Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

You can help people who suffer from liver disorders, too, by telling them of this happiness cure. They will have reason to be grateful to you. If your own liver, the most important gland in your body, is not working as it should, let happiness set about casting out trouble and anxiety. It can wage a successful war against these saboteurs and will effectively counteract the damage done by them. Take and use this help which, though sometimes buried deep within you, is always ready to come to your assistance. Be filled with the rhythm of the pulsating life of happiness; be glad, even if the gladness at first is somewhat artificial and forced. Breathe deeply and at the same time concentrate upon something of beauty and value. Eventually you will find that happiness will pervade your whole being and so master your body and all its functions.

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Nevertheless, in spite of local efforts, the new habit spread faster than the protective defence could educate. There is an awful attitude and saying that poisons the minds of children, youths and adults alike: “That’s the way it’s done today. Someone else can clean up after us!’ Just take the following experience. While waiting for their train, two fresh-looking girls from the Engadine littered the whole platform with peanut shells. An observer’s remark of ‘Well, now!’ caused nothing but the weakest indication of embarrassment on their part and the thoughtless excuse: ‘Everybody does this nowadays; the cleaner will sweep it all up anyway.’

If this is the attitude of modern youths, it is no wonder that we encounter a lack of concern and love for untouched nature even in the most beautiful areas. Today, it is quite common to see rubbish in gorges and streams. A campsite, picnic area or wayside frequently tells us that visitors have enjoyed themselves without giving as much as a single thought to the fact that other people want to enjoy the beauty unspoiled. How can they do so if they have to sit down in the midst of empty cans, bottles, paper and all kinds of rubbish? Neither meadows nor forests, not even rhododendrons and the white snow escape this antisocial behaviour! It is amazing how quickly good habits become forgotten when bad influences take over. How superficial the sense of beauty really is when it can close its eyes to ugly disorder!

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I do admit that these chemicals have saved the lives of a number of people, especially in tropical regions. On the other hand, one must face the fact that one cannot shoot sparrows with cannon balls. Honestly, I would not like to eat vegetables and fruit every day knowing that they contained measurable traces of these poisons, which actually remain in the body. For this reason they steadily accumulate in the system until a certain degree of concentration is reached that puts the person’s health and life in jeopardy.

Eichholz, a well-known and outspoken professor from Heidelberg, Germany, has stated that in large cities hardly an autopsy takes place where the fatty tissue does not show traces of DDT. People who lose weight during a severe illness are in danger when poisons begin to settle in the fatty tissue, because the body will draw on its own tissues and the toxic matter will enter the bloodstream and trigger reactions that not even the physician is able to explain.

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Whole buckwheat: Precook some buckwheat in a little water or vegetable stock. Make a sauce from two teaspoons of wholegrain (wholemeal) flour, finely chopped herbs and unseasoned tomato puree and mix with the buckwheat. Add some stewed onion and a little oil, and cook until the grains are soft but still whole.

Cold buckwheat: Prepare some buckwheat as above, pour it into a mould and leave to cool. When cold, remove from the mould and garnish with parsley and tomatoes. Serve with a green salad.

Fried buckwheat: Prepare a buckwheat gruel, then add some finely chopped onions, garlic and a little marjoram. Form into small shapes and fry in oil on both sides until golden brown.

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As suggested in the previous section, non-meat-eaters may find it difficult to get the necessary protein in tropical countries. Milk and milk products are usually scarce or unobtainable because the climate is too hot for productive dairy farming. Soya is not grown everywhere and nuts are often unknown. So what can be used to provide protein? Small island populations could not survive if it were not for seafood. Shellfish are a welcome and valuable source of protein in these areas.

Of what benefit is seafood for those of us who already obtain enough protein from other sources? The addition of seafood is then not really essential. Still, we are accustomed to eating many things that are not absolutely necessary; for example, we could live without citrus and tropical fruits, yet we are glad and grateful for the added variety. Seafood contains good quality protein, is easily digestible and many prefer it to animal protein. Important, too, is the fact that seafood contains traces of iodine.

