From Cave To Computer: By Maria Jevtic

A Book Review

This book is exploring the understanding of miasmatic theory and practice by looking at the dietary habits and cultural practices of humans through the ages, going all the way to early homo sapiens as they began to dominate the planet after Neanderthal man, all the way up to the modern age. In so doing, she is asking very important and pertinent questions about some of the assumptions homeopaths – including Hahnemann himself – have held about the roots of disease, including the source of Psora and the role of diet on the long-term health of human beings. In particular she has been influenced by the book The Paleo Diet by L Cordain and how dietary changes through the ages - especially the widespread introduction of grains into the diet as man moved toward a more settled existence - led to the introduction of chronic disease, what homeopaths would identify as belonging to the psoric miasm. She explores the dietary and cultural changes with a changing psychological mindset, which compounded the development of behavior that exacerbated the beginning of chronic disease but also which was necessary as part of the development of more complex social structures. In other words, change was necessary, but it came at a price, affecting both physical and psychological well-being. 

The basic ideas of the Paleo diet are that the dietary habits of early hunter/gatherer man, surviving mainly on wild meats and some nuts, seeds and fruits was a healthy way to eat but that after the first agricultural revolution, humans began to depend on grains for their food and this began to have a deleterious effect on human health, even though it allowed humans to be somewhat freed from the immediate challenges of finding fresh food every day and also allowed a growing population to survive, which early hunter/gatherer habits could not do. Also, as settlements grew, it allowed some people to be liberated from the personal need to find food and began the development of other social and cultural patterns, leading to the development of art, philosophy and other cultural explorations. The author also acknowledges the influence of the book The Eat Right Diet by P. Adamo, which explores the Eat Right For Your Type ideas and how the division into hunter, settler and nomad patterns influenced dietary habits and the book’s theory of blood type (which the author doesn’t necessarily agree with but recognized the patterns of behavior as an important factor). Another influence was Jared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel, a well-known exploration into human development and the social and cultural patterns that determined so many developments in human nature and behavior. Diamond in particular focused on the impact of the first agricultural revolution and how profound – and disastrous – this way for human development. 

The author weaves into her story the interesting shift in psychological patterns that changing challenges of eating would bring for early humans and how human behavior moved from primarily instinctual animal behavior to more socialized, conscious and individualized thinking, along with the full development of language around 50,000 years ago. At this point, the distinctions between right and wrong, ‘good and evil’, and ethical choices began to surface as the simple survival of the species was now mixed more with social patterns and relationships within groups. It wasn’t simply survival any longer but the beginning of a more nuanced relationship to life’s decisions that affected the level of anxiety a person would experience. The author describes how levels of anxiety began to change, from the most immediate type when being a hunter – a do or die anxiety – to a less intense but more pervasive anxiety as food supplies became generally more stable and life more settled, but where yet still, the vicissitudes of survival were still fairly intense. Modes of exercise also shifted, from the intense, prolonged aerobic exercise of running to the more anaerobic modes of exercise needed for farming land. Also roles for men and women also changed during the transition to settled existence, again producing levels of mental changes – anxiety, boredom, frustration etc. 

