Category: Natural cures

The 12 things you can do to avoid cancer

The 12 things you can do to avoid cancer

Or at least dramatically decrease your chances of getting it!

I think all of us have a relative or a close friend or two that have contracted some form of cancer or who have died from cancer in our lifetime.

I don’t propose to have the absolute answer or cure for cancer but I will go out on a limb and say that the following twelve tips will absolutely help you avoid it. The more of these you are able to incorporate into your life the better off you’ll be.

Please note that everything I recommend is backed by scientific research and my personal experience. I don’t propose that my recommendations are the conclusion of all discussions. It is simply 12 things I feel will help one be as healthy as they can and minimize their chances of getting cancer. There are probably 100 things you can do!

1. Eat a Healthy Plant-based Diet

What you eat has a huge impact on your health. However, for most people that might mean feeling better or have more energy but diet has a much deeper impact on our longevity — what you eat can be the difference in dieing way before our allotted time or living a full and vibrant life. According to the World Health Organization, about one-third of all cancers can be prevented by factors within your control, including diet. For example, a plant-based (vegan) diet is richer in many essential nutrients, but fortifying the body against disease. It helps to keep our body at optimum weight and it is well documented that obesity is a leading factor of poor health. A plant-based diet can lower blood sugar levels and most importantly, it can protect us against certain forms of cancer.

Source: 6 Science-based Health Benefits of a Vegan Diet

Source: A plant-based diet is a powerful way to achieve good health.

2. Avoid all Dairy

Dairy products have been linked to all kinds of chronic diseases, including cancer. Milk and other dairy products are the top sources of artery-clogging saturated fat, contributing to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have also linked dairy to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Contrary to dairy industry propaganda, dairy products and calcium do not prevent stress fractures and regular consumption of dairy products has been linked to prostate cancer.

Proponents of India’s health system, Ayurveda will disagree with these conclusions but I want to draw their attention to the fact that the milk that is glorified in the ancient Ayurvedic texts is NOT anything like what is currently being sold in supermarket stores. Commercial dairy has none of the healing benefits that are mentioned in the Ayurvedic texts and should be avoided at all costs.

Source: The Dairy Debate

Source: The Health Concerns about Dairy

Please also readhttps://www.pcrm.org/news/health-nutrition/dairy-products-and-ovarian-cancer

And: https://www.pcrm.org/news/blog/got-prostate-ditch-dairy

3. Connect with Nature

We are nature — each one of us is an integral part of a perfectly balanced ecosystem and yet, for the most part, humans live disconnected from nature — in high rise apartments eating processed foods and drinking chlorinated water.

A study conducted by the University of British Columbia examined the specific effect of immersion in nature upon the overall sense of well-being of participants and was published in the Journal of Positive Psychology.

Researchers divided people into three different groups. For one group, immersion in nature was defined as taking time to engage in some form of connection with the natural world, including not just walking in nature but anything not human-built: a houseplant, a dandelion growing in a crack in a sidewalk, birds, or exposing our body to the sun through a window.

One of the other two groups focused on their self-observations regarding human-made objects, and the third did neither. Researchers found that the difference in the participants’ well-being —their happiness, sense of elevation, and their level of connectedness to other people, not just nature — was significantly higher for the first group than that of participants in the group which noticed how only human-built objects made them feel. It was also higher than the control group, which did neither.

Source: Why Connecting with Nature Elevates your Mental Health

4. Minimize Electromagnetic Pollution

The digital world we all relish and appreciate has its drawbacks — the electromagnetic pollution we are all being bombarded with is changing our physiology. The threat of numerous forms of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) to human health is becoming increasingly clear, and thanks to researchers like Camilla Rees, the dangers are beginning to permeate the mainstream media.

