Five Horsemen of Death

By Leo Mackrow

My early life began in Tucson, Arizona, in the 1960s. At an early age, my family moved to Evergreen, Colorado, and was basically raised there. After high school, I joined the army for seven years, received the army Achievement Medal, and was honorably discharged.I attended college in Tucson, Arizona, and graduated with my degree in the field of science. Throughout my life, I have had an interest in science and the homeopathic regimen and have followed a lifestyle that relates to always trying to take care of my body and stay current with the latest wellness and scientific achievements.This book will reflect on that lifestyle and why I feel that it is my place, at this time, to relate the information that I have accumulated over the years and write a book to bring this lifestyle information to the public in hopes of helping others lead a healthier life and longevity.The more health awareness the public can access, the easier it will be for them to improve their lifestyle and, ultimately, their overall health level. I hope I have brought at least a small degree of that awareness with this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098046804

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Five Horsemen of Death

Leo Mackrow

Copyright © 2020 by Leo Mackrow

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Natural Pollution Control

Vegetarianism

Arterial Cleansing

Junk Foods

Nutraceuticals

Ten Habits That Affect Your Immune System

One Hundred Questions and Answers to Slowing the Aging Process

New Method Increased Telomere Length By Up To 10 Percent

Packaging Material

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Wikipedia® for some of the pictures and glossary information. Also pictures from the public domain, noncopyrighted, and MS Word free clip art.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author.

Introduction

It is my sincere interest in providing a book in a simple-to-understand language to assist the general public in becoming aware of the underlying causation of the more common diseases. Since many diseases are prevalent in our society, I feel that even though much of the information to avoid these diseases probably falls on deaf ears or not transmitted by physicians.

I feel that the public does not know how to recognize the early signs of the onset of a disease process before their symptoms appear. This book will help you recognize those early signs so that you can become aware of and alleviate the potential problem before it becomes severe enough to see the physician.

The progression of a disease is gradual, and if the early symptoms are recognized before a critical problem occurs, there is a good chance that wellness or medical professionals can resolve the issue or at least reduce its seriousness. Preventing disease is the best place to begin; however, when you are in good health, and especially if you are younger, you rarely see the need to care for your body and complacency is common! As you age, however, small signs show up; and if you do not pay attention to them or are not aware of their seriousness, diseases are standing by, ready to gain a foothold.

As you continue aging (which can be slowed), the small signs that you ignored become more and more evident, and eventually, you come to the realization that something is wrong and go to see a physician. At this point, your physician may or may not be able to alleviate the problem and all he can do is surgery or medicate you. I am sure you have seen articles stating that our life expectancies have increased. However, the only reason is that medical science has found ways to handle diseases more efficiently.

The medical community has ways to keep you relatively healthy even though you eat poorly, don’t get enough exercise, lack the proper amount of sleep, abuse drugs and alcohol, and have high-stress levels.

Eventually this all catches up to you as you reach your senior years when you wake up to the fact that you should have taken better care of your body and paid more attention to those small changes that were occurring and trying to warn you of impending problems. One of the most significant challenges affecting our longevity comes from food and associated items related to food. We rely too much on fast food, frozen entrées, and beverages that contain harmful chemicals. Fruits and vegetables may contain pesticide and herbicide residues, and meats and poultry are grown using hormones and processed under unsafe conditions. The aforementioned allows salmonella, E. coli, and other bacterial contamination to thrive.

There isn’t a day that goes by that we do not eat something that we should not eat if we are concerned about our health. The number of carcinogenic substances we consume is staggering, and our immune systems are being stretched to the limit trying to keep up with all the insults.

While medical science has found many ways to keep us living longer, we are not living longer in good health!

I am primarily concerned about things you can do that are in your control, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. There are hundreds of government studies that prove that the produce we eat contains pesticide and herbicide residues, even organic food has been found to contain small amounts of these wastes since many farms are near adjacent farms that are not natural growers and residues mitigate to their produce.

