Whole Health (7 page)

California's Proposition 37 would have required labeling for all genetically modified foods. In my opinion, this would have given consumers and emergency room doctors the advantage of vital information in the event of a potentially life-threatening anaphylactic allergic reaction.

Two weeks prior to the vote, polls revealed that 82 percent of Californians were in favor of labeling. But Monsanto and Pepsi were convinced that such labeling would be a public relations nightmare that would cost them millions of dollars in net losses. Thus, following a two-week, multimillion-dollar media blitz by the two industry
giants that threatened to pass on astronomical costs to the consumer, the proposition went down in flames. This dark episode has made it perfectly clear that our health care is in our own hands.

THE POWER OF CONSTITUTION CODING

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are 770,000 adverse drug reaction injuries and/or deaths each year, tallying up a cost of over $5.6 million per hospital. In addition, there are millions of adverse reactions to foods and food additives annually in America. Imagine what it might be like if we had a better grasp of the concept of constitution coding. A greater appreciation for the uniqueness of constitution codes would surely save untold lives and dollars. Establishing coding guidelines and educating the general public and health care establishment on the topic of constitutional tendencies would undoubtedly improve the sorry state of our present health care system.

There are but two ways to practice medicine—prevention and intervention. The present medical mantra of “early intervention” should be superseded by a mantra of “prevention.” Disease prevention represents the most perfect strategic practice of medicine, and personal coding is the most important key to effective prevention. Constitutional awareness zeroes in on intolerances well in advance of any potential acute exposure. This is also true for chronic disease. The day-to-day dietary intake of allergenic and intolerance foods contributes to chronic inflammation.

I have designed constitutional health programs for tens of thousands of people with remarkable and consistently replicable results and continue to allay their worries about which foods are good for them. Most of them come in dazed and confused because one health expert tried to convince them that a food or supplement was good for them, while another said that it was bad for them. Meanwhile their doctor insisted that it did nothing at all.

They are starved for, and deserving of, definitive answers. What's worse, they've been hoodwinked into believing that the conventional establishment has the plan for them, when in fact they're the ones with the answers. In America the health care consumer has been systematically disempowered. The orthodoxy has inculcated them with a victimizing form of codependency.

Natural healing and disease prevention power has always belonged to the patient. Our ancestors were their own physicians. They were fully aware of exactly who they were and what they could eat, drink, and do. This ancestral self-awareness represents not only who they were, it reminds us of who we truly are.

CONSTITUTION CODING, PAST AND PRESENT

Our ancestors had no other choice than to be experts on coding. Their survival depended on their mastery of constitutional awareness. They viewed life from a natural cosmological perspective. To them the universe was a vast whole, comprised of uniquely different parts, and each part was viewed as a separate microuniverse unto itself. Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Ayurvedic, and Arabic cultures adopted detailed constitutional systems for their well-being and the advancement of their civilizations.

Every ancient culture established a system whereby they cosmologically linked themselves with the natural world in an elemental fashion. That is, they classified different types of human personality types as, say, fire, earth, air, or water. Fire may have been chosen to represent a person with a fiery personality. Air might represent someone inclined to deep, pensive thought. These elemental systems provided them with the means to better understand the uniqueness of each person's constitution, further enabling them to correct energy imbalances that might otherwise result in dis-ease.

Constitution
refers to one's general state of health in
accordance with the individual's unique tendencies, and is believed to be closely related to pathogenesis. It reflects the overall state of body, mind, and spirit. It is a concept related to physiology, psychology, temperament, and behavior. The system employed by the ancient Japanese was called
godai,
and it established the symbols of air, water, ether, fire, and the void to refer to their five different constitutions. The Tibetans established their Bon system of air, water, earth, ether, and fire. The ancient Babylonians differentiated their constitutional types as earth, fire, sky, wind, and sea. The alchemy of medieval and Renaissance Europe was a bit more complex, with an eight-element constitutional concept of air, water, ether, fire, earth, mercury, sulfur, and salt. The ancient Greeks had their four humors, the Hindus their
Tatta
system, and the Buddhists established a constitutional concept called
Mah
bh
ta
.

The one thing these systems all had in common was their intention to establish a deeper understanding of the energetic uniqueness of each and every person in context with an infinite cosmos of energy. They appreciated that life force defined everything and that everything projected its own personal expression of life force. Moreover, they knew that, when properly deciphered, constitution coding could assist in the maintaining of a balanced life.

