Russell Mariani, Digestive Wellness Expert and Author of Healing Digestive Illness
The Care of the Cell
A Collection of Insightful Quotes and Commentary
Thank you for reading this document. It is my wish that you not only read these words and comments from me and the quotes and insights from others, but that you digest, absorb and assimilate the wisdom of these insights into the very core of your being. My wish is that you take actions as a result of reading these words, actions that improve the quality of your life and the lives of others.
The essence of the central message in this document is this: How and why we care for the cells in our body determines the quality of our health. And, that the quality of our health determines the quality of our life. What could be more important than this?
Physical health is the foundation upon which we build the rest of our lives. The quality of our physical health is determined by the quality of the life of our cells. Cells are amazing. Cells live amazing lives! The cells inside our own body perform countless miracles every second of every day. Read on to discover how and why this is so.
I am committed to the vision of more people understanding just how critically important it is to take better care of their cells, not just for their own health and well-being, but for the health and well-being of others as well. The care of the cells in our body is rapidly becoming a new way of understanding the meaning and purpose of our lives.
The care of the cells in our body is becoming a practical path and roadmap to the ex-periences of greater harmony and peace, cooperation and community, imagination and abundance. The care of the cells in our body has always been and will always be one of the very best ways to realize our fullest human potentials. Inspiring others to do the same has always been and will always be one of the greatest gifts we can give and one of the greatest sources of satisfaction and fulfillment that we can experience in this life.
As we find and do the things that nourish us best, including and especially what nourishes our cells best, and share these discoveries with others, all will be well; today… and in all the days ahead.
Russell Mariani
March 2015
Some of the best “cell quotes” ever!
“In order for a cell to be healthy, it needs proper nutrients and oxygen. If our cells are healthy, then we are healthy. It is as simple as that. In order to maintain our health, we must learn to provide our body with the nutrients that our cells need to survive and thrive. All cellular functions are determined by the environment in which cells live. All cells take their nutrients and oxygen from the surrounding blood and lymph in which they are floating. Cells then, become what they eat. When cells become damaged, for whatever reason, we must be able to give the body the raw materials it needs to heal itself, replacing the damaged cells, with healthy new ones. If we do this, then the body can do the rest. The root of the word “health” is “heal.” The body is constantly healing itself. The body’s ability to heal itself is one of the most fundamental and essential principles of life.”
The Science of Healing Revealed, by Gary Samuelson, Ph.D.
Note from RM: The blueprints for these miraculous abilities described by Gary Samuelson and others are encoded in the DNA molecules in every cell in our body. The relationship between nutrition and the health of our cells is not casual, it’s causal. Nutrition determines genetic expression!
“Our bodies; and every organ, tissue, and system within our bodies, build themselves from single cells, and renew themselves through the constant interchange of food, water and air. We can say that our bodies are like temples, or like houses, in that houses are made from bricks and bodies are made from cells, but the comparison would fall far short of the miraculous truth. For our body is born from one cell, as if the house could be built from one brick; a magic brick that would set about manufacturing other bricks. These new bricks, without waiting for the architect’s drawings or the arrival of the brick-layers, would somehow assemble themselves and begin to form walls and floors and ceilings. These magical bricks would also metamorphose into window-panes, roofing-slates, coal for heating and water for the kitchen and bathroom. Our bodies develop by means such as those attributed to fairies in the tales told to children in by-gone times. This magnificent construction of our bodies emanates from the unknowable wisdom inside each individual cell which, to all appearances, possess a knowledge of the future edifice and synthesize from substances present in our blood and lymph, not only the building materials but the workers themselves!”
Man the Unknown, by Alexis Carrel (1935)
“Human beings originate from a single cell. This cell divides into two other cells, which in turn divide themselves and this division continues on indefinitely. In the course of this process of structural elaboration and construction, the embryo retains the functional simplicity of the original single-celled egg. The cells of the human body seem to remember their original unity, even when they have organized and become the elements of an innumerable multitude. Each cell understands spontaneously and intuitively the functions required of them inside the organized whole. This innate knowledge of the part they must play in the manifestation of a healthy, wholesome body, is a consciousness or mode of being inside each and every cell.”
Man the Unknown, by Alexis Carrel (1935)
Who Was Alexis Carrel?
