Conscious Eating Part 22

Dr. Rudolph Ballentine points out in his book Transition to Vegetarianism that over 40% of adults have been exposed to toxoplasmosis, a fungus in humans, dogs, cats, and other mammals. Toxoplasmosis has been known to cause blindness and mental r.e.t.a.r.dation in newborns. Most toxoplasmosis infections come from meat, and some may also come from cats. In the Cancer Journal for Clinicians, an article by Kin s.h.i.+m, M.D., reported that 100% of monkeys fed milk from leukemic cows developed leukemia within a year. In Denmark it was found that child leukemia was connected to the consumption of cow's milk taken from Danish cows that had leukemia. Twenty percent of the cows in Denmark have leukemia. The hypothesis is that a leukemia-inducing virus is transferred from cows, through their milk, to the children. The monkey leukemia infection suggests the same route of infection as the children of Denmark. All this animal- and food-related disease brings up the question of how long must people experiment with themselves as human "guinea pigs" before waking up to the dangers of eating flesh foods and dairy products?

Many people switch to poultry when they stop red meat. Unfortunately, poultry, which has a similar profile of dangers as red meat, has some outstanding problems of its own: high incidences of salmonella and campy-lobacter infections. According to Advances in Meat Research, by Pearson and Dutson, over 80% of chickens and 90% of turkeys are infected with campy-lobacter. These bacteria cause an intestinal infection similar to salmonella. These organisms have become antibiotic-resistant because of the high use of antibiotics in poultry. This means that when they cause an infection, antibiotics will not work effectively to kill the pathogenic bacteria.

According to the Project Censored ratings, a news report in the June 8, 1990 Pacific Sun, the "fowl" play in the chicken industry was voted one of the ten most underreported stories of 1989. In their article it is pointed out that the incidence of bacterial salmonella infection is now two and one-half million cases per year, including an estimated one-half million hospitalizations and nine thousand deaths. Apparently the epidemic is caused by a huge leap in consumer demand for "healthier food" called chicken, as they switch from red meat, and by a ma.s.sive failure of the US Department of Agriculture to inspect the chicken. A decrease in USDA staff led to an increase in contaminated chicken slipping through en ma.s.se. The article states: The USDA has placed gag orders on inspectors and destroyed doc.u.ments disclosing that the agency has approved ma.s.sive amounts of contaminated food.

In the Pacific Sun article, Dr. Carl Telleen, a retired USDA veterinarian, revealed how ... chicken carca.s.ses contaminated with feces, once routinely condemned or trimmed, are now simply rinsed with chlorinated water to remove stains.

According to Telleen, Thousands of dirty chickens are bathed together in a chill tank, creating a mixture known as "fecal soup" that spreads contamination from bird to bird.

This creates what Telleen calls "instant sewage." Articles like this make it easier for many readers to make the transition away from poultry a little faster.

In addition to these two potent bacteria, there may be a type of viruslike organism found in chicken tumors that seems to be transmittable to humans. This organism is thought to be identical to the microbe found by Dr. Peyton Rous in chicken tumors, which he showed to be transmittable. For this pioneering work he received a n.o.bel Prize in 1966. The extent to which the Rous virus might be a.s.sociated with human cancer is still debatable. As discussed earlier, the work by Virginia Livingston Wheeler, M.D., strongly suggests that most chickens are at least microscopically infected with cancer and that this chicken cancer, like the Rous virus, may be transmittable to humans.

To eat animals and fish in today's world is to take on the psychology of victim consciousness. Once informed of the dangers, it is hard to separate the eating of flesh food from a pa.s.sive form of death wish.

What if it were possible to consistently get organically grown beef and poultry? Would it be worthwhile to eat beef and chicken for our nutritional well-being? Nutritionally, meat is relatively high in iron, B12, and protein. However, it is not a balanced food and is almost totally lacking in vitamins A, C, and E. Flesh foods are also low in minerals such as calcium, and high in phosphorus. A high phosphorus pulls the calcium out of bones in an effort to achieve balance. The optimum phosphorus-to-calcium ratio is 20/1. The US Army Medical Research and Nutrition Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, has found that the more meat one eats, the more B6-deficient one becomes. A high-protein diet seems to cause severe deficiencies in B6, calcium, magnesium, and niacin. High flesh-food intake also increases ammonia in the body, which has been found by Dr. Willard J. Visek of Cornell University to be implicated as a carcinogenic agent. High ammonia in the system is also toxic to the nervous system.

