The Vegan Lifestyle

Fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables is the original diet of man. Man’s teeth and digestive system were originally designed by God to consume this diet.

Fruits are good for the body. Eating fruits and vegetables keeps diseases away. Raw fruits and vegetables are better eaten raw. Canned fruits are less nutritious, and are loaded with harmful preservatives. Do not eat sulphured fruits. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating to remove dirts, and traces of pesticides. Among the best fruits are apples, grapes, avocado, pineapples, mangoes, bananas, and oranges.

Fruit juices are good for the body. It restores good health and vitality. Fruit juices combined with vegetable juices have curative powers for so many diseases including cancers. Terminal cases of cancers were cured completely.

Vegetables, like fruits and nuts, have phytochemicals and nutrients necessary for good health. Most of them are good source of vitamins and minerals for excellent functioning of the body.

Vegetables are best when eaten raw. Cooked vegetables lose lots of nutrients and enzymes. Raw vegetables have curative powers. Lots of testimonies proved that eating raw vegetables does wonders. Crippling diseases were cured through the administration of raw vegetables in the diet. Cooked food easily ferment and becomes acidic, whereas, raw food are replete with live enzymes that are very important for proper digestion of food. Raw fruits and vegetables are easily digested, absorbed and  quickly assimilated by the body to supply the needed nutrients to all organs of the body. The best of vegetables are broccoli, asparagus, bitter gourd, squash, cayenne, tomatoes, cucumber, raddish, horseraddish, lettuce, mustards, red beet, alfalfa, spinach, celery, kale, collards, and other green leafy vegetables.

Grains and nuts are also very essential for health. Eat only whole grains. Never eat white flour products. Eat bread made of whole wheat for more fiber to clean the colon. Oats, millet, rye, and buckwheat are the best of grains. Brown rice are also good source of vitamin B complex which are very essential for a healthy nervous system.

Nuts and seeds should be eaten fresh. Rancid oils from decaying nuts are not good for the body. Nuts and seeds are rich source of protein; they should be eaten sparingly. Chew the nuts to break down their amino acids for better processing by the stomach acid. Never use peanut butter that has undergone the process of hydrogenation – it is dangerous to the body. The best nuts and seeds are almond, chestnuts, peanuts, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, pili nuts, sunflower seeds, squash and gourd seeds.

There are a lot of medicines or substances that we take casually daily without our knowing of their adverse effects. These are substances that rob our body of the essential nutrients for normal body functioning. The following is a partial list of these substances with the corresponding nutrients they rob from the body:

1. Aspirin – Vitamins A, C, vitamin B complex, folic acid, iron, potassium, and calcium

2. Antiacids – Vitamin A, C, vitamin B complex, calcium, and phosphorus

3. Antibiotics – Vitamin K, vitamin B complex, and frienly colon bateria

4. Antihistamines – Vitamin C

5. Barbiturates – Vitamin C

6. Caffein – Biotin, inositol, potassium, zinc, and vitamin B1

7. Fluoride – Vitamin C

8. Laxatives – Vitamin A, vitamin K, and potassium. This does not include herbal laxatives

9. Diuretics – Vitamin B2, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iodine, and zinc

10. Tobacco – Vitamins A, C, and E

11. Oral contraceptives – Vitamin B complex, vitamins C, D, and E

12. Estrogen preparations – Vitamin B6, and folic acid

13. Ethanol (alcohol) – Vitamins C, D, E, K, and vitamin B complex

14. Penicillin – Vitamin B6, niacin, and niacinamide

15. Synthetic neurotransmitters – Vitamins B2, B6, potassium, and magnesium

16. Sulfa drugs – Para-aminobenzoic acid, friendly bowel bacteria

17. Beta blockers – Panthotenic acid, choline, and chromium

18. Corticosteroids – Vitamins A, B6, C, D, and calcium

Essential Fatty Acids (Vitamin F): Health Benefits, Source, And Dosage

Vitamin F is a fat-soluble vitamin that consists of the essential unsaturated fatty acids, namely, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and the less important arachidonic acid.

Vitamin F is commonly known as EFA or essential fatty acid. It is also sometimes called as “polyunsaturates”. The term “essential” is due to the fact that these acids cannot be made by the body, yet are vital to normal body functioning.

Of all the fatty acids, linoleic acid is the most essential. There are two types of EFA: omega-3 and omega-6. Omega-3 has alpha-linolenic and eicosapentaenoic acids. They are found in fish, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil. Omega-6 includes linoleic and gamma-linolenic acids. Sources of omega-6 are raw nuts, legumes, seeds, grape seed oil, primrose oil, sesame oil, soybean oi, borage oil, and evening primrose oil. The best single source of EFA is fresh, cold-pressed flaxseed oil because it has high levels of omega-3 and omega-6, and cheaper than other sources.

Essential fatty acids reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the body. They reduce the risks of blood clot formation. EFA lowers blood cholesterol in atherosclerosis to prevent heart disease. It is needed by the glands for proper functioning. It enables the absorption of calcium and phosphorus by the cells.

Vitamin F or EFA is essential in metabolism and growth. It is needed for healthy skin and mucous membranes. It prevents arthritis, and is a good prevention of candidiasis, cardiovascular diseases, eczema, and psoriasis.

EFA is found in high concentration in the brain, and it aids in the transmission of nerve impulses. It is used by every cell in the rebuilding and the producing of new cells. It is also used by the body to produce prostaglandins which regulate various body processes.

