Whole Food Signatures
But this stuff just doesn't fly. |
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The following piece is posted
all over the web and constantly forwarded by emailers from
Singapore to Guam and from Russia to the USofA.
Nowhere,
is this piece critically examined. It’s author, Anonymous,
has somehow avoided even the slightest rational analysis, as
every web site upon which I’ve found this seems to just
publish it as if it were gospel. Many of these sites
want to give off the appearance of being authoritative,
honest, and valid. Ironic?
Please
read the article (if you’ve not read it already) and then
jump to our analysis afterwards.
A stupendous
insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by
today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have
shown that what was once called "The Doctrine of
Signatures" was astoundingly correct.
Referred to in
the classical period of Rome as the "Law of Similarities" it
is now called by scientists, "Teleological Nutritional
Targeting".
It now
contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles
a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern
acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides
the eater.
For instance:
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A
sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The
pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the
human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots
greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the
eyes. |
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A
Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart
is red and has four chambers. All of the research
shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food. |
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Grapes hang in a
cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape
looks like a blood cell and all of the research
today shows that grapes are also profound heart and
blood vitalizing food. |
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A
Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and
right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower
cerebelums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the
nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that
walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuro-transmitters
for brain function. |
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Kidney Beans
actually heal and help maintain kidney function and
yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys. |
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Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb
and more look just like bones. These foods
specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23%
sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't
have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it
from the bones, making them weak. These foods
replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
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Egg
Plant, Avocadoes and Pears
target the health and function of the womb and
cervix of the female - they look just like these
organs. Today's research shows that when a woman
eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds
unwanted birth weight and prevents cervicle
cancers. And how profound is this? .... it takes
exactly 9 months to grow an Avocado from blossom
to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 phytolytic
chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of
these foods (modern science has only studied and
named about 141 of them). |
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Figs are full of
seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs
increase the motility of male sperm and increase the
numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility. |
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Sweet Potatoes
look like the pancreas and actually balance the
glycemic index of diabetics. |
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Olives assist
the health and function of the ovaries |
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Grapefruits, Oranges,
and other Citrus fruits look just like the
mamary glands of the female and actually assist the
health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in
and out of the breasts. |
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Onions look like
body cells. Todays research shows that onions help
clear waste materials from all of the body cells.
They even produce tears which wash the epithelial
lasyers of the eyes |
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Bananas, Cucumber, Zuchini
and more target the size and strengh of the male
sexual organ. It's true! |
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Peanuts have a
profound effect on the testicles and sexual libido.
Peanuts were banned as a food for males by the
church ofin during the middle ages. Most people
don't realize that arginine, the main component of
Viagra, comes from peanuts. |
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On the sites
referencing this piece, terms like “fascinating” and “amazing” are
inaptly applied to it; while comments follow that claim, “I believe
all of this and would like to learn more."
Well, I hate to
disappoint all the thousands of web sites posting these AMAZING
facts, but it seems that these are not facts at all and that the
author composed it from myths, legends, and his/her own fantasy.
I’ve even kept
the original spellings of the article, showing that the author
apparently didn’t have a spell checker, let alone some encyclopedia
to guide him/her in the writing.
Let’s start at
the top.
Carrots
We all know that
carrots are great for eyesight. You want great night vision, eat
carrots. I knew one guy who ate so many carrots he couldn’t go to
sleep at night because he could see through his eyelids.
And if you
believe that….
Snopes has a great piece on
where the night vision thing started. To paraphrase their article,
during WWII the Brits started a rumor that their pilots ate lots of
carrots and that’s why they could shoot down so many Nazi planes at
night. This “rumor” was designed to cover up the simple fact that
the Brits had developed Airborne Interception Radar and wanted to
keep this technology a secret. Thus the myth of carrots improving
eyesight was born.
In defense of
the carrot, we must admit that there are many great nutrients that
the body needs. Eyes need antioxidants. In fact, one therapy for
cataracts is a stiff regimen of antioxidants. The antioxidants in
carrots do help contribute to protecting the eyes.
Now, here is a
little bit of information that will show you how carrots actually
can help your night vision. However, eating lots of carrots will not
give you “super” night vision.
Night vision
begins as a biochemical reaction. I’m sure you’ve all heard about
the rods and cones that pick up the light and transmit signals to
the brain. The cones are for color vision and require lots of light.
The rods require a lot less light and are for black and white
vision. Have you noticed at night how colors are hard to determine?
Rods absorb
photons (light) using a chemical called rhodopsin. One molecule of
rhodopsin absorbs a photon and it splits into two molecules: retinal
and opsin. Later these two molecules will recombine, at a fixed rate
(which is fairly slow), to form rhodopsin.