A most significant problem a.s.sociated with flesh-eating is the fat one consumes with a high-meat diet. By eliminating the high fat intake a.s.sociated with the flesh diet, it is estimated that 90% of the deaths from colon cancer in the US would dramatically be eliminated. The risk of colon cancer for meat-eaters is 4.3 times greater than for vegetarians. Heart disease, according to the 1961 Journal of the American Medical a.s.sociation, would be drastically reduced by 97% if people were vegetarian. Cancer and heart disease are the two leading causes of death in this country. In beef, pork, and lamb, the percentage of calories that come from fat is 75% to 85%. Chicken is right up there with 60% of the calories coming from fat. Turkey has 55% of the calories in the form of fat. It is significant that these fatty foods are consumed in heated, cooked form.

Cooked fats, especially of animal origin, are positively harmful to health. The average American diet contains around 40-45% of calories in the form of cooked fats. This high percentage of cooked fat in the diet is a.s.sociated with the increased incidence of heart disease, cancer, and other chronic degenerative conditions.

Although nuts and seeds have oil contents as high as the fat contents in some flesh food, because these plant-based foods do not contain cholesterol or store ingested estrogen and other chemicals in their oil as do animals, these foods are much safer and healthier. Nuts and seeds can be eaten raw, preferably soaked. When they are eaten in this form, the naturally occurring, fat-digestive enzyme-lipase-helps to digest the oils in the nuts and seeds.

There seems to be a dramatically different effect for raw and cooked fat in the diet. It actually holds true for raw meat as well. Raw meat, like live fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains, possesses viable fat-digestive enzymes which are not destroyed unless heated. I am not suggesting that we start a raw, flesh-food fad, however. The real issue a.s.sociated with fats and their linkage to cardiovascular disease may not simply be the amount of fat in the diet, but whether the fat is raw or cooked. The well-respected, nutritionally oriented physician Henry Bieler, M.D., in his book Food Is Your Best Medicine, makes exactly the same point in his discussion of cardiovascular disease. He writes: Overeating of fats and oils, as long as they are in their natural state, cannot cause arterial disease.... It is only when unnatural fats, or fats which have been altered by being overheated, are consumed as food that the trouble arises.

The Fat of the Land Is Not So Dangerous if It's Raw.

TO COMPLETE THE DISCUSSION OF FATS, oils, and raw foods, one needs to be familiar with the terms "cis isomer" and "trans isomer." Isomers are two compounds that have the same atoms but different chemical and physical properties because they are structurally organized in a different way. The cis form is the biologically active form of fatty acids, and it is organized in a curved structure. The trans form is the biologically inactive form, and it is organized with a straight structure. The cis form of the essential fatty acids can be biologically processed by the body to form the biologically active fatty acids and prostaglandins. The trans form cannot be biologically processed in an effective way by the body and essentially clogs the metabolic pathways. The cis form of fatty acids is found in the live, whole foods and to a lesser extent in low-heat-processed, extracted oils.

Dr. Dougla.s.s of the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles reports that not only does cooking fats change the molecular configuration of fatty acids from what is called a "cis" to a "trans" configuration, but also pressing and hydrogenating changes fats from the curved cis formation to a straight trans formation. This trans configuration of the fatty acids goes into the molecular configuration of our cell membranes just as the normal cis formation does. The result is that the trans fats partially block the respiration function of the cell membrane. This seems to be a.s.sociated with a less efficient cell function and even cancer. Many studies, for example, have shown that fried fats are highly carcinogenic. This is one reason why no margarine exists that is healthy to eat because every brand contains processed fats with a high percentage of trans fatty acids.

Another major difference between processed and raw fats is the enzyme content. Studies on the Eskimos who eat raw blubber by the pound show no significant incidence of hardening of the arteries or other forms of circulatory disease, including hypertension. On the other hand, Eskimos of the same genetic background who had taken up modern civilization's habit of cooking their food, and who kept the same high-fat diet, had a high percentage of cardiovascular diseases. In addition to the difference between cis and trans structures, another major difference is the active lipase found in the raw blubber. Lipase is the enzyme needed to digest fat. In the raw form, the fat contains a significant amount of lipase to help with its own digestion. All throughout nature, when the raw fats of an animal or raw oils of plants are eaten along with their a.s.sociated enzymes, no harmful effect on the arteries or heart seems to result. (Fats that come from animal sources are opaque; oils that come from plant sources, with the exception of coconut oil, are translucent.) This doesn't contradict the studies on high fat intake and their a.s.sociation with cardiovascular disease because the studies were all done primarily with cooked fats in which the lipase is destroyed and the fat molecular structure is changed. The nutritionists who strongly urge low-fat diets seem to have overlooked this major difference between cooked and raw fats. What this means is that vegetarians who have raw avocados and raw, soaked, or sprouted nuts or seeds do not have to be as concerned about atherosclerosis; however, beware that an excess of raw oils in the diet may cause some problems, such as red blood cell clumping, decreased blood flow in smaller vessels, and less oxygen getting to the tissues.

