebrity chef, reproducing the dexterity and skill of human cooks and will come with touchscreen controls and a glass enclosure that will protect your kitchen from any stray splashes from the cooking process.

No need to tend your garden – If you don’t have a naturally green thumb, robots can help. One open-source farming robot can do everything but harvest your vegetables: it plants seeds, waters them on a schedule, monitors their growth, and destroys weeds. You just log into the video game-like app and arrange your plants in the desired configuration, and the robot does the rest. On a smaller scale, smart sprinkler systems can monitor weather and soil conditions to figure out just how much water each of the plants in your yard need at any given time, and distribute it accordingly.

No need to carry your groceries – A robot butler that’s part hoverboard, part assistant with facial recognition, speech recognition, autonomous navigation, and more can follow you around the house, or you can ride it around the yard. And unlike smaller personal robots, it can carry things for you, ferrying your grocery bags to the kitchen.

No need to keep people company – For people who can’t get out of the house easily, there are robots, like interactive dogs, cats, and seals that make noise and respond to touch much like real animals would. Other robots specifically designed for older adults who live alone can detect falls, remind users of appointments, and connect to video-chat programs and social media.

No need to keep track of your health – Health robots can keep you feeling your best, even if you’re not great at remembering your medications. One pill-dispensing robot can hook up to your activity trackers and even re-order your vitamins and medications when you’re about to run out. You can ask the cute pill-bot health questions and set it up to recognize the faces of you and the other members of your family.

Excerpts from: http://mentalfloss.com/article/88813/10-surprising-ways-robots-can-make-your-life-easier

The luxuries of this world are destroying us. God has given us bodies that have been designed to work, but the most used part of our body is often the finger which pushes the buttons! Why not

  • have more personal contact with our children/family
  • tend to our own gardens
  • cook our own meals
  • carry our own groceries
  • keep track of our own health
  • visit the shut-ins

Exercise and keep fit the body that God has given you. It is true that if you don’t use it, you will lose the use of it. The devil is trying to destroy us physically, mentally and spiritually. God said in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” There are very many who do not do much sweating!

Do not follow after the world and destroy yourself through the luxuries of living with a button and a finger to push it. Choose to use your own body and strength and not rely on a machine.