The Vegan Lifestyle

Natural remedies are better than conventional medicine. It is the trend nowadays in the treatment of diseases including cancer. More and more people are now into alternative medicine. This could be due to the fact that  conventional medicine is more expensive compared to alternative medicine. Besides being expensive, the success of treating cancer and other life-threatening diseases by the use of conventional medicine is less than 5%, and the probability of its recurrence is very high. It is not only expensive and unreliable, but  dangerous to our health too. During chemotherapy, good healthy cells of our body are killed together with cancer cells. It is more dangerous than the harmful effects of radiation from the microwave oven and the GMO foods sold in supermarkets.

Some of the best surgeons who know the harmful effects of chemotherapy and other conventional treatment prefer the alternative medicine to treat themselves and members of their family when sick of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. I know of some medical doctors with cancer who refused to be treated by the use of conventional medicine. They use the natural remedies in alternative medicine, and have fully recovered from the disease and are still healthy and very alive up to now.

People are now starting to learn and trust the effectiveness of alternative medicines and other natural remedies to treat cancer and other diseases. More people, including some medical doctors and other health practitioners are now using herbal medicines to treat cancer and other diseases because it is more effective, safer and cheaper compared to the conventional medicine.

Some of us blindly trust the medical doctors when it comes to the treatment of diseases. We believe that medical doctors are the only qualified people who can effectively treat us of our diseases because of their expertise having studied in medical schools. We look upon medical doctors  very highly and fully entrust our lives to them as if they are gods who can cure all our diseases.

But doctors, like all mortals, are fallible. They are not gods to be trusted all the time. Like all normal men with limited knowledge, doctors are not perfect, and they are liable to commit mistakes in their diagnosis sometimes. Not because they have not fully learned their medical subjects at schools and are not proficient in their medical professions, but because diseases are becoming more resistant to medications each day. New strains of diseases appear, and there are no enough research data to help doctors treat these diseases.

If you do not believe in this, consider how many people are  still frequenting clinics and hospitals to see their doctors for consultations and medical check ups. They have been coming back again and again for the treatment of a disease that never seem to be cured. Some unfortunate ones now lay in peace six feet below the ground. Why? Because doctors cannot  completely cure them of their diseases through conventional medicine.

Let us wake up from our slumber and open our eyes wide. Let us discard our bigoted belief that medical doctors know it all. Let us not be overly supercilious and sarcastic towards herbalists and naturopaths. We have been programmed since childhood to fully believe without question in what doctors say and to follow their prescriptions blindly as if they are gods that know everything.

Observe the people around you and consider whether they have been  completely cured of their diseases and have not been sick again  in a year.  Our neighbors, our friends, our office mates, and even our own family are  still sick and prone to diseases and other ailments. We spend thousand of money in expensive medicines, laboratory fees, doctor’s fees, and other hospital bills. We seem to recover for a few days after taking some antibiotics and other synthetic medicines. Some bacteria are killed by it, but most  survive and reappear as another form of disease that is more resistant to antibiotics. That is why pharmaceutical companies are busy producing various antibiotics every week to combat these diseases that their antibiotics have created by itself.

Conventional medicine is not the best option towards good health. Besides being very expensive, conventional treatment is harmful to our health. Some of the synthetic medications used in treating cancers are mixtures of potent poisons that can destroy our body. Radiation is dangerous to the body. Have you not seen how ugly and ghastly cancer patients have become after being rendered bald in chemotherapy?

Natural remedies such as herbal medicines are effective in treating diseases. I wonder how government agencies could have agreed to a regulation to label all herbal medicines as having no proven therapeutic claims!

Natural remedies cure the cause of the disease and not the symptoms only. Synthetic medicines may treat the disease, but when their effects are gone, the symptoms reappear in another form of disease.

Natural remedies have no side effects, and rarely have harmful effects even in overdose. Some synthetic conventional medications have adverse side effects, and its overdose may be fatal sometimes.

