 Around 400 BC, a man named Hippocrates laid the foundations of modern medicine. He believed that the human body had an innate capacity for self-healing, with the highest form of medicine to the body being everything that we put into it. Let food be thy medicine became a Hippocratic oath known around the world today. Over the course of history, our modern approach to treating illness has changed dramatically. Today doctors receive little, if any, training in nutrition. The system has been designed around a pill for every ill, and the healthcare system fights to keep it that way. It seems to be more profitable to treat ailments after they occur than to prevent them in the first place. Cardiovascular disease and cancer are the two top killers in the US annually. Additionally, 39,000 people die due to unnecessary surgery and other hospital errors, 80,000 people die due to infections, and 106,000 people die due to adverse drug reactions. These statistics raise the biggest question, why is all this happening? Why are we trapped in this system? How can we untrap ourselves? When we look at all of the data under the lens of science, the correlations that we find are jaw-dropping, and it's a bit of a tough pill to swallow. Nevertheless, this is something that we all need to discuss. So let's go through everything, right here, right now. It seems to be a maxim of the world, something we've heard over and over again. Everybody knows it. You are what you eat. Now in the standard American regime, the average diet looks something like this. Counting strictly by percentage of calories, 63% of what we intake comes from refined and processed foods. This includes soft drinks, chips, snacks, and other things that are chemically treated, and sometimes even created for us to eat. The next largest grouping is 25%, which is made up of animal food, meaning meat, dairy, fish, eggs, and other forms of seafood. The final 12% is made up of plant food. Out of that 12%, about six of it comes entirely from potatoes, and as for the other 6%, which is made up of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains, even half of it may be mixed with processed foods, such as the almonds in an almond joy. Now, we've been reading and seeing information like this for a long time. A long time. And thanks to the internet, new sources, and more and more documentaries about the topic, the information is just now starting to really reach people. Someone has to stand up and say that the answer isn't another pill. The answer is spinach. And while hundreds of thousands of people are taking notice, there still doesn't seem to be a slowdown in consumption of processed or animal foods. In fact, they appear to be increasing. But why is this? My belief, based on our observations, is that we really just don't know how critical this is, because if we really knew what dangers were involved, if we really knew we would change overnight, or at the very least, we might consider looking at things a little bit differently. The scientific evidence of correlation between the food that we eat and the diseases we have is outstanding. It's probably the most vital piece of information pertaining to not only curing all of our diseases, but the survival and future of the human race. In 1974, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was hospitalized with bladder cancer. Knowing that his disease was terminal, he decided in his final days he would dedicate himself to giving his country and the world a more complete understanding of cancer. He thus initiated what would become one of the largest and most thorough scientific investigations in history. 650,000 researchers catalogued the mortality patterns caused by several types of cancer between the years of 1973 and 1975. The study encompassed every county across China, 880 million people. Zhou died in 1976, years before his study was complete. Published in 1981, The Cancer Atlas was the result of Zhou's initiated study. It shows a highly unusual distribution of different types of cancer in China, which tended to be clustered in certain hotspots. The results of this study demonstrated that all of the causes of these clusters of cancer had to be related to environmental factors and in the researchers' professional opinions related heavily to diet. Two researchers who have made groundbreaking contributions to this effort are Dr. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. These are two of the most prominent biological nutritionists in the world today. When Dr. Campbell learned about The Cancer Atlas, it became what he described as the cornerstone of his research and took him down a road of discovery which would ultimately become published in a book called The China Study. This 20-year project examined the links between diet and disease in one of the few areas in the world where people still consumed a mostly plant-based diet. Dr. Campbell teamed up with Chinese and British researchers who went into 65 counties in rural China finding out what 6,500 people ate and how they lived. They also took urine and blood samples. It took them years to analyze and correlate all of this data. In 1990, The China Study was published, which identified over 94,000 correlations between diet and disease. The study was published with countless tables and charts presenting the raw data which had been accumulated during the study. Then, this information was cross-referenced in multiple ways to demonstrate its reliability and to show how it linked with the 367 different variables the study examined. The study was a very clear indication of some very powerful revelations. The moment that animal products were introduced into the diet, blood cholesterol went up, cancer started to appear, and disease started to make its way into the communities. Since this study, the connections between meat and dairy consumption and disease has now been confirmed over and over again in scientific studies and even studies of studies and peer-reviewed journals. Diabetes, for example, of which roughly 30 million people in the US are reported to struggle with, has been demonstrated to be outright cured with a plant-based diet. Among the 20% of participants in the Landmark Diabetes Prevention Program who were ages 60 and over, lifestyle changes conferred a 71% reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes, demonstrating that older adults reaped the greatest benefit from lifestyle intervention compared to other age groups. In fact, plant-based diets, like eating patterns that emphasize legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, and discourage most or all animal products, are especially potent in preventing type 2 diabetes and have been associated with much lower rates in obesity, hypertension, hyperlipodemia, cardiovascular mortality, and even cancer. The results were amazing. Based off the lab result I had before I was type 1, I'm not supposed to be producing insulin. This isn't supposed to happen. But as you can see from the results, I'm producing insulin. I can go from being type 1 to not having diabetes. That's incredible. Incredible. Diabetes is reversible. We have the results to show. And the funny thing is, well, maybe it's not funny, but it's actually illegal in most countries to treat cancer with nutrition therapy. There have been many physicians now speaking out about this at conferences saying that they are only allowed to treat cancer with chemo, surgery, or radiation, and they're not happy with it. What this means is that you ultimately have to take your health into your own hands. All of this research by Dr. Campbell and the researchers from China and Britain correlated heavily with Dr. Esselstyn's work, who demonstrated how to naturally reverse heart disease and outline the specifics of what happens to the body when you eat animal and processed foods. You see, lining all of our blood vessels are something called endothelial cells. These cells are vital to survival for they naturally produce nitric oxide, which keeps our blood flowing smoothly without being sticky or clogging up. It also helps to dilate blood cells during physical activity and inhibits the formation of plaque as well as eliminates the inflammation that comes along with plaque in the first place. Scientific tests have demonstrated that when we start eating the standard American diet, meaning predominantly animal and processed foods, our endothelial cells are damaged and can no longer support the healthy flow of blood through the body. This leads to numerous issues such as clogged arteries, diseases, cancers, feelings of heaviness, and cloudiness of mind. At this level, it showed that a plant-based diet is beneficial for human health and an animal-based diet simply is not. Dr. Esselstyn's research, however, demonstrated that if anybody, regardless of who they are, adopt a plant-based diet, we instantly begin to reverse the process of damage caused by meat and processed foods. Let food be thy medicine. Change yourself and change the world. You are what you eat, and it's time to shift our way of life. Now, as we continue our journey into physical health, let's take a look at what, for most of us, is already in our bodies. More specifically, how we can optimize our bodies by getting rid of that which does not support us and giving ourselves that which does. Solving a problem means acknowledging first that there is one, and as most of us are aware, there's a lot of toxins in our bodies. In order to clean our bodies and thus clear our minds, we must become aware of what is actually going on and how those toxins got there in the first place. Brace yourself. If you've never heard this stuff before, it could be pretty shocking. Let's start with some basic biology. Scientists have estimated that there's probably close to 37 trillion cells in our bodies. Each individual cell is a living, functioning organism, all working together for you, and each cell has a basic role and function in your life. Some are there to build new tissues, others are there to transport nutrients around your body, and some, like stem cells, are waiting on reserve to transform into what your body needs at any given moment. You quite literally are your own quantum ecosystem of life, which both survive by and make up the totality that is you. And yet, to think that we're an island unto ourselves can be very misleading. These cells are nourished, experienced growth, and cell division by the process of metabolizing the nourishment that we are feeding them. This basically means that our entire bodies and cellular level relate heavily to whatever it is that we've been feeding them. From a more spiritual perspective, you might think of it as other forms of life moving through you. This is identical to the idea that all of the atoms and particles that make up your body and all of the things in existence are constantly moving through all of us and not isolated to any one individual or thing. This has some astonishing, energetic and conscious implications. If we take into our bodies other cells for nourishment or during the growth process had been absent of caring and loving hands, we are essentially taking a nourishment that, well, in layman's terms, is simply not very nourishing and our bodies ultimately suffer for it. If an animal has been suffering and abused its entire life, when you eat it, all of that fear, that adrenaline, that suffering now enters into your body and adds that trauma into your wider body of consciousness. You can really see that these animals are experiencing pain and terror and other sorts of things because you can see them when they're not and you can see them when they are and it's pretty damn obvious. You now share in the experiences of more suffering, more stress, and more anxiety than you ever did before because of what you're bringing into your body's ecosystem. And so now we're going to cover some of the biggest factors affecting our health by taking a look at by far the largest food group that the majority of us are consuming What is a processed food? The technical definition is actually any food that has been altered from its original natural-grown state, often for the purpose of preserving the food and making it last longer. In layman's terms, it is any food that has undergone some kind of process to change it chemically or physically. From this perspective, we have to approach the topic on a selective case-by-case basis. It's true that most foods in grocery stores are processed in some way and do contain ingredients that are not healthy for us. It's also true that if old granny on her farm grew some apricots and then put them in a jar and stored them for the winter times, that too is technically processing. With that said, we're going to look more specifically at the types of processed foods that the majority of people eat on a daily basis, which, unfortunately, are very far removed from anything natural. In many cases, to create these kinds of foods, almost everything nutritious has been removed. The water is removed, the fiber is removed, the minerals are removed, and then everything is done to ensure that these foods are highly concentrated with fat, salt, and sugar. These then become a low-grade addiction, or, depending on the person, a very serious high-grade addiction. Let's take a look at each one of these things individually, shall we? Probably one of the biggest addictions out there, and responsible for a tremendous amount of health issues in the world, the average American consumes between 82 and 153 grams of sugar every day. However, most health associations only recommend between 25 and 36 grams per day, and some even say that that's too much, especially in its refined form, rather than consuming sugars from, say, eating an apple. The result of having too much sugar in your diet has been proven to cause metabolic dysfunction, including weight gain, increased bad cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, and even high blood pressure. It also increases your uric acid levels, causes cavities, induces insatiable hunger, causes diabetes, liver failure, pancreatic cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, cognitive decline, gout, and a wide array of other nutritional deficiencies. Forbes Business Magazine published an article showing that the biggest culprits of where all of this sugar is coming from, topping the list is regular old soft drinks, followed by candy, then cakes, cookies, pies, other pastries, then fruit drinks, followed by dairy desserts and milk, and then other grains. Sugar also affects hormones in the brain which produces excess fat, which ultimately makes sugar to be one of the leading contributors of obesity in children and adults. To conclude this topic, low levels of opioid and dopamine chemicals are released, in much the same way as many addictive hard drugs. In fact, scientists have consistently argued over whether sugar is as addictive as cocaine, or even more so. But that's a whole other story on its own. When we're talking about fat, we must note that there are a plethora of different types. Natural fats, like that which is found in an avocado, are much better for you in moderation and are in fact necessary for your body. Other fats, on the other hand, such as saturated fats, which come from butter, cheese, red meat and other animal-based foods, top the list of the leading contributors of heart disease out there. There are also trans fats, which most often come from oils through a food processing method called partial hydrogenation. When oil is hydrogenated, it changes from a healthy form of fat to a very unhealthy form called trans fat, such as high blood levels of bad cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein. Typically, food like donuts, baked goods, pie crusts, cookies, crackers, and stuff