via Born to be good.

31^st December 2004

Dear People,

For those of you who do not know what we are doing now, we are in the beautiful hills of KwaZulu Natal (KZN). It is about an hour away from Durban, near the village of Hillcrest down in a valley called KwaNgcolosi on the Inanda Dam. There is a small peninsula where a small group of people started organic vegetable gardens. When they came here there was nothing. They literally camped in tents and had to start from scratch. They are aiming to be completely self sustaining in the next few months and are teaching these skills to the local community. We linked up with them so once and for all we will prove that our program really works. We are filming and documenting everything and every body so there will be no misunderstanding. For those of you who have already received this newsletter, I have added pictures in this newsletter and changed the text somewhat.

Our sincere apology for not reporting earlier on the progress made with our project at Inanda Dam. You may have thought we had disappeared from the face of the earth. It is just that our living arrangements are very primitive. The most beautiful dining room but … no electricity, no running water, and a long drop, which was experimentally designed for later supplying energy, but has failed to do that as yet. Like Kim says: Back to the drawing board.

Hills visited, roads travelled ... our "Stomping Grounds"

Our cell phones are charged on batteries, and e-mailing etc. can only be done in the office of the king, Nkosi Bhengu where there is electricity. Showering is under a makeshift shower with buckets of water from the dam, which at 6’ o clock in the morning is well … very refreshing.

Our shower. On Sundays there was a lack of privacy as there are many fishermen and pleasure boats on the dam

We wanted primitive, because we know if our program works here it can work everywhere. But this kind of primitive we did not bargain for. A sense of humor and acceptance that you cannot use your laptop at night to write for example a newsletter to you or receive/send e-mails makes it easier. At night we only use the laptop to copy the photographs of the day otherwise your battery runs out. For the rest we use candles and little lights on you head with which you can read, or update the patients file, or walk in the dark to the long road to freedom – which is the long drop – about 50 meters from the rondawels.

Copying the photos and updating the patient's files before supper

The start went very slow, because people were hesitant to come forward to these 2 “weird” women. However, once the news started to travel that our first few patients started to recover, more and more new patients started to arrive.

Our first two patients whose recovery was dramatic were an old Sangoma and a young girl. The old Sangoma had been unable to walk for 5 weeks after her “Big ill” (whatever that was, because doctors treat their patients like children and do not tell them what is wrong with them) and an operation in her mouth – throat – we are not sure were as she also did not know herself.

"Old Sangoma" with the "Big ill" - She had not walked for 5 weeks and was very weak

It is a shame that doctors in this day and age still not talk to their patients and explain what is happening to them. This lady also thought she was dying as she was getting weaker and weaker and nothing was working. Her operation was also a mystery as we could not determine if she had something done to her throat, her jaws or her teeth as everything was painful. Within a few days she was walking around in the rondawel and when we saw her again she had already used the long drop outside (though not 50 meters away from the house).

Two weeks later we saw her at the pension payout in the community hall and she looked so beautiful – regal is a better word as you see in the picture below. She also talked with Dr Manto on her first visit about our program and how she is feeling now. She was very disappointed with her Sangoma friends (being herself a Sangoma) as they stayed away when they could not help her. On film we have her in the most beautiful coloured clothes, which is what makes our work so wonderful and rewarding – the transformation from sickness to health and happiness.

She is back and really taking an interest, unlike our first visit when she let everything happen

The young girl, Cindy, had AIDS and TB and if you look at her questionnaire, there were hardly any no’s. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, painful stomach, thrush, itchy skin, shortness of breath, body pains, sore hands, feet and swollen legs, pain in the head, sore throat (thrush) tiredness, thrush in the private parts, anemia +++, depressed and weighing only 35 kg (Before getting sick she was 47 kg). The family was already sharpening the spade to prepare the grave.

Meeting Cindy for the 1st time - she could just stand

Luckily for Cindy she has a very caring mother, who really was prepared to do everything and made sure Cindy took everything. A few days later we heard through the grapevine that she had gone shopping in Pinetown. We went straight to her house to explain that this was not a good idea, as she still needed all her strength to heal properly and rest was part of the medicine. It is very common though that when people have been sick for a long time and they start feeling better, they want to go to the shops, as it is part of the living world and not the dying world.

The rest of her family was also not very healthy. Her sister is pregnant but very malnourished and you could hardly feel the baby. We adopted her also on the program and now she is looking and feeling much better and the baby too.  When the mother realized that she would not have to bury her daughter, she had a mini collapse (she could let go of being strong), so we have put her also on the program.

What the family has realized is that nutrition is extremely important, and to stay healthy they have to do something. So out with the sugar, putu, rice and nyama (only in very limited amounts), and in with amanzi, fruit and veg etc. etc. They started cleaning their garden, and have prepared 22 big beds to plant vegetables. Cindy’s boyfriend is now also on the program, although he needs some more sessions with us as he likes the Smirnoff too much. All our patients that are very close to us have nicknames, and Cindy’s is Pinetown. Cindy still has a few problems as she is still on TB treatment, but she has already moved back with her boyfriend and appreciates life to the full.

Cindy with a big smile - getting there!

After Cindy’s and the old Sangoma’s recovery, word was spreading far and wide, and more patients were coming forward. We were now inundated with calls for help and we spend basically 5 days a week doing home visits. We soon realized that this was unproductive as each home visit would take us at least 2 hours and we were only able to see about 4 new patients a day and had to follow up the existing patients.

We had been kicked out of the clinic because we were accused of practicing unconventional and unproven treatment (what is new). Luckily Nkosi Bhengu (the king) had borrowed us the Van. We had 3 “clinic” days in front of the clinic from the Van and the back of the Mercedes. Afterwards Nkosi organized for us to hold our clinics in the Community Hall and from his offices at the tribal court. Nkosi has a very good understanding of what we are doing, and once he saw the results of patients recovering, he was – is extremely supportive.

In a way it was a real pity that the nurses and doctors did not want to work with us. They tried to convince the patients not to consult us, but this was in vain. The clinic was basically empty and we saw between 40 and 80 patients a day, and holding numerous health talks.