B. Blake Levitt, Former New York Times writer and author of Electromagnetic Fields, A Consumer’s Guide to the Issues and How to Protect Ourselves, and Editor of Cell Towers, Wireless Convenience? Or Environmental Hazard? explains in Rees’ book, Public Health SOS: The Shadow Side of the Wireless Revolution that:

“… It turns out that most living things are fantastically sensitive to vanishingly small EMF exposures. Living cells interpret such exposures as part of our normal cellular activities (think heartbeats, brainwaves, cell division itself, etc.) The problem is, man-made electromagnetic exposures aren’t “normal”. They are artificial artifacts, with unusual intensities, signaling characteristics, pulsing patterns, and wave forms. And they can misdirect cells in myriad ways.”

One practical way to reduce electromagnetic pollution is to practice grounding or earthing.

Source: What is the Best Way to Distress?

SourceGrounding the Human Body: The Healing Benefits of Earthing

Source: An Activists Journey to Raise Awareness of Electromagnetic Pollution

SourceThe Influence of Electromagnetic Pollution on Living Organisms: Historical Trends and Forecasting Changes

5. Keep your Blood Alkaline

One of the two leading factors of disease is acidic blood, the other is lack of oxygen. The kind of food we eat certainly changes the pH of our blood and so too does our lifestyle.

When your body fluids contain too much acid, it’s known as acidosis. Acidosis occurs when your kidneys and lungs can’t keep your body’s pH in balance. Many of the body’s processes produce acid. Acidosis can lead to numerous health issues, and it can even be life-threatening.

Nearly all biological functions are dependent upon the acidity or alkalinity of the liquid environment. pH is a measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity of a solution where a pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and greater than 7 is alkaline or basic. A pH of 7.35 – 7.45 is ideal.

Foods that increase the acidity of our blood include meat, fish, dairy and alcohol. Food that increases the alkalinity of our blood includes green leafy vegetables, fruits, and fermented foods.

By eating a plant-based, alkaline diet it easier for the body to maintain that ideal number. If one ate only meat, fish, eggs, sugar and processed foods and drank lots of alcohol then the body would struggle to maintain that ideal number.

Source: Acidosis

Source: Diseases Caused by Alkaline or Acid pH in the body

Source: Acid/Base Balance

6. Keep a Positive Attitude

All disease begins in the mind.

When a person is depressed, the whole body is negatively impacted. Depressed people get ill easier and the road to recovery is more challenging. People who are happier and more positive are typically better able to fend off diseases and enjoy better health during chronic illness.

Everyone feels sad once in a while but depression can sap the life out of you and often leave you feeling helpless and weak. When depressed we often lose interest in normal activities such as eating, making love, and decision making, and our sleeping patterns are disrupted. We may feel tired, irritable, or lethargic most of the time; or think continually about death or suicide.

The National Institute on Aging shook up the medical world with the results of a remarkable study: Tracking 4,825 people ages 71 and older, researchers found that those who were chronically depressed for at least six years had an 88 percent greater risk of developing cancer within the next four years. The researchers speculated that depression fuels cancer by damaging T-cells and other parts of the body that fight the disease. (Of course, both cancer and chemotherapy may have biochemical effects that contribute to depression as well.)

Even before doctors had any inkling that mood could affect a person’s chances of getting cancer, it was already clear that depression and loneliness added to the devastation of the disease once it was present. Cancer patients without strong social ties are particularly likely to die early, and patients who get counseling and support may add years to their lives: One study of women with advanced breast cancer found that those who attended weekly support groups lived an average of 18 months longer than those who didn’t. Although later studies did not find the same benefit, doctors agree that support groups can increase your quality of life. Weighted blankets have also been proven to help with depression.

“Cancer survivors who are depressed are twice as likely to die prematurely as those who are not depressed” -Journal of Cancer Survivorship

Just last month, the British Journal of Medicine (BJM) published the findings of 16 cohort studies conducted in England and Scotland over a 14 year period, that examined the role of psychological distress as a predictor of mortality in cancer patients. Based on self-reports of over 160,000 men and women, those with higher levels of distress had a 32% greater risk of total cancer mortality, specifically those reporting symptoms of depression and anxiety. These findings, the Journal reports, contribute to the growing evidence of the link between psychological factors and cancer survival.

