Pneumiatry
(Pneumiatric Medicine)
The Life Foundations Nexus
THE CHILD’S HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
MAINTAINING THE HEALTH OF A CHILD
By Dr. Michael
J. Bisconti
By Dr. Michael
J. Bisconti
By Dr. Michael
J. Bisconti
The Lord directs us to maintain the health of a
child.
This plan is not intended to replace
direct advice obtained from medical professionals. Consult directly with
medical professionals before starting a child on this or any other program to improve their
health.
No child’s healthy lifestyle plan
is guaranteed to maintain the health of a child. That includes this plan.
The reason is that child’s healthy lifestyle plans cannot possibly take
into consideration all of the variables in the life of every child. These variables include how healthy a child
is or is not, needs determined by gender, how well the parents follow the plan,
etc., etc. However, following a child’s
healthy lifestyle plan will increase the likelihood of maintaining the
health of a child. On the other
hand, if God promises you that following a child’s healthy lifestyle plan will
result in maintaining the health of a child, then it will.
Parents may need to get the
approval of a medical professional to follow this plan before they
follow this plan. Parents, read the
topics “When to Visit a Doctor or Other Medical Professional” and “When to
Listen to a Doctor or Other Medical Professional.” This page does not address the health of infants. You can find infant health information at KidsHealth®
(see below).
One of the guiding principles of
this plan is to keep things as simple as possible. Therefore, this plan talks more about those few
things that account for 99% of the maintenance of the health of a child and
talks less about the multitude of things that account for 1% of the
maintenance of the health of a child.
In addition, this plan is as brief as possible.
Another guiding principle is that
a child’s healthy lifestyle plan can always be improved. Therefore, this plan will constantly be
updated. Many sources of
information have been and continue to be consulted and new sources are
continually being added. Some key
sources of information are listed on our Information
Sources page. We do not endorse everything on
the listed websites. Also, see the KidsHealth®
section below.
The number attached to each item
rates its value with respect to maintaining a child’s health. The rating scale is from 1 to 10. “1” indicates least value. “10” indicates greatest value. We are in the process of rating
sources of information on our Information
Sources page. These sources include the American Heart
Association, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and the American
Medical Association. On the subject
of nutrition, American Heart Association recommendations carry the most weight
because they do the best job of taking into consideration nutritional science. As more information is obtained, the
rating of an item may change. Please
note that a rating lower than 10 still means that you should be concerned about
the rated item. Also, we are in the
process of tagging items whose ratings we know will never
change. Their ratings appear in italics.
Ask God to show you how to
maintain the health of a child. God is
greater than any child’s healthy lifestyle plan.
Http://www.kidshealth.org provides information about children’s health. We do not necessarily endorse everything at
this website.
Description from KidsHealth Website
KidsHealth is the largest and most visited site on the Web providing
doctor-approved health information about children from before birth through
adolescence. Created by The Nemours
Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media, the award-winning KidsHealth
provides families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information
they can use. KidsHealth has been on
the Web since 1995.
Change over to the “Child’s
Healthy Lifestyle Plan” at a moderate pace.
THIS IS A CRITICAL SUBJECT!
Go to ChildNutrition.htm for the “Proper, Child
Nutrition” web page.
If necessary, teach your children
to overcome food cravings. Go to FoodCravings.htm.
A vegetarian is supposed to
be “a person who eats no animal foods.”
Nowadays, there are people who eat mostly plant foods who call
themselves vegetarians. They, of
course, ARE NOT vegetarians.
They are mixed-food (plant and animal) eaters, like most people.
What about people who claim to eat
only plant foods? Are they telling the
truth? In most cases, they believe
that they are telling the truth. The
truth of the matter is:
We see, therefore, that there
are really no vegetarians. As far as people who might claim to be total
meat-eaters, they eat plant foods that sit in the animal foods they eat. Therefore, there are only mixed-food
eaters. It is just that some of us eat
plant foods more, others eat plant foods half the time and animal foods half
the time and still others eat animal foods more.
A toxic substance is anything that
a child’s body possesses too much of.
