Horse Sense or Nonsense

Will Rogers always said that horses have more sense than people.  I have thought a lot about that in the past 2 months.  My husband, George, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September and since that time, we have been on a journey to learn more about cancer.  On that journey, we have learned some very important facts.  This could be the most important article that I ever write or that you ever read.  Read it with an open mind.  It could save your life. 

The first thing that we did upon hearing that George’s cancer had already advanced to a 7 on the Gleason scale which measures cancer from 1-10 was to head straight to the book store to purchase the Bestselling book by Patrick Quillan titled, “Beating Cancer with Nutrition”.  In the back page of that book, he rates foods as Best, Good, Fair, Poor, Bad and Worst.  We immediately got on the Best Foods list.  The second thing we did is buy a juicer and learn to use it.  The third thing that we did was to order the tapes and book of Dr. Lorraine Day – Getting Started on Getting Well.  She has some videos that every person should hear titled “Diseases Don’t Just Happen and You Can’t Improve on God.”  We had several other books and articles and searched the internet, but the best information that we have found have come from Dr. Quillan and Dr. Day.  They both have websites and the information that they have put together is awesome and informative and gives us lots of choices and chances to improve. 

We Americans have totally lost our horse sense when it comes to eating.  We have become the sickest and most obese nation on the face of the globe.  The average American eats 750#’s of junk food per year.  When we found out that most all cancer starts in the colon and then goes from there, it made a lot of sense to us to learn what to put into our mouths and digestive systems.  After all, don’t we spend millions of dollars on studies on how to feed our horses?   We would not dream of stuffing our horses with products that had empty calories and were so high in fat products that their blood vessels began to clog up and they could not get into shape.  We would never want their bodies to be fatigued from just trying to digest their daily diet.  Why then would we do this to ourselves? 

Would a horse stop drinking his daily necessary requirements of water to slurp up molasses?  Would he start eating cows and other animals when he has no teeth to chew them or intestines that were not capable of digesting them?  Of course not, because he has horse sense given to him by God.   We found out that people are doing things to their bodies that are as ridiculous as a horse eating a cow.  Here are some facts to consider about cancer - just one of the diseases that make us number one in the world for the sickest people:

1 out of every 2 Americans are getting cancer.

American health care is nearing a financial “meltdown”.  Millions of jobs are lost to other countries because the cost of doing business in America is so high.  One of the primary business costs in America is health care insurance.  General Motors spends as much on health care insurance for its workers as it does for the metal on its cars.  We spent $2 trillion in 2004 on disease maintenance, which is 14% of our gross national product –twice the expense per capita of any other health care system on earth.  The most expensive disease in America is cancer. *    Pg. 31 – Beating Cancer with Nutrition

No matter what disease you contact, it is the result of a breakdown of the immune system.  The immune system is directly affected by the foods we eat and the poisons that we expose it to.  It is up to each of us individually to make choices that will keep our bodies working as God intended for them to work.  Again, we would be horrified if our horses did not drink their required 5-10 gallons of good clean water each day, but how many of us drink the required 8-10 glasses per day?  We try to substitute pop, coffee, etc. for our water.  Most of our cells, according to the doctors, are starving for water and the last symptom of that is thirst.  Coffee and pop are actually diuretics and dry up your cells instead of hydrating them.  Two thirds of our bodies are composed of water.  It is vital for maintaining health. 

Eating foods high in sugar, fats and refined flours causes our intestines to be bogged down and clogged for days at a time. We do not have intestines designed to easily digest foods like these.  When George and I started eating fresh, organic vegetables and fruits of at least 5 colors a day and drinking our requirement of water, we could not believe the energy burst that we both received and the weight that began to fall from both of us.  We read that there is a digestive enzyme that only comes from the saliva in our mouths and if we do not chew our foods until they are liquid, they will not receive that enzyme anywhere in the intestines.  So, if we flush our food down with a drink, we have already put an added stress on the digestive system as that bite travels its journey to the colon.  Do not drink with your meals was a principle that we saw in many of the books.  Drink water at least 30 minutes before meals and 1 hour after you eat.  Do not eat meals late in the evening and cause your body to work all night digesting them.  These are some very simple things that all of us can easily do. 

Look at the ingredients in your tooth paste, soaps, hair spray, shaving creams, shampoo and conditioners, etc.  Study the ingredients of everything that you put on your body and in your body.  It may surprise you to see how many poisons that we are being exposed to just by taking a shower and getting ready for the day.  Would it surprise you to hear that there are some of the same ingredients in some of these products that are in Anti-Freeze?   Look for yourself and pay attention to what you use.

Get regular check ups.  If you are a woman, this means that you have a mammogram each year.  If you are a man, take a simple PSA test each year.  If you have cancer history in your family, you should start these tests earlier in life than those who have no cancer history.  George had not had a PSA test for 7 years and his cancer had already reached a 7.  While we were in the hospital for his surgery, Karen Unterseher (barrel racer) came in to have surgery.  We were on the same floor.  Karen had not had a regular check up and her cancer had gotten a head start on her too.  Cancer is a silent killer.  George and Karen both felt good and had no idea that cancer was getting a good start in their bodies.

I asked Karen if I had permission to use her name in this article and she told me to stress and emphasize to all to stay on top of their check-ups and if you have not done so, do this immediately.  She said this, “if my cancer would have been detected earlier, it would have been so much easier to take care of.”  “ As a result of the cancer, I have become so much more aware of the role that a good diet plays in your health.”  “It is a great preventative and also makes the quality of your life so much better by the way you feel and the energy you have.  Your health contributes dramatically to your success and ability as a competitor.”    She also said that she takes better care of her horse and would have never let something like this slip up on her where her horses are concerned. 

George underwent a radical prostatectomy and is now on the other side of this.  We are among the lucky ones.  His tissue around the prostate, his bones and lungs are all cancer free.  We fortified his immune system before surgery and he went through it very good for a 65 yr. old man.  He has not had one pain pill and his digestive system went right back to work.  We continued juicing and eating our new diet and he has astounded everyone.  We had lots of prayer from churches and friends.  It all counts and is all necessary. 

I heard a pastor say recently that many people are coming forward in churches wanting to be healed, but are not doing their part to eat good foods, exercise and maintain health.  Many are needing a touch of discipline as well as a touch from God.  We did our part and feel very good about all the changes that we have made. We have been talking about changing our eating habits for at least 2 years.  Perhaps our journey can be of a help to someone reading this.  I hope that you will become knowledgeable without a disaster forcing you to.  We need to go back to the way God designed us to be.

Would you want to ride a horse that was not feeling his best, with low energy and a compromised immune system?  May God give us some plain old common horse sense and cause us to want to pay more attention to our eating habits.  Our life depends upon it.