LIVING LONG: THE QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY
Legend has it that young James J. Kilroy was like any other working stiff in the 1940s, loading freight ships day in and day out. Then one day he had a flash of how he could be just a little bit more. Chunk of white chalk in hand, he scrawled, “Kilroy was here” on a mother lode of crates full of blue jeans waiting to sail to harbors across the globe. When that slogan- generally accompanied by a face peeking over a wall-started popping up around the country, including such inaccessible places as the Statue of Liberty’s torch, the once-anonymous Kilroy achieved immortality.
“We all have a little Kilroy in us,” says Dr. Walter M. Bortz II of Stanford University School of Medicine. “We want to leave a legacy to show we were here. We have an inherent want for immortality. And that’s a healthy thing.”
There are a whole lot better ways to have your name live on than etching your John Hancock on a bathroom wall. Many can actually leave the world a better place. Others are just plain fun. So strap on some of these suggestions and rocket into eternity.
Sign a donor card. “The absolute best way for anyone to live on after their death is to make an organ, tissue, or whole-body donation,” says Dr. Kenneth V. Iserson of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. “There is a dearth of organ donors in this country, and the need for transplantable organs and tissues is enormous-and getting bigger.”
The number of people who have died while waiting for available organs has increased more than 2 1/2 times during the past eight years, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing in Richmond, Virginia. And every 16 minutes, a new person is added to the national transplant waiting list. Donor families consistently report that they feel their loved one is living on in someone else through their organ donation. Considering that about 25 different organs and tissues are transplantable, that’s a lot of immortality.
You can get a donor card from a local or regional organ or tissue bank, or you can fill out a donor card when you renew your driver’s license. Even if you have the sticker on your driver’s license, doctors most likely will still check with your family before donating your organs.
Make a carbon copy. Though God knows it shouldn’t be your only motivation, one of the benefits of having children is that you leave behind a living legacy. Your kids will not only carry on your tale about that 36-inch walleye you reeled in last summer but also pass on the only part of you that is truly immortal-your genes.
“The bottom line in life is that for a species that reproduces sexually, immortality has already been achieved through its genes,” says Dr. S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Chicago.
If you should decide to reproduce, you want to be sure that you’re passing along healthy, undamaged genes. You can help protect those mighty little mailmen of immortality by not smoking and by getting plenty of vitamin C, say experts. Studies show that nicotine damages sperm and reduces sperm count. Vitamin C, on the other hand, has been shown to protect the little guys from free-radical damage.
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PREVENTIVE MEDECINE: PSYCHOSEXUAL PROBLEMS
Sexuality is simply one aspect of a person’s personality and women who get pregnant when they know they shouldn’t often have some kind of psychosexual problem of which they may be unaware. The types of psychosexual disorder involved are numerous. An example of one of the commoner ones is a woman who believes that reproduction is the only justification for sexual pleasure. Such women may have had several babies yet deny that they are interested in sex. A second category includes those women who unconsciously believe that sex is sinful and that pregnancy is a punishment for their sin. This means that there must be a risk of pregnancy if they are to enjoy sex. Other women believe that sex is something done to them by a man and is therefore something for which they have no responsibility, so they don’t bother with contraception because to do so would be a contradiction. Many young women who believe that love is the only justification for sex refuse contraception until they are sure of the man (as a kind of denial that they are having sex) and get pregnant in the intervening time. Some women who don’t accept their sexual drives deny them consciously yet unconsciously try to indulge them (by getting drunk, losing control and then getting pregnant, for example). A small proportion of women cannot tolerate any sort of contraception because they feel guilty enjoying any form of sexual pleasure. Some women are so filled with shame about their sexual drives that they don’t seek contraceptive advice. Another common fear is that to accept effective contraception is to open the floodgates to promiscuity. Such women (especially when they are unmarried) refuse all contraception and then get pregnant. Some women are unconsciously incited to pregnancy by their mothers (who want a baby for themselves) but then regret the conception when it has occurred.
Lastly there is the teenage girl who has just started having intercourse. Such adolescent girls frequently refuse to accept that their status has changed and even though they are not virgins can’t bring themselves to accept the fact and continue to live with the fictitious belief that they are virgins. Many such ‘part-time virgins’ say that they are better able to keep up the lie to their parents and themselves that they are virgins if they don’t use contraception. Such a girl believes she is still a virgin (albeit a part-time one) and for this reason doesn’t really need contraception. Such a delusion in a part-time virgin unfortunately leads, all too often, to unwanted pregnancies.