The reason you
can’t see well at night when you leave a lighted area is that your
eyes have been converting all your rhodopsin into retinal and opsin
and suddenly that huge amount of photons by the bright light is cut
way, way down. The small amount of photons can’t find enough
rhodopsin right away and have to wait till the retinal and opsin
recombine (see, we told you it was fairly slow).
At night, a
bright light will again blind you for a while, as you wait for all
the retinal and opsin to recombine.
Now here is
where carrots come in: the retinal in the eye is derived from
vitamin A. Carrots give the body vitamin A. If you lack vitamin A,
your body won’t have enough retinal to combine with opsin to make
rhodopsin and you will suffer from night blindness…you won’t be able
to see in the dark.
The Law of
Signatures (yeah, right, it’s a law) would tell us that carrots look
like rods and supply retinal for night vision, except that carrots
look more like the cones and there goes the Law of Signatures out
the window.
Tomatoes
All research
shows that tomatoes are pure heart and blood food?
Tomatoes are
charged with antioxidants and phytochemicals that every body simply
needs. Studies of Italians (who love their tomato sauce) show they
have less cancer (stomach, esophagus, mouth). The cardiovascular
system needs antioxidants to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The main and
most powerful antioxidant in the tomato is lycopene. Lycopene is a
carotenoid; it gives the red color to the tomato as well as to
rosehip, watermelon, and pink grapefruit. If you had a heart that
looked like a watermelon, I don’t think you’d be long for this life.
Now, if the
tomato, with its four chambers is so good for your heart, why is it
that the lycopene from tomatoes is best absorbed by the body after
being cooked? Lycopene is great for the heart, but it is delivered
better when in the form of ketchup or marinara sauce.
Lycopene
protects the liver, lungs, prostate gland, colon and skin (where it
is most often deposited). The tomato doesn’t look like the eye, but
ongoing research seems to show that lycopene helps prevent macular
degeneration. [Gerster, H. The potential role of lycopene for human
health. J. Amer. Coll. Nutr. 16: 109-126, 1997]
The tomato’s
carotenoids are the most vitamin A active, rivaling the carrot (100
grams of your average tomato has just half the vitamin A of the same
amount of carrots). And
don’t forget the vitamin C which every body needs for a healthy
heart, although you can get more vitamin C from citrus than from a
tomato. Depending on the type of orange, you can get 3 to 4 times
the amount of vitamin C from oranges than from tomatoes. (And a red
pepper has twice the vitamin C as the same amount of orange.)
However, we must
give the tomato his due and tell you that recent research shows that
lycopene is very protective of the heart. (And you can get it in a
watermelon and other fruits). Lycopene is just a darn good
antioxidant and studies show that it protects against Coronary heart
disease, cerebrovascular disease, and myocardial infraction.
[Rao AV, Lycopene, Tomatoes, and the
Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease, Department of Nutritional
Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M5S 3E2].
So, yes the
tomato (in the form of ketchup, marinara sauce, and salsa) can
protect the heart as well as a watermelon and those other red fruit.
As for the blood food aspect, everything we put into our bodies
makes up our blood, or as the Orientals would say, "Your blood
begins on the end of your fork (chopsticks)."
Grapes
The French
Paradox comes from the grape. French drink a lot of wine, they eat a
lot of cheese, yet they don’t die of heart disease at the rates we
would if we were eating as they are. However, again, grapes contain
anti-cancer phytochemicals. Gapes come in many varieties: green, red, concord,
and others. The concord seem to be the most cardio protective,
followed by the red grape, containing the most resveratrol, antioxidants,
quercetin and other polyphenols, which also keep blood platelets
from sticking together, but grapes are also a great source of boron
to prevent osteoporosis (and they certainly don't look like any part
of our skeletal system). Wines contain these same phytochemicals,
but you can get all the grape benefits from a good organic grape
juice as well. We’ll let you
have this one, but it’s still a stretch.
Walnuts
Walnuts do
contain serotonin. We’ll give this wonderful brain food that. They
also contain omega-3 essential fatty acids, vitamin E and vitamin
B6. Real vitamin E protects the arteries and
recent research has found that vitamin B6 slashes your risk of
Parkinson’s disease.
Walnuts can help
relieve depression, but “We now know that walnuts help develop over
3 dozen neuro-transmitters [sic.] for brain function”
Serotonin is a
neurotransmitter. According to
Encarta [this Encarta link is dead as Encarta shut down in
December of 2009], a neurotransmitter is a:
chemical
carrying communication between nerves: a
chemical that carries messages between different nerve cells or
between nerve cells and muscles, e.g. to trigger or prevent an
impulse in the receiving cell. Excitatory neurotransmitters trigger
a nerve impulse in the receiving cell, while inhibitory
neurotransmitters act to prevent further transmission of an impulse.