Some substances are more easily toxic than others. It is the most easily toxic substances
about which we need to be concerned.
Nonplant foods contain more
pesticides than plant foods. This means that plant foods are safer than
nonplant foods. Therefore, we must feed
our children more plant foods than nonplant foods. Here is information from a couple of
sources. The following is from “Living
and Raw Foods” at http://www.living-foods.com/index.shtml:
Pesticide Residues in Animal
Products vs. Plant Based Foods
Most people’s concerns about organic foods are centred on fruits and
vegetables. Although these crops are subjected to an array of chemicals the
real problem appears to be the meat and dairy. This is because most
pesticide residues are known as lipophilic, which means they are attracted to
fat. They lodge in the fat tissues of the animal, bird or fish becoming more
and more concentrated as they move up the food chain. The Centre for Science in
the Public Interest, who are a consumer watchdog group, reported that pesticide
residues are more frequently found in meat, poultry, fish, butter and lard
than fruit and vegetables. In his book “Diet For A Poisoned Planet” David
Steinman processed a vast amount of data from the Total Diet Study conducted by
the FDA. He concluded that foods could be divided into three categories
according to the number of toxins found in them. He named these categories “red”
(for most toxic), “yellow” (for moderate), and “green” for lowest in
poisonous substances. With the exception of raisins and peanuts* all
the foods in the “red” group were meat and dairy products.
* Raisins are derived from drying fruits that are notorious for being subjected
to chemical spraying. Peanuts often contain a highly toxic carcinogen…and are
not recommended by the author as a safe food unless their freshness can be
guaranteed.
The following is from “Renewal Research” at http://www.renewalnow.com/index.htm:
…animal-derived
foods dominate what has come to be known as the Dirty 15. This list,
compiled by the National Academy of Sciences…identifies the foods that
contain the most and the nastiest pesticides. Now you might think that the worst offenders would be weeded out
through the food inspection process.
But that's not the case. Take
meat, for example: Although the U.S.
Department of Agriculture claims to inspect it, only one of every 250,000
animals slaughtered--that's 0.00047 percent--is actually tested for pesticide
residues. So why do meats and dairy
products have such high concentrations of pesticide residues? Well, animals ingest the pesticides through
their feed. Considering that it takes
16 pounds of soybeans or grain to produce just 1 pound of meat, the average cow
or chicken consumes an enormous amount of pesticide-laden feed in its
lifetime. Once ingested, the
pesticides, being fat-soluble, are stored in the animal's fatty tissues….the
pesticides linger in these fat cell storage sites and eventually get eaten by
humans. Then the human body does the
same thing: It…[stows] them away in
fatty tissues. But the toxins
remain, poisoning the immune system, sabotaging cellular structures, and
scrambling the processes of [healing]….The pesticides are even more
harmful to humans than to animals because they're so highly concentrated by the
time they get into our systems.
It's actually a two-step process.
First, the toxins from the feed are concentrated in the animal's
body. Then when a human eats that meat,
the toxins are further concentrated in his own fat cells.
Feed a child no more than
2 to 6 ounces of cooked seafood no more than once a week (less when younger and
more when older). See http://www.epa.gov/ost/fishadvice/advice.html. See the “Proper
Nutrition” page (see above) under the “Nonplant foods include” section under
the “Seafood” subsection for types of seafood to feed a child.
Do not eat feed a child liver
or kidney from any animal. The
largest concentrations of potentially toxic substances are found in these
organs.
Food
Irradiation
Irradiated
foods are not good for anyone. The following GOVERNMENT
STUDY is from “HISTORY AND STATUS OF THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS RADIATION
PRESERVATION OF FOODS PROJECT 7-84-01-002” at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/.Foodirad-v1/CDROM/fimg2b/016pg001-1080.html:
The
loss of preference occurring in an irradiated food results from chemical and
physical changes. These changes, in
turn, depend upon the nature of the food being treated. Changes in certain animal products,
including seafood, may be characterized by the development of rancidity
and a peculiar burnt flavor frequently associated with many
irradiated foods.
