Whole Health (20 page)

THE WENCHIECH'U LONGEVITY EXERCISE

The ancient Chinese often emphasized the importance of longevity as a means to immortality. They understood that your true “self” is rooted in spirit, and spirit is immortal. Therefore, immortality is something that cannot be attained, but rather, is only realized. This is true immortality. Living a full, abundant life for 120 years as nature intended us to allows us sufficient time to cultivate true spiritual wisdom
.
To further enable us to cultivate this age-old wisdom, they formulated eight secrets of longevity.

Eight Secrets of Longevity

1. Abolish self-limitation.
   
2. Hear your inner nature.
   
3. Eat purely.
   
4. Exercise your body routinely.
   
5. Maintain a strong positive attitude.
   
6. Maintain regular spiritual practice.
   
7. Avoid addiction.
   
8. The last secret is one that only you can discover within.
   

Here in the modern West, the concept of longevity is more about staving off untimely death and living as healthful for as possible for a long lifetime. As we've discussed, in recent years, Western science has made some remarkable discoveries regarding longevity and how to lengthen the telomeres, which protect our DNA from “fraying” each time our cells divide. Science is continuing to discover that diet, lifestyle, and stress management all contribute to telomere protection and repair. It won't come as a surprise to anyone who has ever experimented with any of these things, that proper diet, certain nutritional supplements, regular exercise, meditation, and Qigong have all been found to repair and extend longevity. Wenchiech'u is one form of Qigong that can, if practiced properly, support longevity.

FIGURE 5.7
The Longevity Points

The previous chapter discussed longevity diagnosis. Here we will reveal EMT techniques for balancing body energy to stimulate telomere activity and enhance its longevity powers. Practitioner and subject should already have completed the diagnostic portion of this exercise and should therefore already be interfaced and tuned. Assuming that the subject was found to have a deficient longevity point (ST 36 or KD 1), they are in need of Wenchiech'u stimulation. Therefore, the practitioner's intention should be to spin highly charged, compressed, counterclockwise energy directly at the subject's deficient longevity point. This will require a good minute and a half of spinning the energy. It is also very important to note that advanced practitioners may use the Grasping the Ch'i method to diagnose their own longevity points. They might also, in effect, balance themselves by spinning the Wenchiech'u energy counterclockwise at their own deficient longevity points.

Weaving and fluttering the ch'i will also enhance the longevity points. Each of these techniques is an excellent vehicle for directing the healing power of ch'i. As long as the practitioner's mind remains focused and their intention wave has been generated, the ch'i will effectively transmit where it is intended to go.

WHOLE HEALTH NUTRITIONAL BALANCING: FOOD AS MEDICINE

FOOD IS MEDICINE!

I recently viewed a superb program on PBS that reexamined the theories about our split from the apes. The show was based on the work of paleontologists Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut from the Collège de France. In the Tugen Hills of Kenya, the two scientists recently unearthed what they have named
Orrorin tugenensis
—a six-million-year-old hominid and, some experts believe, the oldest ancestor we have.

As I watched in amazement, I couldn't help but wonder how
Orrorin tugenensis
lived. I thought, “Did they somehow manage to prosper in the face of hardship? And how did they heal themselves when they were sick and wounded? What did they eat?” These ancient ancestors contain the blueprint for our biochemical hardwiring. What lessons about life, survival, food, and natural medicine might we learn from them?

Biological life has been evolving on this planet for more than three billion years. The first primates are said to have roamed the earth as far back as 65000000 BC. Their earliest diet was said to have consisted of insects. It wasn't until approximately 50000000 BC that our primate predecessors began eating fruits and vegetables. Until the work of Pickford and Senut forces anthropology to reconsider, the appearance of the first true humans,
Homo habilis
(“handy man”), is believed to be around 2300000 BC. These hunter-gatherers subsisted on a diet that was 60 to 70 percent fruits and vegetables, and only about 30 to 40 percent flesh. For more than two million years and twenty civilizations, our earliest ancestors were forced to become master adaptors in order to survive.

Throughout their evolution, our ancestors had no choice but to develop systems of eating and healing, utilizing whatever natural resources were available to them. Limited by the dictates of season, climate, weather, and indigenous availability, they managed to prosper, grow, and heal masterfully. The earliest dawning of modern civilization, some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, saw the most antiquated systems of organized recorded medicine. Ancient Chinese, Ayurvedic, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Native American, Persian, and Roman systems of natural medicine all looked first to food and herbs to invoke cure.