Source: Illness: the mind-body connection

Source: Neglecting Mental Health in Cancer Treatment 

SourceAwareness, Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression

7. Breathe

The science of breathing stands on quite ancient foundations. Centuries of wisdom instructs us to pay closer attention to our breathing, the most basic of things we do each day. And yet, maybe because breathing is so basic, it’s also easy to ignore. A brief review of the latest science on breathing and the brain, and overall health serves as a reminder that breathing deserves much closer attention – there’s more going on with each breath than we realize.

Controlling your breathing calms your brain and regulates your blood pressure. According to the ancient yoga teachings of India, at the time of our birth, we are allotted a certain amount of breaths for this life, so it follows then, that slowing down our breathing will increase our lifespan.

In yoga we learn to control prana, the vital force, through pranayama. We use the breath in pranayama to learn to control prana, but don’t confuse prana with breath. Prana is the energy that animates the lungs. It is NOT the breath. Using the breath is the easiest method for training prana. Once you are able to control prana through pranayama you are better able to control the movement of prana to other organs and areas of the body. – Amarajit Singh

In the 1930s, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Otto Warburg hypothesized,

“Cancer has only one prime cause. The prime cause of cancer is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of body cells by an anaerobic (oxygen-less) cell respiration.” 

He believed that cancer cells thrive in oxygen-poor environments and many research studies now support his assertion. Thanks to Warburg and others, we know that cancer cells metabolize differently than normal cells, which need oxygen for respiration. Instead, cancer cells metabolize through the process of fermentation. This inferior form of energy production is activated when the oxygen level of a cell drops below 40 percent. This leads to an acidic environment that encourages the growth of cancer cells.

It goes without saying that to get the full benefits of breathing practice, we should avoid smoking and also breathing in secondhand smoke. According to the CDC, “Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke breathed out by smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer. Since the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report, 2.5 million adults who were nonsmokers died because they breathed secondhand smoke.

Source: How Breathing Calms Your Brain, And Other Science-Based Benefits Of Controlled Breathing

Source: Breathing Techniques for Stress-Relief

Source: Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke

Source: Why is Breath So Important in Yoga?

SourceCan Deep Breathing Be Key to Cancer Healing? You Bet!

8. Get Sunlight

Contrary to popular belief, the sun is not our enemy. In fact, sunlight is critical for our health, most significantly in helping our body produce Vitamin D. Although excess sunlight can contribute to skin cancers, a moderate amount of sunlight actually has preventive benefits when it comes to cancer.

Decreased sun exposure has been associated with a drop in your serotonin levels, which can lead to major depression with seasonal changes. The light-induced effects of serotonin are triggered by sunlight that goes in through the eye. Sunlight cues special areas in the retina, which triggers the release of serotonin. So, you’re more likely to experience this type of depression in the wintertime, when the days are shorter.

Due to this connection, one of the main treatments for depression with seasonal changes is light therapy, also known as phototherapy. You can get a light therapy box to have at home. The light from the box mimics natural sunlight that stimulates the brain to make serotonin and reduces excess melatonin.

Source: What are the Benefits of Sunlight?

SourceWelcome the Sun back into your life!

Source: https://luxeluminous.com/benefits-of-tanning/

9. Eat Fermented Foods

Our body has more bacteria living inside than all the cells that make up the human form. At any one time, we have about 3 pounds of bacteria living inside of us. A healthy body is one that has more good bacteria than bad bacteria. Our gut is the foundation of our organism. It is where we absorb our nutrition and from where we interface with the exterior world even more intimately than through our skin. If you want to get to the bottom of an ailment, you need to look at how your digestion is working, and what you are eating.

The four main nutrients needed for optimal digestion are enzymes, prebiotics, probiotics, and minerals.

Minerals activate enzymes that accelerate the chemical reactions of metabolism. Enzymes are there to break down food into less complex parts for better assimilation.