Natural remedies are better than conventional medicine. They are cheaper and safer compared to the conventional medicine. They are abundantly available in fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables. The juices of fruits and raw vegetables have proven powerful healing powers for  almost all diseases including cancers. The phytonutrients and antioxidants in fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables strengthen and boost the body’s immune system to effectively ward off all diseases.

It is better to be a vegetarian. A vegetarian diet is very good for the body. Being vegetarian can bring good health and prolong your life.

Five years ago, I started to be a vegetarian. I experienced the good results of being a vegetarian. I included raw vegetables in my diet, and my health becomes better. My body benefited a lot from my being a vegetarian.

I used to believe  that a vegetarian diet is not complete. I ran with the wrong notion then that a vegetarian diet lacks or has no protein in it. Most people believed that vegetables and other plant-based foods cannot supply the body of the needful protein for growth because this nutrient is only found in animal meat.

But this is wrong. Fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables do have proteins in them, and in better quality compared with those from animal meats. Plant proteins are lighter and easily digested by the body, whereas animal proteins are heavy proteins that are hard for the body to digest. They can putrefy in the stomach, cause dyspepsia, constipation, and other abnormalities in the body that may cause a hosts of diseases.

Most people also believe that plants cannot supply the body with vitamin B12. This is the reason why they taunt the vegetarians as anemic and sallow. This is not true. Some fruits and vegetables do provide us with vitamin B12. One example is spirulina, which comes from an algae. Also, when the body has sufficient supply of cobalt, it produces its own vitamin B12. Cobalt is a part of vitamin B12. Nova Scotia dulse and the Norwegian kelp are rich sources of cobalt. The above sources are all seaweeds, and they indirectly provide our body with vitamin B12. It is even believed, but not confirmed, that our saliva upon waking up in the morning has good supply of vitamin B12.

A vegetarian diet has many health benefits. The phytonutrients in fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables not only supply the essential nutrients that are needful for a healthy body, but they have also healing powers against many diseases. And some of these plants have potent phytochemical to fight against cancer.

A vegetarian diet can bring back the suppleness of your body and the luster of your skin and hair. It prevents premature aging, and rejuvenates the body. It can restore your eyesight, and sharpen your memory. A vegetarian diet improves your whole being physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.

Do you know that more great minds were vegetarians?

Some people usually taunt the vegetarians as anemic, sallow, weak and ghastly. They believe vegetables are only for cows, and people must eat flesh meats to have proteins in their diets. Eating vegetables, they say, reduces masculine virility and libido, and they fear that they might not be able to “rise to the occasion”.

These mockers are not aware that more great minds were vegetarians. Among the great minds who were vegetarians were Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Plotinus, Diogenes, Epicurus, Porphyry, Immanuel Kant, Voltaire, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Charles Darwin, Albert Schweitzer,  Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Thomas Alva Edison, Shelley, Emerson, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi,  George Bernard Shaw, Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nikola Tesla, and Norman Walker.

Pythagoras was considered the “Father of Vegetarianism”. He formulated the Pythagorean theorem, besides other mathematical and geometrical findings, and other findings about the movement of the Earth around the Sun. Six hundred  years before Christ, Pythagoras and his adherents practiced strict vegetarianism. Pythagoras believed that man’s full philosophical potential can only be achieved when his body is physically fit and healthy. Long before the word “vegetarian” was coined in the 19th century, people who practiced vegetarianism were called Pythagoreans. Many Greek philosophers, besides Pythagoras were also vegetarians.

Albert Einstein is also a vegetarian. Though it is believed that his playing the violin during his childhood  had greatly improved his intelligence, his being a vegetarian was among the primary factors that helped him to become the greatest scientist of the 21st century. His Theory of Relativity was the greatest discovery of  all times, and has still remained to be a puzzle to many even to his peers until now. Other science greats who are vegetarians are Sir Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Alva Edison.

The list of great minds that are vegetarians is long. Most in the list are philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, inventors, musicians, spiritual leaders, presidents and leaders of nations, artists, painters, writers, novelists, actors, actresses, and singers.

