The Cocoa Romance

Low on love?

Chocolate is a key romance ingredient in many of Michael Webb’s recommendations in his book: 101 Romantic Ideas.1, Owner of the website TheRomantic.com, Michael devotes a whole page to romantic chocolate ideas.2 And why shouldn’t he? Isn’t chocolate the most craved food by females?3 Indeed, 45% of women regularly crave chocolate.4 Thanks to Phenethylamine (PEA),5 the “love hormone”, and other psychoactive substances, cocoa is a powerful stimulator of the sexual pleasure center of the brain6 and is a driver of erotic behavior.7 As could be expected, women indulging in more cocoa products score higher points on the Female Sexual Function Index.8

Food of the Gods
Is chocolate’s addictive power limited to its role as icon of Hollywood’s love affair with sex or does it have a magic all its own? The most active ingredient in chocolate is theobromine; its name is taken from the Greek name of the plant from which this product is derived Theobroma Cocoa, which literally means, “cocoa—food of the gods”.9 Complemented, as it is in chocolate, with caffeine,10 theobromine is responsible for much of the addictive power of your favorite cocoa product.11 This “food of the gods” maybe more addictive than you bargained for.12,13

Heroine or Heroin
Studies show that chocolate trumps hot chili pepper on food, people’s favorite alcoholic beverage, video games, coffee, tea, cola beverages, gambling, and even cigarettes in its addictive power.14 People with a lack of control around chocolate are called “Chocoholics”.15 Could chocoholics really be closet heroin addicts? That may be stretching it a bit, but humans and animals given a drug which blocks their body’s opioid receptors (receptors activated by drugs such as heroin, morphine and opium) virtually lose their addictive attraction to chocolate.16,17 Thus, chocolate’s addictive power lies in its ability to stimulate the same opioid receptors in the brain as morphine. Maybe this explains the pervasiveness of this annual $17 billion, 3.5 million ton industry from which the average American obtains around 22 pounds of cocoa per year.18 And why isn’t morphine allowed as an ingredient in candy? Narcotics enfeeble and degrade the intellect, lower the morals and cause a person to lose the power to resist temptation.
 
Mary Jane on the Brain
But what of the euphoria well known to chocolate devotees? While you won’t turn positive for cannabinoids on a urine drug screen, chocolate is like Marijuana. There are three substances in chocolate that activate cannabinoid receptors in the brain and mimic the psychoactive effects of marijuana.19 Is it any wonder that chocolate is widely believed to enhance the effect of marijuana.20 SPECT scan studies of the brains of cannabis users reveal an appalling lack of neural activity in the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes are where your conscience is located—where you discriminate between right and wrong and make important moral decisions. Paul declares, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” 1Corinthians 6:12 A Christian should never use a product that will bring them under its power. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16.
 
If You Like It, Why Not Claim It’s Healthy?
In her article published in the journal Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, “Chocolate: the health food”, Vickie A. Miracle states, “Then there are times I believe I was born too early. I have been proclaiming chocolate as a health food since I was 6 years old! I do confess to being a chocoholic and proud of it. Now science has caught up with my theory. Chocolate does have health benefits. These benefits have been reported in the literature for more than 10 years. While the history of the cacao plant and chocolate is very interesting, it is not the intent of this editorial to discuss this. Rather, this editorial will explain why chocolate may have health benefits, some of its benefits, its disadvantages, and current recommendations for those who enjoy eating chocolate.”21 I have no grumble with the trend in our society to elevate the value of health to an all time high. And maybe we should be happy that this author does not live in a culture where some practices offensive to our thinking reigns supreme, else we might be obliged to read editorials touting chocolate as just the thing to make primitives better head hunters, Eskimos better whalers, and French better.... You get the idea. This elevating of substances of questionable nutritional value includes such delicacies as rotten apples sold as “organic apple cider vinegar”, inebriating red wine touted as good for your heart, medicinal marijuana—the legalization of a brain destroyer and formerly discarded whey powder as good to build your muscles. It seems that chocolate is so subtly destructive to your intellect and morals as to make its promulgation as a health product seem plausible. If you like it, why not just claim you like it, why purport to have discovered medicinal properties for it?
 
Weight Loss Wonder
With obesity at an all time high and the existence of a $60 billion per year weight loss market why not sponsor a weight loss study? According to Carol E. O’Neil, Victor L. Fulgoni III and Theresa A. Nicklas, in their article of June 2011, which appeared in Food & Nutrition Research, “Total, chocolate, and sugar candy consumption was not associated with weight/adiposity variables and candy consumers were less likely to be overweight or obese than non- candy consumers.” “Current levels of candy consumption were not associated with adverse health parameters in children or adolescents.” One is called to wonder how these things can be so. Doesn’t this go against conventional wisdom? But further investigation reveals that under the heading “Conflict of interest and funding” it is admitted, “Partial support was also received from the National Confectioners Association.”22 Research has become merely a line item in an advertising budget. Many of these commercial enterprises have research funding that far exceed the entire yearly budget of the National Institute of Health. Imagine the economic value of a scientific discovery. “Science” discovers that chocolate cures some disease, news agencies spread the story, and people opt for one more scoop of chocolate ice cream at the dairy stand.

