My husband gave a pint of blood at the mall bloodmobile today. Given my husband’s very clean whole foods diet, my first thought when he told me about it was, “Wow, that’s some lucky person who gets that blood!”
I’ve often thought that if I ever needed surgery, I would most definitely bank my own blood or members of my immediate family’s blood ahead of time.
The thought of receiving the blood of some junk food junkie is very unpleasant indeed.
Given that Westerners spend 90% of their money on processed food makes the probability of receiving that type of blood in a crisis quite high.  There’s no doubt in my mind that getting the donated blood of a person eating a conventional, modern diet would cause a substantial increase in convalescence.
The patient, if used to a pure, nutrient-dense diet under normal circumstances, would likely experience some really bad headaches and other unpleasant symptoms as the body rids itself of all the toxins in the donated blood.
If a loved one is in need of blood on an emergency basis, it seems to me that it would be a good idea to contact friends who eat a similarly good diet to give blood if at all possible.
Certainly, the blood one gets in such a situation can dramatically affect the outcome. Hepatitis and AIDS are not the only dangers in receiving the blood of strangers. Making the extra effort to get healthy, toxin-free blood for a loved one in an emergency health crisis can go a long way toward ensuring the outcome is a positive one with as rapid a recovery as possible.
A recent issue of Wise Traditional Journal featured an article about a pilot study comparing the live blood cell analysis of folks eating a whole foods-based, traditional diet with others eating a conventional, modern diet. The study concluded that the subjects eating the whole foods-based, traditional diets had significantly less blood coagulation and clotting as compared with the subjects on a conventional, modern diet.
Since the rapid onset of blood coagulation and clotting is typically associated with higher levels of inflammation, it seems logical to conclude that the subjects eating the modern diets were suffering from an enhanced immune response which biochemically translates into inflammation.
In essence, a modern diet of processed foods containing a plethora of unnatural and damaging substances seems to provoke an inflammatory immune response that leads to rapid coagulation and clotting of fresh blood samples. The pictures included with this study tell the tale far better than words.
In the future, it wouldn’t surprise me if inflammation markers in the blood are somehow measured and potential blood donors are turned away if they exceed a certain limit.
Unfortunately, enforcement of such a requirement would most likely stretch donor blood supplies even further.
In the meantime, it seems prudent to have a list of potential donors who eat a traditional diet in mind in case someone in your family ever needs blood. The odds of getting healthy blood from a blood bank in an emergency are not in your favor.
Hi Sarah,
When I saw that article in the Wise Traditions journal it really caught my eye. I have a very rare blood disorder for which there is no cure. One of the problems is blood clots…so when I read the WAP article, it gave me even more of a reason to eat an NT diet. My doc didn’t put much stake in it (not surprisingly) but I am confident that I have not had a clot because of what I am eating. I’ll keep you posted on how things go.
Love,
Mary
If you eat a fairly clean diet but are on psychiatric medication, is it bad to donate blood?
the only problem is you can not really give blood and it instantly go to someone. my daughter had to have a blood transfusion 18 months ago and they said it would take too long to get the blood cleaned and ready for her. so you really would have to do it in advance and then make sure that it is done in a place that your hospital accepts blood from
I don't think storing at home would work out unless you happen to be married to a medical lab tech who knows how this could be done.
great post, I bet the healthy among us could charge a premium for our red goodness! Just bought a new deep freeze, I wonder if we could toss a few ziplocs full in there for the rough times…probably not that easy huh..:)
As a trauma nurse at the local level 1 trauma center I cannot agree more regarding the importance of giving blood. If I ever need surgery or have a loved one who has an anticipated hospitalization, banking your blood ahead of time is a wonderful idea. Not only would you avoid inflammation from someone else's unhealthy diet, but blood from other people has multiple markers that can't all be matched, which leads to an immune response and additional inflammatory reactions anytime you receive donated blood. Unfortunately, it's not possible to donate blood to a family member in an emergency due to the length of time required to process the blood, it's days to weeks rather than minutes to hours. The only setting in which whole blood can be taken from one patient and transfused to another is in the armed forces, where the soldiers are all catalogued as part of a walking blood bank and can donate immediately at the time of need. It's unfortunate that such a system isn't possible for civilian trauma.
Wow, Sarah, I can honestly say that's one I've never thought of, but I'm so glad you put this on my radar! 🙂 I'm behind in my reading and haven't seen that article yet in Wise Traditions, but will have to do that soon.
Kelly
Wow! Thank you for this article! Never even thought about the possibility of myself, or family ever having to receive blood. After looking at the pics, I certainly don't want my family receiving blood from someone eating the traditional Western, processed food diet! Ugh! God willing, it will never happen but certainly food for thought.