Alexis Carrel was a scientist who spent most of his professional life at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. In one of the most remarkable experi-ments in medical history (up to that time) Carrel demonstrated that under suitable con-ditions, the living cell could live a very long time, perhaps indefinitely. He took small pieces of heart tissue from a chicken embryo and placed them in a petri dish immersed in a nutrient solution. The heart tissue took its food from this solution and likewise secreted its waste material into this same solution. Every day the solution was changed, taking away the waste materials and providing fresh nutrients. In this way, the chicken heart tissue lived for 29 years. It died one day when a lab assistant forgot to change the polluted fluid! Here’s what Carrel said of this experience:
“The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats which degenerates. Renew this fluid at intervals, give the cell the proper nutrients upon which to feed and, so far as we know, the pulsation of life may go on forever.”
Man the Unknown, Alexis Carrel (1935)
Alexis Carrel on the importance of Nutrition
“Every manifestation of the life of our tissues, organs and cells, our thoughts, our nerves our affections, the cruelty, the ugliness and the beauty of the universe, even its very existence, (all) depend upon the biochemical state of our blood and lymph; and these fluids depend upon the quality of our daily nutrition. Nutrition is synonymous with existence.”
Man the Unknown, Alexis Carrel (1935)
What is Nutrigenomics?
This new paradigm of health, which is now at our door step and gives us the opportunity to revolutionize medicine and healthcare is really based on a very simple notion and that notion is personalized medicine. It’s about finding the right approach for each person based on their genes. This is what we call genomics. And specifically when it comes to food and nutrition, it’s called nutrigenomics; which is the idea food is actually information that talks to your genes and washes over your DNA and that creates the outcome of your life which is either health or disease. And we have total control over that phenomena. We can actually control which (genetic) messages get turned on or turned off by exactly what we do to our bodies by what we eat. That’s the power of nutrigenomics. That’s the power of this new Health Model; this new Health Paradigm.
I want you to understand that there are some basic laws of nature that you have to understand and follow to support your health. You need to consume foods that work with your genes and can contribute to an optimum functioning system.
The fundamental concept behind nutrigenomics is that everything you eat sends specific messages to your genes (which live inside the nucleus of your cells). Your genes, in turn, send messages to the regulatory or control centers of your body: your immune system, hormonal system, detoxification system, etc.
These messages can be good messages like; “eliminate toxins” or “burn stored body fat” or “kill those bacteria I just inhaled through my nose” or they can be bad messages like: “make more LDL cholesterol” or “increase inflammation to my coronary arteries” or “slow down my brain function.” The way food affects your genes is hard-wired and cannot be changed. But you have the ability to adapt to a nutrigenomics lifestyle that will turn on those messages of health (via optimal gene expression) by eating according to your body’s natural instruction manual.
In other words, nutrigenomics recognizes that food isn’t just the stuff you put in your mouth that tastes good and fills you up. Food is actually information; it “talks” to your genes and washes over your DNA to create conditions of either health or disease, weight gain or weight loss, vitality or sluggishness. And you can control which mess-ages get “turned on” or “turned off” through what you eat. The most influential thing you do every day is what (food) you put in your mouth.
If we work with these basic core balances and provide the nutrients that restore normal functioning to our cells and simply forget about diseases regardless of the disease; the body will heal and repair, restore, regenerate and revive. And that’s the power of this Health Model: Functional Medicine, Functional Nutrition, Nutrigenomics…it’s all the same thing based on the same natural principles and the same dietary and lifestyle practices. It’s very exciting!
Nutrigenomics, by Mark Hyman, MD
“It is an interesting fact that the cells in your body can also genetically shift due to the intake of nutrients that you eat. What you eat can literally change the form and genetic function of your cells. There have been experiments with identical twins in mice, both having exactly the same DNA, that were fed different diets. One mouse grew shiny brown fur and was skinny, the other grew light gold fur and was fat and sickly. The only difference between the two mice was in what they ate.”
The Science of Healing Revealed, by Gary Samuelson, Ph.D.
A Human Being is a Community of Vibrant Cooperating Cells
“Life can exist only in cooperative, sharing relationships with other life forms. Energy is constantly flowing back and forth among organisms, just as it is among the cells of a single organism. Scientific estimates of the number of cells in the human body range from 50–100 trillion. All these decision-making cells come together in this extraordinary cooperative enterprise that has potential far beyond that of any one cell. We have the ability to move energy almost instantly from one part of us (the body) to another, wherever it’s needed, through processes we don’t fully understand. For the body to work, each cell needs to maintain its integrity as an independent being, yet be devoted to the health of the whole. So it is constantly balancing the individual interest with the collective interest.”
