The Milieu: Plasma and Erythrocytes, Part II by Ingrid Naiman

Predictably, several people asked for a deeper explanation of plasma. This is an immense subject but the Ayurvedic theory — which, for the record, I accept as theoretically valid — is that whatever is ingested goes through increasingly elegant stages of refinement in which waste is separated from nutrients that are used to nourish tissues. As mentioned in that introductory post a year ago, the first two stages are observable in live blood microscopy whereas the advanced stages can only be deduced by reference to appearance and function of the body. All of the transformation of food and herbs is performed by some kind of constitutional fire, called agni in Sanskrit. I mention the word only to differentiate it from toxic fire which is called pitta. Since many people are aware of their constitutional types, this distinction is important. Without fire, there is no transformation so whether one is eating raw food or cooked food, sooner or later the nutrients are subjected to fire.

The first stage of refinement is rasa dhatu which includes plasma and lymphatic fluid as well as milk and a few other fluids, not all fluids but most of them. Let's try to keep this simple and orderly. Food is digested and used to improve the nutrient quality of plasma which in turn nourishes red blood cells. These cells transport oxygen and other nutrients to repair the fleshy tissues of the body which in turn nourishes the adipose tissue. The fatty tissues support the bones which feed the marrow which produces the nutrients for the most subtle components of all, the fluids of the reproductive system, including ojas which is used for regeneration.

If the plasma is toxic or deficient, all other systems deteriorate so there is no way to remain healthy unless proper attention is given to the plasma. The first step is to avoid toxicity which includes fluoridated and chlorinated water, most or all pharmaceutical drugs, preservatives, toxic metals such as aluminum in baking powder and mercury in dental fillings and vaccines, fungi, as well as anything that could throw the pH off balance. I formulated my Cleavers Tea to support cleansing of the plasma and lymphatic system. It is perfectly pH balanced and tasty since it uses spices similar to those found in chai. Demulcent herbs such as licorice and slippery elm and marshmallow root are also helpful as are dates. Ginger is the main spice for the plasma and my tea has both ginger and galangal as well as licorice.

When first observing plasma in darkfield, questions immediately arose. What was interesting to me was that some blood moved very fast and some was quieter. Most people trained in the Enderlein method, which is the most common system taught in Europe, were taught to avoid areas of the slide where there was a lot of movement. I had an instinct to do the opposite, i.e., find out what made the blood so panicky. It was then that I found fragments of toxic metals, really dangerous blood parasites, and sometimes various types of fungi. One has to be very quick because the blood deserts the dangerous zones so in a matter of a few seconds, the hostile factors appear to be outside the sample rather than part of it.

Telling stories sometimes helps people put pieces together. There was a patient from Switzerland who had some parasites that matched those of three other patients, all of whom had lived in Kenya. He said he had taken a three-week vacation in Kenya many years earlier. Obviously, there were some stowaways that continued to rely on his hospitality but these did not seem to be the primary problem. I kept asking more and more questions and discovered that his profession involved welding, not huge objects such as one sees in grubby factories but tiny objects one might expect to find in a watch company. Nevertheless, some of these metals must have vaporized because the fragments were very colorful and found throughout his blood. He completely denied the possibility that this could be related to his cancer, but I noticed that he had to leave the room very often which indicated to me fairly heavy strain on the kidneys which, of course, try to eliminate these life-threatening particles.

If it had not been for a story in Santa Fe, I might not have been suspicious but there was an environmental dentist who became very ill after less than a year of removing mercury amalgams from patients. Investigation showed that the flow of the air in the room directed the vapor towards the dentist, this with catastrophic consequences. Vapors can be very dangerous and should never be underestimated. I can't prove this, but my theory is that the vapors are just as dangerous, perhaps more dangerous, than particulates because they can set off reactions that appear to generate harmful free radicals. Based on what I have seen, these vapors might be as dangerous as radioactivity and they can have very long lasting consequences. The residues of these exposures must be eliminated and the free radicals need to addressed as well. My experience suggests that cilantro tackles this challenge better than one might expect but the gold standard is Chyawanprash.

So, to wrap up my week of madness, I might say that when someone wants to improve health but he or she tries to do so without reference to the basics, the likelihood of success is very low. In my position, not a week goes by in which someone acknowledges the danger of a habit or amalgams and then defends the failure to overcome the hazard by reference to some pleasure or budgetary limitation. As I have mentioned in the past, when Germany recognized the dangers of amalgams, removal was covered by the state. This was years and years ago and in the U.S. there are still dentists serving time as well as ones whose licenses have been suspended because they did not toe the official line. This said, I had one email from a colleague stating that the ADA is on its last legs. If this sounds impossible, keep in mind that California disbanded the state board when it concluded that the licensing board was completely incapable of making decisions that protected the public from reckless protocols.

There are very few modern homes that do not have microwave ovens. For many years, the Nexus article that I reposted on cancersalves.com was one of the most popular pages of all my sites. I came face-to-face with this issue when I had an acute gall bladder attack after having dinner at an Indian restaurant where I frequently went for lunch. It was months later that I returned there and the owner asked me to say hello to his wife who was in the kitchen. I stood in the doorway and saw microwave ovens everywhere. It was then that I realized that for lunch, they had a buffet and food was prepared in large batches and cooked over conventional stoves. However, the dinner menu had many choices and each dish was prepared separately . . . in the microwave. I no longer eat dinner in an Indian restaurants. I go to Indian restaurants for lunch and Thai or Chinese restaurants for dinner!

There might be a handy rule: if something will not compost, it will not digest. If the method of food preparation extends its shelf life practically indefinitely, that food is probably not digestible.

A few other "asides" might be useful. When first studying cancer, I stumbled on something called the grape cure. It was famous at one time and I actually know two people who owe their lives to it. It is very simple: eat as many grapes as you want for months and months. What happens is that lower quality tissue is replaced by better quality tissue but the process is sometimes frightening as weight loss can be extreme. For those who might be interested, there is a book by Johanna Brandt. My point right now is that the juice of fruits usually has a very wholesome balance as well as a lot of flavonoids, some of which are free radical scavengers. Using real food to regenerate the plasma and other tissues works brilliantly compared to anything concocted by the human brain. This ought to motivate a lot of people to work harder to preserve the quality of our food. I might also mention that for patients who are too weak to eat, fruit or fruit juice is normally easily digested and occasionally even curative.

I ran a few errands today and happened to see lots of fruit trees ready to be planted. It's that time!

Part of what has been so frustrating this week was a deluge of requests for help in which there was no context for evaluating the needs. The truth is there is not much of value that I can offer under such circumstances so I went a bit berserk.

Tara's Babies needs you to vote once a day through March 20th:
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3
Canada has legislation pending that would require studies before approving more genetically modified seeds for planting:
http://www.cban.ca/474action
This chap claims he can drive 100 miles on four ounces of water:
http://hight3ch.com/water-fuel-hho-gas/

Finally, some of you are going to have mail returned because the post office closed my box. I was finding it increasingly difficult to get there during the hours it was open and I let too much time elapse. Obviously, there is going to be some chaos for a while and I apologize for any inconvenience but long-term, this is probably a blessing in disguise.