Have you ever gotten the uneasy feeling there's more disease around today than ever before? Well, you're right. There is.

Infertility is on the rise. Frightening, painful, deadly illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and virulent viruses seem to be everywhere. More Americans are more overweight - dangerously overweight - than ever before. As David Sandoval of Green Kamut Corporation says, " . . . if we were a frog or a lizard, we would have been put on the protected species list already." The question is, why is this happening?

Common sense and a little thought can bring a number of contributing factors to mind. Certainly, advertising is one: we have gotten so confused and frightened by what we see on television and read in various newspapers and magazines that we are afraid to make any healthcare decision without our doctor's approval. We think we're not intelligent enough to take care of ourselves. What we don't realize is that traditional American medicine is crisis management via surgery or synthetic drugs. In other words, most doctors are mainly taught how to suppress symptoms. The problem with symptom suppression, however, is what it doesn't do: address the root cause. Medical doctors are trained to see the root cause of cancer, for example, as cell mutation. Their approach, therefore, is to cut out or kill off the mutated cells so they cannot spread and mutate more cells.

Admirable, but only partially effective.

The real root cause of cancer is a lack of oxygen at the cellular level. Cancer cannot live in the presence of oxygen. Period. End of discussion. That's why doctors advocate no smoking and plenty of exercise: these activities increase the amount of oxygen we take into our bodies. But, again, this course is only partially effective, because disease does not manifest itself over a short period of time. It actually takes months, years, sometimes decades for a cellular problem to incubate to the point that it takes command of our lives. If we opt to suppress our symptoms rather than deal with the root cause those symptoms are screaming at us to notice, we eventually end up with disease. If, on the other hand, we want to live long, healthy lives, we must take the responsibility ourselves to interrupt those incubation cycles.

GREEN FOODS

One common denominator that researchers have found in fully 95% of people with diseases is a non-nutritious diet. We've all heard it a million times, but just because it has become a cliché doesn't mean it isn't still true: in the long run, we really are what we eat. And, believe it or not, the road to disease can be altered and incubation cycles disrupted simply by consuming living foods (uncooked, non-pasteurized, minimally processed, live-enzyme containing fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds) and green foods. In fact, green foods alone have the capability of reversing the trend toward disease.

So, what are green foods? They're that stuff we baby boomers have been hearing about since we were little kids: deep green leafy vegetables. Not vitamins or medicines, just deep green leafy vegetables. Grandma knew what she was talking about when she told us to eat our spinach so we could grow up to be strong like Popeye. The power of the nutrients in deep green leafy vegetables to heal and rejuvenate a body is unmatched by any combination of synthetic medicines or supplements.

Green foods contain chlorophyll, the same green pigment found in plants. In case you've forgotten your high-school biology, chlorophyll is what makes life on earth possible. The oxygen we breathe comes from the chlorophyll in plants. To bring it down to its most simple terms: no chlorophyll, no human life.

Chlorophyll is identical to human blood with one exception: the center element in chlorophyll is magnesium, whereas the center element in blood is iron. Some researchers claim that chlorophyll has the ability to release magnesium from its center and absorb iron, and thus become hemoglobin. Chlorophyll literally becomes human blood. More blood means our body has more ability to disburse oxygen!

"Plants are the "lungs" of the planet," says Yoshihide Hagiwara, M.D. in Green Barley Essence (Keats Publishing, 1985), "breathing out the oxygen all animal life needs to live. Plants are also the primary source of all that is of nutritional value."

Chlorophyll not only increases oxygen levels throughout the body, including the extremities, it also releases carbon dioxide, which helps prevent disease incubation. Green foods take carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, the toxic byproducts of our breathing in heat and pollution, and convert them into the oxygen. So it's a simple equation: green foods = oxygen = the most powerful tool we have for disease prevention and recovery.

Super OptiGreens Natural antioxidant with 51 select ingredients

EVEN THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE POSITIVE

Not only do green foods have heavy concentrations of chlorophyll that oxygenate the body, they also have enzymes that rejuvenate and are responsible for virtually every chemical reaction at the cellular level.

When we increase our food's digestibility, we increase the speed with which it is eliminated from our bodies, which, in turn, helps eliminate illness. Here's why: as undigested food goes through the intestinal system, it turns to waste, attaches itself to the intestinal wall (sometimes hiding in little pockets) and becomes toxic. Toxic waste is essentially slow-acting poison to the human body. When we start eating green foods, with their rich digestive as well as antioxidant enzymes, those toxins that have built up over the years (or decades) begin to slough off from their hiding places and evacuate. Once they're voided, the foods we subsequently eat will be fully digested and fully eliminated. In other words, our guts will feel better, our digestive tract will work better, and our calories will turn more to energy than fat.

Besides digestive enzymes, green foods also contain potassium and cell salts, which encourage the normal elimination process. We all know we need fiber to help avoid or correct constipation, but the recent trend of relying solely on fiber is actually counterproductive. Fiber is bulky; too much bulk can literally stretch the intestines out of shape, and, thus, out of proper functioning. Potassium, on the other hand, causes the bowel to contract, while sodium causes it to expand. Aha! A pattern of logic: eating green food abundant in potassium and cell salts will cause your intestines to contract and expand, which will gently squeeze the bowel material downwards and . . . viola! Daily, easy elimination. Does it get any better than that?