Working from the Van and the Mercedes opposite the clinic

Nelly and Mdu in action. People are hungry for information!

What was really beautiful was the reaction of the Sangoma’s when they heard about our results. They approached us if we could share the information with them, which we gladly did. The more people know about the program, the better. Mrs Bhengu, who is on the committee of Traditional Healers organized a very successful day attended by about 70 Sangomas, which exceeded  our expectations as we were thinking that if 20-25 would come, it would already be a very good day.

Nkosi welcoming about 70 Sangomas for a day of sharing

Our program is a real Wellness Program. President Mbeki was right when he said that heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis TB etc. are huge upcoming health problems. We do not think they are upcoming problems, we know they have arrived. Every second person in these hills and valleys is anemic and many people are extremely malnourished – overweight but malnourished. Many, many people are uncontrolled diabetics and even after years of treatment are losing their eyesight. The other frightening thing is the little water they drink: One kommetjie a day, perhaps two. As you will see in the film, it is extremely hot there – there is your answer to all the headaches. We explain that the brain needs water, and if it does not get enough water, it shrinks and bounces around in your skull. The next week when they come back – no more headache!

We are treating the patients who are loosing their eyesight for free, or who’s BP won’t come down with conventional treatment etc. The rest are given advice on what to do. We call those the “Sugar talks” and we have at least 3 a day. The girls (volunteers) hate them but one of our volunteers, Petros, a very kind and gentle young man is extremely good with them. We explain that when they are overweight they get sugar – yes, sugar causes sugar, let’s call a spade a spade. And no, sugar does not give you energy as advertised.  And what is sugar? Not only the tablespoons in the tea, but also cool drink, juice, refined maize, white flour, rice etc. Once you are overweight, and we let them carry the amount they are overweight around, (sorry – with some of your products) they realize where their sore knees, body pains, headaches etc. comes from. Next we explain that the heart has to work harder to supply blood to this big body which then causes high BP. Eventually the heart says enough: Stroke! We also show them pictures of what sugar can do, and encourage them to come back every week for support in a healthy lifestyle – not diet. Many do. Sometimes you think the scale will not hold, but so far it has with 137kg. We sold for a few days the ingredients at cost to these groups of patients, but we stopped as it is not a good idea to have money on us.

One of the "Sugar Talks". Nelly showing Thandi basic massage technigue

We met one lady who for 5 years was unable to walk, wash herself or go to the toilet and was basically “jailed” in her body and room because of uncontrolled sugar and high BP. She had to be pulled on a bucket somehow. Her nickname is Jailbird.

5 Years in bed in this tiny little room!

Last Tuesday we saw her beautifully dressed up collecting her own pension. She can now walk to the taxi rank, instead of a taxi having to drive up to her door and than being carried in the taxi. We have it on film how she tells that she can wash herself again, and walk to the toilet just after a week on our program, and than you see her walk and dance as she celebrates her mobility.

The other day we saw her finishing her washing as we arrived. She has also started to read her Bible, as sometimes she can see enough to read again (also using our drops). Imagine that for 5 years you are in a very small, badly ventilated room, dependent for everything on other people. There are many people like this lady hidden in the beautiful hills.

After 5 years unable to do anything for herself - now finishing her own washing as we arrived

Miracles are happening every day! One old lady of 89 had been blind for 20 years with cataracts. We treated her cataracts with some drops that we mix, put her on the whole program so she could regain some strength, and now she is seeing and walking around everywhere. You will not believe the hills she is walking everyday, as some of these hills are very steep. Wherever we go we hear she was here or there just the other day, visiting all the people she literally had not seen for all those years. She has joined again the choir and the women’s group of the church – and is really on a mission wanting to catch up of 20 years of darkness and dependency.

It was very emotional when they phoned us to tell that she was seeing again. One of those goose pimple moments! When we came across her, she recognized Nelly by her voice and came running to her, hugging her. Both were crying. She told Nelly that one morning she woke up and her eyes were all wet and snotty. She than took some toilet paper, wiped her eyes, and when she than opened her eyes she could see again, the hills, her children and grandchildren, everything. She calls Nelly her daughter that was send by Jesus to give her sight back. She had hoped that she would still see before she died and her prayers have been answered. This is one lady really having a happy New Year.

After 20 years of being blind of cataracts, she (with the pink jersey, can see again after being on our Wellness Program and using our eyedrops.

Here she has told her story to Dr Manto. Cindy can be seen with the white skirt. Since then we have used these eye drops in 5 other patients. One man of 75 years describes it as the fog that has lifted from his eye. The other lady can also see clearly again. Three others people can already see light and dark and should see in about 6 – 8 days time. Waiting can be long and we will only see them when we are back. Luckily we have put these old people also on our program, as they were stiff and weakened from not being able to walk on their own, so now they will have the strength to enjoy their new freedom.

And than there is AIDS! They are all hidden in the hills, and our poor Mercedes is really feeling its age (1986) going to these rondawels. Sometimes you do not know how to tackle the road, so you just close your eyes and hope for better times or better roads. We are extremely fortunate to have the Van from Nkosi Bhengu available, to transport our volunteers etc. The boot and the backseat from the Mercedes are our driving natural pharmacy and skin treating goodies.

Many are really sick, especially with TB. The TB treatment here is a real problem as many have been on TB treatment for 3 – 6 years and not recovering. Being very toxic drugs, patients get epileptic fits and suppressed bone marrow, causing severe anemia. We have many patients who are recovering beautifully, and some we are struggling with because of the TB treatment and 5 people have died. We will tell their story in the documentary.

We have cut down on our home visits. Patients also find the means to go to the clinic so we feel they should find the means to come to us. From our last writing we only have 1 day where we do home visits for very weak patients, and now people are bringing their patients in bakkies and wheelbarrows to the Community hall or the Tribal court.

