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POWER:
Mind & Muscle > Jan. 2000
Fats
That Heal Fats That Kill: An Interview with
Udo Erasmus. Part I: Good Fats and Bad Fats |
("Knowing
that the poisons I had been exposed to were carcinogenic and that cancer
often involves fats, I needed clear, accurate, factual information.")
Following is an exclusive interview with Udo Erasmus, Ph.D., author
of Fats
That Heal Fats That Kill. Erasmus is considered by many to be one
of the most serious health gurus today, especially concerning fat metabolism,
but also libido, aging, and beauty.
Says Erasmus in the preface of his book, "My health
is my responsibility... Our drug-oriented medical approaches
cannot lead us to health... Foods and nutrition are
primary options for self-help in health."
With this credo as a guiding thread, Erasmus has fashioned a thought-provoking,
sometimes controversial - but always nutritionally sound - understanding
of the role of fats (both good and bad) in our diet.
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ERASMUS: There are several themes in your question. First of
all, I think the reason for the fat phobia is that
people have heard only half the story on fats. The
complete story is that there are fats that heal as
well as fats that kill. Everybody has been told to
avoid the fats that kill, but the importance of the
fats that heal has been neglected. Yet the healing
fats are even more important than the avoidance of
bad fats, because we cannot stay alive if we don't
get enough of the healing fats. If you know only half
the story - if you think that all fats are bad - then
it makes sense that you would avoid all of them.
The second reason people aren't getting fats
is industrial. The food industry likes its
products to have a long shelf life. Like perishable
groceries, the healing fats spoil easily and
cause shorter shelf life.
ERASMUS: The fats that heal really involve
three substances. One is called Omega-3 essential
fatty acid, or alpha-linolenic acid. The second
is Omega-6, or linoleic acid. If you take these in
the right ratio - which is important - and you get
enough of the both, the body makes several derivatives
that are important for health. And some of these
derivatives are turned into hormones called prostaglandins
that are vital to optimal body functioning.
The third area that's important is what we call "minor" ingredients. These
are substances found in oils that are simply squeezed out of seeds or nuts
and not further processed. They make up only 2 percent of an oil, which
is why they are called "minor", but they have major benefits for
health. Among them are phytosterols, lecithin, carotene, chlorophyll,
vitamin E, and many others. They are removed or destroyed in the
usual processing of oils, in order to achieve a longer shelf life.
The healing fats heal everything that one suffers from
getting less than optimal amounts of them. They optimize
energy level and performance; improve brain function,
mood, behavior, and intelligence; make skin soft, smooth,
and velvety; improve digestive, gland, and organ functions;
lower most cardiovascular risk factors; are anti-inflammatory,
and dampen the over-response of the immune system in
autoimmune conditions; help transport minerals and keep
bones strong; protect our genes from being damaged; are
required for hemoglobin production, cell growth, and
cell division; have anti-cancer properties; and help
in fat loss and weight normalization.
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ERASMUS: The word "essential" means that
they are substances the body cannot produce
itself. By definition, essential fatty aids
come from dietary fat; our body cannot make
them but must have them to be able to live.
Essential fatty acids must therefore come from
foods. A no-fat diet cannot provide them, and
a low-fat diet will not provide enough.
If you don't get enough essential fatty acids, your health deteriorates.
You pass through a progressively worsening set of degenerative deficiency
symptoms, and if the deficiency is sustained long enough, you die,
Also part of the definition of "essential" is that if you are deteriorating
from a deficiency of essential fatty acids, and you put enough of them
back into the deficient diet, the deficiency symptoms are reversed and
you recover your health. So they have great healing potential in all conditions
that result from essential-fatty-acid deficiency.
The final part of the definition is that
a nutrient cannot be called "essential" until
researchers have identified at least one biochemical reaction in the
body in which that substance is required, and without
which that reaction cannot take place.
Many of the degenerative conditions on which traditional medicine has
had a hard time getting a handle are the result of insufficient or suboptimal
intake of one or more of the essential nutrients - some 20 minerals,
13 vitamins, 8 essential amino acids from proteins, and 2 essential fatty
acids from fats. If you optimize their presence in the diet, you get
reversals of all those conditions that result from deficiency. Which
explains why the nutritional approach works so well today. Many modern
illnesses (sometimes called the "diseases of civilization", which really means diseases caused
by food processing) result from not getting enough of one or more of the
essential nutrients, or from toxic influences that interfere with our biochemistry
- in other words poison us.