like that are loaded with trans fats, which increase bad LDL cholesterol and lowers good HDL cholesterol. In simple terms, the whole thing with bad fats is that they put you at risk of cardiovascular disease, which has the potential to really clog up your arteries and may even lead to an abrupt and untimely death. When it comes to fat, the most important thing you can do is to be very aware of the food labels on the packages that you buy. Does it have any percent of saturated or trans fats? Especially trans fat? If so, your best bet is to find an alternative that satisfies what you're looking for. The final ingredient of the big three aspects of processed food is salt. Salt is a leading cause of hypernatremia, which is defined as a huge imbalance of the amount of salt or water in the body. The simple version is, it increases blood pressure, causes heart disease, strokes, and osteoporosis. Elevated sodium levels can negatively affect the function of the inner lining of the blood vessels, particularly those endothelial cells that we looked at in part one. This can also lead to a decreased rate of glomular filtration, which are a sign of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. Salt even causes cognitive disorders by causing the sympathetic nervous system to overreact to stressful situations, pumping out chronically high levels of stress hormones. Which means that if you have a lot of salt in your system and something stressful happens, you're going to be way more stressed out about that thing than if you had ideal sodium levels in your body. It's like, have you ever seen those videos of people getting salty while playing video games? It's funny because on the internet, the term salt is used to describe players freaking out, throwing chairs or having tantrums and getting frustrated when they lose a big match at Super Smash Bros. or whatever. And yet, salt isn't just a throwaway term to describe tension. I'd reckon that if we tested these players' blood levels, we'd probably find that a majority of them are more than a bit dehydrated. The source of the salt is, much like with the other stuff, in all of the foods that we normally eat daily. Aptly named the Salty Six, meats, pizza, canned soups, breads and rolls, chicken, and burritos and tacos. Roughly 77% of salt in the average diet comes from processed foods, and it's often added so heavily to increase the storage life of the product that the companies can sell food long after they are produced. In addition to these three major additives found in our food, there are also countless additives in the form of preservatives, anti-foaming agents, food coloring, color retention agents, emulsifiers, anti-caking agents, acidity regulators, glazing agents, flavor packs, thickeners, stabilizers, humectants, and tracer gases that are often added to our foods. This list is actually ridiculously long and too much to cover in one video. Sometimes these can be the worst things for us in that canned food or boxed whatever that we find ourselves consuming. It's very, very important to read the labels and do some research for what specifically is in our foods before we buy them. I know sometimes it can be hard to let go of an old food source that we love so much, but just remember it's not actually you that really wants the food. It's the bacteria in your system which has built up of craving for that specific food. As our way of eating changes, that bacteria goes away and we start to find natural foods more appealing. In fact, you'd be surprised that after some time you will actually find that fast food that you used to love so much grows to be entirely unappealing. And now on that note, over time as you remove processed flavor enhancing agents from your regular diet your taste buds will also begin to change. Suddenly you will be able to notice the subtle sugars within things like carrots and they will taste sweeter and better than they ever did before. And that is just the beginning of Flavor Paradise. So before we move on, I'd like to leave you with some good news. This would be that regardless of what level of disease, illness or just general health challenges that you might have simply changing what you're putting in your body automatically begins changing your physical ecosystem. It's not about how many pills you're taking it's just about letting real, healthy food be your medicine. Your body is your greatest investment so treat it right and it will treat you back. If you're struggling to get started eating healthier try this for an approach. Instead of thinking about all the things you have to remove from your diet, look instead at all of the new things you can add. If you start tomorrow with a green smoothie you may notice that you no longer want that extra cup of sugary coffee on your brain. Add an extra apple or a handful of unsalted nuts as a light snack and see if you're less hungry come supper time so you can eat a little less. Try it for yourself and as always have your own experience. Your body knows what's best for you so listen to it. So now before I begin to move into the next segment I'd like to take a moment to talk about physical health and why we've made this big movie about it. The simple version is this we can't get to this level of like a spiritual ascension if we're all sick. See health is currently a huge topic of concern in the world. There's really such an abundant need for it. If none of us are healthy then we will only continue to create an unhealthy reality all around us. So with this movie we are establishing the base from where we are able to grow to new levels of human experience and just like the smallest plant or tree this all starts at the root and that root includes health. So we began talking about health by looking at one of the fundamental aspects of health which is food. And now it's time we move on to the second largest group of consumed food in the standard American diet specifically animal food. This will likely be one of the heaviest topics that we go through throughout this movie and so this is a little bit of a warning that while inconvenient to look at doesn't make it any less real. Ultimately this moves into the discussion of raising our frequency, healing our bodies and changing the world. In order to do that we have to look at all of the information including how the food that we eat affects our body, mind and spirit. There is a lot of controversy in today's world around animal food. Is it healthy? Is it unhealthy? And if it wasn't hard enough to find quality information we are also bombarded by a ridiculous amount of advertising and conflicting scientific studies. I'm going to share with you the best research that I've found and I encourage you to continue this research to find the deeper truth within you on your own. Meat is a very large topic. Beyond the different types of meat and meat products there is also the discussion of the studies linking meat and disease. The massive conversation concerning the agricultural industry and of course if it's even morally or spiritually ethical to eat meat in the first place. In this section we are just focusing specifically on the meat itself and the research surrounding it. Historically humans have been eating meat since before recorded history as a mechanism for survival and we did so seemingly without any problems. So how can something that we have been doing for so long suddenly be so deadly to us? And then why is it that we still keep wanting more? So let's take a look at the types of meat out there, shall we? When talking about meats today generally it's split into four different categories being processed meats, red meats, white meats and organic meats. Now processed meats are by far the most dangerous for your health. As many factors will take scraps or other undesirable parts of different kinds of animals throw them into a blender add a bunch of preservatives, salts and other additives, wrap them up all fancy like and sell it to you as food. Processed meats include your sausages like pepperoni and other common products like hot dogs. It's also worth mentioning off the bat that the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer among other scientific institutions have officially classified processed meats as a carcinogen which means it is confirmed to cause cancer. This is based on over 800 studies as of 2015. First on the list is red meats which are red and come from mammals including but not limited to lamb cows, pigs and others. A common source of red meat are dairy cattle which are no longer producing their milk quotas and are sent to slaughter as well as the majority of bulls that are born. They are often considered very nutrient rich but also contain a high amount of saturated fats. The next section of meats are the white meats. These are meats that simply enough change to a whitish color when cooked and often even appear white while raw. These meats mainly come from birds like chicken and turkey but also include some fish too. White meats are often considered by the general public to be more healthy for you than red meats as they usually contain less fats and are a leaner source of protein. The last category of red meats are your organic meats. These are animals that have been naturally fed and raised without the use of growth drugs or hormones injected into them. The organic label, at least as far as beef goes, also sometimes comes with a grass fed sticker. This means that the cow was fed its natural food source grass rather than grains which is what the majority of mass cattle farms feed their cows. So if you're going to eat beef regardless, ideally this is the meat that you want to get. However, it's very important to make the effort to find out what the practices are like from the companies that you're buying from. One common discussion in the case for animal-based diets is that people like the Inuit or the Maasai have been eating lots of meat as a staple in their diets for hundreds if not thousands of years, significantly more than the average Westerner but yet still remain in excellent health. We have found that there is a huge difference between natural meat from an animal found in nature versus meat that has been processed or grown in a factory farm. Further, the lifestyle of the Inuit and the Maasai people is a very active one with lots of physical exercise traveling and even building snow houses just to stay alive. In comparison to the average first world lifestyle, we do not nearly exert the same levels of physical activity as they do and so if our body isn't going to use it, it's going to store it. This is a big part of our research on animal foods because we eat far more meat than what our bodies are physically utilizing which is one of several problems. However, beyond that it seems as though many new studies are now pointing to the notion that meat in general was never something that we were really supposed to eat in excess and that more than just a tiny bit can have adverse effects on the body. And now here's where things get interesting although we did talk on this a little bit before. There are now a large number of doctors and scientific studies coming forward with research showing tremendous links between meat and some of our most serious diseases. Dr. Rashmi Sinha PhD is one such doctor who has correlated a lot of this data in a study she wrote with the National Cancer Institute. Among those studies we found this. The association between consumption of red or processed meats and cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, is very consistent. The research continues. In 2007 a systematic review of scientific studies led the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research to conclude that red or processed meats are convincing or probable sources of some cancers with specific links to lung, esophageal, stomach pancreatic and endometrial cancers and of course colorectal cancer. Due to the high amounts of saturated fats meats have also been heavily linked to type 2 diabetes and in addition to that processed meats also contain preservatives such as nitrosamines which are toxic to the pancreatic cells that produce insulin. And so diabetes risk is even higher for those who eat a lot of processed meats. But it's not just red meat. A major 2006 study of 135,000 people found that those who frequently ate grilled skinless chicken had a staggering 52% higher risk of bladder cancer than people who never ate it at all. In addition to cancer risks, white meat is also linked to clogged arteries, osteoporosis and diabetes just by the animal protein alone. Eggs are the same story where studies have linked eating eggs to stroke, diabetes, heart disease and prostate cancer. The fat content in meat can also contribute to the estrogen and progesterone sensitive forms of breast cancer. Furthermore, growth hormones used on animals in the production of meat can exhibit estrogenic activity which also boosts breast cancer risk. Across the board the World Health Organization has determined that dietary factors account for at least 30% of cancers in western countries and 20% in developing countries. Apart from the diseases that we've mentioned eating excess meat can also lead to an increased risk of food born illnesses being transmitted and may contribute to erectile dysfunction in men. There is also evidence that it may make you resistant to some antibiotics and apparently even increases risk of death. So, that's pretty heavy. What's the cause? The scientists have found that there are three basic causes of disease within meat. These include too many saturated fats carcinogens that form when meat is cooked and something called heme iron. Let's see what each of these do. Animal based fats can contribute to the cause of heart disease and stroke by increasing plaque lining the walls of your arteries. This makes it harder for your heart to pump blood through the narrowed blood vessels which can possibly lead to a heart attack putting on extra weight, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. When meat is cooked at high temperatures carcinogenic chemicals called heterocyclic amines are created that may increase the risk of breast, colon, lung, pancreatic and prostate cancer. Risky cooking methods don't just include barbecuing, frying and grilling though. Even just baking will lead to significant increases of production of these cancer causing compounds. The iron in red meat is contained in a protein called heme which can easily undergo a chemical change in your stomach to form carcinogenic and nitroso compounds which are associated with colorectal cancer. Heme iron is found in virtually all animal meats including lamb, pork, beef, fish, poultry, shellfish and so on making all animal meats a potential danger in this regard. But is there a safe amount to eat? Obviously as we are waking up to the truth of our ways many of us will begin trying to make conscious and continuous improvements to our diets. In doing so, we should take a look at some of these institutions research and see what they say is the right amount of meat to eat. The scientists who do recommend eating meat often recommend between 50 and 70 grams per day or no more than 500 grams per week which is about the equivalent of three burgers. There is also an increasing number of scientists, nutritionists and doctors who are beginning to suggest that maybe we shouldn't be eating meat at all. And really, while many will suggest 50 to 70 grams per day diet there are also studies that show that 50 grams or more per day is linked with increasing risk of cancer or other forms of disease. So ultimately, you have to do what's right for you. Now in the beginning we made the distinction between processed and unprocessed meat, but what we're not accounting for is that these animals across