Conscious Eating Part 2

FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF SUBTLE a.s.sIMILATION, what matters is not the quant.i.ty of solid or liquid food that we take in, but whether the food is a.s.similated totally and properly. To do this, we need to hold the food in the mouth long enough for this process to take place. The secret of digestion is to transform each element into a more subtle form. The idea is to chew the food so that it begins to release the stored subtle energy locked inside. Then subtle receptor centers in our palate and throughout the length of the digestive tract receive the essence of the food. Certain foods may release their essences at different times and locations in the gastrointestinal tract as the body's a.s.similative and alchemical forces work on integrating the food so that it becomes part of the body's substance. The essence released from the food may gravitate to different organs, glands, and subtle energy centers in the body. This is initiated by thoroughly masticating until the solid food is transformed into a liquid state, which then begins the process of the release of energy from the solid food.

For many years I have been reminded, in word and in print, about the importance of chewing each bite 40-100 times. This practice of thorough chewing is called "fletcherizing," named after Dr. Fletcher, who popularized it. I never could quite get myself to consistently and fully chew my food in this way, even though I understood intellectually that thorough chewing helped enzymes work more efficiently and thus improved a.s.similation.

It is true that masticating food meticulously breaks open the cells of the foods in order to release the naturally occurring enzymes within the plant. One of these enzymes is cellulase, which humans do not have in their own system. This cellulase released from the plant by chewing dissolves a significant amount of the thin film of cellulose which covers all plant surfaces and hinders a.s.similation until the cellulose is more completely digested.

Despite all this information, it was only when I began to think in terms of a subtly experienced energy release that the whole process of chewing became intriguing to me. The whole alchemical process of releasing the subtle energies stored in the food seems to take place without any special effort on our part, except of course, the act of chewing our food sufficiently. The process of chewing becomes less a mechanical ch.o.r.e and more spontaneously interesting when we focus on the subtle release of energy with mastication. Cultivating this subtle awareness brings us into greater harmony with this delicate interchange of ourselves with nature.

Developing this subtle awareness is easier when we do not talk much at meals or do distracting things while we eat. Reading the newspaper, watching TV, having business meetings, and engaging in a lot of verbal interaction distract our attention from the a.s.similation process. If we focus on absorbing the energy from the food we will derive greater good from it. There is usually plenty of time left over for socialization with others after the chewing and subtle a.s.similation part of the meal is completed. For many, this approach to a.s.similation requires a change in eating styles. I personally found it a challenge to let go of glancing through the newspaper while eating breakfast.

This concentrated focus on the Divine gift of food can be a powerful spiritual practice. Not everyone makes time to pray, study the scriptures, or think about G.o.d each day, but most everyone makes time to eat. If our heart and mind are focused on experiencing food as a love note from G.o.d, eating becomes not only a way to nourish and love ourselves, but each meal becomes a time for enhanced spiritual awareness and grat.i.tude to G.o.d. It becomes a way to directly experience a meaning of "give us this day our daily bread." It provides a regular opportunity for the conscious eater to take the time to receive and read G.o.d's love note, rather than toss it unconsciously into the garbage can of the stomach. Eating consciously is a way of opening one's heart to G.o.d. It is a way to feel the Divine presence.

Intimately interacting with nature through the medium of food requires that one maintain some degree of awareness and thoughtfulness. In this state one can sense a subtle fullness in the mouth and palate when the energy is released and therefore one does not have to clutter the mind counting chews. Food is also transformed from its solid form to a liquid state, then to a gaseous state, and from a gaseous state to a more subtle or etheric state. This not only involves chewing well, but also breathing in a way that enhances the liberation of this subtle energy from the food. Taking a pause and a deep breath four or five times with meals is an important aid to this a.s.similation process. This may be one reason the Essene Jesus said in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 39): And when you eat, have above you the angel of air, and below you that angel of water. Breathe long and deeply at all your meals, that the angel of air may bless your repasts. And chew well your food with your teeth, that it becomes water, and that the angel of water turns it into blood in your body. And eat slowly, as if it were a prayer you make to the Lord. For I tell you truly, the power of G.o.d enters into you if you eat after this manner at his table....

Preparing Ourselves to Eat.