According to the system of classical Chinese medicine, there is a detailed constitutional theory called the Five Elements Principle. This system first establishes that there are two primary health-related constitutions: 1) congenital and 2) acquired.

Congenital constitution refers to the general state of health and tendencies a child inherits from her parents. Congenital constitution is thought of as the essence (which in today's terms we would call DNA) that a child is born with. Whole Health teaches that the congenital constitution represents our “fixed code,” the unique and unalterable aspects of who we are.

Acquired constitution refers to the changing influences that arise from nourishment, lifestyle, and general day-to-day living.
The foods we eat, the thoughts we think, the love and lifestyle we cultivate, all play a significant role in balancing the influences of our congenital constitution. Acquired constitution represents what Whole Health calls our “mutable code.”

One of the fundamental beliefs of Chinese medicine is that human beings are infinitely intertwined with all of nature. The ancient Chinese classified all of nature into a handful of basic elements.

They mapped out five energetic classifications intended to represent the unique distinctions between everything in nature. They divided the entire multiverse of unseen energy into five separate categories for the purposes of establishing unique distinctions and dynamic contrasts. Here they could plainly distinguish the differences and similarities between all things. They understood that in order to prosper, live, adapt, and survive, they would need to better understand the uniqueness of the energies within the mosaic of life.

To their way of thinking, the universe was comprised of varying energies that constantly required balancing. This concept was applied directly in their practice of medicine and disease prevention. Balancing your energy would require different foods and medicines than your neighbor would. These constitutional prescriptions would also have to change seasonally, in accordance with the fluidity of nature. What you ate, drank, and took medicinally was constantly changing, as the seasons brought forth their respective energetic cycles. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to living—and it is dynamic, not static. They didn't all eat the same wheat, drink the same milk, or take Lipitor forever. Everyone's needs, tendencies, and behaviors were respected and treated in accordance with their ever-changing individual needs.

Each of the five element classifications is associated with a graphic symbol to represent what are believed to be the primary categories of all and everything that exists between heaven and
earth. The origins of these five energy distinctions are quite logical, when you think about it.

THE FIVE MANIFESTATIONS OF ENERGY

1. Abundance
   
2. Excess
   
3. Balance
   
4. Deficiency
   
5. Insufficiency
   

To the ancients, the universe was a dynamic domain of living change driven by a powerful, unseen life force. They envisioned the circuiting heavens, the changing seasons, the wind, rain, snow, and every living being as an embodiment of one of the five manifestations of energy. In energy terms, everything either had an abundance, excess, balance, deficiency, or an insufficiency of life force. They understood the vital importance of distinguishing the differences between all energies, so they devised a system with five metaphors that represented the energy differences for all dynamic energies. These became known as the five constitutional elements.

THE FIVE CONSTITUTION CODES (FIXED)

1. Wood—abundant energy
   
2. Fire—excess energy
   
3. Earth—balanced energy
   
4. Metal—deficient energy
   
5. Water—insufficient energy
   

Remember, the five classifications of elements pertained to everything in the universe, including you and me. We all fit somewhere within those five elements.

Within the extended cosmological tapestry of the Five Elements Principle, the ancient Chinese established five metaphors to align with each unique constitutional type. Your first step to Whole Health is deciphering your fixed constitution code. This exercise is Whole Health's attempt to bring each reader to a closer appreciation of their constitutional uniqueness. The following chapters deal more specifically with mutable constitution codes and muscle testing. This is where Whole Health truly distinguishes itself as a system that enables its practitioners to tune in to the specific changing needs of every individual. Where the constitution codes break each of us down into five separate types, Whole Health reveals the uniqueness of each and every one of us in a dynamic, ever-changing way. It all begins with constitution.

DECIPHERING YOUR FIXED CONSTITUTION CODE

Deciphering your fixed constitution code is an extremely important step to becoming your own self-empowered Whole Health–care manager. Remember, we all have
fixed constitution codes,
which never change, and
mutable constitution codes,
which are forever changing. The questionnaire below will help you to determine your fixed constitution code only. (The chapters that follow will guide you through the process of deciphering and working with your mutable code.)

Whole Health has distilled its constitutional decoding process down to fifteen central questions. These fifteen questions represent the keys to unlocking the door to your fixed constitution code. For each category, select the letter corresponding to the response that BEST describes you.
Note:
For questions 1 and 4, please respond with an answer that best describes you
during your formative and early adult years
, even though you may no longer entirely fit that description.