The Vegan Christian That Innovated Soy --

This is an article I wrote and submitted to Wikipedia--

Jethro Kloss - was a notable healer that lived from the year of 1863 til his death in 1946. Jethro was an herbalist and healer, who cured many of vile illnesses during his time. Mr. Kloss was a strong advocate of what he called old-fashioned remedies. With no formal medical education Kloss healed the lives of many with herbs, food, fresh air and sunshine, people continue to be healed by his teachings many years after his death. As a writer the most notable of his publications was "Back to Eden", a very thorough publication that covers the uses of several hundred herbs, trees and plants. Jetho was an innovator in the world of soy, he conducted many experiments and most notably popularized the modern dairy alternative, soy milk. This man did many great things in his life and is certainly a notable figure.

History and Influences - Being born on a farm in Northern Wisconsin, Jethro grew up being accustomed to always having fresh food, including fresh berries, grapes, currants, apples etc. After leaving home Jethro moved into boarding houses where he ate poor "devitalized" foods until his health began to deteriorate. He was in terrible pain for some time, and visited many physicians that could not seem to improve his health. He was losing hope that he would ever get better until he ran across a book written by E.G. White, a missionary, which brought to his attention that the foods he was eating were in Mr. White's words "robbed of it's life-giving elements". It had never occurred to Kloss til reading the words of White that the food he was eating was what was causing him to be ill.

With this new perspective Kloss was returned to his child hood, he remembered the illnesses that struck his community and how the people were often treated through various means of plant and herbal medicine. Through continued reading of E.G. Whites books Jethro was able to mend himself back to good health. After returning to good health, Kloss continued to study "God given remedies", and began to apply his learning into the sick and ill around him.

"Back to Eden" As someone who did not consider himself a good writer, Jethro wrote one of the most informative and through books on natural health from a western perspective. In his book "Back to Eden" Kloss covers the 100's of herbs, plants, barks, their uses and how to use them. In this book herbs are categorized in alphabetical order by name of the herb, and they are also sorted alphabetically by the diseases they are used to treat. Kloss also covers many diseases and their causes along with the treatments. Also included in this one book is a list of vitamins and minerals, their purposes and the foods that contain them. Also included is a list of many recipes and food preparations. Finally, Kloss includes a wide range of non-food based treatments, including fresh air treatments, water treatments and massage techniques.

An Innovator of Soy- During the period of his life from 1924-1938, Kloss experimented with soy foods. He worked on making various meat alternatives with soy, one of his most notable innovations was that of soy milk. Kloss was a strong advocate of soy milk and soy based products, he is much of the reason soy milk is available in stores today.

If you know of Jethro Kloss please feel free to recommend and details of importance that I may have missed as I will edit them in Wikipedia.

Thanks for reading :)

Enzymes- Diet, Disease and Health

Enzymes and Nutrition 

One of the most important improvements one can make to their health, is to simply get enzymes from the food they eat instead of forcing their body to produce them.  Enzymes are the protein based  molecules that do countless processes in the body.  The most important functions of the enzymes available in the food you eat is to break down the food you eat.  In this article we will take a look at why we don't get enough enzymes, why this is important, and how to get more enzymes in ones diet.

Why Aren't We Getting Enzymes in the Food We Eat?

The answer is quite simple.  Enzymes are destroyed by heat, and loss activity over time. Even slight variations of temperature can begin to make changes in enzymes.  When we cook food in a saute pan, microwave, boiling water, or the oven, we can say goodbye to all of the wonderful enzymes that food contained.  This process is known as denaturing, and it is the reason that nearly all Americans have a lack of enzymes in their diets.

So What's the Big Deal About Getting Enzymes from the Food I Eat?

Ah, that's a good question.  If your body can produce the enzymes needed to break down the food you eat, then why should you need to get them from your food?  Your body is not built to handle the amount of enzymes required to break down the foods we eat on a daily basis. Because our bodies are dependable and adaptable it can produce the extra enzymes needed to eat denatured food,  this process is called The Law of Adaptive Secretion.

Although the body can produce these extra enzymes, it does not mean that it is meant too. The long term results of the body needing to produce and store excess enzymes enlarges the liver, and taxes the adrenal glands, the stomach, pancreas and multiple other organs. Lack of enzymes in food causes the bodies organs to wear and prematurely fail.  One of the large reasons people suffer from a larger number of diseases that isn't even present in wild animals, is due to the lack of enzymes in our food.