All types of processing of oils tend to destroy the lipase, not just cooking. For example, olives and coconuts have plenty of lipase, but their oils have none. In general, oils as they occur naturally in plants, as in sunflower seeds and avocados, have all their nutrients and enzymes intact, whereas the extracted oils, even if cold-pressed, are missing many nutrients and their a.s.sociated enzymes. The usual form of heat-processed, polyunsaturated oils containing the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, such as safflower and other vegetable cooking oils, may have 20-50% of their fatty acids in the trans form. Foods high in processed, polyunsaturated, fatty acids include bakery goods, processed meats, soups, candies, cookies, and fried foods. These heat-processed polyunsaturated fatty acids may actually lead to a deficiency of essential fatty acids because we fill ourselves up with these trans fatty acids instead of the raw, active, cis essential fatty acids. Research reported in the March 1971 issue of Lancet has also shown that these heat-processed, polyunsaturated, fatty acids-although linked to decreased heart disease to some extent-have been a.s.sociated with the near doubling of cancer rates as compared to control people in the study who were on a low intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The fact that cancer rates increased may result from the effect of the high amount of trans fatty acids produced in the processing, and because of the increase in free radical production from the heating of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the cooking and processing of the oils.

Until some research is done to prove otherwise, the main danger of fats and oils is from being cooked, irradiated, hydrogenated, fried, or even cold-pressed. Oils in small to moderate amounts seem to be quite safe if they are ingested in their natural form in whole, uncooked foods. This is not an invitation to push the raw oil and fat intake up to 40% of the diet, as we see in the typical American diet. Although there is not enough research to doc.u.ment exactly how much uncooked food is safe that is high in fat or oil, my general feeling is 10-20% of calories from fat in the diet is healthy and safe. The percentage varies with each person according to their const.i.tution. A diet that is approximately 10% calories from natural, whole, uncooked, high-fat or high-oil foods will be healthier for kapha and pitta const.i.tutions; a diet that is healthier for vata const.i.tutions will be closer to 20%. Aside from nuts and seeds and a few high-fat fruits or vegetables, like avocados, a vegetarian diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and legumes has a minimum of oil. In other words, a normal vegetarian diet is a low-oil diet.

A High-Flesh-Food Diet is an Unhealthy, Low-Fiber Diet.

ANOTHER PROBLEM a.s.sOCIATED WITH A HIGH-FLESH-FOOD DIET is the low fiber content. Red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and cheese are essentially devoid of fiber. The lack of fiber is a.s.sociated with a sluggish digestive tract. A sluggish colon produces such symptoms as constipation and acc.u.mulation of toxins. One of the beneficial functions of fiber is to help remove toxins from the colon. For example, fiber removes toxins secreted by the liver and bile and also removes the cancer-causing bile acid breakdown products. If these toxins and bile acid breakdown products are not removed, they often are reabsorbed into the system through the colon. Also, certain bacteria grow on the bile acids and produce a cancer co-factor that is a.s.sociated with cancer of the colon. Dietary fiber is also important for removing radioactive breakdown products from the colon. Fiber is needed for normal bowel functioning. I often see people who have had difficulties with constipation and gas develop normal bowel functioning when they switch to a high-fiber, vegetarian diet.

As the awareness of moral issues and health consciousness continues to awaken in our world, it will become easier and easier to give up flesh foods. In making the transition through Stage One, and for that matter, through any of the four stages, it is important to move slowly enough that one can fully integrate each step of the way to facilitate a permanent change. Fasting from flesh foods for one week four times a year helps to support one's transition away from flesh foods.

Preview of Chapter 22.

THERE ARE NO NUTRIENTS FOUND IN FISH that cannot be found in safer and more healthy vegetarian sources. At one time it was thought that fish had the highest percentage of omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to prevent blood clotting. Flaxseed has at least 18-24% omega fatty acids as compared to 0-2% in fish. What fish do have in abundance as compared to vegetarian food is mercury PCBs, salmonella, and hepat.i.tis virus found in polluted waters. The toxicity in many fish is so serious that some studies have found that babies whose mothers ate fish from Lake Michigan had lower birth weight and more neurological problems. There are no good reasons for hanging on to our old habitual flesh-food patterns by continuing to eat fish, and many reasons for letting go. This is the last big step in the transition to a vegetarian diet. Are you ready to make this "off-fishal" transition into a new world of health and spiritual enhancement?