Almost every single day, we eat fruit and vegetables produced from plants that carry lethal poisons or use genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds to grow their produce. Most of us think that eating fruits and vegetables can be healthy; however, there are hidden dangers in many common foods. Studies report that our longevity is increasing every year!

However, what they don’t tell us is that because of the dangers in our foods, most people are not aware of changes coming very shortly if we continue to have a blind eye to what is really going on around us in the food industry. Instead of living a healthy life for a more extended period, we will be living a shorter life and contract diseases and end up being debilitated before we can enjoy our retirement or senior years.

By now, you are probably thinking, What can I eat that is safe? Since you can’t know what risk factors are in every food you buy, you just have to make the best intelligent choices you can and try to avoid as many unhealthy foods as possible. The information contained in this book will assist you in making better healthier choices as well as providing you with especially high-risk foods.

Note: If you find that certain words are unfamiliar to you, please see the glossary at the end of the book for a simple explanation.

Five mass murderers have been riding across time for millions of years, bringing mass carnage and death. They are not to be paid a wage nor do they look for fame, they simply kill more humans than all the famines, wars, disasters, massacres, and the like put together. These horsemen are heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, and old age.

Chapter 1

Just Some of the Basics

It is an unfortunate fact of life that we are presently living in an environment that is becoming more and more hostile to our health with each passing year. However, unless we take the time to educate ourselves about this new environment and learn methods to cope with it, our health will suffer, deteriorate, and a variety of disease processes will have an easy time gaining a foothold in our bodies. They will surely shorten our life span or render us impotent.

Here’s an eye opener!

Chemicals in the Average Home

The average home today contains more chemicals than the average chemical lab of one hundred years ago. Consumers have little knowledge of the ingredients in most of the products they use. Many of the product ingredients are potentially hazardous. The explosion of the chemical age during and after World War II provided us with a bonanza of new products to replace all the simple-ingredient products that Grandma and Grandpa used for hundreds of years. Along with these chemical products came an increase in some chemical-related illnesses that were not as prevalent in our society until then, the worst being cancer.

When many of these new products are used commercially, they are subjected to various health and safety standards yet the same substances are used freely and, in many instances, carelessly in our homes. As a result, illnesses and injuries occur that may have been prevented if consumers had more knowledge about the products they use and dispose of safely.

Many illnesses are associated with chemicals found in the home are mainly benign. These symptoms include headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, eye irritation, sore throats, and dizziness. However, some products are associated with some of the more serious illness symptoms such as skin rashes, cancer, cardiac problems, and respiratory distress. Many commercial products contain chemicals that may leave a residue in the air in the home, reducing the air quality.

Indoor air pollution is a problem in many homes and the sale of air purifiers in the United States has turned into a big business. Not only do we suffer from these chemicals but many residues from them are released into the environment and have been related to global warming and other forms of pollution.

The following information will provide some important insight into some of the toxic chemicals we have around our homes. There are many hazards in common consumer products that we use every day.

The kitchen—These cleaning agents consist of dishwasher detergents, drain cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, ammonia-based cleaners, copper and brass cleaners, silverware cleaners, oven cleaners, glass cleaners, floor polish, furniture polish, chrome cleaner, and even some scouring powders.

Chlorine Bleach (sodium hypochlorite): If you accidentally mix bleach with an ammonia-based product, it is capable of releasing toxic chloramines gas. Exposure to this gas can cause respiratory distress and shortness of breath.

Metal polishes (petroleum distillate base): If the fumes get into your eyes, it may cause temporary eye clouding and longer exposure may even damage the central nervous system and affect your kidneys, cause skin eruptions, etc.

Disinfectants (phenol and cresol): These are corrosives and may cause fainting, ataxia, diarrhea, kidney, and liver damage.

Glass cleaner (ammonia): Ammonia is an eye irritant and can cause headaches and irritate your lungs.

Floor and furniture polishes (nitrobenzene): It can cause skin problems, respiratory distress, nausea, and the chemical has been associated with cancer and birth defects.

Preservatives (formaldehyde): It is a known carcinogen and capable of forming free radicals in the body, strong irritant to eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.