H OW CONSCIOUSLY PREPARED ONE is TO EAT FOOD becomes as important as how one has prepared the food. There is a wonderful story about the Greek sage Epicurus (342270 B.C.). The word Epicurean, which means "one with sensitive discriminatory taste in food," is derived from his name. News of how wonderful it was to dine with Epicurus had traveled far and wide. One day a king who had heard of his reputation arrived to feast with Epicurus. He was shocked to see Epicurus sitting in a simple setting with just a piece of bread and some salt. The king, possessing some wisdom in his own right, kept his mind open enough to observe the fine level of consciousness and joy with which Epicurus, and eventually he himself also, ate the bread and salt. As the king grew more ecstatic with each bite, he decided to offer Epicurus anything he wanted, up to half his kingdom. He was shocked again to hear Epicurus turn down his offer with the comment, "It is enough to be, nothing more is needed." The king pressed his offer again, and in order to please the king, Epicurus made a request for one pound of b.u.t.ter. His lesson to the king was that a good meal depends on the consciousness of the eater and how he/she celebrates it. It is not how elaborate the food, dining hall, or material lifestyle of the eater is. It is the state of consciousness that counts in extracting joy from our interaction with nature.

The practice of being conscious of the experience of energy being released from food seems also conducive to bringing about a shift in how the food is prepared. It is much easier to experience the unique energy of one specific food when that one type of food is all that is in one's mouth. Because of this, I find myself preparing food in larger, bite-sized, and identifiable pieces. For example, I might have just three or four items in my salads, which are cut in big enough pieces so that I can easily identify their tastes as I eat them. In this way I can experience the play of the different tastes and energies.

The interplay of a single spice, or combination of spices, with the food is another way of experiencing the delicious mix of energies. Spices tend to bring out and accentuate the different tastes of the individual foods. Each spice has its own unique herbal energy and taste that balances and harmonizes one's const.i.tutional psychophysiology This balancing and healing effect adds another dimension to the a.s.similation process. How spices affect specific const.i.tutional psychophysiological types is discussed later in the book and the recipe section, where we have designed recipes that include this new approach to preparing food. It also turns out that when we prepare and eat just a few varieties of food in our meal, it is easier to a.s.similate and digest. As Jesus says in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 37): And when you eat at her table, eat all things even as they are found on the table of the Earthly Mother. Cook not, neither mix all things with another, lest your bowels become as steaming bogs.

The Art of Relating to Food.

ANOTHER ASPECT IN THE ART OF CONSCIOUSLY EATING FOOD is how one regards the food itself. If one sees nature as a servant existing only for personal needs, then one fails to fully appreciate the food and other gifts of nature. If one sees humanity as one strand in the web of life rather than egocentrically as the whole web, a much broader awareness of our union and harmony with nature develops. To experience oneself as interwoven with nature leads to receiving our food with more love and gratefulness. If food is eaten with a prayer of grat.i.tude and respect for the life force it bestows and the sacrifice it is making for the survival of the human body, the food will carry the love of this prayer inside. The power and sacredness of the eating process are enhanced by the awareness that each particular fruit or vegetable is giving up its own individual existence as part of the evolutionary process so that it may be a.s.similated into the greater existence of the human body. In this larger context, eating becomes a sacred act in which food is an offering to the digestive fire to honor and appease the spirit of one's human form. In addition to making an offering to oneself, in some traditions an offering to nature or G.o.d is also made. In some of the American Indian traditions, such as that of the Cherokee, a food offering is made to the four directions and to some aspect of nature, such as a plant or a tree. In the Hindu tradition an offering before eating is made to G.o.d. Food may also be given to a sacred fire, an animal, or another human being as a way of allowing one to experience the joy of providing food, as well as the joy of receiving it. I witnessed this offering in almost every home I visited in India. This offering before eating is a way of thanking Mother Nature. It is another reminder that one's food is connected to all G.o.d's children.

Thoughts Affect Foods.

