Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

This is more than a detox article. This is a lifestyle article. If you want to be disease free, vibrant, and truly healthy, it’s time to develop continuous detoxification habits that you do daily.

A very thorough detox can be expensive and challenging to complete. Some people who are very sick, or otherwise very toxic, need this kind of detoxification protocol, but most don’t, and most cannot afford to spend hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on supplements. The good news is that with the right habits, anyone can detoxify all the time without doing a “detox” that takes up all of your time, energy, and money.

The trick to detoxifying without fasting is to eat foods that help you to detoxify the body, and to drink plenty of water. Even better than water, here’s a recipe to kick off your detoxification protocol.

Reated: How To Heal Your Gut

Cranberry Lemonade Recipe

  • Glass gallon jar
  • Safe, clean, spring water or distilled water
  • 1 cup of unsweetened, organic cranberry juice, not from concentrate
  • 3 organic fresh lemons
  • A citrus juicer
  • Liquid stevia
  • Liquid cayenne

Fill the jar to about 85% capacity with spring water (or distilled water). Squeeze the lemons and pour the juice into the water. Add cranberry juice. Add stevia to taste and then add cayenne to taste. The amount of cayenne used is up to you, but the more the better.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

If you don’t have access to a good source for spring water, use other clean, drinking water that does not contain fluoride. If you don’t have access to organic lemons, use conventional. Fresh is best. If there are no fresh lemons, use organic bottled lemon juice. If you can’t get cranberry juice that is not from concentrate, get the reconstituted kind (just don’t get any kind of cranberry juice that has any other ingredients like sweeteners or other juices). If you can’t stand cayenne, don’t use it. No glass jar? Use plastic.

Since it’s cranberry season again, if you have a blender, try whole cranberries instead of juicing them. You can also throw in some of the organic lemon peels, as much as you can stand to taste. (Only organic. Don’t use peels from conventional lemons.) It’s pretty sour, but it has lots of benefits.

If you have powdered cayenne and/or powdered stevia, I recommend using a blender to mix some of the liquid with the powders so they don’t settle later.

The lemon juice will help flush the liver. The cranberry juice will help flush the kidneys. If you drink a lot of it, every day, you will feel an amazing difference in your health and vitality. This recipe is a far better choice for most people than the Master Cleanse.

Salad Recipe That Detoxifies

Produce detoxifies. Fresh, whole, raw vegetables, herbs, and fruits pull toxins from the body, repopulate healthy, beneficial gut bacteria, and give the body the nutrients it needs including enzymes and other phytonutrients that are almost non-existent in most modern diets.

Try to eat a huge salad every day with lots of greens, plenty of other colors, garlic, cilantro, ginger, and more. Check out this salad recipe.

The Salad Base

  • Spinach
  • Arugula (I prefer baby arugula, mature arugula tastes funky)
  • Collard Greens (they’re very bitter; use sparingly)
  • Lettuce (mix it up, try an organic spring mix)
  • Kale
  • Beet greens (the tops of beets)
  • Red cabbage (thinly shred like a slaw or a little thicker, depending on the texture you prefer)
  • Rainbow chard

Shredded, Grated

  • Carrots
  • Zucchini
  • Beetroot
  • Diakon (or other radish)

Chopped or Diced

Extras

  • Pomegranate seeds
  • Olives
  • Raisins or dried cranberries
  • Sesame seeds
  • Ground papaya seeds and/or ground pepper
  • Avocado
  • Eggs (try soft boiled)
  • Beans (black, pinto, kidney, green, garbanzo, etc.)
  • Garlic
  • Turmeric
  • Chia seeds

It’s not an exact recipe, and it doesn’t have to be. Mix it up. Try new things. My salads generally have about 15 ingredients. Make them big; make them diverse. Just imagine you’re in nature, not modern society, and all you have to eat is nothing but a wide variety of the best, whole, fresh, healthy vegetables and herbs. This is what a big salad a day can do for you: it’s life changing.