But “over 3
dozen”? This has yet to be proven. Additionally, many nuts contain
serotonin and other brain nutrients, and none of them look like your
brain. Flax seeds don’t look like your brain and they contain more
omega-3s per weight than any nut. Cashews contain magnesium which
helps to “open up” your arteries (lowering blood pressure); pecans
and peanuts contain choline that aids memory; pumpkin seeds and
sunflower seeds contain l-tryptophan, an amino acid that converts to
serotonin; while sunflower seeds are high in thiamin that supports
memory and cognitive function; almonds contain riboflavin (which aids
in memory) and also contain phenylalanine which stimulates the brain
to produce natural pain killers and mood raising neurotransmitters.
Now, I’m sure we
can all name someone whose brain resembles a pumpkin seed, but for
the most part, all your nuts are just plain good brain food.
And don’t forget our research into cardiovascular wellness
(published in our cardiovascular
section) that discovered how
Scandinavians eat nuts following meals, a practice which lowers the
incidence of heart disease.
Kidney Beans
We can debunk
this one by reporting the simple fact that kidney beans contain
phosphates. The kidneys don’t remove phosphates well, and if you
have kidney disease, you are advised not to eat foods high in
phosphates.
However, many
sites that repeat this nonsense like to emphasize that it’s “a
fact!” One site I found put it this way:
That's
a fact! Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain
kidney function and yes, they look
exactly like the human kidneys.
God knows what he is doing, and all we have to do is stop talking
and listen to his small still voice that he gave us through his holy
spirit. He is everywhere, and in everything. We just need to look
closer.
It was enough for me to see his miracles through the creation,
gestation and birth of my children. He even had me before that: with
the vastness of the universe. This has just floored me, to know that
he also speaks to our health through the
design of the food he has placed on this earth for us to consume.
I’ll bet this
person is one of those who forwards every forwarded email s/he has
received, from Bill Gates giving away his money to the little girl
who’s been dying of cancer for years and wants you to forward this
email to all your friends because the American Cancer Society
donates money for every forward.
Celery, Bok
Choy, Rhubarb
Bones are 23%
sodium? Are you $#!ting me?
Celery, bok choy,
and rhubarb are 23% sodium? Celtic Sea Salt is 85% sodium and
this is salt.
When I orginally wrote
this article, I wrote: "Why anyone would repost something so
obviously and patently false is beyond me," but I've since
discovered that though our bones are not "made up" of 23% sodium,
our sodium stores are located in the bones.
And the percent is not 23%; it's
around 30%.
The chemical composition for bones is:
Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2. The chemical symbol for sodium is Na. Is there any
Na in the chemical composition of bones?
One more thing: Sodium is not "salt." Sodium
chloride is salt.
Here are some
nutritional facts according to the USDA’s web site (we found the
info on bok choy at about.com)
100 Grams of
rhubarb contains 288 mg potassium, 4 mg sodium, 86 mg calcium.
100 Grams of
celery contains 260mg potassium, 80mg sodium, 40mg calcium.
70 Grams of bok
choy contains 176 mg potassium, 46 mg sodium, 74mg calcium.
Diets high in
sodium can be a risk factor in osteoporosis. (One reason I always
use Celtic Sea Salt).
This one is
sheer bunk.
Egg Plant,
Avocadoes and Pears
Apart from the
simple fact that the word “phytolytic” is a very rare word that
doesn't seem to appear in any dictionary (though I have found it in
a few studies), this is
another one that is pure bunk. Besides, if you take apart the word,
you have "phyto-" or deriving from "plants," and "-lytic" meaning "lysis,"
or the "disintegration of a cell via rupturing of the cell wall or
membrane." Why am I reminded of an early Star Trek episode?
The only
connection to the avocado and the uterus is that omega-3 essential
fatty acids seem to help to regulate hormones. And we all know that
omega-3s come from a variety of foods that don’t look like the
uterus. We’ve also reported in the past on a German study that
showed that women using fish oils faired better than those on HRT,
though the fish has only a tenuous connection to the uterus, because
amniotic fluid is amazingly similar to sea water. And, by the way,
it takes 8 months for the avocado to mature from bloom to harvest.
The avocado is a
cancer protectant. Studies in Great Britain show that avocados offer
protection against oral cancers (which kills more than breast
cancer). [Semin
Cancer Biol. 2007 May 17]
The Hass avocado
has the highest content of lutein among all the other 500 varieties
of avocados, and also ranks high in other carotenoids, as well as
vitamin E. Research at UCLA indicated that Hass avocados inhibit the
growth of prostate cancers. [J
Nutr Biochem. 2005 Jan;16(1):23-30]
Additionally,
avocados are high in monounsaturated fatty acids (like olive oil)
which have been shown to protect against breast cancer.
