Use the Summer to Keep Building Your Body’s Natural Defense
We are, at any given time, more of microorganisms than we are of us. Someone said, if explored by a totally alien species, we would be seen as bags of dirty water (I think there was a Star Trek Episode that discussed this). Even so, our relationship to microorganisms is very delicate and the balance and location of them are important. Longevity, feeling right and avoiding or healing disease each require an understanding of our relationship to microorganisms. This article discusses microorganisms, germ theory and how to stay healthy for life.
One fact that is observed by natural healers is that when our bodies die, we are broken down by microorganisms. The symbiotic relationship with the flora on our skin and in our guts changes. Where they once supported life, they will now do decomposition. Mutation of the organisms there, and changes in the balance of those organisms will result in our bodies becoming dirt once more so that life will continue. That is the way of this life.
Microorganisms also change when we are weak, toxic or chemically altered. When contagious infection comes around, those who are truly healthy get it and then it is gone. It does not make them sick in the sense that we think of in today’s society. After making the transition to healthier food and seasonal cleansing at our house, we discovered that the old sensation of being sick was forever gone. Illness was an afternoon of fever and then a nap and we were back to normal. When we got out of harmony with the natural diet and staying healthy and clean, we noticed that infections were a little more virulent, though never like they were before we made the overall switch.
In nature, these infections come through regularly, but most animals will not get them at all, to speak of. Really, only domesticated animals get much of contagious infection. But the weak, stressed members of a species will get the infections and many will die.
As another point of interest, when a naturally-living animal gets sick, it either dies or actually is cleaned out and helped by the illness. There is not an accumulation of damage from infections, but the organism will go one way or the other. This observation inspired Dr. Christopher, the father of natural healing, to say that germs are our friends, not our enemies.
Dr. Christopher refused to accept the idea that germs cause illness. He had watched and demonstrated numerous times in those who followed his program that the germ could come and go without any illness. He also saw that an infection could be life-threatening in other, less ideal situations. He always said that the illness came from toxicity, never from the germ. The germ was merely a trigger. For him, sickness was the perfect time to cleanse and heal because it is nature’s most natural mechanism of cleansing and healing. Of course, you could also keep pushing the toxicity deeper by suppressing symptoms, and then disease’s real cause would get bigger.
So one school of thought says to just keep your body clean and healthy and ignore microorganisms or even place your emphasis on making sure that you have a good flora balance and avoid killing them if possible. Those microorganisms, in a healthy person (who is not so toxic that they are beginning already to mutate), will absolutely prevent foreign microorganisms from finding a spot to live and will, in fact, kill them on contact. As a person’s internal environment changes due to diet, toxicity, constipation or stress, the person will get altered microorganisms within and infection will be welcomed. Infection actually causes a cascade of cleansing and changes in chemistry in the body. These changes can be used for healing or death.
Another school of thought says that microorganisms also carry with them an ability to create their own microclimate. This school of thought is not in contrast with the one above, but is in addition to it. What follows are some tools you can use to greatly improve your health through keeping infection away and killing such as may be residing in you somewhere.
Let’s start with Jewish tradition. In this tradition there are variations of one theme, which is that the orifices of the body are kept clean, and the hands are cleaned according to ritual before eating. A friend of mine who is in his mid 90s and still runs his own business and works all day every day (and goes dancing with much younger women) uses vodka to wipe his hands and mouth and also his bottom after every bowel movement. After wiping normally, he finishes with this to purify his body and minimize stress on his immune system.
We made a formula of tannin and alkaloid-rich herbs in an alcohol base for cleaning every orifice and under the fingernails and have found that to be very helpful. We also have a simple Himalayan sea salt rinse that works well to purify the mouth and teeth.
Next, we sometimes have focal infections. These are associated with some sort of previous intervention. They are typically low-grade infections (which implies that they do not show up in large enough quantities to cause a fever or to be medically detected) and they stay in the area around some foreign object or tooth filling. The bacteria from focal infections leak toxins constantly into the body, poisoning it, and the immune system is regularly stimulated to fight the infection without ever curing it, as it hides on the foreign object or tooth.