The author explores these ideas as a way to put the argument forward that chronic disease did not start from scabies and its suppression – as Hahnemann postulated. The changing patterns of life from a hunter gatherer to a more settled existence in which grains became dominant in the food supply, gradually but fundamentally changed the way we experienced sickness, with more ongoing and insidious changes to the body. Scabies therefore was the result of these changes, not the cause. The author is not the first to question Hahnemann’s conclusions regarding scabies and psora. Martin Gumpert in a book on the history of homeopathy, also stated that Hahnemann’s conclusions regarding psora were premised on some existing theories of the disease at the time, that the disease was a reflection of a deep dyscrasia and that its suppression led to even deeper systemic diseases, more than being mostly a parasitic infection due to hygiene challenges and simple inadequacies in diet. The author is making a slightly different but connected argument, that is, that scabies and psora are the result of shifting patterns of behavior and dietary habit. They are the result not the cause of certain conditions and that chronic disease didn’t just start with an infectious condition like scabies. In discussing the apparent quandary of the beginning of chronic disease, of susceptibility v. disease stimulus, the author quotes the British homeopath, Colin Griffith, who states that the susceptibility to psora came from a general state of dread, anxiety, anticipation, restlessness etc, as they acquired a greater level of awareness. The disease scabies only affected those who were weakened as a result of this, which does tie into our knowledge of psora and also simply looking at the remedy Psorinum. The author then takes this further and questions why it was scabies that afflicted people and why this disease seemed to be representative of the psoric state. The author states that chronic disease only really took hold when man moved from hunter/gather to a more settled existence, changing dietary habits and also hygiene patterns as settled life brought increased infectious elements into light. She states that ‘psora was not caused by any infection (scabies) but that infectious skin diseases were a result of psora.’ As mentioned above, this was also considered around the time of Hahnemann. The mistake Hahnemann probably made was in identifying scabies as being central to psora when it is likely to be one of many other ‘psoric’ skin diseases.

One of the most important points the author makes is that by not paying due attention to diet, and especially the amount of grains in the modern diet, a homeopath is not truly looking at a possible fundamental causative factor for chronic disease and that ‘well-indicated’ remedies will not address chronic disease at a causative level. Remedies will relieve symptoms but not address the roots of disease as they lie in food choices and perhaps other behavioral choices. This is revealed even in the homeopathic population, where some homeopaths have died ‘prematurely’, in spite of the obvious fact of years of constitutional homeopathic care, making us question therefore the efficacy of homeopathy in such cases.

An argument could be made that early man didn’t suffer chronic disease because he didn’t live long enough to get such diseases, as opposed to the longevity we see today and at the same time, the level of chronic disease. The author makes the case that in fact this wasn’t the case as examples can be found that many ancient cultures had roughly the same number of elderly people as today.

Another important point is that although the author – and quoting other sources – makes the case that our ‘progress’ has been at a huge expense to our health, this was somewhat inevitable in many ways and adaptation to the many challenges for survival forced man to make necessary changes in social habits which also produced profound and important changes in human culture. This the author discusses in the light of miasmatic theory and this parallels many other homeopathic theorists, who explore the development of miasms as part of necessary human evolution. For example, as man moved from hunter/gatherer to settled life, it allowed more people to survive as population grew; larger settlements developed, creating greater diversity in lifestyles and the overall development of human society. In general, people were better off. However, according to the author, our overall health has suffered as we have adapted and evolved but as the author states ‘social evolution would not have taken place’ if these changes didn’t happen. So there is a possible interesting paradox here. The author also describes an alternative to the settler lifestyle, that of the nomad, a lifestyle more daring and at times less anxious, and which is reflective of the tubercular miasm in homeopathy. Nomadic life was less strenuous than hunter or settler life, leading to boredom and a lack of positive mood shaping endorphins. In order to compensate, nomad man had become more adventurous and daring, doing more wild and extreme things, even going to war and attacking neighbors for their cattle and women etc. Also male and female roles became more defined for nomad people, creating their own problems. The disease tuberculosis comes out of this state, and the actual infection spreading from the animals being kept in their care.

The ideas of miasmatic theory as seen in the context of broader social phenomena is an interesting one and the author contemplates the ideas of when a miasm – as seen as a collective social/psychological/physical state takes hold in a culture. The movement from hunter/gather (pre psora), to settler (psora), to nomad (tubercular) are obvious examples and are discussed well in the book. Seeing the parallels between disease and broader social dynamics is a fascinating one and homeopathy has a lot to offer to this debate with our unique understanding of the patterns of physical disease and psychological dynamics that relate to our major miasmatic categorizations. The author is offering one more analysis to this debate. In this debate, the concepts of susceptibility are looked at, as is the developing field of epigenetics (looking at the environmental causes of disease and DNA activation).

