A
PLAIN MAN'S GUIDE . . . . TO DRUGS,
MEDICINES,
FOOD & SUPPLEMENTS.
Recently,
there has been discussion as to what constitutes a food supplement or
a medicine and as to what can be defined as a drug.
Whilst
for vested interest reasons some pharmacologists claim there is very
little real difference, other medical and nutritional commentators
strongly beg to differ.
One
problem is that, because of modern production and distribution
methods, all three of theses substances come in the form of pills,
tablets, capsules, drops and / or bottles, etc., so that, for the man
in the street, they very often have the same general appearance.
It
is however vital - sometimes a matter of life or death - that we
should all know the main differences between these substances. So,
whilst the following does not claim to be a full technical
compilation and summary of these matters, it does attempt to put the
main agreements about their definitions and characteristics into
plain language.
a) A
food is any edible substance taken into the body by eating or
drinking with the intention of supplying digestible bulk and
nutrition sufficient to sustain the body, its energy levels and its
functions for a period of time consistent with the individual's
activity level and requirements.
Unfortunately,
many foods by virtue of modern production, storage and distribution
methods do not provide vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in
quantities and / or strengths sufficient to satisfy the body's
requirements - especially in those times when the body's
self-repairing mechanisms may be working overtime to handle some
unwanted condition.
As
a result, it has been found efficacious to regularly supplement a
normally deficient food intake with naturally produced vitamins and /
or minerals in doses of sufficient strength to enrich the incoming
food to an effective level of nutrition.
b) On
the other hand, a medicine is any substance which, by one means or another,
is introduced into the body with the intention of removing the
individual from an
unwanted physical condition,
and the term 'medicine' is
generally held to apply to those
substances which assist,
stimulate
or reinforce
the body's own natural defences and self-healing capabilities.
c) In
contrast, the modern meaning of 'drug' is any substance, generally
understood to be of a toxic or poisonous nature, but which
nevertheless, by one means or another, is introduced into the body
with a view to removing the individual from an
unwanted physical, mental or personal condition,
and the term 'drug' is usually taken to mean those
substances which work by metabolically ENFORCING
some other condition.
(N.B. Whilst
it is recognised that practically any
substance when taken in sufficient quantity can poison or otherwise
adversely affect the body’s natural chemistry, the nature of drugs
is such that only a very small or even a minute quantity can do so.)
Therefore
the major differences between food supplements, medicines and drugs
are that, whilst a
food supplement
provides omitted
natural nutrition
to the body, in times of ill health a
medicine
works in
agreement
with the body's own natural functions, whilst a
drug
attempts to
enforce
a prescribed or "desired" condition upon the body, mind or
person - and this applies to both legal and illicit drugs.
Such
an enforcement attempt is resisted by the body to the degree that the
drug causes upset to the body's natural chemistry. Unfortunately,
because of the gross variations in upset which can occur from person
to person and, because of the variations which can occur for each
person from one set of circumstances to another and from one time to
another - the
effects of a drug can
never be fully predicted
for anyone at any time.
As
a result, taking drugs of any kind – illicit, legal or prescription
- can be a dangerous game of Russian roulette because, whilst usage
might bring about the desired relief or condition (normally on a
temporary basis only) it can also be accompanied by mild to severe
upset, unconsciousness or even death.
Therefore
in addition to any benefits which usage of the drug seeks to achieve,
the body's chemistry is attacked by the drug and, because drugging is
a severe attack, to defend itself and ensure its continuing quality
of survival, the body will often move away from its normal functions
by modifying its metabolism to encompass the drug's attack.
If
the drug's attacks are repeated, the body implements more metabolic
changes which become increasingly permanent and which lay the
foundations for physical addiction to that substance.
In
other words, just as the body already has metabolic mechanisms for
dealing with bad food, foul water, polluted air, germs and viruses,
etc., repeated drug usage sets up not dis-similar mechanisms to
handle the "bad" effects of the drug and, under conditions
where the so-called "good" effects of the drug are desired,
the body will then crave those good effects - in spite of the "bad"
components.