Hair On Bald Heads And Feeling In Peg Legs
The list of medicinal properties for chocolate is growing. Researchers reach for the dark, flavonoid rich vial marked cocoa and test subjects turn up healthier.23 But where did this nasty tasting laboratory version of the common candy bar come from? These specially prepared cocoa samples are not the same as the readily available commercial products people buy in the store.24 The street variety tends to be loaded with fat and sugar and only overthrows a person's resistance to indulgence of appetite.25 Indeed, up to 98% of calories in chocolate preparations comes from fat and sugar.26,27 Sugar, by itself, is a drug of addiction. The addictive nature of sugar generates phenomenally high levels of obesity.28 Sugar surpasses cocaine in its ability to elevate the addiction hormone dopamine in the brain making sugar more addictive than some street drugs.29 And why all the fat in this product? The sensory experience of tasting fat overpowers self- control and increases food intake even in people who are usually restrained eaters.30 Taken in combination, fat and sugar work to weaken food satisfaction signals to the brain and activate hunger signals driving excessive food consumption.31,32

Easter Bunny or Trojan Horse?
Taste good? Yes! But not all chocolate’s effects generate good health:

• The amount of cocoa contained in one half ounce of milk chocolate when taken daily is enough to double the risk of prostate cancer.33

• Daily chocolate consumption lowers bone density and strength,34 due in part to increasing the volume of precious bone calcium lost in the urine.35

• Sweet tooth? Will your teeth appreciate cocoa suspended in creamy milk? No, dental cavities multiply with such concoctions.36

• That burn in the chest, is it heart troubles? Not likely, chocolate is billed as heart healthy.37 Try heartburn!38 Chocolate relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter causing reflux and pain symptoms.39,40

• Romantic dreams or nightmares? A disorder that gives people nightmares and makes them move violently in their sleep could be aggravated by eating chocolate. 41

• Constipation complicates the treatment of hospital patients on morphine. Chocolate is perceived by many people as a constipating food, possibly by the same opioid receptor stimulating mechanism as morphine.42

• Chocolate on the brain? Foods more commonly reported as headache triggers include: alcoholic drinks, chocolate and cheese.43,44,45

And why does chocolate share disease triggering properties with cheese? Both are fermented products! Fermentation, like the rotting of apples to make vinegar, contaminates products with toxins known to cause illnesses. What happens to a box of good apples when you throw a rotten one in the batch? They all rot. Does chocolate share disease triggering properties with what happens when you eat rotten foods? You rot—otherwise known as oxidative stress, free radical formation, and lipid peroxidation. People consuming aged, rotted, fermented, spoiled foods suffer the consequences. Maybe this is why chocolate is a huge red flag for autoimmune inflammatory conditions.

• Inflammation is the key ingredient in inflammatory bowel disease. Cocoa products increase the risk of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease by a whopping 150%.46,47

• And what of rheumatoid arthritis? Chocolate aggravates the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis making it harder to bear.48,49 • Are worms the only instigator of an itchy anus? Think chocolate. Cocoa products are among the top 6 foods causing “Pruritus Ani”50

• Chocolate increases the risk of acne by 40% in teenage boys.51

• The psychoactive components of chocolate are concentrated in breast milk,52 and infants breastfeeding on mothers eating chocolate are more likely to experience allergic dermatitis.53

Don’t be fooled, not everything made out to be pure gold is really gold at all.

Dark Chocolate
“Hey Clark, your going to love this one,” David was animate, “they (the TV) just exposed the west Africa slave trade responsible for the production of half the world’s chocolate. Teenagers are stolen from places like Togo and taken to Ivory Coast chocolate plantations where they are literally worked to death in 4 years.” Shocking, I thought, but at the time, not being a TV watcher and having no way to verify the account, I shuffled the information to the back of my mind. Then, when conducting this current chocolate investigation I decided to explore the story. Factual beyond controversy, it’s now all over the internet.54 Chocolate, due to its addictive nature, is one of those products., along with sugar, opium and other drugs, coffee, tea, tobacco, and other cash crops that have helped create the poverty-stricken third world. Man’s insatiable desire for something stimulating, and the greed of the empires, have synergized to plunder the economies and ecologies of the poorer agrarian nations.55 An older Jamaican related to me his experience on the coffee plantations of their island nation. The English started Jamaica growing cash crops, then pitted them against Guyana, who they had also started growing these crops. When the English traders lowered the price they offered for coffee to the point that the Jamaicans would lose money, the president of Jamaica was forced to plead with them to raise the going price. The English just stated that they could get the coffee cheaper from Guyana. My Jamaican friend was still incensed that the president of his country should be so humiliated. Such are the atrocities that reduced stable agricultural based nations to poverty, subservience, and near starvation.
 
Home to Roost
How many weeks would you be willing to have one of your family members go and labor on a chocolate plantation to obtain your precious “food of the gods”? It would be a most memorable experience. They’d lose weight; have scars all over their backs in testimony to the appreciation they were shown, and perhaps be grateful to just escape with their lives. Next time you sink your teeth into a luscious bar of rich tasty chocolate pause to consider how many teenage Africans gave their lives for your excess.
 