However, the main point of the book is to connect the origins of psora and chronic disease to diet and social behavior and consequent mental/emotional challenges and the question is whether the assumptions made in the book and based on the theories around the paleo diet are correct – basically that our biology is designed to be based on a similar diet to the Paleolithic era, from where we originated! It has to be said that there are so many controversies around dietary issues that this book inevitably is drawn into a minefield of arguments around food and diet, some of which are purely dietary, e.g., low fat v. good fat, meat v. vegetarian, low carb v. good carb etc and some of which are highly political issues, involving serious economic and ethical issues. These will be discussed a bit later. 

The author states that for susceptibility to predispose to a chronic disease e.g., scabies, it must have a matching susceptibility that initiates the disease and that this isn’t an individual event but happens to a larger social grouping and also often over a long period of time. The author describes scabies as a particularly intense and extreme condition, requiring a similar event to initiate the susceptibility. This is somewhat questionable as one can often get a fairly mild form of scabies, which doesn’t torment to the degree described in the books. The main point the author makes and which is connected to chronic disease is that a particular attitude (social conditioning) has to be present, which leads to compensatory behavior which then leads to the susceptibility and manifestation of certain diseases, which match the energy of the compensatory behavior. Also, as mentioned, it has to be happening to enough people and for a long enough time in order for it to be defined as a miasmatic picture. Therefore in scabies, the result of a prior psoric susceptibility due to ongoing, prolonged but relatively mild anxiety was enough to initiate a chronic disease susceptibility, leading to scabies. However, as mentioned earlier, the fact that scabies is simply an acute infectious state, predicated on hygiene challenges ensuing from enclosed living and perhaps dietary factors can make one question whether scabies and psora are connected at all. This the author does not really discuss. Her main point though is that by taking remedies like Psorinum and so-called anti-psoric remedies, we only get back to the state before scabies existed and that only addresses some of the psoric state. 

While the whole idea of psora is somewhat controversial and open to interpretation, we can accept the idea that the goal of any holistic treatment is to attempt to get to the root of disease (in homeopathy that being on the level of the vital force that most profoundly affects the overall constitution) and that remedies need to be found to address these levels of susceptibility. This could include nosodes and deep acting anti-psoric remedies, (most likely mineral remedies), which are at least the most perfect simillimum possible.

However, from reading Hahnemann’s writings on chronic disease, and from further investigation into the complexities of miasmatic influence, (or to use the modern interpretation, the epigenetics of our human condition), we have seen that the sometimes complex layers of disease, both inherited and acquired, require remedies from the sycotic, syphilitic, tubercular and cancer miasms. This is something homeopaths can do well in general, using potentized remedies and nosodes to address this. Some therapies, including naturopathy, tend to focus more on the terrain in which disease exists and adapt the circumstances, through nutrition, herbs and other environmental factors to give the body a chance to heal. However, this mostly does not address the complexities of many conditions that modern people experience, but it does help in simpler cases and when the body needs the simple benefits of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle habits. Correspondingly, homeopaths tend to think they can get to the root of many conditions solely through remedies and not have to look too much at external environmental and lifestyle habits as a healthy constitution should take care of it. However, that is too simplistic and in some cases, very clear changes need to be made and this is where diet can come in and which is really the underlying focus of the author’s argument in the book. 

According to the author, the significant move toward a grain dominated diet began around 10,000 years ago. However, a grain dominated diet leads to greater acidity in the body (as does large amounts of meat and dairy) creating chronic problems over many years. Also eating cereals produces vitamin and mineral deficiency. Grains are high in proteins called lectins, as are pulses and some dairy. Over time, lectins can contribute to immune and endocrine problems. Moulds can also be a problem when eating grains, especially if it is challenging to store them effectively. This would have been the case especially in earlier days, but even now, moulds are not an uncommon aspect of grain storage. Even though grains are excellent foods to provide immediate energy necessary for hard physical anaerobic work in fields, there were downsides which were compounded as habits further changed and more sedentary activity became the norm. Also, the lack of aerobic activity also diminished physical and mental health, leading to greater anxiety and even depression, which then led to bad dietary habits to compensate – the initial relief you feel from eating something sweet, sugary and filling, which then later leaves you more down. 

