Transcription
[Music] Well, it's great to be back. It's great to be back, but you may notice a little bit of sadness in my face. You see, I've had such a wonderful time being here. According to Pastor David, this is not a job, this is work. I have enjoyed myself; it is never stressful coming here to be with you. I've really had a great time, but sadly, this is my last formal presentation.
So, what I thought I would do is do a summary, a whistle-stop tour of everything we've spoken about during the last two weeks, if that's okay with you. What I will do is highlight the things that you can do to prevent or reverse all of the diseases that we've been talking about.
Okay. Now, as you've seen, we've been going through these colors; each disease is a different color. But you know what? You can't talk about health and disease without talking about COVID-19. Now, just in case you have not been on this planet for the last few years, is there anybody who has not heard of COVID-19? I don't see any hands. I'm sure there are no hands wherever you are watching. You see, COVID-19 took over the world for a while, right? But you know, right at the beginning when the pandemic started, especially in England, we were looking over the water to Italy and we were realizing that certain things were happening. In fact, the National Institute of Health told us that over 99% of the people who died from COVID-19 early in the pandemic had at least one underlying disease; over 99%. If you didn't have an underlying disease, it was very rare or difficult for you to die from COVID-19.
Now, what are these underlying diseases? Yes, indeed, they're the lifestyle diseases that we've been talking about for the last two weeks: asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease. What it's saying is that these diseases have weakened the system so that when a virus comes along, it becomes incredibly difficult to survive. Let me give you an illustration. I think a lifestyle disease is a bit like having a bear stalking you in the distance. I don't know if anybody has had a bear stalking them in the distance. If it's far away, okay, you don't want it there, but it's not imminently behind me, so it's not going to kill me. And that's a bit like having a lifestyle disease. You can have diabetes; you don't want it, but you know what? I'll put up with going to the hospital; I'll put up with the medication; I'll put up with the kind of lifestyle change. And that's like the bear stalking in the distance. But what happened when COVID-19 came along is that that bear came right up on your shoulder and is now imminently going to kill you. Diabetes that you could live with for decades on medication was now a lethal element in your life. And that is why we try to eliminate all of these lifestyle diseases before the problem happens because, believe me, there will be another pandemic; believe me, there will be other stresses in your life that put strain on your body where, if it is weakened by a lifestyle disease, it may be fatal when it doesn't need to be.
Before I move on from COVID, let me just explain to you that pretty much all of the viruses that we ever get have their origins in animals; even if it was generated in a lab, the lab still got that virus from an animal. And it tells us something. Look, first of all, we shouldn't be consuming them; we don't need them to be healthy. And the next thing, we shouldn't be abusing them because, really, when they're clogged together, farmed together in these little cages and they've got no sunlight, it's really cruel for the animals as well, and it's not good for our health. Um, have a look at this. I think I should start with the heart if we're going to talk about disease because heart disease is still globally the biggest killer. Why don't we start with heart? What things can we do to prevent or reverse heart disease? I'm sure you're all great students; you've all had it written down, but let me remind you. One of the most important things you can do to reverse heart disease is to have a healthy plant-based diet. I mentioned earlier that when I was doing cardiothoracic surgery up in Cambridge—heavy work, really heavy work—we had to do three of these bypasses every single day; enormously tiring. But what we had to do is open up somebody's chest, stop their heart, link it up to a big contraption, and then try and close them all up again. It was a big, big deal. The person would be in pain for months; they'd need rehabilitation. And then, at least if it was a successful operation, they'd be alive. But evidence has shown us from years ago that just by changing your diet into a healthy plant-based diet—no meat, no milk, no refined sugar—those arteries that were closing down can now open up. Now, for me, even today, I've been doing this for many, many years; it's still miraculous to me that you can reverse one of the biggest problems in the world in terms of health just by changing your diet. You can get rid of doctors like me, and you can just replace it with a healthy diet. That is amazing, and I commend it to all of you. Some of you may have heart disease today; you may have an operation; you may have an appointment to see a doctor in a few weeks or months. I can guarantee you, if you go onto a healthy plant-based diet today, by the time you see the doctor, you may not even need an operation. I guarantee that's true; I've seen it with my own eyes. So that's heart disease.