Prebiotics are food for your microbiome. The best prebiotics is found in raw fibrous fruits and veggies, especially raw, leafy, greens, and soluble and insoluble fiber found in produce.

Probiotics are most often found in fermented food like raw sauerkraut, kimchi, and other products (like live pickles). Probiotic foods also have digestive enzymes.

The Greek physician Hippocrates often referred to as “the founder of modern medicine,” said, “All disease begins in the gut.” The flip-side of that coin is also true! All health begins in the gut.

10. Meditate

Since a good supply of oxygen to the blood and a healthy mind is critical to health, it is not surprising that yoga, tai chi, and meditation have lasted the test of time. Incorporating a deep breathing and meditation routine into your life has been proven beyond a doubt to be great for our overall mind/body/spirit health.

Science has proven that even the most basic meditation practice can reduce stress, control anxiety increase memory, improve attention span and self-awareness, improve the quality of our sleep and most importantly, reduce blood pressure.

As a monk, I would practice a form of mantra meditation for at least 2-hours daily and I found it to be tremendously helpful in reducing my stress and calming the mind. I was also celibate then, and meditation helped me maintain my vows.

Here is a collection of stories and comments people have sent to the researcher, Katie Holmes on the wonderful benefits meditation has brought them, published with the hope of inspiring YOU to try meditation for the first time (or pick it up again if you’ve just been lazy with it.

Benefits of Meditation: 38+ People Comment On The Benefits Meditation Has Brought Them

Source: 12 Science-based Benefits of Meditation

11. Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting, ranging from a few hours to a few days at a time. It is the kind of fasting I prefer because it does not disrupt your usual routines like a full-on fast would do. Fasting is not a new concept, it is a practice that dates back centuries and plays a central role in many cultures and religions. Fasting is a practice that has been associated with a wide array of potential health benefits, including weight loss, as well as improved blood sugar control, heart health, brain function, and cancer prevention.

In India’s Ayurvedic tradition, fasting is considered to be a cure for all diseases!

Several studies have found that fasting may improve blood sugar control, which could be especially useful for those at risk of diabetes. Intermittent fasting and alternate-day fasting could help decrease blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance but may affect men and women differently.

Research shows that inflammation may be involved in the development of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis (4). Some studies have found that fasting can help decrease levels of inflammation and help promote better health.

Animal and test-tube studies indicate that fasting may benefit the treatment and prevention of cancer. Similarly, a test-tube study showed that exposing cancer cells to several cycles of fasting was as effective as chemotherapy in delaying tumor growth and increased the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs on cancer formation (32).

I do intermittent fasting every day by simply refraining from eating after 8 pm and then not eating my breakfast until 10:30 which means I have fasted for 14.5 hours!

Source8 Health Benefits of Fasting, Backed by Science

12. Sleep Well

It is often believed that diet and exercise are the foundations of good health but according to Sleep Diplomat, Dr. Matt Walker, sleep is the real foundation and diet and exercise are the pillars.

Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don’t sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

Walker has spent the last four and a half years writing Why We Sleep, a complex but urgent book that examines the effects of this epidemic close up, the idea being that once people know of the powerful links between sleep loss and, among other things, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and poor mental health, they will try harder to get the recommended eight hours a night.

There is some evidence of a link between insufficient sleep and the risk of cancer. In particular, people with circadian rhythm disorders—in which the body’s biological clock is disrupted because of shift work, for example—may be at increased risk. A study in the International Journal of Cancer found a relationship between women’s irregular work schedules and the rate of breast cancer. Researchers compared 1200 women who had developed breast cancer between 2005 and 2008, with 1300 women who did not have a cancer diagnosis. They found that the rate of breast cancer was 30 percent higher for the women who had worked shifts. Women who had at least four years of night shift work, as well as those with fewer than three night shifts per week (keeping them from ever fully adjusting to one schedule) were at highest risk. Shift work has also been shown to increase the incidence of certain cancers—for example prostate cancer—in men.