I. Why fish was once considered a viable alternative to beef and chicken A. Fish are high in minerals B. Fish protect against certain diseases C. Omega-3 fatty acids II. Flaxseed is a much better alternative to fish EPA.

A. Flaxseed contains more omega-3 fatty acids than fish provides.

B. How to take flax.

III. Dangers of eating fish-PCBs and mercury toxicity.

Stage Two: Not a Time to Go Fis.h.i.+ng.

THE KEY FEATURES OF THE STAGE TWO DIET increase the amount of organic, health-promoting foods to about 90% and phase out fish and chicken. To eliminate flesh foods from one's diet except for fish and chicken is a major step toward health. Usually, most people seem to naturally eliminate chicken first.

Fish, in many ways, seems to be a transition food in our culture. Sometimes fish are euphemistically referred to as "sea vegetables." This is a nice way to avoid acknowledging that we are eating a living, breathing, moving, conscious animal form. Ecologically speaking, fish do not destroy topsoil as the poultry and animal industries do. Fish also possess several healthy nutritional aspects. Lean fish, such as flounder, haddock, and cod, have as little as one percent fat. This makes them a relatively fat-free source of concentrated protein. Marine fish are also good nutritional sources of selenium, iodine, and many trace minerals not found in poultry and red meat. They are high in vitamins A and D and also vitamin B12. The fact that fish have these beneficial nutrients does not mean, however, that I recommend fish on a general basis.

Perhaps the most important nutritional attribute of fish is the high content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both derivatives of omega-3 fatty acid, commonly known as linolenic acid. The main omega-3-containing fish are cold-water fish: mackerel, sardines, tuna, trout, and salmon. Researchers have found that diets high in EPA protect against heart disease, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, and peripheral vascular diseases, including gangrene. The high concentrations of EPA seem to act as a natural blood thinner and antisludge factor. Decreasing the clotting tendency of the blood is probably the main mechanism by which the EPA works to create less mortality from heart disease. It is generally recognized that EPA also decreases cholesterol and triglyceride levels. DHA, which is the main long-chain fatty acid in the brain, is discussed in detail in Chapter 30, "Nutrition for Pregnancy." Although we can synthesize it, our ability to do so decreases with age. The main source of it for vegetarians is a golden algae, although DHA is found in most sea algaes.

There is a plant-based source of omega-3 fatty acids that not only rivals but surpa.s.ses fish sources on all counts. According to Donald Rudin, M.D., and Clara Felix, in The Omega-3 Phenomenon, flaxseed is the highest in omega-3 fatty acids of all foods. Flaxseed omega-3 cuts blood cholesterol by 25% and triglycerides by 65%. EPA is also produced in the human body from one of the omega-3 "essential" fatty acids called linolenic acid. The word "essential" in this context means that the human body cannot produce linolenic acid by itself, but must depend on outside sources to supply it. Fish oils are known to have a high content of essential fatty acids, especially the omega-3 fatty acids, including the linolenic acid which is made into EPA by the body. The fatty acids are components in every cell in the body and help to determine the biological properties of these cells. The World Health Organization suggests that 3% of the total caloric intake for adults should be from essential fatty acids. Children and pregnant and lactating women are advised to take 6%. The essential fatty acids provide energy to the body, maintain body temperature, insulate the nerves, enhance the immune system, and protect body tissues. The two princ.i.p.al forms of essential fatty acids for humans are the omega-6 and the omega-3 fatty acids.

The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are the biological precursors to a group of highly reactive, short-lived, molecular, hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins (PGAs). The PGAs play a role in regulating the second-by-second functioning of every part of the body. Each organ produces its own PGAs from the essential fatty acids stored in that organ. The PGAs are critical for cell membrane function because they become a part of the membrane construction themselves. PGAs help to balance and heal the immune system as well as reduce inflammatory reactions such as those seen in arthritis and allergic reactions. If there are dietary imbalances that lead to imbalances in the PGAs, then disease may arise. Although the research is not definitive, a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids of approximately 4/1 seems to be the best balance.

In the omega-6 series there is linoleic acid (LA), gamma linolenic acid (GLA), dih.o.m.o-gamma linolenic acid (DGLA), and arachidonic acid (AA). The omega-6 fatty acids are found in seed oils such as sunflower, safflower, corn, soy, and evening primrose. Peanut oil has some omega-6, as do olive, palm, and coconut oils. High amounts of GLA are found in mother's milk, primrose oil, borage, and black currant oil.

