April 2, 2025 • 26 mins
Description:
In this episode, David Sandstrom discusses the critical differences between germ theory and terrain theory, emphasizing the importance of understanding these concepts to make informed health choices. He critiques the influence of marketing on health decisions, particularly regarding vaccines and medical interventions, and highlights the significance of gut health and the microbiome. David also explores how modern lifestyles impact health and calls for a community focused on natural health practices aligned with Christian values.
Time Stamps:
01:32 Germ Theory vs Terrain Theory
06:25 Don't Live in Fear
07:17 Informed Consent
11:18 Luis Pasteur vs Antoine Bechamp
17:15 We're Living in a Zoo
20:55 Promoting Gut Health
25:45 The Christian Healthy Lifestyle Community
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In this episode, I want to talk to you about something that every natural healthenthusiast should be familiar with, and that is germ theory.
If we don't understand germ theory and how it's used in the marketplace to push productson us, we'll be vulnerable to clever marketing campaigns to get us to buy their products
and participate in practices that are contrary to healthy lifestyle.
(00:24):
I want everyone in the natural nation to understand the difference between germ theory andterrain theory.
so that when the clever marketing or the bad advice comes along, we won't get distractedand we'll stay on track with effective healthy lifestyle habits that support a robust
immune system.
Let's talk about it.
(00:50):
Welcome to the Christian Healthy Lifestyle Podcast, where I help Christians opt out of themedical matrix, cut through the noise, and embrace a natural health lifestyle the way God
intended.
I'm your host, David Sandstrom, and this is episode number 178.
As we get started today, I want to give you a heads up.
Some of the topics I'm going to cover today are somewhat controversial, so I've decided toredact or bleep out some of my statements.
(01:16):
If you're watching the video version of this episode, you'll hear the beeps.
If you want to hear the full unredacted version, listen on your favorite podcast listeningplatform.
In the podcasting world, we still have free speech, but that's not true on all platforms.
Now, germ theory is the idea that it's the germs in the form of viruses, bacteria, fungi,parasites that make us sick.
(01:41):
Terrain theory says it's not so much the microbes that make us sick, it's the internalenvironment or a
compromised immune system that makes us sick.
The reality is, it's probably a little bit of both, but the medical community has goneheadlong into germ theory.
We saw that lived out with the pandemic.
(02:02):
We can get ourselves into trouble if we blindly follow the official advice from governmentthree-letter agencies.
I want to share a quick story.
Early on in my flying career, I got my first multi-engine job.
I was flying twin-engine planes.
They were called Cessna 402, and was nine passengers and single pilot.
Well, one of the more experienced pilots told me before my first flight, he said, hey,when you're approaching to land, don't do what the book tells you to do.
(02:28):
Don't use the manual and turn on your fuel pumps.
Because if you do down at sea level altitudes, you're going to flood those engines outwith fuel, and you're going to lose an engine.
So I kind of nodded my head and said, OK.
And I said to myself, I'm not going to go against the book manufacturer's recommendations.
I'm going by the book.
So on my first flight by myself, pull out the approach to landing checklist, it said fuelpumps on.
(02:53):
So I turned the fuel pumps on.
Guess what happened?
I lost an engine.
So I was able to get that engine restarted, but an engine failure in an airplane doesn'tlead to good places.
So I would have been better off listening to the advice of the experienced pilot that knewbetter than the official recommendations from the manufacturer.
(03:14):
So the same thing is true with
listening to the official recommendations from three letter government agencies, theycould be very much wrong for a lot of different reasons.
Now, during the pandemic, we were first told masks don't work and they can even beharmful.
So don't wear them.
Then we were told, well, you can wear a mask if you want to.
(03:36):
And then later we were told masks are the only way to not endanger the public.
I can tell you because I'm a geek and I researched this stuff, but
Trying to stop an airborne virus with a face mask is like trying to keep mosquitoes outwith a chain-link fence.
It doesn't work.
When it comes to quarantines, for the first time in human history, we quarantined healthypeople.
(04:03):
We were told it's two weeks to flatten the curve.
And two weeks turned into almost two years of closed businesses and schools being shutdown.
Really, probably for no good reason.
When it comes to vaccines, we were told the vaccine is 99 % effective.
Then we were told the shots are 90 % effective.
(04:26):
Then we're told the jab is 80 % effective and then 70 % and so on.
And then finally we were told, well, it won't prevent you from getting the disease, butyour symptoms won't be as severe.
But they forgot to tell us that down the road, the jab would compromise our immune systems
and make us more susceptible to a COVID infection.
(04:49):
The people who got the most COVID infections were the vaccinated population, not theunvaccinated.
Now, all of that bad advice was centered around germ theory.
Here's the trouble.
We can't live in a bubble.
We can't avoid being exposed to germs.
As long as we're living and breathing on this planet, we will be exposed to germs.
(05:14):
The question we should be asking is,
What's the best way to defend ourselves from those germs?
It's what happens after we get exposed is what's most important.
Now, germ theory proponents would have us believe that our defenses against those germsare, for the most part, fixed.
Probably genetics, and it's out of our control.
(05:34):
Therefore, the only way to protect ourselves is with extreme measures of avoidance or sometype of medical intervention with pills and shots.