The Biggest Losers
Who are the greatest slaves here, the unpaid child laborers who have no say in the matter, the greedy unscrupulous plantation owners who organize such crimes against humanity, or the addicted product users who for a moment of pleasure are willing to brush over their accountability in this whole drama? There is no more subtle form of slavery than when the captives will their own captivity.
 
References:

1. Michael Webb (Author), Bill Vincent (Illustrator). 101 Romantic Ideas, Publisher: Fraser Keith Johnson. http://www.theromantic.com/
2. http://www.theromantic.com/stories/chocolate/main.htm
3. Rozin P, Levine E, Stoess C. Chocolate craving and liking. Appetite. 1991 Dec;17(3):199-212.
4. Hormes JM, Timko CA. All cravings are not created equal. Correlates of menstrual versus non-cyclic chocolate craving. Appetite. 2011 Aug;57(1):1-5.
5. Ziegleder G, Stojacic E, Stumpf B. Occurrence of beta-phenylethylamine and its derivatives in cocoa and cocoa products. Z Lebensm Unters Forsch. 1992 Sep;195(3):235-8.
6. Schroeder BE, Binzak JM, Kelley AE. A common profile of prefrontal cortical activation following exposure to nicotine- or chocolate-associated contextual cues. Neuroscience. 2001;105(3):535-45.
7. Segal M, Shohami E, Jacobowitz DM. Phenylethylamine, norepinephrine and mounting behavior in the male rat. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1984 Jan;20(1):133-5.
8. Salonia A, Fabbri F, Zanni G, Scavini M, Fantini GV, Briganti A, Naspro R, Parazzini F, Gori E, Rigatti P, Montorsi F. Chocolate and women's sexual health: An intriguing correlation. J Sex Med. 2006 May;3(3):476-82.
9. Lima LJ, Almeida MH, Nout MJ, Zwietering MH. Theobroma cacao L., "The food of the Gods": quality determinants of commercial cocoa beans, with particular reference to the impact of fermentation. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2011 Sep;51(8):731-61.
10. Stark T, Bareuther S, Hofmann T. Molecular definition of the taste of roasted cocoa nibs (Theobroma cacao) by means of quantitative studies and sensory experiments. J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Jul 26;54(15):5530-9.
11. Smit HJ, Blackburn RJ. Reinforcing effects of caffeine and theobromine as found in chocolate. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Aug;181(1):101- 6.
12. Tuomisto T, Hetherington MM, Morris MF, Tuomisto MT, Turjanmaa V, Lappalainen R. Psychological and physiological characteristics of sweet food "addiction". Int J Eat Disord. 1999 Mar;25(2):169-75.
13. Heyne A, Kiesselbach C, Sahún I, McDonald J, Gaiffi M, Dierssen M, Wolffgramm J. An animal model of compulsive food-taking behaviour. Addict Biol. 2009 Sep;14(4):373-83.
14. Rozin P, Stoess C. Is there a general tendency to become addicted? Addict Behav. 1993 Jan-Feb;18(1):81-7.
15. Hetherington MM, MacDiarmid JI. "Chocolate addiction": a preliminary study of its description and its relationship to problem eating. Appetite. 1993 Dec;21(3):233-46.
16. Drewnowski A, Krahn DD, Demitrack MA, Nairn K, Gosnell BA. Taste responses and preferences for sweet high-fat foods: evidence for opioid involvement. Physiol Behav. 1992 Feb;51(2):371-9.
17. Biggs TA, Myers RD. Naltrexone and amperozide modify chocolate and saccharin drinking in high alcohol-preferring P rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1998 Jun;60(2):407-13.
18. McShea A, Ramiro-Puig E, Munro SB, Casadesus G, Castell M, Smith MA. Clinical benefit and preservation of flavonols in dark chocolate manufacturing. Nutr Rev. 2008 Nov;66(11):630-41.
19. di Tomaso E, Beltramo M, Piomelli D. Brain cannabinoids in chocolate. Nature. 1996 Aug 22;382(6593):677-8.
20. James JS. Marijuana and chocolate. AIDS Treat News. 1996 Oct 18;(No 257):3-4.
21. Miracle VA. Chocolate: the health food. Dimens Crit Care Nurs. 2010 Mar-Apr;29(2):108-9.
22. O'Neil CE, Fulgoni VL 3rd, Nicklas TA. Association of candy consumption with body weight measures, other health risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and diet quality in US children and adolescents: NHANES 1999-2004. Food Nutr Res. 2011;55. doi: 10.3402/fnr.v55i0.5794.
23. Hamed MS, Gambert S, Bliden KP, Bailon O, Singla A, Antonino MJ, Hamed F, Tantry US, Gurbel PA. Dark chocolate effect on platelet activity, C-reactive protein and lipid profile: a pilot study. South Med J. 2008 Dec;101(12):1203-8.
24. Alonso A, de la Fuente C, Beunza JJ, Sánchez-Villegas A, Martínez- González MA. Chocolate consumption and incidence of hypertension. Hypertension. 2005 Dec;46(6):e21-2;
25. Bertéus Forslund H, Torgerson JS, Sjöström L, Lindroos AK. Snacking frequency in relation to energy intake and food choices in obese men and women compared to a reference population. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005 Jun;29(6):711-9.
26. Pennington JAT. Bowes and Church’s food values of portions cornmonly used. New York: Lippincott & Co. 1994.
27. Drewnowski A. Changes in mood after carbohydrate consumption. Am J Clin Nutr. 1987 Oct;46(4):703-5.