Man was originally vegetarian. Fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables was man’s original diet given by God,  and flesh meat eating was allowed only after the Flood when there was a total destruction of vegetation on the surface of the earth. When men started eating flesh meats, diseases appeared, and men died prematurely. Please read my previous article “Why Flesh Meat Eating Is Harmful To Health”, and know more about this.

Studies in anatomy showed that man is vegetarian by nature. Man’s digestive system was originally designed for vegetarian diet. His teeth are similar to fruit-eating animals such as monkeys. He does not have pointed canine teeth like those of the carnivorous animals.

Man was originally vegetarian. Like the herbivorous animals, his jaw has three distinct motions: vertical or up and down, lateral or sideways, and forward and backward. Carnivorous animals have only up and down motion of their jaw when masticating their food.

Man was originally vegetarian as his intestines indicated. Like the herbivores, his small intestines are longer and his large intestine is shorter. His digestive tract is similar to animals consuming largely nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

Man was originally vegetarian as the following facts show:

• Like all vegetarian animals, man perspire through his skin, and not through the mouth as is common in carnivorous animals.

• As a vegetarian, man drinks by suction, while the carnivorous animals drink by lapping the water with their tongues.

• Man is provided with an enzyme called ptyalin in his saliva for the proper digestion of starch in his body. Carnivorous animals cannot digest starch.

• Man’s blood types A, B, and O are similar with the herbivores such as apes.

• The bile salts found in man is similar to herbivorous animals.

Man was indeed a vegetarian originally as his anatomy shows. It would be for man’s advantage if he returns to his original diet: fruits, grains, and vegetables. If man will continue to consume flesh meats, he will have diseases and afflictions, and his life on this earth will be shortened.

Junk foods are bad for our health. They are loaded with chemicals that are harmful to our body. They are mixed with food colors and preservatives too.

Almost all junk foods undergo a certain process. Most junk foods are deep-fried in hydrogenated vegetable oils. Vegetables oils that have undergone hydrogenation are harmful to the body. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are originally mono or polyunsaturated fatty acids that are artificially converted into a saturated fatty acid by the addition of hydrogen molecules to it. This process is called hydrogenation.

When hydrogenated vegetable oils are heated, they are converted into trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are very harmful to the body, and can cause cancer. That is why it is not safe to re-use frying oils that have been used already.

Junk foods are palatable and delicious. They are mixed with flavorings or food  enhancers to make it taste good. That is why most children and even adults like them very much. The most famous food enhancer is the monosodium glutamate or MSG. This is a free glutamic acid produced from hydrolyzed amino acids from proteins by the use of strong acids as catalysts. This substance is sold in the market with various brand names, the most common of which is Ajinomoto or Vetsin. MSG is very harmful to our body. It causes brain cancer and a host of other diseases. It penetrates the blood-brain barrier and affects the normal functioning of the hypothalamus. This organ of the endocrine system is the controlling center of all neuroendocrine regulation, sleep, wake cycles, emotional control, caloric intake regulation, immune system regulation, and the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Please read my previous article “Dangers Of MSG” to know more about this.

This is the reason why people become obese, and wonder why they become so fat when in fact they often skip their breakfast and other meals in a day. This blood-brain barrier disruption can also cause hypertension, diabetes, strokes, brain tumors, lupus, brain infections, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Other additives in junk foods are food colors, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives. All these chemicals are toxins that poison our body. Do you not wonder why junk foods remain fresh and crispy even after months or year in the shelves? Consider what harm they can do to your body.

It is always best to obey God. Whether we believe in God or not, we will always be greatly benefited when we obey his commandments.

God has no need of anything from us. It does not change him a bit whether we obey or not. It does not diminish his power and holiness.

It is obvious that God did not implement his ten commandments for his benefit. It is solely for the benefit of man that God instituted his moral laws. With these, man can attain lasting peace and happiness.

Some people see God as a strict disciplinarian. They do not like the idea of God commanding them not to do this and that. They believe they are free, and nobody should tell them what to do or what not to do.