Another complication of changing food and social habits was the introduction of dairy food as a mainstay, which happened through nomadic cultures and later in more modern cultures as animal farming became more established. As the author notes, early man (from around 5,000BC) did not have the gene to allow dairy to be easily absorbed, creating health issues as a result. Even today, it is likely that many more people still cannot digest dairy well and in fact societies like the Japanese and especially Chinese, who are digesting far more dairy than ever before may well suffer from chronic diseases in the future because of this one fact alone. Dairy food has its own unique problems, and similar to cereals produces an overacidity in the body and mineral imbalances, as well as inflammatory influences due to too much omega 6 fatty acids. Therefore, nomad man suffered from his own intrinsic problems which over time creates health issues, as does the more psoric settler food habits. The author gives a good description of the problems with a diet where too much omega 6 fatty acids exacerbate inflammatory processes, leading to acute and chronic conditions, especially allergies; and how hygiene challenges of nomadic life also created their own health issues. 

Therefore, each stage of social development brought its own health challenges with dietary changes being necessary and even though this allowed society to evolve, greater health challenges ensued. The author states that at each stage, these health issues get potentially greater, which became even more clear when more urban living became more dominant, from about 6,000 years ago onward. Urbanization led to greater social stratification of society and for the poorer members, life became even harder in many ways than the hunter/gatherer days or nomadic or early settler life. Hygiene was poor and the proximity of living quarters led to the proliferation of mould, which contaminated food and body. Physical work was much less for many, leading to weight gain and mentally there was much more disquiet and general unhappiness for the poor. Although immediate survival issues were less, social stratification led to greater isolation and breaking down of traditional familial ties. Life became more insecure for many and emotional strains were more the norm. The miasm associated with the rise of urbanization is Sycosis. Class stratification, social conformity and comparison, institutional violence and the rise of sexually infectious diseases parallels our understanding of this miasm. The syphilitic miasm followed this, with the influence of monotheism in the middle-east, starting a millennia or more before Jesus but then taken up seriously after Jesus and then Mohammed, and in the east, the influence of Confucianism had a similar effect. The relative chaos and excess of pre Christian cultures in the middle-east and Europe, with many Gods and complex belief systems gave way to a simpler, more disciplined state of affairs, at least for a while. Discipline in behavior, as encoded in religious mores allowed people to control more excessive instincts, including of course, sexual and also violent impulses. 

The author makes an interesting point regarding the relationship between Sycosis and Syphilis. As Sycosis wants to indulge feelings and impulses, the Syphilitic influence wants to discipline and control them, setting up a tension between the two. Neither are bad intrinsically, only when taken to extreme but the Syphilitic control comes from the mind, forcing its influence onto the Sycotic physical impulses. However, when too much control is forced, it leads to perversion, which is one of the key Syphilitic traits, and seen in cultural forms such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, the slave trade, holocausts and fanatical religious and secular belief systems. Many of the most despicable acts of human depravity were justified as only to keep order, instill values, discipline and purity onto an unruly, corrupt society. On a physical level, this tension and pressure affected the adrenal glands and mentally, there was a movement from the ongoing anxiety in the Sycotic state to a deeper sense of fear and terror in the Syphilitic state, fueled by thoughts of biblical damnation. In more recent times, biblical damnation has been replaced with social phobias, hypochondriasis, obsessive compulsive conditions, narcissisism and fears of profound isolation. Physically this pressure eventually leads to many forms of auto-immune disease and destructive disease processes. 

Concerning diets, the author states that fasting is a syphilitic influence of discipline onto what one eats, and is generally unhealthy, due to stresses on organs that need nutrition in order to function and detoxify the body. Any extreme dietary practices are seen as syphilitic. Some of these ideas no doubt can be debated. Personally I have done a number of 10-14 day fasts – using fruit and vegetable juice and feel very good as a result. True it is not a way to lose weight but as a way of giving the body a break from food and not taking in any tea, coffee, alcohol etc for a while is only good. The author says it is mainly Syphilitic to avoid meat out of a desire for purity and Cancer refuses meat from ethical concerns etc. Tubercular desires dairy although it aggravates him. 