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, by David C. Korten
You are a Community of Trillions of Living Cells
“Now I have a completely new understanding of life and that has led to a new way to teach people about cells. When you look at yourself you see an individual person. But if you understand the nature of who you are, you realize that you are actually a com-munity of about 50 -100 trillion living cells. Each cell is a living individual, a sentient being that has its own life and functions but interacts with other cells in the nature of a community. If I could reduce you to the size of a cell and drop you inside your own body, you would see a very busy metropolis of trillions of individuals living within one skin. This becomes relevant when we understand that health is when there is harmony in the community and dis-ease is when there is a disharmony that tends to fracture the community relationships. So, fact number one; we are a community.”
“Fact number two: There is not one function in the human body that is not already present in every single cell. For example, you have various systems: digestive, respiratory, excretory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, reproductive, a nervous system and an immune system but every one of those functions exists in every one of your cells. In fact we are made in the image of a cell.”
The Wisdom of Your Cells, How Beliefs Control Your Biology, Bruce Lipton Ph.D.
More from Bruce Lipton
“I believe that cells not only teach us about the mechanisms of life, but also teach us how to live rich, full lives.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
“Every time a drug is introduced into the body to correct function A, it inevitably throws off function B, C, and D.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
“In the fall of 1985, I experienced a scientific epiphany that shattered my beliefs about the nature of life. My life-changing moment occurred while I was reviewing research on the mechanisms by which cells control their physiology and behavior. Suddenly I realized that a cell’s life is controlled by the physical and energetic environment and not by its genes. Genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues and organs. The environment serves as a “contractor” who reads and engages those genetic blueprints and is ultimately responsible for the character of a cell’s life. It is a single cell’s “awareness” of the environment, not its genes, that sets into motion the mechanisms of life.”
“As a cell biologist I knew that my insights had powerful ramifications for my life and the lives of all human beings. I was acutely aware that every human being is made up of approximately 50 -100 trillion single cells. I had devoted my professional life to better understanding single cells, because I knew then, and know now, that the better we understand single cells, the better we can understand the community of cells that comprise each human body. I knew that if single cells are controlled by their awareness of the environment so too are we trillion-celled human beings. Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life.”
“We are living in exciting times, for science is in the process of shattering old myths and rewriting a fundamental belief of human civilization. The belief that we are frail bio-chemical machines controlled by genes is giving way to an understanding that we are powerful creators of our lives and the world in which we live.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
What Does All This Mean?
What all this means is that we live and die at the cellular level.
It means that we are and we become…literally…what we eat.
It means that we are and we become what our food eats; or what our foods eat.
It means that we are and we become what our plant foods eat and how they are tended to from soil to seed to sprout to fruit to harvest to transport to selection to preparation to consumption. It means the same thing for the animals we eat, too.
It means that the decisions we make about what we eat each day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, what we take for supplements, medications, etc; are the most important decisions we make and have the biggest and most important impacts on our health. It means that the blueprints for our health are encoded in the DNA of each and every cell in our body and it means that these “DNA Blueprints” are NOT and were NOT “fixed” at conception or birth but are constantly changing due to the choices we make every day of our lives, particularly our dietary and lifestyle choices. It means that food is actually information that talks to our genes and washes over our DNA and creates the outcome of our life which is either health or disease. It means that we have total control over this process. We control what genetic messages get turned on or turned off by what we eat.
This is ALL very good news. It means we are in the driver’s seat. We are in control.
It means that nutrition determines genetic expression. It means that we need to learn how to take better care of our cells. It means that we need to learn how to BE and BECOME more proactive in our own self-care. It means that all will be well in our lives, to the degree we learn to find and consistently do the things that truly nourish ourselves and our cells…best!
It Also Means…
It also means that our health depends upon the health of others. It also means that the health of others depends on us and the quality of our health. It also means that we live in synergistic and interdependent relationships with others just like the cells inside our own bodies.
It means that human beings are community-oriented, community-minded, community-focused, community-driven…BY NATURE…meaning that this relationship-family-community thing is hard-wired and cannot be changed!
It means that human beings are inherently committed to building and maintaining and optimizing healthy interdependent relationships, communities and teams. It means that; like the cells inside our own bodies, there is no such thing as real independence; only healthy or unhealthy interdependence. And this is very good news for all of us!
