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Cleanliness
The problem with pretty much any diet fad is that they almost all remove at least one chemical important to healthy living. Humans regularly produce chemicals necessary to life just by breathing, eating, and drinking water. There are certain substances, however, that the body cannot produce on its own, and so they must be ingested directly. Scientists, since 1920, have referred to these as vitamins. Similarly, minerals are elements that must be in an organism’s diet in order to support their continued survival. I’m not going to list them all, but you’ll recognize them. As a few examples, iron is used to transport oxygen through the blood, calcium strengthens bones, and iodine assists with the release of certain bodily hormones. Restrictive dietists often like to claim that humans are not biologically designed to ingest certain foods, particularly meat, and that removing these altogether fortifies the body. I want to make sure you understand that these claims are entirely baseless and sometimes flat-out lies. That’s the best way to describe them. They’re either lying, or they are ignorant on the matter themselves. Every living organism needs protein. Humans have evolved to metabolize proteins by the consumption of other animals. Make all the moral accusations you want, but you leave science and health out of it, because you’re straight up wrong if you think we’re not physiologically meant to eat meat. Vegans and vegetarians can supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals they forfeit because of their exclusions, but this requires commitment, and an enormous amount of work. You can’t just stop eating meat or animal byproducts. You have to be diligent and careful, keeping a record of everything you eat so that you don’t miss anything. And you have to find other ways of maintaining a healthy diet of vitamins and minerals. Research every diet fad you try. Do not just believe the hype.
Carbohydrates
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Clothing for Protection
It is said that you can survive three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Now, remember that each progressive step operates under the assumption that you have all steps before it taken care of. Today, I’m going to talk to you about the second one. Three hours without shelter doesn’t mean that you can’t survive being outside without dying. This is referring only to being in a rough environment, such as the forest in the dead of winter, or the middle of a desert. This is also not so much a rule as it’s a sliding scale and a guideline that adjusts from person to person, and is designed to illustrate the relationship between these vital needs. There are many kinds of shelters, the most obvious being houses and other permanent dwellings. But to qualify as a shelter, a structure need only be large enough to fit at least one person, and have room for them to move around without altering the structure (e.g. not clothing). Different cultures at different time periods develop different kinds of homes. At the dawn of man, we were still living inside naturally occurring structures like caves. As time marches on, humankind is designing and developing ever more sophisticated architecture, ranging from enormous skyscrapers to deep underground bunkers. The key is to get out of the elements and to keep out unwanted guests like insects and potentially dangerous strangers. Not everyone in the world has access to shelter. Some live in community shelters, but are still considered homeless, because these places do not belong to them. Those worse off will sleep outside, with little to no protection. They even sometimes have limited protective clothing. Having a place to call home is a basic human right. We really are all in this together.
Fire
Click here for the list of every Bellevue Profile.
Freeman Sesto and Gus Arnett grew up in the same foster home, and for a while, were unsure whether they were brothers or not. They were left on the steps of a well-known foster mother at the same time. Whoever left them there tied toe tags, like the kind found in morgues, with only their names. Because of their abilities, it was conceivable that they were biologically related, but after some genetic testing at Bellevue, they finally received a definite answer that they were not. Though this, of course, did not change the fact that they were, and always would be, brothers. Freeman could manipulate the temperature to freezing levels, while Gus could manipulate the wind, even to the point of allowing him to fly. As children, they believed their abilities to be rather normal, and were not aware that they were doing anything strange. One day, their older foster sister caught them playing with draft and snow in the attic. She took them under her wing and taught them the ways of the comic book superhero. As the three of them grew up, they also grew apart, and spent a number of years on their own paths. Freeman spent some time in Antarctica, but Gus never strayed too far from England. Once they were older and wiser, however, the brothers met back up with each other. They ended up encountering two other pairs of anomalies. The six of them formed a group that predated Bellevue by years, and served as a test experiment that led to an understanding of how the later organization should be run. Even though Diane Ghoti was the one contacted to join up as one of the first recruits of Bellevue, Cosmo Drexler went in her stead. While he was busy stateside, she led the remaining team members on a crusade to find the one who betrayed them, against Gus’ wishes to abandon that mission in favor of pursuing the support of others. Their decision to overrule his plan began a series of events that ultimately led to his and Freeman’s untimely deaths.
When an honorary member of Bellevue first laid eyes on a list of anomalies that was compiled by someone who was once able to sense and track people, he found out that one of his former patients was on it. Serenity Theodo was five years old when she was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of leukemia that had, until then, not been seen in a child. The doctor gave her one month to live. Her parents agreed to treat the symptoms with drugs, not to prolong her life, but to make her as comfortable as possible. Still, she remained bedridden in the hospital throughout the barrage of treatment, and was unable to enjoy her life during those times. To the surprise of the medical community, the cancer never went away completely, but the symptoms lessened over the years. For some of the pain, Serenity simply learned to deal with it better than most people. When she was a teenager, she discovered that she had the ability to phase through objects. Her parents were horrified, especially after her recovery. They belonged to a religious order that treated what others might call a miracle as a curse, so they were already frightened and suspicious of their daughter for having survived a deadly disease. It is, however, the Amadesin way to playact at all times; to hide hate for others behind a mask of overexaggerated compassion. They pretended to be learning about her ability by testing her limits. Instead, they were searching for her weakness. They found it. For an unknown reason, anomalies have difficulty using their abilities around the metallic element of bellmei. Jaklyn Simonds cannot teleport from a room lined with bellmei, Jayson Casy cannot disintegrate bellmei, and Bernard Maly would not be able to climb up a wall made of bellmei. Once Serenity’s parents discovered this trick, they built a cage under the garage in their basement made entirely of bellmei, and even claimed to their neighbors that she had succumbed to her disease. After more than a year of being trapped, Serenity was able to communicate long enough to the neighbor boy so that they could make a plan to break her out. He smuggled tools into her cell and provided a distraction by crashing his car into her house. She managed to pull enough bellmei down to phase through the wall and escape. She remained in the safety of a facility designed to protect Amadesin defectors for years before her family caught up with her. Fortunately, the Bellevue member she once knew as her doctor was keeping tabs on them, and was able to intercept before her parents had the chance to take her back to hell.
