Giving a Child a Good Health Foundation for Life

Scientific investigations have recently showed that damages to health and the foundation for most of our health problems are often laid during fetal development in pregnancy. Consequently, natural health practitioners believe that the future health of an individual and disease prevention should start from the would-be parents especially the would-be mother, who by virtue of her natural endowment, provides the delicate bridge and the fertile soil from which a child with healthy and disease- resistant physical body will blossom forth.

It is mainly the purity and the strength of this bridge, which only the mother could offer, that will shape the health of the child that will blossom from her womb - throughout life. To a lesser degree, the quality of her genetic make-up (genes), her personal behavior and lifestyle, the purity of her thoughts, her spiritual maturity, the quality of what she eats and drinks, and the physical environment that pervades her during pregnancy, play vital and important roles in determining the future health of the child and most importantly, the nature of the human soul that will enter the developing body (fetus) during pregnancy.

Every mother or would-be mother should therefore be properly educated in these matters in order for her to realize that she bears the greatest responsibility towards the future health and happiness of all her offspring. This is the main reason why the basic and fundamental way of eradicating most of the degenerating diseases, including some childhood diseases, cancer, heart problems, asthma, etc, should as of necessity; start from the woman and during pregnancy- the period in which the foundation of the human physical body is being laid. For the Lord Almighty, in His Wisdom and Goodness has given every woman the special ability that will enable her to lay a very solid foundation for her child's future health.

The role of the man towards this is equally important, for he too has been given the ability that will enable him at all times to provide a safe and enabling environment - filled with protective-care, love and happiness- that will enable the woman fulfill the responsibility which the Lord has, from the beginning, entrusted to her.

The life of the physical body (flesh) is said to be in the blood. A pure bloodstream with the right composition is the most favorable soil on which a healthy and a highly disease- resistant human body would be formed. To achieve this kind of suitable fertile soil, holistic health care providers usually advise the would-be mothers or mothers that: six months prior to conception and pregnancy, they should adopt a wholesome and radiant health enhancing lifestyles and habits such as eating enough organically grown foods, and to strive to maintain purity of their femininity and thoughts, to listen to good and soul uplifting music, to have pure love and deep inner appreciation for the little beings of nature and beauty, reading good book, that are soul lifting. Above all, they should keep spiritual vigilance and alertness and pray for God's guidance in times of confusion, doubts and distress.

Also, during pregnancy, foods contaminated with artificial flavors, colorings, pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, etc, should be avoided. Tobacco smokes, alcohols and certain drugs, the use of strong bathing soaps, cosmetics and perfumes should equally be avoided.

The poisoning of the bloodstream during pregnancy could also come from all manners of negative emotions, which in turn constitute negative nerve impulses that are translated in the brain into unfavorable hormones that could poison the bloodstream. Such emotions and inner tension and stress, anxiety, worries, anger, hot arguments, noisemaking, negative and unhealthy thoughts, watching of violent and immoral movies that usually evoke negative thoughts and emotions, etc.

All these are capable of causing blood poisoning, or generating toxins which can be absorbed into the bloodstream during pregnancy, or may find their way or pass through the placenta-barrier, thus capable of causing damages or retarding the growth and strength of some vital organs in the developing fetus.

Giving a child a good start early in life is the surest, most effective and lasting way of preventing most childhood and adult diseases. The World Health governing body (WHO) has come to realize that: "the best vaccine against common infectious diseases is an adequate diet" - which should start in infancy. Most of the damages done to the health and the future happiness of an individual begin early in life.

The human breast milk is biochemically unique in its constitution - perfectly designed by nature to give each child all that he/she needs at this very important first phase of physical growth in life. Adequate breast feeding of the child during this period is an effective means of laying a very solid foundation for future health and happiness for the child; and to achieve this should be one of the greatest responsibilities of every mother.

An adequate and exclusive breastfeeding of a child during the first phase of life protects him or her against diseases like asthma, lower respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, viral or bacterial gastrointestinal infections, diarrhea, childhood leukemia, Type I and Type II diabetes, a type of childhood eczema or atopic dermatitis, etc.
A child fed with bottle and artificially formulated cow's milk during the first year of earthly existence may not only develop long - lasting allergic reactions that could lead to the development of asthma or other diseases, such as those mentioned above, but could come down with mineral deficiency - the most prominent being calcium.

Insufficiency of this vital mineral in the body early in life often results in defect in bone structure, e. g. poor pelvic bone development in the infant, especially the girls - this may later in life result in difficult, prolonged and painful childbirth or miscarriages, still birth or other birth problems. Also, the chest of such a child could be too narrow due to poor development, and this is one of the most prominent factors known to increase the susceptibility to chest and respiratory tract infections, including pulmonary tuberculosis.

Studies have shown that it is not only the child the benefits from adequate breastfeeding, the mother too benefits immensely. It has been proven scientifically that women are protected against diseases like breast cancer, uterine and ovarian cancers, maternal type II diabetes, postpartum depression, etc.