Now,
I'm not against prudent avoidance.
There are some nasty microbes out there.
Parasites like Giardia or Cryptosporium can be potentially life-threatening to acompromised individual.
(05:57):
If we're out camping or hiking, we shouldn't drink unfiltered water from a stream orriver.
That water is often contaminated with all kinds of undesirable microscopic organisms.
The same is true with public hot tubs.
I usually avoid those.
We're probably better off avoiding
those types of public situations.
But living in fear of all invisible microbes is no way to go through life.
(06:23):
The Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and asound mind.
Clever marketing agencies know that purchase decisions are largely made at an emotionallevel.
And one of the more powerful motivating emotions is fear.
So they'll use fear in their marketing campaigns
(06:44):
to get us to buy and use their products.
Those products include things like face masks, vaccines, hand sanitizers, antibacterialsoaps, and the like.
Although each of those products may serve some purpose in certain situations, they allcome with a downside.
Vaccines have a whole host of issues.
(07:06):
We could easily do a whole series of episodes on that topic.
We can't possibly do that justice on a single episode.
We can't cover it thoroughly here in this one episode, but let me say this.
I'm a believer in informed consent.
Every individual and parent should be able to make the decision as to whether or not toget a vaccine or vaccinate their children.
(07:29):
But that decision needs to be an educated one.
For starters, we sure want to know that any jab we get or give to our children has beenthoroughly evaluated and tested for safety and efficacy.
Now know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, any medical product that has been rushedto market with little to no testing in a frantic marketing campaign, I'm going to stay
(07:53):
away from.
There's preservatives in vaccines that are potentially harmful, but even worse than that.
One of the bigger inherent problems with vaccines is they contain ingredients thatstimulate a greater immune response.
Those stimulants are called adjuvants.
and they trigger the immune system to kick in a gear.
(08:14):
Years ago, a common adjuvant was mercury.
Mercury is highly toxic.
There is no safe level exposure of mercury.
So when mercury was outlawed, vaccine manufacturers switched to aluminum and some otherthings, but also very toxic.
I was flying on an airplane one time.
(08:35):
I used to commute to work during my 35 year flying career.
I spent most of that time commuting.
And I was on an airplane one day and there was a guy next to me reading a bunch ofdocuments.
And I was being a little nosy.
I leaned over and I looked at what he was reading and he was reading some stuff onvaccines.
And I was just getting started in my research about vaccines back then.
I had young children and I wanted to know, you know, what was going on here.
(08:57):
So I said, Hey, I noticed you're reading some stuff about vaccines.
What line of work are you in?
He said, well, I'm a lawyer and a doctor.
So, wow, that's interesting.
So who do you work for?
said, I work for university of Miami and I represent their
interest in pharmaceuticals designed to be used as vaccines.
So I said, okay, I got a, I got a big question for you.
(09:18):
Do you have kids?
He says, yeah, I do.
I said, all right, here's a $64,000 question.
Do you vaccinate your children?
He looked me straight in the eye and he said, not on the recommended schedule, not on yourlife.
He said, I said, why?
He said, because if you do 37 vaccines before kindergarten, like they recommend,
(09:39):
you're going to severely over-stimulate that child's immune system.
And that's not a good thing.
He wasn't opposed to vaccines, but he told me he picks and chooses certain ones to use andcertain ones to stay away from.
I got the impression he stayed away from most of them.
So here's the point.
We should listen to both sides of the vaccine debate and make up our own minds as towhether or not we should get one.
(10:01):
Okay.
Enough said on that topic.
What about hand-sensitizers?
At first glance, it might seem like a good idea.
What's wrong with washing germs off?
Well, you're not really washing them off, you're just killing the bacteria.
But hand sanitizers are primarily alcohol, and alcohol dries out the skin and it disturbsthe delicate microbial balance on our skin.
(10:25):
The same is true with antibacterial soaps.
Antibacterial soaps are just another type of antibiotics.
Just as oral antibiotics destroy or carpet bomb the internal terrain of our gutmicrobiome,
Antibiotics in the form of antibacterial soap will destroy the delicate microbiome balanceon our skin.
(10:46):
In episode 125, I interviewed Dr.
Yug Varma, who was a microbiologist, and we talked about the microbiome on our skin andparticularly how it affects acne.
If that's a topic that interests you, I encourage you to go back and listen to episode125.
It helps to understand a little history behind germ theory.
(11:06):
Germs were first discovered in the mid 1700s, but into the early 1800s, still very littlewas known or understood about microbes or pathogens.
Then in 1861, a French biologist by the name of Louis Pasteur came along.
You probably recognize his name from the term pasteurization.
(11:26):
It's named after him.
Now Pasteur discovered that microbes caused fermentation and germ theory really got a holdand it started
taken off after that.
But even then, there were competing theories.
Another French biologist by the name of Antoine Bichon was a rival of Louis Pasteur.
He was a microbiologist as well.
(11:48):
And he wrote a book called Blood and Its Third Anatomical Element.
And Bichon theorized that it wasn't so much the germs that make us sick.
He said that the internal terrain or the ability of that person to fight off thoseundesirable microscopic organisms
is what matters most.
(12:08):
So here we are, more than 150 years later, and the debate is still going on.
But the evidence is starting to pile up.
