AgentOrange
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sick west
Mar 27, 2002, 15:15
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been reading a lot of health articles lately, for no particular reason. Seems that our huge increase in cases in cancer and asthma (and perhaps other diseases that can be caused/exacerbated by various natural and anthropogenic toxins), could be in a large part put down to our highly processed western diet that is so reduced in antioxidents. thinking about it this makes a lot of sense. if you add in the pollution we may be picking up from the very foods that should be protecting us, then you are talking about a large proportion of the western world taking in an almost zero balance of antioxidents. gruesome. when a rat is poisened it eats clay, which can soak up the poisen, we should try that too! animals are great at self-medication - we on the other hand completely ignore the danger signs until we are actually ill. well, duh!
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morfe
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Re: sick west
Mar 27, 2002, 18:32
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it's true, they are called 'diseases of civilisation', studies in New Guinea and other places have shown that most if not all are absent. Developing countrues adopt them with the debt.
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AgentOrange
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Re: sick west
Apr 09, 2002, 16:06
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more research - not very well verified - indicates that refined carbohydrates can lead to short-sightedness (cos it causes unchecked growth in the white stuff of the eye or something). Its not because you sit infront of your computer all day but cos you were brought up on white bread. Interestingly, the researchers claim that places in the world where close-range work (reading, for instance) is common but where foods are not refined do not have short-sightedness like we do in the west.
More support for me veg and rice diet...(she says chomping into yummy cake)
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Lord Lucan
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Re: sick west
Apr 09, 2002, 16:21
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Diabetes is increasing in the west too (prog about it on TV the other night), another consequence of diet and sedentary lifestyle.
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FourWinds
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AHA!!
Apr 09, 2002, 16:25
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Early mesolithic teeth that have been dug up show hardly any cavaties. These people mainly ate meat.
Later in neolithic times wheat & barley crops were cultivated and the human diet changed quite radically to include more veg and cereals. Teeth found from this period show massively greater decay.
See ... it's unhealthy to be a veggie.
I'm hiding now ... you can't see me!
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AgentOrange
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So how come we seem to have the gut of a herbivore/omnivore - ie a long one in which meat tends to putrify (bowel cancer anyone?)
Got some more out of new scientist:
Organic soups have been found to been considerably higher in salicylic acid ("responsible for the anti-inflamatory action of asprin and helps combat hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer") than non-organic soups. They recon this is because veggies grown under stress (not aided by pesticides) produce much more of this stuff. Thus the first evidence that organic veg may really be better for us.
On that note, it always annoys me that the issue is always whether organic food is better for the individual and rarely is the fact that it must be better for the planet (and thus the individual, in time) raised. Long sentance, sorry.
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spirit
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long life, organic veg etc
Apr 11, 2002, 14:20
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Completely agree that we seem uncannily good at bringing about our own destruction. Also that organic veg are good per se rather than just less likely to damage you as an individual.
However, on imported western diseases and diseases in the west in general it is worth saying (I think) that a lot of these are diseases of 'older' age and are a trade off for having greater life expectancy. If you die at 50 you are unlikely to have had Alzheimers. However, if you increase your life expectancy to 80 then the chances of you catching it vastly increase. The same goes for some sorts of cancer definitely.
So whilst I don't disagree it's just something that perhaps makes the black/white a little greyer.
xx spirit
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joudicca
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Re: Pah!
Apr 11, 2002, 19:30
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i know a few unfortunate people who have hep c, and they all decided to go on a vegetarian organic diet and guess what? Yes it went into remission in all of them. That was when i started wondering about all the shite in food. All food should be organic and it should be cheap too.
In reply to:
Pah! (AgentOrange) |
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Trouble Fish
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Re: sick west
Apr 14, 2002, 23:14
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Clay?
Would it do any good to eat your plate, then?
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AgentOrange
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Re: long life, organic veg etc
Apr 16, 2002, 10:40
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Hmm, not sure that I agree. Many of the illnesses that im interested in are not exclusively age-related and anyway, we in the west in the 21st century do not have exclusive rights to old age. The oldest people in the world live in Japan, I think...
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