New research conducted at Brown Medical School is exploring the biochemical precursors to obesity. The research is finding that metabolism is regulated by peptides in the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain that controls appetite. Two enzymes known as PC1 and PC2 have been found to be necessary for stimulation of the pituitary glad and the thyroid that ultimately result in the feeling of satiation and inhibition of food intake. Thus, PC1 and PC2 are critical enzymes in the chain of chemical reactions that regulate hunger.
Some people think this research is rather fascinating, but from my point of view, I think it's a distraction from exploring the true causes of obesity. Medical researchers tend to think that this kind of research will lead to treatments in obesity, but I believe all they're doing is losing sight of the big picture by zooming in too closely to examine the chemical interactions on a microscopic scale.
You see, the promise here is that by somehow manipulating or interfering with these small-scale biochemical reactions, we can alter metabolism, hunger, or cravings. This is a view that's typical of western medicine, where virtually all behavioral disorders are viewed as some sort of biochemical imbalance. The thinking is that if we could just get these enzymes and molecules to work the way we want them to work, then we could control appetite and end obesity.
This is the same sort of thinking that has led us down the road of illusion when it comes to researching cancer and trying to find a cure for cancer. For decades, cancer researchers have promised a cure if they could only have more money and time to research what goes on at a biochemical level.
In fact, this is all a distraction. We do not need to understand or even observe what's happening at a biochemical level in order to be healthy. Why? Because the body already knows how to achieve optimum health on its own. The body has wisdom -- far more wisdom than any medical researcher or lab technician. What we need to do in order to fight obesity and control carbohydrate cravings is give the body the proper environment so that it can find its own natural balance in terms of food and physical activity.
That proper environment comes from providing nutritional supplementation so that the body isn't lacking nutrients. It also comes from avoiding foods that imbalance brain chemistry and actually promote carbohydrate cravings, such as refined white flour, high-fructose corn syrup, and other added sugars. It also comes from getting adequate exposure to natural sunlight, which has a powerful positive effect on brain chemistry and serves to promote a healthy balance in the human body.
Let me state this in a far simpler way that makes instant sense. There are many people in this world who have attained a very high level of health. They are fit and trim, flexible and strong. They have outstanding cardiovascular health, they have outstanding blood sugar levels, mental clarity, and physical fitness. Yet, very few of these people have degrees in human physiology or biochemistry. I am one of these people. I'm typically considered to be extremely healthy, and yet I'm not trained on these microscopic biochemical reactions in the body. Nor do I need to be in order to both understand the causes of health and share those with others. In other words, you don't have to be a technician or a scientist to experience health on your own, because your body is already the perfect technician. Your body has the wisdom of tens of thousands of generations of ancestors, already built in.
Your body already knows how to be healthy, and whether modern science ever names or discovers all the molecules, enzymes, proteins, and chemical compounds in the human body is irrelevant to the search for the true causes of health and healing. Put another way, ancient Chinese healers understood very well how the body worked, and how to achieve optimum health without ever conducting dissections. Western doctors, on the other hand, frequently resorted to tearing bodies apart by dissecting animals and human cadavers wherever possible in order to attempt to understand the physical structure and physical function of the body.
Today, the search for the biochemical structure and function of the body is nothing more than an extension of that same mindset. It's a belief that if we know how everything works at a physical level, we will understand health. But that's an illusion. Western scientists can peer through microscopes all they want, and they will never understand how to be healthy, because health is not something that is embodied in a physical structure.
Chinese doctors had a much better idea about health, because they looked at the function of the body from a holistic perspective. They looked at the meridians of the body and the five elements. They looked at the energy points, food, digestion, physical activity, mindset and breathing. These are the most important factors when it comes to human health, not whether you have the right amount of PC1 and PC2 enzymes in the right chemical mixture in your hypothalamus.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Friday, August 06, 2004
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