This is because we consider the ten moral laws as commandments. Exodus 20 verse  1 says “And God spake all these words, saying, …” It is very clear that these are words of God, and “he spake”, and not “he commanded”.

We hate being commanded to do a thing, and we do not obey especially if it is hard for us to do. That is a natural human attitude: we want to be free from duties, and we want easy life.

Let us change our belief about God. He is a God of love and mercy. His loving kindness and tender mercy endure forever. He is a loving Father who always wants the best for his children. He will not surely burden us with commandments that are very hard for us to follow. What kind of father is it that heap heavy burdens on his children? If you cannot do it to your children, how could you expect a very loving and merciful God to do it? Are you more loving and more merciful than our heavenly Father?

When God spoke the words, he enables and empowers us to do them. There is an inherent power in the word of God. When God said “Let there be light…”, light appeared from nowhere at an instant. There was no finding and waiting – it came from his word as he spoke it.

The same power was inherent in his words when he spoke his moral laws to the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and that power is still present in his words today. When God said “Thou shalt have no other gods before me…”, he empowers us not to be idolaters. When he said “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”, he empowers our mind to remember it always; he gives you the means, time and strength to keep it, and he give you his Holy Spirit to keep it holy. When God said “Thou shalt not kill”, he made us loving and merciful persons and  enables us to forgive not only our neighbors but our enemies as well.

You might not believe in this. But I dare you:  surrender your life to God, believe in his word by faith, and you will see the result. You must believe. To believe is to see.

Let us not talk about spiritual blessings that God showers on us when we believe his words for we do not see them directly until they manifest in physical forms or conditions. Let us speak of good tangible things that God give us whenever we obey his words.

Let us take our body as an example. In the very beginning, God chose the best diet for us: fruits, grains, nut and vegetable. When men started eating flesh meats, their frontal lobes were destroyed and lost their conscience and spirituality. They became more animalistic and started devouring each other. Being unspiritual, they forgot the moral values spoken to them by God, and they wallowed in the quagmire of  sin, and has not been able to get get out from it until now. Their indulgence and intemperance in meat eating brought upon them untold miseries and afflictions from uncurable diseases that are only known in our modern time.

Refusal to keep the sabbath day can weaken our body and endangers it to a host of illnesses and diseases. Latest findings in chronobiology confirms the strong undestructible link between the perfect functioning of the human body with sabbath keeping. Inherent in the human body, that governs the immune system, and the myriads of functions of the organs in the body, is a biological clock that precisely follows a seven-day cycle known as circaseptan. Heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, waking and sleeping cycle, hormonal production, healing processes, and all metabolic processes in the body are governed by this seven-day cycle. When we desynchronize ourselves with this cycle, we bring upon ourselves unbearable maladies.

No wonder, God instituted the seventh day as a day of rest. Some Christians have their sabbath on Sunday. But Sunday is not the seventh day of the week – it is the first day. You are not synchronized with the seven-day cycle when you keep your sabbath on Sundays, and this will tamper with the normal functioning of your immune system, and other metabolic processes in the body.

God promised to bless those who keep the seventh-day sabbath holy. The physical and the material blessing are evidently manifold, much more the spiritual blessings if we can only open our spiritual eyes to see them.

Sugar can harm our body. We do not see its  immediate effects, and so we do not believe that sugar can harm our body. Most of us drink our coffee every morning with one or two teaspoons of sugar mixed to it without knowing that sugar can harm our body.

Sugar can harm our body. Most of these sugars are found in junk foods. Processed foods are loaded with sugars and other artificial sweeteners. These sugars can harm our body.

Our body needs sugar. This sugar comes from the food we eat, such as fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables. We think they have no sugar, and so we add refined or granulated sugar on our food. This kind of sugar can harm our body. Refined sugar undergoes bleaching and sulfonation process where sulfur is used. This is a very toxic chemical, and we ingest traces of this poison whenever we consume sugar or other sugar products.