IN ADDITION TO THE PHYSICAL NUTRIENTS and the plant's energy, one also inadvertently a.s.similates the state of mind of the people who grew, harvested, and prepared the food. If the food is grown and harvested by an organic farmer who is very much committed to caretaking the land and its produce, it is likely that this will produce a different energy than that of food grown by an agribusiness corporation. Personally caring for the land in a natural way creates a different effect than using synthetic fertilizers which deplete the soil, or using pesticides and herbicides that are toxic for those who eat the food and for those who are harvesting the food. Food harvested by a worker who feels exploited by the working conditions has a different energy than food harvested by one who is connected with his or her garden and who harvests with grat.i.tude, love, and joy. If food is prepared with love as an offering to G.o.d and with the consciousness of the essential oneness of the person preparing the food and the person eating the food, the food itself will be absorbed and elevated by that consciousness.

Marcel Vogel, who was a research scientist at IBM for twenty-nine years, has been able to show experimentally that when water is infused with the thoughtform of love, its structure changes and the taste is sweeter. He did this by having people project loving thoughts into water and then he tested it in two ways. One was a subjective taste test in which people were asked to drink the two different waters. They all found that the water infused with love tasted sweeter. He also tested the water with nuclear magnetic resonance equipment and found that the bond angle of the oxygen and hydrogen in water infused with love was actually changed. In some cultures, the food preparers are encouraged to chant the name of G.o.d while preparing food for this same reason.

An interesting story of a monk living in the forest in India helps to ill.u.s.trate this point. He was living in a simple setting, meditating regularly, and eating pure food that he gathered from the land. In this region it was customary for the kings and wealthy people to invite the monks to stay with them during the monsoon season. It was considered a blessing for the king to invite this monk to stay with him. The king, being of a greedy nature, also had a greedy cook. During the time of the monsoon, the monk had to eat the food prepared by the greedy cook of the greedy king. Over time the pure mind of the monk began to have greedy thoughts as a result of eating the food that had taken on the greedy thoughts of the cook. One day, near the end of the monsoon, the monk impulsively stole the necklace of the queen. The palace was in an uproar about this and, of course, no one suspected the monk. After a short time, the monk announced he was leaving. He returned to the forest with the necklace. After a few weeks of eating his own food, his mind began to clear. One day he looked at this necklace and could not figure out what he was doing with this useless piece of jewelry. When it became clear to him what had happened, he returned to the king with the necklace. The king, of course, wanted to know why he had done it. The monk explained that the food he had been eating while he was in the king's castle had been permeated by the greedy consciousness of the cook and had temporarily infected him with that greed. When he began to eat his own pure food prepared with love, his mind cleared and the greed left. For similar reasons, I regularly prepare my own food. I go to my garden and pick the vegetables to which I am most drawn. I thank the individual plant for feeding me and try to pick it with love in an awareness that the food is an offering. While eating, I try to maintain the imagery of where I picked the food. This helps me maintain an intimate interface with nature. It also keeps the food from being anonymous.

Imagery of Foods.

THE WAY FOOD IS SERVED IN MOST RESTAURANTS, supermarkets, and fast-food outlets has little imagery or energy of its connection to its origin. Some people who have never lived in the country may think that food grows on a grocery shelf, but most understand that food is grown in the context of Mother Nature's energies of the sun, wind, earth, and rain. The active awareness that what one eats comes from Nature's bountiful earth rather than from a grocery shelf or fast-food bag honors Mother Nature. The Ten Commandments say to honor our mother and father. To me, this includes Mother Nature, whom I refer to as the Earthly Mother, and G.o.d as the Heavenly Father. I have observed an added joy in eating and an appreciation for food in myself and others who re-create the poetic images of the source of their food, such as visualizing an apple tree when eating apples, or imaging beets in the ground when eating beets. I also think about all the forces of nature that have helped create the plants. I see the sun shining on the beet, the rain nourishing it, the wind caressing it, and the earth giving it nutrients and acting as its home. With each bite, I am taking in and being energized by all these forces of nature. It's a delight! When these multiple insights are included in the eating process, it helps us take into ourselves the full nurturing qualities of nature, which are love manifest.

Energy Needed to a.s.similate.

