The Covid-19 virus pandemic has brought many people’s consciousness around to focus on their personal health. Some are looking to technology to protect themselves and their families – masks, distances beyond which droplets can’t be projected by human lungs, various pharmaceuticals, cleaning agents and other products already available, and one or more vaccines yet to be released. This is perfectly natural and to be expected.
But there are many who are focusing on Nature as well. This issue of The Natural Farmer had been a vague idea for a while, but the pandemic brought it into reality. It is an attempt to discuss the role of natural systems in sustaining human health. Natural systems can both impair and repair an organism’s health, of course. Animals can sometimes avoid predation or accidental injury by fight or flight mechanisms and physical strength. But to manage infectious agents, like the current pandemic, living creatures have developed some amazing capacities and systems. In most cases the strength of those capacities and systems is largely dependent on the nutrients that we have ingested.
This issue is devoted to examining that process for humans, examining what role food plays in our states of health. We have articles from a doctor, a professor, several scientists researching nutrient health, a couple of nutrition counselors, an organization committed to raising higher quality non-toxic foods, an animal feed specialist, and an advocate for the inclusion of good nutrition in health care insurance coverage. Not all these writers agree on everything, but we hope together they give you an idea of the power food plays in affecting your health.
Note that a few of these articles were longer and contained footnotes and references which we have omitted for space reasons. We have noted each article so shortened at its end. Anyone wishing the original version of one of these articles can get one. Just Email for a copy as noted at the end of the article.
