Category: Health

Chemicals in Food Can Cause Obesity, Depression and Hyperactivity

Opt For Chemical Free Organic Food:  Food Additives such as preservatives, colourants, artificial sweeteners,  and flavour enhancers are best avoided like the plague.  Of course, not all food additives are harmful. This post will include a list of some  chemical food additives which are considered to be harmful.

Once you understand what a bad effect these things have on your health and the health of your children, you will want to make all your food at home from scratch, with untreated, unprocessed organic ingredients.

Some things which are added to pre-packaged food, such as Calcium,  Lecithin, Vitamins such as Ascorbate acid,  Vitamin E, or Folic acid which is put into many breads, are not harmful.  These things are essential vitamins which are present in many foods anyway.  But many food additives are very harmful to our health, and especially to  the health of the growing child. These harmful food additives can affect hormone production in the body, and when this fine balance of hormone production is upset, then the stage is set for disease to set in.

Toxic food additives disturb the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals in the body, and so nutritional deficiencies can occur when a regular diet includes the intake of certain chemicals. Troubles such as obesity, binge eating, binge drinking and addiction,  diabetes, depression and hyperactivity in children can all be triggered by the common chemical additives in processed food.

Food additives can affect the immune system. They can affect the delicate balance of bowel flora which includes things like acidophilus and candida, and this affects the immune system.   Candida yeast infections can develop when the bowel flora is upset through chemicals.  Exposure to areas which have been sprayed with toxic chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides can also upset the natural flora of the bowel, which leads so sickness.  Degenerative conditions such as arthritis and cancer can be set off by regular ingestion of the many common additives put into packaged food.

Preservatives To Avoid: Some of the most harmful food additives are the preservative chemicals.  These are the benzoates; the sulphates and sulphites; the nitrates and nitrites; the galates; and the antioxidants BHA and BHT.

Flavour Enhancers To Avoid:   The glutamates are especially bad

Artificial Sweeteners:  These are all bad.  Saccharine, Aspartame, Sorbitol and other chemical sweeteners are all foreign to the body. Unless you are diabetic, it is better to use brown sugar, molasses, treacle, maple syrup or honey, than anything which has artificial sweetener in it.  These other sugars are real foods which the body can digest.  Artificial sweeteners are not foods, but are chemicals foreign to the body:  Artificial sweeteners cause ill health.

All Chemicals Not Found Naturally in Food are Bad for the Body: Obesity, Depression, Diabetes and Hyperactivity are some of the first conditions of ill health to show up from the regular use of food additives, as well as exposure to other toxic chemicals such as household insecticides.  Because the body does not know how to process  any of these chemicals, the body can mistake them for other necessary chemicals.  This leads to the introduction of these foreign and destructive chemicals into the  liver and the body system.  This not only  upsets hormones and the absorption of vitamins and minerals:  These foreign chemicals react with other chemicals in the body, and many of these toxic chemicals get stored into the liver, leading to cancer, arthritis and other things over time.

Food Additives are generally coded with numbers, although not all additives are required to identify with a given code number.  For instance, the artificial sweeteners do not all carry an additive number.  Here is a general listing of Food Additives and their code categories, mainly taken from the research of Jan Greig, who wrote ‘Kids’ Snacks’, 1991, published by Sally Milner, NSW  2041, Australia..I have added my own notes to her basic list of food additives and their effects.

List Of Common Food Additives:

100-181 are the Food Colourants.  Many of these contain coal-tar dyes which can can cause sugar imbalances in the body, and hyperglycaemia. These food additives can also cause asthma, hyperactivity, depression, and skin troubles such as eczema and rashes.  The  problematic food colourant numbers are E 102, E 104,  E 107,  E 110,  E 112,  E 123,  E 124, E 127,  E 128,  E 131, E 132, E  133,  E 142, E  151,  E 154, E  155, E  180.  Many of the common food colourants are suspected of causing cancer,  depression, as well as behavioural problems in children.  Tartrazine,  Number 102, is a yellow dye which has been banned in many countries.  Japan, UK and the USA have already banned this chemical.   It causes hyperactivity, runny nose, blurred vision, and bad skin. ‘Sunset Yellow’ dye, Number 110, can cause digestive disturbances and vomiting.   It is especially bad for people who are allergic to aspirin.  ‘Sunset Yellow’ has already been banned in the USA, the UK, and Japan.  Amaranth, the red dye which is Number 123, was banned in the USA in 1976, because it caused malignant tumours in test animals.  South Africa has banned this chemical also.  Number 127, Erythrosin, is a known carcenogen.  It is a red dye.  The American FDA were planning to get this chemical banned from food in the 1990’s.  This has probably been banned in America, but you still need to watch out, as other countries such as China do not have the same rules  as America on additives.  And even in Western countries, many of these carcenogenic chemicals are still being used.