Food was the first medicine. As far back as 4,000 years ago, the Egyptians used asparagus as a diuretic. The Maya used papaya fruit to aid digestion. The ancient Menominee tribe of North America used the seeds of pumpkin to expel worms. Both the Greeks and Romans used carrot seeds to stimulate menstruation and relieve urinary retention. The Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Hindus, and Mesopotamians employed more than 500 “vegetable drugs,” powerful druglike agents from foods and herbs. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and author of a massive encyclopedia of the natural world, taught that cabbage cured eighty-seven diseases, and onions cured twenty-eight. The Romans believe that lentils balanced mood.
They also used grapes in their medicinal preparations for enemas, as well as for skin and breathing problems. History is rife with accounts of food cures that changed the fate of mankind.

Scurvy, once a dreaded medical condition of the skin and gums resulting from vitamin C deficiency, was cured by common foods. In 1753, Scottish surgeon James Lind of the British Royal Navy was the first to document the scurvy-healing properties of citrus fruits, such as lemons and limes.

Rickets, a disease marked by a softening of the bones, is the result of vitamin D deficiency. The ancient Chinese were said to have cured this disease centuries ago with the use of fish oils.

Pernicious anemia—a progressive, degenerative disease of the nervous system that can lead to severe neurological symptoms such as those associated with MS and Parkinson's disease—is caused by vitamin B
12
deficiency. It was considered fatal until 1926 when Nobel Prize–winning researcher George H. Whipple discovered that with the help of dietary raw liver, the disease was no longer fatal.

Nearly seventy years ago, Weston A. Price, a Cleveland dentist and researcher, set out to study the natural diets of civilizations the world over. He was convinced that degenerative conditions such as rampant tooth decay, arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, and chronic fatigue were the direct result of denatured, processed foods (foods with processed sugars, white flours, rancid and chemically altered oils and fats). Especially disturbed by the frequent infections, allergies, asthma, and behavioral problems among the many children he treated, Dr. Price was inspired to make a difference. He traveled to many isolated corners of the globe to study the health, physical development, and diets of those inhabitants who had no previous contact with modern civilization. His research took him to remote Swiss villages; isolated Scottish islands; the Florida Everglades; northernmost Eskimo fishing villages; and indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Africa, and the Amazon. In every region he traveled to, he found villages and tribes where the natives
commonly exhibited what Dr. Price called “natural physical perfection.” In addition, they exhibited an almost complete absence of disease.

Interesting to note, however, was the stark contrast in health, structure, and development among these peoples after missionaries had changed their native diets to modern diets. Dr. Price found that it took no more than one generation on processed, denatured foods to seriously degrade their overall health and well-being.

The natural diets of all these people were varied, but the foods that Dr. Price summarized as the most superior for optimal health were fish, organ meats, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, clabbered milks (yogurt), and tubers. Price's research clearly demonstrates that food has been our medicine since the beginning of time.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

With the aid of anthropological research, we are once again beginning to learn what our ancestors innately knew about the medicinal power of food. Like their ancestors, approximately 75 percent of the world's population continues to rely on food as medicine. More than 25 percent of our prescriptive drugs today are derived from common foods, plants, shrubs, and herbs.

Many astounding food studies are now setting the stage for a future that will most certainly spotlight food as
the
preeminent medicine.

Studies have confirmed that foods act as anticoagulants, antidepressants, antiulcerants, antithrombotics, analgesics, tranquilizers, sedatives, cholesterol reducers, cancer fighters, natural chemotherapy agents, preventatives, hormone regulators, fertility agents, laxatives, antidiarrheal agents, immune stimulators, biological response modifiers, antihypertensives, diuretics, decongestants, antibiotics, antiviral agents, antinausea agents, cough suppressants, blood vessel dilators, and bronchial dilators.

Included in recent groundbreaking “food is medicine” research
are studies that have confirmed that fish oil, garlic, walnuts, flaxseeds, olive oil, red wine, oat bran, onions, avocados, grapes, green vegetables, and hot peppers help to reverse heart disease by triggering anti-inflammatory hormones.

Garlic, onions, grapes, soy, walnuts, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and fatty fish have been proven to prevent blood clots, while citrus, berries, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, scallions, broccoli, celery, green peppers, cucumbers, dark lettuce, beans, tea, fish oils, and whole grains help prevent cancer. Bananas, beans, cabbage, licorice, cayenne pepper, and hot chili peppers help to heal ulcers, while celery, garlic, and potassium-rich fruits such as figs, dates, raisins, bananas, and avocados help to lower blood pressure. Let's take a closer look at the medicinal properties of food from a current, scientific perspective.

THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF FOOD (PHYTOCHEMICALS)

Phytochemicals are nutrients found in plant-based foods. They have existed since the beginning of plant life on Earth, and our ancient ancestors were the first to observe their many potential healing properties. Today, following decades of research, more than 4,000 phytochemicals have been identified, and approximately 100 have been intensively studied for their medicinal properties. Some phytochemicals commonly found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and herbs are extremely rich in powerful medicinal properties that can actually help prevent—and even cure—disease.

Researchers have identified three key ways that phytochemicals help boost human immunity. Their powerful antioxidants help neutralize disease-causing free radicals. They also help eliminate toxic wastes by manipulating phase 1 and phase 2 enzymes, and regulate disease-causing hormones. Some important categories of phytochemicals include:

1. Carotenoids
   —Found in carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, and cantaloupe. They help prevent stomach, prostate, lung, and colon cancer as well as lower the risk of heart disease. In addition they reduce the incidence of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.
   
2. Allylic sulfides
   —Found in garlic, onions, scallions, and leeks. They raise good cholesterol, lower bad fats, and stimulate immune enzymes that antagonize tumor development.
   
3. Phenolic compounds
   —Found in most vegetables, whole grains, green and black teas, and fruits. They mobilize enzymes that inhibit cancers of the bladder, breast, colon, liver, blood, pancreas, skin, and stomach.
   
4. Isoflavones
   —Found in beans and legumes (soy). They lower toxic estrogen levels and antagonize certain cancers, as well as reduce risks for hot flashes and osteoporosis.
   
5. Saponins
   —Found in asparagus, spinach, tomatoes, soy, and beans. They prevent heart disease and certain cancers, and remove dangerous cholesterol from the body.
   
6. Flavonoids
   —Found in citrus, grapes, berries, green leafy vegetables, and onions. They help inhibit cancers of the breast, lung, and stomach. They also help reverse atherosclerosis, antagonize toxic hormones, and fortify collagen.
   
7. Monoterpenes
   —Found in cherries and citrus. They produce enzymes that block breast, pancreatic, lung, skin, and stomach cancer–causing compounds. They also reduce arterial plaque formation.
   

This brief mention doesn't do justice to the real phytochemical story. Phytochemical studies are ongoing, as scientific research is increasingly turning to food as a new source of medicine. At this point, researchers have barely uncovered the tip of the iceberg concerning the potential healing powers of food. What our ancestors
learned empirically, we are learning scientifically. Different methods that result in the same discovery—food is medicine.

SOME PERSONAL STORIES

I recently worked with a thirty-five-year-old man who suffered from high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. His HMO had put him on a high-starch diet and his doctors had prescribed a number of medications. In spite of those treatment protocols, all of his conditions continued to worsen. The only suggestion his doctors could offer was to increase his medications. That's when he decided to pay me a visit.

I immediately took him off the high-starch diet and placed him on a Whole Health nutrition plan with a high-protein, low-starch carbohydrate diet. I've found that high-starch diets tend to increase the need for insulin, which many diabetics aren't able to sufficiently produce. Higher protein intake increases the production of the hormone glucagon, which takes the pressure off the pancreas by requiring less insulin.

Next, following his Whole Health EMT evaluation, I put him on megadoses of chromium (a mineral supplement) to help balance out his blood sugar, vitamin B
3
and Indian gooseberry to lower his cholesterol, and pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark) and bonita fish peptide to lower his blood pressure.

He was a disciplined patient who followed his program as well as anybody I have ever worked with. After only three months, he went back to his doctor for a checkup. His cholesterol had dropped from 260 to 170, his blood sugars had completely normalized (well below the renal threshold), and his blood pressure was perfect!

When he told his doctor that he had accomplished all of this by following a natural regime of diet and supplements, his doctor proceeded to scold him.

Nonetheless, I continue to see him for follow-up visits, and he remains symptom free and off all medications. His food is now his medicine.

When it comes to “food as medicine,” there's yet another side to the story. A thirty-five-year-old man, a veteran of the First Gulf War, recently came to see me with a long list of troubling symptoms. For two years, he had been experiencing chronic stomach cramps, severe gas, nausea, diarrhea, an increased urge to urinate, drooling, sweating, headaches, dizziness, eye tearing, blurred vision, a runny nose, shortness of breath, acid reflux, tingling of the extremities (fingers, toes, arms, and legs), muscle twitching, cramping, and weakness.

At first glance, he looked like a man in good health because he was physically fit, had perfect posture, a very balanced temperament, and appeared to be very emotionally and mentally stable. After recording his history, I was baffled by the wide range of his symptoms until he told me the rest of his story.