We also seem to have found a treatment for a tropical fungus, which is rife here. It is called Cryptomycosis and the only solution Doctors have for this fungus is amputating the limbs. Thandi, now a volunteer was the first person we saw with that fungus. We put her on the whole program 3x a day and even increased the garlic and Africa’s Solution etc. We also made a cream to apply to the leg after cleaning it and it has really improved a lot. You will also see her later acting as my translator with Dr Manto’s 2^nd visit and talking about her own leg. We now are busy with a lady who has had it for 48 years and was also advised to amputate her leg, and a little girl of 4 who has it very badly on her legs, arms etc. Many more people have small spots with this fungus.

Thandi with tropical fungus on leg - the only solution ... amputation!

After a few weeks, it all started to clear up, the leg has downsized and healthy skin is coming back

Another miracle has been the stopping of Epileptic fits. This little girl below, who we have nicknamed Innocence, had between 5 and 8 big fits a day, each lasting more than 5 minutes. The fits started when she was 8 years old, and unfortunately her brain got damaged from all the fits. She is a now 14 years old with a mind of an 8 year old girl. That is why we call her Innocence as she is such a lovely little innocent girl. We put her on the lemon / olive oil mixture, Africa’s Solution and added some extra oils found in sardines and Hemp. The last time we saw her she’d had 1 small fit of about 20 seconds in 15 days. If it stays like this, she will be able to go to a special school in Stanger, although her parents are worried how they will get all the extra things to her so she won’t start fitting again

Little Innocent - No more fits!

The Minister Dr Manto came 2 weeks ago at very short notice. Wherever we are busy with a project or in a hospital she tries to come and see / hear for herself from the patients. Nkosi Bhengu and his right hand man Amatouwo (named like that because of his head gear and not our nickname) were there to welcome the Minister. We had asked some of our patients to come and talk with the minister. Cindy Pinetown, Previously blind lady, the old Sangoma and Nelly (the girl in the wheelchair) all told their stories of how they were and how they are now after being on our Program. We told Dr Manto about the terrible sugar and high BP problems we are seeing everywhere. Subsequently a health promotion day was planned and held by the Department of Health and the local health committee on the 5^th December. The day included a fun walk, visits to 3 gardens, and a community meeting. Most or all of our patients were there, many also took part in the fun walk even though it was extremely hot.

Dr Manto's 1st visit: Amatouwo, Dr Manto and Nkosi Bhengu. We stay on the Peninsula in the background

2nd Visit - Dr Manto and entourage are welcomed by Mdu and the children in our garden

Gladys talks about her recovery. For 10 years she was unable to walk and jailed in her room like "Jailbird". Nobody could help her. After being on our Program, she can be a wife to her husband again in all aspects

Dr Manto listens to Thandi and Tine talk about the effectiveness of the Welness Program and the miracles that have happened, including Thandi's leg. See her wearing a skirt!

The next day the following article below is what the Press reported on. Yes, she did speak about alcohol and drinking and driving, but it was a very small part of her speech. The day was about health awareness, healthy lifestyles, and starting and maintaining vegetable gardens. With good nutrition and the few simple remedies included in our Program, people can recover from many things. One reporter interviewed Cindy Pinetown, which was shown someday that week around 5 o’ clock in the morning on TV (who is up to watch anything at that time). Nothing was mentioned of Gladys, or the various other patients with different health problems we mentioned as an example. These include the Previously Blind Lady, or a lady who had terrible arthritis and after one week on our Program was able to do Zulu dancing, or the AIDS and TB patients who a few weeks ago were too weak to stand, and had walked the fun walk that day, or the diabetic people whose sugar levels are stabilizing and whose eye sights are improving. Kim’s wife Delaine wrote a letter to the newspaper, which they published. See below.

What I personally think of the press is not for repeating – it would be x-rated.  Are they either extremely stupid or deliberately spiteful or plain lazy? What they do not realize is that at the end of the day the truth will come out, and they, together with many doctors, scientists and members of the TAC, who have been calling us names, will have to sit with their guilty consciences of lives lost. We are now basically doing their work for them, documenting everything and showing that this is truly a Wellness Program. If you clean the body and restore the biochemistry, the body can take care of itself, be it AIDS, arthritis, diabetes, TB, epileptic fits high BP etc. etc. Included in the treatment package is probably also the most important aspect: A willing ear to listen, time for personal attention and lots of TLC!

She only spoke 1 minute on drinking/driving and 19 minutes on healthy living and our Program. The journalists must have been deaf and stupid. Unfortunately our Wellness Program does not work for Stupid!

I realize this has become a long writing, but it has also been a long and busy 3 months, seeing in total about 350 patients, many with repeat visits. As it is old year’s eve and we are a few hours away from the New Year, one becomes philosophical. What do we want from the New Year? Health, (is wealth) and happiness for the whole Nation and ourselves! It is possible, and with your help we are making it possible. By documenting everything, nobody will be able to deny anymore that this program works. On Tuesday we are driving back to KZN to do 10 more days of clinics and home visits, and than we will start editing our films. Hopefully by the end of January it will be finished and shown on TV. We will be able to give many of our patients another month of supplies, and after that they have to buy their own things. Some will struggle to do that, which I will explain in my next writing, but most of them can afford it.

At least they printed Delaine's letter (Kim's wife) to put things straight

For the people who donated ingredients to us, perhaps now you realize how much of a blessing your products are. Some last photos of a young man who is on the road of recovery. I hope it will bring a smile to your heart and be a good start for your New Year. We wish you love and happiness for the New Year from a very hot Bloemfontein. Till the next time from KZN.

Tine, Nelly and Kim from KZN

Bedsores all over his body because he could hardly move, let alone walk!

This young man was extremely weak and thin, and has a huge bedsore on his bum to prove the point he was even too weak to turn himself.

Even to weak to turn his head

Up and running, even with his catheter

Keep smiling Brother!

]]> http://www.tinevandermaas.com/2009/06/kwazulu-natal-newsletter/feed/ 0 http://www.tinevandermaas.com/2009/06/the-immune-system-simplified/ http://www.tinevandermaas.com/2009/06/the-immune-system-simplified/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:47:15 +0000 Tine http://www.tinevandermaas.com/?p=60 Dear Reader,

The following is a very simplified way of explaining how the immune system works and how to improve it.