Source: Lack of Sleep Increases Your Risk of Some Cancers

I hope these 12 tips are helpful. If you are currently struggling with cancer or have fears of contracting it, please try to incorporate some or all of the above suggestions into your life.

Some other sources

Wishing you the best of health and happiness!

Paul Rodney Turner, the Food Yogi

 

Food Yogi Certification Level 1 – Enrollment open

Food Yogi Certification Level 1 – Enrollment open

The Food Yoga Academy, the brainchild of International director of Food for Life, Paul Rodney Turner (aka Priyavrata das) has officially launched.

The Academy’s first course is Food Yogi Certification Level 1, where students can learn the fundamentals of the food yoga lifestyle and how to enrich their lives through conscious eating and devotion. Based on the teachings of his book, FOOD YOGA – Nourishing Body, Mind & Soul, students will learn the art and science of eating with consciousness and compassion to provide a framework to elevate the act of eating from the dry and mundane to a soul-satisfying experience.

In this introduction to Food Yoga, Turner lays out the 10 fundamental truths.

Students will learn about the more subtle aspect of food and how to achieve optimum health by practicing the Food Yogi diet and lifestyle, which includes, what to eat, when to eat, water therapy, detoxing and the sacred geometry of wholefoods.

The courses will also include raw vegan food demonstrations, including smoothies, pates and crackers, cheesecakes, and soups, etc.

Students will be tested at the end of the course to earn their certification.

WHAT IS FOOD YOGA?

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“This Level 1 course gives the fundamentals of the prasadarian lifestyle,” says Turner. “However, in Level 2 we will dive deep into all the details of preparing food with love in order to nourish the mind and spirit.

His book food yoga was a direct response to the inspiration behind Food for Life, Srila Prabhupada who said that “Everyone should get a chance to take prasadam*.”

“I realized that we had to empower people with the knowledge of prasadam but in order to do that I had to build a framework for understanding. The book, therefore, takes the reader on a journey of first discovering how food and thoughts are energy and I present scientific proof to back these statements,” he explains.

The Food Yoga Certification Level 1 is available now for $97, however, a special limited launch discount is being offered to the first 100 students with the coupon code: 50yoga2018

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To learn more, visit www.FoodYogaAcademy.com

* Prasadam: Pure plant-based food that has been offered to God with devotion.

 

Natural Cure for Hay Fever

Natural Cure for Hay Fever

Thistles2

I remember the day well. It was around Christmas time in 1988 and my brother had a severe case of hay fever. His eyes were puffy and he could not stop sneezing. There was nothing I could do to help and he felt helpless. Nothing prescribed by the doctor was working either. He then turned to an old herbal remedy book and found a paragraph suggesting that scotch thistle, also known as scots thistle or cotton thistle could help alleviate hay fever symptoms. He decided to give it a try.

We just happened to be in the countryside near cow pastures and the weed was growing everywhere. He cut 4 flowers of the spiky bush and added it to a pot of boiling water. He let the herb steep and cool down and then drank the entire pot. Nothing happened at first, but then within an hour or so his sneezing slowed down and his eyes cleared. By the next day, not only had this tea cured all symptoms, but his hay fever never returned!

Based on this experience and some other friends of ours that tried the same, I became convinced that scotch thistle most certainly can help cure hay fever. The weed is typically ignored by most people as useless, but it has a long history of natural medicine and even modern pharmacology as a plant containing a chemical that can stimulate the heart.

Scotch thistle is indigenous to almost all of Europe, with the exception of the far north, the plant was introduced to North America. In anthroposophical medicine, it is used as a cardiac stimulant (Reference: PDR for Herbal Medicines, 2nd ed., p.678).

Scotch thistle (Onopordum) is also used in Cordiodoron Tablets

Give this remedy a try and let me know how it goes.

 

The stain on the vegan diet – b12 deficiency. The Solution May Surprise You.

The stain on the vegan diet – b12 deficiency. The Solution May Surprise You.