The Colourant Brilliant Blue FCF, which is number 133, is linked to hyperactivity, asthma and skin troubles.  This used to be common in iceblocks and some icecreams in New Zealand. I think it is already banned here.  It has been  banned in  many European countries such as  Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Holland and Finland.

The Colourings 150 and 160b are known to be bad for the health.  150 is a brown dye obtained from producing caramel from chemically treated burnt sugar.  This chemically treated sugar is thought to damage the genes.  It also reduces the white blood cells, which can lead to various health problems, and may cause cancer.  It destroys Vitamin B6 in the body, and probably affects the utilization of other vitamins and minerals too.  The Colouring 160b is called Annatto.  This is a yellow or red dye which is related to asthma attacks and skin troubles.

Cochineal, E120,  which is an organic food colourant derived from the Cochineal beetle, can cause  hypersensitivity and other reactions in some people, especially in children.  Best to avoid this one, even though it is  a ‘natural’ food colourant. The synthetic chemicals used to produce red colours all cause health problems of some sort:  Ponceau 4R is a scarlet dye which can cause asthma.  People with intolerance to aspirin must avoid this chemical.   The red dye Erythrosine,  Number 127  is a carcinogen.  The red dye Amaranth Number 123 was found to cause malignant tumours in rats, and so was banned in the States in 1976.  The red dye Allura Red Number 129 can cause puffy skin which is a symptom suggestive of  kidney trouble.

200-297 are the Preservatives.  Some food acids are also listed in the 200-297 category.  The Benzoate Category of Preservative are E 210,  E 211, E 212, E  213, E 214, E 215, E  216, E 217,  E 218, E 219, and these can cause asthma, hyperactivity and eczema. 

The Sulphite Category of Preservative are the numbers E 220, E 221, E 222, E 223, E 224, E 226, E 227.  Any of these can bring on asthma attacks, hyperactivity and eczema.  These are all thought to destroy Vitamin B1 in the body.  Sulphur Dioxide, which is 220, is a common preservative used in gelatine and many other products.  This is very bad for the kidneys, the liver, the heart, and the lungs.  People who suffer asthma need to avoid this one completely.  Sulphur dioxide also destroys Vitamin B1.  Potassium Metabisulphite Number 224 has a similar effect to Sulphur Dioxide 220, because it also can damage the liver and kidneys and heart muscle, as well as cause asthma.

The Nitrites and Nitrates E249, E 250, E 251 and E 252 are all dubious because they produce poisonous nitrosamines in the body, which cause  cancers of various kinds.  These nitrosamines are all thought to lower oxygen levels in the body, and an oxygen starved body is the ideal environment for cancers to begin.

300-381 are mainly Antioxidants.  Vitamin E is an example of a healthy  antioxidant which occurs naturally in food.  Some food acids and mineral salts are also included in this section.  The Gallate Category of antioxidant are the numbers E 310, E 311, E 312, which are linked to liver damage.  Irritable bowel syndrome can result from regular use of foods containing these Gallates.  Food intolerances can also develop.  The BHA and BHT category of Antioxidant are thought to cause hyperactivity, eczeman and rashes, and are linked to cancers of various types.

The Emulsifier,   E 385, Calcium Disodium, or EDTA, is thought to be carcenogenic.

400-492 are the Vegetable Gums, Emulsifiers, and Humectants.  Some emulsifiers, such as Lecithin, are natural food items, and are  truly healthy ones. However,  E 407 which is a ‘natural’ seaweed extract derived from Carrageenan, also used in some cough syrups, has been linked to ulcers in the colon.  Carrageen has been used in herbal medicine for centuries, but it is possible that in making a more potent extract from the plant, as used in the E 407 emulsifier, its healing qualities are negated.  Jan Greig says that research suggests that the preparation E 407  has been linked to foetal damage in animals.  Tragacanth Gum Number E413 can cause reactions in some people, although this is an organic compound.  It is thought to be linked to liver damage and can cause food sensitivity.  These naturally occurring gums are used in some laxative preparations.  But because of the high concentration of these gums in certain products including laxatives, gums  such as Tragacanth E413 , Sterculia Number ?,  and Karaya gum 416 can be problematic, causing hay-fever like symptoms, allergy, skin rashes and asthma-like symptoms.