What about high blood pressure? If I was to ask you, do you know somebody with high blood pressure? Everybody would say yes; it's such a prevalent disease now. What few tips have I given you to reverse high blood pressure? Well, a plant-based diet is absolutely good. You have to exercise; we've seen [name] skipping along this very stage demonstrating how we have to exercise; it's brilliant. Water. I think water is one of the simplest things you can do to lower your blood pressure. Remember the example I gave you? If you were swimming in a lake, that's fine. If you were swimming in a lake of honey, that would be incredibly difficult because it's so thick. And that's what happens to your blood if you don't have enough water in it; it becomes incredibly thick. You then have to use a lot of energy to push that blood around the system; therefore, your blood pressure has to rise. Here's something, though: going on from the plant-based diet, we said that green, leafy vegetables do something quite remarkable in our arteries; they get the interior of our arteries to release a chemical called nitric oxide. That nitric oxide opens up the arteries all over. I told you nitric oxide is the active ingredient of Viagra. Okay, I know none of you have heard of it; none of you need to use it. But I can tell you, when it comes to things like erectile dysfunction, rather than reaching for the pill, the best thing to do is reach for those greens. And let me remind you, gentlemen, because this is very important: if you have an episode of erectile dysfunction, you're at a high risk of having a heart attack or a stroke in the next 5 years. So, rather than just going to the pill, start thinking about changing your lifestyles.
Number three: cancer. What things have we said about cancer? Well, I always tell people, and I've been speaking to a lot of people in the clinics throughout the weeks, if you have cancer, there are certain things that you must do. Cancer loves sugar; you must eliminate refined sugar. Vitamin D is key; you must have high levels of vitamin D. I recommend 20,000 units per day, along with that vitamin C, high dose. I have seen with my very own eyes people on high doses of vitamin C having their cancer reversed. We cannot guarantee it; don't, don't quote me; you can't guarantee it. But I have seen people on high doses of vitamin C have their cancer reversed. And remember, if you do have cancer, you must seek medical advice. I told you earlier during the week that those people who just say, "I just want to go the natural route," often they don't survive. What you must do is seek medical attention and do the lifestyle changes, and then you have the best possible chance of surviving cancer. Medical attention alone does something, but it doesn't do everything. I remember when I used to be in the hospitals; the doctors would treat you for cancer and then allow you to eat the same foods that would cause cancer. That doesn't make any sense. So, hospital treatment is good, but match that with lifestyle change; you've got a great chance of getting through, honestly. Now, what else can you do for cancer? I always say you should spice up your life; spice up your life. Spices are really the keys to a healthy lifestyle, too. They're like nature's natural drugs. The more spices you have in your life, the better your cells are going to be. Turmeric; most of us have heard of turmeric; it's a powerful antioxidant. And if you take away the oxidation of your cells, it reduces the risk of cancer. Ginger is like it; it's also anti-inflammatory. Cinnamon is brilliant. Cinnamon not only does it lower your blood sugar—which, if you have low blood sugar, the cancer doesn't grow too well—but cinnamon is brilliant in terms of fighting off viruses. In fact, they discovered this over a hundred years ago: the women who harvested the cinnamon bark never got measles, never got tuberculosis. And cinnamon, if you have anybody in your family who has any kind of viral illness, you give everyone in the household cinnamon; it's less likely that you'll get the infection. Cardamom is very interesting because it actually makes you make more natural killer cells. They have a lethal name, but they do an awful lot of good; they're the white blood cells that defeat cancer.
Diabetes: How do you beat diabetes? Definitely, you need a healthy plant-based diet. But what else do we need to do? We should, every time you go for a meal and you're a diabetic, as you put your fork down, you should get up and go for a walk; get up and go for a walk. What does that do? Well, as you're walking, you're using the big muscles in your body; those muscles will absorb sugar very quickly, and so it will keep your blood sugar levels quite low. You then don't need to release a lot of insulin to deal with the sugar, and that means your cells can become insulin sensitive again. Insulin sensitivity is the opposite of diabetes; it can actually cure diabetes. I've told you quite boldly that anybody with type 2 diabetes does not have to live with it; type 2 diabetes is completely reversible. Type 1 is more difficult, but type 2 completely reversible, so you do not have to live with it. Change your lifestyle and get rid of it.
