Anti-Stress Nutrition Programme to Improve Mood,
Health, Behaviour and Learning
By Brenda Sampson
WAYS OF REDUCING THE BODY'S TOXIC LOAD TO REDUCE STRESS
Reduce the intake of environmental pollutants in air, food & water: Avoid polluting the air with sprays, perfumes, quick drying solvents, glues, oven cleaners, other cleaners with a chemical smell, gas heaters, pesticides, petrol fumes, smoke, tobacco smoke, paints, etc. Baking soda paste is an excellent cleaner for many surfaces. To reduce the use of fly spray, nets over windows help to keep out flies. Flies are attracted to light therefore most can be got rid of by drawing drapes and leaving a door open for a while. Cooking onions in particular attracts blowflies. NEVER spray cupboards, particularly ones that hold dishes, foodstuffs or clothes to keep out insects unless pure pyrethrum and then in moderation. Use the Feingold diet to avoid toxic food additives; 83% of additives are artificial flavours, dyes and preservatives plus caffeine/guarana.
Pure water is the best drink; buy a water purifier, collect rain water, use Petone water or advertise for a source of pure water.
THE BODY CAN BE POISONED FROM INSIDE IN THREE WAYS
1. Candida yeast infection (thrush) is very common today. It can occur in the bowel or in other parts of the body. When it multiplies it produces toxic wastes that can damage any system in the body, including the skin, causing eczema. Three things cause it to proliferate; antibiotics, the contraceptive pill and eating sugar and sweet foods. Eliminate sweet foods from the diet totally, use a barrier method of contraception and avoid antibiotics except in life threatening cases.
2. Negative emotions: Hormones generated by negative emotions such as fear and resentment are very potent, and toxic in excess. To minimise them replace fear with belief in a good outcome, and belief in God's love and protection. Replace resentment with forgiveness; forgiveness means saying "It doesn't matter." Fear is the root of all evil; resentment is its by-product.
3. Allergy: When under stress the body loses the ability to metabolise food correctly. This is called allergy. The foods that cannot be used correctly, become in effect, poisonous. To minimise this source of poisoning, avoid allergic foods and substances. The rule of thumb for recognising allergens (allergic substances) is that they are usually the things you do not like and never eat (these cause no trouble) or else the things you are over-fond of and eat a great deal. Of the nutritious foods, the commonest allergen by far is cow's milk, the second is wheat. Can be other grains and sometimes soy.
However, I believe that if any foods are to be eliminated from the diet, one should begin with the ones that are harmful or useless, such as the processed foods in packets and bottles that contain few vitamins or minerals and are usually loaded with chemicals and sugar. If it has a label, it has been added to, and a lot of the additives are poisonous.
So my protocol for treating eczema, asthma or hayfever would be:
1. Eliminate processed foods containing dyes, artificial flavours, sugar. Use the Feingold programme, including the second part concerning salicylate fruits which often contribute to eczema. Avoid all sugar and sweet foods. Avoid stimulant drinks which have a similar effect in the body to sugar, in that they stimulate the adrenal glands to release glucose stored in the liver. All stimulants do this, including tobacco and other drugs. They stimulate because they are toxic, stressful, and therefore stimulate the adrenal glands. They give a lift because the extra glucose in the blood feels good; but this effect is temporary and is followed by a low in which one goes back to the stimulant for another fix, so the habit becomes an addiction. The effect on the adrenal glands of this constant misuse is that the glands become exhausted, and unable to cope with a real emergency.
2. Health will improve on this regime. If not entirely satisfied, do a trial elimination of milk products, then a trial elimination of wheat products. Candida often makes people sensitive to wheat and yeast, and these do better without commercial bread. Make homemade baking-powder bread using alternative flours, or gluten free flour.
3. In a questionnaire conducted by our Association, people listed 107 symptoms which improved under this regime using the Feingold programme, plus elimination of sugar and possibly milk or wheat. They included asthma, eczema and rhinitis (hay fever). Those still not satisfied could take allergy tests to identify other substances they may be allergic to. There are now practitioners, both medical and alternative, in a number of New Zealand towns, who do allergy testing. Names and addresses are available from our Association. Muscle testing is an easy test to learn, and one which can be done at home to members of one's family, if you can find a local person or a practitioner of Touch for Health (kinesiology) to demonstrate it. Kinesiology is also used as a treatment to cure allergies. Other self-help allergy tests are the pulse test (described in A. Coca's book "The Pulse Test"), or the pendulum. Information about these methods are available from healthshops.
4. Supplements of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids (EFA's) such as evening primrose oil and cod liver oil help allergy treatment. The medical profession is prejudiced against supplements, and says, "Eat a good balanced diet, and you do not need supplements". But people vary a great deal in their need for them; not everybody is the same. The gut is lined with microscopic fingerlike projections (villi) which are there to increase the surface area of the gut lining. Where digested food touches the gut lining it is absorbed through the lining into the blood. Unfortunately, in allergy, especially wheat and gluten allergy, the villi flatten, reducing the absorptive lining area, and leading to the common allergic problem of malabsorption of food and nutrients. This means that to get enough vitamins and minerals you sometimes have to take extra. Also in stress the body rapidly uses up its vitamins and minerals, and needs replacements. The supplements that seem to help allergic conditions to improve are: vitamin C, B-complex (especially B3, B5, B6) minerals zinc, manganese, magnesium and EFA gamma-linolenic acid, found in evening primrose oil. Also, digestive enzymes (such as Pancrex V available from chemists) improve digestion and therefore reduce allergies.
5. This article would not be complete without mentioning the value of exercise, relaxation, meditation, in reducing stress, and therefore benefiting allergic conditions. A pain management specialist, Norman Shealy, said, "All pain comes from stress. The best single antidote to stress is physical exercise." A book called "Relief without Drugs" by Ainslie Meares claims that relaxation and relaxed breathing will reduce both pain and stress, and shows how to do it. His method helped a fellow Australian, Ian Gawler, to overcome terminal cancer. Gawler thinks that relaxation and meditation are the first step in the healing process because they give such peace and clarity of mind.
6. Lastly anything that improves health will reduce stress and improve allergy symptoms. For example, sunshine, fresh air, exercise in the fresh air, enjoyment, games, sport, gardening, giving and receiving love; seabathing, happiness. "The three best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman."