I throw in chick peas or a three-bean salad combination. If you’re not vegan, try a sheep feta cheese with this salad, and throw on some eggs. It’s good with meat, too, like chicken or steak.

Don’t ruin it with a crappy salad dressing! All this salad needs is a little balsamic vinegar (apple cider is better, but I don’t like the taste as much in my salads), or some fresh lemon juice or something. It doesn’t take much.

Daily Habits for Constant Detoxification

  • Breathe in deeply, fully and properly
  • Eat a big salad every day (I make seven every Sunday)
  • Drink lots of cranberry lemonade every day
  • Bodyweight squats every day.

That last one is more important than you may think. We expel more toxins through our skin and breathing than we do through bowel movements and urination. Get up, sweat, get your heart rate going, and breathe! I recommend bodyweight squats because it’s an important movement in nature (we used to squat a lot!), and it helps detoxify the body as you do them. Practice good form of course, and build up slowly. Start with 20, take a day off, but get up to 100 a day.

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Imagine that. 100 squats, a big huge salad, and a gallon (or so) of cranberry lemonade every day. If you can do it, you will reverse and set back disease for many years and feel amazing. When you are detoxifying, stick with the salads, squats, and lemonade. When you’re not, just fill in the rest of your diet with unprocessed, whole foods (organic whenever possible) and you’ll be healthier than anyone you know.

That’s pretty much my secret to good health. I make an 11 cup salad every day, I drink a gallon of cranberry lemonade every day, and I do squats. Sometimes I juice, but it’s done with lots of turmeric and ginger, and it’s not very sweet. I do enjoy an ultra healthy smoothie, and I put in lots of “superfoods” (I kinda hate that phrase, but, oh well), with Total Nutrition Formula.

When I need to go through a serious detox, I typically throw in SF722, Blood Detox, and some probiotics.

If you’re suffering from serious illness, or you know it’s coming soon if you don’t change your habits, this protocol will bring you to another level in health, but at some point you may want to do a more serious protocol that targets all of the elimination organs, and seriously address your gut health.

If you’d like to see some more recipes (and if you want to make your own tinctures and teas for your detox):
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Foods with Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 for those with Multiple Sclerosis

All nutrients have a role to play in health. When we are found to be deficient in particular vitamins or minerals, it could be that we are not eating enough foods that provide them or our state of health may be such that we are unable to properly metabolize and process them.

Many studies have shown that people with multiple sclerosis have lower levels of specific vitamins and other nutrients, especially vitamin D and vitamin B12.

The Vitamin B12 Connection

Those who have MS have low levels of vitamin B12 in their cerebrospinal fluid, blood serum, or both. A vitamin B12 deficiency is often mistaken for MS.

Studies have shown patients with MS given vitamin B12 supplements have experienced clinical improvements with symptoms. Those with MS are also likely to be low in other B vitamins and should consider a B vitamin complex with extra B12. It is always best to take a complex B rather than taking just one B vitamin for any length of time. B vitamins work together to perform many vital roles in the body.

Foods Rich in Vitamin B 12

Foods rich in vitamin B12 include:

  • Sardines
  • Salmon
  • Tuna
  • Cod
  • Lamb
  • Shrimp
  • Scallops
  • Beef
  • Yogurt
  • Milk

If you are suffering from a digestive disease that inhibits absorption such as celiac disease or you are elderly, vegan, or vegetarian it may be difficult for you to reach your daily requirement of B12 without supplementation.

Even if you are not aware that you have a digestive disorder, chances are you suffer from leaky gut syndrome if you have MS or any other autoimmune disease. Elimination of gluten from your diet, treating Candida overgrowth, and repairing your gut will go a long way toward your recovery from MS.

The Vitamin D Connection

The farther away a person lives from the equator, the greater the risk of developing MS, which suggests vitamin D deficiency may play an important part in the development of this disease.

