THE ALCHEMYCAL PAGES

INFECTIOUS ILLNESS.

Part 4.

Before continuing our investigations into the problem of Hepatitis C in particular and illnesses of the human being in general it has been demonstrated clearly, in previous columns, I hope, that we are responsible for arranging our lives in a manner which produces our individual illness or illnesses.

Now, the last 70 years, beginning with the enchantment of Western Scientific Culture by the delusion of the atomistic and molecular foundation of life in the 1930's, can be aptly called the "Age of Better Living Through Chemicals". In fact, the whole of Anglo-American-European political and economic history since the 1930's can be most clearly understood as a struggle for the control of the petro-chemical-medico-pharmaceutical complex, and its various offshoots ­agribusiness (artificial fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, steroids), the tobacco industry ( 90% of cigarette content is chemicals), the food industry ( food additives like dyes, emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives, taste enhancers etc., etc) and the vitamin industry.

What has developed during this time is the weaving of a web of dependency by the petro-chemical-medico-pharmaceutical complex on the human population. This dependency has been nurtured for the sake of profits, obviously. As a result the human individual living in the so-called developed countries is largely unaware of the fact they are consuming artificial, processed foods laced with toxic chemicals everyday. The daily consumption of toxic substances in our daily food has lead in turn to the fact that degenerative illnesses are endemic to modern culture. The statistics are overwhelming that this is the case.

The human organism has many ways of being able to withstand the daily onslaught of this toxic material, which can be thought of as its immune functions. The immune functions of the human organism consist of the activity of the liver, spleen, kidneys, white blood system (small intestines) and the large intestine. Of these, by far the most significant for the strength of the immune functions are the small and large intestines ­ it is not an exaggeration to say that the condition of the intestines (the lower digestive tract) determines the strength or weakness of the immune system.

To show how extraordinarily significant the processes of digestion and elimination are for our physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being is best illustrated by picturing the human organism as a plant organism, or "Tree", borrowing from the "I Ching ­ Book of Change" the statement "All movement takes place in six stages and the seventh brings return":

Stage Plant Human "Tree"
7. SEED "WORKS"
6. FRUIT SELF-DEVELOPMENT
5. FLOWER SPIRITUAL/EMOTIONAL/MENTAL CONDITION
4. LEAF CELL (ORGANS/TISSUES) ­ PHYSICAL CONDITION
3. BRANCH HORMONAL/AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEMS
2. STEM BLOOD
1. ROOTS INTESTINES

SOIL OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ----- FOOD AND THINKING

A great deal can be extracted from this picture and the essential point to grasp is this perspective tell us that the "hinge of existence" for all human individuals, that is, the entire tenor of our lives, is the state of our intestines.

As Friedrich Nietzsche so eloquently stated:
" Life is a well of delight, but to him in whom the ruined stomach speaketh, the father of affliction, all wells are poisoned"

Now, when the process of digestion is completed and our bodies assimilate the nourishment (and the ability of our small intestine to assimilate nourishment is itself dependent on its condition), the new blood (as an aside here, macrobiotic theory states that the process of digestion IS the transformation of nourishment into blood; if you wish to learn more about blood formation being the process of digestion-assimilation, you will need to obtain a copy of my book "The End Of Medicine") travels from the intestine to the liver via the Hepatic Portal Vein.

The Liver takes up the blood and completes the formation of erythrocytes or red blood cells and at the same time it makes sure the blood is free from pollutants by attempting to detoxify it before sending it to the heart for distribution to the rest of the organism via the breathing and circulatory systems.

So we have the modern SAD (Standard American Diet), polluted and intoxicated, refined and processed foods entering our digestive tracts, which is outside the body, therefore part of our external environment just as is the air we breathe when we inhale it.

Since most of us start our lives eating the SAD food our intestinal environment gradually become more intoxicated and polluted. From the make-up of our dentition, we know the human digestive organization is fundamentally designed for the proper assimilation of grains and vegetables so that animal protein should merely be a supplement, if necessary, to the main daily fare of cooked whole grains and vegetables.

If we make animal protein our primary food in the place of whole grains, and since our digestive system is unsuited for properly digesting animal protein, this means that the undigested protein undergoes putrefaction in our intestines. As a result we develop bad breath and body odor, foul-smelling feet, poor dentition, and dirty skin. (Interesting that the beauty industry should be so dependent on the abattoir).