Clearly an apparently simple thing like an unwelcome pregnancy is in fact enormously complex, and the unconscious mind plays a substantial part in almost all the mechanisms I have outlined. Consciously the woman says she doesn’t want to be pregnant. Contraceptive services are one of the most widely publicized and available of all the preventive services, yet still unwanted pregnancies abound.
Similar situations operate in all kinds of other health areas-not just those to do with sex. At certain times in our lives we might have an unconscious need to be ill as an escape from something or as a way of gaining attention or being cared for. A smoker may have quite unconscious needs for oral gratification, as does many an over-eater and no matter how good the preventive medical information is, nor how good his or her motivation, little progress can be made until the individual can confront and understand the underlying psychological drives that make him or her smoke or eat. Similarly, a man with a poor sense of his male self-esteem who smokes because he considers it manly to do so may be quite unable to stop smoking until this part of his personality can be satisfied in other ways.
It is only by confronting the psychological realities that it is possible to begin to understand why it is that even in the face of good information and motivation, most of us find it difficult or impossible to modify our behaviour in a way which prevents disease. And in this respect social class has little or no part to play-we are all ruled to a variable extent by unconscious motives and drives over which, by definition, we have no control until they are brought into the conscious mind and confronted.
Whilst we frequently hear that ‘prevention is better than cure’ hardly anybody behaves as though he or she believes it and it has now become such a piece of fashionable cant that it should be relegated to the waste-bin along with ‘health is better than wealth’ and other such empty phrases. Not until the medical and health educational fraternity come to terms with the reality of people’s health needs will prevention ever be anything other than a subject of lofty rhetoric.
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FEED YOUR BODY RIGHT: SHE LOST HER EATING “HABIT” AND 102 POUNDS
Robin Wade struggled with her weight for most of her adult life. Only when she learned to listen to her body did the pounds disappear.
A native of Louisiana, Robin was raised on a traditional “Southern diet of fried and gravy-smothered foods. Eventually, she turned her love of food and her talent for cooking into a successful career as a certified dietary manager, supervising the kitchens of restaurants in her home state.
The problem was that Robin got in the habit of taste-testing while she worked—whether or not she was hungry. And when she got home, she’d sit down to a traditional meal with her family.
Constantly being around food proved disastrous for Robin. By 1998, she was just 7 pounds shy of 300. And she was miserable.
Robin knew enough about nutrition to realize that she was not eating out of need. She was eating out of habit. A habit fed by being around tasty, delicious food all day—especially cakes and pies, since pastries were her specialty She realized that she had completely lost touch with her internal hunger cues.
Robin’s weight-loss strategy turned out to be one simple promise that she made to herself. “I told myself that I would eat only when I was hungry and that I would stop when I was satisfied—not stuffed, just satisfied,” she explains. This forced her to listen to her body and think about why she wanted to eat before she put food in her mouth. “If I realized that I wasn’t truly hungry, I’d distract myself until the impulse passed—usually by thinking about the pounds I’d gain if I gave in,” she says.
By adjusting her eating pattern and making healthier food choices, Robin was able to take off 102 pounds in about a year. She’s
still working to reach her goal weight of 149 pounds. And she says her conviction to lose weight is stronger than any urge to eat. “I felt an overwhelming desire to overeat only once,” she notes. “Reminding myself of my goal and focusing on my success so far is what keeps me on track.” •
WINNING ACTION
Listen to your body. Like Robin, I’ve learned to distinguish between when I’m actually hungry and when I’m just responding to the sight of tempting foods. It has made a huge difference in helping me keep my weight under control. Here’s a trick that I find helpful. Before eating anything, ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?” Rate your hunger on a scale of zero to five (zero being the least hungry, five being the most). Let your body tell you how much to eat.
