There Really Is No Debate

Although both animal-based foods and plant-based foods in totality may have the same macro-nutrients and even some of the same micro-nutrients, they do differ in both composition and structure. With that being said, it must be understood that there are no nutrients found in animal-based foods that cannot be better obtained from plant-based foods.

For example, animal fats are all solid at room temperature due to the fact that they are saturated, e.g. they contain no double-bonds hence their melting points are much higher requiring greater amounts of heat to liquefy them.  Humans, however require specific types of fats, called omega fats (double bonded), which are double-bonded at either the third or sixth carbon atom from the end of the fatty acid. These double-bonded (unsaturated) fatty acids have much lower melting points and therefore are in a liquid form at room temperature.

Stearic acid (animals) and oleic acid (olive oil), for example differ only in that oleic acid has a double bond at the nine position and it's melting point is 4 degrees of centigrade while stearic acid, also an 18 carbon fatty acid, has no double bonds (saturated) and has a melting point of 67 degrees of centigrade. Quite a difference when you consider that normal body temperature is 37 degrees of centigrade!

The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are considered essential, which means that the human body cannot synthesize them and therefore they must be obtained through diet.  Their respective roles in metabolism are fundamentally essential to life and they are produced only by plants.  Animals are not capable of producing unsaturated fats.

Similarly, animal proteins are carcinogenic while plant proteins, even in excess are not carcinogenic, as Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD was able to prove unequivocally through a multitude of studies over a thirty-year period in the Philippines and in China.

All carbohydrates are produced by plants, all anti-oxidants are produced by plants, vitamins are produced by either plants or bacteria found in soil or which inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and minerals (earth) are incorporated into plants and made bio-available to animals.

A plant-based diet could include animal products such as certain secretions from mammals that have come to make up the dairy industry however these substances contain certain proteins, such as casein, which fuel cancer growth. In fact, as Dr Campbell stated, casein has been proven to be the “most carcinogenic compound ever discovered”.

A vegan diet is a purely plant-based diet, that excludes products derived from animals such as eggs, milk and perhaps other secretions ,which may be unique to certain cultures.  The results of this diet from womb to tomb include but are not limited to extreme mental clarity, a delightful requirement to move about and expend energy (exercise), a happy disposition and continence, compassion, rapid learning and recall, satisfying sleep, absence of degenerative diseases, rapid healing from trauma, a strong desire and ability for sexual activity well into advanced age and an exceedingly long life,  unless severe trauma intervenes.

With these advantages resulting from adherence to biological laws, how did this even become an issue and how on earth did it become controversial.

http://www.weinholds.org/youcanheal/2010/01/hamers-biological-law-1.html

War on Cancer

The “war on cancer” was declared around 40 years ago, billions of dollars have been spent on research and trillions of dollars on treatment.  In spite of this, we are witnessing an increase in both the incidence and death rate from cancer.  Obviously, not only are the causes of cancer not being addressed, but the concept of “war” against the "cancer" (the body) must be abandoned.

A seed requires fertile soil to sprout and to grow, mature, bear fruit and reproduce and, unfortunately at this time in the history of mankind,  the “seeds” of cancer are in abundance.  It is, therefore imperative to insure that one’s body is not “fertile ground”. 

Cleansing the colon, eating a diet of fresh, organic vegetables, nuts, seeds and low glycemic fruit, along with plenty of sound sleep, regular exercise, hormone balancing, honest relationships and prayer/meditation are what turns the human body into an inhospitable host for the development and growth of cancer. Instead of this morbid consequence, what is produced, is a body in which health reigns supreme. 

The Atkins Diet

Robert C. Atkins "borrowed" the diet that he promoted from the British and became wealthy as a result of it. It had been the standard diet prescribed for type II diabetics in Great Britain for many years before Atkins’ exploits and marketing made him a household name.

I worked for him in the year 2001 but had to remain a "closet vegetarian" in order to remain employed. This diet, as he explained to me, should include predominantly protein and fat with a very low intake of carbohydrates. This dietary pattern enabled people to eat as often and as much as they desired without weight gain. 

The primary metabolic consequences resulting from this dietary regime centered around the fact that the body changed its’ source of fuel so that it would be driven by ketones (by-products of fat metabolism) rather than glucose, which is the primary source of fuel in normal eating. The true metabolic benefits that Atkins was hoping would occur with "his diet" do actually occur during water fasting. However, in water fasting, there are no ingested toxins requiring elimination, the gastrointestinal tract is completely rested thus permitting repair and healing to occur, the immune system is no longer diverted from its' defensive capabilities to monitor oral intake and all abnormal tissues are scavenged for fuel. Water fasting is, therefore, the only real ”cure”.  And "it cures what ails you".