ERASMUS: Yes. In fact, the notion that fats
make you fat has never been true. Even the wrong
fats help you lose weight, because they suppress
appetite. High-fat, high-protein diets have been
used for weight loss for the past 40 years. They
work. If it's the wrong kind of fat, it will be hard
on kidneys and liver eventually, but it still works
for weight loss. If you eat the right fats - the
ones I call the healing fats or essential fats -
they increase your metabolic rate.
Your burn more
calories and you feel more like being active because
they increase energy levels.
Essential fats also work to curb food cravings.
And they are anti-inflammatory, helping get rid
of water in inflamed tissues, which can be part
of the over-weight problem. As I said, they make
your skin soft and velvety, elevate your mood,
improve thinking ability, make you feel energetic
and more like taking care of yourself. If your
skin is lousy, your mood is low, you can't think
straight, and have no energy, your self-esteem
will likely be affected in a negative way.
In the past ten years in America we have reduced
fat intake from 42 percent of calories to 35 percent.
In those same ten years the incidence of obesity
increased from 20 to 33 percent of the population.
Which means that eating less fat will likely make
you fatter.
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You state in your book that there
is already too much Omega-6 in our diet.
ERASMUS: All fats have some weight loss
benefits, because they suppress appetite, but
Omega-3's reduce weight far better than Omega-6's
or other fats. We use a ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6
of two to one. We find that a ratio any higher
than 2.5 times richer in Omega-3 runs the risk
of making people Omega-6 deficient, which can
lead to degenerative deficiency problems.
ERASMUS: Fat and libido
are connected in several ways. First, essential fats
increase energy levels, because they increase the body's
ability to use oxygen. That means they increase stamina,
improve performance, and speed recovery from fatigue
- all of which are certainly helpful to libido.
Second, Essential fats are required for hormone production.
Animal studies show that hydrogenated fats - found
in some margarines, shortening, and partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils - lower testosterone levels, and essential
fat deficiency impairs testosterone production.
Third essential fats improve the functions of liver,
thyroid, and other glands and organs. They improve
general health, which can result in increased libido.
Fourth, essential fats make skin really nice. Because
of this effect, we sometimes call them the "essensual" or "essexual" fats.
And is it true
that cholesterol increases testosterone increases testosterone
levels?
ERASMUS: Our body makes
testosterone from cholesterol. That doesn't mean, however,
that you have to consume cholesterol, because your body
can also make cholesterol, and it makes however much
you need.
If testosterone levels are low, then stimulating cholesterol
production is good. Essential fats help to accomplish
this by giving our glands the energy they need to their
job better, and longer.
Regarding olive oil which is low in Omega-6 and contains
almost no Omega-3s at all, I haven't seen an increase
in libido, unless the person had previously had low
energy levels from being on a low-fat or no-fat diet.
Extra-virgin olive oil does have some minor ingredients
that are very good for health. Good health is a very
powerful aphrodisiac, especially if you are also in
love.
such as occur in nuts and olives, they increase
testosterone more than other oils. Is this true?
ERASMUS: I don't think
so. Your body can make monounsaturated fats out of sugar
and starch, so if monounsaturates were the key testosterone
production should not be a problem. Many researchers
also state that monounsaturates are good for cardiovascular
disease. But in extra-virgin olive oil it is the minor
ingredients, which make up only 2 percent of the oil,
that carry most of the cardiovascular benefits.
Both males
and females suffer from too much estrogen in the body
as a result of aging, as well as the hormones in beef,
chicken and dairy products, from plastics, petroleum
fertilizers, and pesticides that pollute our water
and food. Too much estrogen in the body creates stubborn
fat, and can cause breast cancer and other hazards.
ERASMUS: Not to mention
fat deposits on men's pectoral muscles, what some people
in body building call "bitch tits." A study in Canada found that men
who eat a lot of (inorganic) chicken actually grow
female-shaped breasts from estrogen hormones fed to
chickens to make the birds grow faster for commercial
reasons. 
