If we take as our model areas of the world where good health is taken for granted, and a soundly healthy, respected and enjoyable old age is the norm, areas such as Tibet, or certain valleys in Ecuador , what do we find? We certainly do not find a group of people with their cupboards full of food supplements. I myself am beginning to ask - do I feel better for all the pills I take every day? And recently the answer has been more and more a resounding "no". Something else is wrong. A few months ago, I began to take a somewhat different approach to supplementing, looking for things that address the basic imbalances in my body: digestion, elimination, pH Balance. To that I added something commonly referred to as first food, i.e. Colostrum, and Homeostatic Soil Organisms, or HSOs.. This has made a huge difference in how I feel.

This means the plant's immunity flourishes, and it is able to resist pests and disease. The HSOs are incorporated in the plant fiber, and then eaten by animals or humans, thus being passed along the food chain. In this country, chemical farming has done away with all the friendly organisms in the soil: adding chlorine to the water supply has further compounded the problem, eliminating existing "good" bacteria in our bodies. Antibiotics have the same effect. Ann Louise Gittelman, whose book "Beyond Probiotics" is the source of much of my information, quotes from a research paper by Dr. William Bryce as follows: "Just as (HSOs) destroy molds, yeast, fungus and viruses in the soil of the organic garden, they perform the same with pathological organisms in the gut, greatly augmenting the body's immune system".

The main method of action for the HSOs is to dislodge and digest the putrefactive mucous that over the years builds up and blocks off the colon, hindering its ability to digest food - using the HSOs can increase absorption through the mucosal villi by as much as 50%. Maybe then one can get some benefit from the good foods and supplements one is using. HSOs are also instrumental in controlling overgrowths of yeast, a major problem for many people these days. Finally, HSOs produce Short Chain Fatty Acids, enabling the cells of the colon to reproduce and to maintain the correct acid state in the colon. Let me point out that most people have highly alkaline colons, which has been determined to be conducive to the development of colon cancer.

Most of the people who pass through my office .have as part of their ill health some form of digestive disorder. Once the digestion has been reordered, better health nearly always follows, because it is an undeniable fact that auto-intoxication (self-poisoning by body wastes) is at the root of most health problems: M/s Gittelman mentions autopsies that have revealed anywhere from 20 to 50 pounds of putrefaction in colons, and "leaky gut syndrome", where large food particles pass into the portal circulation unchanged causing allergies and disease, is becoming endemic.

HSOs differ from probiotics such as acidophilus and bifidus in that they do not take up residence in the body, but were designed be eaten regularly with one's organic food straight from the garden!  Health professionals do not even recommend using them unless one is prepared to commit to using them for the 90 days required to have them implant successfully throughout the body. This commitment can be compromised occasionally, because some users experience a variety of unpleasant effects at first as their body begins to adjust and throw off toxins. The end results appear to be well worth the transient discomfort, however, and I have been impressed most of all by the results Veterinarians have had with animals, who after all, are not susceptible to the placebo effect. Best of all, it makes sense because it relates to correcting the internal ecology of the body, producing proper balance and improving nutrition. The most beautiful flowers grow in the most fertile gardens, after all!