The carbohydrates in our daily diet has more than enough sugar to supply our body. It is initially converted to glucose and then to energy for our body use. Adding more  sugar than what our body needs can cause a lot of health problems for us.

Indeed sugar can harm our body. Most of our foods today are loaded with sugars. Ice creams, cakes, pastries, carbonated drinks and other soft drinks, energy drinks, and many more processed foods.

We are literally surrounded by lots of sugars. No wonder we have a lot of ailments, and we are always visiting the clinics and hospitals to see our doctors. We have been blind to the fact that sugar can really harm our body. We blame our diseases to bacteria, virus and other pathogens except sugar because we do not immediately see  its ill effects.

If you are still doubting that sugar can harm our body, please see this list and know what sugar can do for you health. The following are the harmful effects of sugar to our body:

• it causes drowsiness and fatigue
• it causes acidic stomach
• it causes tooth decay, cavities, and other dental problems
• it causes food allergies
• it causes headaches
• It causes anxiety, depression, and adversely affects the thinking abilities
• it beclouds the mind, and impairs the memory and other brain functions
• It changes the  mineral balance in body fluids
• it  speeds up the process of aging
• it causes  several vitamin deficiencies
• it increases fasting glucose, and increases the risk of diabetes
• it causes hypoglycemia or low blood sugar
• it over stresses the pancreas
• it increases the risk of pancreatic cancer and other forms of cancer
• it increases the systolic blood pressure
• it causes hypertension or high blood pressure
• it increases the risk of blood clots and strokes
• it increases the amount of radicals in the bloodstream
• it increases the risk of bacterial infections  such as diarrhea
• it causes bacterial infections in the colon
• it increases the adrenaline in the blood
• it decreases the production of insulin in the body
• it can cause osteoporosis
• it increases the risk of ulcer diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerate colitis
• it increases the number of triglycerides in the blood
• it reduces the good HDL cholesterol and increases the bad LDL cholesterol
• it increases total cholesterol
• it increases the risk of coronary heart diseases
• it causes obesity
• it speeds up the formation of plaques in the arteries
• it causes cardiovascular diseases
• it causes toxemia or poisoning in the body
• it  causes hormonal imbalances in the body
• it increases the amount of fat in the liver
• it increases the size of the liver
• it badly affects the kidneys
• it weakens the body’s immune system

Indeed sugar can harm our body. If it can destroy our teeth, it can surely easily harm the organs and other parts in our body. It causes hyperacidic system that brings many ailments and diseases.

The health benefits of spirulina and other special foods are many.  These are foods full of nutrients essential for healthy body. These special foods are spirulina, lecithin, brewer’s yeast, torula yeast, kelp, dulse, chlorella, , flaxseed oil, garlic, blackstrap molasses, olive leaf extract, and green papaya.

Spirulina has 20 times more proteins than soybeans. It contains vitamin B12, gamma linolenic acid, RNA, DNA,  and phycocyanin, a blue-green pigment that fight against cancer. Spirulina protects the immune system, lowers blood cholesterol, and stabilizes blood sugar.

Lecithin is important for the brain and the nervous system. It improves brain function and promotes energy. It is good in the prevention of arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

Brewer’s yeast and torula yeast are good for treating heart disorders, fatigue, gout, acne, and  nervousness, and help control sugar metabolism. They are rich source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. They contain 14 minerals, 16  amino acids, and all the B vitamins except vitamin B12.

Kelp and dulse are seaweeds that are rich sources of zinc, selenium, manganese, silicon, fluorine, chromium, molybdenum, cobalt, lithium, germanium, boron, and vanadium. These minerals are important in the proper functioning of the body.

Chlorella is filled with chlorophyll, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin C, vitamin E, all of the B vitamins, and trace minerals. It is very high in RNA and DNA, protects against ultraviolet radiation, and cleanses the blood.

Flaxseed oil is the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. It helps produce hormone-like substances needed for the proper functioning of cardiovascular, nervous, mascular, and immune system.