Your Being is a unity of your body, your mind, your heart and your soul. All these have to live in harmony together as the one cannot function properly without the other. The body is the part where most people notice that something is wrong in their being – we call it disease, or dis-ease, so lets start with the body.

Your body does not want to be sick, so the whole body has an alarm system to warn and protect us against the outside world. The skin, eyelashes and tears are all part of that system. The problem is we have to breath, eat and drink to stay healthy and alive so the body has to let “foreign” things in our body. In the case that these foreign things are danferous to the body, it has set up a whole defense mechanism to deal with these dangers. Nausea (to prevent you from adding more), diarrhoea and vomitting (to get it out of your system as quickly as possible) are all part of this mechanism. Think also about a heart of kidney transplant, where the person has to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of their lives to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ. But a defence can only last that long, than it will become tired and not function properly anymore. This is when we notice it and become sick.

One of our main defences is found in the blood – the white blood cells. Think of your white blood cells as your army, complete with spies, killer soldiers, cleaners, generals, and special trained forces etc. In charge of the army are the generals or T-cells. There are many types of  T-cells, but I will only go into 3 types of T-cells, The T4 cells, T8 cells and the T Killer cells who are in charge of the whole army. There are spies who tell the T4 generals where the problem is in the body, and there are soldiers who act just like those figures from the old “Packman” game. The slow moving Packman figures are called the “Big Eaters” . They have heaters they can switch on to kill germs with their heat. The fast moving Packman figures are called “Small Eaters”.

Lets see how it works when you have a splinter in your finger. The finger becomes swollen, a red circle forms around it, it is hot and painful, than the splinter is pushed out together with puss, and the finger heals and returns back to normal. So what happens on the inside?

The spies tell the T4 generals there is a splinter in the finger. They call all their troops together to go to the trouble spot – the finger. More blood is needed around the splinter so the white blood cells or army can get to it – that is why it is swollen and red. The Small Eaters arrive first. They form a circle around the splinter, to prevent the splinter and perhaps germs that are on the splinter from travelling to the rest of the body – that is the round circle you see on the outside. When the Big Eaters arrive, they switch on the heaters to help kill any germs, and the Killer cells are also there to give a hand. Your finger is sore, because in that way you will not use it much and damage it even more. The battle is on and usually the splinter is pushed out, together with some puss. Puss is just white blood cells and dead germs. Now the T8 cells or generals see that the war is over. They are the ones that call back the troops and tell the other white blood cells or soldiers to go back to the barracks. So the T4 cells are the “warmongers” and the T8 cells are the “peace keeping forces”. In a conflict, you need both!

When you get an infection in your lungs, the same thing happens as above, but the lungs will also help to get the infection out by making you cough.  (And than we are actually stupid enough to take cough mixture to stop us from coughing, thereby working against our bodies to get well.) The Big Eaters will switch on their heaters, causing you to have a higher temperature or fever. So a fever is part of your Immune System or defence system, and again we work against it. What do people take when they have a fever – yes – an aspirin to bring the fever down.

Coming back to the T4 and T8 cells. When the battle is on, the T4 cells are the warriors and the T8 cells are the ones that call the troops back when the battle has been won. When the T8 cells do not do their job, you have a problem. The T4 cells and the rest of the army have no enemy to fight anymore, but the troops do not stop killing till the T8 cells say so. So when the troops do not get that message, they keep on attacking, but because their is no more enemy, they have to attack something, so they attack other cells from the body – they attack “self”. This is called an autoimmune disease, or an overactive immune system, and you get diseases like arthritis, lupus etc. That is why people who have autoimmune diseases are given cortisone, as cortisone is an immune depressor.

What are antibodies? Antibodies are specially trained soldiers or white blood cells. A newborn baby has no antibodies of its own, but has received some from its mother whilst in the womb, or through her breastmilk. In the mean time, when the baby is exposed to different viruses, it will build up its own antibodies. When a child is exposed to measles, the following happens: The spies warn the T4 cells there is a new unknown virus in the body. The T4 cells call a group of white blood cells together and tell them to go to school and learn all about measles. This is called the Window Period. When they have learned everything, they are now special trained forces or antibodies and they are ready to kill the enemy – the measles. In the meantime, the child becomes miserable, has a fever, the measles have multiplied from just a few into their millions and a rash appears. Now the antibodies are ready to kill the measles, and the child recovers. The good thing is, that the antibodies against measles pass their knowledge on to their children – or the next generation antibodies, so for the rest of your life, you are protected against measles. This is what they try to do when they vaccinate children against measles etc. but that is another can of worms which I will cover in another writing.

So in your lifetime you build up immunity against many other viruses. So why are we still getting the flu – which is caused by a virus? If we already had it once, why do we not have antibodies against the flu? Viruses keep on changing or mutating. As it goes from person to person, and even from environment to environment, it wants to survive and so it makes itself stronger and better day by day. That is why people who had Flu vaccinations still get the flu. By the time the vaccine is produced the flu virus has already mutated many times. Here again – I will cover vaccines in another article.

The Lymphatic System, the Glands and the Liver are also very, very important and play a huge role in keeping the body healthy. Just like you have blood vessels everywhere, so you have lymph vessels. Most of the “dirt” in your blood is taken over by the Lymph and is send to the liver. You have Lymph glands all over your body like your face, neck, under your arm, on your back, front, arms, legs and groin. Inside the glands are the Big Eaters. Say you have for example a sore throat. The Big Eaters in the glands of your neck work like vacuum cleaners and suck up the infection from your throat causing you to get swollen glands. Now the glands empty the Big Eaters with the infection into the Lymph vessels and it will eventually all land into the toilet. Unlike the blood system, where you have the heart to pump the blood through the body, the lymph system has no “pump”. The muscles have to press against the vessels to push the lymph through the body. That is one of the reasons why some form of exercise is important – to keep the lymph system flowing. There are also people who are specially trained in Lymph drainage or Lymph massage, to assist the system to get going again if it was “blocked” – which can happen when you have been extremely ill. One of the warning signs that something is wrong in a certain part of your body are swollen glands, for example swollen glands in the neck can be an infection like Flu, tooth problems TB, cancer etc.