the board, cows, chickens and pigs especially but others too are often being processed as they're growing. From birth they are taken from their parents injected with growth hormones, steroids and antibiotics, kept in confined spaces and not allowed to move and being fed fattening foods which is unnatural for them to eat. It's becoming incredibly difficult to find meat that wasn't raised in this way and this alone might be the number one reason why animal foods are so toxic to us. Now we've been going on the subject for meat for a while and we have to move on to dairy but there's still tons more to discuss. So if you want to learn more consider checking out the following documentaries. Forks over knives, food ink, speciesism, cow spiracy, vegetated and for those with a particularly strong stomach and you want to see the truth go and watch earthlings be warned it will wake you up. And now finally before we move on I'd like to restate that it is upon you and your own consciousness to decide what kind of diet is right for you. I don't want to tell you what to eat or what not to eat only that if health is your concern you should be equipped with all of the information you can within your mental arsenal to make the best decision for you. And now as we explore deeper into the recesses of our physical health it's time that we looked at one of the last major giants in the food industry and part two of the animal foods category dairy. For most of us we've been raised to believe a lot of great things about dairy it's nature's perfect food. However there is now an overwhelming amount of new research and scientific investigation which paints dairy in a different light almost showing that for every belief about the benefits of dairy the opposite appears to be true. So what's the deal? Is milk and dairy in general really all that good for us? Let's find out. So let's talk about the production of milk. In order for a cow to give milk she has to give birth to a baby calf. This starts the lactation process. In most factory farms immediately after birth the calves are separated from their mothers. Many female calves are grown into the next generation of milk and cows while male calves often become veal. The calf goes and lives in its own little house which is a measure to prevent disease. If the calf stays with the mother it could become contaminated by the manure or other diseases by exposure to bacteria and the mama can't stay with the calf anyways because she's got to give milk. She has all of this milk for her calf to give which the farmers hook up to machines to do the milking for them. So they keep the cows always pregnant to make sure that they're always making more milk. The calf is then fed not by her mother's milk but with the industry's produced unsellable milk which is milk with high levels of infection which the companies deem not fit for sale to humans. What happens to the milk from the sick calf? Those we actually what we do we pasteurize that and feed that to the babies. Once old enough to produce its own calf the new mother will be inseminated and starts her new life as a dairy cow. The mothers are also often injected with a hormone additive called BST bovine somatropin or recombinant bovine growth hormone which is also called RBGH which reports to increase milk production by 10% but also has received criticism from scientists, farmers and consumers after being shown to cause health threats for the cows. With this in mind Canada and Europe chose to ban the use of BST. BST is also proposed by some to adversely affect human health by slightly increasing the amount of IGF-1 in the milk which has been associated with some cancers. In the United States BST use is still common practice and the FDA has banned labelling milk as RBGH free so it's very difficult to tell what milk is safe or ethical to drink at all. The cows are also then often injected with antibiotics to counter the disease from their often poor living conditions which also makes its way into the milk. Finally before being packaged and brought to the supermarkets they have been pasteurized which means heated to about 65 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. This is done to destroy potentially dangerous germs and prevents the souring of the milk. However this process is said to also destroy much of the beneficial bacteria and nutritionist constituents within the milk, most notably B2 which milk is often a primary source of. For nearly 100 years milk has been advertised as nature's perfect food. So perfect in fact that this US government film from the early 20th century recommended that infants that have just been weaned from their mother's milk should be immediately switched to cows milk. Today it's not uncommon to see ads on the TV or internet which portray milk as something that will help you lose weight make your bones strong, prevent heart disease good for your skin, stops cramps, builds your muscles, makes you tall and your teeth strong. When you take a break, make it milk for vitality. However, new research and investigations by many prominent nutritionists doctors and physicians have strongly linked dairy to causing eczema, arthritis, osteoporosis colon and ovarian cancer prostate cancer, breast cancer asthma and acne. There have also been reports linking dairy to childhood diabetes, intestinal bleeding, bovine leukemia which is an AIDS like virus as well as heart disease, anemia and increased allergies which is basically the opposite of everything we've believed to be true about it. But how can that be? In order to understand the answer to this question, we have to take a step back and objectively ask this question What is dairy and what is really going on in our bodies when we consume it? The word dairy is actually a name coined hundreds of years ago for a building or environment used for the production of butter and cheese and which since has been adopted to describe all animal milk related products particularly cows but also goat, sheep and even camel. Ok, so if dairy means a milk product then what is milk? The simple description of milk is a pale liquid produced by the mammary glands of animals which is specifically designed as a source of nutrition for infant mammals including humans before they are able to digest other types of food. Milk is created almost as a by-product of blood. Prolactin the protein responsible for producing milk causes the alveoli to take nutrients from the mother's blood supply and turns them into breast milk. Contained in the milk are a number of different ingredients there's water, carbohydrates mostly in the form of lactose there are two main protein categories caseins and whey proteins then there are fats, vitamins, minerals hormones and growth factors and finally there are white blood cells Let's take a closer look at each of these here Lactose Lactose is actually a sugar milk sugar and it's comprised of two molecules, glucose attached to galactose when mammal babies are born we have an enzyme in our systems called lactase which breaks these two molecules apart and absorbs them individually after the age of weaning however that enzyme is lost because we no longer need or use it this is a justifiable explanation for why 75% of the world's population are lactose intolerant biologically we're not supposed to be digesting it when a sugar is consumed that the bowels cannot digest it goes through the small intestines where it's supposed to be digested but isn't then it goes into the large intestines and just sits there giving you gas and cramps this also often causes diarrhea because the high sugar content draws water into the bowels a small percentage of the human population however in the genetic chain experienced a mutation in the LTC gene which allows for the digestion of lactose as adults and as exciting as genetic mutation might be unfortunately the only superpower associated with this mutation is the ability to drink cow's milk long after weaning proteins the next category of milk are the proteins called caseins and ways in a ratio of 80% casein and 20% whey close to the opposite of the human breast milk protein ratio is that it is these proteins which scientists are linking heavily to the creation of cancer in the human body when consumed one scientist who has done extensive work on casein and animal protein is Dr. Colin Campbell whose work we've touched on before with the China study for Dr. Campbell his research had started much earlier before he learned of the cancer atlas and took his work abroad in 1975 Dr. Campbell was at Cornell University investigating the effects of casein the primary protein found in dairy on the body Campbell had two sets of lab rats one set he fed a diet of 20% casein and the other half was fed 5% this is where things get a little complicated the studies on rats and protein showed that the rats who received a 5% protein diet showed no cancer growth while the rats that got 20% developed early liver cancer growths however the rats that got small amounts of protein died of malnutrition it seemed like the healthy level of protein was somewhere in the middle and western societies known for eating a lot of meat were awoken to the benefits of cutting down Dr. Campbell decided to take these findings a step further and gave a single group of rats alternating dairy protein amounts for three weeks switching from 20% to 5% and back and forth the results were astonishing when they were given 20% protein early liver tumor growths exploded when the same rats were then given 5% protein the tumor growth completely went down it was after this experiment that Dr. Campbell would finally get to research the same effect on humans with his China study and ultimately validated this research 100 fold it's worth mentioning that Dr. Campbell also discovered that plant based protein such as that which comes from soybeans and wheat even at high levels did not cause any tumor growth whatsoever in any of his experiments this notion is especially easy to see when we look at the countries of the world all together out of the top 20 countries with the highest milk consumption many of them also appear on the highest cancer rate list calcium now there's a lot of vitamins and minerals in the body but there's one in particular that literally everyone knows about what do you think the most important nutrient we get from dairy products is like milk calcium calcium calcium milk is calcium it's true that dairy does have calcium among other vitamins and minerals within it it's also true that the best sources of calcium actually come from fresh vegetables vegetable calcium is absorbed about twice as well as the calcium and milk and also has the bonus of containing fiber folate iron antioxidants and the bone health superstar vitamin K none of which is found in milk but wait isn't dairy still good for bones there are actually two factors involved in the dairy and bone health idea the first is that the pasteurization process of killing bacteria also makes much of the calcium contained in raw milk insoluble which can lead to rickets, bad teeth and nervous troubles as well as causing defects in bone and brain formation further and even more serious if we jump back to the animal protein that we just looked at it has been linked with bone degeneration and so even if there is bone supporting calcium in milk there is an even higher rate of risk of bone degeneration, here's the science of how this works basically too much animal protein creates an acid based environment within the body which creates a disease like condition called metabolic acidosis this disease occurs when our bodies produce more acid than normal when we have this condition the body draws upon its top acid buffer to protect our bones from the acid that acid buffer is the calcium in our bones the calcium is then extracted to neutralize the excess acid and our bones become weakened so is dairy safe to drink milk in general is a very interesting topic from the perspective that we humans are the only creature that drinks milk beyond the age of weaning perhaps what's even stranger is that we get it from another species entirely and strangest of all is perhaps that biologically our bodies are not designed to process dairy following our evolution it doesn't seem to make much sense why we still do it but when we look back to where and when dairy started it appears to have began in Central Europe probably around 7500 years ago or earlier and one theory for why it started suggests that it began for the vitamin D which normally comes from sunlight but where in certain northern latitudes there isn't much sunlight all year around why we still do it however is another question entirely so is it safe to drink well today and especially regarding milk from cows that have undergone hormonal and antibiotic injections have been linked to a wide number of diseases by the very processing of the animal and the milk further the animal protein itself casein can have adverse effects on the body as Dr. Campbell's research showed too much like 20% was immediately linked with cancer's tumor growths so ideally if you're going to consume dairy anyways the best way to do it is probably to find a raw source of dairy from smaller organic farms and very happy and healthy cows and avoid consuming it in excess moving on so far we've looked at food and health from the perspective that brings awareness to the kinds of food we eat in our daily lives and the effects that they have on our bodies but this isn't where the discussion of health ends in fact it's only just beginning let us go further into the discussion of our nutritional health by continuing to explore this wheel of food in the standard American diet we've realized however that in order to talk about all of these topics thoroughly we have to gather a deeper awareness about the fundamentals of nutrition nutrition is actually an incredible topic and just as poor nutrition can damage the body whole and balanced nutrition can help heal the body and return it to its natural state of being it allows us to live longer boosts our immunity to disease and provides us with clarity of mind and emotions things like carbs fats vitamins yeah we've heard all of these before it's important to lay it all out simply for you now there's a lot of different opinions out there regarding what balanced nutrition looks like so today we are breaking it down into the most basic form to build an objective understanding of what our bodies use for energy as a final note I'd like to say that although we've crammed as much info into these videos as we can there's still so much to learn thus we've made sure to provide a number of sources and great videos that you can watch if you wish to dive deeper into any particular topic sound good okay let's get into it first what are nutrients let's begin by going over the definition of nutrients and nutrition so that we can all be really clear on what it is we're talking about nutrients are defined as a substance that provides forms of nourishment which are essential for sustaining and maintaining life as you might expect nutrition is then defined as the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth so when we're talking about nutrition we're talking about a kind of nourishment for our bodies which supports and maintains our life but on that note what are nutrients really well nutrients are molecules that all organisms need in order to make energy grow and reproduce they are broken down into three main nutrient groups utilized by the organism which are macronutrients micronutrients and phytonutrients let's take a closer look macronutrients are the class of chemical compounds that consume the largest quantities of and come in the form of carbohydrates proteins and fats water and oxygen are also consumed in large quantities