ERASMUS: Optimal testosterone
production, encouraged by optimal essential-fat intake,
can help because men produce some estrogen, just as women
produce some testosterone, but the normal ratio of testosterone
to estrogen is much higher in men than in women. So higher
testosterone levels in men can help prevent the feminization
of their chest. Optimal testosterone production helps
muscular development. Essential fats also improve
insulin function, which also plays a role in muscular
growth.
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ERASMUS: Yes. The lignans in flax are phytoestrogens,
which have weak estrogen activity. They can raise
low estrogen levels and lower high estrogen, because
they occupy the estrogen-activity sites.
ERASMUS: It's possible. That's interesting,
but not likely, because almost all of the phytoestrogens
in flax remain in the seed cake and don't end up in
the oil. I ascribe the benefits of flax oil to the
fact that the Omega-3s in flax oil help to build muscle.
Omega-3 deficiency causes weakness. When people use
flax oil (properly balanced with Omega-6), they can
work out longer; their muscles grow quicker; they recover
quicker. And there's the testosterone production effect.
I ascribe these effects to the Omega-3s. But remember
that flax can make you Omega-6 deficient, and then every
tissue in the body falls apart. So flax should be enriched
with Omega-6-rich sunflower and sesame oils to get the
Omega-6s up.

ERASMUS: There are a couple of reasons. One
is that Omega-3s, not the flax, can increase the
metabolic rate and help increase oxygen metabolism,
so you burn more of the starch calories.
Fats generally can lower the glycemic index by
slowing stomach-emptying time, so you absorb the
carbohydrates more gradually.
I would be really cautious, though. Slower stomach
emptying also means more time for digestion, which
may result in absorbing more calories from starch,
so some people who put flax oil on their potatoes
actually gain a little weight. It's the potato that
makes them fat. Any starch that, when digested into
glucose and absorbed, is in excess of what is needed
for fuel is automatically turned into fat by the
body. In other words, overweight people are wearing
extra fuel as fat, waiting for a famine.
People who have major weight problems - the seriously obese - are
fat-phobic carbohydrate junkies.
ERASMUS: You get worse effects from simple
carbohydrates (sugars), because they are absorbed
so rapidly, flood the bloodstream, and must then
be turned into fat. You'll also get more hypoglycemia
and diabetic problems with sugars than with starches.
But too much complex carbohydrates (starches) can
also turn to fats.
The key issue is not to eat more fuel than you
burn. Carbohydrates are good fuel. They burn clean.
The problem is the too much. Only the excess turns
into fat.
We tell people who want to reduce excess weight to
lower their intake of carbohydrates and raise their
intake of greens/vegetables.
ERASMUS: No, it's not. If you're an athlete,
you may be able to eat 60 to 70 percent of
your calories as carbohydrates and burn them off
and not get fat. If you're sedentary, 40 percent
might be too much. It's different for different people.
You cannot make one diet that works for everybody,
because everybody's metabolism and lifestyle are
different.
Carbohydrates are good fuel. We should not malign
them unfairly. It is the excess carbohydrates that
we don't need, the excess fuel we don't burn and
which the body must turn into fat, that causes
weight problems.
Look, it's not complicated to figure out how much
carbohydrate a person should take in. Your body tells
you. How? If you're getting fat, you're eating too
many carbs.
ERASMUS: That's correct. All people need
the same essential nutrients - fewer than 50 of
them - but everyone's optimum is different. Optimums
can vary by a factor of ten among individuals,
sometimes even more. Genetic, climatic, activity,
lifestyle, and toxicity factors all play a role
in determining optimums.
POWER: What is your opinion of Dr. Atkins's
diet, which is extremely high-protein,
high-fat, almost no carbs?
ERASMUS: Atkins's diet works for
weight loss. I pay more attention to getting
the right kinds of fat in the diet, rather
than just any fat, because the wrong kinds
of fat eventually have detrimental effects
on liver, kidneys, and other organs. The
right fats will not cause such problems,
and in fact they improve the functions
of the inner organs. But Atkins's diet
has helped many people normalize weight,
simply because it addresses the excessive
carbohydrate intake that leads to fat production
in the body.
POWER: People who
attack Dr. Atkins's diet mostly do so regarding the side
effects of ketones in the body. Do you agree with
this criticism - or with Dr. Atkins,
who feels ketones are good for you?