Fish are found to have high amounts of EPA and some moderate amounts of the precursors of the omega-3 series. Fortunately, vegetarians do not have to worry about sources of omega-3 fatty acids because flaxseed, walnuts, legumes, and sea vegetables have high concentrations. In the omega-3 series, there is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

The omega-3 series should const.i.tute approximately 10 to 20% of our fat intake. Some of the reported benefits of the omega-3s include protection against heart disease, strokes, and clots in the lungs; anticarcinogenic activity against tumors; protection against diabetes; prevention and treatment of arthritis; and treatment for asthma, PMS, allergies, inflammatory diseases, water retention, rough, dry skin, and multiple sclerosis. The omega-3s are reported to increase vitality and contribute to smoother skin, s.h.i.+nier hair, softer hands, smoother muscle action, the normalization of blood sugar, increased cold weather resistance, and a generally improved immune system. Omega-3s are also important for visual function, development of the fetal brain, brain function in adults, adrenal function, sperm formation, and the amelioration of some psychiatric behavior disorders. It may take three to six months after starting flaxseed oil supplementation to see results.

Flaxseed contains 18-24% omega-3 compared to the low content in fish of 0 to 2%. This is significant because many people mistakenly think that they need to eat fish in order to get the omega-3-derived EPA for heart and artery protection. Abundant research on the subject indicates that this is simply not true. The vegetarian flaxseed has many major advantages over fish oil. The first is that the omega-3 is a basic building block in the human body for many functions, only one of which is to make EPA. The fish oil doesn't supply omega-3; it supplies the EPA-and therefore limits the body's options to make what it needs from the omega-3. Thus, the omega-3 is a better nutritional resource than the high-EPA fish oil.

Another major difference is the fiber that comes in the flaxseed. Fish has no fiber and also is a highly concentrated food. Unlike many other plants, flaxseed has a special fiber called lignin that our body converts to lignans, which help to build up the immune system and have specific anticancer, antifungal, and antiviral properties. High levels of lignans are a.s.sociated with reduced rates of colon and breast cancer. Just ten grams, or about one to two teaspoons of flaxseed oil per day, raises levels of the lignans significantly. A third advantage of the flaxseed oil over fish oil is that fish and fish oil are high in cholesterol. Three and one-half ounces of cod liver oil contain 570 milligrams of cholesterol, which equals the amount found in two egg yolks. The fourth advantage of flaxseed oil over fish oil is the fact that fish are often high in toxic residues because they sometimes live in polluted waters. The fifth reason flaxseed is more propitious is that high levels of fish oil are rich in vitamin A and D, which can be toxic in high doses. Please note that provitamin carotene, which is converted by the body to utilizable vitamin A, cannot be toxic like animal-sourced vitamin A.

How to Take Flax.

ALTHOUGH SOME CLINICIANS HAVE ESTIMATED that one regularly needs as much as three tablespoons of flaxseed oil per day, this may be more a therapeutic dosage than a maintenance dose. Dr. Rudin, a flaxseed researcher, uses two to five tablespoons per day. Researchers at Omega Nutrition, who produce a high-quality flaxseed oil, claim that a healthy daily dose is closer to one teaspoon of oil per day or three teaspoons of the flaxseed in its whole form. Flaxseed oils from Omega Nutrition and Barleans seem to be the flaxseed oils on the market with the most enzymes preserved and the least amount of fatty acids changed from cis to trans. Because their flaxseed oil is so close to the natural state, it is the one exception to using free oils in the diet.

When taken as a whole seed, the flaxseed can be soaked, as with other seeds, in order to deactivate the enzyme inhibitors. I have found it best to use them in a blender with water, fruits, vegetables, or other seeds. Breaking up the soaked seeds in a blender makes them easier to a.s.similate and minimizes the laxative effect from the whole soaked seeds. One can also just grind the whole, dry flaxseed in a coffee mill and take it directly. This is the easiest and perhaps the most effective way to take the flaxseed. Conversely, when oil is extracted, which causes some omega-3 loss, it begins to break down to plain fatty acids, which may not happen when flaxseed is soaked. I feel that the addition of flaxseeds to the diet is important for vegetarians, particularly live-fooders. I have had several cases of people on a raw-food diet that did not include flaxseeds who had health problems which disappeared within a month after they began taking flaxseed or flaxseed oil. I consider flaxseed an essential for a healthy live-food diet. If one wants to take flaxseed oil instead of the seeds themselves, the oil should be packaged in a light- and air-blocking container and should not have been heated to temperatures above 118 degrees F during the processing and bottling. Once opened, the flaxseed oil should be refrigerated and consumed within three to six weeks. In an unopened state it will retain its strength for four months. Freezing will extend shelf life for up to one year.