The Emulsifier 420, which is Sorbitol, is extremely bad for children.  It has been prohibited for use in children’s processed food because of its harmful effects.

The Thickener Gelatine, number 441, is a natural food item which is recommended by some healers for cancer patients and other people with serious illness.  Gelatine can help the assimilation of vitamins and minerals in the intestines.  It can also aid the immune function, and increase ones resistance to infection. However, some people cannot tolerate gelatine.  This may be because of the  Sulphur dioxide, 220, which is often added as a preservative.  Sulphur dioxide can cause asthma attack, swelling of the ankles, hands and fingers.  Sulphur dioxide is not good for the kidneys or the heart or lungs.

The Humectant 422, which is Glycerin, is very bad for the heart and weakening to the veins.  It can cause heart palpitations, in my own experience.  This food additive can play havoc with your blood sugar levels, cause swelling in the legs and body,  cause  extreme thirst,  and headaches.

The Stearates and Polysorbates, which are emulsifiers, are definitely bad.  These have been related to skin and intestinal disturbances, and degenerative conditions such as cancer.  These numbers to watch out for are 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436.

The Polyphosphates,  Sodium Acid Pyrophosphates,  are other types of emulsifiers which are destructive to the health.  These numbers  are E450a, E450b, and E450c.   Sodium Phosphate Number 450 is used as a thickener.  These are believed to  cause kidney damage.

500-579 are the Mineral salts and free-flowing agents.  Number 554 is Sodium Alumino-silicate, which is an anti-caking agent.  This is sometimes found in cosmetics, as well as in some food items.   It causes nerve damage.  The aluminium salts  from sodium alumino-silicate can  easily be absorbed by the body, and blood, and find their way into the brain tissues.  This chemical can cause alzheimer’s for this reason.

620-637 are Flavour enhancers, such as MSG.  These are the  Glutamate category of flavour enhancers, which  are 620, 621, 622, 623.  These can cause palpitations and dizziness in some people.  Test animals have had reproductive damage with these flavour enhancers.  MSG, or monosodium glutamate,  Number 621, is one of the worst flavour enhancers.  This can lead to reproductive damage, as it has with animals.  Migraine headaches,  heart palpitations, bladder weakness, nausea and thirst are all indications of MSG ingested in foods.  Some  Chinese restaurants in New Zealand  still use this ingredient, although it is banned.

Other Flavour enhancers to avoid are 627, which is Disodium Guanylate, and 631, Disodium Inosinate.  Both these, and 621 Monosodium Glutamate, are especially bad for children.  621, 627 and 631 can all cause fluid retention and gout.

900-1202 is a miscellaneous list of things not found in the other categories.   Bleaching agents and ‘improvers’ used in processed flours, propellants, lubricants, etc belong to this category.  Numbers 924, 925 and 926 are used in processing flour.  These can irritate the stomach and intestines, as well as destroy vitamins and affect the absorption of important vitamins and minerals.  Vitamin E is known to be affected by these bleaching agents.

1400-1450 are  food thickeners.

1505-1520 is an extension of the miscellaneous list.

Artificial Sweeteners are very toxic.  Saccharine is weakening to the bladder, and has caused bladder cancer in animals.  Aspartame is another sweetener to beware of, as it is lined to nervous disease such as multiple sclerosis and parkinson’s disease. All artificial sweeteners are weakening to the immune system, the nervous system, the liver, kidneys, bladder and heart, and all will affect the digestion and vitamin and mineral absorption to some extent. My experience with artificial sweeteners is that they definitely affect the kidneys, for a start, and usually cause fluid retention, which is evidenced by a slight puffiness of the legs or finger joints.

 

 

 

Order Of Consonants To Make A Stimulating Mantra

Sound Healing Using Mantras:  Rudolph Steiner’s method of using consonants to make a soothing, healing mantra is outlined two posts before this one.  To remind you, the order of consonants for a soothing mantra is D, F, G, C, and H.

How To Create a Stimulating Mantra:  Rudolph Steiner’s method for creating a stimulating effect in a mantra is achieved by organizing the consonants :  L, M, N, P, and Q,  in that order.  A stimulating mantra could be used to create energy before undertaking some task, either mental or physical.