IN THE PROCESS OF EATING WE ARE PENETRATED by the forces of the food. If these forces are too strong for us, and we are not able to muster enough a.s.similative energy to match the forces of the food, we can become sick. A cla.s.sic example of this is overeating in a foreign country and getting "tourista." We get tourista because included in the new foods we eat are new types of bacteria that we are not accustomed to taking into our bodies. When we eat just a little of this food, the hydrochloric acid in our digestive system is able to neutralize and digest the bacteria. But if we overeat, we are sometimes not able to secrete enough digestive enzymes to destroy the bacteria. Consequently, the bacteria start to digest us in the sense that the bacteria create a pathological condition in our bodies. The practical side of this is not to overeat while traveling and to take some extra digestive enzymes, such as betaine hydro chloride, with each meal. By following this simple rule, my own family did not have digestive or parasite problems in about eighteen months in India as well as on several trips to Mexico. Other people following this basic advice have also done quite well.

Food Stimulates Inner Forces.

DIGESTION INVOLVES OVERCOMING AND a.s.sIMILATING the energetic forces in our foods by stimulating our inner forces to respond. This constant stimulation of our digestive forces by our food is actually very healthy. There is a general principle in the functioning of the human body which is called "use it or lose it." For example, in walking, the muscle and skeletal system is strengthened by constantly overcoming the forces of gravity. When gravity is absent, as in the case of the astronauts who live for periods of time in a gravity-free environment, it was found that they begin to lose bone and muscle ma.s.s unless they do specific exercises.

The concept of our inner forces meeting the outer forces of food will be explored in depth later in the book in the sections on transitioning to vegetarianism and raw foods. Those who eat primarily cooked foods, which have lost some of their energy through the cooking, stop exercising their full digestive energies and may lose some digestive power over time or even generations.

When live foods are introduced too quickly, I have observed that people sometimes have trouble digesting them. If one doesn't understand this principle and doesn't give oneself time to develop the digestive power by making such a transition slowly, it is very easy to become discouraged in the transition process. A cla.s.sic case of this is my observation of people visiting the United States from India. In India, most of the food needs to be cooked for hygienic purposes. When people from India start to eat raw salads, they may develop some discomfort. On a more subtle level, in the transition to vegetarianism from meat-eating, some people may have difficulty responding to the forces of stored sunlight that are released by the plants. Plants store light through the process of photosynthesis. During the process of a.s.similation, this light is released from the plant into our own systems. According to Rudolf Steiner, if one is prepared, an equal and opposite inner light is activated to match this. By this process, one increases the strength of the inner spiritual light, which is the original sustaining energy that keeps us alive. Heavy meat-eaters become deprived of this light stimulation, because the plant light has been released into the animal and is not transferred to the human. Some people who have come from generations of meat-eaters need time to build up this light. To use a physical a.n.a.logy, if one were doing push-ups, one does not immediately start with 100 push-ups, and then when one fails, make the p.r.o.nouncement that doing push-ups is too difficult for nonpush-up people. If one wants to succeed, one starts with 5, 10, or 20 push-ups and works up from there. One usually isn't discouraged if one can't start with 100 push-ups, and so in the same way one should try not to be discouraged if one is slow in making the transition to vegetarianism or raw foods.

Supplements Affect Powers of a.s.similation.

UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS between the body's energies and the external energy of foods gives us a knowledge of how the body might be affected by vitamin and mineral supplements, specifically the chronic use of high-potency, synthetic vitamins, minerals, free amino acids, and other supplements. For example, for vitamin Bs, a high-potency, synthetic nutrient is anything over 5 to 10 milligrams. B vitamins less than these potency levels are usually obtained from natural food sources and are not synthetically made. I believe that it is a credible hypothesis that the use of high-potency B vitamins makes it too easy for the body to take in these nutrients in that the body doesn't have to work to extract and absorb them from food. It is comparable to a person getting a car and no longer walking regularly. Without the vital exercise of walking, they lose their stamina and strength. It is possible that this same principle of "use it or lose it" is operating when one excessively uses synthetic, high-potency supplements. Stating this possibility does not mean that I am against the use of supplements. I find that often at the beginning of the process of healing and rejuvenation, clients may need a good deal of nutrients to get the body going in the direction of a healthier state. As their bodies progressively begin to heal and achieve a higher level of health, their ability to a.s.similate improves and they make the transition to food concentrates along with, perhaps, a minimal amount of supplements.

a.s.similation Aspects of Withdrawal.