Well, actually, yes, it does.

Let's face it: over-acidity is a rampant problem in America. In fact, based on the abundance of TV commercials for antacids, it seems just about everybody in the country has acid indigestion. What you may not realize, however, is that an overly acidic body is just courting illness or disease. On the scale where human blood must have a pH of 7.4 to be considered healthy and everything above seven is alkaline while everything below is acidic, most of us gobbling Tums® and Rolaids® probably fall somewhere between five and six. Not good. The ability to alkalize our body is one of the most powerful and important ways of interrupting carcinogenic incubations.

Deep green leafy vegetables have that ability! They alkalize the body, a distinct difference from the effect of an antacid, which neutralizes digestive acids, often for hours. Consider this: you have pizza for lunch, get heartburn, pop an antacid. Later, when you eat another one of those hard-on-the-stomach combinations you enjoy so much -- like a fast-food burger or even homemade meat and potatoes -- those neutralized digestive acids are still unavailable to go to work. Your body hadn't digested lunch because you neutralized your digestive acids, and now it also can't digest dinner. The entire day's food joins the accumulation you've already got sitting in your gut, and the whole mess festers. More acid indigestion, requiring more antacids, leading to more poison in your system, creating a more disease-friendly environment. Given enough time: gastroesophageal reflux, diverticulitis, cancer.

Green foods, on the other hand, are not only easily digested, they raise the level of alkalinity in the body to counteract the acidity, all the while helping to detach and flush out any built-up toxins. No surgery, no laboratory-developed drug, no chemically treated supplement can get your digestive tract back on track as easily and effectively as dark green leafy vegetables.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Some of the other "side effects" of green foods come from their inherent and vitally important trace minerals. All too often, trace minerals - abundant in nature but disregarded by modern science until recently - are missing from the fast foods, packaged foods, frozen foods, and processed foods we Americans tend to make the basis of our daily diets. A lot of today's diseases can be traced back to trace-mineral deficiencies. In fact, a lack of trace minerals is quite possibly the #1 cause of disease in Western culture today. Man has never yet created a supplement or a synthetic "foodstuff" with the same benefits of the trace minerals found in deep green leafy vegetables. Chlorophyll is the only food perfectly suited to deliver and maintain the appropriate amounts of magnesium and iron needed to maintain good health to both men and women. Its magnesium, for example, goes directly to the muscle tissue and can rapidly relieve painful cramps. By the way, when we get our minerals from plants - that is, from raw, dark green leafy vegetables - we never have to worry about them building up to a toxic level. The human body either utilizes or eliminates green-food minerals; it never stores them. It will store synthetic minerals, on the other hand, which can ultimately lead to another kind of toxicity. The best (and safest) way to take in trace minerals is in the trace amounts found in green foods. Want proof? Look at any mineral chart. You'll see the #1 recommended source of virtually all minerals and trace minerals is always deep green leafy vegetables.

Each and every trace mineral functions in relation to the other elements of the body. Trace amounts of trace minerals enhance the immune system by becoming the most efficient building blocks for T-lymphocytes - our defender cells. They literally create a rapid response to disease by providing the raw material necessary to manufacture those defensive enzymes.

Still not convinced? Okay, how's this: green foods are far richer in assimilable calcium than milk. Calcium, as you know, leads to strong nails and luxurious hair, not to mention stronger bones. Calcium can even reverse osteoporosis. Of course, you could take a lot of trace-mineral or calcium supplements. Unfortunately, the calcium bioavailability in a supplement is only a fraction of what you would get from a serving of green leafy vegetables.

When new clients come to me with low-energy problems, I recommend incorporating concentrated greens into their fresh-vegetable-juice routine. Green juices have no calories, so they're not stored as fat, they're used as energy. Oh, and hypoglycemics and diabetics take note: drinking green juice alkalizes the small intestine, which, in turn, regulates the passage of glucose through the intestinal barrier. Result: no blood-sugar problem - naturally.

So, eat your spinach. Nibble on your broccoli. Chomp on your celery and enjoy your kale and lettuce and leaks and scallions. And with every bite, remember: you're taking a step toward protecting yourself against cancer, heart disease, emphysema, diverticulitis, adult-onset diabetes, and many other health problems. In a society that is at once overweight and malnourished, green foods are the best, easiest and most natural weapon we have in the fight to prevent and reverse the trend toward disease.

NO MORE EXCUSES!

"But I'm so busy..." "There's never any time..."

So you still think you can't take the time to prepare all those leafy green vegetables, in spite of all the information you've just read? GOOD NEWS! Numerous manufacturers recognize that fact. As a result, they have come up with deep leafy green-food combinations, filled with vibrant health and energy, that can easily be stirred or blended into water or juice. Although there are many varieties and manufacturers of these wonderful whole-food concentrates, they all have one basic thing in common -- deep leafy green vegetables.

Corlett, Sandy D., Whole Food Concentrates... Nutrition & Diabetes, 1998, DRC Publications, Inc., Winter Haven, Fl

Hagiwara, Yoshihide, M.D., Green Barley Essence, 1985, Keats Publishing, New Canaan, CT

Kamen, Betty, PhD., Kamut: An Ancient Food For A Healthy Future, 1995, Nutrition Encounter, Novato, CA

Sandoval, David, The Healing Miracle of Green Foods, 1996, GKC, Inc., Long Beach, CA