Fis.h.i.+ng in Polluted Waters.

FROM A PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW, eating fish is potentially dangerous because of the widespread, ever-increasing pollution of the waters of the world. The biggest water contaminants are the PCBs and mercury. PCBs, along with dioxin, DDT, and dieldrin, are among the most toxic of chemicals on the planet. According to J. Culhane, in his 1988 article "PCBs: The Poisons That Won't Go Away," only a few parts per billion of these substances can cause cancer and birth defects in lab animals. The Tenth Annual Report of the Council on Environmental Quality sponsored by the US government found PCBs in 100% of all sperm samples. According to a Was.h.i.+ngton Post article in 1979, the PCBs are considered one of the main reasons that the average sperm count of the American male is approximately 70% of what it was thirty years ago. This same article also points out that 25% of college students were sterile at the time as compared to one-half of one percent thirty-five years earlier. Most toxicity experts agree that the main source of human contamination comes from eating fish from waters in which the PCB levels are high, which today can be almost anywhere. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that fish can acc.u.mulate up to nine million times the level of PCBs in the water in which they live. PCBs have been found in fish from the deepest and most remote parts of the world's oceans.

Fish and sh.e.l.lfish are natural acc.u.mulators of toxins, because they live and are flushed by the water in which they dwell. Sh.e.l.lfish such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops filter ten gallons of water every hour. In a month, an oyster will acc.u.mulate toxins at concentrations that are 70,000 times greater than the water they are living in. The problem isn't solved by not eating fish when one realizes that half the world's fish catch is fed to livestock. According to Diet for A New America, more fish are consumed by US livestock than by the entire human population of all the countries in Western Europe. Periodic testing in the US has found eggs and chickens highly contaminated with PCBs after being fed fish that were contaminated with PCBs.

Mercury toxicity from ingesting fish is another well-known source of illness. Two forms of mercury are the most dangerous. One is the quicksilver mercury and the other is methylmercury, which is about fifty times more toxic. Although there is a general agreement that mercury in plants is a less toxic form, experts do not agree as to whether the mercury in fish is stored primarily in the form of the more toxic methylmercury. In any case, children and adults who ate fish from mercury-contaminated waters in Mina-mata Bay, j.a.pan, in 1953, along the Agano River in Niigata, j.a.pan, in 1962, and other locations in Iraq, Pakistan, and Guatemala, all have suffered death, coma, or a variety of brain and neurological damage.

Aside from these more acute incidents of chemical factory mercury contamination, such contamination of fish is widespread. According to Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., mercury toxicity is being reported with increasing frequency by physicians as well as dentists. The two main contributing factors seem to be a diet high in fish and the common use of silver-mercury amalgams for dental work. Fish consumption alone may be enough to cause mercury toxicity. An article by the Canadian Medical a.s.sociation in 1976 reported that Indians in Northern Canada, who ate over one pound of fish per day, had symptoms of mercury poisoning. A 1985 study in West Germany of 136 people who regularly consumed fish from the Elbe River found a correlation between the blood levels of both mercury and pesticides and the amount of fish eaten.

Fish and sh.e.l.lfish may also carry their own toxins. The most common of these toxins is ciguatera poisoning. The cigua toxin is both a neurotoxin and gastrointestinal toxin which may give symptoms of numbness and tingling to lips, nausea, abdominal cramps, paralysis, convulsions, and even death. A little less than one case in ten is fatal. Certain species of red snapper, pompano, jackfish, grouper, and eel may have the toxin. Certain sh.e.l.lfish such as clams, mussels, scallops, and crabs may take in a toxic substance from plankton at certain times of the year, which may also cause a poisoning effect similar in severity to ciguatera poisoning. This poisoning is difficult to treat. I have seen at least one patient who was unable to work for several years after suffering such a poisoning.

Because there do not seem to be any fish available that are not potentially filled with toxins, one should consider carefully whether it's worth the risk to eat fish. In a study published in the Diet and Nutrition Letter of Tufts University, it was reported that the more fish pregnant mothers ate from Lake Michigan, the more their babies showed abnormal reflexes, general weakness, slower responses to external stimuli, and various signs of depression. They found that mothers eating fish only two or three times a month produced babies weighing seven to nine ounces less at birth and with smaller heads. Jacobsen, in a follow-up study that was reported in Child Development, found that there was a definite correlation between the amount of fish the mothers ate and the child's brain development, even if fish were eaten only one time per month. He found that the more fish the pregnant mothers ate, the lower was the verbal I.Q. of the children. Children are usually the most sensitive to toxins, and they are prime indicators of what may be happening to adults on a more subtle level. A Swedish study in 1983 found that the milk of nursing mothers who regularly ate fatty fish from the Baltic Sea had higher levels of PCBs and pesticide residues than even meat-eaters. Lactovegetarians were found to have the lowest pesticide residues in this study.

