First in a series

MANILA, Philippines ? Nothing?s real or natural anymore. Everything has become artificial ? adverse environmental chemicals have affected the food chain of humans and animals.

Pollution seeps into our water, air and food supply. Scientists and health advocates now stress that it?s time to truly take stock of our environment and take the holistic view.

Water, for instance, may be contaminated with pollutants like mercury, a chemical that could find its way into fish.

Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, a well-known certified nutritional consultant, cited in ?Prescription for Dietary Wellness? that soil and water are now tainted by pesticides and other heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and radon. New and dangerous strains of bacteria and viruses have invaded our food and water. The very source of life ?the oceans ? has become largely polluted as well.

Mediums for contamination

Studies also point to red meat and dairy products as mediums for bacterial and chemical contamination. Such is the case of the recent Ebola-Reston virus outbreak in some hog farms in Luzon.

Toxicologist Samuel Epstein (author of the ?Politics of Cancer?) and David Steinman (author of ?Diet for a Poisoned Planet?) co-authored ?The Safe Shopper?s Bible? (A Consumer?s Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics and Food) that gives a comprehensive guide to those who would like to reduce their risk of exposure to harmful chemicals found in most brand-name household products, cosmetics, foods and beverages.

Widely distributed environmental chemicals, pointed ?The China Study,? a book by nutrition biochemist T. Collin Campbell and Thomas Campbell II, have been shown to disrupt hormones.

Chemicals, which include dioxins and PCBs, persist in the environment because they are not metabolized when consumed. Thus, they are not excreted from the body.

Some of these chemicals are known to promote cancer cells, although humans may not be at significant risk unless one consumes excessive quantities of meat, milk and fish.

Ninety to 95 percent of our exposure to these chemicals comes from consuming animal products yet another reason consuming mass-produced animal-based foods can be risky.

Bioregenerative medicine expert, Dr. Sam Bernal, a chemist, molecular biologist and cancer survivor, in an interview with Inquirer Science two weeks ago, admitted that he personally avoided red meat and fried foods, citing that frying animal fats were ?very dangerous.?

He also cited that mercury, arsenic, and chromium 6 in the water and soil have found their way into plants and aquatic organisms.

Now comes one group in the Philippines calling for a change in our way of thinking.

Vowing to ?lessen hospital visits,? a group called Global Vital Sources chaired by Jean Goulbourn, a Filipino international fashion icon-turned-health advocate, gathered a group of doctors, energy and spiritual healers, wellness gurus, yoga teachers and nuns and priests to practice cleansing/detoxification (physical, emotional, spiritual cleansing), digestive cleanups (natural elimination of years of unprocessed fats, particularly gallstones caused by bad cholesterol) and organic nutrition (which stresses the importance of organic fruits and vegetables).

The Global Vital Source, which, according to Goulbourn, is currently being tapped to be included as part of the country?s medical tourism sector, has conducted digestive cleanups and Cleanse and Nourish workshops to hundreds of people all over the country. The group is also set to do the workshops abroad.

Speakers

Among guests who lectured to about 40 participants during last month?s Cleanse & Nourish Clinic Workshop at the Discovery Suites at Ortigas were cardiologist Dr. Eugene Ramos, vice president of Medical City, who talked comprehensively about cardiovascular diseases and their causes and prevention.

Ramos talked about the burden of CVDs, the new phenomena of call center diseases with people in their 20s suffering heart attacks and other avoidable lifestyle diseases.

Dr. Madeleine Valera, senior vice president of Philhealth, discussed the prevalent risk factors among Filipinos, unhealthy diets, how drugs work, their side effects and safe combinations.

US-based holistic nutritionist Dale Flores, president of Global Vital Source, talked about Cleanse and Nourish 101.

Jo Bilasano, an energy healer, spiritual teacher, body balance therapist, dorn spine alignment practitioner and reiki master, discussed chakras, disrupted energy points that cause diseases, and the potential of body balance to establish spiritual and mental harmony. Yoga practitioner Raya Mananquil gave Yoga 101 to the 40 participants.

Zamboanga-based Carmelite Sister Mary Niere talked about spiritual healing and the wonders of being always in love.?

Global Vital Sources, which espouses a holistic approach to keep people from being in hospitals, explained that the digestive cleanup was a detoxification principle which caused the discharge of the accumulated toxins from the body?s digestive tract, which includes the liver, gallbladder, small and large intestines, and the colon.

This is an all-natural method of cleansing the body by giving it the time and circumstances it needs to rebuild, repair and health itself.

E-mail the author at tsalazar@inquirer.com.ph.