I SUGGEST THAT SYNTHETIC SUPPLEMENTS should be used with the awareness that a.s.similation involves a dynamic interaction between our bodies and the forces in food. Because of this, we should be cautious concerning the idea that all we have to do to get our nutrients is to mechanically load the system with high-potency, synthetic nutrients. Although there is not hard data to prove it, the indiscriminate, excessive use of high-potency, synthetic nutrients may act more as a stimulant and may cause some energetic imbalances. In addition, the body may become less able to a.s.similate nutrients from food when, and if, the synthetic vitamins and minerals are withdrawn for some unexpected reason.

In some of my clients, I have discovered that during withdrawal from fast foods, sugars, and drugs, these people first sometimes feel weaker before they become stronger. In addition, paradoxically, if they backslide and eat the energetically disruptive junk food of their old diet, they may get a false sense of feeling stronger. Let me explain. Most people test weak to white sugar when using the Kinesiology muscle testing method. During withdrawal from white sugar, some people muscle-test stronger with it in the beginning, although later they will test weaker. This can occasionally be true for junk foods. This doesn't mean one goes out and resumes eating junk foods; it means that, knowing this, one should try harder to resist the craving. The actual process may be that the physiology and cell memory-a metaphor for the body's subtle ability to remember substances to which it's addicted or allergic-go through a temporary adjustment period in which the body switches from unhealthy metabolism to a healthier metabolism. We see an a.n.a.logy to this in some people going through withdrawal symptoms from alcohol. A drink of alcohol will decrease the hangover effects or the symptoms and for a short time make the person feel stronger and better. This paradoxical effect is sometimes seen with allergies when we crave the very things to which we are allergic. After this period has pa.s.sed, people usually test weaker with the particular junk food or drug from which they have withdrawn and become worse when they are exposed to it.

Another energetic quality of food involves the actual colors that Nature bestows on our food. These colors can be viewed as different frequencies of condensed sunlight which aid our balanced development on a variety of body, mind, and spiritual levels. Each specific color frequency stimulates and nurtures specific subtle energy centers, different nervous system plexuses, our autonomic nervous system, and the various glands and organs. This principle, which I call the "rainbow diet," is described in detail in my book Spiritual Nutrition and The Rainbow Diet and will be clarified later in this book.

It is fascinating to me how understanding the process of a.s.similation on a deeper level brings us into such an intimate interrelationship with nature. The very process of a.s.similation is a way to experience the manifestation of the Divine through nature in our everyday life, no matter where or how we live.

Preview of Chapter 3.

IN THIS CHAPTER WE CHALLENGE the basic a.s.sumption of the standard approach to nutrition and realize that there is no single diet for everyone. We examine and explain metabolic dominant physiological systems. Based on this, the principle of biochemical individuality is established for selecting a diet.

I. Principles of individualization II. Dominant systems A. Oxidative B. Autonomic C. Ayurvedic D. Anabolic-Catabolic E. Endocrine F. Blood Type G. Acid-Base.

A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Personalizing Your Diet: Linking Food Ratios to Physiological Types.

THE PRINCIPLE OF BIO-INDIVIDUALITY holds that we are all unique bio-individuals with varying nutritional needs based largely on our genetic inheritance. This principle is powerfully stated by nutritional pioneer Roger Williams, Ph.D., D.Sc., in his book Biochemical Individuality: "If we continue to try to solve [nutritional] problems on the basis of the average man, we will be continually in a muddle. Such a man [average] does not exist." Dr. Roger Williams introduced the concept that people have a genetic need for certain types of food and varying ratios of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. He also demonstrated that people respond differently to the same vitamins, minerals, and other nutritional co-factors. What this means is that we can no longer just simply prescribe-in an across-the-board, general way-any particular nutrient for a specific disease. We must first discover the bio-individuality of the person who will be taking the nutrients. Contrary to this is the fallacy of "allopathic thinking" which, as a rule, does not address the person's underlying biochemical individuality. The allopathic concept of "one diet for everyone" is based on the false a.s.sumption that every human being's metabolism is the same and that there is one kind of nutritional approach and specific supplement regime which works for everyone and every disease.

The future of nutrition is based on continuing to discover the principles that determine metabolic bio-individuality The pract.i.tioner's role will be to a.s.sist individuals in creating diets that match their unique metabolic and physiological needs.

