CEREAL PRODUCTION AND THE FALL OF CIVILIZATIONS

The Body Borg is synonymous with Metabolic X Syndrome, which began with the dawn of agriculture.

Ori Hofmekler, author of “The Warrior Diet” points out that cereals and starches are slave food for subduing the masses into a placid, bovine, slow-witted intelligence suitable for hard labor. www.warriordiet.com/ We can see why this is when we consider the “receptor resistance” factor induced by cereal consumption. Cereals may be food for the masses but they do not make for sustainable culture, evolving populations or individuating sovereigns. They instead lead to metabolic X syndrome and the depletion of societal resources in coping with compounding dysfunction and disease. That disease is big business in Borg society is an understatement.

During the feudal and industrial ages cereals made for a malleable servile slave class, that would even lay down their lives for their rulers. But now in the information age, a high carbohydrate diet is a cognition killer when combined with modern lifestyle challenges such as the lack of exercise and the various agents of inflammation: EMFs, radiation, toxins, processed food, high-carb, low-protein diets, common allergens like casein and gluten, dysbiosis, pathogens, stress, lack of sleep, sick building syndrome etc… Most polyunsaturated vegetable oils like safflower, sunflower, corn, peanut and soy, are high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 essential fatty acid that the body converts into the pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid. These same oils contain almost no omega-3’s, which soothe inflammation. Our prehistoric ancestors ate a diet with an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 1:1, while our current ratio is between 10:1 and 25:1. This has profound effects for cell energy production as mentioned in the pieces on cardiolipin below (*See July and the Omega-3 list in August).

Although agricultural production of cereals allowed more people to survive over the millennia than otherwise would have, it is not “quantity” of people that we need, but “quality.” Through our learned cultural choices we are now hitting the metabolic wall with regards to the “sustainable quality” of human health and well-being. The plentiful supply of cheap cereal carbohydrates over the last 10 thousand years has resulted in a dysmetabolic pandemic that is inherited epigenetically and through cultural habit…changing the very nature of the “human,” and directly causing the diseases of aging and degeneration.

Extreme fluctuation of insulin levels results from a diet high in refined carbohydrate foods such as sugar, sweetened soft drinks and white bread. These are absorbed quickly from the intestines into the blood stream causing a sudden rise in blood glucose levels. Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates are said to have a “high glycemic index.” In order to stimulate the cells to absorb this sudden glucose load, the pancreas responds by releasing larger than normal quantities of insulin. The excessive amount of serum insulin precipitates a sudden fall in blood glucose, and within a couple of hours this level becomes very low. The consequent slump in energy stimulates craving for more high glycemic foods causing the blood glucose to rise dramatically once more, thus perpetuating the cycle of wildly fluctuating glucose and insulin levels.

Insulin is the primary hormone that controls how the body's cells absorb, use and store nutrients and energy. The amount of insulin the pancreas produces is in relation to the amount of carbohydrates eat. When extra carbs are eaten the excess beyond immediate fuel needs is stored as fat for burning in the future should extra energy be required. So if you eat fewer carbohydrates less insulin is produce and less fat is stored. When we eat carbohydrates in excess of our immediate fuel needs the pancreas must produce higher amounts of insulin, which overloads the insulin receptors and so they become numb or insulin resistant. When blood glucose is high, fat burning (lipolysis) is inhibited by insulin, thus ingestion of glucose rich foods is the primary factor in precipitating obesity. Also in the domesticated diet we are not getting a rich supply of the phytochemicals and antioxidants that reduce many of the pathological mechanisms that underlie obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Adipose tissue is an important endocrine organ that secretes numerous protein hormones, including leptin. The fat cell derived hormone Leptin (Greek leptos meaning thin) plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including appetite and metabolism. That the human leptin system is not specifically adapted to a cereal-based diet is one of the main reasons for the obesity epidemic and metabolic syndrome in general. The diseases of affluence involve increased insulin and leptin resistance which interferes with the cells hormonal feeding and energy metabolism regulation. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins found in cereals that play a role in biological recognition phenomena involving cells and proteins. Cereal lectins can cause leptin resistance either indirectly, through effects on leptin metabolism, and/or directly, through binding to the leptin or the leptin receptor, thereby affecting their function.

Leptin and insulin resistance are central to the cascade of metabolic X syndrome—high blood sugar, pathogens, reduction in oxygen, reduced energy generation, low cell voltage, sticky blood, sluggish lymph, lowered immunity, inflammation, glycation, exhausted antioxidant systems, overworked organs, insufficient energy for detoxification, aging of cells, fatigue and run away appetite and cravings as the cells are neither being fed or cleaned properly. This condition underlies all degenerative disease and provides the perfect terrain for infectious disease. Quality of life and Presence are greatly reduced as we fail to generate the energy needed to “pull ourselves together” into an integrated whole. As we restore our energy metabolism and integrate our cosmic an-atom-y we tap into vast inner resources of cosmic integration.