Study after study shows that when people are chronically ill they either are or they were vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is a hormone our bodies produce after we are exposed to sunlight.

Vitamin D is stored in fat and released as needed, but this does not work right for particularly toxic people or overweight people and most of us in the modern world do not get nearly enough vitamin D in the summer regardless of our ability to store it. We certainly get enough in our diet to make up for our lack of outdoor life.

If you have MS you will likely feel an immediate improvement by supplementing with vitamin D. Avoid very high doses of vitamin D for long periods of time.

Foods Rich in Vitamin D

We can also get vitamin D from the following foods:

  • Fatty fish
  • Mushrooms
  • Beef liver
  • Cheese
  • Egg yolks

Conclusion

Vitamin D and vitamin B12 deficiencies play a role in MS, but they are not the only causes of this disease. A leaky gut is most certainly a big part of the problem, and diet management is paramount, not only to manage symptoms naturally but also to getting well. To learn more about MS, check out Naturally Treat Multiple Sclerosis – Therapies, Diet, Pain Management, Alternative Medicine.

 

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Naturally Treat Multiple Sclerosis – Therapies, Diet, Pain Management, Alternative Medicine

One day you stumble when you’re walking down the street. The curb seems a bit higher than it used to be. Maybe your first symptom is blurred or double vision. Or perhaps it’s the sudden onset of weakness, fatigue, or physical sensations like pins and needles.

Multiple sclerosis, commonly referred to as MS, is an autoimmune disease with a range of symptoms. It may present with a sudden onset or its course may be slow or intermittent. Symptoms may appear, disappear, and return years later. There is no specific progression with definite symptoms. Episodes can last for days, weeks, or months and alternate with periods of reduced or no symptoms. Because of the nature of the disease and how it attacks the central nervous system, it can affect many parts of the body, including the bowel, the bladder, or the eyes, and it can interfere with speech and swallowing.

Multiple sclerosis affects approximately 70,000 people in the UK and around 400,000 in the United States. The disease is usually diagnosed in young adults. Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with MS than men.

Contents

Symptoms of MS

Symptoms of MS may include one or a combination of the following:

  • Abnormal vision – blurred vision, double vision, loss of color perception, and loss of depth perception. Can present as loss of vision, usually in one eye. Eye movement is painful.
  • Numbness or Weakness – typically occurs on one side of the body or in the legs and trunk. Loss of dexterity. Difficulty lifting or holding items. Difficulty swallowing.
  • Clumsiness, tremor –loss of balance, lack of coordination may result in tripping and dropping things, walking as if intoxicated, slurred speech.
  • Brain fog – difficulty concentrating, remembering, processing information, even speaking. During an MS flare, some people pause between words when speaking.
  • Dizziness – could feel like motion sickness.
  • Tingling or pain could be experienced as pins and needles, pain, or electric shock sensations that occur with neck movements.
  • Fatigue
  • Bladder and bowel problems.
  • Psychiatric symptoms – depression, unstable mood, anxiety.
  • Dysesthesia – burning, aching, or “girdling” around the body
  • Trigeminal neuralgia – a stabbing pain in the face that can be brought on by random facial movements, like chewing, yawning, sneezing, etc.
  • Joint Pain – MS does not affect joints directly like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or fibromyalgia. However, joint pain, typically in the knees and hips, is very common in people with MS.

But this is only a partial list. There are many more symptoms, which is one of the reasons diagnosing multiple sclerosis is difficult. Here are a few more reasons a diagnosis is hard to reach:

  • Many MS symptoms are the same or very similar to symptoms that occur with other diseases.
  • There is no blood test for MS.
  • Symptoms usually come and go, and this cycle can go on for very long periods of time with little progression of the disease.
  • More than 50 symptoms are linked to MS, and each person develops symptoms differently.
  • MS symptoms include fatigue, sexual dysfunction, depression, cognitive difficulties, and other similar symptoms that are typically attributed to stress and often not taken seriously by health car practitioners.