One of the most interesting things in the books and mentioned earlier is the premise that the infectious disease identified with the miasm did not cause the miasm but is a result of the miasmatic state that gradually began to dominate the terrain of the culture. Behavioral change, dietary change and social patterns all adapting to circumstances for survival and evolution produced the terrain for new diseases to exist. The nosode of the disease therefore only addresses one aspect of the miasm, not the whole. Even though conventional miasmatic theory focused on the disease initially and its pathological expression, the author and other miasmatic theorists, including Peter Fraser’s book, The AIDS Miasm explores the broader social evolution that each miasm reflects and that even in the Syphilitic stage, it gave a necessary discipline, refinement and profound creative impulse to literature, art and science. And it is the pursuit of a rational understanding of the world, in the science and philosophy of Reason that has allowed the initial Syphilitic influence to be tempered, leading to the globalization movement and also more humane values of equality, albeit with horrendous episodes of violence. In the modern era, the “New Age” as the author calls it, which fits into the post-modern condition, social values are more accepting, incorporating religious tolerance (in some cultures only), ethical considerations and more esoteric forms of religious expression, especially in the incorporation of culturally alien forms of religion like Buddhism and Hinduism into western culture.

The author then explains how the Cancer miasm comes out of this condition, moving outside of the Syphilitic miasm and leading to a conflict between the individual and the collective state. The level of complexity of life has created a confusion of what is right and wrong, leading a struggle in one’s own identity. The author says this miasm can be seen as transparent, where the influence of the other miasms comes through, mixing in with the Cancer layer. It is part of not really knowing who one is any longer. There is a suppression of the self, a key factor of the Cancer miasm. Another factor, a well observed phenemona in the post modern era is the desire and pressure for perfection, whether in schools for children or adults in work and/or pleasure. The pressure is continually building for greater excellence and achievement, which as we know if part of the picture of Carcinosin, a relentless pressure and drive for perfection, leading to anxiety neurosis, excessive fastidiousness, hypochrondriasis, anorexia/bulimia and ultimate mental and physical breakdown. Socially, culture is becoming more and more controlled, including the role of medicine and science to mediate our health and in so doing helping alleviate fears of acute diseases, which at least in the developed world can be effectively treated and also relieving more effectively chronic pain and suffering in more obdurate diseases. This is not bad but reflects an ever increasing degree of control and of dependency, which as the author describes all reflect the Cancer miasm. Another factor is the amount of carcinogenic factors in the modern era, from drugs to chemicals and other pollutants. This has been a major shift for people to deal with, directly leading to massive amounts of cancer in modern society. The need to control all aspects of life and suppress that which does not appeal, including taking medications for every little ill, giving kids too many vaccines and medicating them with ritilin and psycho-active drugs, suppressing fevers, over educating and over stimulating them etc., all lead to the Cancer miasm and the suppression of fear with control. The author describes this phenomena well. 

After describing the social evolution of human society through these miasms she then addresses the ‘Ethical Vegetarian’ situation. Up until this point, the discussion of food habits was not a major focus since discussing the development of the psoric miasm and the introduction of grains as a major part of dietary habits. However, she now attempts to explore the quandary of the person who chooses not to eat meat for ethical reasons, which involves the abuse of animals in industrial farming and the broader socio/political issues this involves. However, she feels that it brings up serious challenges in gaining a balanced diet, especially for protein and also mineral and vitamin deficiencies such as iron and vitamin B12. This problem is compounded as three sources of protein used by vegetarians – dairy, pulses and grains have their own health problems – especially the overuse of wheat. She also explores the problems with soy and gives evidence how soy actually leads to mineral deficiency due to phytates which bind to minerals, preventing their absorption. Soy also contains trypsin inhibitors which block the action of enzymes needed for protein digestion. The soy industry has removed some of these ingredients, but the author claims that this also extracts Lysine and other amino acids from the soy, taking out the necessary protein that it is meant to give. Also many soy, ‘alternative meat’ products have MSG and other flavorings, making them even more unhealthy. The other known factor of soy is the phytoestrogens which have potentially led to inbalances in estrogen in females, leading to more problems, including cancer.