The
body's desire to fill and utilise the metabolically reserved
“emergency ward" it has created to handle that drug, is of
course the major part of the basic physical
addiction. But, because of the overall
relief
which the individual experiences from having solved
the physical demand problem, repeated usage and subsequent relief
starts to also develop an increasing psychological
demand
for more relief - ahead of or in the absence of the body's own demand
for the original physical effect, and this psychological demand is
reinforced by the hypnotic effects of many drugs – both illicit and
prescribed.
These
are not the only psychological factors and there are also personality
factors,
but the point is here made that full addiction to a drug is comprised
of:
i)
the physical,
ii)
the psychological, and,
iii)
the personality components, each of them tending to work towards
reinforcing the demand for the other two.
In
curing addiction, it is therefore necessary to handle the physical,
mental and personal aspects of the drug's effects in order to attain
lifelong comfortable future abstinence.
In
fact, it is the failure to handle all
these aspects which creates so much of the wasted effort put into the
drug rehabilitation field by so many often well-meaning people. This
creates the so-called "revolving-door syndrome" of relief -
relapse - relief and relapse again, etc., and gives the impression
that drug addiction cannot be cured.
But
it
can be cured
and it
is
cured
first time through a well known residential
programme in up to 69+% of cases at nearly 100 centres in 49
countries around the world, and this has been happening since 1966.
It
takes time. Anything from 11 to 13 weeks. But in the long run, the
cash savings, the improvement in law and order and the other benefits
to the society and the taxpayer - as well as to the individual - far
outstrip
any initial
cost and time considerations.
Improving
the quality of life for the community by creating ex-addicts
is a win for all, except of course, for those people who produce and
distribute the drugs !
Drugs
are most often classified into two main groups:
Legal:
legally
produced and sold drugs (e.g. tobacco and alcohol), and legally
prescribed pharmaceutical drugs, (e.g. methadone, benzodiazepines,
Prozac and Ritalin, etc.), and,
Illegal:
illegally
produced, and/or smuggled illicit drugs (e.g. cannabis, cocaine,
crack, heroin and skunk, etc.) and/or stolen & illegally
black-marketed legal drugs (e.g. methadone & Ritalin, etc.).
However,
a much more important set of classifications is:
*
dangerous
drugs:
those likely to poison, make ill, damage, kill, weaken or otherwise
adversely affect a majority of people either temporarily or
permanently even when taken in small doses,
*
unsafe
drugs: those
which even when limited to prescribed dosages, are likely to create
a broad series of generally unpredictable side-effects ranging from
mild to severe (including some of the temporary and occasionally the
permanent effects of the dangerous drugs), and,
*
safe
drugs: those
regarded as likely to have only a limited series of adverse effects
on few people, usually of a mild or temporary nature.
(N.B.
In all these cases the effect prescribed for, and the side effects
which can also be produced, vary from person to person and also vary
for each person from one usage occasion to another.)
Because
the "dangerous" drugs are well recognised and handled with
appropriate safety techniques, without doubt, the main problem class,
and the largest, is the so-called "unsafe" drugs, which
include amongst others those which are:
intoxicants,
hypnotics, sedatives, stimulants, inhibitors, hallucinogens,
euphorics, anxiolytics, suppressants, stupefiers and / or which
are habit forming or addictive
- with some degree of hypnotic effect ordinarily underlying most
mental addictions.
Therefore in this "unsafe" classification one finds the so-called 'mind-bending' drugs (both
pharmaceutical and illicit)
such as cannabis, Prozac, heroin, Ritalin, ecstasy, methadone, LSD,
benzodiazepines and other tranquillisers, cocaine, amphetamines and a
further vast range of branded drugs of which no busy doctor can
possibly keep adequate track.
As
a result correct and effective prescribing is very much a hit-or-miss
proposition, with the physician very often advising his patient to:
"see
how you get on with this, and we can always change it for something
else if it doesn't suit you".