It's the internal terrain that matters most.
Now, contrary to popular belief, being exposed to germs, especially as a child, isactually very much health protective.
So look at this study here.
(12:29):
It's called Early Farm Exposure Mitigates Respiratory Illnesses, Allergies,
and skin rashes.
This study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
It compared 268 children ages 5 to 17 who lived on a dairy farm from birth to five yearsto 247 children who lived in a rural area but never lived on a farm.
(12:55):
Here's what they found.
Conditions that were significantly less common in farm exposed children were allergicrhinitis and hay fever.
The study found children born into dairy farms had much less severe respiratory illnessesduring their first two years of life, 16 % in farm infants compared to 31 % in non-farm
(13:16):
infants.
These findings suggest that environmental exposure or other elements in the farminglifestyle help kids to be resistant to both allergies and viral respiratory illnesses.
So that's one study.
Let's look at another one.
This one's entitled Genetics.
Environment lifestyle influence risks for food allergy early in life.
(13:39):
Here's what they found.
Early introduction to solid foods appears to have a significant impact as the research hascited the learning early about peanut trial, which demonstrated how the early and
sustained intake of peanuts could be protective against peanut allergy.
Also, from the inquiring about tolerance study found a 67 % lower risk
(14:02):
for food allergies with early introduction when children are aged one to three years.
The growing adoption of westernized lifestyle that limits less industrialized exposure tomicrobial influences may contribute to increasing rates of food allergies and food
sensitivities as part of the hygiene hypothesis the researchers further found.
(14:26):
So in other words, they found that contrary to popular belief that we should
keep our children from being exposed to food allergens early in life, we actually want toexpose them earlier in life and that ends up being more health protective against food
allergies and food sensitivities by a significant margin.
(14:47):
Okay, here's another study.
This one is called, Linking the Gut Microbial Ecosystem with the Environment.
Does gut health depend on where we live?
This study was published in the Frontiers in Microbiology
in 2017.
Here's what they found.
Studies show that growing up in a microbe-rich environment, such as traditional farms, canhave protective health effects on children.
(15:12):
These health effects may be ablated due to changes in human lifestyle, diet, livingenvironment, and environmental biodiversity as a result of urbanization.
Importantly, if early life exposure to environmental microbes increases gut microbiotadiversity,
by influencing patterns of gut microbial assembly, then soil biodiversity loss due to landuse changes such as urbanization could be a public health threat.
(15:41):
So what they're saying is children that grew up on farms and exposed to soil and animalsand those kinds of things were healthier and they had fewer problems with allergies later
in life.
And they go on to say that if that's true,
than stripping the soil of its natural microbial content with commercial farming practicesis a serious health concern.
(16:07):
So what these studies are pointing to is that our modern lifestyles are forcing us to livein an unnatural environment, and that environment is harmful to our health.
So is embracing germ theory and trying to make our environment as sterile as possible
Really a good way to build health?
(16:28):
I would say that the answer to that question is unequivocally no.
And do I have to say it?
Jesus was born in a barn and at that time most people owned animals.
So these researchers are confirming that God knows best.
God gave our bodies a super intelligence.
You see, we've got two sides to our immune system.
(16:51):
We've got the innate immune response, which is our bodies quick
general immune response that includes inflammation and protects us from any invader.
And we've got the adaptive immune response where our bodies learn how to recognize aparticular germ or invader and mount a more effective immune response the next time we're
exposed to that particular undesirable microscopic organism.
(17:16):
Our modern lifestyles have removed us from the natural environment that we were designedto coexist with.
We're basically
living in a zoo.
When we look at animals in the wild, we don't see chronic disease.
We don't see things like obesity, insulin resistance, type two diabetes, but put thoseanimals in a zoo and we'll see their health declining.
(17:41):
They may get to the point where they don't care about finding a mate or are even unable toreproduce.
We're seeing that lived out in our society with male sperm count in humans.
declining 50 to 60 % over the last 50 years.
Take a look at this study here.
This study was published in the journal Human Reproduction Update.
(18:02):
It's called Temporal Trends in Sperm Count, a systematic review and meta-regressionanalysis.
Here's what they found.
In this comprehensive meta-analysis, sperm counts declined significantly among men fromNorth America, Europe, and Australia during 1973,
(18:22):
2011, with a 50 to 60 percent decline among men unselected by fertility, with no evidenceof a leveling off in recent years.
These findings strongly suggest a significant decline in male reproductive health, whichhas serious implications beyond fertility concerns.
Research on causes and implications of this decline is urgently needed.
(18:51):
If this trend is not reversed, the human race will cease to exist.
Could this be partly responsible for the gender confusion that we see everywhere thesedays?
I don't know, but it's certainly worth taking a look at.
Now it's not genetics and it's not germs that are causing things like this.
It's lifestyle factors.
(19:12):
That's why I'm starting the Christian Healthy Lifestyle Community.
The community is going to be a place where we're surrounded with like-minded believersthat
are also natural health enthusiasts.
And together, we can support one another on this journey to pursue abundant life throughvibrant health and vitality.
If you haven't already, I encourage you to get on the waitlist at chlpodcast.com forwardslash membership.
(19:37):
Now, I'm not saying we need to build a cabin in the woods and live off the grid.