but are not always considered food or nutrients however calcium salt, magnesium and potassium are sometimes added to this list of macronutrients because they are required in larger quantities than most other micronutrients so let's look at macronutrients individually starting with carbohydrates a carbohydrate is a biological molecule consisting of carbon hydrogen and oxygen atoms usually with a 2 to 1 hydrogen to oxygen ratio the same ratio as in water the most common and abundant forms of carbohydrates are sugars fibers and starches carbohydrates in their simplest form are used by the body and mind as an energy source by providing glucose to our cells and cellulose as a digestive fiber there are two basic types of carbs simple and complex which vary depending on their chemical structure and each is received by your body differently simple carbs are basic sugars and give you a quick spike in energy if you have too much it can overload your liver and turn to stored fat in your body in the standard American diet they are most often found in processed sugars which besides quick energy hold no nutritional value simple carbs occur naturally in fruits and vegetables which is the best place to get them because the fruits and vegetables naturally contain other nutrients complex carbs on the other hand are things like fiber and starch which take longer to process in the body and carry far more nutrients within them due to their complex molecular chain fibers themselves are not even processed they are just used by the body to push things through starches and fibers are found in virtually all unrefined plant based foods the key with carbohydrates is finding the right carbs not avoiding them all together generally the more complex carbohydrates you eat the better off you'll be interestingly enough there is a long standing debate that the human brain evolved because we began eating meat however the neurons in the brain run almost exclusively on glucose not protein and fat which is what make up the structure of meat the scientific research on this actually shows quite clearly that it was the advent of cooking particularly carbohydrates which fueled early brain growth hundreds of thousands of years ago and now there is a lot of information to discuss here so if you wish to learn more there's links in the video description another topic that sometimes gets confused with carbs are calories so we want to clarify the difference for you here a calorie is a unit of measuring just how much energy any particular food has within it and can be found in all macronutrients whether it's carbs, proteins or fats the energy we get from carbs can be measured in calories though as mentioned with simple versus complex carbs some sources and types of calories are able to be digested by our bodies more efficiently than others you might find that an apple has the same amount of calories as a can of low calorie soda however the nutritional value of the apple is significantly higher no matter how you slice it and a can of soda can't be sliced anyways and will quickly convert to stored fat when consumed now protein is the major structural component of cells and is responsible for the building and repairing of bodily tissues proteins are broken down into amino acids which are organic compounds essential for every metabolic process in the body 9 of the 20 amino acids known as essential amino acids must be provided in the diet as they apparently cannot be synthesized by the body as we mentioned before many people believe that they have to get all of their protein from meat or that plant protein is inferior to meat protein while they both can be valuable in their own right there are many plant sources that have very high amounts of protein in them plus with the lack of heme iron or high levels of saturated fat which comes along with animal protein we find that vegetable protein is potentially even healthier for our bodies in essence protein is a vital building block for growing hair building muscle, bones, cartilage skin and blood and even helps you stay satiated once you finish eating a meal and today nutritionists believe that between 10 to 35% of your daily calories should be protein based the next macronutrient in the list is fats also known as lipids these are the macronutrients which store energy for our bodies fats have long chains of carbon and hydrogen and when consumed increase the absorption of fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E and K fats are needed to keep cell membranes functioning properly to insulate body organs against chalk to keep body temperatures stable and to maintain healthy skin and hair as with proteins the body cannot manufacture essential fatty acids naturally alone and so this must be supplied in the foods that we eat as we touched on before fats often get a bad reputation which really shows how little they're understood while we need to watch how much fat we consume in our diets making sure we are getting the right types of fat is even more important there are saturated and unsaturated fats and of course trans fats most unsaturated fats are really good for you like that which comes from an avocado and saturated fats can have benefits in very small doses but can be very harmful in excess trans fats are known to cause tons of health issues and those are the ones that you typically want to avoid which you can do by looking out for anything that says partially hydrogenated in the ingredients list because that's how trans fats are made another nutrient you might hear about and a part of the lipid family is cholesterol it's a taxi fat like substance that makes up about 30% of all animal cell membranes and is a requirement for cells to interact with one another more than simply holding cells together these membranes have a crucial role in regulating cell function and allowing chemicals to pass into and out of cells it also plays an essential role in our brains which contains about 25% of the cholesterol in our bodies and is critical for the formation of mental synapses there's a lot of concern in the world about high cholesterol with it being one of the primary causes of coronary heart disease as we looked at previously when we discussed fat and processed foods high cholesterol is bad when you have a high amount of LDL cholesterol which comes from fast foods potato chips, cookies, icing donuts and anything with trans fats a healthy and balanced amount of HDL cholesterol in your diet on the other hand can tremendously reduce your chances for heart disease especially when you find them in sources like organic beans and leafy green vegetables probably one of the most important discussions related to fats are the polyunsaturated fats called omega 3 and omega 6 these omega oils are essential fatty acids which means that they're not made by our bodies and must be added by our diet externally great sources of omega 3s include flax, chia and hemp seeds seaweed, beans, winter squash leafy greens, wild rice and cabbages cauliflower, broccoli and berries great sources of omega 6 include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds avocado, lentils, pistachios acai, walnuts, brazil nuts and most nuts for that matter now I know what you're thinking but patchmen what about fish and vegetable oils it's true that both fish and veggie oils are high in these omega fatty acids however, there are some big problems with both fish oils easily can go bad once they are extracted if they come into contact with heat light or oxygen which causes oxidation unfortunately the vast majority of fish oil available is actually rancid and doesn't contain the percentage of omega acids that are typically advertised even more interestingly however is that the fish used as sources by most mass markets do not actually produce omega 3 fatty acids but instead accumulate them externally much like us by consuming either microalgae or prey fish such as plankton that have accumulated omega 3 fatty acids fatty predatory fish like sharks, swordfish, tilefish and albicortuna may be high in omega 3 fatty acids but due to their position at the top of the food chain these species may also accumulate toxic substances through biomagnification in recent years some great plant based companies have come out and started selling pure algae or similar supplements that allow us to get omega 3 from the same sources as fish with it also being grown in sustainable and renewable bio-friendly algae farms as for veggie oils well Dr. Esselsen had this to say what do we have to eat? whole grains, legumes, lentils, vegetables and fruit you've all heard about this no oil, fish, fowl, meter, dairy no oil no oil Dr. Vogel has gone on and shown us indeed that olive oil activates clotting factor 7 just as much as butter typically in today's world veggie oils like olive or sunflower oil are advertised as being a healthy oil to use in cooking however new studies are showing that these claims are truly a product just of advertising and demonstrate that in actuality all processed oils including the famed and legendary coconut oil causes high blood pressure and can lead to heart disease today the addition of processed oil in the diet is the only reason that people following a vegan diet can get heart disease at all therefore the best place to get fat in the diet is definitely from natural unprocessed sources ok so now on to the micronutrients if macronutrients are carbs proteins and fats then micronutrients on the other hand are our vitamins and minerals and while they are only needed in small amounts they play a very important role in biological development and well-being they help regulate metabolism heartbeat, cellular pH levels and even bone density the first form of micronutrients are vitamins which assist in helping ourselves to make energy vitamins are usually used in conjunction with enzymes to help cells go through metabolism where they break down food to get energy there are six major vitamin groups A, B, C, D, E and K most of these vitamins can then be broken down even further such as the B's which break down into B1, B2, B3 etc. each of which has its own use for the body the vitamin A group supports gene transcription and embryonic development and are found in liver and fish oil but also plenty of leafy green vegetables orange and yellow vegetables tomatoes and a lot of fruit the vitamin B group supports cell metabolism and while there are a lot of B vitamins they are largely found in leafy greens and vegetables as well as most animal products on this topic there is this whole vitamin B12 debate which many believe is a vitamin only found in animal products lending credence to the idea that we must eat meat or other animal products in order to survive interestingly this idea is not 100% accurate for B12 is actually created by bacteria and can even be synthesized in your own intestines with the right internal flora and fauna but beyond that untreated water and soil have B12 in them naturally and so in the past nobody had B12 problems whether they ate animal products or not because the soil was far more nutrient rich than it is today for those seeking B12 without consuming animal products the US Library of Medicine states that blue green algae such as spirulina is a great plant based source for B12 spirulina is also one of the most highest protein rich natural superfoods on the planet B12 discussion alone is a pretty large topic by itself though so for the time being we're going to move on for now but we've included an article and video links below now vitamin C is vital for the immune system and is most abundant in oranges and other citrus, red peppers kale and many other veggies and is one of the best vitamins to take when you're feeling ill vitamin D strengthens the bones and of course the best source of vitamin D is the sun and the best part of this is you only need about 15 minutes outside per day to fill up vitamin E is known for its antioxidant activities which protect the damaging of cells by free radicals and vitamin K is primarily a vital ingredient in blood clotting bone health and other calcium binding activities the list of the vitamins and what they do is actually very long and we suggest you investigate further if you are interested but the important thing is to remember is that if we're not getting enough of these vitamins our bodies will start stealing them from our other organs tissues or bones to get what it needs and this can cause some serious health problems now the other form of micronutrients are minerals straight off the periodic table in their most raw form the main 7 that we use most are sodium, potassium, chloride phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and sulfur each mineral also has its own use within the body for example calcium is required for muscle contraction and nerve transmission and also aids in blood clotting and of course making healthy bones magnesium supports cellular activity and assists enzymes in more than 300 chemical reactions in the body sulfur maintains acid based balance and assists in some of the liver's drug detoxifying pathways potassium is an electrolyte which conducts electricity in the body and is critical to heart function and muscular skeletal contraction sodium keeps the water and electrolyte balance in the body inside and outside the cells and is important to how nerves and muscles work chloride helps maintain blood volume blood pressure and the pH of your bodily fluid and phosphorus is, along with calcium critical for the formation of bones and teeth about 85% of the body's phosphorus is found in the skeletal structure now there is another form of nutrient that is less commonly discussed we call these phytonutrients which are weak for plant nutrients and are plant chemicals which have been scientifically proven to provide health benefits such as providing support for optimal cellular function and communication these nutrients are in their own classification because they are not related to fats carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins or minerals the benefits of phytonutrients include antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties they may also enhance immunity and intercellular communication repair DNA damage from exposure to toxins detoxify carcinogens and alter estrogen metabolism the US Department of Agriculture or USDA has stated that consuming a phytonutrient rich diet seems to be an effective strategy for reducing cancer and heart disease risks phytonutrient rich foods include colorful fruits and vegetables legumes, nuts, tea whole grains and many spices phytonutrients are without a doubt one of the most critical ingredients to facilitating the healing of diseases through our bodies with food and we're going to revisit this topic when we get into talking about raw foods having looked at all the different types of nutrients we can start to look at disease and illness that occur within our physical body as a result of our diets disease itself is defined as a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal or plant especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury the discussions of nutrition and disease actually go hand in hand and are commonly described as nutritional deficiencies nutritional deficiencies often come in four different ways conditions that interfere with nutrient utilization conditions that cause a greater than normal need for a particular nutrient conditions that cause nutrient destruction in the body and conditions that cause greater nutrient excretion out of the body we can see in modern science when nutrition is out of balance disease runs rampant this can lead to a wide array of problems in the body including but not limited to obesity, wasting eating disorders, cardiovascular disease hypertension, cancer and diabetes