The idea is that you  make up your own mantra, using these letters to begin each word of the mantra.  Steiner uses only five letters for the making of the mantra, but these letters can be duplicated, as long as they are in the same order, I have found. Of course the other sounds you have chosen, and the imagery too, will have an impact on the force or the quality of the mantra as a whole. You can experiment to see which of the sounds work best to your ear.

Here are some examples of how the letters would be used to make a stimulating mantra:

Lapis Lazuli, Moonstones, Nickel, Pyramids, Quicksilver.

Luxembourg, Minnesota, Neapolitan, Peruvian, Quebec.

Legend, Myth, Nostradamus, Periwinkle, Quintessential.

Lovage, Marigolds,  Moonbeams, Nasturtiums, Peach,  Quercus

Look, March, Nest, Ponder, Query.

Levitation, Meditation, Neptune, Pennsylvania, Quakers

Repeat your own mantra invention several times, until you feel that the desired effect has been reached.  This is best done in a quiet room, either sitting on the floor or in a chair.

You can choose a string of words which make up an affirmation of some sort.  Or you can choose words just for their sound effect – The mantra does not necessarily have to have a meaning.  However, I think it is best to avoid words which have definite negative connotations.  For instance, you would avoid using the word  Lethargy, as saying this too many times over could cause you to feel lethargic.  There are many other good words to choose from, without having to use ‘Lethargic’, or ‘Lethal’, etc.  Legato, Lustrous, Luscious, Lottery, Louisiana, Lumberjack, or Lothario,  would be better choices for the “L” word.

 

Colour Therapy Chart and Developing Healing Ability

DSCO 1549Colour has the ability to change the body’s vibration,  transforming the vibrations of sickness into the vibrations of wellness.  Light is essential to life:  All colour comes from the Sun, from the life source.  Colour is simply white light which has been broken down through the workings of atmosphere.

But the effect of colour on the human psyche, and the physical body, cannot be underestimated:  This is why art is so important to man.  The beauty or the horror  of a painting, through colour,  has the power to influence the emotions and affect our thought patterns in quite profound ways.  Each painting has a definite auric body of its own, which is the energy or vibration which surrounds the painting itself.

Many clairvoyants can see the colour in the body’s aura,  the ‘auric body’, and can tell before an illness strikes, that this illness is about to happen.  This is because sickness shows up first in the auric body, the shining light of colour which surrounds the outside of all living beings, and indeed all objects, all matter.   When illness is imminent, the colours of the aura often become jaded, and holes, the absence of colour, can be evident over the part of the body which is unwell.

An experienced colour therapist who has clairvoyant ability can thus avert an illness if it is discovered before it takes hold in the physical body.

Kirlian Photography:  Thanks to the work of W.J. Kilner, who developed the ‘Kilner screen’ to  photograph the colours of the aura, the science of colour therapy cannot be ignored or dismissed as quackery any more – The existence of the aura, and its being a mirror of the body in vibration,  is now  a proven fact.  Everything about the present state of the body’s health is recorded in the aura, and everything about the past, including past lives,  is recorded there also.

Many people today are developing sensitivity to colour, to auras, to vibrational frequencies, and to past life experiences. Many people are developing healing ability, or psychic ability:  These abilities are becoming more prevalent as the world economic powers continue to drive our planet towards destruction.  It will be the people with these increased powers of perception who will save our planet and its people.

As the numbers of those people who are developing spiritual awareness  grows,  so the negative forces in the world will begin to diminish and dissipate. It is not enough just ‘to believe’ in the second coming – I believe that it is important to be able to ‘see’, to have vision, to have developed the ability to heal, to have a sense of compassion for all sentient beings, as the Christians, Hindu, Moslem and Buddhists all say, if we are to save the world from destruction.  And so we all have a duty to keep our health good, to try to develop our healing abilities,  develop our sense of compassion, and a sense of goodness, so that we can help our fellow man and do our best for mankind, the planet and all sentient beings.

well – Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say.

Meanwhile, using colour therapy can help us to develop the emotional and spiritual aspects of the character, as well as help to heal  physical conditions of sickness and infirmity in ourselves or other people.  Colour therapy can bring harmony to the body and to the soul.  Colour balance will enhance our vital force.  A balanced aura will help us keep good health, and will  aid us in our work to try to help others.