I like some of our marketing conveniences.
I'm assuming you do too.
I like having air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter.
I like having electricity and running water.
I like having a car and a cell phone.
But we should be taking steps to fight back against the onslaught of insults that haverobbed us of our natural living environment.
(20:05):
We should be living lifestyles that come alongside our body's natural mechanisms thatpromote health and well-being.
We should be cooperating with our God-given design and living in harmony with it.
not trying to work against it with drugs and surgery.
Here's a few of my suggestions.
Obviously, it's super important to have a robust, diverse gut microbiome.
(20:29):
We get that by being exposed to all kinds of different bacteria.
When we have a diverse, robust microbiome, our bodies will form a healthy mucosal barrier.
The mucosal barrier in our guts is what protects us from the outside world.
We've all seen a dog drink dirty water out of a puddle and not get sick.
That's because dogs have a super strong mucosal barrier.
(20:53):
Now, we'll never have the protection a dog has, but there are things we can do to promotehealthy gut function.
There's beneficial bacteria in fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, cheese.
We should be consuming fermented foods on regular basis.
Now, if you've got a food sensitivity to dairy,
focus on fermented vegetables.
(21:15):
We should also be consuming the right kind of fiber that provides the food that thosebeneficial bacteria need in order to multiply.
The fermentation of fiber in the gut produces beneficial short-chain fatty acids,particularly butyrate, that assist with proper digestion.
Not only that, we should all be taking a quality probiotic supplement.
(21:38):
But a supplement is just that, a supplement.
Diet and lifestyles are the primary drivers of our current state of health.
If we're eating a standard American diet and living a standard American lifestyle and wantto pop a few pills to make up for all that, we're just kidding ourselves.
Another thing we can do to support our immune system is get a good night's sleep.
(22:01):
Poor quality sleep has been shown in the medical literature to reduce natural killer Tcells, which are a super important part of our immune response.
including fighting off cancer.
Poor sleep causes inflammation and decreases antibody response, which makes us moresusceptible to infections.
(22:21):
A lack of sleep also inhibits cytokine regulation.
The cytokines are important proteins that contribute to an effective immune response.
Another common lifestyle factor that acts in a similar fashion to poor sleep is eatinghigh amounts of processed sugar and grains.
A lot of people don't know this, but grains like rice, corn, and wheat can spike bloodsugar after meals just as much, if not more, than a bowl of ice cream.
(22:51):
Numerous studies show that a blood sugar spike after a sugary drink or a meal with lots ofgrains can compromise our immune system for several hours afterwards.
Those compromises include neutrophil inhibition.
Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell
that fight off bacterial infections, as well as a reduction in total white blood cellcount for up to eight hours after consuming 100 grams of sugar.
(23:19):
Now, 100 grams of sugar is roughly equivalent to a large soft drink and a burger and friesfrom any fast food restaurant.
Sugar spikes after meals also promote whole body systemic inflammation.
Now, systemic inflammation, again, compromises immune function.
High blood sugar can also cause oxidative stress, which contributes to accelerated aging.
(23:44):
It also compromises the gut microbiome by feeding yeast and the bad bacteria.
So let's get back to germ theory.
If you've been listening to this show for any length of time, you know it's my contentionthat our bodies have a God-given built-in intelligence, and our bodies know how to defend
themselves.
They know how to heal and to thrive.
(24:06):
We've just got to get the obstacles out of the way.
That way we build health margin and can better handle an illness.
We are fearfully wonderfully made, Psalm 139, 14, and our bodies have a sophisticatedimmune system that's designed by God to defend us against would-be invaders.
Of course, the idea that we have little to no control over our immune response fits rightinto the medical model of healthcare.
(24:31):
You just cross your fingers and hope you don't get sick.
And when you do, you go to the doctor and pick up some pills.
Let's not fall victim to clever marketing campaigns.
Let's stay focused on healthy lifestyle practices that are in harmony with our God-givennatural design and not work against our design with drugs and surgery.
(24:54):
Embracing the Christian healthy lifestyle means walking away from any of the things we seecommonly practiced every day.
Things like consuming 80 to 90 % of our diet from processed foods, sedentary lifestyle,
spending most of our time indoors.
And if we do go outside, make sure we lather up with toxic sunscreen because thedermatologist told us that all sunlight is bad.
(25:18):
Or taking unnecessary antibiotics when we have a viral infection because the doctor wantsto make us feel like he did something for us.
As believers, we're called to be different.
We're called to be in the world, but not of the world.
The Christian community is supposed to be a shining light of a city on a hill.
(25:39):
a model of the way we should live our lives that's attractive to others.
By embracing a Christian healthy lifestyle, we experience peace in the storm, morespiritual strength, more mental emotional fortitude, and better physical vitality.
But putting things into practice can be easier said than done.
Old habits don't go down without a fight.
(26:00):
It's lot easier to implement new healthy lifestyle habits when we're surrounded by a groupof like-minded believers.
That's why I'm starting the Christian Haley Glassdoll community.
Inside the community, you'll be surrounded by people on the same journey together,encouraging one another, celebrating victories, and experiencing positive accountability.
(26:23):
Do yourself a favor.
Get on the wait list today.
Do it right now while it's top of mind.
