A Healthy Terrain

The healthiest crops grow out of healthy soil.  Regardless of whether you grew up in Kansas, Brooklyn or the Moon you KNOW this essential truth about good soil. 

Many believe that our bodies work the same way.

How?

Meet Antoine Béchamp who believed that living entities called "microzymes" created bacteria in response to host and environmental factors; he did not believe that bacteria could invade a healthy host and create disease on their own. (credit: Wikipedia)

Wait, what?

Haven't we been taught in elementary school health class about how germs work?  The germ theory of disease refers to the discovery in the late 19th century that some infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms, small organisms too small to see without magnification, that invade the host. (credit: Wikipedia)

Germs invade the host and we get sick.  Soooo the logical conclusion is to create antibiotics and vaccines that KILL THOSE GERMS!  Right?

Well, not exactly.

Bechamp (among others) believed that the "germs" couldn't create disease on their own but that a healthy 'terrain' could prevent the invasion. 

I, personally do not want to be invaded.  At least not by germs.  I also don't enjoy the idea that I am helpless against the microorganisms that float around our lives just waiting gather enough forces to attack.  Really? 

What would happen if a country didn't work at defending it's borders but instead just tried to fight the enemy once they had begun occupation? 

I will tell you what...the country would lose more troops AND civilians fighting an adversary that had already started buying real estate and joining the PTA. 

Doesn't it make more sense to fortify your defenses before the enemy strikes?

Doesn't it?

Fountain of Youth..?

 

 

Ever since Herodotus mentioned a a fountain containing a special kind of water which gave people amazing longevity, the human race has, well, raced to locate this magical water that would restore youth to anyone who drinks of it.

 

 

Of course we are modern, scientific thinkers and the idea of a magic fountain is quaint and ridiculous. 

 

(But secretly we all wish it were true)

 

I personally wouldn't want to live forever but I would absolutely sign up for a sip of something that would keep me looking and feeling young until my life plays out to it's natural end.  Heck, I would take just the young-feeling part and let the wrinkles and gray hair run rampant.

 

Can we all agree on that?  I think so.

 

Is there a fountain of youth?  No.  But we all know that there are certain formulas to maintaining the best possible health as we age.  Eating healthy foods.  Exercise.  Stress management.  Reduce free radicals.  Take your vitamins.  Get eight hours of sleep a night. etc. etc.

 

The problem is that while all the 'authorities' agree that these are vital in maintaining a healthy life, what they don't agree on is what it all means.  We have all heard the jokes about the medical authorities coming out with a study that says that coffee is a powerful antioxidant and should be enjoyed daily, and the next day they report that coffee will kill you.  Or at least damage you beyond repair.  The same with milk, wine, wheat, corn, sweeteners, and the list goes on.

 

One authority publishes a book saying that a high protein diet is the best while another bestseller asserts that vegan is the way to go.

 

I am pretty sure that the only things that can be agreed upon across the board are organic fruits and vegetables and purified water.  Anything else is entering uncharted waters.  

 

The fact is that we live in a messy, dirty, disease ridden world and at one time we would have died young from measles but now we are killed slowly by Little Debbie.  

 

The fountain of youth is a myth and we can't truly determine what foods will help or harm us.  What we need is not a new and exciting 'medicine' to combat disease but an improved inner health that will enable our bodies to work as intended to create an internal 'fountain of youth'.  A terrain of wellness.