ERASMUS: Atkins is right, in that
ketones suppress appetite. His critics
are right as to damage caused by ketones
in the long term. The Atkins diet would
work better if it emphasized oils rich
in the right ratio of essential fats.
The difficulty is that such oils have
to be made with care, need to be used
with care - not for frying - and need
to be richer in Omega-3's, which help
in weight reduction for several reasons.
They increase energy and calorie burning;
they decrease inflammation, thereby releasing
water held in inflamed, swollen tissues;
they lift depression, a common reason
for overeating; and they suppress appetite
while reducing cravings for carbohydrate
junk foods and sugar.
Oils made with health in mind should be stored in
brown glass bottles, in a box that will protect
them from light, in the fridge. They can be found
in health-food stores, gyms, and the dispensaries
of natural healers. Part of the problem has been
the need for re-education on the right oils.
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POWER: Do you think that people can live in high-protein,
high-fat diets with no carbs?
ERASMUS: For a time, yes. But long term,
we need carbs. I prefer that people get their carbs
from greens, rather than starchy vegetables like
potatoes, grains, or fruit.
Greens are the most important food on this planet.
They provide minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acids,
fiber, as well as enzymes and friendly bowel bacteria
if they are eaten raw. They are also rich in antioxidants,
and provide healing phytonutrients. They provide water, hold water
in the soil, and make oxygen. They even make our beef
(cows are made from grass). For weight management, greens
are also exceptional, because it is almost impossible
to get fat on greens.

POWER: So carbohydrates are connected to metabolism -
gaining fat or losing fat?
ERASMUS: Yes, they are the key factor.
POWER: And they're also connected to the glycemic
index, which is tied to insulin response?
ERASMUS: Yes. They are the foods with the
highest glycemic index, which is an indicator of
the insulin activity required to deal with them.
When the body turns fats into carbs they block
insulin activity, which makes you insulin resistant.
Sugars also remove minerals like chromium and magnesium
from your body. These, along with zinc and essential
fats, are required for insulin to be able to function.
POWER:People who have high insulin sensitivity
might not gain weight at all, even if they ate
excessive amounts of carbohydrates. Is this true?
ERASMUS: No. People with genetically based
high metabolic rates do burn carbs readily, and
don't get fat on them because they burn them. People
with more muscle mass can also can also eat more
carbs without getting fat, because muscles burn
a lot of carbohydrates during activity, and activity
is what makes muscles grow.
Whatever stimulates insulin to put glucose into
cells will not be helpful to weight loss. The relationship
of insulin to carbs goes like this: Carbs are digested
into glucose, which is absorbed into the body. Glucose
stimulates insulin production. Insulin gets glucose
into the cells, where they enter the cell furnace
(Krebs cycle), which "burns" them to make energy.
If you don't need all the energy that comes from
burning glucose, the body turns glucose-breakdown
products (acetates) from the cell furnace into
hard (saturated) fats. Hard fats interfere with
insulin function, as do sugars and other carbs
that the body turns into hard fats.
If insulin does a good job, you end up with stored
fat as well as low blood sugar. Low blood sugar has
two results. One, you get hungry again and eat more,
which can trigger the above fat-producing cycle.
Two, your adrenals kick in to make glucose (gluconeogenesis)
from proteins, so you lose muscle mass, lowering
your metabolic rate and making you even more sugar-sensitive.
The short answer: Limit carbohydrate intake if you want to avoid losing
muscle and gaining fat.
POWER: What other things can you suggest to increase the
insulin sensitivity?
ERASMUS: You can reverse most cases of insulin-resistent,
type-II diabetes if you ensure optimal intake of
zinc, chromium, magnesium, and essential fats; reduce
intake of sugars, sweets, carbohydrates, and hard
(saturated) fats; and increase your intake of green
foods. That is, provided that no permanent damage
has been done to vital tissues. Make sure you get
enough good proteins and good fats, because these
supply essential nutrients that the body must have
but cannot make. Be active to build muscle.
END OF PART 1

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Interview by Ori Hofmekler, April 2000.

What
began as a personal disaster - being poisoned on the
job by industrial pesticides - was turned into the
triumph of a best-selling book. ("Knowing
that the poisons I had been exposed to were carcinogenic and that cancer
often involves fats, I needed clear, accurate, factual information.") Following
is an exclusive interview with Udo Erasmus, Ph.D., author of Fats That
Heal Fats That Kill. Erasmus is considered by many to be one of the
most serious health gurus today, especially concerning fat metabolism,
but also libido, aging, and beauty.