The author believes that being an ethical vegetarian is sacrificing their own health for the sake of animals, which is part of the Cancer miasm. The fact that only a relatively few people choose to do this and suppress the innate desire and need for meat, for the author indicates its ‘pathology’. By being an ethical vegetarian, as an attempt to address the problems of the modern age, the author says the vegetarian ‘seriously limits their own life.’ 

While agreeing with the author’s analysis of the problems with soy (which many others have done also), and also with dairy and excessive carbohydrates, as a vegetarian (predominantly vegan, with occasional forays with fish when in places where nothing else is available or where the diet is so repetitive to be driving me insane – parts of Africa for example) I have to take exception with the author’s ideas here. It really isn’t that hard to get a balanced diet. Personally, I find pulses in various forms just fine – lentils, chickpeas, various beans, which when cooked well or in hummus, and then there are nuts and seeds and of course one finds protein in vegetables and grains. Of course, the quality of grains needs to be good – whole grains and of various sorts. The key is a variety of foods and even if not taking dairy, it is not hard to get the protein one needs. It may be difficult for a person totally used to simple meat and potatoes to know what is available, but the basic assumption that one cannot have a well balanced diet without meat is wrong, in my opinion. It just takes a little more effort initially. Also, the whole protein thing has been over focused on. We don’t need that much protein, just the right amount and the right proportion of amino acids. Also, for those who choose a strict vegan diet and where Vitamin B12 is an issue, one can always take a supplement. There is enough in the liver for 5 years or and in the modern era, is it wrong to simply take a supplement if it fulfils the greater need. An argument can be made now that we should all be taking supplements anyway, meat eater and vegetarian.

The whole subject of supplementation is an interesting one, as its rationalization acknowledges that even for priviledged people who are educated and have access to the best food, including organic, it is harder and harder to get an optimal amount of nutrition from food. Also, in the context of the argument of the author, as each stage of social evolution and miasmatic patterning is a combination of necessity and evolution as well as pathological compensation, one can make the argument that becoming vegetarian is simply the necessary next step to make for the majority of humanity. Faced with seven billion people on the planet and the continuing exploitation of land and animals to sustain a meat dominated diet, we cannot continue to do this. Ten pounds of grain to make one pound of meat makes no sense. How much amazon forest has to be cut down for soy farming to feed cows in Nebraska to give us $1.50 hamburgers? So, an argument can be made that all of us have to move toward a vegetarian based diet (with occasional forays into meat if so inclined) rather than the other way around.

Also the fact that most of the world’s population is reliant on grains for survival also begs a question about the idea that one should minimize grains in one’s diet. How does one tell a subsistence farmer in Africa this. I have lived in Africa for nearly two years, spending a lot of time with people who have virtually nothing, and who survive on cassava and maize. They love meat, but rarely have it as it’s too expensive. In fact, one sees the true value of meat in these cultures and not the way in which the real price of meat is subsidized in the West, leading to its mad over consumption with all the health issues involved. If one is going to talk about the problems of a typical Western diet, it is surely meat that is the most damaging food we are consuming, and not wheat. Damaging in every sense – physical, social, ethical, political and ultimately spiritual. You do not see most people in developing countries eating meat the way we eat it in the west, although that is changing in countries like China, India and the African continent. The middle classes are now mimicking a western diet and it is killing them. Dairy is being imported in huge amounts into China from New Zealand and many Chinese people can’t even tolerate it as they have never consumed it. But they are trying very hard now! However, the author does make an interesting case as to the dramatic increase in gluten intolerance in modern society and how perhaps up to 50% of people of European descent may have some form of cereal intolerance, which may be having a a profound and insidious impact on a wide number of chronic auto-immune, inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. 