At present, the shortcomings of allopathic thinking have permeated the health marketplace. Dietary systems with opposing philosophies and practices all have thousands of thankful testimonials, their adherents shouting from the rooftops that their diet is the "right way" for anyone who would just "try it," whether it be cooked-food macrobiotics or raw foods; the low-protein vegetarian Fit For Life Diet or the high-protein Atkins Diet; or the McDougal-Pritikin high-complex-carbohydrate diet or the popular Sears Zone diet. How can all these different systems be right for everybody?

Simply put, they're not. If we look closely at the people who follow these diets, we find a very curious phenomenon. All these diets do seem to work ... but only for about one-third to one-half of the people! Those for whom it works are the ones who give the glowing testimonials. We do not hear too often from the ones for whom they do not work.

Why do these diets work for some and not for others? The answer to this puzzling "controversy" can be found in biochemical individuality. Different physiological types require different fuel mixtures in order to enter "the zone," or the right conditions to have maximum cellular energy and expression of health. A racing car requires a different fuel mixture than a jeep, and the same principle operates when it comes to human metabolic type.

Lucretius, the Roman philosopher, put it nicely when he said, "One man's meat is another man's poison." When we give our body the correct balance of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for our own physiologic pattern, we enter our personal "zone." This is the homeostatic state we achieve when maximum energy is created from the food we eat. I want to be clear that when I use the term "the zone," I do not mean the Zone Diet that Dr. Barry Sears popularized. In Dr. Sears' Zone Diet, the real reason that the diet makes a percentage of people feel good for a while is not the animal foods themselves that they may have just added to their diet; it is the particular ratio of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats-the fuel mix- that is in alignment with their true metabolic needs. Put these same people on a vegetarian diet that emphasizes a similar ratio of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, and you'll get similar positive results without the long-term harmful effects and risk factors a.s.sociated with animal foods as a major component of the diet.

Another thought about the Zone Diet, the Blood Type Diet, or any diet that says one must eat animal foods to be healthy-I cannot emphasize enough that there is no scientific evidence that human beings of any physiological pattern have a minimum daily requirement of animal foods. A high-protein diet can easily be achieved in a more healthy way with vegetarian sources of protein. Even Eskimos could adapt if they had to. Too much animal food is the surest way of leaving "the health zone" for the "hospital zone," as epidemiological studies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases attest.

The main reason for the eventual failure of nonvegetarian food prescriptions is that in the long term, animal foods do not suit the ideal anatomical and physiological requirements of the human body, mind, and spirit. Several of my other chapters go into detail on the health risk factors a.s.sociated with animal foods. The key revolutionary breakthrough is that the ratio of protein, carbohydrate, and fat must be linked to the physiologic pattern of the person.

Principles of Physiologic Const.i.tutions.

THE KEY PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGIC CONSt.i.tUTIONS ARE:.

any nutrient and food can have opposite biochemical effects in different individuals; any symptoms or degenerate conditions can be caused by opposite biochemical imbalances; diseases are the result of underlying metabolic imbalances, and so the treatment of disease is the treatment of the underlying metabolic imbalance; in a particular individual there is one homeostatic regulatory system that dominates these other systems; which system dominates will determine how a particular diet or nutrient behaves in one's system; to accurately select a proper diet and nutrients, one needs to know the dominant system and metabolic type.

Knowledge of these different homeostatic systems is not new. The first research about this subject was done by Francis Pottenger, M.D., in 1919. In his book, Symptoms of Visceral Disease, he showed that the autonomic nervous system (the involuntary nervous system controlling such processes as digestion and breath-abbreviated ANS) is the basis of physiologic individuality. He also showed how certain nutrients affect the autonomic nervous system differently, depending on whether one's const.i.tution is parasympathetic-dominant (referring to the part of the ANS that regulates and stimulates such processes as digestion and defecation) or sympathetic-dominant (referring to the part of the ANS that stimulates the flight or fight response).

In the 1950s Drs. Melvin Page and Henry Bieler, famous American nutritional doctors, developed another approach-the concept of endocrine types. They created physiologic systems based on the dominance of a particular endocrine gland; thus we have adrenal, thyroid, gonadal, and pituitary types. Each endocrine category requires a different diet and does better on modified lifestyle factors.

