46 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition
associated with lower levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and may
need enzyme and hydrochloric acid supplementation if higher amounts of
proteins are ingested. Group AB people do well with a good balance of
the different food groups allowed rather than emphasis on a particular
food type or group.
See Eat Right for Your Type by Peter D’Adamo with Caroline Whitney
for further information on this subject.
Organic Foods
The word organic has become somewhat meaningless, thanks to the excess
of acid rain and other environmental pollutants now prevailing. However
natural a farmer or gardener tries to be, what drops from the sky does
count! But the term organic still indicates that something has been grown
in chemical-free ground, so organic products are still worth pursuing.
A friend of mine, who used to work in a mortuary, told me years ago
that bodies are taking a lot longer to decompose because of the
preservatives ingested with food while alive. The very thought horrifi ed
me; the idea of the “walking preserved” is a chilling one. The days of
preserving foods and growing foods with the use of toxic substances are
not, however, as recent as we might assume. In 1953, Professor Arnold
Ehret talked about sulfur-dried foods, benzoid of soda, salicylic acid, and
sulfuric acid, which were being used to preserve canned foods.
Consuming preservatives, pesticides, nitrates, and other substances used
by farmers is dangerous to every cell in the human body. The major
concern is, of course, for children. The Soil Association in Britain has
drawn attention to the fact that a one-year-old could easily receive a
maximum lifetime’s dose of eight pesticides from just twenty commonly
eaten fruits, vegetables, and grains. The association is trying to unite
farmers, the Department of Agriculture, and the Drug Administration
Agency in an attempt to utilize benefi cial organisms and crop rotation
instead of some pesticides. Nerve gases are still used by farmers. They are
commonly known as organophosphates. These chemicals enter the food
chain via vegetables, grains, and cattle feed, and are also transported by
the wind. Many cases of motor neuron disease are now being reported
among young children (and adults). Often these are farmers’ children
whom I, in turn, see in my clinic. Let us not forget household pesticides
and those used in our gardens; these at least could be dispensed with.
The major sources of pesticide residues in the Western diet are meat,
poultry, and dairy products. Pesticide is a generic term that includes
insecticides, herbicides (weed killers), and fungicides, among other agents.
One chemical commonly found in household, agricultural, and
commercial-use pesticides is 2,4-D, a key ingredient found in Agent
food and nutrition 46