Unfortunately
this is rather similar to the spurious advice of the illicit
drug-pusher!
Modern
research increasingly indicates that it is lack of sufficient good
quality natural nutrition OR adversely excessive amounts of certain
nutrients, which exposes our bodies to germs, viruses and the risk of
a deficient immune system. Then also there are the problems caused
by allergies. The resultant ailing bodily condition is then normally
'treated' with medicines and increasingly with drugs.
What
a pity, when all that is needed is an adjustment to one's diet or,
when this is impractical, an intake of vitamin and / or mineral food
supplements to bring up the quality of one's food intake. Unlike
nearly all drugs, the vast majority of food supplements are virtually
impossible to overdose.
Physicians
increasingly use medicines and drugs to handle (as 'illnesses') those
conditions which are in fact merely dietary inadequacies, and it is
interesting that international pharmaceutical companies which bulk
produce such medicines and drugs, are the main instigators of new
European directives and regulations restricting and even banning the
production and distribution of large dose format natural food
supplements, so that they can be replaced by lower potency chemically
manufactured supplements sold only through pharmacy departments and
chemists shops at higher small dose prices.
WHEN
IT COMES TO FOOD . . . .
Just
as important as what we should consume and what we should avoid is
HOW MUCH we should eat and drink, and WHY and WHEN we should eat and
drink.
Like
the animal kingdom in the wild, we have flesh and blood bodies, as a
result of which biologists, zoologists and doctors have been able to
learn a lot about human flesh and blood bodies from a study of
similar flesh and blood animals.
Whilst
also true of animal and human brains, it is not however true of
animal “minds”. Yes, we both have Reactive Minds for the
essential continuing and over-riding protection, preservation and
survival of the body.
But
Man is also equipped with the Analytical Mind plus the spiritual
beingness which renders him superior to the animal kingdom - the
blatant, outstanding and obvious fact which psychiatrists have
totally failed to notice and account for, crudely believing as they
do that Man is no more than just another species of animal !?
However,
for all flesh and blood body types, food and drink are the fuels
which, like petrol and diesel, we put into the tank to convert into
energy as required and determined by our ongoing physical activity
level.
Or,
that's how it should be, but it isn't.
Because
there are three factors controlling our desire for food:
1) The
feeling of fullness, emptiness or otherwise of our stomach,
2) The
lack of incoming immediately available nutrition sufficient to fuel
whatever physical activity we are engaged in, and,
3) The
flavours, aromas and attractiveness of the various foods and drinks
that we have been educated into desiring by our family background as
well as by modern food marketing and preparation techniques.
With
the U.K. Department of Health telling us earlier this year (2016)
that 62% of British women are obese and overweight, that 50% of
British men are the same and that our children are increasingly fat
and overweight, it is increasingly plain that item 3) above is by far
the factor determining our eating habits and requirements.
Instead
of being just a straightforward filling of the fuel tank, eating and
drinking has been developed into a ritual, a set of rewards and, for
some people, even the main reason for living - all based on how our
foods taste, smell and look !
As
a result of which, in our modern western world, OVER-EATING has
become the norm for an increasing number of our citizens, which is
somewhat like going on every day filling the petrol tank of our car
well after it is already full – a situation which can only
inevitably sooner or later lead to disaster !
Bear
in mind that, in a household where Mum is a devoted housewife, Dad is
a desk bound accountant, the son is a local cycling champion and the
daughter is a couch potato stuck in front of the TV all day – you
have four different sets of energy (and food) requirements.
BUT,
dear old Mum, according to custom and trying to minimise the work to
be done in the kitchen, has to insist that they all eat TOGETHER at
the same time, AND that they all have roughly the same size of plate
filled with the same amount of the same food.
And
Mum tends to put on the plates roughly the same amount of nutrition
she feels she herself needs. But that's likely to be nowhere near
enough for champion cycle training son, and far too much for desk
bound Dad and TV mesmerised couch bound daughter.