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APPENDIX VII: BOTTLED WATER
There is some confusion about the meaning of ‘mineral water’ which complicates the issue of bottled water. All tap-water, and any water from a spring or well, contains some mineral salts (calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron etc) dissolved in it. The composition of the water is affected by the sort of rock it percolates through, and some spring waters contain large amounts of minerals. At one time, it was believed that these waters had health-giving properties and they were marketed as ‘mineral waters’. (In fact, mineral-rich water is of little benefit to health, and some can be injurious to those with kidney problems.) Today’s bottled waters often come from the same springs and tend to be sold under the name ‘mineral water’ because this denotes that they are high-quality waters from a natural source. However, the most richly mineral-laden waters are not marketed, and those that are on sale are generally low in minerals – so they would not cause any health problems. A few brands are rich in sodium (eg Badois, Ramlosa) and should be avoided by those on low-sodium diets.
The main reason for buying bottled water now is not what it contains, but what it doesn’t contain. To a large extent it is free of the contaminants now found in most tap-water. Bottled waters are not treated with chlorine and, for the most part, contain far fewer nitrates. (Perrier is an exception. A Consumer’s Association survey showed that its nitrate content was almost as high as the maximum level permitted for tap water by the EEC, and twice as high as other mineral waters.) Because of the locations of the springs, bottled mineral water is unlikely to be contaminated by pesticides, industrial solvents and other pollutants. Bottled waters taste much better than most tap water, and are generally more palatable than filtered water as well.
Because they are not chlorinated,
bottled waters can foster large numbers of bacteria. Tests have shown very high levels in some brands. However, these are not harmful types of bacteria. Sparkling mineral water resists bacterial growth better than still water.
The price for still bottled water is about 90p to £1.30 per gallon. Sparkling mineral waters can cost up to £2.70. This makes bottled water very expensive, compared to filtered water, for long-term use.
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STAGE 3 – RIGOROUS ELIMINATION DIET: THE EXCLUSION PHASE
Only a minority of those reading this book will need to try the Stage 3 diet. They will know they need to do this because they have tried Stage 2 with only partial success – or no success at all. Stage 3 is for those with multiple food sensitivities, which cannot be detected by a simple elimination diet.
Stage 3 requires planning, even more so than the previous stages. You must decide for yourself which foods you are going to eat during the exclusion phase, because this diet has to be tailored to your own eating habits. The aim is to come up with a list of at least twelve foods that are nutritious, obtainable, affordable, and which you have never eaten in any quantity, or with any regularity, before. They should include a variety of different items – some fruit, some vegetables, some meat or fish, and some starchy foods if possible, although this is often difficult. The approach we would advocate is a combination of the ‘fewfoods’ diet and the ‘rare foods diet’, with the exact mix of foods being chosen to suit your pocket and your palate.
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PREVENTING FOOD SENSITIVITY: BREAST-FEEDING
A baby’s immune system is not fully developed at birth. To protect it against infection in the first few months of life, a mother’s milk contains antibodies to commonly found bacteria and viruses, and the baby’s gut is ‘leaky’ to allow these antibodies through into the bloodstream. Because the gut is so permeable, undigested food molecules also get into the blood in far greater quantity than in an older child or adult. At the same time, the control reactions that regulate damaging immune reactions are not yet up-and-running. In particular, the system that prevents the manufacture of IgE to harmless antigens is not fully effective.
Any food that the baby eats or drinks during the first three months of life will be absorbed into the bloodstream in appreciable quantities. Some unknown mechanism prevents a baby from mounting a damaging immune reaction against the proteins in its mother’s milk – although there may be cases of babies being allergic to their mother’s breast milk, these are extremely rare. Presumably the process by which the baby learns to tolerate the breast-milk proteins happens before birth, while the baby is still in the womb.
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FOOD PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN: DIARRHOEA IN BABIES AND CHILDREN
Diarrhoea in babies and children can have a great many causes, the most obvious one being infection with bacteria, viruses or other microbes. But if infections and other possible causes (such as cystic fibrosis) have been ruled out by your doctor, then you should consider the possible role of food.
Diarrhoea due to food sensitivity can come on suddenly and acutely, or it may start gradually and slowly get worse. There may be physical damage to the gut wall, which can be checked by taking a tiny sample and examining it under a microscope – this is known as a biopsy. However, there can also be diarrhoea due to food without any major damage to the gut. Where there is visible damage, this may indicate coeliac disease or infant colitis. The latter is,characterized by blood and mucus in the stools. The doctor will wish to eliminate both these possibilities before looking at other forms of food sensitivity.
