1.21.2012 SELF HEALTH

the following is taken from 'FOLK MEDICINE' by dr. d.c. jarvis (1958) a vermont country doctor.
originally bought it at millers natural foods in bird in hand, pa. where i go every three months to get most of my food. when my daughter moved to vermont recently i decided to send it to her as a gift. the first time i read and underlined i had a much lower opinion than after just rereading it before sending it off to her as a belated house warming gift. reading it now i found much so valuable that it seemed good to try and put a bit on here.

a second reason for sharing is that it is coming to be more and more a settled conviction that i plan to spend whatever short time i have left here as disconnected as possible from the AMA system of medical 'care'. a growing personal aversion to prescribed drugs, doctors, hospitals and anything else accepted as good and normal by the media comes from personal experience and observation of how and why things are done in this realm and a multitude of increasingly horrid stories i hear along the way. at the conclusion of each i want to scream, 'RUN FOR YOUR LIFE is at stake!' but i have now learned that most of the time most all of us are impervious to all kinds of warnings for our good and sound wisdom that would be very helpful...so i pray.

maybe what i need do is make up one of those new fangled...what do they call the things..'living wills'
they came about i reckon because the path to a simple, honorable and a totally-trusting-only-the-Lord death has been buried under all the spif and shine of the miracles of modern medical establishment...i paint with a large brush but all the signs are there that the number of people who 1. actually know what they are doing and 2. have an ethical commitment to help every person for their good is decreasing daily).

if i wrote now it would be something to the effect:
- if this individual is found in a position, physically or otherwise,  where it is deemed proper to take him to the hospital
(every situation is deemed proper for it adds to the bottom line while they pile up, one after another, all kinds of big bucks procedures that, along with the drug companies omniscient guidance and pricing, keep the bottom line, in most cases, in the black)

DO NOT. if he is unconscious, DON'T TOUCH him. call his son nate (phone number) and tell him to come and get him.'

the thing about a living will is that it does not match real life.

in real life there is an increasing number of people who look at themselves as, i'll call it 'little gods', who deem themselves as having the 'right' because of their position to dictate to you and your family (if around) what is going to happen to you. i hear stories like this all the time involving public servants, such as policemen and ministers of healing in the health field. ah yes, the land of the free.

so you have paid some bucks for a useless piece of paper as far as totally protecting yourself from those who, when you can't navigate yourself, can't wait to put their mits on you and make some $....

the only good thing is that if you are favored by God to actually have
a strong, independent and legally appointed person
who actually gets contacted in an appropriate amount of time...
and can actually get to you before medically polluted,
they can possibly pull you from the medical lions' den before too much
(how much, honestly, is too much...the first foreign hand on your body is too much..)
has gone wrong
and with a bit of commonsense, timely contact with a person
who can actually be reached
and is actually available,
who can actually help without taking over
and, above all,
the providential care and guidance of God over the whole -

MAYBE I CAN BE LEFT ALONE WITH GOD TO GO TO HIM IN PEACE

rather than as a human guinea pig surrounded by those who don't have a real clue as to
1. skillfully asking understanding questions of the patient,
if conscious,
so as to determine  2. what is actually wrong
and 3. what is needed.

the bottom line is
(are you listening, nate.........):
-be patient and kind and talk with me a little from time to time (even if unconscious)
-read the bible and pray out of what is currently of concern to you.
(don't worry about me at all..i'm almost HOME!)
so i can, in my heart, join you before the gracious throne of God
-give a little water from time to time and
-give a bit of bread from time to time. that's good.

...oh well, thanks for putting up with my little tirade..
another of the many evidences,
hidden and viewed by all
of how little REAL trust i have in God.
maybe God could use me in 'guinea pig' role to do
some little thing to advance His name.

my plan at this point is to type key things that seem helpful
and also try to make an alphabetical list of things he recommends.
may You in some way cause it to be a blessing to someone
in some way.

opening page..
the three Rs: Resistance, Repair, and Recovery
Resistance to disease
Repair of injury.
Recovery from illness.

vermont folk medicine has much to give
to those who reject the inevitability
of physical impairment and wekness,
to those who plan instead
to be strong, active and free from disease
throughout their lives.
here is the wonderfully simple secret of good health
that vermonters
working WITH nature
rather than AGAINST IT,
is the best medicine.

VERMONT MEDICINE

14.  men in their 70s do a full day's work on vermont farms
as a matter of course,
and it is not unusual to find men of 80
sharing the farm work as though they were
many years younger...

that it is posswible to prolong the span of life beyond 70 years of age
is amply proved by studying native vermonters living close to the soil.
..the vermonter's knowledge of food does not come out of books
but from close association with the creatures of the barnyard,
which teaches that the DAILY FOOD INTAKE must be
HIGH IN CARBOHYDRATES,
represented by fruits, berries, edible leaves, and roots
and LOW IN PROTEINS,
represented by meat, fowl and eggs.

vermonters accept the body tissues
as soil in human form.
management of the soil
to its best advantage
requires undderstanding of natural laws,
and SPECIFIC CARE to
MAINTAIN and
BUILD it.

...(to do this) 'we take into account
dominance of the body
by MINERAL elements.
...the number of minerals included in the functioning of the human body
is one of the wonders of life.
except for silver and gold,
practically all minerals are in action.

in vefrmont fold medicine there is an extremely simple prescription
for replenishing the mineral needs of the body.
TWO TEASPOONFULS OF HONEY and
TWO TEASPOONFULS OF APPLE CIDER VINEGAR,
TAKEN IN A GLASS OF WATER
one or more times a day
depending on how much mental and physical work is done.

17....let us consider the ANIMAL LAWS
-an animal's refusal to eat when it is sick.
if we wish to imitate the animals'
restorative biochemical change
withing the body,
we can do so by limiting ourselves to
an acid drink such as
grapejuice which contains tartaric acid
or cranberry juice, which contains citric, malic, quinic and benzoic acids
or to apple juice, which contains malic acid.

..by the age of fifty one needs to begin building the body anew.
not eating to gratify the appetite,
but rather selecting the foods which
our somber second thoughts tell us