Bullshit! Yes, actually that’s it. Well, that and cow shit, usually referred to as cow dung. You see, despite the obvious merit of choosing to be a vegan, which essentially means avoiding all foods, clothing and products that are the result of animal suffering; and extending that ideal to advocating that all animals should live independently (including cows and bulls); the vegan ideology does not honestly address the lack of B12 in the diet. And so to live the vegan ideology you absolutely have to take B12 supplements and obviously, that is not natural and certainly not the way God and nature intended human life to be.

I mean, seriously, how silly is it to think that humanity has to take supplements in order to justify a more humane way to live? But that is exactly what well-meaning vegans all over the world do, at least those that live in the city. But sadly, very few have the guts to admit that something is terribly wrong with that notion.

What is B12?

Vitamin B12 also called cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin with a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and in the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins. It is normally involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body, especially affecting DNA synthesis and regulation, but also fatty acid synthesis (especially odd chain fatty acids) and energy production. Neither fungi, plants nor animals are capable of producing vitamin B12. Only bacteria and archaea have the enzymes required for its biosynthesis.

How do I know if I’m Deficient?

Vitamin B12 deficiency can potentially cause severe and irreversible damage, especially to the brain and nervous system. At levels only slightly lower than normal, a range of symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and poor memory may be experienced. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause symptoms of mania and psychosis.

To be fair, however, most cases of B12 deficiency have nothing to do with diet. Rather, sometimes individuals lose their ability to absorb the vitamin and become deficient no matter what sort of diet they follow.

The human physiology of vitamin B12 is complex and, therefore, is prone to mishaps leading to vitamin B12 deficiency. Protein-bound vitamin B12 must be released from these proteins by the action of digestive proteases in both the stomach and small intestine. Gastric acid releases the vitamin from food particles, so people with weak stomach acids are prone to B12 deficiency. Therefore antacid and acid-blocking medications (especially proton-pump inhibitors) may inhibit the absorption of B12.

In the non-industrialized world, where bacterial contamination commonly brought traces of B12 to foods, B12 deficiency is largely prevented. However, modern hygiene has eliminated this source, just as indoor living has largely eliminated sunlight, nature’s source of vitamin D.

However, owing to the extremely efficient enterohepatic circulation of B12, the liver can actually store several years’ worth of vitamin B12; therefore, nutritional deficiency of this vitamin is rare in most healthy adults. The level changes of B12 in the body depend on how much is secreted and how much is absorbed. B12 deficiency may take a year to show up if initial stores are low and genetic factors unfavorable, or it may not appear for decades. In infants, B12 deficiency can appear much more quickly.

Absorption of vitamin B12 thus requires 4 key factors:

  1. Healthy Stomach;
  2. Healthy Exocrine pancreas;
  3. Intact Gastric intrinsic factor (glycoprotein);
  4. Healthy small bowel.

Problems with any one of these organs make vitamin B12 deficiency highly likely.

How much do I need?

The total amount of vitamin B12 stored in the body is about 2–5 mg in adults. Around 50% of this is stored in the liver. Approximately 0.1% of this is lost per day by secretions into the gut, as not all these secretions are reabsorbed.

What is the Vegan Solution?

So how to solve this vegan dilemma? Well, it all starts with a load of bull dung or cow dung. You see, B12 is actually made from bacteria that live in soil and is plentiful wherever farm animals live. Animals like cows eat grass, thus picking up bacteria that then create B12 vitamins inside their stomachs. B12 is found naturally in manure-fertilized soil and synthesized via bacteria that are present in the intestines of animals. However, animals themselves are not capable of synthesizing the vitamin, only the B12 bacteria contain the enzymes capable of breaking it down. This means, that in order for humans to acquire an adequate amount of B12 they must either obtain it from animal sources, fortified foods, or multi-vitamins? When someone kills a cow this B12 is present in the meat and thus a carnivorous human does not usually have B12 deficiency. If someone takes dairy products they can also get remnants of B12, but a vegan misses out completely unless they too live around farm animals and play and work in the same soils where the B12 bacteria exist.

