Dear KarenMarie,

Ideally the body should generate its own probiotics (the appendix is the main breeding place of friendly bacteria). Giving the body everything it should make doesn't seem to improve the overall situation. For example, there is a huge difference between the interferon the body's DNA/RNA produces to protect the cells against viruses and the interferon made in a chemical laboratory. The latter has tremendous side-effects and lacks the life-force that the "home-made" version is equipped with. Taking isolated things out of context with the whole is often causing more probklems than it can resolve. This has recently discovered with repect to taking vitamins. People have taking one kind or another for many years and seriously upset their vitamin balance.

The main thing that influences the body to supply its own probiotic population is a clean liver and clean intestines. This raises AGNI - the digestive fire, which makes it easier for the body to also digest some raw food items. A weak AGNI (low secretions of gastic juice, bile and digestive enzymes) cannot deal with raw food at all. Ideally, a mixed diet stimulates AGNI and keeps it active and alive, providing the basis for a good probiotic environment. Kapha types benefit from warm or heating foods, Pitta types from cooling foods. For example, sweet foods have cooloing properties and are, therefore, less suitable for the Kapha type. Pungent, spicy dishes serve him very well, but would irritate the Pitta types who have too much fire in them alrady. I have amply discussed this entire subject in my book The Key to Health and Rejuvenation, including the raw food versus cooked food topic, if you want to know more about this. Vegetables should be well cooked so that there is still resistence to them when you pass a fork or knive through them. Eating overcooked veggies causes just as much digestive discomfort as eating undercooked veggies. When food is half raw, half cooked the body has a hard time to know how to deal with it. It is OK for the Kapha type to eat a salad at lunchtime, before eating the cooked parts of the meal. Re sauerkraut, I would have someone do the muscle test on you while you think of it or touch it.

With best wishes,
Andreas

http://ener-chi.com