How Do I Get More Enzymes in the Food I Eat?

By eating more raw foods.  Anything when eaten raw has enzymes in it; fruits, veggies, cheeses, even meat, however remember that even low amounts of  heat kills enzymes.  One great source of enzymes is Wheat grass, nearly all sprouted veggies are a great source of enzymes. Eating fresh vegetables and fruits with every meal can help your body digest your food, which in turn leads to less stressed organs.

In Conclusion 

Everyone knows that a stressed heart or a heart that had to work harder is more likely to encounter problems than one that can do it's job with little effort.  The same goes for all of your organs, and getting proper enzymes is a great way to ease your bodies work load so that it can focus on things like fighting diseases like cancer and basic body up keep.   I believe there are benefits to cooking food especially for the digestion of certain vitamins and minerals, which may be particularly helpful during deficiencies and sickness. For long term health however it is best to "Eat Like an Animal" do it raw... that will be the name of my next article. Have a great day and thanks for reading, keep researching your health and body!
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If you want to learn more about enzymes their is an excellent book called "Enzyme Nutrition -- The Food Enzyme Concept" By Dr. Edward Howell.  This boom was the inspiration for this article.

 I will leave you with a quote from his book-

"The length of life is inversely proportional to the rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential 

of an organism. The increased use of food enzymes promotes a decreased rate of exhaustion 

of the enzyme potential" 

-Dr. Edward Howell

Chaga Mushroom - Recommendation for Usage -- Heat and Enzyme Destruction

Benefits of Cold Water Extraction Method for
Chaga Mushroom

Introduction-

Chaga Mushroom is a great healing American medicine.  It is a mushroom that typically grows from birch trees high in the mountains. Chaga is a hard, wood-like mushroom (similar to the texture of reishi).  This mushroom grows very slowly, it takes about 5 years to become of a size that can be harvested.

The point of this article is not necessarily to educate on the uses of the Chaga although it will contain a minute amount of facts regarding the mushroom.  My primary concern in regards to writing this article is to present a fact that I believe has been over looked perhaps due to  the commercialization of this mushroom as a substitute for coffee.

The Point

My point is as follows:

The typical method I see recommended is a hot water extraction. Here's the thing though, the most recognized unique active component of Chaga is an enzyme known as superoxide dismutas which is a powerful antioxidant. Now Chaga is new to me, however the information I stumbled upon from various sources, is that ALL enzymes are destroyed by heat. Therefore I fell that doing a hot water extraction of Chaga destroys a great deal of it's potential. 

In Conclusion-

The common method of hot water distillation is destroying the most potent component this mushroom has to offer in terms of healing.  I don't believe there is anything wrong with commercializing a natural medicine, but with a fungus that takes years to grow it is important that it is used to it's full potential when it is simply used as a coffee substitute. With a fungus that is fairly rare and take a long time to propagate I believe it is important that it is used to the fullest extent it has to offer,  but with the current hot water extraction method that seems to be so popular today I feel that we are losing most of what Chaga has to offer. 

Once again,  I would like to make the point that using even mildly hot water can destroy much of the potential Chaga has to offer. A hot water extraction can certainly be useful after a cold water extraction and may pull out nutrients that the cold water extraction does not.

Recommended Extraction Process-

After steeping in cold water for several hours much of the melanin,

and nutrients have seeped into the water, it is now ready to drink,

Take a sterile 64 ounce mason jar or any glass jar of this size, place1 - 2 Ounces of Chaga in the water for 12-24 hours.  After 12- 24 hours (when water is very dark) you may drink the tea,  one cup a day should be efficient, but more can be taken as desired.   Refrigerate all left over tea and use whiten one week. The same 1.5 Ounces may be used in a cold water extraction 2-3 times (until the water no longer turns dark.  I would recommend that the Chaga not be in one jar for more than a few days.

After several cold water extractions the distillation process may be used to extract the residual vitamins, minerals and various compounds.

Have a great day, enjoy nature, respect yourself and treat yourself to good health.

-Douglas Dedrick

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I do sell Chaga at my Etsy store here is the link:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/101506223/chaga-mushroom-12-pound-half-pound-wild?