Like many other autoimmune diseases, a definitive MS diagnosis may not be reached for years.

“…39% of people with MS wait more than a year for a correct diagnosis, during which time we are often dismissed, accused of malingering, told that we have suffered strokes, or are depressed and anxious.”Penny Anderson

What is MS?

MS is both an autoimmune disease and a chronic neurological disorder. In the case of MS, the immune system attacks the central nervous system – the brain, the spinal cord, and the optic nerves. MS attacks the fatty myelin sheaths which insulate the nerve axons in the brain and the spinal cord, as well as the nerve fibers themselves, resulting in interference with the transmission of signals along the neuropathways. This leads to the production of hard scars or scleroses (aka plaques or lesions) in the central nervous system.

Relapsing – Remitting MS

The most common form of MS is relapsing-remitting. Symptoms occur and remain for days or weeks followed by a partial or complete remission that lasts for months or years.

Secondary – Progressive MS

Secondary – progressive MS involves a steady progression of worsening symptoms, with or without periods of remission. Around 60-70% of those with relapsing – remitting MS develop secondary – progressive MS.

Primary – Progressive MS

A minority of people with MS (10-20%) fall into the category primary progressive MS with a gradual onset of symptoms that steadily progresses without relapses.

Progressive – Relapsing MS

Progressive – relapsing MS is the least common type. With this type of MS the neurological decline is steady though there are signs of attacks as well.

What Is Known About MS?

Little is known about this disease. According to conventional medicine, there is no accepted cause and no known cure. Although MS is thought to affect 2.3 million people worldwide, this number is merely an educated guess due to difficulties faced in the study of the disease and the fact that mandated reporting is not required. However, gender, genetics, age, geography, and ethnic background all suggest possible factors that may influence susceptibility.

Although MS is generally diagnosed in adults age 20-50, it is also found in young children and in the elderly. Women are twice as likely to develop MS as men, except in the elderly. Elderly men and women are equally affected.

MS is more common in Caucasians of Northern European ancestry, though it does occur in most ethnic groups. Geography is an interesting aspect. The farther away from the equator, the greater the risk of developing MS, which suggests vitamin D deficiency may play an important part in the development of this disease.

“In general, MS is more common in areas farthest from the equator. However, prevalence rates may differ significantly among groups living in the same geographic area regardless of distance from the equator. For example, in spite of the latitude at which they live, MS is almost unheard of in some populations, including the Inuit, Yakutes, Hutterites, Hungarian Romani, Norwegian Lapps, Australian Aborigines and New Zealanders — indicating that ethnicity and geography interact in some complex way to impact prevalence figures in different parts of the world.

Migration from one geographic area to another seems to alter a person’s risk of developing MS. Studies indicate that immigrants and their descendants tend to take on the risk level — either higher or lower — of the area to which they move. The change in risk, however, may not appear immediately. Those who move in early childhood tend to take on the new risk themselves. For those who move later in life, the change in risk level may not appear until the next generation. While underlining the complex relationship between environmental and genetic factors in determining who develops MS, these studies have also provided support for the opinion that MS is caused by early exposure to some environmental trigger in genetically susceptible individuals.” – The National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Genetics

Genetic factors seem to play a big role in determining who develops multiple sclerosis.

  • In the United States the likelihood of a developing MS is a little more than 0.1%.
  • For those with relatives who suffer from MS, the risk increases. For first-degree relatives such as children, siblings, or non-identical twins, the risk rises to approximately 2.5-5%.
  • The identical twin of someone with MS (who shares all the same genes) has a 25% chance of developing the disease.

(Note: If genes were solely responsible for this disease, that last statistic would be 100%.)