Yellow and Orange:  These are invigorating and warming colours.  Yellow and orange are the colours of the sun’s life-giving rays.  They cheer and give energy. Yellow and orange help to dispel depression.  They also help to enhance  the digestion by helping the liver, the gall bladder, and the elimination process.

Get Rid of The Blues With Yellow-Orange Colour:  In the middle of winter, if you have ‘the blues’, you can use an orange or a yellow light bulb over the solar plexus area for half an hour each day, or until you feel better.   The orange or yellow light  negates the excess of blue in the aura by charging up the solar plexus area with the colour of sunshine.  This is a great remedy for restoring the nervous system.  It works very quickly to get rid of depression and lethargy.  Finish off the treatment with green or blue on the forehead for just five minutes.

Yellow and Orange colours have the ability to dissolve gall stones and cleanse the liver.  Chamomile tea is on the yellow ray, as are lemon drinks, castor oil, dandelion root coffee,  and Vitamin C.  These yellow-ray foods have a beneficial effect on the liver, and  also help to dissolve calcium deposits in the joints.  The yellow-orange treatment on the solar plexus can be a very good remedy for arthritis for this reason.

Yellow and Orange For Vitality: Digestion can be greatly improved, and general vitality increased, by putting a yellow or orange coloured light-bulb over the solar plexus area of the body.  Do this each day for around half an hour, until you feel you no longer need the treatment.  Keep the bulb about a foot away from the body, and take care not to let the bulb touch any fabric or your skin while it is turned on.  This treatment I have found to be very effective for treating candida in the digestive system, for improving bowel function, and for giving one a sense of ‘joie de vivre’.  It is very good for debilitated persons.

Visualize the Colours Needed:  It is possible to take in the yellow-orange colours of the spectrum by visualizing these colours, and breathing them into the system.  You could lie with your eyes closed, hands on the solar plexus, and breathe these colours into the solar plexus, just as if you had a light bulb shining on your stomach.  It takes some practice to visualize a colour permeating the body, but it can be done.

Wear Yellow and Oranges  more often  in the winter time:  This will help you to Maintain A Positive Attitude and keep gloominess at bay.DSCO 1676DSCO 1549Botanical Gardens At Dunedin:  Photos by Merrilyn on Holly’s Camera.

Walking through gardens to admire the colours of trees and flowers is very therapeutic and good for the soul. We are naturally given a dose of ‘colour healing’ every time we do this.

Blue Lighting :  Blue can help reduce fevers and high temperatures.  A blue light bulb is a very useful thing to have for those sudden infections which children sometimes get.  Combined with other therapy, such as homeopathy, and Vitamin A and C treatment, blue lighting can quickly bring a temperature down and help a child to recover from an illness.

Four Easy Beneficial Chants To Use In Sound Healing

How to Help Heal The Body With Chanting.

How the Vibration of Sound Affects The Human Body and Mind.

This post gives four effective and  easy beneficial chants for the purpose of giving  healing and strength to  the body. It is best to begin with a small amount of chanting, especially if you are not used to chanting.  It is best to take  only ONE exercise at a time, rather than experiment with all of them.   Begin with just six repeats of the chant  in the first round.  Build up gradually to ten repeats if needed, and repeat the whole exercise three times in the day.

A Little History On Healing Chants and Sounds:  The power of sound has been known and used for centuries now. Chanting is an age-old practice in India, and in Buddhist and Hindu traditions all over the world. The ‘OM’ chant is frequently used by Buddhists, and is also used in some Hindu traditions.   Many Westerners who do not belong to any one religion, have incorporated  the ‘OM’ chant  into their daily meditative yoga practice.

Chanting ‘OM’ has a healing effect on the body as well as a calming influence on the brain.  It soothes and invigorates the nervous system.  No wonder that this sound has been  part of religious practice for centuries, as it still is today, in many countries of the world. 

Listening To Music, and the Singing Of Sound Can Be Beneficial For The Soul:  The benefit of music to aid the soul in its progress, and to dispel negativity and evil, is well indicated in the Psalms of David, which are essentially Songs Of Praise.  Psalm CL, the ‘Laudate Dominum’, exalts in Creation, and stresses the importance of sound and music in spiritual life:  ‘O Praise God in his Holiness:  Praise him in the firmanent of his power. 2. Praise him in his noble acts:  Praise him according to his excellent greatness.  3.  Praise him in the sound of the trumpet:  Praise him upon the lute and harp.  4.  Praise him in the cymbals, and dances:  Praise him upon the strings and pipe.  5.  Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals:  Praise him upon the loud cymbals.  6.  Let every thing that hath breath:  Praise the Lord.