Cinnamon is a convenient and delicious method of raising insulin sensitivity. Researchers found that taking 1 tsp of cinnamon with meals resulted in a 50% reduction in blood sugar within 90 minutes, compared to controls. Cinnamon lowers blood sugar by activating phosphorylation of the insulin receptor, which then draws the sugar and nutrient transporters from the inner cell to the cell membrane where they pull the sugar and nutrients into the cell. In other words, the glucose transporter Glut4 is transported from cellular vesicles to the cell surface, where it then can mediate the transport of glucose into the cell. Insulin resistance prevents phosphorylation, while the better your phosphorylation the greater hormonal intelligence and the younger, thinner you’ll be.

Although insulin mainly works in muscle, fat and the liver, this hormone also exerts profound effects on many other body tissues. Besides regulating the cellular glucose metabolism, amino acids and fatty acids, insulin and insulin-like growth factor also activates and inactivates enzymes and directly affects certain genetic processes including protein synthesis, gene expression and cell growth and differentiation.

Insulin apparently exerts its glucose-lowering effects by stimulating glucose uptake in tissues such as skeletal muscle, suppressing fatty acid release from fat (adipose) tissue, and inhibiting production of glucose by the liver. It should be noted here that there are some tissues that do not require insulin for efficient uptake of glucose: important examples are the brain and the liver. This is because these cells don't use GLUT4 for importing glucose, but rather, another transporter that is not insulin-dependent. Liver, brain, and Red blood cells lack the insulin sensitive GLUT4. GLUT3 is a high affinity glucose transporter used in tissues highly dependent on glucose such as the brain. GLUT1 is responsible for the basic supply of glucose to the cells, red blood cells and the endothelial cells of the brain. GLUT1 appears to be the primary isoform for glucose transport through blood/tissue barriers including the retina, brain, placenta, testes and cerebrospinal fluid. The rate of transport is highly dependent on blood glucose levels.

The liver has a central role in glucose homeostasis because it extracts glucose from the bloodstream in times of plenty, and synthesizes glucose in times of need. Glucose metabolism throughout the body is coordinated by the brain in that the liver receives control signals from the hypothalamus, an area of the brain known to detect and integrate metabolic signals. Insulin acts on specialized ion channels, called KATP channels, in the hypothalamus to control glucose production. These channels, which lie in the outer membranes of hypothalamic neurons release potassium ions from cells in response to a drop in ATP. Decreased levels of ATP in response to falling glucose levels open the KATP channels allowing potassium ions to leave the cell, resulting in membrane hyperpolarization and reduced membrane excitability, which dampens its electrical activity.

Another downside of cereal consumption is the toxin acrylamide, which is by-product of fried, toasted and caramelized carbohydrates. The food toxin acrylamide is a carcinogen, that fragments DNA and generates free radicals. Turmeric’s anti-inflammatory effects reduce the damage done by acrylamide. Turmeric also activates a genetic switch that generates more endogenous antioxidants. If we took “cinnamon, turmeric, papain/bromelain, kelp, spirulina” capsules with our meals…this along with the adoption of a more raw Paleolithic diet would greatly reduce the myriad symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome X. While transitioning however bread addicts can get away with some traditional Danish rye bread...which uses lacto-fermentation rather than yeast. I find uncolored Pumpernickel to be somewhat non-inflammatory.

The sovereign can avoid grains by eating crackers and breads made with sprouted non-cereal grains and seeds, that are technically raw by being “cooked” in a dehydrator. Non-cereal foods that can be made into flour for flat or leavened breads include: amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, wattleseed, kañiwa, cattail pollen and roots, breadnut, lambsquarters seed, chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, acorns, coconut, green pea, Bunya pine nuts, peanuts, poppy seed, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, Ginkgo, Mango seed. Chia/flaxseed/hemp crackers etc...made in a dehydrator may be a fine bread substitute.

A cereal-free hunter-gatherer diet promoted significantly higher insulin sensitivity, lower diastolic blood pressure and lower C-reactive protein, the levels of which rise in response to inflammation. The “Fall of Man” is due to the aberrated, deranged, acidifying and toxifying effects of the common Western diet. To build a strong sovereign body we must eliminate hyperinsulemia and eradicate the imbalanced terrain that encourages all manner of pathogens and parasites. We arrive at resistance to oxidative stress and inflammation by rectifying the toxic sludge of the blood—through increasing our leptin/insulin sensitivity and engaging in regular aerobic exercise to increase the glucose transporters and build mitochondria numbers. In this way we can quickly get sugar out of the blood and into the cells to burn as “life energy” without having to squirrel the excess away in the fat cells, risk glycating our protein structures, or without it being a fertile medium for pathogens. Regulating our energy metabolism is fundamental to genetic strength, longevity, immunity and stress resistance.

We can reverse aging, restore mitochondria to a more youthful expression and control our destiny to a marked degree with regular exercise and healthy eating.

Dangerous Grains: Why Gluten Cereal Grains May Be Hazardous To Your Health by James Braly M.D. and Ron Hoggan M.A.
Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism, by Sareen S. Gropper, Jack L. Smith, James L. Groff