Pulse test
1.    Count your pulse while sitting after resting for a few minutes. You can find your pulse on the thumb side of your wrist. Count how many pulses in thirty seconds and double your answer.
2.        Add in the food that you are challenging, then take your pulse ten minutes later. It is also valuable to take it again after thirty minutes and then after one hour. If you are allergic to a particular substance, your pulse rate can increase by ten points or more.

*4/101/5*

HEADACHE (MINUS-TWO REACTION)

The pain may be localized in one part of the head, or it may be generalized. It may occur with or without nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances, or muscle involvement. It can meet the classical picture of migraine, with visions of flashing lights, and a general malaise. It is frequently accompanied by blurring of vision, weakness of the limbs, or pains in the nape, shoulders, and upper back—for this reason headache qualifies as a systemic, not just a local, problem.

Sometimes a headache is followed by a period of relative good health in which no pain is present. This “breathing space” tends to occur in the earlier stages of the problem, however. As it develops, headaches tend to become increasingly common and more severe.

MUSCLE ACHES AND PAINS (MINUS-TWO REACTION)

Both fatigue and headache are commonly associated with myalgia, or muscle pain. The frequency of this association has led some doctors to refer to it as the “tension-fatigue syndrome.” While the term suggests that the syndrome is caused by psychological tension, it is most commonly related to food and chemical susceptibility.

Myalgia, although frequently centered in the nape of the neck, may involve many other muscles. Muscle spasms (such as torticollis, lumbago, and sciatica), muscle cramps, aches, pains and weakness, chest pains (through the involvement of muscles of the chest wall), and abdominal pains are all possible symptoms.

Ignorance of the allergic basis of these pains sometimes leads to incorrect diagnoses of pleurisy, appendicitis, and even heart attacks.

JOINT ACHES AND PAINS (MINUS-TWO REACTIONS)

Arthritis of all types, arthralgia (joint aches), joint swelling, and bursitis all frequently have an allergic basis and can be controlled through altering the environment, as the case histories will make clear.

fatigue (minus-two reaction)

By allergic fatigue is meant tiredness which is unrelieved by the customary, or even an excessive, amount of rest. Fatigue is possibly the most common systemic symptom caused by allergy.* Although there are many variations on this theme, fatigue resulting from food allergy is usually at its worst in the morning and gradually improves as the day advances. This is due to the daily schedule of the food addict. Allergic fatigue is associated with general weakness, drowsiness, and the sensation of heavy limbs. It is also frequently associated with other allergic responses, such as swelling, headache, irritability, and low levels of confusion and depression.

Fatigue caused by exposure to pollen and other inhalants is also known, but is usually seasonal and easier to recognize and control.

brain-fag or impaired thinking ability (minus-three reactions)

“Brain-fag” is a designation for a rather severe, but unfortunately common, condition. This is the minus-three category, and its symptoms are systemic, but predominantly “mental” rather than physical. Such patients suffer from mild depression, with sadness, moodiness, and sullenness; mental confusion and disturbed thinking; impaired memory and reading comprehension; minimal brain dysfunction; indecisiveness; mental lapses, including aphasia and blackouts; and, in general, the whole gamut of “neuroses,” hypochondria, and so-called psychosomatic illnesses.

All of these problems can occur, but more commonly only a few of them are found in a single individual. The condition may get somewhat better for a while, or it may change back to a minus-two reaction (systemic and physical). But the general tendency is for it to linger or to get worse with the passage of time.

In a sense this is the most characteristic form of food and chemical allergy, for it represents the “bottom-of-the-barrel” for a great many advanced cases.

severe depression, with or without altered consciousness (M1NUS-three and minus-four reactions)

Depression straddles the fence between minus-three and minus-four reactions. In its most severe form, the patient experiences stupor, lethargy, and impaired responsiveness. Childish thinking, disorientation, amnesia, paranoid feelings, and even hallucinations may occur. Apathy, lethargy, and stupor are seen. The patient at this extreme level may lapse into a coma.

The minus-four stage also includes the various forms of “psychosis,” including manic-depressive disease and schizophrenia.