Abrasive cleaners: TSP

Household batteries: Mercury, zinc, lithium, cadmium

Dishwashing liquid: It may contain naphtha (a neurotoxin), sodium nitrates, and phosphates

Automatic dishwasher detergent: Phosphates, chlorine, sodium silicates, etc.

Oven cleaners: Methylene chloride, lye, ammonia, and many other poisons

The laundry room—Most products contain toxic ingredients such as detergents, carpet cleaners, mothballs, deodorizers, laundry softeners, mold cleaners, spot removers, and silver polish.

Spot removers and carpet cleaners (solvents): It may cause liver and kidney damage if ingested, can cause cancer in lab animals.

Mothballs (paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene): It is a possible carcinogen that may cause damage to the eyes, liver, kidneys, skin, and central nervous system.

Toilet cleaner (hydrochloric acid or sodium acid sulfate): It can cause skin burn, nausea, diarrhea, and may be fatal if ingested. Has been known to cause blindness if splashed in eyes.

Drain cleaners: Deadly poisons. It may contain lye, bleach, ammonia, HCL, and sulfuric acid.

Fabric softener (residues and fragrances): It may be irritating to susceptible individuals.

Spray starch (different from starch and may include formaldehyde or phenols): This aerosol can irritate lungs.

Flea collars (carbamates, pyrethrins, and organophosphates): They can cause cancer in lab animals and are free radical producers.

Roach and ant killers (pyrethrins): They are free radical producers and skin irritants.

Rat poison (warfarin and strychnine): It is a deadly poison to all living creatures.

The living room and bedroom—Many furnishings in a typical American home can be harmful. If the fabric is labeled wrinkle-resistant, it may have been treated with a formaldehyde resin. These can include no-iron sheets, sheets, nightgowns, beddings, and curtains. If the fabric is labeled permanent press or easy care, there may be a problem.

Pressed wood furniture may contain formaldehyde or other chemicals. Synthetic carpeting is treated with pesticides and fungicides. Many of the office or commercial carpet latex backings are treated with a chemical that is responsible for sick office buildings. The furniture polishes and cleaners contain mineral spirits, diglycol laureate, petroleum distillates, carbolic acid, nitrobenzene, etc. Nitrobenzene is very toxic and can actually be absorbed through the skin.

The bathroom—There are numerous cosmetics and personal care products that contain hazardous chemical ingredients.

Shampoos (formaldehyde, cresol, nitrates, glycols, and sulfur compounds): The nitrates can convert in the body to a carcinogen called a nitrosamine. The other chemicals may increase free radical production.

Hair spray (propellants, formaldehyde resins): The aerosols can damage the environment, and formaldehyde may cause cancerous tumors in lab animals.

Deodorants and antiperspirants (aerosol propellants, formaldehyde, aluminum chlorhydrate, ammonia): All have been implicated in either cancerous tumor in lab animals or in free radical production.

Lotions, creams, and moisturizers (phenol, cresol): Free radical producers

Toilet cleaners: Contains oxalic acid

The arts and crafts room—Recent legislation is now controlling many chemicals that have been used in hobbies and model building. However, there are still many that have risk factors. These dangerous chemicals and metals include:

Lead which is found in stained glass materials, ceramic glazes, and pigments

Cadmium which is found in silver solders, ceramic glazes, fluxes, and pigments

Chromium which is found in paint pigments and ceramic colors

Manganese dioxide which is found in ceramic colors, brown oil, and acrylic paint pigments

Cobalt which is found in acrylic paint pigments and blue oils

Formaldehyde which is used as a preservative in most acrylic paints and photographic supplies

Aromatic hydrocarbons which are found in paint and varnish removers, permanent markers, aerosol sprays, etc.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons (solvents) which are found in varnish, ink, rubber cement, paint removers, aerosol sprays

Petroleum distillates (solvents) which are found in paint and rubber cement thinners, spray adhesives, silk-screen inks, etc.

Glycol ethers and acetates which are found in photographic products, lacquer thinners, paints, aerosol sprays, etc.