28. Avena NM. Examining the addictive-like properties of binge eating using an animal model of sugar dependence. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2007 Oct;15(5):481-91.
29. Lenoir M, Serre F, Cantin L, Ahmed SH. Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward. PLoS One. 2007 Aug 1;2(8):e698.
30. Crystal SR, Teff KL. Tasting fat: cephalic phase hormonal responses and food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters. Physiol Behav. 2006 Sep 30;89(2):213-20.
31. Erlanson-Albertsson C. Appetite regulation and energy balance. Acta Paediatr Suppl. 2005 Jun;94(448):40-1.
32. Erlanson-Albertsson C. How palatable food disrupts appetite regulation. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2005 Aug;97(2):61-73.
33. Slattery ML, West DW. Smoking, alcohol, coffee, tea, caffeine, and theobromine: risk of prostate cancer in Utah (United States). Cancer Causes Control. 1993 Nov;4(6):559-63.
34. Hodgson JM, Devine A, Burke V, Dick IM, Prince RL. Chocolate consumption and bone density in older women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):175-80.
35. Nguyen NU, Henriet MT, Dumoulin G, Widmer A, Regnard J. Increase in calciuria and oxaluria after a single chocolate bar load. Horm Metab Res. 1994 Aug;26(8):383-6.
36. Dunning JM, Hodge AT. Influence of cocoa and sugar in milk on dental caries incidence. J Dent Res. 1971 Jul-Aug;50(4):854-9.
37. Khawaja O, Gaziano JM, Djoussé L. Chocolate and coronary heart disease: a systematic review. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2011 Dec;13(6):447- 52.
38. Murphy DW, Castell DO. Chocolate and heartburn: evidence of increased esophageal acid exposure after chocolate ingestion. Am J Gastroenterol. 1988 Jun;83(6):633-6.
39. Castell DO. Physiology and pathophysiology of the lower esophageal sphincter. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1975 Sep-Oct;84(5 Pt 1):569-75.
40. Wright LE, Castell DO. The adverse effect of chocolate on lower esophageal sphincter pressure. Am J Dig Dis. 1975 Aug;20(8):703-7.
41. Vorona RD, Ware JC. Exacerbation of REM sleep behavior disorder by chocolate ingestion: a case report. Sleep Med. 2002 Jul;3(4):365-7.
42. Müller-Lissner SA, Kaatz V, Brandt W, Keller J, Layer P. The perceived effect of various foods and beverages on stool consistency. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2005 Jan;17(1):109-12.
43. Fukui PT, Gonçalves TR, Strabelli CG, Lucchino NM, Matos FC, Santos JP, Zukerman E, Zukerman-Guendler V, Mercante JP, Masruha MR, Vieira DS, Peres MF. Trigger factors in migraine patients. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2008 Sep;66(3A):494-9.
44. Millichap JG, Yee MM. The diet factor in pediatric and adolescent migraine. Pediatr Neurol. 2003 Jan;28(1):9-15.
45. Savi L, Rainero I, Valfrè W, Gentile S, Lo Giudice R, Pinessi L. Food and headache attacks. A comparison of patients with migraine and tension- type headache. Panminerva Med. 2002 Mar;44(1):27-31.
46. Russel MG, Engels LG, Muris JW, Limonard CB, Volovics A, Brummer RJ, Stockbrügger RW. Modern life' in the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease: a case-control study with special emphasis on nutritional factors. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1998 Mar;10(3):243-9.
47. Joachim G. The relationship between habits of food consumption and reported reactions to food in people with inflammatory bowel disease-- testing the limits. Nutr Health. 1999;13(2):69-83.
48. Martin RH. The role of nutrition and diet in rheumatoid arthritis. Proc Nutr Soc. 1998 May;57(2):231-4.
49. Garrett SL, Kennedy LG, Calin A. Patients’ perceptions of disease modulation by diet in inflammatory (rheumatoid arthritis/ankylosing spondylitis) and degenerative arthropathies. Br J Rheumatol 1993;32(suppl. 2):43.
50. Friend WG. The cause and treatment of idiopathic pruritus ani. Dis Colon Rectum. 1977 Jan-Feb;20(1):40-2.
51. Halvorsen JA, Dalgard F, Thoresen M, Bjertness E, Lien L. Is the association between acne and mental distress influenced by diet? Results from a cross-sectional population study among 3775 late adolescents in Oslo, Norway. BMC Public Health. 2009 Sep 16;9:340.
52. Resman BH, Blumenthal P, Jusko WJ. Breast milk distribution of theobromine from chocolate. J Pediatr. 1977 Sep;91(3):477-80.
53. Uenishi T, Sugiura H, Tanaka T, Uehara M. Aggravation of atopic dermatitis in breast-fed infants by tree nut-related foods and fermented foods in breast milk. J Dermatol. 2011 Feb;38(2):140-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1346-8138.2010.00968.x.
54. http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/is-there-slavery-in-your- chocolate/ 
55. https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20190201-the-dark-side-of-chocolate.cfm
56.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_cocoa_production
57. Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World (London and New York: Verso, 2001)