Go to chlpodcast.com forward slash membership, fill out the form, and I'll be in touchwith updates as launch approaches and your next steps.
Now don't miss next week's episode where I'll be sharing some mental toughness tips forreaching your health goals.
(26:43):
That's it for now.
Thank you for listening.
I appreciate you.
Go out there and live abundantly.
I'll talk with you next time.
Be blessed.
In this episode, I want to talk to you about something that every natural healthenthusiast should be familiar with, and that is germ theory.
If we don't understand germ theory and how it's used in the marketplace to push productson us, we'll be vulnerable to clever marketing campaigns to get us to buy their products
and participate in practices that are contrary to healthy lifestyle.
(00:24):
I want everyone in the natural nation to understand the difference between germ theory andterrain theory.
so that when the clever marketing or the bad advice comes along, we won't get distractedand we'll stay on track with effective healthy lifestyle habits that support a robust
immune system.
Let's talk about it.
(00:50):
Welcome to the Christian Healthy Lifestyle Podcast, where I help Christians opt out of themedical matrix, cut through the noise, and embrace a natural health lifestyle the way God
intended.
I'm your host, David Sandstrom, and this is episode number 178.
As we get started today, I want to give you a heads up.
Some of the topics I'm going to cover today are somewhat controversial, so I've decided toredact or bleep out some of my statements.
(01:16):
If you're watching the video version of this episode, you'll hear the beeps.
If you want to hear the full unredacted version, listen on your favorite podcast listeningplatform.
In the podcasting world, we still have free speech, but that's not true on all platforms.
Now, germ theory is the idea that it's the germs in the form of viruses, bacteria, fungi,parasites that make us sick.
(01:41):
Terrain theory says it's not so much the microbes that make us sick, it's the internalenvironment or a
compromised immune system that makes us sick.
The reality is, it's probably a little bit of both, but the medical community has goneheadlong into germ theory.
We saw that lived out with the pandemic.
(02:02):
We can get ourselves into trouble if we blindly follow the official advice from governmentthree-letter agencies.
I want to share a quick story.
Early on in my flying career, I got my first multi-engine job.
I was flying twin-engine planes.
They were called Cessna 402, and was nine passengers and single pilot.
Well, one of the more experienced pilots told me before my first flight, he said, hey,when you're approaching to land, don't do what the book tells you to do.
(02:28):
Don't use the manual and turn on your fuel pumps.
Because if you do down at sea level altitudes, you're going to flood those engines outwith fuel, and you're going to lose an engine.
So I kind of nodded my head and said, OK.
And I said to myself, I'm not going to go against the book manufacturer's recommendations.
I'm going by the book.
So on my first flight by myself, pull out the approach to landing checklist, it said fuelpumps on.
(02:53):
So I turned the fuel pumps on.
Guess what happened?
I lost an engine.
So I was able to get that engine restarted, but an engine failure in an airplane doesn'tlead to good places.
So I would have been better off listening to the advice of the experienced pilot that knewbetter than the official recommendations from the manufacturer.
(03:14):
So the same thing is true with
listening to the official recommendations from three letter government agencies, theycould be very much wrong for a lot of different reasons.
Now, during the pandemic, we were first told masks don't work and they can even beharmful.
So don't wear them.
Then we were told, well, you can wear a mask if you want to.
(03:36):
And then later we were told masks are the only way to not endanger the public.
I can tell you because I'm a geek and I researched this stuff, but
Trying to stop an airborne virus with a face mask is like trying to keep mosquitoes outwith a chain-link fence.
It doesn't work.
When it comes to quarantines, for the first time in human history, we quarantined healthypeople.
(04:03):
We were told it's two weeks to flatten the curve.
And two weeks turned into almost two years of closed businesses and schools being shutdown.
Really, probably for no good reason.
When it comes to vaccines, we were told the vaccine is 99 % effective.
Then we were told the shots are 90 % effective.
(04:26):
Then we're told the jab is 80 % effective and then 70 % and so on.
And then finally we were told, well, it won't prevent you from getting the disease, butyour symptoms won't be as severe.
But they forgot to tell us that down the road, the jab would compromise our immune systems
and make us more susceptible to a COVID infection.
(04:49):
The people who got the most COVID infections were the vaccinated population, not theunvaccinated.
Now, all of that bad advice was centered around germ theory.
Here's the trouble.
We can't live in a bubble.
We can't avoid being exposed to germs.
As long as we're living and breathing on this planet, we will be exposed to germs.
(05:14):
The question we should be asking is,
What's the best way to defend ourselves from those germs?
It's what happens after we get exposed is what's most important.
Now, germ theory proponents would have us believe that our defenses against those germsare, for the most part, fixed.
Probably genetics, and it's out of our control.
(05:34):
Therefore, the only way to protect ourselves is with extreme measures of avoidance or sometype of medical intervention with pills and shots.
Now,
I'm not against prudent avoidance.
There are some nasty microbes out there.
Parasites like Giardia or Cryptosporium can be potentially life-threatening to acompromised individual.
(05:57):
If we're out camping or hiking, we shouldn't drink unfiltered water from a stream orriver.
That water is often contaminated with all kinds of undesirable microscopic organisms.
The same is true with public hot tubs.
