Introduction-Homeostasis Diet for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The damage that is going on in ALS ranges from the complex to the unknown. Scientific studies abound and a devout researcher would be both enlightened by them while simultaneously confounded. In the meantime, where does that leave someone who was diagnosed with ALS, and all they know is that they are scared and getting worse, and nobody seems to fully understand? They don't have time to weather the scientific debates. Truly, even someone with ALS would tell you that until they were diagnosed, they had absolutely no idea how their entire world view would change. They would tell you that going to bed at night, once a pleasant experience, is now terrifying - all symptoms are amplified and while the rest of the world sleeps, they are left alone to deal with the indescribable pain and fear. Thoughts that once meditated on family and friends, career and vacation plans, now disintegrate into hopelessness. But there is hope.

More than 30,000 people in the U.S. have ALS. Approximately 500,000 Americans suffer from Parkinson's. There are about 400,000 U.S. citizens with Multiple Sclerosis [MS], with 200 new diagnoses each week! Likely these statistics are low, as many people have not yet been diagnosed, or have been incorrectly diagnosed. In addition, a very frightening factor has emerged ~ more than ever, youngsters are being diagnosed with neurological diseases like Parkinson's! No doubt about it, neurological diseases are on the rise and will continue to rise until man focuses on the underlying factors that cause a seemingly normal human body to suddenly go horribly awry. In fact, the rate of MS has doubled in the past 10 years. The rate of autism (another neurological disorder) has increased by ten times that of 30 years ago! To discern what is going wrong, man has to look to a wisdom higher than himself - a wisdom that created dogs to consume meat and cows to consume grass without any debate over blood types, genetics, or ethnicity.

Homeostasis means physiological balance and equilibrium. Some of this balance and equilibrium we all have quite a bit of control over, by making "right" choices with diet and lifestyle. Other aspects of balance and equilibrium occur deep within the 57 or so trillion cells that make up your body and respond to being given the proper tools to repair and equilibrate, while also responding nicely to not being poisoned. Homeostasis requires eliminating toxins and pathogens. When you do, your body has some uncanny and powerful mechanisms given at birth to right the wrongs caused by whatever happens to you after (and even before) birth.

The term homeostasis is a critical one in true healing because the trend in conventional medicine is not towardsphysiological balance and equilibrium - but one of merely (and dangerously) attacking symptoms. Even physicians who claim to practice "natural medicine" can fall victim to straying from the path to physiological balance and equilibrium by confusing underlying causes of a particular disease with factors that occur along the path to the disease but are not the underlying cause. Imagine if a ship is sinking because of an unknown hole in the hull and everything inside is getting wet. Imagine the ships' mates running around madly trying to dry off all the wet objects by using a toxic "drying spray" - but the objects just keep getting wet - leading to need for more of the spray. Of course you can quickly see how there would be a much different outcome if the ships' mates would quickly plug up the hole causing the problem and then allow the items to dry naturally on their own. Or, if wisdom prevailed, and they plugged up the hole firstthey could apply a safe, natural drying modality (like sunshine) to expedite the drying process. Why can't all human beings, including scientists and healthcare practitioners apply this same wisdom to healing? Some do, or are trying to - others just don't seem to grasp the concept. In fact, it seems as if more human beings have difficulty with the fact that "underlying causes" are most important, and I have a theory.

For many years the "norm" for a cholesterol level has been 220-230. This "norm" has been based upon an average of what most people's cholesterol levels are not what they should be. Most people now realize that their cholesterol level should be much lower, but many still do not. This leads me to this point: People have a very difficult time wrapping their mind around the fact that a horrific diagnosis of ALS, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington's Disease, or Autism, for example, that is causing them so much expense, grief, physical pain and may even plummet them to an early death, could be caused by (for example) the pesticides on those luscious fruits and vegetables they consume daily; mercury their beloved dentist or doctor is applying or injecting into their body; and glutamates that the FDA is allowing to be hidden in their foods and treated as a harmless "seasoning". These have "always" been a "normal" part of life! These highly damaging toxins aren't seen, smelled, tasted or even "felt". And the argument I hear is: Everybody is getting pesticides or eats glutamates or has mercury fillings - so why am I sick, and not my neighbour. But the truth is, we're all potentially a "day away" from any horrific diagnosis. If it's not a neurological disease, it may be cancer, heart disease or diabetes. The truth is that where not too long ago only one in 2,000 children "got" autism, now it's 1 in 150. And the other 149 who don't get autism from the pesticides, heavy metals and glutamates, get epilepsy or attention deficit disorder, depression, childhood Parkinson's and God only knows what else.

That science can't see the "whole picture" is never more powerfully seen than in studies that look at only one facet of a complex disease. In ALS for example, there is excess glutamate activity in the central nervous system that the drug Rilutek® - a "glutamate-blocking" drug addresses. Rilutek® works by delaying the onset and progression of the symptoms because it blocks the excessive neurological activity and destruction caused by glutamate toxicity! Estimates on how long it extends life varies according to the drug's manufacturer, Aventis Pharma, who claims three to four months is average. They say that some patients get an extra 12 to 18 months (www.rideforlife.com). Why only months? I have a burning question or two: What if patients were put on a [added] glutamate-free diet instead of this drug? Would their life expectancy increase by years instead of months? And then what about addressing the issues of pesticides and other toxins as well as the heavy metal connection? Now can we extend life spans by 10, 20, 30 or more years? I believe the answer is yes, and I don't have to search far for some proof.