Potential Causes and Contributing Factors of Multiple Sclerosis

Like most health conditions, illnesses, or diseases; it appears that many factors combine to produce this disease, rather than one factor alone. People with multiple sclerosis have been found to have a variety of abnormalities in their neurotransmitters, including increased levels of noradrenaline, glutamate, aspartate, glutamine, glycine, and asparagine. There also seems to be a correlation between these imbalances and the severity of their neurological symptoms and progression of the disease.

Professionals speculate many different causes for MS, and often a combination of causes including infection (viral, bacterial, parasitic, or fungal), leaky gut, food allergies, and nutrient decencies.

Parasites Could Be Behind MS

Steven Fry has discovered a previously unknown protozoa in the blood of patients suffering with autoimmune disorders such as lupus, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and others. In his research, Dr. Fry found 75 medical papers dating back to the 1880s that discuss finding a malaria-like organism in the blood of those diagnosed with MS. Dr. Fry identified a malaria-like protozoa that may be transmitted by mosquitos or ticks.

Dr. Fry is not the only researcher to suggest that multiple sclerosis and other chronic conditions might be caused by a parasitic infection.

Lyme Disease or Other Bacterial or Viral Infections May Cause or Contribute to MS

It’s not uncommon for Lyme disease to be misdiagnosed as MS and for MS to be misdiagnosed as Lyme disease. Some doctors and researchers go so far as to say it’s the same thing or that the Lyme bacterium causes MS.

Our research didn’t come up with credible evidence that any one specific type of bacteria, including Lyme, causes MS over any other major factor, but it does seem likely to be a contributing factor. Treatment should address the probability that anyone suffering from Multiple Sclerosis is dealing with an underlying infection. Considering how weakened the immune system is and how much more prevalent infection is within the body than most doctors realize, it behooves anyone with multiple sclerosis to take the right nutrition to help the immune system fight and kill bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal infections while keeping gut flora balanced and healthy.

Candida, or Other Fungal Infection

When Candida and other fungi overtake the body, they release a variety of toxins that result in many of the same symptoms that are listed for MS. Many fungal proteins are similar to certain grains and some proteins within our own body. Many speculate that fungal infections in the body turn on an autoimmune response by overwhelming and confusing the immune system. The theory is that the immune system responds to similar proteins that are not the infection. The immune system may be attempting to fight Candida, but ends up attacking itself in the process.

Leaky Gut

Our gut flora is only as healthy as our immune system. Anyone with a damaged immune system has a damaged gut. Eventually, when the gut is damaged from poor diet or other factors, it becomes more permeable, or “leaky.” Anyone who is dealing with a chronic infection or an autoimmune disease (which is also likely involving a chronic infection) should assume they have a “leaky” gut.

Where there is systemic Candida, there is a leaky gut. There are many theories on the cause of autoimmune diseases, but we know the immune system is “tricked” into attacking healthy tissue. In the case of MS, the immune system seems to consider the myelin sheathing in the central immune system as a foreign invader, an infection, and it tries to get rid of it.

A virus may trigger the process in susceptible people (with the right genetics). A parasite, a bacteria, and Candida may do this, too. The body becomes much more sensitive to food, especially food with proteins that are similar to the proteins casing the problem, and these proteins will leak into the bloodstream, undigested, from a leaky gut.

Gluten, Celiac Disease

Research has indicated strong links between multiple sclerosis and celiac disease. Researchers in Spain analyzed the prevalence of celiac disease in people with confirmed multiple sclerosis and in their first-degree relatives. The researchers included 72 MS patients, 126 of their first-degree relatives, and 123 healthy control subjects. The study found the following:

  • 1% of MS patients had celiac disease compared to 2.4% of control subjects
  • 32% of 1st degree relatives of MS patients had celiac disease

If the body’s intestinal tract is not healthy, as in, the gut is leaking, then gluten molecules are getting into the bloodstream undigested and causing serious problems in the body.