_______________________________________________________

PLEASE DONATE TODAY, IF the Holy Spirit impresses you, (donate button below and on the side) so I can continue to help others. Thank you! If you can't see the donate button or want quick access – use this link: PayPal.Me/ReneeB

Got info from John Clark, M.D.

https://www.northernlightshealtheducation.com/newsletters/Newsletter_Nov_17-2017.html

The Appendix

The appendix is not a vestigial organ, as was once thought. The appendix is precisely placed to contact a large number of germs that normally inhabit the colon. This pouch, lined by lymphatic tissue, is ideal for its function since lymphocytes are involved in the immune system of the body and are especially active in destroying cancer cells and producing antibodies.

The appendix is a part of the immune system that protects the gut area. When it is infected, there is a lot of overwhelming bacteria or infection going on in the gut. Sometimes the groin lymph nodes will pick up some to help out and get swollen and painful also. So, when the appendix is removed and the tonsils which protect the head and throat area, you are reducing the immune system's ability to function.  A charcoal poultice or clay poultice can help absorb the infection and reduce the need to remove the overloaded immunity organs.

Even drinking a glass of charcoal water every hour will reduce the infection and the need for surgery.

The appendix is located in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen, attached to the cecum, the first part of the large bowel. Lymphocytes sense the germs present there and produce certain substances for the blood that give contact resistance against the germs, including enteric viruses that may cause cancer. Thus, it can be readily appreciated that the position and structure of the appendix are perfect for the job it must perform - that of becoming acquainted with germs and "learning" how to protect the body against them.

Persons who die of cancer, especially lymphoma, leukemia, or cancer of the colon, breast, or ovary are two times more likely to have had an appendectomy. With these statistics, it becomes desirable to guard against unnecessary loss of the appendix.

 APPENDICITIS

 Of course, if one has the life-threatening disease of appendicitis, it is essential to remove the appendix. But, if a surgeon operates for appendicitis and finds that the appendix is not inflamed, it is felt by many that he should leave it in place. In the same manner, if the abdomen is opened for a gallbladder operation, a hysterectomy, or some other surgical condition, the appendix should not be removed incidentally, as was once the custom.

If one loses the appendix for any reason before the age of thirty, he should use greater care for the rest of his life to avoid cancer risks. These risks are fairly well defined in medical circles and should be studied, to avoid them where possible. Risks include dietary factors, such as rich foods (fats, refined carbohydrates, protein, and other dietary supplements), heavy meat, or milk consumption, and too many calories. Non-dietary risk factors of various chemicals, exposure to certain animals, and the use of certain drugs and hormones should also be carefully studied. 

PREVENTION

How can one prevent appendicitis? First and foremost, through one's diet. A diet low in fiber and high in dairy products, meat, refined grains, and sugar is most likely to set up a condition in the appendix that will eventually result in appendicitis.

Choose instead a diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, using all other foods sparingly. (Several studies have suggested that vegetarians are practically immune to appendicitis.) Further, it occurs more intensely in individuals, especially if they have a diet high in refined sugars, grains, and fats.

________________________________________________________

PLEASE DONATE TODAY, (donate button below and on the side) IF the Holy Spirit so impresses you,  so I can continue to help others. Thank you! If you can't see the donate button or want quick access – use this link: PayPal.Me/ReneeB

Got info from Dr. Agatha Thrash 2014

Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods

 

God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race should eat. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat animal food to shorten their sinful lives. {TSDF 62.3}

 
Meat is not essential for health or strength, else the Lord made a mistake when He provided food for Adam and Eve before their fall. All the elements of nutrition are contained in the fruits, vegetables and grains. {TSDF 62.4}
 
But the Hebrews were not satisfied. They despised the food given them from heaven, and wished themselves back in Egypt, where they could sit by the flesh-pots. They preferred slavery, and even death, rather than to be deprived of meat. God, in His anger, gave them flesh to gratify their lustful appetites, and great numbers of them died while eating the meat for which they had lusted. {TSDF 62.9}
 
He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, “the bread of heaven.” It was only because of their discontent and their murmuring for the flesh-pots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this only for a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restriction to a non-flesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent. {TSDF 63.2}
 
If they had submitted to have the Lord select their food for them, and had been thankful, and satisfied for food which they could eat freely of without injury, they would not have lost the favor of God, and then been punished for their rebellious murmurings by great numbers of them being slain. {TSDF 64.2}
 
The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, that they might enjoy the food originally provided for man,—the fruits of the earth, which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. {TSDF 64.3}
 
Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design,—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. We should ever keep this end in view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it. I can not think that in the practice of flesh-eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us. {TSDF 64.5}
 
Our habits of eating and drinking show whether we are of the world or among the number whom the Lord by His mighty cleaver of truth has separated from the world. These are His peculiar people, zealous of good works. {TSDF 64.6}
 
Nearly forty years ago the Lord opened up before us the principles of health reform. At that time I was very weak physically. Sometimes I would faint away two or three times a day, and I thought, as many today think, that flesh-meat was the only food that would keep up my strength. But in mercy the Lord showed me that flesh-meat is not necessary to maintain strength, and that it is not the best food. {TSDF 65.3}
 