Diane Vukovic (www.PlenteousVeg.com) points out:

So, how is it that vegetarian animals like cows and sheep can make their own B12 but humans cannot?  One reason is that many vegetarian animals (like cows and sheep) have stomachs with four chambers.  The first chamber, called the rumen, is rich in bacteria, which can make B12.  Other animals also have stomachs that are shaped differently and allow more bacterial fermentation.

Another reason that vegetarian animals aren’t B12 deficient is that they often consume soil along with their food.  Soil often contains cobalt, which is necessary for making B12 in the intestines.  As Dr. Justine Butler points out, many primates have been known to eat dirt to naturally treat/combat nutrient deficiencies.  When moved to a zoo and fed a sterile diet, many primates develop B12 deficiencies.

What about Fortified Foods?

Foods fortified with B12 are also sources of the vitamin, but they cannot be regarded as true food sources of B12 since the vitamin is added in supplement form from commercial bacterial production sources such as cyanocobalamin.

As Mike Adams, the Health Ranger points out in his article: Cyanocobalamin is a low-grade, low-quality and slightly toxic (cyanide) form of vitamin B-12 that’s used by all the cheap vitamin manufacturers because it is easy to crystallize and is not sensitive to air-oxidation. It is also up to 100 times cheaper than the higher quality methylcobalamin. What these manufacturers don’t tell you is that this form of vitamin B12 is bound to a toxic, poisonous cyanide molecule that must then be removed from your body by your liver and that even less of it is absorbed by your body.

This form is not perfectly synonymous with the naturally occurring form of methyl-B12 (methylcobalamin), and which is pre-methylated, meaning it’s ready for our biochemistry to put to immediate use. Cyanocobalamin has also been contraindicated in early Leber’s disease, which is hereditary optic nerve atrophy and can also cause severe and swift optic atrophy.

However, even taking high-quality vitamin B-12 (methylcobalamin) as an oral dose is largely a waste of money because as much as 99% of what you swallow is not even absorbed!

Adams suggests, “a vitamin B-12 skin patch is now available on the market that delivers methylcobalamin through the skin, using a small medical-grade patch placed behind the ear. Each patch delivers 1000 mcg of methylcobalamin (1,666% DV) in a steady release over a 1-2 day period, after which the patch may be removed and discarded.” However, like oral doses, they cost money and certainly, this is not the way nature intended us to get our source of B12.

 Is Cow Manure the Answer?

A summary of the results of a study by Dr. A. Mozafar[1] in Switzerland, reported in the November issue of New Century Nutrition by T. Collin Campbell, Ph.D., and Jeff Gates, D.H.Sc. found that Soils enriched with organic fertilizer (cow manure) resulted in a several-fold increase in the soil’s B12 content, as compared to soils worked with conventional inorganic or chemical fertilizers.

That means, if we choose to live naturally, the way nature and God intended, playing and working in soils where farm animals live then B12 is practically everywhere, and in fact, we can even breathe it in, it is so plentiful! But most vegans will declare that all animals are to be independent, even cows and bulls; that animals should never be used by humans for any labor, etc. The problem with those kinds of sweeping statements is that they completely ignore history. You see, from the beginning of time, man and beast have had a symbiotic relationship. The problem today is that this natural and respectful symbiotic relationship has been lost and now most of humanity exploits animals. If however, we respect and love and serve animals, as they do us, then a healthy symbiosis can ensue.

Animals should never be slaughtered for their meat, except in cases of survival where there are no other options for food. But in a world where food is plentiful, this is not the case. In fact, the world has the capacity to feed double the current population; “the problem is not food shortage, but inequitable distribution,” declared the United Nations.

