Edgar Cayce's Everyday Health. Carol Ann Baraff

dietary choices, blood sugar balance, weight maintenance, cholesterol, energy, and optimal wellness. Echoing statements found throughout the Cayce readings, this book may scare hordes of readers into eliminating refined carbohydrates, in particular, from their menu. And that would be a good thing.

      Although it is targeted primarily at frustrated dieters and diabetics, The New Sugar Busters! speaks to a premise that is far more universal: Avoiding high-glycemic foods will prevent and even reverse the onset of a wide variety of chronic conditions, thereby adding precious years to our lives. In examining the soaring increase of sugar consumption in particular over the past 1,500 years, the authors comment:

      For hundreds of millennia, our ancestors ate only a low-glycemic diet. Back then, the pancreas was probably not called upon to secrete as much insulin in one day of an entire lifetime as it is called upon to secrete nearly every day of our modern post-infant lifetime! . . .

We have had refined sugar only for a mere blink of time in humans’ digestive evolution. Think about it—refined sugar and refined flour are “new foods”. Is it any wonder that the incidence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance continues to get higher and higher? Maybe we eat too much sugar and simply wear out or exhaust our pancreas glands, which surely did not evolve to produce the quantities of insulin a typical modern diet demands.¹¹

      A careful search of the Cayce material shows that the link between sweets and pancreas stimulation is perceived quite clearly, although the terminology sometimes varies. A reading for a fifty-one-year-old woman who was overweight advised:

      . . . Little sugar, for this—as indicated, of course—makes for an activity upon the pancreas that, unless there is a great deal of physical exertion, creates the tendency for the increase of avoirdupois {weight} throughout the whole body itself.

      1073-1

      In the case of a twenty-six-year-old man with diabetic tendencies, Cayce commented: “. . . for when there is too much alcohol produced in the system, either by the addition of alcoholic stimulants or of the diet that produces the improper equilibrium of alcoholic condition, the pancreas and the liver suffer from same . . .” (4145-1)

      The low-glycemic diet presented in The New Sugar Busters! has reportedly helped many people achieve permanent weight loss as well as the reversal of Type II diabetes. The authors emphasize:

The only things you cannot eat on this diet are the carbohydrates that cause an intense insulin secretion. You must virtually eliminate white potatoes, white rice, bread from highly refined flour, corn products, beets, and of course all refined sugars, such as sucrose (table sugar), corn syrup, molasses, and honey. Also, sugared soft drinks and beer are not allowed.¹²

      For purposes of comparison, here are some typical Cayce comments:

      Hence sweets or sugars from the sugar cane should be tabu. Use rather those that are of a vegetable or fruit nature, or the sweets that are contained in such.

      795-4

      In the diet, beware of too much starches of any kind; that is, do not include . . . white bread or anything of this nature.

      632-6

      . . . Eat a good deal of potato peeling—that is, like the baked Irish potato—but not any quantity of the pulp.

      703-1

      As to those warnings concerning the pancreas condition—be mindful that in the diet there are not sugars taken, nor any of those properties that carry carbonated waters or any product of the hops, or of such natures.

      2577-1

      But when cereals or starches are taken, do not have the citrus fruit at the same meal . . . for such a combination in the system at the same time becomes acid-producing!

      1484-1

      Possibly the most important practical information found in The New Sugar Busters! comes in the form of a chart that provides the “glycemic index” for a wide variety of foods. Armed with this handy guide, dieters are empowered to choose their carbs with care rather than eliminate them entirely from the diet. The sample menus and recipes are helpful too.

      In this time of increasing pressure to rely on “convenience” foods and questionable forms of dieting, finding the balance that truly meets our needs is more of a challenge than ever. However, the results are well worthwhile in quantity and quality of life.

       A Blueberry a Day

      Most of us will probably recall childhood berry-picking expeditions with pleasure—even if we did sometimes end up being chased by bees! At the time it was our taste buds that drove us outdoors to search for some of nature’s more exotic sweets. Now it seems that the little morsels are good for us too.

      Referring to berries in general as “nature’s sugars,” the Edgar Cayce readings recommended them for various reasons: to provide the diet with “. . . as much of iron as possible . . .” (4889-1), to “. . . not only . . . purify but clarify general conditions for the body” (1179-7), to serve as a food that is “. . . very high in the adding of B complex . . .” (3285-1), or to “. . . lend energy to nerve building forces and those that give to the blood force the eliminating properties . . .” (4730-1)

      Statements such as these are fascinating enough, but when Cayce goes on to mention certain kinds of berries, the jam really thickens. Consider the following rather futuristic comment about blueberries found in reading 3118-1:

      In the diet—keep to those things that heal within and without . . . and especially use the garden blueberry. (This is a property which someone, some day, will use in its proper place!)

Exactly which healing properties the readings have in mind here are not known, but the health benefits of blueberries are definitely in the news these days. The discovery some years ago of truly stunning antioxidant properties has received the most publicity. In a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Center for Aging at Tufts University of the antioxidant content of more than forty fruits and vegetables, blueberries soared above the rest.¹³ This is important because antioxidants are believed to help slow the aging process by destroying free radicals produced during metabolism. Free radicals are responsible for cellular damage associated with cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and the aging process.

      The study, which used aging rats as subjects, noted improvements in balance, coordination, and short-term memory. The daily dosage would be the human equivalent of about half a cup—an amount with an antioxidant punch of 1,771 International Units of Vitamin E (about sixty times the RDA) and 1270 milligrams of Vitamin C (more than twenty-one times the RDA.)

      The primary antioxidants in blueberries and their close cousin, bilberries, are anthocyanins, the flavonoid compounds that give them their color. This means that while blue is good, bluer is better. So, as the neutraceutical importance of cultivated berries grows, it seems that the darker wild berries will retain the most antioxidant properties.

      For those who need still more encouragement to head for the produce department or better yet, a sunny meadow, other studies point to many additional health benefits. These claim that blueberries are strongly anticarcinogenic, promote urinary tract health, improve eyesight, and may also assist in cases of arthritis, angina, and diarrhea.

      With blueberries winning the healthy produce prize, what are its strongest contenders? Interestingly enough, second place goes to Cayce-recommended Concord grape juice, with about two-thirds the antioxidant activity, followed by garlic, kale, strawberries, and spinach. All are great ways to chase the doldrums away, but by far the best is to find one’s own special source of scrumptious dark “blues.”