The sanitation problem a.s.sociated with fish and sh.e.l.lfish must also be considered. Once the fish or sh.e.l.lfish are caught en ma.s.se in the trawler nets, the crus.h.i.+ng pressure on the fish causes the intestinal contents to be squeezed out, contaminating the rest of the catch. Also, the fis.h.i.+ng net is oftentimes dragged across the bottom of the ocean where the sediment is highly contaminated with toxins and bacteria. In the book Basic Food Microbiology, it is reported that the contamination from the sediment results in a bacterial count that ranges up to a million per gram. This is a very high count; salmonella, for example, in counts as low as one to ten bacteria per gram, have caused infections in humans. Salmonella is not so much a problem with shrimp, but more with bottom-feeding fish and sh.e.l.lfish in coastal waters which have been polluted by sewage. By the time fish have reached port, most have suffered considerable contamination and microbial growth. The task of processing, which involves gutting and filleting, further spreads the contamination. The inspection of fish for contamination is more thorough than government inspection of beef and poultry. Sixty percent of the fish are inspected by the National Seafood Quality and Inspection Laboratory. Sh.e.l.lfish are inspected under a special surveillance agency set up after a typhoid breakout in 1925.

Not only do the bodies of fish become the repositories of chemical toxins, but they have the propensity to concentrate microorganisms as well, especially salmonella and hepat.i.tis. In Basic Food Microbiology, it shows that 7 to 20% of sh.e.l.lfish and 40% of the mussels gathered from five separate collecting stations were contaminated with salmonella. Some, but not all, of this bacterial and viral contamination can be avoided if the sh.e.l.lfish are cooked. For example, in Transition to Vegetarianism, Dr. Ballentine reports that a bacterial count of over a million per gram was found in crabs that were boiled for thirty minutes.

I have presented many reasons why one would want to give up fish. There are no nutrients found exclusively in fish that cannot be found in safer, healthier, vegetarian sources. Although seafood was once considered a healthy food, modern-day pollution has made it risky to eat. The biggest reason of all not to eat fish is to love oneself more than being addicted to old eating patterns of culture and convenience.

Preview of Chapter 23.

STAGE THREE IS THE FIRST STEP INTO VEGETARIANISM. It is a major lifestyle change and needs to be experienced in that light. There may be some minor psychological s.h.i.+fts as well as a slow detoxification process that is initiated. By moving into it slowly and peacefully these changes will have a minimal impact. The two best-known diets for a beginning vegetarian are the Airola Diet and macrobiotics. Both these diets will be discussed. You may settle into either of these two diets and be quite comfortable. The conscious eater diet includes these and, by the end of Stage Three, takes you a little further for optimal health. It allows you to do building or cleansing, heating or cooling, and to balance yin and yang and acid-base. In this chapter you are introduced to the concept of biogenic and bioactive foods and fermented foods. Questions about dairy products, calcium balance, fiber, oxalates, and phytates are also addressed. In beginning a vegetarian diet, give yourself four to six months to make the transition. Are you ready to change to a diet that will significantly improve your health and aid your spiritual well-being?

I. Developing a vegetarian diet II. Biogenic foods III. The psychology of the transition to vegetarianism IV. Holy cow! Pros and cons of dairy products V. The Airola Diet.

VI. The Macrobiotic Diet.

VII. Fermented live foods.

VIII. Nuances of the Stage Three diet.

Stage Three: Developing a Vegetarian Diet.

THE TRANSITION TO A VEGETARIAN DIET IS A MAJOR LIFE STEP. People come to vegetarianism in many different ways. Some choose it for ethical reasons, others to minimize cruelty to animals, others for health reasons, some to help preserve the ecology or to create an atmosphere for world peace, and some make the change for specifically spiritual reasons or to enhance their meditation. For many the change may be motivated by a combination of all of these arguments. Whatever the reason, it is a transition worth understanding so it can be done gracefully and in the most healthy, harmonious, and peaceful way. By making the changes gradually, one gives the body, mind, and circle of family and friends a period of adjustment that supports the transition. This approach helps to guarantee a sustained s.h.i.+ft to a vegetarian way of life.

Most often, when one stops eating all red meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and other seafood, one naturally s.h.i.+fts from a high-protein, high-fat, low-fiber, low-complex-carbohydrate, high-pesticide diet to a low-fat, low-protein, high-natural-carbohydrate one. This high-, natural-, complex-carbohydrate and low-protein diet is the one recommended by the highly prestigious International Society for Research on Nutrition and the Diseases of Civilization.