Since that time increased light upon health reform has been given. In grains, fruits, and vegetables, and nuts, are to be found all the food elements that we need. If we will come to the Lord in simplicity of mind, He will teach us how to prepare wholesome food free from the taint of flesh-meat. {TSDF 65.4}
 
God demands that the appetite be cleansed, and that self-denial be practiced in regard to those things which are not good. This is a work that will have to be done before His people can stand before Him a perfected people. {TSDF 65.6}
 
Remember that when you eat flesh-meat, you are but eating grains and vegetables second-hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that makes it grow and prepares it for market. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the animal, and becomes part of its life, and then human beings eat the animal. Why are they so willing to eat their food second-hand? {TSDF 65.8}
 
If things were as they should be in the households that make up our churches, we might do double service for the Lord. The light given me is that a most decided message must be borne in regard to health reform. Those who use flesh-meat strengthen the lower propensities and prepare the way for disease to fasten upon them. There are those among Seventh-day Adventists who will not heed the light given them in regard to this matter. They make flesh-meat a part of their diet. Disease comes upon them. Sick and suffering as a result of their own wrong course, they ask for the prayers of the servants of God. But how can the Lord work in their behalf when they are not willing to do His will, when they refuse to heed His instruction in regard to health reform? {TSDF 66.6}
 
For thirty years the light on health reform has been coming to the people of God, but many have made it a subject of jest. They have continued to use tea, coffee, spices, and flesh-meat. Their bodies are full of disease. How can we, I ask, present such ones to the Lord for healing? {TSDF 66.7}
 
You may think you can not work without meat. I thought so once, but I know that in His original plan, God did not provide for the flesh of dead animals to compose the diet of man. It is a grossly perverted taste that will accept such food. To think of dead flesh rotting in the stomach is revolting. Then the fact that meat is largely diseased should lead us to make strenuous efforts to discontinue its use entirely. {TSDF 67.2}
 
The weakness you experience without the use of meat is one of the strongest arguments I could present to you as a reason why you should discontinue its use. Those who eat meat feel stimulated after eating this food, and they suppose they are made stronger. After one discontinues the use of meat, he may for a time feel a weakness, but when his system is cleansed from the effect of this diet, he no longer feels the weakness, and will cease to wish for that which he has pleaded for as essential to his strength. {TSDF 67.5}
 
Nov 5, 1891 [1896].—The Lord intends to bring His people back to live upon simple fruits, vegetables, and grains. {TSDF 68.1}
 
One of the great errors that many insist upon is, that muscular strength is dependent upon animal food. But the simple grains, fruits of the trees and vegetables have all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood. This a flesh diet can not do. {TSDF 68.4}
 
Cancers, tumors, and all inflammatory diseases are largely caused by meat-eating. {TSDF 68.10}
 
Feeding on flesh, the juices and fluids of what you eat pass into the circulation of your blood, and, as we are composed of what we eat, we become animalized; thus a feverish condition is created, because the animals are diseased, and by partaking of their flesh, we plant the seeds of disease in our own tissue and blood. {TSDF 68.11}
 
The mortality caused by meat-eating is not discerned; if it were, we would hear no more arguments and excuses in favor of the indulgence of the appetite for dead flesh. We have plenty of good things to satisfy hunger without bringing corpses upon our table to compose our bill of fare. {TSDF 68.12}
 
Again and again I have been shown that God is bringing His people back to His original design, that is not to subsist upon the flesh of dead animals. He would have us teach people a better way. {TSDF 69.1}
 
Use less and less meat, until it is not used at all. If meat is discarded, if the taste is not educated in that direction, if a liking for fruits and grains is encouraged, it will soon be as God in the beginning designed it should be. No meat will be used by His people. {TSDF 69.2}
 
We have been going back to Egypt rather than on to Canaan. Shall we not reverse the order of things? Shall we not have plain, wholesome food on our tables? {TSDF 69.4}
 
Those who elevate the standard as nearly as they can to the order of God, according to the light God has given them through His word and the testimonies of His Spirit, will not change their course of action to meet the wishes of their friends or relatives, be they one or two or a host, who are living contrary to God’s wise arrangement. If we move from principle in these things, if we observe strict rules of diet, if as Christians, we educate our tastes after God’s plan, we shall exert an influence which will meet the mind of God. The question is, “Are we willing to be true health reformers?” {TSDF 69.4}
 
It is not the chief end of man to gratify his appetite. There are physical wants to be supplied; but because of this is it necessary that man shall be controlled by appetite? Will the people who are seeking to become holy, pure, refined, that they may be introduced into the society of heavenly angels, continue to take the life of God’s creatures, and enjoy their flesh as a luxury? From what the Lord has shown me, this order of things will be changed, and God’s peculiar people will exercise temperance in all things. {TSDF 70.3}
 
The Lord would bring His people into a position where they will not touch or taste the flesh of dead animals. Then let not these things be prescribed by any physicians who have a knowledge of the truth for this time. There is no safety in the eating of the flesh of dead animals, and in a short time the milk of the cows will also be excluded from the diet of God’s commandment-keeping people. In a short time it will not be safe to use anything that comes from the animal creation. Those who take God at His word, and obey His commandments with the whole heart, will be blessed. He will be their shield of protection. But the Lord will not be trifled with. Distrust, disobedience, alienation from God’s will and way will place the sinner in a position where the Lord can not give him His divine favor.... {TSDF 71.3}
 