Okay, autoimmune disease. That was the last talk I did; that refers to all of these antibody diseases that are attacking different parts of the body. There are roughly 4,500 of them. Wherever you've got tissues in your body, you will have an autoantibody. If things go badly—and I must say, although I didn't talk about it—one of the biggest causes of infertility is autoimmune disease. Now, I know people go to the hospital for IVF treatment, absolutely, but rarely do they get to the bottom of what is the problem, and it's usually that you've got antibodies attacking your organs inside that makes it almost impossible to conceive. So, everything you've heard me talk about with autoimmune disease, you need to apply if you want to get pregnant. Okay, now you've seen my details; I'm hoping that in nine months I'm going to get lots of communications of people telling me, "Yeah, we have a child." So it's possible, believe me. Now, some of the things, if you didn't cover, if you weren't here the other day, some of the big things that you need to do to get rid of autoimmune disease is get rid of milk because milk is one of the key factors that generates these antibodies; deal with stress; make sure you avoid refined sugar; have high doses of vitamin D. If you do that, you have a great, great chance. A bit like a little boy called Bart Simpson: Don't have a cow, man; stay away from the milk.
Okay. Now, this is increasingly a problem on this continent of Africa. Didn't used to be. Um, you go back 50 years; there was very little obesity on this continent in Africa. Now, with all of the imports of Western culture, including Western food and Western lifestyle, we're getting exactly the same problems that they get in the West. How do we defeat it? I always say, um, get rid of the white stuff. This is not a racist statement, folks; this is not a racist statement. I'm saying get rid of the white rice, white flour, white pasta, and of course, that white substance, sugar. You know, sugar, if you look at it from a fire, it looks a bit like heroin. And, by the way, it activates exactly the same parts of your brain for heroin addiction; that's why giving up sugar can become so difficult. But remember, I did give you some help in overcoming sugar addiction; remember the Do Chitty method, named after some obscure doctor? You remember that? So, let me, for those of you who don't remember, let me tell you: when that donut is calling out your name, the worst thing you can do is say, "I can't eat the donut," because if you do that, your brain will just desire it even more. What you must do is say, "I will eat the donut, but I'll eat it in half an hour." At the same time, eat yourself an apple. Now, that apple will release sugar slowly into your bloodstream slowly so that you don't get this insulin spike. And after half an hour, you'll have enough sugar in your system to overcome the desire for the donut. You're not looking convinced. Um, if at the end of the half an hour you still want that donut, do the same thing again. At the end of the day, you may have eaten five apples; that's okay; that's your five-a-day, right? But even if you fall off the wagon, even if you succumb to the donut, I guarantee you will eat it less frequently than if you didn't try the Dr. Chitty method. What does Dr. Chitty stand for? Don't resist it; choose to have it, but delay it. Dr. Chitty. There you go. Now you'll remember my name. Okay, that's the only reason why I did that for you. But seriously, sugar has been a serious business, especially on this continent. We used to be slaves to sugar; now we're slaves to sugar. We need to get rid of the sugar, absolutely.
Now, we must not forget dementia. Okay, some of you understood what I was talking about; we must not forget dementia. Okay, I can hear one person; they've understood, right? Dementia, for me, is now one of the most feared diseases around. When I was younger, a younger doctor, it used to be cancer, but now dementia—losing your memory, losing your personality—nobody wants that; it's a fearful thing. The good news is, and there is good news about dementia, it is a lifestyle disease; it is not random. Now, you may have seen studies to say, well, there's a genetic makeup; there are genes for dementia. But there are people who have the gene for dementia who don't get dementia; there are people who don't have the gene for dementia who get dementia. The biggest factors are lifestyle factors. So, for example, you will know that if you have high blood pressure, that's a risk for dementia; if you're obese; if you're diabetic. And the biggest risk is long periods of stress in your adult life. If you do not know how to manage stress in your adult life, that is the biggest risk factor for dementia. So, we're going to need to know how to manage the stress; we're also going to have to change our lives and make sure we have the right diet. There's been lots of studies done on this continent, actually; there's been a Nigerian study which showed that the more berries you have in your diet, the less likely you are to have Alzheimer's. It's even more significant than that; they have shown that if you have dementia, early signs of dementia, you go onto a healthy diet, have lots of berries, you can reverse up to 90% of the symptoms. Now, maybe you've never heard that before because most people think, "Once I've got dementia, it's just a long road down to ruin." That's not true. If you are diagnosed and you change your lifestyle, you can reverse up to 90% of the symptoms of dementia.