and even the more common but less severe sounding diseases such as fatigue, weakness troubled breathing, hair loss constipation, heart palpitations depression, a lack of concentration and many others all can be caused by an imbalance of nutrients in the body all this information seems to be saying that when there is disease in the body especially which has been caused or impacted by nutrition, resolving the problems with nutrition can resolve the disease at its core and potentially even eliminate it completely this is not to say that just eating proper nutrition alone can solve all of our problems outright for there are a wide array of diseases out there but it's safe to say that a lot of them are caused or made worse by poor nutrition and we can help heal the body by bringing awareness to this and making changes where they are needed both in our eating habits and our relationship with food let's take vitamin C for example if we are vitamin C deficient we can find ourselves getting frequent nose bleeds, having rough or dry skin our wounds healing slowly being bruised easily, having a weak immune system, digestive disorders slower weight loss, high blood pressure gallbladder disease or even having strokes or even certain cancers these are all potential results from just having a lack of vitamin C but what's amazing is that there were studies done in the 1940s by doctors William J. McCormick and Fred R. Clenner who wrote about their successes in treating disease with high doses of vitamin C the reason that one vitamin can cure so many diseases is because the lack of the same vitamin can cause so many diseases there really only are about two dozen nutrients but thousands of chemical reactions taking place within the body and each nutrient is involved in a multitude of reactions that the body experiences and they all need to be present and balanced for our bodies to thrive studies have found that vitamin C acts as an antitoxin, antihistamine antiviral is a blood sugar regulator and even a mood elevator the list goes on and on now there are a lot of studies and speculations out there that vitamin supplements may not be all that great for us or not as helpful as we once believed the truth is most studies which claim that vitamins are not super useful to our bodies often are done using very low doses of vitamins and so the results become very ambiguous one study might suggest vitamins help a bit other show that they don't and so the public and physicians become cautious about them this doesn't mean that you should start taking massive amounts of vitamins remember we only need a small amount to maintain balance in the body furthermore we are talking about two very different things here vitamins and vitamin supplements ideally you shouldn't have to take any vitamin supplements if you're getting all of your vitamins necessary from the foods that you're eating however if you're nutritionally depleted vitamin supplements can give you a boost for your body to get you to that natural state of being though it's a great idea to aim towards not needing supplements in the long run and sustain yourself entirely on whole organic natural foods there is still also the challenge that most foods available today are lacking in nutrients and therefore a daily multivitamin and multimineral might be perfect for this current little pocket of time that we find ourselves in today and on that note there's also a lot of information coming out regarding vitamin supplements not being able to transfer most of their valuable nutrients into our bodies and so much of it just ends up passing through and ends up as waste there are many reasons for this however including the difference between how our bodies process specific vitamins such as fat soluble and water soluble as well as the need to take vitamins with other minerals or foods to support digestion our bodies have a more difficult time breaking down a vitamin rich pill than it does a carrot or some broccoli and in order for our bodies to absorb the nutrient it has to be bonded with another digestive enzyme first and without that enzyme the nutrient simply goes to waste therefore studies out there suggest that taking nutrient rich food with your vitamin supplements to aid our bodies ability to extract the nutrients from the pill is the best way to go do it together finally it's been shown that a high stress job or environment causes increased levels of adrenaline to pump through the body which breaks down vitamin C and destroys other nutrients too which further adds to nutritional deficiencies there is also cortisol the stress hormone which is released into the body when we are under stress and causes chemical changes and imbalances that in excess amounts can lead to depression, mental illness interference with learning and memory and even lowers immune function and bone density not to mention increases weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol heart disease and more therefore in addition to keeping our bodies levels of nutrients in balance maintaining a healthy environment or at the least a practice of deep calm breathing when we get stressed can also help to maintain nutritional balance in our bodies and if you've seen our episode called the Baxter Effect remember to express thankfulness and gratitude for your food before cooking and eating and this will help your body receive the nutrients even more and lift your spirits high too now in continuing the discussion of health and nutrition it's time for us to look at the basics of plant food and where they come from after that we're going to look at a variety of diets which predominantly focus on eating plants as the dietary staple what we are about to get into is some of the most essential information out there concerning nutritional health and overall well being yet much of this is not commonly taught in the world so just like we discussed the types of meat and dairy products now we're going to do the same but with plants let's start with some basic plant biology generally on a plant there are several main sections usually categorized into four or five parts you have the roots the stem the leaves the fruits the seeds and the flowers each section of the plant has a different purpose and generally these are as follows the roots and leaves are used to draw in energy and nutrients from either the sun or from the earth the stem is responsible for moving the newly obtained nutrients to where they need to go the flowers produce fruits and vegetables which contain the seeds and the DNA required to create another plant and the cycle of life continues now while plants come in all varieties and have many unique self defense reproductive and communication mechanisms that's it it's ridiculously simple but we can't talk about plant biology without at least touching on the importance sacred geometry has on the shape and the form of plants while fi and Fibonacci ratios can be found within all plants from the spacing on leaves to the placement of branches most plants also contain the structure of a torus whether that is an apple or the roots and branches of the tree that it came from they both resemble the same toroidal field that encompasses our planet solar system and even our galaxy getting back to plants the list of plant based foods is next to identical to the different parts of a plant we listed just a moment ago but are often defined slightly differently let's take a look and go over some examples of what you might expect in each category first you have your seeds and nuts seeds are foods like sunflower seeds pumpkin seeds chia seeds and hemp seeds nuts are basically seeds that come in hard shells like Brazil nuts walnuts almonds and pine nuts generally nuts and seeds are very nutrient dense especially when raw often carrying a generous amount of calories fats and complex carbs they are a great source of proteins vitamins minerals fibers and phytonutrients the next category are your grains which technically are also seeds either with or without the hulls or fruit layers attached grain seeds often include wheat rice oats cornmeal barley and many others grains are most often used to produce bread pasta oatmeal granola or other cereals tortillas and grits in modern times grains usually come either unrefined or refined unrefined are also called whole grains which are just as nutrient rich as the nuts and seeds we just looked at when they are refined this process removes the bran and germ from the grain giving it a finer texture and improving the grains preservation qualities but this process also removes the richest source of nutrients including the protein vitamins healthy fats digestive fiber and minerals many farmers have a practice of enriching their grains after which adds many of the nutrients taken out back into the product but generally these are not as healthy for you this can even sometimes be toxic such as the example of adding a metallic iron instead of a dietary iron to enriched flour which the body can't actually digest generally if you're going to eat grains to keep them whole and to close out the topic of grains there is this controversial thing called gluten which is found in many cereal grains like wheat rye, spelt and barley gluten is a protein molecule in the grain responsible for giving an elastic texture to the dough this stuff is particularly harmful to those with celiac disease but many also find their body reacting poorly to eating it regardless which is called non celiac gluten sensitivity your body knows what you should and shouldn't be eating if something in your diet causes you to feel discomfort afterwards try eating less of those things and see how you feel anything in excess can be unhealthy so always remember that moderation and a fully balanced nutrition are keys to a happy and healthy life the next category of plant food are the roots which are the bottom half of the plant body and are rich with starches a predominant carbohydrate that humans use for energy in this category you'll find things like potatoes, carrots, beets cassava, radishes and parsnips often a very confusing subcategory in roots are called tubers tubers are defined as much thickened underground parts of a stem or rhizome and so this means things like beets carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and turnips are all basically tubers next we have our fruit category most of us are probably pretty familiar here fruits come from the flowers of a plant and are often described as the sweet or fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seeds apples, oranges, grapes, pineapples bananas, kiwi and pears also less commonly thought of fruits but still are includes squash, avocados cucumbers, tomatoes and many others we also have a category called legumes which encompasses anything that's in a seed pod such as beans and peas most commonly here you might find lentils peas, peanuts and all kinds of beans like black beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans and of course last but certainly not least we have the vegetable category which basically covers everything else see the definition of vegetable is actually all other plant parts including some of the other categories such as roots, leaves and stems thus by our modern definition today vegetables can encompass anything that is not a fleshy outgrowth which contains seeds this could include anything like leaves such as spinach, kale and lettuce the roots like beets and potatoes and the stems like celery and broccoli virtually all of the dark green vegetables contain fiber and are loaded with essential vitamins and minerals now moving on in the conversation there are many different types of plant based diets out there and they vary depending on if they include any type of animal product a fully plant based diet is called vegan which is a diet that consists of vegetables, legumes, fruits, grains nuts and seeds omitting any and all animal products you also have raw veganism which is the practice of eating no animal products and also where the food is never cooked sometimes dehydrated or warmed at a very low temperature to ensure the phytonutrients are not broken down by the heat within the plants veganism has also become a social movement unto itself where many are becoming vegans as a personal or social voice against animal cruelty in the world and this also often includes not wearing clothes or buying products that used animals to create it vegans often get labeled as being extremists and get a poor reputation as a result of the actions of a few passionate activists however this does not discredit the nutritional facts behind the diet itself the next category begins to move away from a diet with no animal products whatsoever and it's called vegetarian this includes all of the plant based foods we described but also allows the consumption of eggs and dairy with no meat products vegetarianism is also divided into three categories ovo-lacto-vegetarianism which is the model we just described then ovo-vegetarianism which is just eggs but no dairy and lacto-vegetarianism which includes dairy but no eggs continuing on we have semi-vegetarianism which is mostly vegetarian or vegan but with the occasional or specific inclusion of animal meat one example of this is called pescatarian which defines itself as a person who does not eat mammal flesh but still eats fish and other forms of aquatic life and while we're talking about diets the question comes up can a diet of exclusively plants provide all of the nutrition required for healthy human function the answer is yes all of your vitamins and proteins your calcium and your other essential nutrients can be obtained through plants alone but often it takes a great deal of dedication in order to get all of the different required nourishment in fact there is more research coming out now saying that you can be healthier and function more efficiently when consuming a diet free or with absolutely minimal animal products and even more so when it is predominantly raw which we'll cover in greater detail soon in this particular conversation from our experiences in life we found that all of us can become very attached to various things in this world that mean a lot to us for some it's our faith for others our favorite sports team TV show or video game and for a great many of us it's our food we know that talking about food and diets and especially suggesting making changes can often cause an internal uproar but we also know the importance of what we do right now further I'd like to note that all of the different definitions that we've covered especially regarding the classifications of diets are really all boxes that we have used to collectively describe ourselves and define the different ways of life and belief systems that pertain to the foods that we eat on a regular basis this is relative to the conversation about boxes of understanding from way back in episode 12 so as we continue to explore what our bodies really need for optimal nutrition that really happens to our food after we cook it so before we really dive into this topic I'd like to share that the purpose of this movie is to really explore all of the benefits around this way of eating I'm not suggesting that you need to go completely raw or declare yourself raw vegan unless you really feel compelled to do so in your heart however in our experiences we found that eating a diet with a higher percentage of plant based foods really allows for an optimal health in the body for those of you who really wish to transform your life entirely eating more raw foods is one such way to make that happen I'd also like to express that raw food literally means any kind of food while many people who practice eating a diet of mainly raw foods largely just stick with plants there are also those who