Not everyone makes a smooth s.h.i.+ft from a flesh-centered to a vegetarian diet. There is a tendency for some people, under the illusion they are eating a low-fat and low-protein diet, to think that because they stopped eating the highly concentrated protein of flesh foods, they can begin eating large amounts of dairy, oily foods, tofu, and roasted nuts and seeds. These foods are high in cooked fats and protein and should not be eaten in excess either. The general findings of cross-cultural studies suggest that a diet high in natural complex carbohydrates and low in protein creates the best health, vitality, and longevity. Many of the cultures noted for longevity eat only one-half to one-third the protein that Western nations eat. Diets for fast oxidizers and parasympathetics require a higher ratio of protein and fat to carbohydrates, but can easily remain relatively low-protein. A diet high in complex natural carbohydrates includes fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains. This is the essential diet followed by long-lived people such as the Hunzas of Pakistan, many of whom live close to one hundred years or more, and the Russian Caucasians, called Abkhazians, who have seven times more centenarians per million than the US. Although the Abkhazians eat some meat, according to Paavo Airola, most of their centenarians are vegetarian. Other long-lived cultures, such as the Bulgarians and Vilcabamban Indians, also follow a similar diet. Americans, who are the world leaders in cancer, heart disease, arthritis, obesity, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, mortality rates, miscarriages and birth deformities, eat more meat, more protein, and probably more cooked fat than any other nation.

Biogenic Foods.

RAW OR SPROUTED SEEDS, NUTS, GRAINS, AND GRa.s.sES are the most potent life-force foods. They are called biogenic foods. These foods contain the secret of life itself, the germ, which contains the reproductive power for the perpetuation of the species. They contain the spark of life which sparks the life of those who eat them in their live form. These foods have all the nutrients essential for bountiful human health and longevity. When sprouted, many of the nutrients are increased and the nuts, seeds, and grains become considerably easier to digest. When most seeds and nuts are soaked and sprouted, naturally occurring digestive enzyme inhibitors are washed away and the proteins, lipids, and complex carbohydrates become predigested into free amino acids, free fatty acids, and simpler carbohydrates. Cooking may destroy these enzyme inhibitors, but it also disrupts the SOEFs, destroys vitamins, mineral complexes, and food enzymes, and coagulates the protein. Many of the grains contain complete proteins, essential fatty acids, and many vitamins and minerals. They are a high-quality source of vitamin E, lecithin, and most of the B-complex vitamins. They also are high in fiber, which is so vital to our health. An increased consumption of biogenic foods is part of Stage Three.

Bioactive Foods.

THESE ARE FULLY MATURE FOODS that are live, but not the super-high life-force foods that biogenic foods are. They are excellent foods and very much a part of Stage Three. The difference between biogenic and bioactive foods is the difference between the high vitality of a young child who is rapidly growing versus the vitality of a healthy adult. Bioactive foods include all of the vegetarian foods, such as vegetables, fruits, mature seeds, nuts, grains, beans, and legumes.

Vegetables, including sea vegetables such as dulse and kelp, are also extremely important to our health. They are excellent sources of minerals such as calcium and iron, as well as enzymes and vitamins. They contain complete proteins which, according to Paavo Airola, often have a better net protein utilization value than proteins from animal sources. One acre of leafy greens contains twenty-five times the amount of protein as one acre devoted to livestock. Vegetables serve both as cleansers and builders for the body.

Fruits are nature's suns.h.i.+ne and pure gifts to us from Mother Nature. They are nature's solar collectors and can be thought of as condensed sunlight. Most fruits are rich in vitamin A and C and a varied a.s.sortment of essential minerals. They are the highest of all foods in boron, which is important in preventing osteoporosis. They are not only nutritive but good detoxifiers and bowel cleaners. They contain a higher amount of structured water than any other food and are high in energetic radiations arising from the four elements of air, sun, earth, and water.

Legumes, such as soybeans, peanuts, and kidney beans, are powerful building foods that are high in protein. According to the Max Planck Inst.i.tute, about 50% of the protein is coagulated when any protein is cooked, so soy and other legumes that need to be cooked are, for this reason, not the best protein as compared to nuts, seeds, and grains which can be eaten raw or sprouted.

Soybeans have provided a source of high protein in Asian countries for many thousands of years. Because of their strong inhibitory enzymes, they must be sprouted or cooked before they can be safely consumed. They are high in fiber and lecithin. If not cooked, they also provide a good source of vitamins, especially the B vitamins.