The liver is one of the most important organs in your body and has been highly underrated. It has something like 500 functions although people are mostly only aware of about 9 functions. It is your major energy supplier, so when you are tired, it is because your liver is not working properly. Everything that you eat or drink – before it is send to all the cells in your body – it first goes through the liver. The liver will try to seperate all the good from the bad stuff, from where the good stuff is send to the heart and from there to the rest of the body, and the bad stuff to the kidneys, the bladder and the toilet. Most people are aware that the liver can only process one alcoholic drink per hour, and if more is consumed, you get drunk as the alcohol was not processed by the liver, and circulates in your system – waiting to be processed. All medication, other chemicals and everything else your body does not want/need,  the liver sorts it out and gets rid of it.

All the white blood cells are born in the bone marrow. The baby T-cells than travel to the Thymus gland which is situated next to your heart behind the breast bone. T-cells get their name from the T from Thymus. The Thymus gland is like a college were the T-cells receive training on how to be good T-cells. If they do not receive proper training, they do not know what to do, are disorganised and people become easier sick.

Every person has normally between 800 and 1200 T4-cells per millilitre of blood with an average of about 1000. This is called your CD4 count. With certain diseases, like for example with  AIDS, the T4-cells go down in numbers, but in the beginning you do not notice it. Say you have a CD4 count of 700. You look and feel healthy because the 700 T4 cells can still do the job of a 1000 T4 cells. But when the CD4 count drops to say 500, the T4 may not be able to handle all the work anymore, so they decide not to worry about the small infections, but only concentrate on the bigger diseases. People now may struggle with “small” health problems like sores in the mouth, skin problems, coughing more than normal etc.

When you have a CD4 count of 200, doctors say you have AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Forget about the Acquiredpart as there are many different ways to “acquire” Immune Deficiency. Also forget about the Syndrome. Doctors call anything that they do not know a Syndrome. We call it Symptoms – and you get all kinds of symptoms BECAUSE your CD4 count is low: swollen glands, skin problems, diarrhoea, bronchitis, pneumonia, TB, meningitis, etc. etc.  There are just not enough T4 cells in your blood to organize the army, so people are open to all kinds of diseases. It is also important to remember that all people are different, so some people may already become sick with a CD4 count of 400, while other people with a CD4 count of only 90 may only have a few small health problems.

These days many people have “weak” immune systems and suffer from IDS – Immune Deficiency Symptoms. There are many reasons like “Bad” or “Chronic” Stress, malnourishment, environmental factors, toxins/chemicals can all cause IDS. The food that we eat or not eat, the air that we breath, the water we drink, the abuse of alcohol, drugs or medication all contribute towards getting IDS.

Chronic stress is a major factor. When you are stressed, depressed, unhappy etc. your brain sends a message to your adrenal glands – they lie on top of your kidneys. The adrenal glands than release Cortisole, which is an Immune depressor – just like the medication Cortisone you get prescribed for an over-active Immune System or Auto Immune Disease like arthritis. Cortisole kills T4-cells. When you are chronically stressed your CD4 count goes right down till it hits rock bottom, depending how long your stress lasts. On the other hand, when you are happy, your CD4 count goes up again and stays in the healthy range, because than your brain releases other chemicals that are good for you. Notice how happy people are seldom sick, while stressed people often have health problems.

The following is just an explanation why we do what we do and is for anybody with IDS, or for people with chronic or autoimmune diseases. If you had the flu or cold this year, you know your Immune System is not up to scratch – it is not normal for a healthy person to get the flu each year – go to my Basic Wellness Program! In the near future I will fine-tune the Basic Wellness Program to specific diseases.

Most medication is made from food, only we have stopped eating healthy. Also the quality of the food is not the same as say 20 – 30 years ago for various reasons. We are only taking out of the soil, not putting anything back, and if we put something back, it is fertilizer, which is a petrol-chemical product. To get the same out of an orange 30 years ago, you now have to eat at least 20 oranges to get the same in. The same with spinach where you now have to eat 74 cups of spinach against 1 – Popey would not have been happy at all! Many people start to realize this and are starting to eat organic grown vegetables. Even some of the mainstream supermarkets are staring to stock more organic grown fruit and veg.

Often when you ask people when they last had a piece of fruit they will ask: “Does a glass of fruit juice count as a fruit?” When something is wrong we either go to the doctor or the chemist to get pills, only to suppress the symptoms but not fixing the problem. Your kitchen should become your medicine cupboard – not your bathroom cupboard. So eat healthy – if your plate of food is coloured like a rainbow – and not with chips or sausage – but with the garden grown variety, you know you are on the right track, but there may be specific things you need to do or add to your diet.

When people have chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels etc. or viruses like herpes, or auto-immune diseases like arthritis, they are already very “dirty” on the inside. On top of that, all these diseases produce a lot of dirt  on their own, adding to more garbage in your body, thereby causing more and more damage. All the dirt, dead cells and medications have to be filtered out by your liver. Eventually your liver can’t handle the workload and gets “blocked” like a blocked drain. This is clearly visible in dark skinned people, where it looks like the skin has been smeared with black shoe-polish – their skin is a lot darker. Now all the garbage does not leave the body, and it is send, together with the good things, to the heart and then to the rest of the body. That can be one of the reasons why some people have high blood pressure, because the blood is heavier, and the heart needs to pump harder to push the blood through the body. (I am now not talking of the narrowing of the arteries etc.).  When people have swollen glands and they stay swollen, it means that the liver is “blocked” and the lymph cannot empty its rubbish in the liver. In people with AIDS, the body is full of rubbish. It still wants to get out of the body, so it breaks out through the skin, as seen with many AIDS patients. Often doctors try to treat the skin problems by prescribing creams etc. which don’t work, as the real problem is a blocked liver. It is also one of the reasons why people with AIDS loose weight. Whilst they are still having an appetite and are still eating well, they start losing weight. This means they are first malabsorbing. Only later do they loose their appetite. This has all to do with a “blocked” or dirty liver. If you are often tired, have muscle pains, skin problems, swollen glands, any chronic diseases, cancer or whatever, you first have to clean your liver and colon (will cover that later).  Go to the Basic Wellness Program which is essential for regaining your health. When you start taking the Wellness Program, you will make a stink on the toilet and your urine may be darker etc. Also you may pass a lot of gas – this is candida breaking down. Please do not use air-freshner (you will be breathing in more chemicals) , but light a match to burn up the gas.