consume raw eggs raw meat like sushi or even raw cheese made from raw unpasteurized milk just keep that in mind as we're moving forward the choice is always yours so what are raw foods? Raw foods are powerful healing agents to the body because of what's inside of them you see, raw means that they're uncooked and unpreserved they're simply in their original and natural form when a food is cooked much of the living nutrients break down and are no longer as readily available to our bodies therefore, when eating food that has been uncooked or unpreserved we are getting the highest amount of nutrients we can out of the food this can be observed using Keerley in photography in which we are able to observe the bioelectricity of physical objects in the case of food here's a baby carrot that is raw compared to a baby carrot that has been cooked for several minutes here's another example between cooked and raw corn however, there is a wide debate on raw diets and whether cooking all plant based food largely destroys the nutrients or not some of this information comes from the work of Dr. Kuchakov who conducted over 300 experiments during the 1930s on the different ways the body reacted to different types of food both cooked and raw however, let us note that many of his experiments had never been replicated and thus some of his findings are questionable where others have been a little bit more backed up Kuchakov's work seemed to imply that if we consumed a mostly cooked diet the immune systems in our bodies react to the food as if it was a foreign invader he called this digestive leukocytosis where our bodies will generate white blood cell activity against the food that we ate this is the questionable part of his research which hasn't really been backed up the idea of this experiment wasn't really backed up the idea was that because cooking the food destroys most of the enzymes our bodies have to do all of the work digesting the food instead of working with the enzymes within the food during the digestion process the body may have to work harder but it is questionable that it actually raises the alerts inside of the body Dr. Kuchakov's work also found that every food has its own unique cooking point which is called the critical temperature once food reaches this critical temperature most of the essential nutrients are cooked away the lowest critical temperature required to maintain the living enzymes in the food does tend to change from food to food and mostly ranges between 87 to 97 degrees Celsius or 191 to 206 Fahrenheit we've put a link in our sources for you to see the specifics now there have been many other studies which looked at the antioxidant activity in vegetables when cooked which are different than the living enzymes mind you and found some interesting things about each food specifically the highest losses of antioxidants were found in peas cauliflower and zucchini with percentages above 50% in other cases such as celery asparagus and carrots cooking actually appeared to increase antioxidants this isn't to suggest that there's anything wrong with cooking food and the last thing we want to do is demonize it we know there are plenty of benefits to cooking food such as destroying bacteria softening tough foods increasing the calories in food large molecules into digestible fragments and even concentrating the flavors if anything all of this research really speaks to the nature of balance by observing the benefits on either side of the spectrum on one hand we generally seem to have more nutrients and enzymes but less calories on the other hand we have less nutrients but more calories then we must observe our own bodies and take account of what we really need on a daily basis and what we're trying to achieve so what does this mean for people who want to eat a fully raw diet? again the research on the effects of long term raw diets vary greatly in results a large number of studies have demonstrated profound healing results from doing this such as the documentary Simply Raw which shows how a number of people managed to regulate their insulin production to help treat their diabetes in just one month of eating nothing but raw food despite being considered incurable other studies however concluded that a long term raw diet is not recommended to have significant weight loss and that it is sometimes difficult to get all of the nutrients without being very mindful of the diet though with that said we also might take note of the 70 year old woman who looks like she's barely hitting 40 and claims that all she does is eat fully raw vegan and exercises daily truly this particular research is very polarized at this point in time and no matter what you believe it seems you can find a study or source backing up your perspective it's great to see that there's so much attention and focus on the discussion ultimately we need to do what is right for our bodies by listening to how we feel on a daily basis and acting upon what we know in our hearts is right for us in any particular moment as we mentioned one of the biggest revelations in the field of raw food is its ability to affect and treat disease when put into practical application we are seeing case after case where raw food has been used to treat diseases and illnesses across the board and generally bring about a renewed and deeper sense of wellness within in fact we can cure the so called incurable diseases such as cancer and diabetes when we apply the right ingredients and a number of doctors, scientists and nutritionists suggest that that ingredient is not tens of thousands of dollars in surgeries or therapies but raw organic food the Gerson therapy a holistic approach to healing terminal illnesses utilizes the power of raw and juiced food it is a regimented diet consisting of up to 13 glasses of raw green leaf and apple juices a day mostly raw vegetarian meals with some cooked food and supplements such as potassium, vitamin B12 and pancreatic enzymes along with coffee enemas for the rapid flushing of toxins this method of deep cleansing has demonstrated all manner of rejuvenating effects on the body and produced countless testimonials of healing some of mankind's most serious diseases especially cancer all of the research and testimonials of others who have done this powerfully demonstrate that when we make a change in our lives for the better we can see results that match it and raw food is no exception it's worth noting that most people don't switch to a raw diet and stay there forever because it can be difficult to maintain higher calories with this diet at least without the devotion to figure out how or perhaps sometimes a lack of available resources nevertheless it is a very powerful focused burst of healing and rejuvenation to the body for a period of time once the results have been achieved most people will then attempt to find a new healthy balance between fresh raw food and cooked food many people may choose to eat seasonally as well eating more cooked foods in the winter and more raw during the summer to give the body the types of energy it needs based on the season this type of diet may vary depending on where in the world that you are the food we consume greatly impacts our health and when we can consciously choose to eat whole foods that heal instead of bring harm to our bodies we can overcome even the most deadly illnesses and all that is required is our desire to make it so and take action upon that desire with that said there is one other method to giving our bodies a powerful boost of rejuvenation and that is by consuming what today are known as superfoods superfoods are nutrient dense foods which contain an extremely large amount of vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients they are most often plant based but can include some fish and dairy too there is no official criteria for what can and can't be a superfood but they are usually raw unprocessed and whole foods that have significantly higher or more nutrients than other regular foods some of the most popular superfoods include berries, quinoa certain beans and nuts and dark leafy greens like kale, swiss chard, spinach and collards fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel are also considered to be superfoods in that they contain a high amount of omega 3 fatty acids one of the most notable qualities of superfoods is their high level of antioxidants antioxidants are molecules which protect the cells in the body from other harmful molecules like free radicals one example study of this in particular showed that the phenolic compounds from blueberries can actually inhibit colon cancer cell growth some of the more uncommon but extremely powerful superfoods include ginseng, goji berries buckwheat, reishi mushrooms kelp, wheatgrass, spirulina hemp seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds and rock a cow among that list, spirulina is one of the most notable superfoods being 60% protein and containing a hefty dose of vitamins A K1, K2, B12 and iron, manganese and chromium it has 2800% more beta carotene than carrots 3900% more iron than spinach and 280% more antioxidants than blueberries it's seriously amazing rock a cow also has more than 300 phytochemicals in it nearly 4 times the antioxidant power of regular dark chocolate containing protein, calcium, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin and magnesium incomparable to regular store bought chocolate which contains next to none of the same nutrients due to being cooked and also being much higher in trans fats and sugar generally superfoods are regarded as powerful safeguards against chronic disease they have the potential to prolong your life and support your body's healthy physique by lowering cholesterol producing much needed enzymes inhibiting cancer causing cell growth unclogging your arteries and so much more ultimately bringing this topic to a close we always want to come back to the message of balance we know that eating a wide range of whole foods both raw and cooked seems to be the most beneficial in maintaining our nutrient levels weight and overall well being especially in today's modern world however for those who have gone far out of balance by years of eating in excess of foods that are unhealthy or are struggling with a disease of some kind a short or long raw and superfood cleanse can bring the body back into a state of equilibrium and the continued consumption of these foods from then on after the cleanse will promote longevity and a healthy vibrant body now it's time for us to cover a topic that has been part of the health and wellness community since before there even was a health and wellness community it could even be said that we have been using this wellness technique for as long as people have been on the earth it's super powerful and full of all kinds of benefits that everyone can take advantage of this ancient health practice is none other than fasting there are many different types of fasts found across just as many cherished traditions and they all generally revolve around the idea of not eating food for a period of time the most common is a water fast where you only drink water or don't eat any food for the duration of the fasting period in recent years some other forms of fasting have become quite popular as well such as juice fasting where you only consume fresh fruit and veggie juice there has also been some remarkable case studies on dry fasting which entails going a set period of time without both food or water the question is and something you may be asking yourself right now why would anyone do this fasting is without a doubt one of the quickest and easiest ways to rapidly heal your body it is known to provide a wide range of benefits such as reducing neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's inducing body-wide cellular repair processes lowering risk of diabetes reducing stress and inflammation on top of these benefits fasting also spurs deep mental emotional and spiritual healing helping you release worries anxieties stresses and even helping to get rid of certain addictions in this way we then find new clarity and peace within mind body and spirit and may even come to places of deep spiritual revelation fasting has played a huge part in many different religions all around the world which have been said to play a big part in connecting with God and finding ourselves in christianity jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness after being baptized by john in the river jordan in buddhism the buddha practiced extreme levels of fasting prior to his enlightenment in islam mohammad practiced fasting quite regularly and initiated a new type of fasting called intermittent fasting which was abstaining from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset this fast was adopted by all muslims during the month of ramadan and still takes place today fasting also plays a large role in buddhism, daoism and many other spiritualities across all of these faiths they believe that fasting would bring incredible miracles into our lives when combined with prayer or meditation and a commitment to our spirituality fasting can help us to increase our spiritual abilities, reach states of deep inner peace, learn to identify the difference between authentic hunger cravings and food addictions, develop self restraint and discipline, improve manners, protect us from lustful desires and encourage great bodily purification this is only a small list of the possibilities of what can happen physically emotionally, mentally and spiritually when we participate in a fast so how does this work? well on a physical level our bodies have an innate capacity to heal themselves however under normal circumstances a great deal of the energy in our bodies goes to the digestive system and metabolizing process turning the food we eat into usable energy for us to live our lives this also means that the systems required for healing and repair are put on hold until these other processes have run their course thus by fasting we are essentially asking our bodies to take a break from digesting freeing up a lot of energy for use on healing other parts of our bodies that often get neglected for those who are curious the deep physical cleansing benefits of fasting only really arise when you cut out food entirely just eating less than your recommended daily amount is not the same because eating anything at all adds to your body's active energy storage called glycogen which takes about 10 to 12 hours to be depleted it's only after this time that the body starts burning fats for fuel and using up your excess storage for energy the benefits that we could potentially go into here are astounding however the main points are as follows once your body enters into a state of burning fats for fuels we see our glucose levels drop we start to lose weight and belly fat as it's used up for fuel and we see insulin and IGF-1 levels drop reducing risk of diabetes in this we see many deep cellular repair processes begin as the body begins removing waste material from ourselves we also see beneficial changes to several genes and molecules related to longevity and immunity to disease as fasting actually produces new stem cells into the body this process also reduces oxidative stress and inflammation in the body fasting is also very beneficial for heart health as it improves blood pressure cholesterol blood triglycerides and blood sugar levels doing this also improves brain function which reduces anxiety as a result not surprisingly exercise is the only other thing we know of which shows the same positive effects on brain health as fasting whenever you end a fast it's important to do it very carefully if you come off your fast and go straight into eating how you used to you may find your belly becoming quite