You have this lesson to learn: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” {TSDF 71.5}
 
Often animals are taken to market and sold for food, when they are so diseased that their owners fear to keep them longer. And some of the processes of fattening them for market produce disease. Shut away from the light and pure air, breathing the atmosphere of filthy stables, perhaps fattening on decaying food, the entire body soon becomes contaminated with foul matter. {TSDF 72.7}
 
Animals are often transported long distances and subjected to great suffering in reaching a market. Taken from the green pastures and traveling for weary miles over the hot, dusty roads, or crowded into filthy cars, feverish and exhausted, often for many hours deprived of food and water, the poor creatures are driven to their death, that human beings may feast on the carcasses. {TSDF 72.8}
 
In many places fish become so contaminated by the filth on which they feed as to be a cause of disease. This is especially the case where the fish come in contact with the sewage of large cities. The fish that are fed on the contents of the drains may pass into distant waters, and may be caught where the water is pure and fresh. Thus when used as food they bring disease and death on those who do not suspect the danger. {TSDF 72.9}
 
The effect of a flesh diet may not be immediately realized; but this is no evidence that it is not harmful. Few can be made to believe that it is the meat they have eaten which has poisoned their blood and caused their suffering. Many die of diseases wholly due to meat-eating, while the real cause is not suspected by themselves or by others. {TSDF 72.10}
 
The moral evils of a flesh diet are not less marked than are the physical ills. Flesh food is injurious to health, and whatever affects the body has a corresponding effect on the mind and the soul. Think of the cruelty to animals that meat-eating involves, and its effect on those who inflict and those who behold it. How it destroys the tenderness with which we should regard the creatures of God! {TSDF 73.1}
 
It is a mistake to suppose that muscular strength depends on the use of animal food. The needs of the system can be better supplied, and more vigorous health can be enjoyed, without its use. The grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood. These elements are not so well or so fully supplied by a flesh diet. Had the use of flesh been essential to health and strength, animal food would have been included in the diet appointed man in the beginning. {TSDF 73.3}
 
Those who cherish these idols can not rightly value the salvation which Christ has wrought out for them by a life of self-denial, continual suffering and reproach, and by finally yielding His own sinless life to save perishing man from death. {TSDF 74.4}
 
Those who have not been converted to health reform, and have never fully adopted it, are not judges of its benefits. Those who digress occasionally to gratify the taste in eating a fattened turkey or other flesh-meats, pervert their appetites, and are not the ones to judge of the benefits of the system of health reform. They are controlled by taste, not by principle. {TSDF 76.2}
 
God wants the perceptive faculties of His people to be clear and capable of hard work. But if you are living on a flesh diet, you need not expect that your mind will be fruitful. The thoughts must be cleansed; then the blessing of God will rest upon His people. We want the pervading truth of God’s word to get hold of every one of our people before this conference is over. We want them to understand that the flesh of animals is not the proper food for them to eat. Such a diet cultivates the animal passions in them and in their children. God wants us to educate our children in right habits of eating, dressing, and working. He wants us to do what we can to repair the broken-down machinery. {TSDF 76.7}
 
Will the people who are preparing to become holy, pure, and refined, that they may be introduced into the society of heavenly angels, continue to take the life of God’s creatures and subsist on their flesh and enjoy it as a luxury? ………The process of fitting animals for market produces in them disease; and fitted in as healthful a manner as they can be, they become heated and diseased by driving before they reach the market. The fluids and flesh of these diseased animals are received directly into the blood, and pass into the circulation of the human body, becoming fluids and flesh of the same. Thus humors are introduced into the system. And if the person already has impure blood it is greatly aggravated by the eating of the flesh of these animals. The liability to take disease is increased tenfold by meat-eating. The intellectual, the moral, and the physical powers are depreciated by the habitual use of flesh-meats. Meat-eating deranges the system, beclouds the intellect, and blunts the moral sensibilities. We say to you, dear brother and sister, your safest course is to let meat alone. {TSDF 77.5}
 
Vegetables, fruits and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh-meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God’s original purpose in the creation of man. {TSDF 78.3}
 
Will Seventh-day Adventists continue to follow unhealthful practices? Will they not heed the injunction, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”? {TSDF 79.3}
 
The meat diet is the serious question. Shall human beings live on the flesh of dead animals? The answer, from the light that God has given, is, No, decidedly No. {TSDF 79.4}
 
O, if every one could discern these matters as they have been presented to me, those who are now so careless, so indifferent in regard to their character building; those who plead for indulgence in a flesh-meat diet, would never open their lips in justification of an appetite for the flesh of dead animals. Such a diet contaminates the blood in their veins, and stimulates the lower animal passions. It enfeebles keen perception and vigor of thought to the understanding of God and the truth, and a knowledge of themselves. {TSDF 79.6}
 