An acute reaction to food may be difficult to distinguish from a viral infection that produces an attack of gastroenteritis, because the virus cannot always be detected in the baby’s stools. Even if there has been an infection, this does not rule out the possibility of food sensitivity: diarrhoea of any sort can sensitize the gut so that foods which were previously eaten without trouble now produce symptoms. Drinking milk makes the situation worse, because there is often a transient lactase deficiency.
Where diarrhoea is due to food sensitivity, in infants and children, the culprit food often turns out to be cow’s milk. Where milk sensitivity occurs, problems with other foods may follow, because the structure of the gut wall is altered by the reaction to milk. It becomes more ‘leaky’ which allows other food molecules through and the body may then react adversely to these as well. Often the reaction to other foods is only temporary – if they are eliminated from the diet for a few months they can be eaten again without difficulty. The reaction to milk tends to be more persistent, but most children who are sensitive to milk as babies can drink it once more by the time they are three or four. For a small number of people, however, the milk sensitivity will be lifelong.
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FOOD INTOLERANCE: STAPLE CROPS
All this happened in the Middle East, about 12,000-10,000 years ago, when the earliest forms of wheat and barley were domesticated. The same sort of events occurred quite independently in the Far East between about 9,000 and 7,000 years ago, and in Central America over 7,000 years ago. Grass-derived crops, which we now call cereals, were important in both areas. In the Far East, rice became the main crop (or staple), while in the Americas it was maize, also known as corn. In Africa, domestication probably took place rather later, and the main cereal crops were millet and sorghum. South-east Asian farmers differed in relying on a root-crop, the yam, as their staple, and root-crops were also important in other parts of the world where grasses did not grow well. The potato became the main crop of the high Andes, and in tropical Africa another type of yam was grown.
With the growing of these staple crops, foods such as grass seeds and roots, that had previously been eaten in fairly small amounts, became the mainstay of the diet. Some people believe that this was a bad thing for human health because we were not adapted to eat large quantities of starch, but that is a debatable point. What may be more important is the fact that we are eating large quantities of the particular chemical ‘armaments’ found in these crops. Selection and plant breeding have reduced the amounts of these armaments substantially, of course, which is why our crop plants lack the bitterness of their wild equivalents, such as crab-apples or sloes. But it is possible that some chemicals with more insidious effects may remain, and that relying so heavily on a staple crop may expose us to excessive amounts of those chemicals.
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ALPINE PLANTS AND LOWLAND PLANTS – SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS
Some time ago, Professor Flueck delivered an interesting lecture to members of the Swiss Association of Apothecaries dealing with exactly these observations and the many factors that combine to produce active substances in plants. The lecture was based on the results of experiments in which various medicinal herbs had been grown at different altitudes but in identical soils. The experiments enabled Professor Flueck to prove beyond doubt that the therapeutic value of the plants does not depend solely upon the altitude at which they grow. In order to accurately identify the other factors involved, the experiments were fully controlled; the same plant was grown at different altitudes but in the same kind of soil in every case.
Better growth and content of active substances was achieved with the plants grown in sheltered mountain valleys, exposed to sunshine but protected from the winds, than with those grown at higher altitudes with equal exposure to the sun but unprotected from the winds. For this reason certain plants were found to do better at middle elevations than at higher altitudes. Others produce a higher content of medicinal properties if grown in the shade, or at least semi-shade, but these are usually exceptions to the rule.
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THE SKIN – NATURAL BEAUTY CARE (KEEPING HEALTHY…)
Much time is often wasted in efforts to improve one’s looks cosmetically. Yet how much easier it would be to keep the body healthy and, in particular, to take good care of the sex glands right from the start. Their efficiency contributes to maintaining youthfulness longer. For this, sunlight, deep-breathing and exercise are important. Anyone who spends most of his time in heated rooms, rarely moves around in the open air, never goes for walks or hikes or practises some other sport in moderation, should not be surprised if he becomes like a hothouse plant and grows old before his time. Remember, exercise in the open air, perhaps gardening or walking, has much to do with keeping young and fit. Regular showers, alternating between hot and cold water, are also beneficial since they promote good circulation. Recommended, too, are good plant remedies for effective external application, such as Symphosan tincture or Symphytum Cream, and Violaforce. These two remedies, applied in alternation, help to reduce the size of the pores and rejuvenate the skin.
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