P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

PAGING CECIL B. DeMILLE

It was the kind of big-screen war production you might expect from a Steven Spielberg or a Jerry Bruckheimer - lots of loud Dolby explosions and digitally recreated armies swarming down the hills and into close-up range. Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire, and a cast of thousands.

The first thing I remember about this particular battleground extravaganza was how many enemy foot soldiers there were. They seemed to almost multiply right in front of your eyes: two seemed to suddenly be four, then 16, then 256 . . . and before you know it, you've got a pretty decent little skirmish on your hands. But the antagonists - the good guys - did all right too, and of course you knew in your heart they were going to win in the end.

This proverbial cast of thousands had, first of all, battalion after battalion of foot soldiers that would attack just anything that moved. But then what I noticed after that was the elite killer forces that came rushing in from the left. There was a hand-picked group called Company B; they specialized in using chemical weapons which they would fire from a distance. Talk about explosions; they really rattled you in your seat. Very surround-sound. Then I noticed in the film credits a bunch of soldiers called, very simply, "T fighters." Actually, now that I think about it, they were more in battlefield intelligence; you could see them directing traffic, almost. There was a third commando unit with NK on their helmets; the film was about halfway over before I figured out that stood for "Natural Killer." And the T fighters would send unit after unit of these NK warriors to where invaders were most likely to break through the lines. And the NK infantrymen were hand-to-hand fighters; they would get right into the thick of a battle, in your face, and just push and shove and stab away at the enemy. Pretty heavy on the gore, and sometimes Jeannie would have to shield her eyes.

There was one more group - and I never did figure out what they were called, but they seemed to operate as a kind of floating national guard. And if the enemy managed to climb out of their own trenches and get to where these guys were . . . well, watch out. It was a violent, blood-red bunch of kung fu fighting. Not Bambi or Snow White by any means.

Well, friend, before you drive your car completely off the freeway and decide that your friend Lonnie Melashenko has totally fallen off the moral bandwagon and become a partner to Hollywood, let me hasten to assure you that I didn't spend eight dollars and fifty cents to watch the above scenes of carnage down at the local cineplex. All of the violence I just described - the bombs, the T soldiers, the natural killer guys with the NK's on their helmets, the blood and guts and big-screen explosions - actually took place the last time you cut your finger.

And you say: "Melashenko, what are you talking about?" That's right. Remember when you accidentally nicked your finger a few weeks ago while you were slicing tomatoes in the kitchen? Immediately germ cells invaded that site and began to attack your body. By the way, they began to double and multiply exponentially just like I said: two . . . four . . . sixteen. And do you know what happened next? Your own body's white corpuscles jumped into action right away, even without Jerry Bruckheimer there to shout: "Action!" The blood right there in your finger got sticky and began to coagulate. Blood cell troops rushed to the scene and you noticed the area getting tender and swollen. I don't know what Spielberg calls that, but your doctor would describe it as an inflammatory response.
And then we get to the action part of the story, which I already told you about. In your body there are what we call lymphocytes. In this book we've been using as our textbook, entitled Live 10 Healthy Years Longer, authors Jan Kuzma and Cecil Murphey call these lymphocytes the killer elite force. There are four types, just as I said. T-cells are there to direct traffic. B-cells specialize in chemical warfare, shooting their liquid missiles at the enemy. NK-cells - that's actually what they're called - natural killer cells go one-on-one with the enemy, bumping right up into them. And then the national guard units . . . which I confess I DO know the name of; they're called macrophages.

It's no wonder we who are believers in a Creator God look down, even at a sore finger and a bit of pus - that's actually the dead corpses of your valiant white blood cells, by the way - and say, along with another warrior named David:

"I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Here in Chapter 16 of Jan and Cecil's book, which they've titled "Mobilizing Defenses," they make this observation, which sounds like it comes right out of an R-rated war movie:

"Every day you are exposed to thousands of germs. Many of them are part of your daily life - already present and waiting to take advantage when your defenses are run down. In the microscopic world, the rule is kill or be killed. Your immune systems fight for you every day of your life."

Well, friend, as we've said about 16 times now in this radio series, you really need to get a copy of this book: Live 10 Healthy Years Longer. Some of the details Jan and Cecil share about this lifelong battle of good versus evil are not just interesting, but very life-altering. Of course, they lead us to the obvious reality that if we're doing the health-minded things in chapters 1-15 - all the wellness tips we've discussed so far in this series - our body's defensive system is going to be at peak form.

"You can take charge of your health," they write, "by caring for your immune system. Do this by living a balanced life and giving your immune system the opportunity to be in optimal shape to defend you."

In the final part of what I guess we could call for today the battlefield manual, these two great writers have the section I like the most: "Getting Practical." What can you and I do, friend, to help OUR soldiers win every battle? How can we send troops and munitions and the latest stealth bombs to their aid?
First of all, Jan and Cecil run down all the foods we ought to be eating in order to be well loaded up on vitamin A, B, C, and E. Also needed at the front are good supplies of iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and selenium . . . and you can read here in about two pages which foods - or K rations - we should say, you ought to be stocking at the PX and the mess hall.

Then in terms of hygiene, we're reminded that washing our hands at the recommended times - this goes clear back to first grade, so I won't remind you - can help prevent infections. How many of us have lapsed on that score? With just a bit of tongue in cheek, I'll repeat what King David, the great warrior, told us about what kinds of people would stand in God's presence, and he said:

"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart."

Back to the supply sergeant at the commissary, who passes along Jan and Cecil's Tip #3:

"Scrub all your fruits and vegetables clean, especially if you're going to eat them raw. Cut mold spots from firm vegetables such as cabbage and carrots."

In fact, moldy places on all fruits, or in your cheeses or cottage cheese, etc., should be discarded. We're also reminded that after we prepare food, either keep it hot or cold. When a hot dish is cooling on the kitchen counter, that's when bacteria sneaks in the back door.

Now, brace yourself for Suggestion #5. "Quit eating sweets," Jan and Cecil say. And I know that even the best of soldiers is going to have a Snickers bar once in a while. But we all know that loads of sugar do cripple our white blood cells, and keep them from attacking viruses and bacteria efficiently. At the very least, if you feel a cold coming on, that's one time to go absolutely cold turkey on sugar. At other times: moderation. During flu season, a lot of water flooding your body will do a whole lot more for your body than a hot fudge sundae. Remember: eight glasses a day.
Exercise is great for your immune system, by the way . . . but not OVER-exercise. In fact, a study was done of marathoners, and they found that especially those NK-cells were really knocked out for the first six hours after a race. That's a time of real vulnerability for your body.

Then - and we're out of time - Suggestions eight through 13 are all about attitude. Can't list them now, but here's a new word: psychoneuroimmunology. It addresses the connection between emotions, your brain, and your immune system. And friend, if you're happy, if you're grudge free, if you have a positive attitude, if you manage stress well, if you have cheerful, doable goals in life - your immune system is naturally blessed as a result. You've heard the line: "It's not what you eat, it's what eats you." There on the big-screen battlefield of your own body, that's a dead-on-true wartime motto.
That's wonderfully ironic, isn't it? The more at peace YOU are, the better the war inside of you is going to turn out.