So
when the last two above say: “I'm not really hungry”, Mum may
shove some extra onto her son's plate, but will also nearly always
say: “But you've got to eat something and anyway I'm not going to
waste good food that I've gone to a lot of trouble to cook”.
So
Dad and daughter are fattening up and putting on weight, whilst Mum
and son are looking a lot slimmer and fitter.
All
this of course is not helped by regular socialising invitations from
other family and friends to come and tuck in to some lovely “stuff”
full of fat, sugar, carbohydrates and the hormones increasingly added
to meat and vegetables to make them grow bigger and faster –
effects they also inflict upon human bodies.
The
current fashion for overeating not only makes an increasingly fat and
overweight body more difficult to move around, but it also encourages
a tendency to eat even more in order to have the energy to move that
ever bigger and heavier body around. It's called a vicious circle,
and it is.
So
how can we break into that circle and start to handle the three above
reasons for feeling hungry ?
The
first is easy.
As and when your stomach feels empty – drink a large glass of fresh
clean water. Fills you up of course, but without in any way
fattening you up.
Second,
you and the rest of the family must learn to “waste food”, not
only by refusing offered second helpings, but also by agreeing that
it's OK to leave food on your plate, and that this is not an insult
to the chef.
Overeating
“wastes” human bodies, which are far more valuable than any food,
because, whilst you can get food anywhere and pretty well at any
time, we are all issued with only one body per lifetime !
But, thirdly, the main thing we have to do
in order to achieve and maintain a sensible healthy size and weight,
is to start un-learning the eating habits we have developed based on
the “enticing” aromas, “artistic” appearance and “wonderful”
tastes we have learned from our families, from fashion, from food
snobbery, and from our friends.
You
have only to examine the preferred diets of various ethnic groups to
confirm that their preferences are “habits they have learned”,
and that, as a result they can be un-learned.
Roasting
coffee-beans smell marvellous, but without the sugar and the milk,
black coffee is too bitter for most people. Cognac brandy smells so
lovely, but your first mouthful screams: “Yeuch”, and you want to
spit it out.
By
first fully recognising that ALL food and drink fragrances and
flavours can be learned and also un-learned, you take the first step
towards taking full control of your diet, your weight, your size and,
yes, even your bank balance.
Of
course, one other factor to mention is - EXERCISE.
We
don't all have to be Arnold Schwarzeneggers or Silvester Stallones.
(have you seen them lately ?), but daily light exercise is good for
your muscles, joints, breathing, digestion, appearance and sleeping.
A
couple of miles of walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, skating or
dancing, etc., is enough if you don't have a physically active
working life. We are here talking about minutes rather than hours,
and also about those activities which can be fitted in with others.
e.g. walking or cycling to the station or super-market, instead of
taking the car, a bus or a taxi.
BUT,
by far the most important is reduction of food and drink consumption.
Those who are already well overweight and over size should follow
the natural practices of the sick or injured flesh and blood wild
animals, which get themselves back into good condition simply by
“water fasting”.
This is not like religious fasting which mainly just transfers eating from the daylight hours to the hours of darkness.
If
for you, obesity and overweight is a constant problem, and you've
already tried a variety of diets with little or no success, we invite
you to phone our office on (01342) 810151 or 811099, after 11.00am
and before 9.00pm on any weekday, and we will arrange for you to be
sent a free no obligation copy of one of the latest booklets on
successful fasting.
Alternatively
you may choose to e-mail directly to info@naturesremedy.org.uk
and give them your name and Royal Mail postal address for them to
send their free booklet to.
N.B.
Information on drugs is a developing subject & therefore subject
to continuing change.
As a result, whilst given in good faith, the
author cannot be responsible for
the
accuracy or otherwise of this data, or for any actions or decisions
based on it.
S.A.F.E. Is A Not-For-Profit Community Support Group Formed In 1975.
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