The garage—There is an abundance of products found in almost every garage that are hazardous to your health. These include paint thinners, paints, gasoline, kerosene, glues, benzene, mineral spirits, turpentine, motor oils, lubricating oils, etc.

Chlorinated aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons are found in paint thinners and studies have found that they can cause liver and kidney damage when overexposed for long periods.

Petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals are found in gasoline, motor oils, transmission fluids, and benzene which are related to skin and lung cancer.

Mineral spirits are found in oil-based paints and are skin, eye, nose, throat, and lung-irritant. High concentrations have been related to nervous system damage, unconsciousness, and even death.

Ketones are found in paint thinners and other similar products may cause respiratory distress, the type of which is related to different forms of the chemical.

Sulfuric acid and lead are found in car batteries.

Glycol esters and heavy metals are found in brake fluids.

Toluene is found in wood putty and is very toxic, causing skin, kidney, liver, central nervous system damage and may damage the reproductive system.

Muriatic acid, sodium hypochlorite are found in pool chemicals.

Ethylene glycol is found in antifreeze.

The garden shed—Here we will find some of the most dangerous chemicals you can use and serious hazards. There are over 1,400 pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that contain harmful ingredients in consumer products. When they combine with other toxic substances, such as solvents, they pose a risk to our health. Pesticides are present in over thirty-four thousand different product formulations.

House plant insecticides are found in malathion and methoprene which are potent free radical producers.

The patio—Get out the barbecue but remember that the charcoal lighter fluid contains petroleum distillates that can impart a chemical taste to the foods. Some of these fluids also contain benzene, which is a known human carcinogen and free radical producer.

The Fundamentals of Life

We are all composed of minerals, water, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. We are run by a series of biochemical reactions, the likes of which would make the most complicated computer in the world stand up and take notice. These biochemical reactions take place in thousandths of a second and occur millions of times every minute of every day throughout your lifetime in over one hundred trillion cells.

The functioning of the human body is so complex that it may never be fully understood by medical science. The mysteries of the human body are endless. Diseases are just standing by, waiting to gain a foothold if only one of your trillions of cells is damaged or doesn’t have the raw materials it needs to replicate itself healthily. Stem cell (specialized cells) nutrition is an essential factor in strengthening your cellular foundation.

While the body functions on a delicate balance, which can be upset at any time, this delicate balance may also be controlled by trillions of microbes (bacteria) and a relatively new science called microbiome. We know it takes about one hundred trillion cells to compose the human body.

However, we now find out that there are ten microbes for every one of your cells. Healthy people can share their bodies with more than ten thousand species of microbes. They are at work every day cleaning our skin, synthesizing vitamins, helping us digest food, and without them, our bodily functions could not work. Science is also finding that healthy people harbor 1–3 percent of their total body weight in microbes. Different body sites have their own distinctive communities.

Skin and vaginal sites showed smaller diversity than the mouth and gut, these indicating the most significant richness. The bacterial makeup for a given location on a body varies from person to person, not only in type but also in abundance. Babies are actually microbe magnets, and during the first two to three years, the babies’ microbiome will mature and grow while their immune systems develop and learn not to attack the bacteria and recognize them as friendly

Your body is in a constant state of change which involves all the systems of the body and the necessity to understand a few basic facts regarding the body and how the body functions. A minimal understanding will help you realize how delicate the balance really is between wellness and illness. Your body was not designed to sustain as many insults as we give it. Your body was designed to breathe clean air, eat healthy foods, expel contaminants regularly, and receive a minimal amount of exercise daily.

The environment we live in is becoming more and more hostile every year and is the underlying cause of many diseases getting a foothold in the body. Our cells are being bombarded by more contaminants than ever before in the history of the earth, most of which are manmade. These contaminants force some of our healthy cells to produce free radicals (abnormal cells) which science feels may be one of the significant causes of many cancers.

Every year, cancer is becoming more prevalent; and the more we contaminate our external as well as our internal environment, the more cancer we will be seeing. Cancer was always a medical problem; however, it has become more severe since the 1940s. It is only with our increased industrial revolution that cancer has become the plague of the human race.

