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originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: tanstaafl
Toxicity is a sliding scale, but the point I was making is that because something is toxic (harm-inducing) at one level does not indicate it is toxic at all levels.
At low enough levels, it is non-toxic; our bodies are able to undo any damage it causes faster than the damage is caused.
I simply point out that some things have been sensationalized beyond their reality. I can think of two examples off the top of my head: one is aspartame. Aspartame is not a "good" thing... it has been shown to cause some issues at high doses. However, my wife has both diabetes and classic migraines. The diabetes prevents her from using too much processed sugar, and sucralose is one of her migraine triggers. Thus, we actually look for aspartame as a sweetener, as it is less dangerous to her than the other two common possibilities.
The other is soil fertilization. We have, as a society, tended to try and "sterilize" our surroundings. At one time, common knowledge was that planting a garden over a septic system was an easy and efficient way to maintain soil fertilization, but our move toward sterilization has led to some people actually believing this is somehow "unclean" and dangerous. In reality, all soil is made of waste material, from both plants and animals. But try and explain this to some people and they simply will not accept it.
Traditional farming methods, as in farming methods used before the advent of large-scale techniques, produced only a very small amount of food compared to today's methods. Compared to then, a farmer can tend many times the amount of land and still receive high yields on the land.
Pesticides allow a farmer to spray a crop and move to the next field, instead of spending weeks or months on a single field trying to remove pests on a more manual basis.
The idea that farmers are open for visitation is simply not reality.
Your example actually disproves your statement... the damage that is having to be repaired, is proof of toxicity, regardless of whether or not the body can repair itself fast enough.
There are much better options... birch bark is one.
human waste is the absolute worst 'fertilizer' you would want to use, at least directly.
What good is having 10 times the food if it has 90% less nutritional value?
When I said traditional, I was talking about things like land/crop rotation (letting the land lie fallow every 7 years), the use of cover crops (hemp and alfalfa are both outstanding) the roots of which go very very deep, pulling nutrients up from deep in the earth to replenish what is used from the top soil), the use of natural pest treatments, etc.
Healthy plants are much, much more pest resistant.
Farmers started 'needing' shortcuts because they were ... taking shortcuts by failing to rotate the lands, obviously, trying to maximize profits.
Interesting... I'll let the farmers that I visit regularly know that they are not real.
originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: tanstaafl
The body is designed to repair damage at a certain rate. if we assume any possible negative effect, regardless of the outcome, is "toxic" all substances are "toxic." And if all substances are "toxic"... none of them are.
If the body can repair itself faster than a substance can damage it, I do not consider that substance as toxic. Anything more reduces the definition of toxicity to a moot, meaningless term.
I'll ask around at the grocery store... I don't think they carry it.
Your next statement is quite assumptive. Migraines have triggers that are specific to individuals. The triggers we have identified have been identified over years of observation of foods and personal products, as well as verified through observation of migraine frequency/severity in the absence of those suspected triggers. To try and diagnose such a complex reaction with such a myriad of potential offenders across a text forum is pretty darn arrogant.
As well, diabetes can be a serious disease leading to loss of circulation and vision and limbs over time.
My wife's diabetes is under control for now, and she is experimenting with a few things to assist it, like dandelion tea. I will not, however condone doing more without a doctor's approval. The risk is simply too high.
"What good is having 10 times the food if it has 90% less nutritional value?"
It does not have 90% less nutritional value. that is a false dichotomy.
"When I said traditional, I was talking about things like land/crop rotation (letting the land lie fallow every 7 years), the use of cover crops (hemp and alfalfa are both outstanding) the roots of which go very very deep, pulling nutrients up from deep in the earth to replenish what is used from the top soil), the use of natural pest treatments, etc."
Pretty much all of these things are still used.
Farmers started 'needing' shortcuts because they were ... taking shortcuts by failing to rotate the lands, obviously, trying to maximize profits.
"Interesting... I'll let the farmers that I visit regularly know that they are not real."
Good. Maybe they'll stop you from visiting so they can go back to work.
I was simply making a point - the overuse of chemical fertilizers and the foregoing of land rotation has created a condition of extremely deficient top soil, which means 'food' that is practically devoid of all nutritional value, when compared to food grown 100 years ago.
I've never interrupted their work, and they're always happy to see us.
originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: ketsuko
Yes, living organisms can actually benefit from exposure to toxins. I have seen several studies where infants, for example, who were raised in a "sterile" environment grew to have more serious issues, including allergies and susceptibility to sickness, than infants who were raised in more natural but also more toxic environments.
This also gets back to the original issue of the pandemic and the lack of need to cure it... it will e cured the way all diseases are: by herd immunity. The only thing we need do is care for the few who get very sick and protect those at high risk.
But thankfully there is a cure even for those who are susceptible... for those willing to look and listen.