I usually avoid those.
We're probably better off avoiding
those types of public situations.
But living in fear of all invisible microbes is no way to go through life.
(06:23):
The Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and asound mind.
Clever marketing agencies know that purchase decisions are largely made at an emotionallevel.
And one of the more powerful motivating emotions is fear.
So they'll use fear in their marketing campaigns
(06:44):
to get us to buy and use their products.
Those products include things like face masks, vaccines, hand sanitizers, antibacterialsoaps, and the like.
Although each of those products may serve some purpose in certain situations, they allcome with a downside.
Vaccines have a whole host of issues.
(07:06):
We could easily do a whole series of episodes on that topic.
We can't possibly do that justice on a single episode.
We can't cover it thoroughly here in this one episode, but let me say this.
I'm a believer in informed consent.
Every individual and parent should be able to make the decision as to whether or not toget a vaccine or vaccinate their children.
(07:29):
But that decision needs to be an educated one.
For starters, we sure want to know that any jab we get or give to our children has beenthoroughly evaluated and tested for safety and efficacy.
Now know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, any medical product that has been rushedto market with little to no testing in a frantic marketing campaign, I'm going to stay
(07:53):
away from.
There's preservatives in vaccines that are potentially harmful, but even worse than that.
One of the bigger inherent problems with vaccines is they contain ingredients thatstimulate a greater immune response.
Those stimulants are called adjuvants.
and they trigger the immune system to kick in a gear.
(08:14):
Years ago, a common adjuvant was mercury.
Mercury is highly toxic.
There is no safe level exposure of mercury.
So when mercury was outlawed, vaccine manufacturers switched to aluminum and some otherthings, but also very toxic.
I was flying on an airplane one time.
(08:35):
I used to commute to work during my 35 year flying career.
I spent most of that time commuting.
And I was on an airplane one day and there was a guy next to me reading a bunch ofdocuments.
And I was being a little nosy.
I leaned over and I looked at what he was reading and he was reading some stuff onvaccines.
And I was just getting started in my research about vaccines back then.
I had young children and I wanted to know, you know, what was going on here.
(08:57):
So I said, Hey, I noticed you're reading some stuff about vaccines.
What line of work are you in?
He said, well, I'm a lawyer and a doctor.
So, wow, that's interesting.
So who do you work for?
said, I work for university of Miami and I represent their
interest in pharmaceuticals designed to be used as vaccines.
So I said, okay, I got a, I got a big question for you.
(09:18):
Do you have kids?
He says, yeah, I do.
I said, all right, here's a $64,000 question.
Do you vaccinate your children?
He looked me straight in the eye and he said, not on the recommended schedule, not on yourlife.
He said, I said, why?
He said, because if you do 37 vaccines before kindergarten, like they recommend,
(09:39):
you're going to severely over-stimulate that child's immune system.
And that's not a good thing.
He wasn't opposed to vaccines, but he told me he picks and chooses certain ones to use andcertain ones to stay away from.
I got the impression he stayed away from most of them.
So here's the point.
We should listen to both sides of the vaccine debate and make up our own minds as towhether or not we should get one.
(10:01):
Okay.
Enough said on that topic.
What about hand-sensitizers?
At first glance, it might seem like a good idea.
What's wrong with washing germs off?
Well, you're not really washing them off, you're just killing the bacteria.
But hand sanitizers are primarily alcohol, and alcohol dries out the skin and it disturbsthe delicate microbial balance on our skin.
(10:25):
The same is true with antibacterial soaps.
Antibacterial soaps are just another type of antibiotics.
Just as oral antibiotics destroy or carpet bomb the internal terrain of our gutmicrobiome,
Antibiotics in the form of antibacterial soap will destroy the delicate microbiome balanceon our skin.
(10:46):
In episode 125, I interviewed Dr.
Yug Varma, who was a microbiologist, and we talked about the microbiome on our skin andparticularly how it affects acne.
If that's a topic that interests you, I encourage you to go back and listen to episode125.
It helps to understand a little history behind germ theory.
(11:06):
Germs were first discovered in the mid 1700s, but into the early 1800s, still very littlewas known or understood about microbes or pathogens.
Then in 1861, a French biologist by the name of Louis Pasteur came along.
You probably recognize his name from the term pasteurization.
(11:26):
It's named after him.
Now Pasteur discovered that microbes caused fermentation and germ theory really got a holdand it started
taken off after that.
But even then, there were competing theories.
Another French biologist by the name of Antoine Bichon was a rival of Louis Pasteur.
He was a microbiologist as well.
(11:48):
And he wrote a book called Blood and Its Third Anatomical Element.
And Bichon theorized that it wasn't so much the germs that make us sick.
He said that the internal terrain or the ability of that person to fight off thoseundesirable microscopic organisms
is what matters most.
(12:08):
So here we are, more than 150 years later, and the debate is still going on.
But the evidence is starting to pile up.
It's the internal terrain that matters most.
Now, contrary to popular belief, being exposed to germs, especially as a child, isactually very much health protective.
So look at this study here.
(12:29):
It's called Early Farm Exposure Mitigates Respiratory Illnesses, Allergies,
and skin rashes.
This study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
It compared 268 children ages 5 to 17 who lived on a dairy farm from birth to five yearsto 247 children who lived in a rural area but never lived on a farm.