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On 31 March 1964 I received the first letter from a patient in Brussels who had been suffering from multiple sclerosis for sixteen years. A year later, on 30 April 1965, he wrote again, about the effect of the recommended treatment. His letter read as follows:

‘I have been taking your reliable medicines for one year now and have very much improved. It is exactly a year since I started taking Petasites, Usneasan, Echinaforce, Aesculaforce, Urticalcin and Biocarottin regularly. Every week I receive a massage with fresh bullock testicles. My nurse always waits at the slaughterhouse when a bull is killed, so that she can get the testicles quite fresh. The massages are indeed excellent for me. But let me give you a few details of my progress. All symptoms caused by the illness -cold feet, problems with the bowel movement, insufficient urination, bad eyesight, half the head going numb – have completely disappeared. However, I am not yet able to walk. True, I can stand up now and my right foot is already 60 per cent active; only the left foot does not respond yet. But considering that I have been ill for seventeen years, I have made very good progress in just one year. May I add that I had not been able to hold a long conversation without getting tired out; but this is no longer a problem.

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For one thing, vaccines are not available for every disease; what is more, vaccination in itself can often pose a problem for the traveller, because it can weaken his general condition. And do not forget that for many serious tropical diseases prophylactics do not exist. What comfort will the most beautiful and tempting colour brochure depicting glorious beaches and colourful surroundings be if the unsuspecting tourist comes down with something serious? Moreover, the treatment of tropical diseases is not always a simple, easy or safe matter. Strong medication is required and this affects especially the liver, often inflicting great harm. I have been shocked many times when browsing through travel brochures, to see that they give no hint whether the travel agencies, tour operators and their guides have any idea at all of the dangers in the destinations advertised. One such brochure planned to take the travellers to an area in Sri Lanka, to the south of Colombo and Mount Lavinia, an area where the dreaded tropical disease elephantiasis has not yet been fully eradicated. In spite of this knowledge, the agents chose exactly that place for an overnight stay.

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When prepared with love, food tends to taste better. By the same token, a nicely set table which does not reflect the haste of the daily routine, but which does show care and attentiveness, most certainly promotes the desire to eat by stimulating the flow of gastric juices, encouraging good digestion and the assimilation of the food. It goes without saying that the atmosphere at the table likewise contributes to better digestion. Every meal should be a family party where not only is the good food enjoyed and appreciated but also where stimulating conversation takes place.

Skilful seasoning of food is of great importance too. This is not accomplished by simply sprinkling salt on everything, but by using different herbs, the effects of which we should endeavour to find out. Most seasoning herbs serve to stimulate the stomach lining to increase its secretions and thus aid the digestive process.

It is too bad that in modern times we have lost much of what used to be known as table manners and the pleasures of sharing a meal with family and friends. Modern man is glutted with the hurried pace of life, always on the go, confronted with an endless choice of newspapers, radio and television programmes, so that even such things as TV dinners, eaten in front of the screen, are now becoming a way of life. Is it any wonder that so many people are suffering from gastric ailments, indigestion and ulcers?

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When treating skin problems, as with most other diseases, it is important that emotional upsets and difficulties be dealt with promptly and in the right way, otherwise they tend to aggravate the condition. That is why I have devoted a whole section in this book to ‘Happiness Means Health’. Special attention has been given to the same question in my book about the liver, since this organ is notably sensitive to emotional influences.

Knowing how to deal with your illness is a step in the right direction, as it is clearly important to maintain mental balance in approaching any problem. One must be determined to elect for natural treatment rather than chemical therapy. By adhering strictly to a natural diet you can be sure you are on the right track. To complete the cure, it is absolutely necessary to carry out the treatment for six months to a year. The treatment need not be expensive since it is mainly a question of correcting one’s dietary habits. Adverse reactions and side effects are usually minor or do not crop up at all if the treatment is undertaken correctly.

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Athletic people usually have strength and resistance, but they must not make the mistake of thinking that their resilience and ability to spring back from overexertion has no limits. Thoughtless waste of any of our potentialities will be followed by loss of fitness. Why sacrifice to sport the energies that could serve you for many years to come? Why dash with abounding strength into overstrenu-ous sports and come out with chronic ill health?

Many may think that I am painting a rather pessimistic picture, but this is not so. Now and then I receive sad letters from sports men and women who were once famous champions; one, for example, was from an athlete who many years ago won the Swiss pentathlon and decathlon. For years now, this once energetic athlete has been suffering from loss of breath when climbing stairs, a weak heart beat, low blood pressure and ear and head noises (tinnitus). At his age he should be full of vitality.

So this is a warning not to carry any sport to extremes, yet is is a warning difficult to heed on the part of those who have already sold themselves ‘body and soul’ to this unrelenting taskmaster. The passion for winning in competitive sports consumes a tremendous amount of strength and energy. And who benefits from this useless drain of energy? Nobody really, and certainly not the athlete’s heart, or why would it become defective so early in life?

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