Interestingly
enough, scientists tried to extract from avocados the phytochemicals
that stopped the growth of cancer cells, but could never get the
same results. Apparently, it takes the whole avocado to do that job,
duh. (See also
An Herb is
More Than its Active Ingredient.)
Many
phytonutrients found in vegetables are absorbed more easily in fats
(because they are fat soluble). Studies show that people who eat
avocados (in salsa) absorbed nearly 5 times the amount of lycopene
(from the tomatoes) than those who did not; over 8 times the amount
of alpha-carotene and nearly 14 times the amount of beta-carotene; as
well as more than 4 times as much lutein, than those who did not eat
the avocado’s. [http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk/article/3244/avocado-nutrition.html]
As for uterus
shaped fruits and vegetables protecting, healing, maintaining the
uterus, sorry, this is a myth.
Figs
Figs have
powerful antioxidants: polyphenol, the magic elixir found in green
tea; high in fiber and quick energy; but they have nothing to do
with sperm motility.
Sweet
Potatoes
I’ve not quite
figured out what “balance the glycemic index of diabetics” means.
However, Sweet Potatoes just could be "the most perfect food."
From Health
Fitness (health-fitness.com)
in Australia, we get:
Sweet potato is a low-calories and fat free
vegetable with an abundance of healthy minerals such as
beta-carotene, Vitamin A, C and E, magnesium, potassium and rich in
antioxidants.
These nutrients and minerals help to protect against heart attack
and stroke, reducing blood pressure and maintaining fluid and
electrolyte balance in the body cells. Studies on animals have also
shown that diabetics would benefit from a diet which includes sweet
potatoes as they help to stabilise blood sugar levels and to lower
insulin resistance. Taking into consideration of fibre content,
complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium
plus the other aforementioned minerals, the sweet potato is ranked
highest in nutritional value amongst other vegetables.
Yes, the sweet
potato will stabilize blood sugar levels (as will cinnamon, sesame
seeds, coconut, and apple cider vinegar), and some might look a bit
like the pancreas but others seem to look like the State of Florida,
a nuclear sub, a pocket gopher, and dog poop.
Olives
They look like a
uterus? Ovaries? Ovum?
Olives protect
the heart, fight cancer, lessen the severity of asthma and
arthritis, reduce blood pressure, and control blood sugar benefiting
people at risk for or with diabetes.
Grapefruits,
Oranges, and other Citrus
These do NOT
look like “mamary” glands. The author must be a fan of John
Steinbeck who, while traveling through foothills and mountains,
saw boobs everywhere.
Citrus fruit is
just good nutrition. The bioflavonoids support healthy blood vessels
(fight hemorrhoids) and support the lymph system.
It is true that
following breast cancer surgery that citrus bioflavonoids will aid
in relieving lymphedema, but the movement of lymph "in and out" of the
breasts is not specific target of citrus fruit; the entire lymph
system is supported.
Onions
Onions support a
healthy immune system but have nothing to do with removing toxins
from the body. Yes, they make you cry.
Bananas,
Cucumbers, and Zuchini
" . . . target
the size and strengh [sic.] of the male sexual organ."
It’s not
true.
Male enhancement
seems to be the Holy Grail of modern pharmaceutical medicine. I
wasted way too much time checking this one out and found nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
| I did not,
however,
check out winter squash, and let me tell you, this
one could be just the thing most men are looking for.
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| But you
should also keep in mind that winter squash, like human
beings, come in different sizes. So, consider yourself warned. |
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Peanuts
Hahahahahaha. I
just can’t stop laughing over this one. I’ve not yet figured out the
meaning to the word “ofin” though it's "ofin" repeated on the web.
(I've discovered that it won't work in "Words with Friends.")I had to contact two Catholic historians who quickly got back to me
with their doubts that the church had ever banned peanuts. (Though
I’ve heard a rumor that Charles Schultz did get special dispensation
from the Pope.)
Inquiring further
into the peanut I discovered that it came from South America and was
brought back to Europe with the Spanish explorers, so it really
wasn't around in the middle ages for the Catholic church to ban.
The only time online that anyone attempted to debunk this particular piece was over
the last sentence: The main component of Viagra is not
arginine.
Ironically,
walnuts contain more arginine than peanuts which aren’t really nuts,
but are legumes. 100 Grams of walnuts contains 3.618 grams of arginine, while 100 Grams of peanuts contains 3.013 grams of
arginine.
Eating more
peanuts (or walnuts) will not boost your libido, but it will keep up
normal production of spermatozoa.
So, there you
have it. The Doctrine of Signatures seems to have a few flaws in it.
In fact, if I were you, the only signature I’d trust is my own.
Just a little Signature humor.
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