Selenium is essential for a good functioning body, and the richest source of selenium is Brazil nuts. Selenium destroys toxic free radicals generating peroxides which damage cell membranes, including those of the immune system. In a later writing I will explain the whole story of free radicals.  Selenium is found in the soil. Countries with high levels of selenium in the soil have much healthier people than countries with low levels of selenium in the soil. South Africa has very low levels of selenium in the soil and also has the highest number of people living with AIDS in the world. Look at any African country where there are low numbers of people living with AIDS, and you will find a soil rich in selenium. Adults need about 75 mcg per day – more when they are sick and recovering, but not exceeding 200 mcg per day.

Zinc is essential to keep the Thymus gland healthy – the thymus being the training college for the T-cells.  If the Thymus gland does not receive Zinc, the college becomes dysfunctional and the T-cells do not receive training. That is why older people become sick so easy, because their T-cells are not trained due to a lack of zinc. Men are even more at risk than women. Everytime after an ejaculation, they loose 1/3 of their zinc in the semen. so women are killing their men with love! You need at least 45 mg of Zinc per day, more when you are sick, and the richest source of Zinc is found in pumpkin seeds. One tablespoon of pumpkin seeds per day will already gibe you 15 mg per day. Pumpkin seeds are not only good as a zinc supplement, but they also get rid of any worms or parasites. Many people do not even realise they have worms and parasites. Give them also to your pets. Dogs love them. Now I sound like one of those adverts, but on top of that, the pumkin seeds will help to keep your intestines clean and helping you to get rid of all the old foodstuff that may stick to your intestines. You can either buy them at any supermarket, or dry your own. Take out the seeds from the pumpkin, wash and dry them in the sun or in a warm place and keep them in a glass container. They really taste nice, a bit like nuts. Make sure you give the whole family, including the pets. Men should really take more zinc. One of the causes of prostate cancer is lack of zinc.

One of the best natural antibiotics, anti-fungal and general cleaning agents in the world is garlic. People whose Immune Systems are not well like with AIDS often get thrush. If you already have thrush, eat for about 3 days every hour one clove of garlic – about 10 cloves a day. Chew them well, and before you swallow, move the garlic around in your mouth. Within 3 days, the thrush will be gone. If you have a cold or the flu, eat as much garlic as you can during the day. If you have a sore throat, cut 1 or 2 cloves in fine pieces and put in a cup of boiling water. Leave standing for a while and stir, than spoon the garlic out and eat it. With the garlic water gurgle and than swallow it. You can also add some salt in warm water and gurgle with the salty water. If you have a sinus problem, cut again 2 pieces of garlic in a cup of boiling water. Straight away, put your nose over the cup and inhale – it smells a bit like pizza. You are now steaming the snot loose in the little tubes that are blocked. Now massage/press on the following points: 1). On the middle of the eyebrow, 2). On either side of the bridge of your nose near the corner of your eyes, and 3). under your eyes in line of the middle of your eyebrows on the facial bone. You are now pressing on the sinuses to help unblock the tubes so the stuff in your sinuses can get out. (If you take anything to “dry” out your sinuses you actually make your sinuses worse. Now the mucous has dried, but the infection is still in there. But you need the mucous to get the rubbish out of the sinuses.) Women often have thrush in the vagina. Just put one piece of garlic in the vagina before you go to sleep, and usually the thrush is gone the next day. You may have to repeat it the next night. Look also at the Candida Program. The causes of most ear infections are fungeses. If you have an ear infection try the following: Squeeze the oil of the garlic on a piece of cotton wool and put in the ear and sleep with it. With children most recurrent ear infections are caused by milk and milk products. Stop all milk – see also article later on milk. If you have very sick people who can hardly eat, let alone garlic, put a piece of garlic every few hours into the anus. Much of the nutrients of the garlic will still be absorbed. Garlic is for anybody that needs to regain their health or want to keep it, be it arthritis, diabetes, heart etc. More articles will follow. Please also remember it is the oil of the garlic that works, so garlic salt or garlic pills are hardly effective. You also can not eat the clove without chewing or crushing it. Garlic needs to be chewed or crushed to release the active ingredients of garlic. If you need the garlic, you may not smell much of garlic, but if you want to prevent smelling of garlic, eat some parsley afterwards.

Often in areas where there is a lot of air pollution, and you can see what you breath, people have many chest problems like asthma, bronchitis and the common cold. But again, all these problems are also caused by the food we eat. All people with diseases have inflammation and one of the best natural anti-inflammatories is ginger. Any sick person should eat it. For people with lung problems like asthma, pneumonia, emphysema, TB and AIDS, carry always some pieces of ginger with you. When you start to struggle for breath, take a bite of the ginger and chew, or eat some chopped ginger. The relieve will be there within some 30 seconds.

Raw carrots are one of the best sources of betacarotene. If you suffer from any viral disease, try to eat at least 3 – 4 raw carrots per day. The betacarotene kills at least 5% of the viruses every day. Betacarotene is also needed if you have any other diseases, so your mother was right when she said carrots were good for you, not only just for your eyes.

People who are old, sick, stressed, tired or malnourished are often cold. Your normal temperature is 37*, but their temperature is often below 37*.When your body is called it is much easier for infections to start growing inside you. For example TB loves it if your body temperature is 36.5*. Remember that part of your Immune System is fever, so it can kill infections. To raise your temperature do the following 2 things: Add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in your lemon juice or other food 3 – 4x per day. Secondly, make a hot water bottle and keep it either on your stomach, or when you sit in your office, in the back of your chair. Avoid getting (over) tired – go and have a nap, staying out in the cold too long without adequate clothing/blankets, not exercising enough, or not getting enough calcium in your diet. To increase your calcium and magnesium eat plenty of green vegetables like spinach etc. or supplement calcium/magnesium from the Foodstate range. You do not get calcium from milk or milk products – which will be a seperate article, abd calcium is only absorbed when it is taken together with Magnesium.