Garlic thins the blood by keeping the blood platelet from clumping, prevents blood clots, and lowers blood pressure. It is the best natural antibiotic, and stimulates the immune system. Garlic also lowers serum cholesterol levels.

Blackstrap molass is an excellent source of choline which is good in the prevention of  gallstone formation, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, kidney damage, glaucoma, and nephritis.  It is also a good source of inositol which is used in the treatment of schizophrenia, obesity, liver disorders, depression, and diabetes.

Olive leaf extract is effective against almost all viruses and bacteria. It protects the body against influenza, herpes, sore throat, sinusitis, skin diseases, pneumonia, and other chronic infections.

Green papaya is not only a good source of vitamins and minerals,  but it also contains papain enzyme which helps digest carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.

Indeed there are many health benefits from spirulina and other special foods. Including spirulina and other special foods in the diet will boost the immune system to fight against many illnesses.

More people are becoming aware of the importance of antioxidants and their health benefits for the body. Beauty products such as creams, and anti-aging medications are mixed with antioxidants. Antioxidants are good for cell and tissue rejuvenation, and are good to reverse premature aging.

Antioxidants are molecules that slow down and prevent the oxidation of other molecules in the body. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers an electron from a substance to an oxidizing agent. This chemical reaction produces free radicals which start a chain reaction that can cause cellular damage. Antioxidants stop this chain reaction by removing the free radical intermediates and prevent other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves.

Free radicals produced during oxidation are not good for the body. They not only damage the cells but accelerate the process of aging too. Saturated fats in the diet, cigarette smoke, heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead; hydrogen peroxide, ozone, nitrous oxide from car exhaust, ultraviolet rays, cosmic rays, medical x-rays, and other toxic chemicals in food, water and air are free radicals that should be avoided.

Certain vitamins, enzymes, and minerals such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and zinc are powerful antioxidants. Other antioxidants are the alpha and the beta carotenes, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, coenzyme Q10, cysteine, silymarin, and pycnogenol.  These antioxidants are found in herbs such as turmeric, bilberry, burdock, garlic, gingko biloba, and in extracts such as those in grape seed and pine bark.

There are also substances made in the body that fight free radicals. These are glutathione, melatonin  and several others. Low levels of antioxidants in the body can cause oxidative stress which may be a precursor of so many diseases. Antioxidants are now widely used as ingredients in most dietary supplements to treat diseases such cancer and coronary heart diseases.

Broccoli is one of the green vegetables that can provide many health benefits from its nutrients. This vegetable is a member of the cabbage family, and is like a cauliflower in appearance, differing only in color, which the latter can either be purple or yellow.

Broccoli is rich in vitamin C.  It is also rich in beta- carotenes that are converted to vitamin A in the body. Some nutrients  in broccoli, such as selenium and diindolylmethane (DIM) have anti-cancer properties. This diindolylmethane is a powerful modulator of our innate  immune response system and has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-cancer properties. Broccoli also contains glucoraphanin which can be be processed into an anti-cancer compound called sulforaphane. A high intake of broccoli can reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Broccoli contains carbohydrates,  proteins, fats, vitamins , minerals, and water. The fat in broccoli is .037g per 100g serving, and water constitutes 89.30g. Carbohydrate in broccoli is 6.64g per 100g serving, sugar is 1.7g, soluble dietary fiber is 2.6g, and protein is 2.82g.

The tree-shaped flower heads or florets of broccoli, and its meaty stalks are rich in nutrients. Among these nutrients are the following vitamins and minerals:

• beta-carotenes
• vitamin A
• vitamin B1 (thiamine)
• vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
• vitamin B3 (niacin)
• vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
• vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
• vitamin B9 (folate)
• vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
• vitamin K (menadione)
• magnesium
• phosphorus
• calcium
• iron
• potassium
• selenium
• zinc

Broccoli is best eaten raw or steamed. Most of its nutrients are lost when boiled over ten minutes. The leaves of broccoli are also edible, and contain more beta-carotenes than the florets.