One should avoid loud music, as it causes damage, not only to the ears, but to the nervous system generally.  Loud and prolonged sound is harmful to the body and to matter.   In  the story of Joshua, from Christianity and Judaism, it is told that sound was used by Joshua at the ‘Battle of Jericho’ to break down the walls of Jericho.   Joshua’s implementation of trumpets created a mighty sound which caused a vibration intense enough to cause the walls of Jericho to tumble.   Joshua’s  use of sound in  breaking down of the walls of Jericho was essentially destructive, although Joshua’s winning the Battle of Jericho is taken to be a symbol of good winning over the power of evil.

Soothing Chants To Help Heal:  Here are some nice, easy, gentle chants which you can practice to help strengthen the body and its nervous system.  These are taken from a wee book I published about 25 years ago.  The source of these sounds was from a booklet given out by a medical doctor who had discovered acupuncture and Indian yogic healing techniques.

Healing Chants and Sounds.

These healing chants are beneficial to specific organs of the body, as well as having a helpful spiritual effect.

ENG  Chant To Help The Eyes:   If you press your thumbs on the inside corner of the eyes and chant this sound, frontal headaches and congested sinuses will be relieved.  This same exercise affects the eyes favourably.  Do the exercise from six to ten times in one round.  Drink a glass of water afterward for the treatment of the eyes.  If there is eye trouble, you could repeat the exercise three times a day, doing six to ten chants in the one round.

OM Chant For The Nervous System:  This has a favourable effect on the nervous system.  It is good to chant this sound while sitting in the yogic lotus position, or while sitting crtoss-legged on the floor.  If you cannot do this, then sit up straight in a chair.  It is important to keep the back very straight whilst doing the OM chant.  “OM” vibrates down the spine, distributing energy to the nerves along the spine.  It helps release blockages of energy in the body, reduces tension, and dispels negative energies and impulses.   “OM” increases the body’s ‘chi’, or ‘prana’, or life force.  It is a very  strengthening chant.

ONG Chant For The Ears:  This sound affects the ears quite profoundly, and should be done by anyone with ear trouble:  Just press the thumbs behind the ears on the vagus nerve, and chant ‘ONG’ as you exhale.  Do this up to ten times.  Then drink a glass of water afterward.  Another good exercise for the ears is to throw the head back, tensing the jaw as you do so.  Stretch the lips wide and jut out the lower teeth.  Release, then do again, six times in the one round.  This helps inner ear problems.  For best results with ear trouble, the exercise should be  practiced three times a day, with six repeats  each time.

VAU Chant To Help The Liver:  This is an excellent sound to for the liver, for stomach ailments, nervous tension and thyroid enlargements.  Take a deep breath with the fingers pressed into the solar plexus.  As you exhale, chant a long ‘VAU’.  Do half a dozen times, and take a glass of water afterwards.  Apparently, the VAU vibration was one of the original old Hebrew letters that formed the name of God.

Increase The Life Force First:    The efficacy of any of these chants is improved if the exercise for increasing prana, the life-force, is done beforehand.  See my post on this subject which I put up about a year ago.  There are several good breathing techniques, combined with some simple acupressure, which can greatly enhance the vital force of the body.

Singing Enhances The Life Force:  The sound of one’s own voice is very therapeutic for one’s own body, as well as for the people around you, so long as the singing is done sweetly.  Singing vibrates directly through the body and is very energizing.  Singing sweetly, especially with songs of praise and thanksgiving,   helps to bring good into the being.   Such singing helps to dispel negative thoughts and emotions, and to bring calm to the nervous system.  Singing praises, ‘counting your blessings’, and singing any other music which exalts creation, is a very uplifting practice for mind, body and soul.

What Foods Have Vitamin C And Why Do We Need It?

Sailors Died Of Scurvy In The Old Days:  Scurvy is a Vitamin C deficiency.  A diet completely devoid of Vitamin C will kill you in the end.   Lack of Vitamin C causes a breakdown in the connective tissues of the body, as well as the capillary blood vessels.  This l0ng term effects of eating foods which are deficient  in  Vitamin C  are:   loose teeth, bleeding gums,  and sore and weak joints.  The  small capillary blood vessels begin to bleed under the skin, resulting in patches of small red dots. Haemorrhages can occur in serious cases, causing strokes and damage to the heart muscle and the brain.