Many studies have shown improvement in MS patients when gluten is eliminated from the diet. This can also be said for eliminating gluten from the diet of those afflicted with many other autoimmune diseases. It all makes sense when you connect the dots with gut flora (and specifically how Candida causes a permeable gut), gluten (and how it can cause and exacerbate a leaky gut), and how our immune system works.

Deficiency

Many studies have shown that people with multiple sclerosis have lower levels of vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin B9, magnesium, vitamin E, and other key nutrients as well (including many more antioxidants). Many professionals also speculate that a lack of healthy fats may play a role.

Acidity

Many professionals believe that acidity plays a clear role in the disease’s onset and progression. The myelin sheath is an electrically insulating phospholipid layer that surrounds the axons of many neurons in the central nervous system. The body is electrical, and the central nervous system runs on electricity. The myelin sheath is kind of like the rubber coating on a power cord that keeps the electricity contained, controlling the body’s electrical signals.

Hypothyroidism

The process of myelination (the process of forming a myelin sheath around a nerve) is dependent on the thyroid hormone.  Many have been initially diagnosed with thyroid disorders only to find out that they have MS. Many of the symptoms are the same, and anyone with multiple sclerosis should pretty much count on having a slow thyroid as well. If the central nervous system is not working right, this will disrupt thyroid function. If the thyroid is not working right, this will disrupt the central nervous system. If the immune system is not working correctly, neither will the thyroid or the central nervous system and visa versa.

Neck pain, hip pain, and many of the previously mentioned MS symptoms are also symptoms for serious thyroid problems.

Oral Infection

Dr. Hal Huggins, a Colorado dentist, has treated thousands of people with multiple sclerosis with a cure rate of approximately 85% by safely removing mercury fillings and properly treating infections.

Cavitations are infections of the jawbone caused by lingering or perpetual infections of anaerobic bacteria from root canals and incomplete or incorrectly performed extractions and fillings. These ongoing infections have been linked to multiple health issues including heart disease, breast cancer, and MS.

Mercury and Other Heavy Metals

Mercury is not only highly neurophilic (meaning it is attracted to and binds tightly to nerve tissue) and highly lipophilic (attracted to and binds tightly to nerve tissue), which is bad news for the nervous system. Mercury is attracted to the neurons themselves, as well as the fats that make up the myelin sheaths.

Mercury exposure can come from many different sources including seafood, food grown in toxic soil (food from China and many parts of the U.S.), and dental mercury amalgams.

Other Heavy Metals

It is believed by many experts that autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, and Alzheimer’s may be due at least in part to toxic metals such as mercury, aluminum, and lead.

Heavy metal toxins cross the blood/brain barrier, resulting in a wide variety of symptoms including all of the symptoms mentioned for MS. Heavy metals produce free radicals and damage the myelin sheaths (remember, the body is electric), and disrupts the CMS signals, degrading the body’s nervous system, disrupting the body’s ability to communicate with itself. The immune system recognizes myelin sheath tissue damaged by the free radicals as foreign proteins, which results in an autoimmune process. Anyone with multiple sclerosis would do well to consider heavy metal toxicity as one of the primary contributors.

Vaccines

Vaccines contribute to heavy metal toxicity and more. Vaccines include aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, GMOs, and many other toxic substances that are directly injected into the bloodstream or inhaled. There has been considerable suspicion about a link between hepatitis B vaccination and the development of multiple sclerosis.

A recent study examined data regarding a mass vaccination in the mid 90s. Twenty million French adults were vaccinated between 1994 and 1997 thanks to the World Health Organization’s recommendation in 1992 to mass vaccinate for hepatitis B to eradicate the virus. The result was a sudden increase in multiple sclerosis. In 1998, the French media exposed the phenomenon (apparently the media is not controlled by Big Pharma over there). Vaccination numbers fell. A firm link between the rise in vaccinations and a corresponding rise in the number of MS cases was established.