In the case that your Immune System is very low, and you do get shingles, mix the following: 1 Tablespoon of Aquas Cream, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 Disprin or Aspirin. Dissolve or crush the Disprin/Aspirin into a fine powder and put into the aquas cream with the lemon juice. If the area with shingles is big, mix more proportionally e.g. 2 tablespoons of aquas cream, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 Disprin/Aspirin, 5 tablespoons etc. Put on the shingles area thickly with either cotton wool or toilet paper. Do not touch the shingles with your fingers – if you do, go and wash your hands properly with soap and water. This is to avoid it spreading to other areas on your body, or to other people. Put it on again 4 hours later, even if they have already dried up or the pain is gone. Again apply the next day, and if you want to avoid scarring, keep on applying it till the scars are gone. When you have put the cream mixture on thickly, sit and wait till the cream has been absorbed into your skin. Wear a soft cotton T-shirt – no nylon or acrylic, as that material will keep on irritating the area. Do not eat peanuts or peanut butter when your Immune System is down, as this can trigger shingles.

If anybody has diarrhoea, is vomiting or is nauseous, the best way to get rid of this is charcoal – burned wood. (This does not work for Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Crohns – these will be covered seperately). Charcoal is actually carbon, which is also used to clean our drinking water, and is also given in hospitals to people who have overdosed on drugs as it absorbs the junk. You can either buy charcoal capsules – which are expensive and you need to take at least 12 capsules every 2 hours if you have “untreatable” diarrhoea. To make your own powder, take a few charcoal pieces, put them into a plastic bag and put it into a cardboard box. Take a big stone and grind the charcoal into a fine powder. Keep the charcoal powder into a glass jar. When you have diarrhoea, or are vomiting, feel nauseous, or have eaten/drunk something wrong, take 2 tablespoons every 2 hours till it has stopped. Although the powder is completely tasteless, mix it into some mashed banana so you also will replace some of the potasium. Drink enough water to prevent dehydration. The longest it has taken us to stop an “untreatable AIDS diarrhoea” was 8 hours. This lady was already in hospital for 3 months, but after we had given her the charcoal 4x over 8 hours, she was discharged the next day.

The following is illegal in many countries in the world, although many countries are now allowing marijuana for medicinal purposes. It works against pain, be it from cancer or sprained muscles, helps with incontinence in Multiple Schlerosis patients, is an anti-cancer agent, works to relieve shortness of breath in patients with asthma, emphysema, TB, pneumonia and bronchitis, helps against nausea, brings back appetite etc. If you drink it as a tea – without the leaves, you will not get high and get the giggles (although some patients can sure use a laugh). To make 1 cup, put 1 tablespoon of dried leaves into a cup of boiling water, stir occasionally and leave it standing till it has cooled down. Before drinking, strain out the leaves, and put the leaves back in the cup with the leaves, so the tea can get stronger. Keep the tea in the fridge – you can keep it for about 5 days. If it becomes cloudy, throw it away. We normally make 2 liters at a time as patients with pain need to drink it continiously. The mistake people make is that they drink a whole cup, the symptoms of pain etc will go away, and than they wait till the pain is back again in full force. What you should do is drink enough till the pain is gone. Then when the pain rears its head, drink straight away a few sips to keep the pain level right down.

These days when we have a cold or a flu, we are doing our utmost best to work against our bodies and our Immune System. We take Aspirin to bring the fever down, whilst fever would actually assist us in getting rid of colds and flu. We take cough mixture to stop coughing, whilst coughing is part of the body’s defence system to get the infection out of the lungs. On top of that, we keep on walking around in public places and going to work, thereby spreading the infection. Are you really such a nice person that you want to share your cold or fly with everybody? By staying active, we are not resting our bodies, forgetting that rest and sleep is one of the best medicines. When you rest/sleep, your body can use all the energy repairing itself instead of using the enrgy to keep you going when you are up and about. Another huge mistake is that people insist of being prescribed antibiotics by their doctors – or the doctors prescribe them anyway, forgetting that flu is caused by a virus and will not react to antibiotics. In the process the antibiotics will cause damage to your gut – see Candida and you will be part of the process of creating drug resistance to antibiotics. What to do: Get yourself Citricidal or Grapefruitseed extract and take about 5 every 4 hours till the symptoms are gone. Citricidal is extremely effective in getting rid of colds and flu’s. It is a very high dosage, but it works, and the only side effect is diarrhoea. However, as soon as you stop taking the Citricidal, the diarrhoea also stops. Drink enough water, stay in bed with a hot water bottle and only eat “light” food. Keep your windows open, so whatever you are coughing out can go outside, and you don’t breath back in your own germs. Start the Basic Wellness Program – a healthy person should not get the cold or a flu.

Exercise is very important. First of all your whole body will benefit from the extra oxygen it receives. On top of that, oxygen kills infections, and cancer really does not like oxygen either. Your muscles will become stronger, and fat cells will be replaced by muscle cells. When you exercise, you also produce more bloodcells, which means more Immune cells and red blood cells. Your metabolism will improve etc. etc. etc. Most people do not like exercise, so find something you enjoy doing, like taking a good walk a few times a week, dancing on some old rock and roll music, taking ballroom dance, Tai Chi, karate, yoga, or whatever classes. The gym is not the only place to get your daily exercise. Just build up a sweat a few times a week – even as simple as skipping rope. When you enjoy your exercise, you will also feel happy, which is good as it is impossible to be angry and be happy at the same time.