Of course, Dr Atkins was woefully misinformed in that he equated protein with animal flesh, which includes their muscles and organs as well as their secretions (milk).  Also falling within this distorted and fallacious definition of protein are the eggs (fertilized and unfertilized) of the non-mammals. One only need wonder for a moment where these animals got their protein.

Atkins himself, tragically served as his own illustration of the long term effects of this dietary regime when applied to human beings. By the time he reached his 60s and early 70s, he had long been unable to fly in airplanes due to a high frequency of cardiac arrhythmias and hypertension. His skin was dried and wrinkled and he was infamous for becoming easily angered. Sitting in his office day by day, he would take multiple pharmaceuticals and many supplements while his physical capabilities and endurance slowed to merely walking from his home to his car to his office and back again. At the age of 72, he was desperately hiding his morbid condition from the public for the sake of the financial empire that surrounded him but he ultimately suffered two heart attacks; the second one occurring about 6 months after the first, ended his life.

Most people who frequented his center in midtown Manhattan were unable to maintain the "Atkins diet" for very long, however many of those who persevered found themselves being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, strokes and cancer, all of which ended their lives prematurely. 

The diet advocated by Atkins and his followers was and is appropriate for scavengers, such as hyenas and jackals, not for primates and certainly not the human variety.

A whole food, plant based diet, with intermittent fasting for short and/or long periods always results in an optimally functioning body, a slender build, plenty of energy, restful sleep, a desire to exercise, a vigorous and long lived sex life, a glowing disposition and freedom from infirmities other than trauma, which in that state of health, heals quite rapidly.

Exploitation of Nature

As Howard Zinn has pointed out, grass root movements begin in “the streets” and, if effective, legislation can then be enacted.  No longer is the student of “the way things really are” deluded into believing that meaningful change can come about through legislation, especially since the new, “secure” voting policies and procedures, as well as the accelerated utilization of the Diebold AccuVote voting system (foreign based company) preclude the possibility of the democratic process.  Therefore, I shall address my correspondence to the Editor of every major newspaper in the USA.

I am exceedingly alarmed, as I believe most readers would be if the reality of the current conditions here on planet earth were more widely known.

What we are facing, if we continue to live as we are currently, is that the human race will either perish or be reduced to a few scattered tribes while the diversity of other life forms on earth will continue down the path of rapid extinction until we are left with a planet consisting of, but a few remaining ecosystems.
  

Much of what has occurred is the result of the unnatural habituation of the human race to eating flesh foods.  Consequently, 50% of US land is used for food production, which could be reduced to 25% if we did not use animals for either their flesh or their biological by products.  The agricultural practices required for this vulgar exploitation of land results in a loss of 50 million acres of cropland every year due to soil erosion and salinization.  An unthinkable 80% of our fresh water is required for flesh food production and the quantity of grains consumed by the 9 billion livestock raised for these purposes annually could feed approximately 840 million people.  And yet, 55,000 children starve every day and approximately 3.7 billion people (60%) are malnourished.

Beyond those and other land concerns such as deforestation, which produces drought conditions, there are non-sustainable agricultural practices resulting in vast runoffs of nitrogen fertilizers into rivers such as the Mississippi, which then empty into the Gulf of Mexico. 

This is occurring all over the earth resulting in vast oceanic “dead zones”, where no marine life can exist.  Coupled with the outrageous overfishing of 85 to 90 million metric tons of fish annually, the entire biomass of the oceans is declining at such an alarming rate that a graph could be or already may have been produced on which one could extrapolate to the time in the very near future when human life will no longer be possible in any form other than small groups or tribes subsisting on a very few species of plants.

Cancer and Inflammation

I have come to view cancer as I view all conditions that deviate from optimal functioning, the only real definition of health.  A tumor is a biochemical relationship between blood vessels, connective tissue and malignant (mutated, anaerobic cells).  These three tissue types "talk" to each other and provide mutual support for their maintenance, which is why I have never found it useful to send a blood sample to Greece or Germany where they evaluate the genetic capabilities of circulating tumor cells in an effort to elucidate potential "treatment" options from chemotherapy to natural substances.  It overlooks the epigenetic phenomena and the cytokine relationship between the three tissues.

If one were to look at the cytokines and interleukins being secreted by a tumor and a healing wound, they would be found to be the same.  Both produce pro-angiogenic cytokines and tissue proliferation cytokines.  Cancer has been referred to the, "the wound that wouldn't heal".

These cytokine are all in the inflammatory family, which demonstrates that "cancer" is just one of the many endpoints of chronic inflammation.  Eating only living plant material results in a human biochemical condition, which completely and effectively keep the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory ratio in a harmonic resonance that is necessary for optimal functioning.

Inflammation is how the body heals and is the fundamental pathology in all "disease".  For this reason, going to "war" against "cancer" is an attempt to eliminate what the body is doing to maintain homeostasis is completely antithetical to healing and indicates that allopathy should be put on the shelf forever and under the heading of one of humanities greatest failures. 