Says Erasmus in the preface of his book, "My health is my responsibility...
Our drug-oriented medical approaches cannot lead us to health... Foods
and nutrition are primary options for self-help in health."
With this credo as a guiding thread, Erasmus has fashioned a thought-provoking,
sometimes controversial - but always nutritionally sound - understanding
of the role of fats (both good and bad) in our diet.
POWER: Can you explain what prostaglandins are and how they
are connected to essential fatty acids?
ERASMUS: The prostaglandins are hormones that
are made from essential fatty acids. There are also
hormones that are made from cholesterol, hormones made
from amino acids, and hormones made from proteins.
Prostaglandins come in three families, two of them
good and one that causes some problems. They each have
their place. In the jungle, the prostaglandin 2's are
very good for survival. And the prostaglandin 1's and
3's make sure that the prostaglandin 2's don't get
out of hand. There are prostaglandins that relax arterial
muscle tone. There are prostaglandins that constrict
arterial muscle tone. You would expect that some prostaglandins
will help to maintain an erection. So they could be
very helpful. Of course it also helps to be near a
desirable object - and maybe it helps to be in love.
POWER: You said that there is a relationship
between beauty and essential fatty acids. Does this
refer to skin that is beautiful? Beauty in general?
The aging process? Or all of these?
ERASMUS: Well, if you look at it from its foundation,
you cannot separate health, performance, and beauty.
Because performance requires health, and beauty is
really the external manifestation of healthy biochemical
function. It sounds very unromantic, but that's how
it is. And it's also manifested on the skin. Because
the essential fats, besides improving cardiovascular
health, energy levels, and brain function, are required
for brain development, healthy glands and organs, and
[they] help with weight loss. They are also anti-inflammatory
and anti-autoimmune - which all together makes beautiful
skin, if you get the right ratio and enough of them.
We measure optimum intake by how the skin feels. When
you get the optimum amount of essential fatty acids
they form a barrier in the skin against the loss of
moisture, and so they are nature's perfect moisturizer.
POWER: Can you use them topically on the skin?
ERASMUS: They're not used in external cosmetics
because if you put them on the skin they'll go rancid.
That's why you need to take them internally, and they
will make the skin soft and velvety. The reason we
use skin as our measure for optimum intake is because
skin gets the essential fats last.
POWER: Do you know how much Omega 3's and 6's
one should take, and how long one would need to take
them before seeing a change in one's skin?
ERASMUS: To do our
work we use a blend that is twice as rich in Omega-3's
as Omega-6's. Usually adults need between two and three
tablespoons a day. I use about 3 tablespoonfuls a day
in the summer, and four in the winter, because during
the fall when the weather turns people begin to notice
their skin gets dry, and that's nature telling them
they need more oil. Bodybuilders may need to take seven
or eight to get the same results on their skin that
I feel I get with three or four.
POWER: Is there anything like too much of
a good oil?
ERASMUS: Too much? We have people take 50
percent of their calories from fats. That's a lot
of fat. They lose weight on them, they lose their
arthritic symptoms on them.
The Eskimos got up to 60 percent of their calories
from fat, and they didn't have clogged arteries,
get diabetes, cancer, or multiple sclerosis. Although
their diet was much higher in fat [than the diets that were killing us],
theirs was unprocessed and our was processed; theirs was very rich in
essential-fat derivatives, whereas ours was a poor
source of essential fats.
POWER: In other words, there is no limit to how much good
fat you can take?
ERASMUS: Well, there is one limit: If you take
more fat at any one time than your liver can process
- because your liver has to process fats - then you
will feel heavy or nauseated, and what that means
is you need to spread it out over the day so you never
give your liver more than it can handle. Some people
can take a huge amount of fat and not have a problem
with it, and some people can only take a little at
a time. That's really the main symptom you might get.

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POWER: You produce your own oil, Udo's Choice
Perfected Oil Blend. Is this the best combination of
oil on the market today?
ERASMUS: I'm the guy who pioneered the whole
deal. I'm the guy who dug out the information.