Eventually there will not even be a single family who does not have at least one extended member who has not had some form of cancer. Then there is the excess pressure of being overweight which places stress on all systems of the body. This includes every cell, thus producing an imbalance in the entire system with a breakdown possible in any organ or system at any time.

Note: The following information is a brief review of how some of the systems of the human body work. It does not go into depth but is meant to just provide some of the very basic information to allow you to at least acquire a sense of how complicated the body really is.

The Intelligent Cell

The cell is the basic functional unit of all living things, whether plant or animal. It is responsible for everything that goes on in the body with various types of cells determining the difference in each living thing.

The cell is actually a miniature complex chemical laboratory that completes thousands of complicated chemical reactions every second of every day. It can evaluate the foods you eat, process them, and send only the required nutrients to each of the trillions of cells—100,000,000,000,000 (trillion cells) = one person.

In any discussion of people’s health habits and their desire to obtain optimum health, it is necessary to take into consideration the workings of the human cell. As previously mentioned, we are composed of about 32.2 trillion cells, or if it’s easier, about 500 billion cells, per pound in the average adult. Of these trillions of cells, millions die every hour and are replaced by the millions of cells that are born each and every hour of every day.

These cells are in a constant state of growth and regrowth. If the patterns of growth or chemical reactions are altered, the cell is then susceptible to damage by a foreign intruder which may be called a free radical, virus, or bacteria.

Viruses attack cells—A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism and can infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria. Cells are always in danger of being attacked by viruses, causing changes and possibly altering genetic material. Everything starts at the cellular level. The cell has a multitude of small organelles, some of which produce energy while others are involved in the manufacturing of proteins, storing raw materials, and supplying them as needed.

The cell produces a variety of hormones which control how the body functions, painkillers, appetite stimulators, sleeping potions, etc. The cell is surrounded by a complex membrane wall which possesses a special selectivity that allows certain nutrients to pass through while allowing other materials to leave as needed somewhere else in the body by another cell or releasing cellular garbage.

The cell is also very sensitive to the consumption of too many refined or processed foods which may upset the potassium/sodium balance, throwing the cell out of balance and making it difficult to control fluids and to clear toxins efficiently. The complexity of the cell and its ability to successfully supervise these thousands of chemical reactions without making a mistake has been referred to as cellular intelligence.

Cellular intelligence can sample the entire body environment and determine what type of raw material or fluid is needed and transport it to that site to be utilized by the waiting cell.

However, as smart as the cell is, it has to have a healthy working environment to work efficiently. If you give it poor-quality foods, it will make a poor quality new cell.

Cellular reproductive cycle—The human cell is programmed to die after it has reproduced a specific number of times. Science has now determined that the figure for human reproduction of cells is about fifty to sixty replications (Hayflick limit) before the cell dies, giving us a reasonably lengthy longevity period, especially when compared to other species.

Horses have about thirty times reproductive cell life, dogs about twenty, and a mouse only about ten. This cellular longevity aspect of aging is called the species-specific genetically programmed obsolescence. If a human did everything they should do from the time they were a baby regarding eating right, getting exercise, maintaining their weight, etc., they should live to about 120–140 years of age.

The single most significant factor in all studies is twenty or more pounds overweight. Diseases of old age should not start occurring before people are at least 110. The most important elements in the study were overeating and not providing the cell with adequate cellular nutritional support. Since the nutrient needs of a cell vary from person to person so widely, it is impossible to advise a person what the perfect diet really is and what supplements they may need.

Cellular nutrition—However, remember, no two people or their lifestyle are identical; each person’s nutrient needs are different which is why taking a multinutrient supplement is critically important to everyone to provide healthy cellular needs that might be available in the foods you consume. Lifestyle factors that may influence nutritional needs are stress levels, urban living conditions, personal health habits, smog, aging, exercise, cigarette smoking, contact with chemicals, and their lifestyle in general.

The most important factor to keep in mind, however,