"A series of tubes" is how Ted Stevens described the Internet, to widespread ridicule. As Declan McCullagh points out, its a pretty good analogy. The biggest problem is that network engineers call them "pipes" (or "circuits") rather than "tubes", and using a synonym from a different context is a good way for someone to sound uninformed since anyone "in the know" would also have encountered the preferred term.
I was reminded of this when Don Tolman (Wikipedia) described the (human) body as a "series of tubes". The analogy is fairly apt because many parts of the body are made up of small or tiny tubes either connected together (eg circulation system), or bound side by side (eg, bones).
Don Tolman's point was that many common diseases essentially boil down to one of these sets of tubes becoming (at least partly) blocked -- whether that be in the arteries, in the brain, in the lungs, or elsewhere. So one of the important aspects of health is keeping all these tubes free of congestion, so that everything can flow as it is intended to flow.
He also suggested that many diseases are a result of frustrating the bodies attempts to rid itself of toxins (either by stopping it from doing so in a particular manner by treating symptoms rather than causes, or simply by adding toxins faster than they can be eliminated). In order of speed the main ways the body tries to get rid of toxins are:
Regurgation (an instinctive reaction to an ingested toxin; "out the front door")
Excretion ("out the back door")
Through the lungs (eg, wrapping in phelgm and coughing up)
Through the skin
By burying it in a tumor
Given a steadily increasing amount of toxins coming into the body it's possible that all these things will be tried in turn over a series of years.
Don Tolman described being told the story of the "pulse meal" from the book of Daniel (1:3-21) in the King James version of the bible (particularly 1:12 onwards), when he was a child. Which then led him on a 17 year search to find out what this "pulse" meal was. He claimed to have found the answer, but didn't describe it in the talk. From what he said, it appears that the "pulse" translation related to its health benefits (ie, good for the pulse), rather than pulses (legumes) per se. Different words were used in the original (and other translations) and in other texts describe similar health giving meals in ancient times.
He also referenced other health food secrets of "the ancients", amongst which was the idea that the vegetable to pick for healing a particular organ is one that looks like that organ -- the cross section of a carrot looks like an eye, and it helps the eyes; the cross section of an avacado is like a womb and it helps the womb; the tomato is divided into four sections like a heart, and it helps the heart; etc. Don Tolman has written the Farmacist's Desk Reference describing the details of what he's learned from his studies of ancient texts. While the description given in the examples during the talk sounds very much like a "just-so story" there's also scientific evidence for particular vegetables particularly helping specific parts of the body. It's clear that modern medical science's desire that there be a medicine for everything has caused many natural health approaches to be dismissed as "old wives tales" (including, eg, the use of common (sea) salt as an antiseptic).
In Don Tolman's view there are seven things necessary for a good, long, life:
Air -- moving air not still stagnent air
Water -- moving water, not still stagnet water
Sunshine -- enables the body to make Vitamin D, and provides energy to convert/ionise other elements
Wholefoods -- food that is unrefined and unprocessed, with little or nothing added or taken away
Walking -- 45 minutes, 5 times a week (I suspect exercise in general, but he stressed movement, quantity and frequency rather than intensity)
Non-toxic relationships
Passion -- do something you love, every day
Overall it was an interesting talk, lasting 2.5 hours without notes, slides or any other prompts. His "down home American" accent and style makes for an entertaining evening, although it did bother me that he claimed lots of things had been proved in studies without providing any references at all (presumably finding them is an exercise for the interested student) -- and it's not clear how much of the back story that he tells is creative embellishment and how much actually happened. It was also unfortunate that towards the end it started sounding like an advertisement for all the various (much more expensive) things that he's produced and has for sale. Particularly ironic because he spent part of the talk railing against the medical system for just being after your money.... One might have thought that after what is clearly years of public speaking, making his money from "upselling" people, he'd have found a less "money lenders in the temple" way of making the transition.
On a related note, the movie Dreamcatchers, due to open in New Zealand soon, apparently features Don Tolman amongst others. And was apparently a project of Mike Handcock who brought Don Tolman to New Zealand to talk. It appears to take "wisdom of the ancients" further into mysticism -- but from what I saw of the trailer could be worth watching while suspending disbelief. (This is unrelated to a "Dreamcatcher film from 2003" based on a Stephen King novel.)