Vitamin C kills bacteria in the blood stream, which means that it acts as an antibiotic.  Large doses of Vitamin C have cured many infectious diseases, including cases of viral pneumonia and meningitis.  More about Vitamin C in curing infectious disease later – back now to symptoms of deficiency of Vitamin C, as presented in scurvy:

According to Dr Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., scurvy killed more than half the sea men on a ship which set out from England in 1739, heading for the Pacific.  Out of 961 men on board, 626 died on the journey, mostly from scurvy, or Vitamin C deficiency.

Citrus juice had been known, since 1616,  to prevent and reverse scurvy disease:  Sir Richard Hawkins saved his men from the scourges of scurvy by using oranges and lemons in the daily diet.  But it was several hundred years before  controlled experiments were done which proved conclusively that vitamin C prevented and cured scurvy. This proof of Vitamin C being effective as a prophylactic and as a remedy for scurvy was the work of James Lind, who worked at the English Naval Hospital.  There, he  observed around 300 to 400 cases of scurvy each day. His experiment was to give  two oranges and one lemon  daily to two of the sailors in his study who had scurvy.  The other men  in the experiment were given other treatments, including cider vinegar, and sea water, as a remedy for their scurvy.   The two men given the Vitamin C treatment via the citrus fruits recovered quickly from their scurvy and became well enough to nurse the other men, who did not respond from the other treatments.

Eventually, the Royal Navy began using citrus juice, ascorbic acid, on board all their ships.   The cheapest source  of citrus was from India, and this was a small green lime.  This  green lime citrus fruit became part and parcel of being at sea, which is how the term for a sailor,  ‘limey’,  got coined.   The result of the lime treatment was that scurvy was eradicated from the British navy ships within a couple of years of its use,  giving the British the physical power to dominate the French coast during the Napoleonic wars, and annihilate the French navy.

Vitamin C has a history of being shunned by the medical profession and the authorities:  Citrus juice was known, way back  in 1616, to cure and prevent scurvy. Meanwhile, thousands of sailors still died of scurvy, because citrus juice was not adopted as a preventative measure on board ships. It was a few hundred years later that James Lind did controlled experiments on citrus, and even then it was  fifty years after James Lind’s experiment, which proved conclusively that citrus cured and prevented scurvy,  before citrus fruit was to become mandatory on British navy ships.  Even when the proof is there, these easy solutions to health problems are not so easily taken up by the authorities.

It is the same  story today, with Vitamin C:  Vitamin C is a natural antibiotic and therefore negates the need for vaccinations of various kinds.  Hundreds of doctors, naturopaths and alternative therapists all over the world swear by Vitamin C therapy for the prevention and cure of cancer, arthritis,  swine flu, scarlet fever, and many other infectious diseases, yet the authorities still refrain from using Vitamin C in hospitals, or as a regular treatment in medical practice.

What Foods Have Vitamin C?  All fruits and Vegetables contain vitamin C.

The highest sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits of all kinds:  lemons, grapefruit, oranges, tangelos, mandarins, limes.  Cranberries, strawberries,  grapes, blackcurrants, raspberries, mango, paw paw, pineapple, pomegranate,  persimmons, and kiwifruit,  are all high in Vitamin C.  Capsicums, green and red peppers, tomatoes, tamarind, dates, raisins, sultanas, peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, pears,  apples, all contain Vitamin C.  Spinach, silver beet, broccoli, brussels sprouts, lettuce, mung bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, raw  cabbage,  raw parsley, raw coriander, basil, comfrey, potatoes,  raw carrots, and rhubarb,  are all rich sources of Vitamin C.

A lot of Vitamin C is destroyed in cooking, which is why those daily salads, and the eating of fresh fruit,  are very important.  However, cooked broccoli, potatoes with their skins left on, spinach,  and many other Vitamin C rich foods still retain some of their Vitamin C after cooking if they are not cooked for too hard or too long.

Resource Books:  “Diet and Nutrition – A Holistic Approach”, by Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., published by The Himalayan International Institute,  Honesdale, Pennsylvania, USA, 1978.

“New Choices in Natural Healing”, edited by Bill Gottlieb, editor of ‘Prevention’ magazine, published by Rodale Publishing Inc., Pennsylvania, USA, 1995.

“Your Health – Vitamins and Minerals”, by Russell Frank Atkinson, published by Doubleday Press, NSW, Australia, 1982.