All this information invites us to consider an intriguing possibility; that what connects us and unites us is far stronger than what separates us or keeps us apart. It means that teamwork makes the dream work! Which begs the question: What is our dream?
The Seeds of Health Within Us
Healing comes from a place of unconditional love and no matter how sick a person feels; that place of inner health and healing, literally and physically exists in the form of seeds inside the dna molecules inside the nucleus in every single cell in our body.
The seeds of health within us wait patiently and want to be nourished so that they can blossom…and then help us to blossom…into our fullest human potentials.
Have you ever heard the phrases, “the innermost house“ or “the garden within”? Metaphors, right? Actually, no, they are not metaphors. Not any longer, not with the revelations from recent scientific discoveries. The truth about the seeds of health within us is just that. It’s the truth. It’s within us. It’s not a metaphor or a myth or a fable or a story or a daydream or wishful thinking of any kind.
It is the reality and most important truth of our being.
It is the most simple and powerful of all truths and because of that it is elusive and a little bit slippery because so many "great thinkers" tend to think that such a truth is far more complex and inscrutable, mysterious, unknowable and unattainable.
Well, some things may certainly be unknowable and unattainable and that is perfectly fine with me. But health; and how we get ourselves healthy and keep ourselves healthy is NOT one of these mysterious, inscrutable, unknowable or unattainable things. The seeds of health within us… are within us…inside every cell in our body.
The facts are on our side. The seeds of health wait patiently within us. The choice is ours. Will we nourish these seeds or not? We live in a wonderful, miraculous time in our history. The time is now and the choice is ours.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
As we find and do the things that nourish us best, including and especially what nourishes our cells best, and share these discoveries with others, all will be well; today…and in all the days ahead.
So find and do the things that nourish you best and all will be well!
Russell Mariani
March 2015
Russell Mariani is a Health Educator, Nutrition Counselor and Digestive Wellness expert who has been in private practice since 1980. He is the co-director with his wife Megan Moore of The Center for Functional Nutrition in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He is the author of the book, Healing Digestive Illness and the daily blog: The Roots of Health. He can be reached at 413-536-0275 or russellmariani@verizon.net His website is: www.healingdigestiveillness.com
Thank you for reading this document. It is my wish that you not only read these words and comments from me and the quotes and insights from others, but that you digest, absorb and assimilate the wisdom of these insights into the very core of your being. My wish is that you take actions as a result of reading these words, actions that improve the quality of your life and the lives of others.
The essence of the central message in this document is this: How and why we care for the cells in our body determines the quality of our health. And, that the quality of our health determines the quality of our life. What could be more important than this?
Physical health is the foundation upon which we build the rest of our lives. The quality of our physical health is determined by the quality of the life of our cells. Cells are amazing. Cells live amazing lives! The cells inside our own body perform countless miracles every second of every day. Read on to discover how and why this is so.
I am committed to the vision of more people understanding just how critically important it is to take better care of their cells, not just for their own health and well-being, but for the health and well-being of others as well. The care of the cells in our body is rapidly becoming a new way of understanding the meaning and purpose of our lives.
The care of the cells in our body is becoming a practical path and roadmap to the ex-periences of greater harmony and peace, cooperation and community, imagination and abundance. The care of the cells in our body has always been and will always be one of the very best ways to realize our fullest human potentials. Inspiring others to do the same has always been and will always be one of the greatest gifts we can give and one of the greatest sources of satisfaction and fulfillment that we can experience in this life.
As we find and do the things that nourish us best, including and especially what nourishes our cells best, and share these discoveries with others, all will be well; today… and in all the days ahead.
Russell Mariani
March 2015
Some of the best “cell quotes” ever!
“In order for a cell to be healthy, it needs proper nutrients and oxygen. If our cells are healthy, then we are healthy. It is as simple as that. In order to maintain our health, we must learn to provide our body with the nutrients that our cells need to survive and thrive. All cellular functions are determined by the environment in which cells live. All cells take their nutrients and oxygen from the surrounding blood and lymph in which they are floating. Cells then, become what they eat. When cells become damaged, for whatever reason, we must be able to give the body the raw materials it needs to heal itself, replacing the damaged cells, with healthy new ones. If we do this, then the body can do the rest. The root of the word “health” is “heal.” The body is constantly healing itself. The body’s ability to heal itself is one of the most fundamental and essential principles of life.”
