Lately I’ve been moving slowly. Very slowly some days. Some discoveries have come along which have been useful for me. Recently I mentioned the work of Dr. John Sarno, who discovered, through working with people in his pain clinic, that most physical pain, though very, very real, was a creation of the mind. It seems that we would rather avoid emotional pain, so we transfer that pain to the body in various ways. Someone then mentioned the work of Gary Craig, who has developed a system of tapping various pressure points in the body (not a lot) with a few gestures that somehow alleviates a great many conditions that our minds have created. Although I have followed this system haphazardly over the past few weeks, I have benefited much by sleeping more soundly.

My right hip has ached, off and on, for at least 17 – 18 years. The only connection I could make to the aching was that it seemed to increase if I lose self-control and eat sugary things. Dry fruits can be just as debilitating as actual sugar for my non-secretor system. My hip generally doesn’t ache throughout the day, probably because I am relatively active, but it wakes me at night after lying on my side for some time. Moving onto my back helps to take the ache away, and over the last several years I’ve followed the routine of sleeping, waking because of the aching, lying on my back, and then falling back asleep when the hip releases. Since working with the tapping routine of Gary Craig, my sleep has changed profoundly. The ache is not gone, but it is much less, and I am waking much less often. I will attempt to follow the routine for a period of time to see if I can remove it altogether. I am extremely grateful for the amount of sleep I have gained in the interim. A side effect appears to be that my neck, strained on the right side for several months, has become magically stronger without addressing the specific problem. Hmmmm!



There is one other topic I’d like to touch on before I close this blog. A friend recently forwarded an email version of an article published in March of this year regarding nutritive deficiencies in third-world countries, which was most interesting. The United Nations has expressed grave concern over the shortage of vitamins in food that is easily available to people, even in countries where there is enough to eat. The lack of important vitamins generally lowers the intelligence level of children who have to grow up in their absence. For example, not enough dietary iron lowers children’s I.Q. levels by an average of 5 – 7 points. Iodine deficiency lowers it another 13 points. Shortage of folic acid in diets increases birth defects, and shortage of Vitamin A makes children 25 – 30% more likely to die of disease.

“So ubiquitous is vitamin and mineral deficiency that it debilitates in some significant degree the energies, intellects, and economic prospects of nations,” the study said. It goes on to state that iodine deficiency has lowered the intellectual capacity of almost all nations by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points and causes 18 million children to be born mentally impaired – EVERY YEAR! Adult iron deficiency lowers the productivity of work forces, cutting the Gross Domestic Product in the worst-affected countries by 2%. Folic acid deficiency causes approximately 200,000 severe birth defects every year in 80 countries. The report goes on to say that approximately 40% of the developing world’s people suffer from iron deficiency, 15% lack adequate iodine, and close to 40% do not get enough Vitamin A.

The problem is complicated by the fact that people generally will not take vitamin pills, so some governments are attempting to remedy the situation by adding these vital ingredients to food commonly ingested, such as iodized salt, for example, though it definitely is an uphill battle. Cooking oil and soy sauce are other avenues being used for vitamin enrichment in poorer countries. The scope of the problem can be somewhat understood when we understand that iodine deficiency in childhood can be remedied in later years, but children deprived of adequate Vitamin A will never develop higher intellectual capabilites. The overall effect of vitamin deficiency is to lower the number of gifted people and increase the number of people with mental incapacities, which affects entire nations.

Needless to say, this report confirms the good sense of following the Blood Type Diet, taking our recommended supplements on a regular basis, and the need for greater awareness by the general population for eating nutritious food from the time of conception onwards!