We are not to make the use of flesh-meat a test, but we may and should consider the influence that professed believers who use flesh-meat have over other churches. Those who use flesh-meat disregard all the warnings that God has given concerning this question. They have no evidence that they are walking in safe paths. They have not the slightest excuse for eating the flesh of dead animals. God’s curse is resting upon the animal creation. Many times when meat is eaten, it decays in the stomach, and creates disease. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating. {TSDF 79.7}
 
God has provided an abundance of fruits and grains, which may be healthfully prepared and used in proper quantities. Why, then, do men continue to choose flesh-meats? Can we possibly have confidence in ministers who at tables where flesh is served join with others in eating it? {TSDF 79.8}
 
Seventh-day Adventists are handling momentous truths. More than forty years ago the Lord gave us special light on health reform, but how are we walking in that light? How many have refused to live in harmony with the counsels of God! As a people we should make advancement proportionate to the light received. It is our duty to understand and respect the principles of health reform. On the subject of temperance we should be in advance of all other people; and yet there are among us well-instructed members of the church, and even ministers of the gospel, who have little respect for the light that God has given upon this subject. They eat as they please, and work as they please {TSDF 80.7}
 
In countries where there are fruits, grains, and nuts in abundance, flesh food is not the right food for God’s people. I have been instructed that flesh food has a tendency to animalize the nature, to rob men and women of that love and sympathy which they should feel for every one, and to give the lower passions control over the higher powers of the being. If meat-eating were ever healthful, it is not safe now. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat-eating. {TSDF 80.8}

_______________________________________________________

PLEASE DONATE TODAY, IF the Holy Spirit impresses you, (donate button below and on the side) so I can continue to help others. Thank you! If you can't see the donate button or want quick access – use this link: PayPal.Me/ReneeB

Got info from EGW book.

Temperature And Other Symptoms And What They Mean

The temperature of the fever is related to the actual germ that the body is fighting - the temp that it settles at is always the OPTIMAL temperature to kill the particular pathogen that is causing the infection, bacterial or otherwise.

In order to understand how childhood infection can actually be beneficial to a child’s health, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the symptoms of infection and their real purpose. Whenever a child develops measles, chicken pox, whooping cough or any of the other common childhood infections, he/she will experience several of the following symptoms.
 
**Fever – speeds up bodily elimination of toxic waste.
 
**No Appetite – when a fever is present, the digestive system shuts down thus removing the need and desire for food.
 
**Vomiting/Diarrhea – the body’s way of eliminating undigested foodstuff from the digestive tract.
 
**Tiredness/Lethargy – the body’s way of forcing a sick person to rest thus conserving its energy for the vital tasks of cleansing and repair.
 
**Glandular Swelling – the lymph glands filter the blood for toxic substances. Swelling of these glands greatly increases their filtering capacity.
 
**Skin Rash – represents an elimination of toxic waste, the skin being a major eliminative organ.
 
**Mucus Elimination – also an elimination of toxic waste. Mucus is made up of the body’s white blood cells which are the body’s garbage cans containing toxic residue. A good example is the runny nose.
 
**Inflammation – serves the same purpose as fever, to cleanse and repair damaged or poisoned tissue in the body.
 
In reality, the symptoms do not constitute the disease but the cure. In other words, measles is not the disease but the cure. Whooping cough is not the disease but the cure. Chickenpox is not the disease but the cure.
 
The real disease is toxemia out of which the symptoms arise.
 
This will explain the words of Hippocrates, who to this day is referred to as the Father of Medicine. Over 2000 years ago he wrote:
“Diseases are crises of purification, of toxic elimination. Symptoms are the natural defenses of the body. We call them diseases, but in fact they are the cure of diseases.”
 
By clearly understanding the true purpose of symptoms, the beneficial nature of childhood infections becomes readily apparent.

*These so-called infections serve to restore internal purity thereby promoting the health of the child. This will explain why natural health practitioners make no attempt to suppress these symptoms, instead they believe that the symptoms should be allowed to run their course so that complete detoxification is achieved.
 
On the other hand, should these symptoms be suppressed by medical drugs or other suppressive measures, then the body will be forced to retain within its own tissues the poisonous wastes that it is striving to remove. This can not only result in increased suffering and complications, but it can lay the foundations for chronic disease in later life. If you know of a child who has ever suffered complications or died from a childhood infection, then find out how the child was treated. For, in the opinion of many doctors, it is incorrect treatment, including suppressive drug therapy, that lies behind most complications and fatalities. In many cases, poor underlying health is also a factor.
 
Drugs never cure disease; they only change its form and location. . . . When drugs are introduced into the system, for a time they seem to have a beneficial effect. A change may take place, but the disease is not cured. It will manifest itself in some other form. . . . The disease which the drug was given to cure may disappear, but only to reappear in a new form, such as skin diseases, ulcers, painful, diseased joints, and sometimes in a more dangerous and deadly form. . . . Nature keeps struggling, and the patient suffers with different ailments, until there is a sudden breaking down in her efforts, and death follows.--H. to L., Chap. 3, p. 60.

_______________________________________________________

PLEASE DONATE TODAY, IF the Holy Spirit impresses you, (donate button below and on the side) so I can continue to help others. Thank you! If you can't see the donate button or want quick access – use this link: PayPal.Me/ReneeB

Got info from another source.