Environmental Toxins

Any toxic load amplifies free radicals, and free radicals are linked to MS. Limiting toxic exposure is imperative for those suffering from an autoimmune disease. Studies have shown that exposure to organic solvents or other toxic chemicals increases the risk of developing MS. It’s well known that those who live or work within toxic environments are much more likely to develop autoimmune diseases. Some get so sick that the mere smell of mattresses, books, car interiors, particle board furniture, and other everyday items are simply too toxic and overwhelming for the body.

Therapies, Herbs, Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Nutrients for Multiple Sclerosis

Sick people have an imbalance of vitamins, minerals, fats, and PH, along with an abundance of toxins. The modern lifestyle most of us live causes these imbalances, but also, once the person is sick, the disease exacerbates the imbalances. A sick body uses lot of nutrition and maintains acidity, toxicity, and other imbalances. In other words, even if you always got plenty of a certain nutrient growing up and well into the onset of MS, you may still benefit from said nutrient.

Vitamin D

Study after study shows that when people are chronically ill they are or were vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is a hormone produced when we get sunlight. We can also get vitamin D from foods like fatty fish, mushrooms, beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks. Vitamin D is stored in fat and released as needed, but this does not work right for particularly toxic people or overweight people. On top of this, most of us in the modern world do not get nearly enough vitamin D in the summer regardless of our ability to store it, and most of us do not get enough in our diet to make up for our lack of outdoor life. People with MS or any other autoimmune disease will likely feel an immediate improvement by supplementing with a low to medium dose of vitamin D. Very high doses of vitamin D for long periods of time can be problematic.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Many studies have shown those with MS and other autoimmune diseases respond well to healthy fats. You can find many studies specifically on just omega 3s or DHA or linoleic acid or coconut oil, etc. for autoimmune disease treatments, but the key to getting well is to get a wide range of beneficial fats. Different fats play different roles in our health.

Antioxidants

Studies have shown that those with MS need more antioxidants. Selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E, Lipoic acid, N-acetylcysteine, and lycopene supplementation have all shown positive results in studies for those with MS.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an antioxidant and it’s essential to healthy mitochondrial function and energy production. A lack of CoQ10 is associated with many disease states including heart disease, hypothyroidism, cancer, and many neurodegenerative diseases. Several clinical trials with CoQ10 have yielded positive results for those who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s. CoQ10 can also regenerate the antioxidant capacity of vitamin E in the body.

Vitamin B12

Those who have MS have low levels of vitamin B12 in their cerebrospinal fluid, blood serum, or both. A vitamin B12 deficiency is often mistaken as MS. Studies have shown patients with MS given vitamin B12 supplements have experienced clinical improvements with symptoms. Those with MS are also likely to be low in other B vitamins, and should consider a B vitamin complex with extra B12. Taking just one B vitamin for long periods causes problems.

Magnesium

Magnesium is essential for a wide variety of functions. Some research indicates that magnesium deficiencies may be associated with some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and a number of other chronic and progressive ailments.

Ginkgo Biloba

It is believed that Ginkgo biloba improves blood flow and can influence neural activity and improve cognitive performance. Ginkgo leaf has shown in studies to improve brain function for those with Lyme disease, depression, dementia, and many more diseases including MS.

Curcumin (Turmeric)

Curcumin, an active component of turmeric, is anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic and is a powerful antioxidant that boosts the immune system and much more. Curcumin has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Countless resent research with many different health issues has shown that curcumin can significantly reduce symptom severity and in some cases reverse disease. From studies on cancer to lupus to fibromyalgia to MS, studies have shown that turmeric spice should be a staple in everyone’s pantry.