Talking about stress, we spoke a little bit about depression and anxiety and stress. What, what, what little signs can I give you to help? Well, remember what we said: there are triggers for depression; there are triggers for stress. And the big ones are debt, divorce, disease, and death. Now, we can't avoid some of them, but when they come to us, the best thing to do is to not hide away and keep it to yourself. The best thing to do is to get help quickly. The quicker we get help, the quicker we understand that we're not alone; that other people are going through exactly the same thing; the quicker we can cure ourselves or head off depression. What else do we need to do? If you're depressed, you might find it difficult, but one of the ways to break that cycle of depression is to get into some physical activity, whether it's going for a walk, a run, a swim, whatever. Maybe you need somebody to encourage you to do it, but it will break that cycle of depression quicker than just about anything. The next thing you can do is do something, even if it's small, for somebody else. That sounds strange: you're depressed; why am I going to do something for somebody else? Well, we have shown through scientific endeavor that by doing even a small thing for someone else, it takes your mind off of yourself, and that can break that cycle of that spiral of self-thought. So, the more you can do for somebody else, even if you don't feel like it, think of it as if you're doing something for yourself when you're doing something for somebody else. Being kind to somebody else is actually being kind to yourself. What else? I mean, we have to know how to heal from depression, and we've talked about it a lot: forgiveness. The quicker we can start to forgive ourselves, forgive others, if you're able to do that, it is a quicker release from the grips of depression and stress. Every study I've seen in the last 10 years has an element, has an element of letting go of past trauma, of past hurts. The quicker we're able to do that, the greater the chance we're going to be free from depression. And we want to be free from depression because, in fact, even at the heart of most of these diseases that I've been talking about is a level of stress. Stress makes every disease worse; it doesn't improve one disease, right? So, in fact, we know that disease is what? Disease. So, if you want to get rid of disease, we're going to have to start to be at ease with ourselves. We can only do that if we learn to forgive, if we learn to let go, and if we learn to look forward and stop looking back. But if we do look back, if I'm looking back to that episode of my life when I was hurt, let it always be looking back with forgiveness; let it never be looking back with hurt and bitterness and anger. Let it always be that I'm looking back with forgiveness. When we look forward—the reason why we're here, this is Hope for Africa, right?—when we look forward, we look forward with hope because there is always hope when you are in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is always hope. It doesn't matter where you find yourself; you could be in the darkest prison, and that could be a physical prison or an emotional prison. We should always be looking forward with hope. When we look down—and by looking down, I'm telling you that there are people that are in need of your help; people who don't have quite as much as you; it may not be money; it may be just a smile; it may be some company; it may be anything—when we're looking down, may we always look down with compassion because that compassion doesn't just help the person you're helping; it actually helps us, too. And finally, the final place to look is to look up and to look up with gratitude. Wherever we find ourselves to be, let's remember that God has got us here; he will get us out of wherever we are, and he has a great future in store for all of us. We should be full of hope; we should be full of gratitude because we serve a mighty God. He will never leave us; he will never abandon us. It doesn't matter if everybody abandons us; he never will. Let's be grateful for that. This has been an absolute pleasure for me to be here, to be with you all, to be with my fellow colleagues who have been sharing wonderful messages. And I'm very sad that this is my last time to be here. But what I do know is what we have done here and what we have left here is a massive hope for the whole continent. Wherever you're watching, whichever country—I know it's even beyond Africa—I'm going to leave you with hope. Whatever illness you find yourself in, there is always hope. There are certain diseases that we now know that we can cure; you don't have to live with them. There is hope. You are viewing this; you are part of this wonderful church organization. Do you know this church is responsible for being pioneers of health globally throughout history? I would encourage you to remember that you are children, men, and women of hope. I look forward to seeing you again one day, if not here in the earth made new and in heaven. Amen. [Music]