The underlying premise is that health is impossible and disease is inevitable.  This is so ingrained into our collective psyches that we buy insurance and prepare for disease our whole lives instead of preparing for a life of sustained vigor and a robust old age, well into a second or third century.  This only seems ridiculous because we have come to accept morbidity as normal and premature aging and death as normal.  The truth is that the scientists who study aging (MDs, PhDs, NMDs) cannot explain why it is that we die so young.  It is not “written” into our genes.

SPEAKING EVENT THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5th!

Plant Based Food

The debate is over!  Humans are anatomically and physiologically designed to eat only plant food. Homo sapiens (humans) are classified broadly as land mammals and more specifically as tailless primates.  Our closest cousins, gorillas, bononobos and chimps eat predominantly plant material with a few insects here and there.  Chimps will, on occasion eat flesh foods but is it more "ceremonial" to demonstrate territorial claims and celebrate won skirmishes with other tribes, but this is rare.

Furthermore, the China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD, a professor emeritus from Cornell University whose career has been dedicated, in large part, to protein consumption and its' effect on humans has clearly demonstrated what the effect animal protein has on the health and wellbeing of humans.  His thirty-five years of NIH granted research and studies performed by others elsewhere demonstrate a clear causal (cause and effect) relationship between the consumption of animal protein and cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions found only in humans and domesticated animals fed the human version of "food" rather than what these would consume naturally, out of instinct, had they not been domesticated and left without the choice of what to eat.

If one were to clear away the biases which configure their mind, and hence color and frame its' perceptions, and engage in a thorough investigation of the subject of human nutrition, it becomes utterly clear that we thrive on plant foods to the degree that robust health is the norm and this phantom, called disease is only the body attempting to maintain balance.

Breast Cancer

Although breast cancer is currently a pandemic (world wide epidemic) and is thought to be different from colon cancer or pancreatic cancer or lymphomas, etc..., they are all the same in that they are cells and tissues that are adapting to toxic overloads in the body.  It is when oxygen is no longer able to be used by the body in energy production to "burn" glucose (sugar = fuel), for energy that the tissue and cells adapt by changing there internal mechanisms into a "default" mode of energy production called glycolysis or fermentation.  That is when the changes that are required the energy producing functions of the cells result in changes in shape and relative sizes of the organelles (little organs within cells).  It is these morphological (shape and size) changes that are identified under a microscope by a pathologist to diagnoses" (name) the process, "cancer".

In summary, these apparently different cancers are merely different cells in the body undergoing certain changes to adapt to there new requirements for survival.  In effect, then....all cancers are the same, which is why a single term, "cancer" is used to describe them.

If one understands this, they do not become fearful that they have a "rare" cancer or an unusual cancer or an untreatable cancer....all cancers are basically the same process occurring in different parts of the body.  This is like the changes one sees in the skin whether it is a burn, for example, on the hand, the breast, the back, the face, etc...IT IS THE SAME PROCESS and therefore requires the same approach to deal with it or alleviate it.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist

Cancer

The word "cancer" was translated by Celsus (28 BC - 50 AD) from the Greek term, "carcinos".  Hippocrates first developed the word, "carcinos" to describe growths and chronic ulcers and it is not known if what he was describing at that time is the same as what we now call 'cancer'.

But, "cancer", like all diagnoses are only names of processes that the body is undergoing to maintain balance and health (homeostasis).  In fact, the chemicals (cytokines) produced by "cancer" and the chemicals produced by healing wounds are basically the same; they stimulate new blood vessel growth (angiogenisis) and tissue proliferation.  That's a really good and necessary process for healing wounds but it's not so good if it is a tumor or other forms of cancer.

This is the reason why "cancer" has previously been referred to as, "the wound that wouldn't heal".  The only reason that a wound will not heal is if whatever caused the wound to occur in the first place continues to occur or if the body is too overwhelmed to heal because of a lack of energy and raw materials (nutrients) to replace old cells and build new ones OR if there are too many different "attacks" on the body from trauma, poisoning and other environmental conditions.

Clearly, what we call, "cancer" then, is our body's extraordinary effort to keep us alive.  In fact, all that the body ever does is attempt to maintain balance and function.  With this in mind, one realizes that to "go to war against cancer" is to go to war against our body's attempt to resolve a problem.  It really makes no sense and, in fact, it is also clear that this method of dealing with cancer is based on the false premise (belief) that "cancer" is a "thing" that is in our body and that we must "kill" it.

What really must happen is that we must eliminate the reasons that are causing the body to go through these processes, provide the appropriate nutrition and eliminate tumor(s) in such a way that we don't harm the body's ability to heal.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist