此篇文章是资深新闻主播闵杰辉(Jeffrey Mindich)先生在H7N9病况越来越猖獗的情况下提出来的呼吁，特别提供给寂光寺网站发表，现将英文原文及经马芳杰医师审校后之中文翻译刊出，以供大家参考。
以下为中译(英文原文置于本文之后)
许多专家早先都已经发出预警，全球性的禽流感大流行是迟早的事，而中国经常被认为是最有可能引发大流行的区域。这并不是毫无根据的。中国境内所饲养作为食物的鸡只总数约为五十亿，是全国总人口之三点五倍以上，这惊人的数量是世界之冠，且还不包括鸭、鹅、鸽子等其他禽类。一直以来，中国的禽类饲养工业高密度污染问题，是引发禽流感最完美的温床。即使是一般家庭也普遍可见饲养鸡只，而人与鸡常近距离同住一屋簷下，这种情况使病毒更加容易由禽类感染至人类，产生变异，导致更多死亡并加速传播。H7N9禽流感过去未曾发生人类感染，而且体质虚弱的人病情愈加严重，专家们都密切地在注意这点，虽然现在无法断定是否未来会造成大流行，仍不可轻忽。
我们身处在这个不确定的危机当中，该如何自保呢？大家都知道要勤洗手和少去公共场所，这是最基本的认识，但光是做到这样还是不够！许多专家都说禽类和蛋只要经过高温烹煮，熟食是没有问题的，无论这种说法如何，它忽略了最基本及重要的一点，就是我们今天之所以遭遇当前这个疾病危机，和我们长期以来仰赖动物性蛋白质的饮食习惯，特别像鸡肉、…等，有密切的关系。如果人们不吃鸡，就不需要那么庞大的养鸡工业，也就不会导致严重的禽流感大流行。2009年，H1N1大流行，以及后来的口蹄疫、狂牛症等等，虽然不全是接触感染的病症，但不论如何，这些都是因为我们以动物做为食物而引起的可怕疾病。然而，我们永远不必担心哪天必须面临「红萝卜流感」或「狂豆腐症」。
除此之外，禽畜类的饲养工业还有其它许多威胁着我们健康的潜在问题。根据调查，全美国大约有百分之七十的抗生素是提供给禽畜饲养业。以这个月来说(2013年4月)，美国政府三大卫生安全组织(FDA、CDC和USDA)发现，全美国超市肉品抽样中，包括鸡肉、猪肉、牛肉，一半以上都验出有抗生素抗体的细菌，俗称「超级细菌」。这样不自然又不卫生的高密度工厂化禽畜饲养工业，不只严重污染环境，并且加速病毒及细菌的成长或突变、散播，终将为我们自己带来无法收拾的困境。与其用更先进的科学、医学，或使用更强大的抗生素，现在越来越多人选择以植物替代动物的饮食。有句话说，「如果你不能解决问题，至少不要制造问题。」
长期来说，植物性饮食必定有助于缓和由高密度工厂化饲养禽畜导致的致命病毒及细菌问题，但就眼前这个可能爆发的禽流感大流行，植物性的饮食怎么在短期内帮助我们避免感染上疾病呢？事实上，即使没有禽流感，我们所生存的环境仍充满各种随时都可以让我们生病的细菌，而强壮的免疫系统能帮我们避开细菌的侵袭，保持身体的健康。一旦免疫系统失调，或失去防御功能，我们就可能时常生病；而就算免疫系统没有失调，也有可能因为种种因素，变得容易生病。举例来说，要有健康的免疫系统，最要紧的是要有健康的肠胃及肠内菌丛(有益菌)；但抗生素会破坏益菌使我们肠胃的免疫力功能下降，因此，我们常听说接受抗生素治疗后的人肠道会明显不适，同时也会影响免疫系统的功能正常运作。所以，经常吃这些含有抗生素的肉类(鸡、鸭、猪、牛…等)的人，抗生素屯积体内，影响肠内的菌丛，等同长期服用抗生素一样。如此一来，我们无形中已经破坏了防御细菌的第一道最重要的防线，包括流感病毒；流感病毒因此能直接攻击细胞，我们也就容易感染生病了。长期动物性饮食习惯的人，就算改成植物性饮食，也需要优质的乳酸菌帮助重建健康的有益肠菌丛。
不论是来自生理或心理上的压力，也会威胁免疫系统。以生理上来说，除了抗生素以外，我们的环境中及动物的饮食里也有很多的污染。比如市场中贩售的海产被证实，许多都受到重金属物质的污染，而我们的身体必须耗费很多的能量和资源去消除这些有毒物质，这些都会威胁并降低免疫系统的功能。身体为了处理食物中含有的化学物质如防腐剂、色素、人工调味料及基因改造成分等，也都造成免疫系统的负担。而食用有机栽培的蔬果就不同了，不只减轻了身体的负担，还能够提供维持免疫系统运作的重要营养素及抗氧化分子。其它包括适量的运动、深呼吸(最好能在空气清新的地方)、充足规律的睡眠等等，都能够降低生理压力及启动免疫系统功能。先前因长期动物性饮食而营养不均衡的人，也可以在短期内从天然的食物中获取多种维生素。
来自心理上的压力对健康及免疫系统的伤害可能有过之而无不及。假设流感开始大流行，每天坐在那里忧心忡忡地收听或收看新闻报导也会为我们带来不良影响。达赖喇嘛曾经说道：人生就像海洋，波涛汹涌的海面下，是宁静的深海。为了有健康的免疫系统来保护我们的身体，我们必须远离外界的纷扰，找回心里的宁静，比如透过静坐冥想、祷告或你所信仰的宗教方式等等。
把我们的身心准备到抵抗病毒的最佳状态，是抵抗流感侵袭最好的方法。也请选择新鲜蔬果、全谷类、豆类、坚果类组成的植物性饮食，富含有助于健康的营养素及抗氧化分子。广获国际肯定且具有开创意义的【救命饮食】(The China Study)一书中也提到，植物性饮食是最有效避免许多现代疾病包括癌症、糖尿病、心脏病等的饮食习惯。同时配合适量的运动、吐纳新鲜空气、充足睡眠，必要时补充适量的多种维生素及矿物质。以静坐冥想、祷告或你所信仰的宗教方式找回心灵的宁静，消除压力。如此，在禽流感风暴中，我们更有希望可以健康自在的生活。
Staying Healthy Despite H7N9 by Jeffrey Mindich
Many experts believe that a global avian flu pandemic isn’t a question of if, but when. Also, China has frequently been cited as a place such a pandemic could likely start. This concern is not unfounded. China at any given time has an estimated average stock of live chickens raised for food of about 5 billion, or more than 350% greater than the country’s total population! Not only is that the highest total number in the world, but also doesn’t even include other fowl raised in China, including ducks, geese, pigeons, etc. China’s poultry industry is highly polluting, and provides the perfect hotbed for the start of avian flu. Many smaller family operations see chickens and their breeders living under the same roof in very close proximity. This is the ideal environment for a virus to move from fowl to people, and mutate in a way that becomes both deadly to humans and more easily transmittable. Health experts are especially concerned at this point, because the H7N9 variety of bird flu has never infected humans before and is proving extremely severe for those who have fallen ill. While there is no certainty at this point that it will evolve into a full-blown pandemic, the possibility is certainly there.
The obvious question this public health crisis presents is what can be done to protect ones self if a pandemic were to break out? Common wisdom suggests frequent hand washing and the avoidance of public places. This is certainly good basic advice, but it’s not enough. Many conventional health experts say there is no danger in eating poultry and eggs if cooked over a certain temperature. Whether this is accurate or not ignores the more important and basic issue – the reason we are facing a health crisis of avian flu is because of dietary habits that stress reliance on animal proteins, in this case, specifically poultry. If people weren’t eating chicken, there wouldn’t be a need for such intensive poultry farming, which gives rise to the potential for an avian flu pandemic. In 2009, the world saw a pandemic of H1N1, or swine flu. And, while mad cow disease may not be a contagious disease, it is another example of sickness due to our reliance on animal food. It’s unlikely that the world will ever need to face a pandemic of “carrot flu,” or an outbreak of “mad tofu disease.”
There are also many hidden dangers associated with the animal raising industry that are not immediately apparent, but could have profound impact on our long-term health. According to some estimates, about 70% of the antibiotics in the U.S. are used by the meat raising industries. Just this month (April 2013), data collected as part of a program by three major U.S. government agencies (FDA, CDC, and USDA) found more than half of ground meat samples, including poultry, pork, and beef, collected from U.S. supermarkets contained antibiotic resistant bacteria, or so-called “superbugs.” Our extensive factory farming of animals in unnatural and unhygienic conditions is not only exacting a serious environmental toll, but is also spurring the growth of viruses and bacteria that will ultimately prove difficult for us to cope with. The answer isn’t more advanced science and medical knowledge, or even stronger antibiotics to deal with these threats, but rather more and more people abandoning an animal-based diet in favor of a plant-based one. As the saying goes, “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Certainly, the adoption of a plant-based diet can help alleviate the long-term issues of deadly viruses and bacteria caused by intensive animal breeding. However, with a possible pandemic looming on the horizon, what about the value of a plant-based diet in the short-term to help prevent catching avian flu? The fact is that even without avian flu, our environment is literally awash with an untold number of germs, any number of which can make us sick at any time. We must rely on the strength of our immune system to ward off these germs and keep us healthy. When that doesn’t happen, such as people who have immunodeficiency disorders, serious illness can become a regular part of life. However, even for people who don’t have immunodeficiency disorders, their immune systems can be compromised by a number of different things, making it easier for them to get sick. One thing very key to a healthy immune system is a healthy gut, or intestinal flora. And one of the greatest nemeses of healthy intestinal flora is antibiotics, which destroys the good bacteria that keeps our gut healthy. It is quite common for people who have been treated with a course of antibiotics to experience intestinal discomfort. This also affects the functioning of our immune system. So, for those who are eating meat treated with antibiotics, and almost all commercially farmed meat is, the residues from those antibiotics are accumulating in the body, with a long-term effect on the intestinal flora as if the person had taken antibiotics themselves. In this way we are unwittingly destroying our first and most important line of defense against germs, including avian flu. Without the defenses of the immune system, the flu virus is able to go directly and attach to our cells receptors, entering the cells, and making us sick. For those who have eaten an animal-based diet for many years, when switching over to a plant-based diet, a good quality probiotic may also be needed to help to re-establish healthy intestinal flora.
Also a bane to our immune systems is stress, both physical and emotional. In addition to antibiotics, there are numerous contaminants, environmental and otherwise, in animal food. For example, it has been proven that much of the seafood sold at market is contaminated with heavy metals. Our body must use large amounts of its energy and resources to eliminate these contaminants, or toxins as they are sometimes referred to. This stresses the system and lowers the functioning of our immune system. This stress response also applies to processed foods that contain chemicals such as preservatives and coloring, as well as artificial sweeteners and genetically modified ingredients. A diet of organically grown plant foods not only relieves that stress on our system, but also contributes important nutrients and antioxidants that support our immune system. Other ways to combat physical stress and boost our immune system function include moderate exercise and deep breathing, preferably somewhere where the air is clean, as well as sufficient and regular sleep. Also, for those who may have previously eaten a nutritionally deficient diet high in animal foods, a natural food-based multivitamin may be helpful in the short-term.
Regarding stress, it’s now widely accepted in the medical community that emotional and mental stress can be as devastating to the health of the immune system as physical stress, perhaps even more so. If there were to be a pandemic, to sit around stressing and worrying while watching sensational media reports about its spread would be counterproductive. As the Dalai Lama noted, life is like an ocean; there may be tempestuous waves on the surface, but there is calm to be found underneath. For the sake of a healthy immune system that can protect our body, we need to connect to that calmness that is below the surface. That can be achieved by non-sectarian meditation, or thru prayer and quiet contemplation if one has a religious affiliation.
In conclusion, the best way to prepare for a possible pandemic is to put your body and mind in the best possible state to resist the virus. To do this, eat a plant-based diet composed of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts; which are high in nutrients and antioxidants. And, incidentally, as shown in the internationally acclaimed and groundbreaking work “The China Study,” this type of diet can also be key in preventing many modern diseases including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Also get moderate exercise, fresh air, sufficient sleep, and take a multivitamin and probiotics if necessary. And consider meditation, prayer, or quiet contemplation to maintain a calm disposition and peace of mind, in order to banish stress. With these simple steps, one stands a better chance of riding out the storm if there is a pandemic.