Back to the cancer miasm. One of the interesting issues discussed is how, due to the complex factors that induce cancer, including the vast amount of chemicals in the world today, the propensity to cancer is also passed on to following generations. The fact that DNA doesn’t just pass on active diseases but also the possibilities of future diseases means that our genetic stock is weaker than before. We literally inherit the disease (potential) of our ancestors, which are being exacerbated by changing social, food and behavioral patterns. This is simple miasmatic theory. In relationship to food and cancer it is interesting that many alternative cancer treatments advocate a vegan(ish) diet to treat active cancers. It is well proven that milk and other dairy products are one factor in the high incidence of breast cancers and prostate cancers and dairy should be eliminated in such cancers. Of course different forms of cancer have different aetiological causes but diet, especially dairy and bad fats (found in processed food, including both animal and vegetable oils) are important factors. The author discusses the interesting dynamic between susceptibility and stimuli and that in the Cancer miasm we have to work on susceptibility with homeopathy, but even then there are no guarantees due to the massive cancer stimuli factors that are out there. We can’t merely assume that a good remedy is enough to totally eradicate susceptibility. The author uses Kentian thinking as an example of not making presumptions that by making people happy (giving the right constitutional remedy to treat the inner condition) it is enough to prevent disease. 

In conclusion, the author feels that along with maintaining causes of disease which are obviously bad for one, there are others which are equally as bad and these are foods, such as cereals, pulses, dairy, soy, yeasts, processed sugar, processed fats, and substances such as mercury, arsenic, any synthetically produced chemical entering the body via food drink, water air and pharmaceuticals, and radiation. The author states that ‘all’ people are negatively affected by these things. This is obviously a dramatic and challenging thing to accept, definitely controversial and one to which I disagree. Mercury yes, lentil curry, I don’t think so. Maybe I am wrong and my love of lentils may obscure me to their bad side. Also, given my own level of pretty good health, I simply don’t experience any problems with it – yet. But it would seem there are many many other worse things to do with one’s body than eat pulses. It simply seems too extreme and doctrinal a point and makes the author’s overall arguments seem too radical. She has unfortunately fallen into the doctrinal rigidity of people who feel that one has to eat meat to be healthy. It is interesting how on both sides of this argument, there are absolute positions taken. I have met vegetarians who say eating meat is bad for you and on the other side, ‘paleo’ thinkers and advocates of Weston Price who believe that vegetarianism is bad for you and a form of pathology!! Both positions are wrong I think.

The author states that if enough people make the necessary lifestyle choices needed to prevent disease, in particular fundamentally changing habits of eating, and do so from a rational, thoughtful position of realizing what is good for our bodies and the planet, then change can happen where ‘there is enough for everyone and where everybody is good enough.’ The author makes a very coherent argument for the dietary changes she thinks is necessary and she may be right on an individual level. Personally I don’t think a quality diet including meat is unhealthy but I also feel that a quality vegetarian (mainly vegan) diet is healthy too. However, the broader issue of being able to feed the planet and to give enough energy for people to work the fields (a significant proportion of people on the planet do this daily for their survival) is impossible without the use of grains in the diet. In fact as the author herself stated, they are necessary for the immediate energy needed. We simply cannot survive with seven, leading to eight billion people on the planet without depending on grains. Even in western cultures, eating quality meat (without the abuses and health risks of meat from industrial farming – let alone the ethics) is expensive. People can’t afford it. Without wholesale changes in cultural mores, this cannot change to any great degree and so the fact that a few people can afford to eat organic meat off the bone and to eat 25% of one’s diet with animal protein is simply not going to change much for the majority of people. Is it better a person eats 25% of a diet being animal protein from bad meat or take the risk and eat some lentils? In spite of the excellent research in the book and creative exploration of miasmatic theory, that question isn’t answered for me.