(12:55):
Here's what they found.
Conditions that were significantly less common in farm exposed children were allergicrhinitis and hay fever.
The study found children born into dairy farms had much less severe respiratory illnessesduring their first two years of life, 16 % in farm infants compared to 31 % in non-farm
(13:16):
infants.
These findings suggest that environmental exposure or other elements in the farminglifestyle help kids to be resistant to both allergies and viral respiratory illnesses.
So that's one study.
Let's look at another one.
This one's entitled Genetics.
Environment lifestyle influence risks for food allergy early in life.
(13:39):
Here's what they found.
Early introduction to solid foods appears to have a significant impact as the research hascited the learning early about peanut trial, which demonstrated how the early and
sustained intake of peanuts could be protective against peanut allergy.
Also, from the inquiring about tolerance study found a 67 % lower risk
(14:02):
for food allergies with early introduction when children are aged one to three years.
The growing adoption of westernized lifestyle that limits less industrialized exposure tomicrobial influences may contribute to increasing rates of food allergies and food
sensitivities as part of the hygiene hypothesis the researchers further found.
(14:26):
So in other words, they found that contrary to popular belief that we should
keep our children from being exposed to food allergens early in life, we actually want toexpose them earlier in life and that ends up being more health protective against food
allergies and food sensitivities by a significant margin.
(14:47):
Okay, here's another study.
This one is called, Linking the Gut Microbial Ecosystem with the Environment.
Does gut health depend on where we live?
This study was published in the Frontiers in Microbiology
in 2017.
Here's what they found.
Studies show that growing up in a microbe-rich environment, such as traditional farms, canhave protective health effects on children.
(15:12):
These health effects may be ablated due to changes in human lifestyle, diet, livingenvironment, and environmental biodiversity as a result of urbanization.
Importantly, if early life exposure to environmental microbes increases gut microbiotadiversity,
by influencing patterns of gut microbial assembly, then soil biodiversity loss due to landuse changes such as urbanization could be a public health threat.
(15:41):
So what they're saying is children that grew up on farms and exposed to soil and animalsand those kinds of things were healthier and they had fewer problems with allergies later
in life.
And they go on to say that if that's true,
than stripping the soil of its natural microbial content with commercial farming practicesis a serious health concern.
(16:07):
So what these studies are pointing to is that our modern lifestyles are forcing us to livein an unnatural environment, and that environment is harmful to our health.
So is embracing germ theory and trying to make our environment as sterile as possible
Really a good way to build health?
(16:28):
I would say that the answer to that question is unequivocally no.
And do I have to say it?
Jesus was born in a barn and at that time most people owned animals.
So these researchers are confirming that God knows best.
God gave our bodies a super intelligence.
You see, we've got two sides to our immune system.
(16:51):
We've got the innate immune response, which is our bodies quick
general immune response that includes inflammation and protects us from any invader.
And we've got the adaptive immune response where our bodies learn how to recognize aparticular germ or invader and mount a more effective immune response the next time we're
exposed to that particular undesirable microscopic organism.
(17:16):
Our modern lifestyles have removed us from the natural environment that we were designedto coexist with.
We're basically
living in a zoo.
When we look at animals in the wild, we don't see chronic disease.
We don't see things like obesity, insulin resistance, type two diabetes, but put thoseanimals in a zoo and we'll see their health declining.
(17:41):
They may get to the point where they don't care about finding a mate or are even unable toreproduce.
We're seeing that lived out in our society with male sperm count in humans.
declining 50 to 60 % over the last 50 years.
Take a look at this study here.
This study was published in the journal Human Reproduction Update.
(18:02):
It's called Temporal Trends in Sperm Count, a systematic review and meta-regressionanalysis.
Here's what they found.
In this comprehensive meta-analysis, sperm counts declined significantly among men fromNorth America, Europe, and Australia during 1973,
(18:22):
2011, with a 50 to 60 percent decline among men unselected by fertility, with no evidenceof a leveling off in recent years.
These findings strongly suggest a significant decline in male reproductive health, whichhas serious implications beyond fertility concerns.
Research on causes and implications of this decline is urgently needed.
(18:51):
If this trend is not reversed, the human race will cease to exist.
Could this be partly responsible for the gender confusion that we see everywhere thesedays?
I don't know, but it's certainly worth taking a look at.
Now it's not genetics and it's not germs that are causing things like this.
It's lifestyle factors.
(19:12):
That's why I'm starting the Christian Healthy Lifestyle Community.
The community is going to be a place where we're surrounded with like-minded believersthat
are also natural health enthusiasts.
And together, we can support one another on this journey to pursue abundant life throughvibrant health and vitality.
If you haven't already, I encourage you to get on the waitlist at chlpodcast.com forwardslash membership.
(19:37):
Now, I'm not saying we need to build a cabin in the woods and live off the grid.
I like some of our marketing conveniences.
I'm assuming you do too.
I like having air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter.
I like having electricity and running water.
I like having a car and a cell phone.
But we should be taking steps to fight back against the onslaught of insults that haverobbed us of our natural living environment.
(20:05):
We should be living lifestyles that come alongside our body's natural mechanisms thatpromote health and well-being.