Fruits
and vegetables also show some flavor loss and development of foreign, musty,
and scorched flavors. In addition there
is often a gross change in texture (softening) as well as in color. Here again the more intense the irradiation,
the more extensive the changes.
Low-moisture,
high-carbohydrate foods such as rice and paste products darken in color
and develop a gummy texture at high irradiation doses. At the lower doses usually sufficient to
destroy all the insects and molds associated with these foods and with cereal
and bakery products, only slight changes occur. These include rancidity as well as some musty
and other undefined off-flavors.
Government food agencies are well-intentioned. However, a government food agency might OK
something bad for a child because their goal is to promote what is probably
good for a child. They are not
concerned about promoting what is certainly good for a
child. For example, they want to know
that, say, irradiated food, is good for 900 out of 1000 children. Their view is:
If
we had to be certain about every new discovery and every new invention,
we would never apply any new discovery and we would never use any new invention.
The Lord says we should pursue “certainty” and not
“probability.” Proverbs 22:20-21 says:
(20)
Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, (21) That I might make thee know the certainty
of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them
that send to thee?
How do you know whether to give a
child a food substitute? If it does not
pass either or both of the following two tests, do not give a child a food
substitute.
By definition, a food substitute
is not a natural substance.
Anything that can be ingested that is not natural may be harmful to a
child’s body. Do not give a food
substitute to a child.
Anything that has been proven
harmful to a child’s body even once may be harmful again. Do not give it to a child.
·
Wash and scrub all fresh fruits
and vegetables thoroughly under running water.
·
Peel fruits and vegetables
when possible. When peeling citrus
fruits such as oranges and lemons leave as much of the white pith as possible.
·
Discard outer leaves of leafy
vegetables.
·
Trim fat from meat and skin
from poultry and fish.
·
Cook
all nonplant foods until they are well done where possible.
·
Use
cooking methods that allow fat to drain off.
·
Drain
off all fat after cooking.
Be sure a child gets 8 hours of
sleep.
·
Teach a child to trust the
Lord.
·
Teach a child to pray.
·
Reduce anxiety reaction.
o
Do not let a child watch
television unsupervised.
o
Allow a child to watch very
little television.
The Bible says in Proverbs
17:22: “A merry heart doeth good like
a medicine….” It is a common saying
that “laughter is the best medicine.”
Be sure that there is sufficient
air entering from outside when a child is indoors. Outside air has the proper amount of oxygen necessary for the
health of a child.
A child’s drinking water may need
to be purified. This can be
accomplished by using bottled water and/or a water-filtration system and/or a
water-distillation system and/or another method of water purification.
Sanitation includes personal
hygiene and household cleanliness. Note
that sufficient soaking, flushing, and scrubbing with water alone followed by a
thorough drying accomplishes a lot.
Regular, chlorinated tap water provides an additional advantage because
of the germ-killing chlorine in the water.
However, chlorinated water should be purified (see “Water Purification”
above) before drinking. Soap products
are necessary for the thorough removal of grease and oil. Germs will thrive in grease and oil. Finally, antiseptic products kill germs.
Sunlight is conducive to good
health, including good eye health.
Sunlight produces vitamin D.
Most lenses used in eyewear deprive us of some of the ocular benefits of
sunlight. Make sure a child’s eyes get
at least 30 minutes of once-reflected sunlight without eyewear each day. If they can’t get out, this can be
accomplished by having them look out an open window.
If a child experiences numbness in
a part of their body, massage and/or exercise the affected area. Moderate pain indicates healing. Numbness indicates degeneration.
Sudden Muscle Weakness
If a child experiences sudden
muscle weakness, have them stop what they are doing, relax, and gently stretch
the muscle in all directions.
Take a child for a yearly
checkup. Read the topic “When To Listen
To A Doctor Or Other Medical Professional.”
Choose a doctor or medical professional with nutritional training. More of their patients are cured. Their patients are cured more quickly. Fewer of their patients require surgery.
Exercise can be combined with
recreation.
Maintain a comfortable temperature
and comfortable humidity.
There may be uncommon means to
maintaining good health.