A very healthy Bean indeed.

I recently finished up extra course work to become a Certified Internal Health Specialist.  For me, this means I can switch up the way I advertise myself and be labeled an Internist, but for all practical purposes it means I know much more than the average bear about how your body digests and uses every bit of food it takes in.  You would think that this would lead me down paths of righteousness as far as my diet is concerned, but I just love my crappy food.  You will notices it's a goal for me to change that.  Well, more like 4 goals on my list of 101.  Give up soda, lose 50lbs (yes, I have that much to lose), so on and so forth.

One goal on my list of 101 was started tonight, making baby food for Caroline.  For all of you that wonder why I would wanna bother, when she's not even my babe, I will explain (hopefully in not too much detail) because its important to me that the people I care about know.  And that my family is healthy.  I am making Bean's baby food based on science, proven, very important, widely unknown, and much ignored, science.

First of all, Dr. Pottenger performed a study on cats for an entire decade (1932-42).  He split the cats into different groups, those fed raw meat and milk, those with cooked meat and milk, and those that got a mix of cooked and raw.  What he found was those animals fed completely cooked food quickly (over 3 generations: parents, kids, grandkids) lost normal functions like the ability to climb, became weak and their bones fragile, were unable to reproduce, and by every comparison to the other two groups, were terribly ill.  He concluded this deterioration in their health was due to a lack of enzymes.  Enzymes control most every process in our bodies, and for the most part, are what all medications act on.  Because there were no enzymes to help the cats to digest, their immune systems had to kick in to help.

Whether or not you realize it, you know about enzymes.  They live in all raw foods.  Apples digest themselves if they are left alone long enough, so does raw meat.  Cook that meat, and it will sit in your fridge until it molds, but it won't break down to nothing like it would if you left it alone on the counter.  It's a scientific fact that food that can't be fully broken down by our GI system gets swallowed up by immune system and our immune system must switch its focus from preventing disease to digestion.  That being said, its easy to see how our fast food and boxed foods made of almost nothing real have played a large part in the obesity and diseased state of America.

Secondly, Dr. Kautchakoff performed another very important study which watched how white blood cells (immune cells) increased after eating certain foods.  Raw foods caused no increase, commonly cooked foods cause a mild increase, pressure cooked/canned veggies cause a moderate increase, man-made foods (soda, white sugar, flour) cause severe increase in white cell numbers.   But those I accept, what scared me was that salted/cured/canned/jarred meats caused violet reaction in white cell numbers equal to what would happen if the body were poisoned.  Now who among us eats canned (jarred) meats on a regular basis...our service men, and our babies.

For these two reasons it became really important to me to make Bean's baby food.  I know that this was not the most exciting blog entry in the world.  Nor was it the most entertaining, but its very important I think.  I see so many sick people each day and they really are getting younger.  I see it even within my own family.  Three cousins, young people, with Multiple Sclerosis.  That's an autoimmune disease.  Now two of these cousins are from an aunt with Rheumatoid Arthritis, another autoimmune disease.  Could it be that the same things, same habits, that stressed my aunt to the point where her body couldn't heal itself could have affected her kids at a much younger age?  How about the other cousin, who never takes time to relax.  Could her habits have set her up to become very sick in her 30's?   I can't say for sure, but I do know one thing, if I can take a few hours of my time to make something I know is good for Caroline its totally worth it.  Even if I can't prove that it protects her and makes her healthier, it makes me feel good to know I tried.