What will the Twenty First Century of health present? The old paradigm of treating symptoms in hopes that the body will ultimately repair itself has failed. Drugs for symptom relief with many side effects and poor nutrition has caused the increased in much chronic disease. Now, at least 18 percent of the US economy deals with medical care in the form of health insurance, pharmaceuticals, and many medical procedures. We now must revert to the ancient healing processes of environment and food if we want be well. Our food supply has been taken over by cost of supply and efficiency of delivery. Our environment has confined us in air conditioned buildings with less than quality air, exposure to unsettling electromagnetic fields, and no sunshine. Now, with the understanding of our symbiotic relationship to the microbiome, we must understand the importance of the DNA that we consume.

Only recently, in the late 1990s, has the microbiome been defined. The microbiome contains ten times more cells than the human body. If the human body contains a trillion cells then the microbiome contains over ten trillion cells and its associated DNA. That is approximately 23,000 genes of our DNA and 1,000,000+ genes in the microbiome. This DNA relationship is constantly changing through our food supplies and how our body and the microbiome relates. It has been found that the microbiome communicates directly with the central nervous system. In essence forming a sophisticated communication system that leads us down a path to wellness or disease. Of course, the health of our brains dictates the regulation of the hormonal system for DNA expression. This never ending cascade of hormones drives our emotions and how we feel. Feeling well is the ultimate goal.

Environmental toxins significantly affect this symbiotic relationship of the human body to the microbiome. We are constantly bombarded with manmade molecules that may not be healthy for the community that lives within us. As a result, inflammation occurs causing us to go down the road toward chronic disease. The environmental toxins may well include constant stress. Stress not only upsets our endocrine system, but most likely upsets the homeostasis of our microbiome as well. Environment and food that we eat must be controlled to have a healthy life. Yes, our body and the microbiome are very adaptive. This is the only reason that we have the health that we do.

Through trial and error in diets, it now appears that the diets similar to the paleo diet are the healthiest to us. Please note there were no manmade molecules in ancient times to assault our systems and the relationship to the microbiome. Also we were constantly exposed to the rhythms of nature. A proper diet and exposure to nature is necessary for health. When we were exposed to toxins in nature, then disease usually occurred. There are many examples of this over time whether lead in the water or organic toxins from plants that should not be consumed. Over thousands of years, we learned what consumption of plants and animals made us healthy and what made us ill. This has been lost through specialization in science. Science, which studies only one thing at the time through control trials without consideration for the multiple variant environment in which we live. It is the correct combination of environment and consumption that we feel well.

I spent the Saturday afternoon, January 10, at a seminar by a local retired pediatrician, Dr. Bose Ravenel, Coauthor of The Diseasing of America’s Children. He has now come over to the understanding of functional medicine after forty three years of practice. When he first started to study functional medicine, he thought that the science would be weak. To his amazement, he discovered that the science was extensive. He has become amazed that nutrition is not taught as the number one understanding of doctors. It is only through wisdom with age has he come to this conclusion. The criticism that functional medicine is pseudoscience has been put to rest his mind after reading the literature for five years. With the start of practicing the use of food and environment for his own well being, his eyes have been opened.

What is going to be necessary to change this failed model of wellness and disease that we currently embrace? Our government has so embraced this paradigm for security of our economy that it may take many decades to overcome. That is of course if our economy does not collapse for other reasons. It may take a catastrophe that we don’t want to experience to regain a true understanding of health. It is truly immoral to support the largest sector of the economy off the illness of the nation as a means of production. It is my hope that leaders will arise to point us to a meaningful healthy understanding. However, it is only with individuals like you that are willing to read and research that we will ultimately change the current destructive model of health. That is through you feeling better and telling others about it. Thank You for taking the time to read. Go, tell others! – Pandemic Survivor