You should also spend at least half an hour outside – in the sun if possible. Sunlight is very important for our bodies as that enables us to produce vitamin D. Most people are now deficient in vitamin D. We have been scared away from the sun in case we develop skin cancer, but now far more people are getting sick because of lack of sun than those that have developed skin cancer from the sun. Half an hour a day at around 10h00 – 11h00 in the morning or 15h00 – 16h00 in the afternoon, without sunglasses, and as much skin exposed as decently possible will do the trick. Sick people should be put into chairs outside – even wrapped in blankets. In countries with long winters, get full spectrum lights to expose yourself to this health giving light. If that is not possible, supplement your diet with codliver oil. When we were small and living in Holland, we used to get it in the months containing the R’s, so September, October, November, December right up to April – those months being the winter months with hardly any sun.

If you want to have a healthy Immune System, you should try to avoid all sugar and sugar products. The obvious are sugar, cool drinks or fizzy drinks, chocolates, cakes and sweets. The not so obvious sugars are refined foods like bread, white rice, potatoes, cornflakes and other breakfast cereals etc. They contain extremely little nutrients and break down straight into sugar. They contain so few nutrients (if any at all for in the case of salt and sugar), that they could be classified as anti-foods. Anti-foods are foods like sugar, who have to take out of your body to be digested, not contributing anything to your body. Just look that these days, when you leave a piece of bread lying around, it just gets hard, but no fungus will grow on it – like in the old days – so even the funguses do not even want to eat bread … so why should you? Why is sugar bad for your Immune System? The Big and Small Eaters of your white blood cells, see sugar as an infection and eat the sugar. Now when an infection enters the body, they are already full with sugar, and will not go for the infection. This gives the infection time to multiply, so by the time the Big and Small Eaters are hungry again, the infection has had time to spread. If you drink one cold drink or fizzy drink, or eat a small piece of chocolate, or a piece of cake, your Immune System will be out of order for 18 hours. No wonder so many people are sick these days, looking at the amount sugar and refined foods we consume these days. People who have Candida – and most people have – or thrush, should avoid eating sugar at all costs, as Candida thrives on sugar. However, this is not to say you can never have anything with sugar. If you are going to have an ice-cream or chocolate, than really enjoy it and eat it without guilt. Also do not bore people to tears by telling them that you are not eating this or that. There is nothing worse than being in the company of people preaching and talking about their diet. There is only one group more boring than these people and those are the people talking about what lands in the toilet, how many times a day/week/month etc. etc. For more on sugar etc. see the various articles that will be posted shortly on diabetes, sugar, hyper active kids etc.

Alcohol is also sugar, and generally not good for your Immune System. There is nothing wrong with having a few drinks a week – if you are not in a health crisis, but please remember that if you have a hangover the following day, your liver and white blood cells are also having a hangover, and just like you do not feel like working, so your liver and Immune System are not keen to do the job.

Many people these days are anemic. We have been attacked why we use beetroot instead of liver. In the beginning, when we investigated the Wellness Program, we saw that we had far quicker and better results with beetroot than with liver. Only later we learned the following. Our bone marrow (where we produce our bloodcells) is damaged by benzine poisoning. This can happen from car emissions, parrafin stoves, cooking on fires and living in areas where you can literally see what you are breathing in. When the bone marrow is damaged, you do not produce healthy red and white blood cells – which also causes anemia. Beetroot repairs the bone marrow and when eating 2 big beetroots a day, the problem will be solved within a short time. You can check your own status by just looking at the inside of your lower eyelid. If it is pink/red, you do not have a problem. If it is white/pale you do! We have seen many African people who had actually white palms (of their hands) and no colour in their nails.

Always take a good supplements. (See the Basic Wellness Program) Articles will be posted why you need to take X, Y, Z. We will always write down what supplements are the absolute bare necesseties, and than give an option of what to have if your finances allow for it. We are extremely conscious of the value of money, that you can only spent it once, and that we know you have also other priorities, so if we recommend something extra, please do not be disturbed if you can not afford it. You will still regain your health. Where possible we will always recommend food instead of supplements so you do not have to spent money twice.

The whole idea behind changing your lifestyle to a healthy one is to either prevent disease, or to heal yourself  from disease. You can only do this if your body has all the tools to do the repair work. Without tools, no repair work can be done. Over the coming weeks we will tell stories of some of our patients like the lady with full blown AIDS with only a CD4 count of 1, who now has a CD4 count over 800 and is still healthy after many years. People should not believe the story that AIDS kills, but if following our Program can live to a ripe old age. Also do not believe the media when they say you need ARVs otherwise you die. I will post some documents on that. You can get all your energy and health back, but realise that it is a lifestyle change – a life long program – but not difficult to follow.

Please check all the individual diseases and the information provided as they will be posted in the next few days.

In the beginning I talked a bit about the mind, the heart and the Spirit or Soul and how they influence each other. It is very important to get peace of mind. This is a whole other story for another posting, but the one thing I know for sure is that people do not love themselves enough. They say they do, but they don’t. Somehow, we started loosing sight of what really is important in life like love, friendship, happiness, joy, meaning and purpose and we got involved in the rat race. Please take the time to get to know yourself, to find out what gives you joy and hapiness, and to do the things you want to do in life. Do not waste your time on things you really do not enjoy obviously going to the dentist or cleaning your place excluded – but find a way to give your life meaning. How many times do old people at the end of their lives say: I always had wanted to do this, I should have done that etc. Have you smelled an old age home? It usually smells sour, because there are many people sitting in a building, full of regrets of what could have been, and never did anything about it, always finding an excuse why not to do it.

Happiness usually does not come in big parcels, but in small moments like looking at a naughty child, smelling a flower, getting an unexpected hug from somebody that cares, eating pasta (my favourite), your dog jumping on your lap or putting its head on your leg. Whatever it is, start being aware of these moments and like beads, make a beautiful chain of happiness. Before you go to sleep at night, think of at least 5 things that made you happy and grateful that day. Everyday when you wake up, think of at least one thing you are going to do just to please you – just you. If you can not find anything to be happy/grateful for, I suggest you borrow somebody’s shoes – but half a size smaller than yours, and wear them for the whole day. I am a 100% sure you will find something to be grateful for when you take them off at night.

May the Spirit that is Love be with you and protect you,

Tine and Nelly