The Science of Healing Revealed, by Gary Samuelson, Ph.D.
Note from RM: The blueprints for these miraculous abilities described by Gary Samuelson and others are encoded in the DNA molecules in every cell in our body. The relationship between nutrition and the health of our cells is not casual, it’s causal. Nutrition determines genetic expression!
“Our bodies; and every organ, tissue, and system within our bodies, build themselves from single cells, and renew themselves through the constant interchange of food, water and air. We can say that our bodies are like temples, or like houses, in that houses are made from bricks and bodies are made from cells, but the comparison would fall far short of the miraculous truth. For our body is born from one cell, as if the house could be built from one brick; a magic brick that would set about manufacturing other bricks. These new bricks, without waiting for the architect’s drawings or the arrival of the brick-layers, would somehow assemble themselves and begin to form walls and floors and ceilings. These magical bricks would also metamorphose into window-panes, roofing-slates, coal for heating and water for the kitchen and bathroom. Our bodies develop by means such as those attributed to fairies in the tales told to children in by-gone times. This magnificent construction of our bodies emanates from the unknowable wisdom inside each individual cell which, to all appearances, possess a knowledge of the future edifice and synthesize from substances present in our blood and lymph, not only the building materials but the workers themselves!”
Man the Unknown, by Alexis Carrel (1935)
“Human beings originate from a single cell. This cell divides into two other cells, which in turn divide themselves and this division continues on indefinitely. In the course of this process of structural elaboration and construction, the embryo retains the functional simplicity of the original single-celled egg. The cells of the human body seem to remember their original unity, even when they have organized and become the elements of an innumerable multitude. Each cell understands spontaneously and intuitively the functions required of them inside the organized whole. This innate knowledge of the part they must play in the manifestation of a healthy, wholesome body, is a consciousness or mode of being inside each and every cell.”
Man the Unknown, by Alexis Carrel (1935)
Who Was Alexis Carrel?
Alexis Carrel was a scientist who spent most of his professional life at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. In one of the most remarkable experi-ments in medical history (up to that time) Carrel demonstrated that under suitable con-ditions, the living cell could live a very long time, perhaps indefinitely. He took small pieces of heart tissue from a chicken embryo and placed them in a petri dish immersed in a nutrient solution. The heart tissue took its food from this solution and likewise secreted its waste material into this same solution. Every day the solution was changed, taking away the waste materials and providing fresh nutrients. In this way, the chicken heart tissue lived for 29 years. It died one day when a lab assistant forgot to change the polluted fluid! Here’s what Carrel said of this experience:
“The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats which degenerates. Renew this fluid at intervals, give the cell the proper nutrients upon which to feed and, so far as we know, the pulsation of life may go on forever.”
Man the Unknown, Alexis Carrel (1935)
Alexis Carrel on the importance of Nutrition
“Every manifestation of the life of our tissues, organs and cells, our thoughts, our nerves our affections, the cruelty, the ugliness and the beauty of the universe, even its very existence, (all) depend upon the biochemical state of our blood and lymph; and these fluids depend upon the quality of our daily nutrition. Nutrition is synonymous with existence.”
Man the Unknown, Alexis Carrel (1935)
What is Nutrigenomics?
This new paradigm of health, which is now at our door step and gives us the opportunity to revolutionize medicine and healthcare is really based on a very simple notion and that notion is personalized medicine. It’s about finding the right approach for each person based on their genes. This is what we call genomics. And specifically when it comes to food and nutrition, it’s called nutrigenomics; which is the idea food is actually information that talks to your genes and washes over your DNA and that creates the outcome of your life which is either health or disease. And we have total control over that phenomena. We can actually control which (genetic) messages get turned on or turned off by exactly what we do to our bodies by what we eat. That’s the power of nutrigenomics. That’s the power of this new Health Model; this new Health Paradigm.
I want you to understand that there are some basic laws of nature that you have to understand and follow to support your health. You need to consume foods that work with your genes and can contribute to an optimum functioning system.
The fundamental concept behind nutrigenomics is that everything you eat sends specific messages to your genes (which live inside the nucleus of your cells). Your genes, in turn, send messages to the regulatory or control centers of your body: your immune system, hormonal system, detoxification system, etc.