We should be cooperating with our God-given design and living in harmony with it.
not trying to work against it with drugs and surgery.
Here's a few of my suggestions.
Obviously, it's super important to have a robust, diverse gut microbiome.
(20:29):
We get that by being exposed to all kinds of different bacteria.
When we have a diverse, robust microbiome, our bodies will form a healthy mucosal barrier.
The mucosal barrier in our guts is what protects us from the outside world.
We've all seen a dog drink dirty water out of a puddle and not get sick.
That's because dogs have a super strong mucosal barrier.
(20:53):
Now, we'll never have the protection a dog has, but there are things we can do to promotehealthy gut function.
There's beneficial bacteria in fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, cheese.
We should be consuming fermented foods on regular basis.
Now, if you've got a food sensitivity to dairy,
focus on fermented vegetables.
(21:15):
We should also be consuming the right kind of fiber that provides the food that thosebeneficial bacteria need in order to multiply.
The fermentation of fiber in the gut produces beneficial short-chain fatty acids,particularly butyrate, that assist with proper digestion.
Not only that, we should all be taking a quality probiotic supplement.
(21:38):
But a supplement is just that, a supplement.
Diet and lifestyles are the primary drivers of our current state of health.
If we're eating a standard American diet and living a standard American lifestyle and wantto pop a few pills to make up for all that, we're just kidding ourselves.
Another thing we can do to support our immune system is get a good night's sleep.
(22:01):
Poor quality sleep has been shown in the medical literature to reduce natural killer Tcells, which are a super important part of our immune response.
including fighting off cancer.
Poor sleep causes inflammation and decreases antibody response, which makes us moresusceptible to infections.
(22:21):
A lack of sleep also inhibits cytokine regulation.
The cytokines are important proteins that contribute to an effective immune response.
Another common lifestyle factor that acts in a similar fashion to poor sleep is eatinghigh amounts of processed sugar and grains.
A lot of people don't know this, but grains like rice, corn, and wheat can spike bloodsugar after meals just as much, if not more, than a bowl of ice cream.
(22:51):
Numerous studies show that a blood sugar spike after a sugary drink or a meal with lots ofgrains can compromise our immune system for several hours afterwards.
Those compromises include neutrophil inhibition.
Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell
that fight off bacterial infections, as well as a reduction in total white blood cellcount for up to eight hours after consuming 100 grams of sugar.
(23:19):
Now, 100 grams of sugar is roughly equivalent to a large soft drink and a burger and friesfrom any fast food restaurant.
Sugar spikes after meals also promote whole body systemic inflammation.
Now, systemic inflammation, again, compromises immune function.
High blood sugar can also cause oxidative stress, which contributes to accelerated aging.
(23:44):
It also compromises the gut microbiome by feeding yeast and the bad bacteria.
So let's get back to germ theory.
If you've been listening to this show for any length of time, you know it's my contentionthat our bodies have a God-given built-in intelligence, and our bodies know how to defend
themselves.
They know how to heal and to thrive.
(24:06):
We've just got to get the obstacles out of the way.
That way we build health margin and can better handle an illness.
We are fearfully wonderfully made, Psalm 139, 14, and our bodies have a sophisticatedimmune system that's designed by God to defend us against would-be invaders.
Of course, the idea that we have little to no control over our immune response fits rightinto the medical model of healthcare.
(24:31):
You just cross your fingers and hope you don't get sick.
And when you do, you go to the doctor and pick up some pills.
Let's not fall victim to clever marketing campaigns.
Let's stay focused on healthy lifestyle practices that are in harmony with our God-givennatural design and not work against our design with drugs and surgery.
(24:54):
Embracing the Christian healthy lifestyle means walking away from any of the things we seecommonly practiced every day.
Things like consuming 80 to 90 % of our diet from processed foods, sedentary lifestyle,
spending most of our time indoors.
And if we do go outside, make sure we lather up with toxic sunscreen because thedermatologist told us that all sunlight is bad.
(25:18):
Or taking unnecessary antibiotics when we have a viral infection because the doctor wantsto make us feel like he did something for us.
As believers, we're called to be different.
We're called to be in the world, but not of the world.
The Christian community is supposed to be a shining light of a city on a hill.
(25:39):
a model of the way we should live our lives that's attractive to others.
By embracing a Christian healthy lifestyle, we experience peace in the storm, morespiritual strength, more mental emotional fortitude, and better physical vitality.
But putting things into practice can be easier said than done.
Old habits don't go down without a fight.
(26:00):
It's lot easier to implement new healthy lifestyle habits when we're surrounded by a groupof like-minded believers.
That's why I'm starting the Christian Haley Glassdoll community.
Inside the community, you'll be surrounded by people on the same journey together,encouraging one another, celebrating victories, and experiencing positive accountability.
(26:23):
Do yourself a favor.
Get on the wait list today.
Do it right now while it's top of mind.
Go to chlpodcast.com forward slash membership, fill out the form, and I'll be in touchwith updates as launch approaches and your next steps.
Now don't miss next week's episode where I'll be sharing some mental toughness tips forreaching your health goals.
(26:43):
That's it for now.
Thank you for listening.
I appreciate you.
Go out there and live abundantly.
I'll talk with you next time.
Be blessed.
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