Most allergy patients never reach this extreme level of depression. However, once they do, it is difficult to treat them or even to obtain a history. In the latter stages of this kind of illness, a patient often cannot take care of himself and often cannot even give his correct name, much less a coherent history of his illness. The cause of the problem can usually be detected, but a great deal of family support is necessary for complete recovery. Schizophrenics who have become used to, and comfortable with, state welfare support or institutionalized care often make poor patients and may not be properly motivated to get better.

It should be obvious, then, that the scope of environmental disease is great. It includes many of the common chronic ailments which send people to doctors, although of course other causes of these ailments are also possible and should be investigated along with food and chemical susceptibility. It would be impossible in a book such as this to give a more thorough treatment of all of these syndromes. Instead, four common illnesses will be discussed at greater length below. The first is a physical ailment—headache—which is often erroneously diagnosed as psychosomatic in origin. The second is a physical, systemic illness—rheumatoid arthritis. The third is “brain-fag,” the most characteristic form of illness caused by food and chemical allergy. Finally, the most severe form of the problem, depression (which straddles minus-three and minus-four categories), is examined in greater depth.

The case histories in each chapter should add a human aspect to the rather bare bones of theory and show how even the seemingly incurable cases can be properly diagnosed and treated, and how many patients have been enabled to start leading normal lives once more.

*67\110\2*

Some allergy patients, having substituted sponge rubber for other bedding in order to reduce exposure to household dust, find to their dismay that the rubber fumes are even more troublesome. More commonly the effects of the rubber go undetected.

Frequently, a susceptible person will experience flushing of the face, irritability, and “air hunger,” upon first entering a room with rubber rug-pads, upholstery, or rubber-tiled floors. At night, he may suffer from insomnia, restlessness, night sweats, or fatigue, in reaction to rubber pillows, mattresses, or the rubber insulation of electric blankets. Natural fiber substitutes for all of these things are available, however, and their use is essentially the solution to this aspect of the chemical-susceptibility problem

*37\110\2*

Not all allergic reactions to food occur immediately after eating it, however. There is a rare form of food allergy in which the allergen is not an intact food molecule but one of the products of partial digestion. Eating the food produces no ill-effects at first, but violent symptoms begin several hours afterwards, as the food begins to break down in the stomach (see p51).

Delayed reactions are also seen when food contributes to allergic symptoms such as asthma, rhinitis, eczema or chronic urticaria. It may be several hours or even days between the food being eaten and the symptoms appearing. With symptoms of this sort, it may also be necessary to eat quite large amounts of the food, or to eat it for several days in succession. If the food is one that is eaten regularly – as is often the case – the link between cause and effect is likely to be obscure, and food allergies of this type often go unrecognized. An elimination diet, of the kind described in Chapter Fourteen, may be necessary to work out what is causing the problem.

*58\180\8*

1. Empty the lungs by tightening the abdomen muscles. As you commence the walk, breathe in deeply to the count of your steps. As a beginner it may pay to breathe in to the first six to eight steps. Walk and breathe slowly.

2. When the diaphragm is fully descended and your rib cage full, hold your breath for the next three steps.

3. Breathe out, using the abdomen muscles for the next six to eight steps and when your abdomen is concave, hold your breath out for three steps.

4. Commence the inhalation again and continue for the duration of the walk. Results are disappointing if you walk too quickly.

Don’t walk briskly—walk slowly and easily, letting your arms swing gently to the rhythm of your stride. As time goes by you will be easily breathing to ten, twelve, or more, steps. Don’t raise the breath-holding time frame beyond three steps. The yogic walk has the advantage of gently moving the inhaled oxygen around the body, taking it to the peripheral tissues more quickly.

Walking encourages upright posture (jogging doesn’t) by strengthening the back muscles. It draws oxygen into the major joints without straining them. It has all the advantages of vigorous exercise without placing strain on the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands can rest during a slow relaxing walk and take up lots of oxygen to prepare them for the rigours of the working day. Being a full weight-bearing exercise, walking is excellent for retaining calcium in the bones of the legs, pelvis and spine—preventing osteoporosis. Being a gentle exercise, it doesn’t fill the muscles with lactic acid (the major waste product of muscle contraction). Lactic acid irritates the muscles causing spasms, aches, pains and stiffness. It is lactic acid build-up that causes the pain experienced after a hard game, heavy workout or long run. Lactic acid needs calcium to neutralise it and facilitate its removal from the muscles and elimination from the body. This puts demands on the body’s calcium reserves and can cause calcium deficiencies which in turn can cause nervousness, irritability, lack of confidence and anxiety. Hard exercise is often a stress as most people engaging in it don’t supplement their diet with adequate calcium. Hard-chargers produce the same amount of lactic acid by being overly busy. Carbon dioxide build-up is also a muscle irritant.