These messages can be good messages like; “eliminate toxins” or “burn stored body fat” or “kill those bacteria I just inhaled through my nose” or they can be bad messages like: “make more LDL cholesterol” or “increase inflammation to my coronary arteries” or “slow down my brain function.” The way food affects your genes is hard-wired and cannot be changed. But you have the ability to adapt to a nutrigenomics lifestyle that will turn on those messages of health (via optimal gene expression) by eating according to your body’s natural instruction manual.
In other words, nutrigenomics recognizes that food isn’t just the stuff you put in your mouth that tastes good and fills you up. Food is actually information; it “talks” to your genes and washes over your DNA to create conditions of either health or disease, weight gain or weight loss, vitality or sluggishness. And you can control which mess-ages get “turned on” or “turned off” through what you eat. The most influential thing you do every day is what (food) you put in your mouth.
If we work with these basic core balances and provide the nutrients that restore normal functioning to our cells and simply forget about diseases regardless of the disease; the body will heal and repair, restore, regenerate and revive. And that’s the power of this Health Model: Functional Medicine, Functional Nutrition, Nutrigenomics…it’s all the same thing based on the same natural principles and the same dietary and lifestyle practices. It’s very exciting!
Nutrigenomics, by Mark Hyman, MD
“It is an interesting fact that the cells in your body can also genetically shift due to the intake of nutrients that you eat. What you eat can literally change the form and genetic function of your cells. There have been experiments with identical twins in mice, both having exactly the same DNA, that were fed different diets. One mouse grew shiny brown fur and was skinny, the other grew light gold fur and was fat and sickly. The only difference between the two mice was in what they ate.”
The Science of Healing Revealed, by Gary Samuelson, Ph.D.
A Human Being is a Community of Vibrant Cooperating Cells
“Life can exist only in cooperative, sharing relationships with other life forms. Energy is constantly flowing back and forth among organisms, just as it is among the cells of a single organism. Scientific estimates of the number of cells in the human body range from 50–100 trillion. All these decision-making cells come together in this extraordinary cooperative enterprise that has potential far beyond that of any one cell. We have the ability to move energy almost instantly from one part of us (the body) to another, wherever it’s needed, through processes we don’t fully understand. For the body to work, each cell needs to maintain its integrity as an independent being, yet be devoted to the health of the whole. So it is constantly balancing the individual interest with the collective interest.”
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, by David C. Korten
You are a Community of Trillions of Living Cells
“Now I have a completely new understanding of life and that has led to a new way to teach people about cells. When you look at yourself you see an individual person. But if you understand the nature of who you are, you realize that you are actually a com-munity of about 50 -100 trillion living cells. Each cell is a living individual, a sentient being that has its own life and functions but interacts with other cells in the nature of a community. If I could reduce you to the size of a cell and drop you inside your own body, you would see a very busy metropolis of trillions of individuals living within one skin. This becomes relevant when we understand that health is when there is harmony in the community and dis-ease is when there is a disharmony that tends to fracture the community relationships. So, fact number one; we are a community.”
“Fact number two: There is not one function in the human body that is not already present in every single cell. For example, you have various systems: digestive, respiratory, excretory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, reproductive, a nervous system and an immune system but every one of those functions exists in every one of your cells. In fact we are made in the image of a cell.”
The Wisdom of Your Cells, How Beliefs Control Your Biology, Bruce Lipton Ph.D.
More from Bruce Lipton
“I believe that cells not only teach us about the mechanisms of life, but also teach us how to live rich, full lives.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
“Every time a drug is introduced into the body to correct function A, it inevitably throws off function B, C, and D.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
“In the fall of 1985, I experienced a scientific epiphany that shattered my beliefs about the nature of life. My life-changing moment occurred while I was reviewing research on the mechanisms by which cells control their physiology and behavior. Suddenly I realized that a cell’s life is controlled by the physical and energetic environment and not by its genes. Genes are simply molecular blueprints used in the construction of cells, tissues and organs. The environment serves as a “contractor” who reads and engages those genetic blueprints and is ultimately responsible for the character of a cell’s life. It is a single cell’s “awareness” of the environment, not its genes, that sets into motion the mechanisms of life.”
“As a cell biologist I knew that my insights had powerful ramifications for my life and the lives of all human beings. I was acutely aware that every human being is made up of approximately 50 -100 trillion single cells. I had devoted my professional life to better understanding single cells, because I knew then, and know now, that the better we understand single cells, the better we can understand the community of cells that comprise each human body. I knew that if single cells are controlled by their awareness of the environment so too are we trillion-celled human beings. Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life.”
