Photo: Prof. Dr. Max Otto Bruker after my final exanination as health consultant (GGB) 1991.
Salutogenesis, whole-food and ecological nutrition
Five important points for stabalizing and improving heatlh and streengthening the immunsystem:
- Nutrition (wrong food causes typical diseases of civilisazion like heart diseases, stroke, joint disease, immune disorder, cancer and other diseases)
- Psychological balance – holistic lifestyle
- Positive social contacts, privatly and professionelly
- Walks and much time in fresh air, in the forest or at the sea
- Including spiritual aspects into life.
Shopping: Fresh products from the region would be ideal; otherwise the list of ingredients should be as short as possible. Here are some special recommondations:
Recommendable:
- Daily freshly prpared cereals (oatflakes)
- Freshly ground fulkorn flour, wholemeal rice
- Fresh vegetables and salads, fruits / berries, mostly unheated
- Natural fat as virgin oliveoil, cream and butter (for vegans almond milk or oatmilk without sugar)
- Honey as sweetener (not heated over 40° and just in small amounts), bananas, dates, figes, dried fruits / berries
- Herbs and spices, nuts and seeds
Drinks:
- Water, cold and hot
- Herbal teas (all sorts, each sort not longer than 4 weeks), for example tasty and relaxing sorts as melissa, rosebuds, roseblossoms, or verbena; sorts for certain indication as marjoram or oregano (gastrointestinal tract); thyme, sage (respiratory tract); sorts of mint (concentration, after fat meals); gingko (memory); passion flower herb, valeriana, hope cones or lavender (sleep); St. John’s herb (low mood, depression) and many others.
- Kombucha, made with white or green tea and honey (not heated over 40°)
Not advised:
- White fine flour
- Sugar and sugar substitutes
- „Factory Oils“, heat treated, as palm fat, margarine and other artificial fat
- Animal protein in general: meat, sausages, fish, seafood, milk products, „light“-products
- Additives, genmanipulated food
- Supplements
Drinks:
- Coffee and black Tea (exceptionally ecological green coffee, green tea, white tea, but without artificial aroma)
- Alcohol (exceptionally ecological, not sulphurated redwine, whitewine or sparkling wine; beer, brewed from pure ingredients)
- Trumps disinfectant
In summary: fresh vegetables without animal protein
About cereals, vegetables and fruits:
Spelt, buckwheat, barley, oat, apples, peaches, plums, cranberries, elderberries, kiwis, black currant, blackberries, sea buckthorn, wild garlic leaves, beet root, pepper, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green cabbage, white cabbage and Sauerkraut, all sorts of cabbage, spinach, dandelion, rocket and lettuces, leek, gralic, onions and others.
About herbs and spices:
Herbs and spices are not just good for adding special aroma to our dishes but have great qualities for improving health and immunity. Some are almost forgotten, others more fashionable but all of them are offering healing power, for example basil, rosmary, coriander, curcuma or ginger and many, many others.
Amongst the strongest are marjoram, oregano, thyme and savory (the essetnial oil helps with infection of the respiratory tract). It is important to care for their quality and origin (wild or cultivated) and their concentration of contents (dried, fresh, frozen or essential oil). A single drop of essential thyme-oil can be life-theatening for a baby., butidissolved in 2-3 table spoon of fat Öl and given on the special place, for example in the case of a cough onto the chest) stimulates the immunsystem in adults. Further strengthening herbs are garlic, ginger, senap, horseradish, black cumin, dried wild garlic, watercress (colds, bronchitis, whooping cough). Cinnamon and borage tea (blossoms and leaves) are uplifting. In hot countries peppers, chilies and curry-mixtures, which contain curcuma, coriander, ginger, red pepper, cayenne-pepper, cumin seed, fenugreek, cinnamon, cloves and other herbs and spices, are very useful. and there are many more. …
Golden rule: use everything in moderation, lagum, as one says in Sweden
For healing plants and herbs see my book with co-authors J. Trott-Tschepe and B. Moeller: Heilpflanzen für die Gesundheit. 333 Pflanzen – neues und ueberliefertes Heilwissen. Pflanzenheilkunde, Homoeopathie, Aromakunde. 2013. Kosmos. Also available as E-Book.
ISBN 978-3-440-12235-8
For advice especially for good sleep and dreaming see my book: Das grosse Buch vom Traeumen. Wie Sie gut schlafen und etwas Schoenes träumen. 2018. Neue Erde. ISBN 978-3-89060-719-1
See also the pages “Immunity” and “Recipes”