Getting back to cow dung, yes, the miracle and magic of cow dung. You see, bull dung and cow dung are loaded with the B12 bacteria. So if we use this natural and most powerful manure to fertilize our fruits and vegetable and actually play with the soil they inhabit, we will get more than enough B12 inside our bodies. In fact, Indian villagers literally play with cow dung, forming them into “cow patties” that are then used for cooking or taking advantage of the anti-bacterial properties of cow dung by mixing it with clay and covering the walls and floors of their houses, as a means to purify the area and also keep the house cool in the hot summer. In fact, cow dung has proven to be the best natural soil for our gardens. See these informative videos…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oifWngdzwCg

 

A village woman has mixed cow dung with mud and spreads it on her floor.
Making cow patties

A cow eats grass and produces milk for her loved ones. A bull eats grass and has the muscle and power to till a field. Both of them excrete loads of B12 fertilizer that man can then use to make the best organically grown, non-GMO fruits, vegetables, and grains. They serve us and we serve them by keeping them happy and healthy. That is how God and nature intended it. But for some vegans, such practices would mean acknowledging the reality that living around farm animals is essential for good health and that is hard to do if you don’t acknowledge the natural symbiosis of man and farm animals. We need them just as much as they need us.

So that is my big problem with the “hard-core” vegan idealogy, and so I choose not to be that kind of vegan but believe that in order for me to live a healthy and natural life, I have to accept that farm animals must be part of my livelihood and the most natural and non-violent way to do that is to either live on a farm with protected farm animals, which I currently do with my wife in the Andes Mountains at Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary or regularly visit an animal sanctuary to obtain cow manure as a fertilizer to grow your own fruits and vegetables enriched with vitamin B-12.

I am a “vegan,” but not in the fanatical and impractical sense, but more so in adhering to the essential truth of the ideology, namely, non-violence and respect for all animals.

Living with animals is perfectly in line with the ahimsa principles of veganism. But if you’re close-minded, you won’t bring yourself to accept such a possibility and propose that all animals should be running wild. So my feeling is that veganism in the strictest use of the term is flawed and cow dung is the stain on the “white sheet” of this otherwise pure and caring ideology.

Getting B12 the Natural way while also improving your golf swing

 

Ahimsa dairy

Sadly, the so-called “ahimsa dairy” standards being promoted today are not as sattvic (pure) as they make out. To read more on the so-called “ahimsa dairy” see: Is Ahimsa Dairy Really Non-Violent? 

Because of the controversy surrounding the dairy industry my charity, Food for Life Global does NOT support food distribution containing any animal ingredients, including milk and ghee.

Even in India, the “land of the cow,” gross abuse of cows is taking place and commercial milk is now a contaminated cocktail containing detergent, hydrogen peroxide, urea, and contaminated water.

To read more on the so-called “ahimsa dairy” see: Is Ahimsa Dairy Really Non-Violent?

Other sources of B12

Certain makers of kombucha cultured tea, list vitamin B12 as naturally present in their product and one brand purports to contain 20% of the daily value of B12 in a single bottle, making kombucha a potential “high” food source of B12. Because kombucha is produced by a symbiosis between yeast and bacteria, the possibility that kombucha contains B12 does not contradict current knowledge, but no scientific studies have yet been published confirming the fact, nor whether the B12 in kombucha is the biologically active B12.

Although these non-animal products may have some b12, according to the vast majority of research in this field, the ONLY reliable source of b12 is dirt and that is why we have to live closer to nature.

Studies that support the need for b12 far outweigh those that say we don’t need it, including those from PCRM.

We are better off when we live closer to nature, and that means living with farm animals like cows. That does not mean you have to drink their milk. The artificial separation of humans and cows is what I believe is a big flaw in any diet or lifestyle ideology, but particularly noticeable in the vegan diet.

I believe it is time to redefine what it means to be a “vegan” and retire the old fanatical, ideologically inconsistent and unhealthy definition of veganism.

B12 Information

Resources on the link between B12 and cow manure

Also read: Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy

[1] Enrichment of some B-vitamins in plants with application of organic fertilizers. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00007957

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