“We are living in exciting times, for science is in the process of shattering old myths and rewriting a fundamental belief of human civilization. The belief that we are frail bio-chemical machines controlled by genes is giving way to an understanding that we are powerful creators of our lives and the world in which we live.”
The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
What Does All This Mean?
What all this means is that we live and die at the cellular level.
It means that we are and we become…literally…what we eat.
It means that we are and we become what our food eats; or what our foods eat.
It means that we are and we become what our plant foods eat and how they are tended to from soil to seed to sprout to fruit to harvest to transport to selection to preparation to consumption. It means the same thing for the animals we eat, too.
It means that the decisions we make about what we eat each day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, what we take for supplements, medications, etc; are the most important decisions we make and have the biggest and most important impacts on our health. It means that the blueprints for our health are encoded in the DNA of each and every cell in our body and it means that these “DNA Blueprints” are NOT and were NOT “fixed” at conception or birth but are constantly changing due to the choices we make every day of our lives, particularly our dietary and lifestyle choices. It means that food is actually information that talks to our genes and washes over our DNA and creates the outcome of our life which is either health or disease. It means that we have total control over this process. We control what genetic messages get turned on or turned off by what we eat.
This is ALL very good news. It means we are in the driver’s seat. We are in control.
It means that nutrition determines genetic expression. It means that we need to learn how to take better care of our cells. It means that we need to learn how to BE and BECOME more proactive in our own self-care. It means that all will be well in our lives, to the degree we learn to find and consistently do the things that truly nourish ourselves and our cells…best!
It Also Means…
It also means that our health depends upon the health of others. It also means that the health of others depends on us and the quality of our health. It also means that we live in synergistic and interdependent relationships with others just like the cells inside our own bodies.
It means that human beings are community-oriented, community-minded, community-focused, community-driven…BY NATURE…meaning that this relationship-family-community thing is hard-wired and cannot be changed!
It means that human beings are inherently committed to building and maintaining and optimizing healthy interdependent relationships, communities and teams. It means that; like the cells inside our own bodies, there is no such thing as real independence; only healthy or unhealthy interdependence. And this is very good news for all of us!
All this information invites us to consider an intriguing possibility; that what connects us and unites us is far stronger than what separates us or keeps us apart. It means that teamwork makes the dream work! Which begs the question: What is our dream?
The Seeds of Health Within Us
Healing comes from a place of unconditional love and no matter how sick a person feels; that place of inner health and healing, literally and physically exists in the form of seeds inside the dna molecules inside the nucleus in every single cell in our body.
The seeds of health within us wait patiently and want to be nourished so that they can blossom…and then help us to blossom…into our fullest human potentials.
Have you ever heard the phrases, “the innermost house“ or “the garden within”? Metaphors, right? Actually, no, they are not metaphors. Not any longer, not with the revelations from recent scientific discoveries. The truth about the seeds of health within us is just that. It’s the truth. It’s within us. It’s not a metaphor or a myth or a fable or a story or a daydream or wishful thinking of any kind.
It is the reality and most important truth of our being.
It is the most simple and powerful of all truths and because of that it is elusive and a little bit slippery because so many "great thinkers" tend to think that such a truth is far more complex and inscrutable, mysterious, unknowable and unattainable.
Well, some things may certainly be unknowable and unattainable and that is perfectly fine with me. But health; and how we get ourselves healthy and keep ourselves healthy is NOT one of these mysterious, inscrutable, unknowable or unattainable things. The seeds of health within us… are within us…inside every cell in our body.
The facts are on our side. The seeds of health wait patiently within us. The choice is ours. Will we nourish these seeds or not? We live in a wonderful, miraculous time in our history. The time is now and the choice is ours.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
As we find and do the things that nourish us best, including and especially what nourishes our cells best, and share these discoveries with others, all will be well; today…and in all the days ahead.
So find and do the things that nourish you best and all will be well!
Russell Mariani
March 2015
Russell Mariani is a Health Educator, Nutrition Counselor and Digestive Wellness expert who has been in private practice since 1980. He is the co-director with his wife Megan Moore of The Center for Functional Nutrition in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He is the author of the book, Healing Digestive Illness and the daily blog: The Roots of Health. He can be reached at 413-536-0275 or russellmariani@verizon.net His website is: www.healingdigestiveillness.com
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