Yogic walking draws more oxygen into the body than jogging, yet doesn’t raise the levels of carbon dioxide, lactic acid, adrenalin, cortisone and testosterone which cause metabolic imbalances.

*134\18\9*

• Sunburn—even on small areas of the body, like forearms, hands and nose. Always wear a sunblock.

• Crash diets and skipping meals.

• Nutritionally deficient diets (hamburgers, frozen and tinned foods, dehydrated packaged foods, take-away, fast foods).

• Strict vegetarian (vegan) diets that exclude such important protein foods as fish, eggs and cheese. .

• Dehydration—not drinking enough fluid, especially through the day.

• Shallow breathing—oxygen deficiency, carbon dioxide excess.

• Fasting—the total withholding of food from the body.

• Chills and colds.

• Chilling of the body clue to: not wearing shoes in winter; rising in the morning without putting on slippers and dressing gown; sitting next to a heater while in a draught; working, sleeping, sitting or watching TV in a draught; surfing and swimming in winter without a wetsuit; playing sports in cold southerly winds; sleeping under a fan in summer.

• Self-sabotaging attitudes. Habitually putting negative interpretations on what others say and do and on what happens to you in life.

• Physical trauma, including surgical operations. (Get a second opinion if it’s not a life-threatening emergency.)

• Over-work, lack of sleep and recreation, over-exercising.

• Pain—acute and chronic sports injuries, headache, neckache and backache from poor posture (mainly while sitting).

• Loneliness.

• Over-crowding.

• Excess noise.

• Poor posture.

*126\18\9*

Max was a classic example of allergy-based low productivity. Just recently married he felt under great pressure to do well at work and to achieve the promotions and pay increases needed to provide his intended family with the standard of living he desired for them. Max was employed to take orders over the phone for a medium-sized manufacturing firm. He was doing reasonably well until his marriage after which he started making mistakes. These simple mistakes frustrated him greatly and distracted his attention which led to more mistakes. He described to me with pain how he knew he was taking clown the orders incorrectly but couldn’t seem to do anything about it. His mind was in a muddle. He wrote numbers down backwards and out of sequence. He wrote down messages and orders out of context.

Max’s employers had told him to shape up or ship out. I phoned Max’s employer requesting a four week stay of dismissal on the promise that I would have Max fully functional in four weeks. The employer agreed. Max went for allergy tests immediately (we didn’t have time to do the mandatory six to eight weeks on the Metabolism-Balancing Program first). He went onto the Anti-Candida/Anti-Allergy Program plus Formula Six and the other supplements. Within four weeks, much to his employer’s relief and his joy, he had stopped making mistakes. He had acquired energy, good concentration and memory, clarity of thought, mental acuity and a capacity to organise himself he didn’t think possible. Job security became assured and promotion a probability.

Max is a good example of how stress can exacerbate allergies. While he was plodding along as a single guy without too many responsibilities he was coping reasonably well. The moment the demands of marriage were upon him he couldn’t cope. Many people experience this. They’re unaware of their allergies until greater demands to perform are put on them. Max was lucky he gleaned this through marriage. Had he won a promotion the increased mental demands of the new job could well have triggered his mistake-making symptoms and he probably would’ve lost the job and suffered a significant blow to his self-confidence and self-esteem.

This happens to a lot of people and naturally enough they blame the job as they’re unaware of their underlying allergies. Those who are aware they have allergies don’t make the connection between their asthma or eczema, or conjunctivitis or sinusitis or acne and their inability to cope with the job. The stress of the new promotion often leads them into drinking, ‘to relax’. Whereas alcohol affords some short-term relaxation it soon begins to undermine their performance further. Alcohol burns up precious B vitamins and mineral zinc in the brain, the very nutrients that are essential for effective thought integration. Furthermore alcohol and marijuana (even worse) reduce memory, concentration, organisation skills and the ability to think and plan ahead. They do this via the toxic effect they have on brain cells.