bloated this is only normal if you intake food too quickly or eat food that your newly cleansed body doesn't actually like if you instead start with teas, soups and smoothies and then begin shifting to small amounts of raw or plant based foods your body will have a much easier time adapting back to eating again for those who are just starting out with the practice of fasting you should probably know the different kinds of fasts that there are because there are quite a few that exist now here is a short list of different fasts you can try water fasting it's simple and clean just drink nothing but water for the duration of the fast in this way you consume zero calories, zero nutrients zero carbs and thus this becomes one of the purest fasts out there many people just starting out sometimes include a small 50 calorie soup broth per day but no higher as 50 calories are not enough to stop the ketogenic process of your body breaking down fat storage the next fast we want to share is juice fasting this is one of the easiest fasts to get started with the perspective that you can go days and days without experiencing hunger because you are still supplying yourself with tons of energy for your body to use we could talk all about juice fasting but if you really want to learn more about this go and watch Joe Cross's documentaries fat sick and nearly dead one and two these are absolutely brilliant films about Joe's and other experiences while juice fasting and how much healing was experienced because of it intermittent fasting this is the point when you fast for a time during the day and then break the fast for a meal at some point in your day and then resume fasting this is essentially the basis of the Ramadan style fasts but you don't necessarily have to practice fasting only when the sun is up the idea here is to pick a number of hours that you want to fast for during the day say 18 hours and then you have a small window of 6 hours to eat every day ideally you want to reduce this to about a 4 hour window and then fast for 20 hours every day this style of fasting works best if you can commit to it for several weeks which gets your body in the same state as if you did a 3 day water fast then we have dry fasting before I even describe this one I'd like to express not to try this fast until you have practiced other forms of fasting for a long time and not to practice it without supervision that said this is going to blow your mind there is this myth out there that humans can only survive without water for 3 days and then you'll die however the longest record of surviving on a dry fast is actually 18 days it is suggested that this is the same fast that was practiced by Jesus Buddha, Moses and Krishna in the old scriptures but nobody knows for sure dry fasting is particularly intense because it involves cessation of both food and liquid for the duration of the fast some even restrict physical contact with water as well because under dry fasting conditions the skin becomes even more absorbative to the moisture in the air and what you touch normally toxins are released through the liquid in the body but since there is very little water in the body at this point toxins are eliminated by a unique mechanism whereby each cell essentially becomes its own furnace to burn up its own waste by attempting to rebalance the heightened level of pressure between the inside and the outside of the cells this method of fasting also releases more living stem cells into the body than regular fasting a Russian doctor named Dr. Filonov has practiced medical dry fasting with his patients and experienced some tremendous results in healing some very deadly diseases and has compiled his research into a book called dry medical fasting myths and reality a translation of the book is available on our website and will provide links below in the author comments my live action counterpart Jordan actually did a seven day drive fast between the August eclipses of 2017 and you can read about them on his blog which will also post a link to that in the comments too there's also a lot of new fasting systems that have been invented such as the master fast cleanse this is a fast which combines intermittent juice fasting and dry fasting where you consume dark juices for six hours per day and then dry fast for the remaining 18 hours until the next hydration period you also consume a small amount of psyllium husk pudding with activated charcoal and bentonite clay which is essentially a fiber that massages your intestines and peels toxins out of your colon as it moves through then once a week you dry fast and that longer dry fast duration increases over the course of the fast which is upwards of 60 to 120 days our friend Giovanni did this fast and if you'd like to read about the experiences he had you can do so on the collective evolution website and we'll post links in the author comments below now again for those who are just starting fasting or who even are seasoned vets we'd like to give you some warnings and advice to keep everyone safe firstly be careful and don't push yourself too hard if you've never done fasts before it can be jarring and very difficult to do a fast more than a day or two but that's a great place to start the first three or four days are always the hardest but once you get into the flow of it you might even find that you're not even hungry once the fat burning really begins also fasting becomes easier with every friend or family member you do it with when you have mutual support from the community around you it's just naturally easier than if everyone around you is eating and you are not where it becomes incredibly easy to fall off the fast before your body has fully reset moving on in the conversation of health and nutrition now it's time for us to really get our hands dirty as the topic shifts to literally the dirt on agriculture when addressing the topic of nutrition and healing diseases with food I wish we could simply say eat fruits and vegetables and all of your problems will be solved this idea has a lot of truth to it especially if we live in a world of perfect gardens however we need to apply a little bit more awareness to what is going on behind the scenes in the modern world of agriculture if we are to see the bigger picture to make more informed choices when it comes to our health and wellness because of the way we have constructed our lives as a species when investigating industrial plant based agriculture we have found that the system is in the same kind of trouble as it is with many other industries that we've looked at previously one of the key takeaways from those discussions is how the mass industrial production of meat and dairy causes diseases and damage to our bodies due to the way these systems are built, managed and commercialized the lack of concern for the health and well-being of the animals translates to the consumption of the unhealthy end results and this is not to mention the fact that we consume way too many of the wrong kinds of those products at a base level we must become aware that this same phenomenon is happening with our plant foods as well the issues surrounding plant based agriculture are slightly different but don't let that fool you they are just as dangerous as any other of the heavily commercialized industrial practices that we are on our health although there seems to be fewer diseases related to the consumption of mass produced plants they're still responsible for major health issues due to modern chemical agriculture genetic modification and low nutrient quality and density once we found that the most traditional nourishing plants on the planet have now the lowest levels of nutrients within them that they've ever had we just had to find out why and one of the things we found is that it all comes down to the dirt you see, we are made up of the same basic elements that the earth is made of and share the same elements that make up all of life most commonly, these are hydrogen oxygen, carbon, nitrogen phosphorus and sulfur these are among the most essential nutrients within dirt too the living creatures on the earth have used the very same molecules over and over again recycled through countless organisms dirt and even water dirt itself is very much alive in fact, 80% of the world's biomass is found within dirt including all six animal kingdoms of life plants, animals, archaeobacteria eubacteria, fungi and protests in fact, some recent studies have even shown that playing in dirt as children exposes us to these microbes that actually help our immune systems to grow and get better at naturally fighting disease microbiologist Marie Clark Arietta discussed this back in 2016 speaking to the star, she pointed out that when we're born we do not have any microbes our immune system is underdeveloped but as soon as microbes come into the picture they kick start our immune system to work properly without microbes our immune system can't fight infections well so it turns out that dirt isn't just good for our food but for our physical health as well with the amount of species that live inside of a teaspoon of dirt, you would be amazed to find out that it is literally just as alive as we are, in fact a single handful of terrestrial dirt contains more organized information than the surface of all other known planets in our solar system there are tens of billions of microorganisms in a single handful of dirt some living in harmony with each other and others in competition with each other this is all happening in perfect balance with countless different means by which everything is able to live together what we often call dirt that stuff you're trying to get off your car or driveway is not actually representative of what's really going on under our feet the soils and sediments that are necessary to keep our biosphere alive and healthy entirely exists as a living layer of the earth kind of like our skin is to our bodies this layer is referred to as the humus layer and is the most biodiverse substance known to science when you hear the word dirt in relation to the growing of food the establishment of forests and the health of entire ecologies it's humus that is being referred to so what does all this information about dirt have to do with nutrition and our physical health and that is an excellent question living soil is the foundation of the food system and healthy soil only comes from a living and thriving humus layer living soil is vital for supplying the food that we eat or the food that our food eats with vitamins nutrients and living energy without these things plants cannot be healthy enough to provide us with the nutrition we require to fuel a healthy body and vibrant state of being so if the soil is devoid of the biodiversity required to create the conditions appropriate for plant life if they even grow at all will not bear as nutritious a fruit as plants grown in soil abundant in a wide diversity of life this is the reason we are in the predicament we are today with our food having the lowest nutritional density it ever has in history over the course of the last 100 years or so our farming practices have had a dramatic impact on the dirt and therefore our food, our nutrition and our health are all being adversely affected as a result the American Midwest is once known as the bread basket of the world using modern machinery farmers across the prairies removed native grasses to plant often just one or two crops over an expanse of millions of acres this seemingly efficient system of farming called monoculture worked really well in the short term bringing record yields and profits because of the nutrient rich soil from thousands of years of natural plant growth that created a pristine layer of living humus however what the farmers didn't realize was that the living dirt was only dying off due to the destruction of the grasses fungal networks and microbial systems that form the very basis of a living prairie land without a solid biodiversity dirt has a hard time staying alive retaining water and growing plants leaving the soil dry and barren this practice is what resulted in the dust bowl of the 1930s after only a few years of drought heavy winds could just pick up the topsoil and blow it away and all of this is due to the practice of monoculture we have lost about one third of our topsoil in the last hundred years along with a tremendous amount of nutrients that should normally be in our soil which leaves our food largely nutritionally empty it's the problem of the way we do agriculture now millions of acres of a single crop the more we practice monoculture the more we destroy the soil the result is not just a lack of nutrients all kinds of ecological emergencies arise due to this for instance, worms are the nutrient exchangers of the soil they are responsible for providing up to 2 tons per hectare of chemicals and organic matter required for living humus since 1950, in Europe alone worm populations have gone down from 2,000 kilograms per hectare to less than 100 kilograms per hectare causing a devastating blow to the soil the result is the overuse of chemical fertilizers that are actually causing a quickening of the damages rather than helping and this is just the beginning of the issues at hand large amounts of a single crop can become a feeding frenzy for insects which adapt to thrive on this massive quantity of a certain food in order to deal with this problem pesticides are introduced to kill them these pesticides make their way into the ground destroying the vital life forms causing less and less soil fertility and more and more toxic conditions to the plants animals and even us if you think about it plants and insects are all biological organisms and very much function in the same basic ways that we all do if we are feeding insects a poison that will kill them the same stuff is going to kill us if we eat it too or at the very least be damaging to our bodies the next challenging aspect of our agriculture is the spraying of herbicides because all kinds of unwanted native plants begin to grow in the same area and choke out the intended crops once the herbicides have been sprayed there is no longer a balanced ecosystem that can handle the biodiversity of all of the various plant fungal, bacteria and insect life that make these areas their home this causes an even more highly saturated chemical soup in the soil, water table and air that interrupts the balance of all of life in the area and as if that isn't already enough of a biological disaster in order for the plants to be able to handle the massive levels of chemical intervention there is yet another new kind of threat to the ecology genetically modified organisms aka GMOs these new genetically modified franken plants are tinkered with at a genetic level to handle the various kinds of chemicals being sprayed among other things our bodies, the insects, the bacteria and the ecosystems are all negatively impacted because of this entire process this chemical cocktail paired with genetically modified organisms is the biggest problem with plant food and health as we know it today for instance the National Cancer Institute has found links between consuming pesticides to leukemia Hodgkin's disease non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and other forms of cancer pesticides have also been shown to disrupt the endocrine system, wreak havoc with hormone regulation in the body and disrupt the reproductive systems children are especially susceptible to the damage caused by consuming foods with pesticides, with results showing that they may greatly impact the development of the central nervous system and to think this is all just the end result of a single misunderstanding about growing society's food the naively simple yet tragically of monoculture it's at this