EFA or vitamin F deficiency symptoms are skin disorders such as acne, rashes, eczema, and dry skin. Other symptoms are kidney, prostate, menstrual, and other reproductive disorders.

Dosage: Recommended therapeutic dose should be at least 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of raw, fresh, cold-pressed wheat germ or flaxseed oil at each meal. Do not use cottonseed oil – it can damage the optic nerve. Avoid safflower oil, and hardened (solid) vegetable oil, margarine and butter because they only clog the system. Avoid hydrogenated oils. For EFA to be useful for the body, the oil must be in pure liquid supplement and must not be subjected to heat. Processing and cooking easily destroy the essential fatty acids, changing them to dangerous free radicals.

Vitamin B5: Health Benefits, Source, And Dosage. Vitamins are vital for the healthy functioning of the body. Their absence or  lack may results to weakness, disease or even death. Vitamins are sometimes called as “co-enzymes” because they work together with enzymes or chemical catalyst in the body.

One of these vitamins needed by the body is the vitamin B complex. These are vitamins that are essential for the proper functioning of the body, specially for the brain and the nervous system.

One of these B complex is vitamin B5 or otherwise known as pantothenic acid. This vitamin stimulates metabolism and all life processes. It helps in the absorption of folic acid, and increases cortisone and other adrenal hormone output. It promotes growth, prevent graying of hair, and changes in skin. It helps the body to resist the effects of infections, stress, and premature aging of skin and organs. Vitamin B5 is an anti-stress factor for a strong immune system. Pantothenic acid or B5 is good for sunburn and skin burns, and may even protect against skin cancers. It protects, and helps in the rapid recovery from the harmful effects of radiation.

Vitamin B5 is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, adrenal function, and to lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Vitamin A, C, E, and other B vitamins are needed for the assimilation of pantothenic acid. Vitamin B5 is used in the production of co-enzyme A, and ACP, without which, the fat and carbohydrate cannot be used by the body for energy production. Vitamin B5 is also used in the production of red blood cells and adrenal hormones.

Although vitamin B5 deficiency is rare because pantothenic acid is found in so many different foods, its deficiency symptoms may include extreme fatigue, muscular weakness, infertility, reproductive problems, graying and loss of hair, retarded growth, insomnia, low blood sugar, skin disorders, asthma, anemia, eczema, chronic fatigue, greater tendency to infections, muscle cramps, low blood pressure, stomach distress, painful and burning feet, and numbness and shooting pains in the feet.

Richest source of vitamin B5 are brewer’s yeast, molasses, green vegetables, whole grain products, torula yeast, wheat germ, beans, peas, peanuts, crude molasses, yogurt, and egg yolk.

Dosage: RDA 4 mg; ODA 50 mg; TDA 50-200 mg. Recommended 250 mg daily. For rheumatoid arthritis, 2 grams daily, and for the lowering of cholesterol and triglycerides, 300 mg daily. Note: The above dosages are for adults. Dosage for children 12-17 years old should be reduced to 3/4 of the recommended dose, and for children 6-11 years old, dosage is 1/2 of the recommended. Warning:Continuous ingestion of pantothenic acid in high dosage can cause heart, kidney, and liver problems.

Since Jesus’ time up to now, the question of His divinity, remains very controversial. Millions died because of their belief both for and against the question.

Today, the divinity of Jesus is still hotly debated. Believers and non-believers present arguments without agreeing on a final conclusion.

Is Jesus God?

To find the answer, we must search the evidences from the Holy Scripture, from history and from archaeological findings. To use the testimonies of Jesus to prove His own divinity is not acceptable to unbelievers. Therefore, our only recourse is history and archaeology.

Jesus is a man of history. A Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus, who was governor of Asia has this allusion about Christ’s death. Writing in 112 AD about the reign of Nero, he said, “Christus, the founder of a name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius…”
(Annals XV.44).

Another evidence comes from the writings of a Roman historian, Flavius Josephus. A Jew by birth, a Pharisee at age 19, and a commander of Jewish forces in Galilee, he was captured by the Roman army under Vespasian in 66 AD. Writing in the early second century, in his “Antiquities XVIII 33,” he said, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man… for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets have foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”

Plinius Secundus or Pliny the Younger, Governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor (AD 112) while seeking counsel from the Emperor Trajan on how to treat the Christians, wrote about Christians whom he persecuted. “They affirmed however, that the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternative verse a hymn to Christ as to a god…” (epistles x.96).

Julius Africanus, a Christian writer about 221 AD, cited a Samaritan-born historian, Thallus who wrote in 52 AD about the total darkness that fell upon the earth during Christ crucifixion. He wrote “‘Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun  -  unreasonably, as it seems to me.’ Unreasonably, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died.” He also cited from chronicles of Phlegon, a first century historian, about this darkness: “…during the time of Tiberius Caesar an eclipse of the sun occurred during the full moon.”

Many more historians can attest the authentic historicity and divinity of Jesus Christ. Also, latest archaeological finds proved beyond reasonable doubt the accuracy of the Holy Scripture as transmitted to us from generation to generation. It’s a wonder how a compilation of 66 books written separately by 40 authors of varied profession at the span of over 1500 years can be read without contradiction.

Therefore, it behooves to believe on it without doubt, much more on the words of Jesus testifying to His divinity. He was seen by men physically. He was crucified, and He rose again on the third day.

Jesus Christ is indeed God!