Another interesting consequence of this putrefaction is a gradually increasing population of pathogenic bacteria in the intestines, such that today in 2002, the adult American is carrying an astounding average of four and a half pounds by weight of these bacteria in their intestines! In number this bacterial population exceeds the number of cells in the human organism ­ an astronomical figure of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.

However, the main consequence is our SAD food becomes a toxic, poisoned, polluted river of so-called nourishment, which undergoes the process of digestion and assimilation, transformed into sick, polluted blood sent up the Hepatic Portal Vein to the Liver.

And it is the task of the Liver to clean up this polluted 'river of life' with the help of the "White Knights", the white blood cells. Now, the Liver is a magnificent organ with enormous recuperative and regenerative powers but even so, with day after day and year after year of having to clean out an increasingly polluted blood stream it becomes more and more tired and gradually becomes intoxicated and begins to undergo pathological changes.

There are early signs of the daily wear and tear on the liver and these signs of a weakening liver include gradually increasing tiredness, leading to chronic fatigue. Also, poor sleep, especially between 12 midnight and 4.00 AM, leading eventually to insomnia (40 million Americans are insomniac with another 30 million experiencing intermittent, restless sleep). We also tend to experience frequent headaches, especially in the temples and behind the eyes.

Another early sign is pain and stiffness in the knees and general muscle stiffness. We also experience stiffness, tightness and pain in the back of the neck

In terms of facial signs, the telltale area to see signs of a liver becoming dysfunctional is between the eyebrows. Here we can see either an area of skin that is swollen and shiny and, more commonly, one

Or more vertical lines etched in the skin. These vertical lines indicate the liver is becoming swollen and the deeper the lines, and the more of them that are showing, the more swollen is the liver.

Also, if our liver is in good health, we will be able to curl our fingers under the rib cage on the right hand side of the body without feeling any pain. If we do feel pain and tenderness in that area we can be sure our liver is swollen and toxic.

As I have described in previous columns, it is the pathological degeneration of the liver cells that leads to the development of the liver cells being attacked by viruses. As Virchow, the German pathologist and one of the major proponents of the Germ Theory stated toward the end of his life:

"If I had my life to live over again, I would devote it to demonstrating that germs attack diseased flesh, they do not cause diseased flesh".

So, a macrobiotic approach is not to devise ways to exterminate the virus since this is, at best, simply a waste of time and money. At worst, the ingestion of anti-viral medications compounds the problem of adding more toxins to an already heavily polluted diet, meaning the liver, which, by the time viruses show up, is in a severely compromised pathological condition, has more work imposed on it trying to detoxify the chemicals that make up the anti-viral medication.

It is rather to change the underlying elements, which lead to the liver becoming diseased. As we change these elements, through changing our daily diet and taking steps to help the digestive system improve its functions.

Now, it is important to understand that the suggestions I am making here are what I do when I am counseling someone who comes to me for advice who has Hepatitis C. The motivation underlying a macrobiotic way of life is to create a lifestyle, which creates health in the widest possible sense of the word- physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, ecological and economical.

Of course these are mainly dietary suggestions, at least to begin, and the most important of these is to cease taking in foods, chemicals, beverages and medications that the person is in the habit of ingesting. It is as significant an aid to the functioning of the liver to cease and desist from ingesting foods and substances that are known from macrobiotic principles to be injurious to it as it is to start eating foods that are known to be beneficial to the liver, from a macrobiotic perspective.

If we do this, then the condition of the liver will gradually improve. Now, we cannot expect the liver to improve overnight. It has taken perhaps twenty or thirty years of poor eating and lifestyle habits for the liver to develop the pathological condition which summons the arrival of viruses in our liver. As we re-arrange our lives to create health and vitality, changes will begin to occur which will lead to the liver detoxifying and regenerating itself and it is only toward the latter stages of this process that viruses will begin to find liver environment unsuited for their continual existence and they will gradually die off.

In my next column I will get down to the nitty-gritty of a daily practical approach of what to eat and how to prepare the chosen foods so that we nourish the liver properly and strengthen our digestive tract so that proper nourishment does in fact take place every day.

If you have access to the Internet, for more information on the liver, go to, and check out the "Healing With The Seasons" page under the heading "Wood".

Comments or questions can be sent to the address below as I check this address every few weeks. Please mention Alchemycal Pages in the subject line. Thank you. Patricia

kaareb@mac.com