I had cancer to look forward to. I knew that cancer
often involves fats, and I didn't know how, so
I dug out the information. It took me six years
of digging through the journals. That's a long
time to spend researching something. And then I
developed machinery for making oils with health
in mind. Of all the people who are going in this
direction, I'm the only one who has the education.
I get a lot of feedback because I work with a lot
of people. I try it on myself, my friends - and
if that works, then I expand the circle.
The reason why we use skin to determine what's optimum is because your
brain, your liver, your heart require the oils - and if they were deprived
because the oil went to the skin first, then you would have serious health
problems. But you can live with dry skin. It's not beautiful, but you can
live with it. So nature's wisdom says skin gets it last. By the time your
skin is soft and velvety, you also know that you have dealt your health
issues, because the rest of your body has what it needs.

POWER: So you know that all your inside organs have enough
fat?
ERASMUS: Right.
POWER: Some men and women suffer from water
retention under the skin, usually puffiness under the
eyes. Is there any way that this oil can remove it?
ERASMUS: Well, there are a couple of issues
we are talking about here. One is kidney function.
The essential fats are extremely important for kidney
function, and if your kidney doesn't work you retain
water. But that's more a bodywide thing, and again
the Omega-3's do a better job here, but you've got
to have enough Omega-6's not to become deficient. So
don't just use flax oil for it. You really need more
Omega-6. We use flax with some sunflower and sesame
to improve the ratio. The other issue is involved with
allergies or liver function. And if it involves allergies
you need to make sure that foods are properly digested
or you need to remove certain foods. I would rather
improve digestion than remove foods. And that is a
result of histamine and prostaglandin action in the
body as a result of allergies.
POWER: How are you going to digest the food
if you're allergic?
ERASMUS: What we do is give people the oil
to improve gut integrity and prevent leaky gut that
leads to food allergies. And then we give them enzymes
to replace the enzymes destroyed when foods are cooked.
And we give them particular enzyme mixtures that
are very rich in proteases, because poorly digested
protein causes most of the problems. When food is
completely digested, there is virtually nothing left
to be allergic to anymore. So that's why we would
rather replace the enzymes, taking them a little
closer to how it was in nature again, than to remove
foods. Because we've seen people remove so many foods
from their diet that the only thing they could eat
was oatmeal, and oatmeal is not a balanced diet.
So I would rather go in the direction of helping
digestion than removing foods.
POWER: Can
stretch marks be helped? Women often get stretch
marks after birth. Men can get them when they lose
weight, or pump up too much when bodybuilding.
What about wrinkles? Is there any way to remove or reduce
these two hazards of aging skin?
ERASMUS: For stretch marks I only preventative
[measures]. Most of those people end up with
a zinc deficiency, and then the collagen comes
apart. That's what the stretch marks are from.
So that's preventable. But I don't know of any
reversal for it. Once you got 'em you got 'em.
So if you don't think stretch marks are very beautiful,
this is a very good reason to take the wise road
of getting the nutrients you need before you have
problems.
In terms of water under the skin, with bodybuilders
who want to look shredded before their competitions
- which means no fat under the skin so you can
see all the muscle striations - we have consistently used oils rich
in Omega-3's, and when properly balanced, they
can attain [the] fat burn-off under the skin
they want. This can be done with oils now. They
used to do it with diuretics. Diuretics are very
hard on kidney function, and they deprive you
of potassium, which is also hard on cardiovascular
function. The athletes are getting just as good
results - probably better - with the proper use
of oils.
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POWER: Do the oils burn the fat or remove water
under the skin?
ERASMUS: Burn the fat. Now while it could
also be water - it would remove the water as well,
provided the kidneys aren't doing their job of
getting rid of excess water. So it could actually
be both - but the oils do a good job on both.
POWER: Well, it could also be that Omega-3 is
an estrogen blocker, and it is estrogen that gives
you a lot of body fat under the skin.
ERASMUS: And wrinkles come from skin being dry.
Those essential fats - if you get them in the right
ratio, in the right amount, and the right kind - will
remove some. I've seen people in their eighties with
soft, velvety skin. They'll have some brown spots,
but their skin is soft and velvety. The character lines,
which are the deep wrinkles, I have not seen reversed.
I mean, I don't know, I'm 56 - I don't have a whole
lot of wrinkles. I will get those character lines.