time I'd love to bring up a video that you might have seen several years back it's called My Potato Project the importance of organic in which an adorable little girl named Elise presents her science experiment on the difference between organic and inorganic foods now the full video you can watch on your own it's pretty short and I do recommend it but here's the simple version she tried growing a non-organic store-bought potato and after three weeks nothing happened she started growing a store-bought organically certified potato and over a month it finally grew these in her own words wimpy little vines and finally she went to a local farmers market and got an organic potato from the grower who brought it directly from the farm after only one week it looked like this the entire project really is incredible for several reasons the first is observing just how much life energy natural foods have within it and how much of that is drained Elise also explains the dangers of these herbicides which go deep into the cell structure of the plants so washing them doesn't actually make a difference companies may claim that herbicides aren't bad but if they weren't toxic would the people spraying them really need to be wearing what look like radiation suits so what can we do with this information one simple answer is start a permaculture garden and we're going to explore that very soon otherwise if you can start frequenting farmers markets so that you can support the small local farmers who offer a wide variety of fresh vegetables grown with more traditional methods promoting healthier soil if you are a farmer or no farmers who may be using traditional practices we want to say thank you even more than this if you are doing the practices of permaculture we are deeply grateful as it surely takes a great deal of time, devotion and effort to convert your farm over to these more wholesome systems anyone introducing healthy crop rotation cycles permacultural practices or creating vertical greenhouses to save space are helping everyone and everything to be healthier and happier in every way and at this moment I'd love to extend an open invitation to all of the large industrial agriculture organizations responsible for creating the chemicals equipment and GMOs that are poisoning our people and our planet we understand that you're doing the best that you can with the information that you have and that all of the resources spent on pesticides herbicides and GMOs are a result of years of monoculture development out of necessity, it required you to implement those systems with that said, I'd like to invite you to take account of everything we've explored in this movie and make a change if you change your system internally from the top and restructure the way food is grown across all of your farms you set yourself up to be seen as heroes to the people of the planet by supporting and demonstrating what it means to live in harmony with the earth in this way, you set yourself up for a long, healthy and sustainable practice in the world and continue to thrive as an organization now this part of the conversation was mostly all based around land, agriculture and plants, but we also have to take a moment to acknowledge that this same exact thing is happening in our seas and oceans and it's having a very dire and adverse effect to all of the marine life and the natural ecosystems on the planet as a result oil and garbage pollute the water choking its inhabitants and causing tremendous suffering for literally everyone for example, it was recently discovered that the tiny synthetic fibers of our clothes are released bit by bit through our washing machines and end up in the very fish that we eat and in 2019, it was shown that ice sheets in the Arctic actually contained traces of microplastic let that sink in for a moment, the Arctic one of the most remote regions on our planet is suffering as a consequence of our plastic dumping it's very important that as we re-evaluate and change our farming and agricultural practices on land we also must do the same thing for our relationships and practices with aquatic life cultivating a healthy and sustainable practice of aquaculture but with everything that we've looked at even when times may seem bleak the truth is we are in the process of discovering the miracle of who we really are and step into a whole new way of life on earth but to get there it takes a deep respect for all of life and honoring all that has come before us so don't fear, have faith and know that we are here with you every step along the way to see this world into a new age of light understanding and cultivating the requirements for living a healthy life is one of the most important foundations we need to build as both individuals and as a species we can see very clearly that when the body is healthy the mind works right when the mind works right the emotions are more fluid and true when the emotions are true the spirit can thrive and simply having a more healthy body can dramatically increase our spiritual connection to ourselves when the whole ecosystem of our body of consciousness thrives we become powerful creators in our own rights as we do this collectively the entire world is transformed into the paradise it's designed to be through our good work in the world it is critically important that we do this work both internally and externally because we need to bring both into balance to create real harmony as Bruce Lipton teaches us epigenetics, the environment is what shapes our genetics, the individual epigenetics is the subset of phenomenon which affects genes from outside the DNA but of course the DNA still plays a vital role epigenetics are simply described as changes caused by the environment that affect how our genes are passed on these flow hand in hand in a perpetual cycle of give and take throughout our existence we would be remiss not to follow the basic rules of planet earth for these most important rules that make a difference when it comes to living as connected planetary beings throughout our series on food, nutrition and health we've touched on only a few of the challenges and roadblocks to living a life full of health and wellness there are so many more things we could talk about like the environmental and ethical atrocities of leather farms the greenhouse gas emissions produced by factory animal farming the deforestation of the amazon to produce beef the mass pollution of waterways from the runoff of these farms the amount of grain and water required to feed all of these farm creatures that deforests and pollutes even more land the bioaccumulation of toxins in our water using render farms to grind up dead animals to feed to our pets cruel fishing methods mass marine extinction and so much more and honestly if we just focus on that all the time and nothing else it's like oh lord excuse me it's time for me to go live on a mountain in seclusion for the rest of my life however before you sell all of your worldly possessions allow me to share with you something that can really make a difference and support the cultivation of great change now don't get me wrong focus on the problems is important for us to understand them to see how we've created the mess we have but if we stare for too long and do nothing we just make ourselves depressed and never create anything new if we can shift our mindset and focus to a solutions based approach to these challenges we can shift our behavior and produce beautiful change with rapid speed and this is exactly what happened in Australia many years ago in the late 1960s two pioneering academics in the world of agriculture came together to develop a new way of looking at how we live on the earth in relationship with the requirement of healthy food safe shelter clean water appropriate sun fresh air strong communities and happy lives by 1978 Bill mollison and David Holmgren published permaculture one and made it available to the public this evolved into the final design manual presented to the world by bill mollison in 1988 entitled permaculture a designer's manual it is from this manual that the world has been effectively changed for good and we are seeing the effects today permaculture is the modern world's first approach to a truly integrated set of practices that takes into consideration all aspects of the ecology in any given region and allows for human populations to thrive alongside them not at the expense of the ecology but rather because of it in fact in 2018 Jeff Lawton the protege and permaculture torch bearer of mollison since his death in 2016 there is a project that was established in the Dead Sea Valley of Jordan the driest and most desolate place on the earth which shows just how powerful the living earth actually is when her principles are used in very specific ways now not to spoil the surprise or anything but there is now a living food forest there with self enclosed running water fruiting trees vegetable and herb gardens thriving animals and a whole series of other miracles that would not have been possible without these incredible practices when we can get the paradigm correct everything becomes clear and concise the actions we need to take become specific measurable attainable relevant and timely these are referred to as smart goals sure these may have been introduced as a way for people to be more productive in the workplace but they are applicable across anything that we have a clear sailing objective towards in the case of permaculture we have been able to achieve not just a clear objective but also very specific results across the globe even in desert regions that nobody believed would be able to grow anything we know very well today that all living beings live as a part of a larger ecological framework if forests are destroyed the soil cannot thrive if the soil is devoid of the biodiversity it requires to sustain life plants cannot thrive if plants are nutritionally poor insects and animals suffer if these systems suffer so does the ability for all of life to maintain the ecosystems although humans have developed systems of agriculture that appear to be separate from this cycle of life this is only an illusion we are just as intimately connected to ecologies around us as any other creature on this wondrous living planet one article on the subject writes our research suggests that people who live in areas that have more and or larger trees on the streets report better health perception after controlling for demographic factors such as income age and education this same increase in health perception is also on average equivalent to being seven years younger results suggest that people who live in areas that have more and or larger trees on the streets report significantly fewer cardiometabolic conditions the reason why permaculture is so important right now and possibly the most important subject we can attend to in this day and age is because it is a practice which brings back the biodiversity of a living planet once again a biodiversity and ecology that we can participate with and thrive in permaculture is also available to everyone it's not very expensive to invest in some basic materials to get yourself started and due to the demand for healthy food there are many people now bringing permaculture to the marketplace in their own unique ways permaculture itself is like a social spiritual farming revolution bringing us back to the age of farming but in a new techno savvy way that doesn't require the same amount of land or equipment and encourages creativity in how you approach your practice for those who are interested you'll find a link in the comments below to a website to help you get started with permaculture as we've been exploring some of our other videos lately but what we're trying to do with permaculture and resources is what we will continue or discontinue to create in the world even if you yourself are not called to start your own permaculture garden you can support your local permaculture farmers the point is I want to invite you to do your best to live in alignment with the principles of the earth and maybe even discover just how powerful your daily micro commitments can be towards creating a more harmonious world one small act of love at a time that will bring us and longevity will be its own reward for your efforts bringing this series to a close there is one final thing that I must share as we've looked at before we are what we eat if we are eating healthy and living food then we will in turn reflect that same vibrance in life according to a recent estimate by the national institute of health 90% of cells in the human body are bacterial, fungal or otherwise non-human this means that up to 90% of your body is the growth of small organisms that aren't necessarily you at a conscious level everything you eat is or was alive at some level unless you're that one guy who ate the plane and when food is ingested it becomes part of your body of consciousness if the food we eat is artificially modified, poisoned or raised in an environment of fear and stress we will take on that same energy simply by putting it into our body what's amazing about this is that this is where many of our cravings actually come from it's not necessarily that we as in our souls want that cheeseburger but that the microorganisms that live inside us are hungry for a particular chemical combination of salt, sugar and fat and are emitting signals to our bodies that asks us to keep eating those foods but if we create the opportunity for ourselves to cleanse our bodies such as through fasting or eating differently or even plant medicine for organisms and over time the cravings we have changed naturally as a result we have this incredible ability to adapt our bodies do it on a daily basis if we have grown up eating unhealthy foods our bodies become used to this diet and learn to make it work however just because we can survive this way does not mean we are thriving to add to this more we must take into consideration that in addition to what you eat we must also be mindful of how we eat there is a practice known as mindful eating which is slowly eating, chewing thoroughly taking time to appreciate the texture and flavor of your food a great article published by psychology today about mindful eating says it helps us to become aware of who in the body-heart-mind complex is hungry and how and what is best to nourish it each of us are responsible for what we put into our bodies and we are responsible for the way that we feel when we can learn to shift our relationship with food and health we begin to thrive the more that we personally thrive the greater an impact we can have on the world Albert Einstein wrote that a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels what this means is that with all of the problems in the world, no amount of tinkering with these problems will create a dramatic change unless we change our own internal state first even from hermeticism that our outer world reflects our inner world the more we shift inside the greater ability we have to create a shift in the world outside one of the ways we do this is by recognizing that the internal and external are in constant flux every time you eat something you are bringing something outside in and the energy that you receive from the thing that you ate carries into the world through your actions so ask yourself what am I bringing into my body today and then what am I bringing into the world as a result throughout this series we've looked at a lot of different information regarding food health and how to optimize our personal ecosystems to thrive in a chaotic world with this I thank you so much for watching please don't forget to leave a comment if you learn something fun and we'll see you again soon in another spirit science video