*118\18\9*

week which coincided with the end of term her mother reported that she had slipped back to being tired, disorganised and lacking concentration. Yet she hadn’t stopped taking the vitamins. Careful questioning revealed that Vimila was feeling so confident, energetic and well within herself she not only applied herself more vigorously to her schoolwork but took on too many extra-curricula activities—swimming, piano and flute—and literally burnt herself out in one term. The symptoms that were originally caused by allergies and vitamin and mineral deficiency were now being perpetuated by fatigue.

Although Vimila suffers from night sweats (classic allergy symptom) I can’t send her for allergy tests until her energy levels are back up to where they were. Low energy means low resistance which means she’ll show up allergic to more things.

It’s most important that new found energy not be spent as soon as it is attained. Many people, children and adults alike, make the mistake of burning up their new found energy as quickly as they get it. This temptation must be resisted otherwise the treatment program will fail. To achieve long-term good health we must build up an energy reserve. Energy is the currency of life, just as money is the currency of business. To have a healthy business you must keep some money in the bank. To have a healthy body you must keep some energy in reserve. Don’t be an energy spendthrift.

Because my particular program was designed to help kids improve their lot in life it was not structured as an analytical measure of intelligence. There were no control groups to provide a comparison because I felt no slow learning, under-achieving child should be denied help and used as a guinea pig to prove or disprove some intellectual theory. Because of this it can be argued that my study is not a scientific measure of the link between diet and intelligence and I accept that. What it did prove though is the link between diet, and improved performance on all levels and I’m happy to say all those young people on the program who were once headed for a life of under-achievement and all the spin-off frustrations and emotional problems that accompany it are now able to realise their full potential. Such an opportunity is the birthright of everyone and it’s such a pity that modern day diet and living habits are denying so many this basic rights.

It would seem however that in addition to raising our ability to perform, vitamin and mineral supplementation can also raise our intelligence per se. In the 23 January 1988 issue of the Lancet (one of the leading British medical journals) the results of a double blind study (using placebos) of the link between vitamin/mineral supplements and intelligence can be found.

Since doing my own experiment I’ve discovered more and more scientific data detailing increases in intelligence by up to 35 points after supplementation with vitamins and minerals. I’ve also discovered many excellent books describing the link, between allergies behaviour and learning.

Despite the stunning improvements in schoolwork and exam results a change of diet can bring, it is not a panacea. Hard work is always needed. There’s no substitute for it. Tutoring always has been and always will be a principal component of learning. I recommend the programs in this book as an adjunct to, not an alternative to, remedial tutoring. Sophie’s case is a good example of what dietary change and remedial tutoring can achieve. Sophie was being tutored by the Linda Mood Method, a remedial tutoring method for children who’ve grown up with auditory problems and aren’t able to pronounce their words properly. She amazed everybody by completing the twelve month course in four months. In the words of her tutor ‘she was a model student’.

*110\18\9*

Removing the offending allergens from the diet and environment sees an immediate relaxation (expansion) of the tight artery muscles and an increase in the size of the hollow. The blood pressure drops accordingly.

Blood pressure can return to normal quickly and dramatically when allergies are treated, which is why you must always treat them under a doctor’s supervision. If you’re on blood-pressure-lowering drugs the pressure can come down too quickly and even drop below normal if your doctor isn’t monitoring your progress and reducing the drugs appropriately.

Don’t take yourself off blood pressure drugs because artery muscle spasm may not be the only cause of your blood pressure problem. There may be atheromas, kidney problems, carbon dioxide excess and/or hardened arteries as well. If these exist you won’t improve as quickly as I’ve indicated. It’ll take longer and you’ll need to keep taking the drugs, weaning yourself off them slowly as you improve.

The heart is a muscle and is as prone to spasm as any other muscle. Some cases of diagnosed angina are the result of the cramping pain of a heart muscle in spasm. Removing the allergens sees the disappearance of the pain as well as the return of a strong regular heartbeat. People with allergy-based high blood pressure usually have headaches as well. The tendency to focus their allergies into the muscles sees these people with tight back, neck and scalp muscles. Tension in these particular muscle groups produces tension headaches that can endure for prolonged periods of time. The recurrence of tension headaches in allergenic people occurs often if their allergies are not treated by the methods outlined in this book.

*102\18\9*