smrtlauf,

My own opinion? I think that most mental illness is caused by chemicals.
Chemicals alter our brain and sometimes our DNA, and can cause other devastating
disease. With the proliferation of chemicals in our daily life/environment,
I think it is making mental illess and other disease more commonplace as time
goes on. the increase is so incremental that most people don't even notice
it. Only people old enough to remember "the good old days" continually ponder
what has become of our world.

There are chemicals used to purify our drinking water, not to mention the
chemicals they are unable to filter out for us that we need to filter out yet
again in order to make drinking water truly safe. There is definitely chemical
residue in the air and water tables due to area pesticides and herbicides and
chemicals used to de-ice roads, etc., and also from roads/cars.

There are chemicals in our foods. Chemicals to preserve our food, chemicals
from what was used to grow the food. Chemicals to "enhance" and "enrich" our
food. I just recently read that the farmed salmon is fed a chemical red dye
to make it look as red as possible so that we can't tell the difference between
grain-fed farmed salmon which is yellowish, and wild caught salmon which is
pink to reddish. YUK!!

And should I start the conversation on vaccinations and the many devastating
mental and physical illnesses it can cause in our bodies and those of our
pets? Many of these things can carry on from one generation to the next, too.

So, what can we do? We can eat and feed our pets the best diet we can
afford. For some pets this may be to upgrade from commercial pet food to a more
"micro-brewery" type of food that only uses human grade ingredients and
non-cancinogenic preservatives or even better--to home prepared diets. For us,
we can
grow our own organic stuff as much as possible, and buy as much organic food
as we can afford. If you are lucky enough to have some land, you can even look
into small animal farming to sustain your own family. For others, even just
a fire-escape or kitchen window with organic herbs is a step in the right
direction, and it's something!

We are trying to develop a small farm-ette ourselves with chickens, rabbits
and goats. It's a little like Green Acres here at our place with us two city
slickers trying to navigate life with a few farm animals, but we are trying!

Anyway, the other thing would be to educate yourself about the harmful
effects of vaccinations (NVIC.org is a good place to start). There is some
evidence
that the rabies shot makes dogs more aggressive and may be responsible for
the vast majority of dog bites today. Also, I think I read somewhere that the
Distemper shot has some mental aberrations associated with it as well.

Another thing for humans would be to research how to get your amalgam
fillings removed safely and then detoxify your body of the harmful metals. I
only
have one amalgam filling left and I can tell you that it can make a huge
difference in your health to do this. I was once pretty much bed-ridden with
chronic
fatigue until I started getting this heavy metal out of my mouth!

Do some research on mental illess or depression and diet. You will find that
we need fish oil to keep happy and sane, and with fish sources getting more
and more polluted, are we getting enough? I think this is a major concern for
a lot of us.

Do some research on the devastating effect of the lack of vitamin D3 as the
scientific community makes us afraid of the sun and we keep our pets indoors
almost 24/7. We need fresh air and SUNSHINE. Sunshine in moderate doses
without sunblock. One teenager has a horrible brittle bone disease from lack of
vit
D3 or lack of sunshine.

For our family, we have started taking major steps to instill lifestyle
changes and create a less toxic environment for ourselves, and we have seen the
positive effect on our health and well-being. What makes us feel good? Is it
stress? No-then we try to avoid that. Is it salads? Yes, we try to add more
of
that. Is it gardening? Yes, we try to do more of that. Etc. Etc. Our bodies
tell us what is good for us, and what is bad, if we let it.

Today is a good day to start your educational journey. Read whatever you can
get your hands on and keep what makes sense, and throw away stuff that
doesn't. I think that over that past decade, the reading I have done has helped
me
evolve into a different person. I always encourage others to do the
same--read, read, and read some more. Education is power! JMHO, of course. :)

Cat Donnelly
Holisitic Arkansas Rescued Pugs



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