Another researcher of the 1950s was Dr. George Watson, a professor of psychology at UCLA, who found that individuals oxidized their food differently. In other words, the speed with which they oxidized different nutrient categories such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates was key to the dietary choices that were appropriate for the individual. He discovered that to produce optimal energy for the brain, a person has to eat the right mix of these nutrient categories. Using his approach, he had significant healing success with people who had a variety of mental-emotional problems ranging from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia.

Dr. William Donald Kelly was the first to use the autonomic nervous system as a way to cla.s.sify different physiologic types. He used this system with partial success in treating cancer and other medical problems.

All these physiologic systems based on biochemical individuality had various levels of success. Applied singly, they still had gaps in their scope of effectiveness. There needed to be a way to integrate all these systems. In 1983, W. L. Wolcott, who was the trouble-shooter for Dr. Kelly for eight years, established the principle of metabolic dominance. This principle states that for each person, one const.i.tutionally driven physiologic system is the ruling or most influential system in determining how the body will function on a particular nutritional regimen. This new concept has led to a breakthrough in integrating these different physiologic system approaches. The key to synthesizing the various physiologic systems is to first determine the dominant system so we can accurately prescribe the type of diet and nutrients that will support a person's well-being and highest functioning. I want to acknowledge that my understanding of this exciting breakthrough has come directly from many hours of dialogue with W. L. Wolcott. Currently, I am engaged in a joint research project with W. L. Wolcott and Dr. Harold Krystal to find the most accurate and simple way to establish an individual's metabolic type and dominant homeostatic regulatory system.

Dominant Physiologic Systems Approach.

THE IMPORTANT QUESTION in the physiologic const.i.tution approach is, "How do we find out what our dominant physiologic const.i.tution is?" Resolving this question is one of the keys to conscious eating.

In arriving at any const.i.tutionally prescribed diet and lifestyle for an individual, the following list of physiological systems should be taken into account. After determining the dominant physiologic pattern, the other levels of physiologic systems are factored in to create a unique way of viewing the individual's overall biological functioning. Many healthy people have intuitively gravitated to the appropriate diet and lifestyle that supports their const.i.tutional strengths and weaknesses. However, there are those who are immersed in the confusion of various uncomfortable physical, mental, and emotional symptoms and need outside a.s.sistance by trained health pract.i.tioners in order to discover what in their diet and lifestyle is contributing to imbalance. They require support in understanding what needs to be added to their diet and lifestyle to eventually bring them back into balance. Some of the main const.i.tutional systems originally outlined by W L. Wolcott that I consider in my a.n.a.lysis include: autonomic system operating on a continuum ranging from sympathetic-dominant to parasympathetic-dominant; oxidative system operating on a continuum ranging from fast oxidation of glucose to slow oxidation of glucose; Ayurvedic psychophysiologic const.i.tutional tendencies as found in the dosha forces kapha/pitta/vata, which are explained in Chapter 4; acid/alkaline operating on a continuum ranging from acid- to alkaline-forming foods; endocrine glands ranging from the dominant endocrine type to the least dominant (adrenal, thyroid, gonadal, and pituitary); lipo-oxidative system operating on a continuum ranging from cata-bolic-aerobic-acid versus anabolic-anaerobic-alkaline; blood type, such as Type O, A, AB, etc., a.s.sociated with lectin sensitivity (to be explained later in this chapter).

Once we determine the dominant physiologic system of an individual, we then can begin to develop a diet that works to balance that system and most effectively bring homeostasis (balanced physiologic functioning of the biologic system) and optimal health to the overall organism.

Each person has a dominant system with a unique blend of less dominant systems that influences how the food we eat affects our homeostatic balance. In my research and clinical experience, I've found that there are several major physiologic systems that determine how food and supplements affect our homeostatic mechanism to bring health and illness. The two most significant are 1) the oxidative system (fast, slow, and mixed oxidizer) and 2) the autonomic system, comprised of sympathetic, parasympathetic, or balanced. The third major system I use is the Ayurvedic.

In the Ayurveda system, three psychophysiological const.i.tutional types- vata, pitta, and kapha-reveal that the ancients had intuitive insight and appreciation of the inherent psychophysiological differences and the respective dietary prescriptions for these different const.i.tutional types.

When I work with individuals in putting a diet and lifestyle plan together, all my training in these different health systems overlaps and comes into play.

Oxidative System.