Much research targets the teeth and mouth, especially teeth that have had their root canals filled. It is believed that root canal fillings are a great liability to health, along with so-called cavitations, which are pockets of infection where a tooth has been pulled. Risk factors have not been assessed, but no doubt the amount of residue and dietary waste and toxicity in the person plays a major role. Some have hypothesized that if the liver and gall bladder are healthy enough, then perhaps they can kill such an infection. Some of us feel that this type of infection is psychosomatically driven.
Regardless of cause or possible cures, it is thought to be necessary in many cases to remove the tooth or excavate the cavitation completely in order to cure various mysterious diseases caused by focal infection. Some have suggested (the late Dr. Hulda Clark among them) that many cancers are a direct result of this type of infection. Dentists approved by Dr. Clark are available all over the United States near major cities.
Finally, we have interstitial infections. This is generic terminology that implies our low-grade infection mentioned above, but which is in an organ or tissue. This is usually associated with allergies and inflammation where there is lots of fluid for microorganisms hide in. It could be associated with pathologies where there is lack of carrier proteins in the liver, or with kidney failure or portal hypertension. This condition can also be set up by parasites which can live in the colon in damaged tissue there. This can cause the colon to be super hypersensitive and fluid filled, and subsequent low-grade bacterial or fungal infections can come in. If a person has real systemic candida, this will be the way in which it survives in the body. For these interstitial infections, where there is fluid around the cells and in the tissues anywhere in the body, there are four approaches that I have found to be effective:
1. Removal of irritating agents: This goes back to the natural hygiene approach where the diet is simplified and only foods that are very easy to digest are consumed. This includes mostly raw fruit and raw, non-starchy vegetables. A few raw nuts are incorporated, but all meals are very simple, with only maybe three or four different items at a meal. Food is chewed well. Digestive enzymes may be used. The gut is rebuilt, soothed, and digestion is stimulated using cayenne before meals, followed by carminative herbs.
2. Reducing of pooled lymph: This is done with so-called blood purifying herbs and techniques (think Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, Massage, Reflexology, Acupuncture, Lymphology, various electronic technologies) that remove stagnant lymph. When the pooled fluid moves along and oxygen comes in, the microbes die and the area heals and becomes less irritated.
3. Killing of microorganisms that create those conditions or that have created a microclimate in those conditions: This means killing parasites, viruses, bacteria and fungi in tissues. Generally, as a conscientious natural healer, I am careful to use things that do not leave a residue in the tissues. Whenever possible, I only use things that do not kill friendly flora. Two very common products do one or both of these. These are colloidal silver, which stays in the tissues and also kills friendly flora, and oregano oil, which does not stay in the tissues, but does kill friendly flora. Oregano oil might be worth using sometimes, but we try to get by with something better. Generally, this means using whole herbs that kill what we want to kill. For example, we use a combination containing white oak bark and black walnut hulls, which also rebuilds the tissue, to kill all types of yeast and fungi. We use a combination of hyssop and elder flowers to kill viruses. We use a wide variety of anti-bacterial herbs depending on the situation. We use large doses of cloves in grape juice and a formula with wormwood and malefern to kill parasites.
Notice that this article is not about acute, obvious infections. That is another discussion. It is important to understand how to deal with these infections naturally also. In this article, however, we have dealt with infections that are subtle causes of chronic disease. Indeed, there can be no chronic disease without some infectious component. This is because that is the natural, symbiotic relationship we have with microorganisms on this planet. When weakness appears, they show up to either clean it up (in which life is restored) or break it down (if it is time to die). I think humans are unique in their ability to be half dead for years and years and years without going one way or the other. We just want a drug to make our symptoms go away so that we can continue thinking, feeling, believing, eating and behaving the way we do without having to change our comfortable status quo, no matter how bad it is.
The question that must be asked in each case is, “Why is the infection there?” In cases that are really stubborn, very stringent rules preventing waste products from food and toxic environment, along with perhaps killing the infection and rebuilding the appropriate tissue, may be needed. My feeling is that what is needed most of all is a genuine gratitude for infections that can be used to help clean up, heal and optimize our health. This alone will change the outcome of illnesses, as well as our behavior toward them.
Thanks for reading,
Kal Sellers, MH