But the oil does a wonderful job if you get enough
oil to keep the face from getting all the other wrinkles
that come from dryness. And then the other [areas]
where it works well [are] eczema, psoriasis, and acne.
It's also very helpful on those conditions.
POWER: There are some degenerative diseases
like multiple sclerosis or other physical problems
that, according to traditional medicine, don't show
any serious solution right now. Is there anything you
want to say about myasthenia gravis, for example, and
other degenerative diseases?
ERASMUS: Well, there is research that shows
that in places where essential fat intake is high,
multiple sclerosis is very rare. So that's from one
end. From the other end, people who get multiple sclerosis,
if you look at their diets, they're usually very poor
diets, lots of crackers and cheese, very few greens
and very few fats...And then the third place to come
from is that we have seen people with multiple sclerosis
arrest the progression of the disease and improve their
energy levels. In some cases, with lots of greens -
because greens are really important there - even reverse
it.
You know, wisdom is better than hind sight. It's better to head it off
doing things right in the first place than to wait until you have the problem
and try to reverse it. Prevention is always easier than reversal. The only
people at this point in the general sense in this society who are taking
the wise approach are actually the people who want to look good and be
fit. The people who are interested in beauty and performance. Those are
the people who are embracing the idea of good nutrition on a preventative
basis. Whereas the rest of the population generally neglect themselves
until something goes wrong, and then they try to look for some technology
to fix it. So the kids are the wisest of the bunch in this area.
POWER: Do you have any opinion about people suffering from
mental problems like obsessive behavior?
ERASMUS: There is some research on obsessive-compulsive
disorder that [says] fats are important. Certainly
in depression, [there is] good research and consistent
feedback [that says] when people make the oil change
we recommend, their mood is elevated and their depression
is lifted. Hyperactivity responds, dyslexia responds,
clumsiness responds, attention deficit responds...
Also, in schizophrenia, there's less hallucination.
People deal with stress better and feel calmer. Also
intelligence improves, and there's research on that
- I.Q. goes up by six to nine points. 
POWER: Talk more about eating disorder and obsessive-compulsive
behavior. Eating disorder is a big disease today, for
women especially.
ERASMUS: Yes. There are a couple of things I
know. The essential fats should be helpful. They're
also helpful in Alzheimer's. But zinc is also important
in eating disorders. I guess what I would say to those
people [with eating disorders] is that you will never
be perfect externally, even if you're very beautiful.
Perfection is meant to be an inner experience. Go a
little easier on yourself, maybe break a few rules,
be a little bit rebellious - and try not to be perfect
in other people's eyes.
I talked to a fourteen year old girl in Australia.
I was at one of the conferences. And her mother said, "Would you tell my daughter what she
needs to do?" - because she had an eating disorder. So I talked to her
just about a few things, and finally I whispered in her ear, "You're far
too beautiful to treat yourself this badly." And she started to cry.
And that was the beginning of changing for her. And I had no idea that
would happen.
POWER: What is your opinion about hormonal injection therapy?
Is there any better way to go about it?
ERASMUS: Well, first of all, I would not get
involved with hormone manipulation if I hadn't first
put the natural program in place - making sure you
get all your minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and essential
fatty acids in optimum quantities for your needs. Food
is number one. Food is primary health care, because
the body is made out of food, and if you deal with
that, just about everything will work. Your genetic
material knows what to do if it's given the tools that
it needs. I would not do hormone manipulation. The
other thing is that foods are very safe.
POWER: Do not inject anything foreign before
you try all your options?
ERASMUS: Right. Hormones are very powerful -
much more powerful than nutrients, so they have to
be used with a much greater degree of caution. There
are many stories about bodybuilders that were so intent
on getting huge that have had serious health problems.
I've talked to some of them; I do consultations with
them sometimes. So I would caution people about hormones
simply because they are so powerful and they act in
such tiny doses that you really need to know what you
are doing. I would not use them unless the nutritional
program had been put in place; you were at an age where
you had a particular glandular problem that had been
measured; and you were really clear [on what you were
doing].
Thyroid hormone will help in some cases like that; testosterone or estrogen
or progesterone might help. Growth hormone, I would have some serious problems
with because it's a protein, and people become allergic to it. I would
maybe use D.H.Ea., but only if there was a measured deficiency, and the
person was over 50. But certainly not for people who are young.
END OF PART II
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