Ginger

Ginger is a powerful herb that reduces pain, inflammation, and nausea. Ginger has a warming effect as it stimulates blood circulation. It boosts the immune system, inhibits the common cold, Salmonella, stomach ulcers, and gastrointestinal discomfort. Ginger can help reduce many symptoms of MS, and it also plays a substantial role in guarding against brain oxidative stress and neurological degeneration.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is another amazing herb that should be in everyone’s kitchen. Researchers are just starting to get excited about cinnamon, and more and more research is being done. In regards to MS there’s limited research, but one study with mice was very interesting. True cinnamon (Cinnamonum verum) powder was fed to mice with the animal equivalent of multiple sclerosis. The cinnamon altered the abnormal immune response we see in those with MS. The spice preserved regulatory T cells, inhibited damaging immune cells known as Th17), and blocked inflammatory cells from invading the spinal cord. Cinnamon also promotes remyelination of damaged myelin. Mice had an overall significant reduction of symptoms.

Echinacea

For MS patients, Echinacea research generally supports the plant’s ability to promote immune cell health and its anti-inflammatory potential for the central nervous system.

Chelation Therapy

Chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun) therapy is a treatment for removing heavy metals from the blood. With conventional medicine, chelation therapy involves injections of a chelating agent called ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) into the bloodstream. EDTA binds to heavy metals and minerals in the blood, which are then excreted in the urine.

Side effects can include nausea, vomiting, pain around the injection site, headache, hypotension, and hypoglycemia as well as serious and potentially fatal effects including hypocalcemia (a drop in calcium levels so low it can affect the heart and brain), damage to the kidneys that may result in kidney failure and the need for a transplant or lifelong dependency on dialysis, and bone marrow depression.

Alternative medicine uses supplements and foods to chelate heavy metals from the body. In fact, a proper diet with a wide range of produce and herbs constantly removes heavy metals from the whole body without disrupting its mineral balance. Garlic, cilantro, amino acids, onions, activated charcoal, and chlorella are excellent at removing heavy metals.

Marijuana

Many report relief from pain and muscle spasms from marijuana, but ingesting or smoking marijuana is hard on the thyroid and the entire endocrine system as well as the immune system. Frequent use of marijuana may accelerate MS.

Other Therapies That May Improve MS Symptoms

Oxygen therapy, acupuncture, magnets, chiropractic, essential oils, various message therapies like reflexology, pressure point messaging, and other treatment modalities have been shown to slow progression of MS. These treatments do not focus on the root cause of MS, but they can help accelerate healing and potentially help reverse the disease when a proper diet is followed.

How to Treat Multiple Sclerosis Naturally – Step by Step Protocol

When people are sick they tend to look for the easiest solution – the absolute minimum they can do to feel better. Never really healing all the way, they find themselves chasing health, believing it to be elusive, an impossible condition to attain or maintain. When someone is so sick that they have multiple sclerosis, a complete, holistic, and long-term approach is critical. Some treatments may improve symptoms in the short run, but to truly get better and to ensure that the body does not relapse, a new lifestyle needs to be adapted.

Daily Journal

It’s easy to forget how sick we were. This tendency to minimize can seriously impede getting well and accepting what needs to be done in order to stay well. Keep a journal. Write down what you ate and how you felt with specific symptoms and severity. This will have many benefits, including the ability to identify trigger foods without relying on memory, and a better understanding of how your body responds to foods and new activities. It also makes it much harder to forget how damaging one night of drinking, or one cheeseburger can be when you’re trying to repair the body.

Diet

A healthy diet is a diet consisting exclusively of a wide variety of produce and other whole foods. Ingredients should be bought separately in most cases, and as unadulterated as possible. A full 80% of the diet would be raw produce, with more vegetables than fruit.

Put your juicer to good use daily but sweet juices (most of the fruits, carrots, and beets) should be restricted or eliminated due to their high sugar content until the gut flora is balanced and the gut lining is healed.

Include ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon in your foods, and check out this golden milk tea recipe. Eat salads, like this one, with lots of garlic and other foods that balance the gut and chelate heavy metals every day.

The Intestinal Tract

Anyone suffering from a disease of this magnitude has an impaired digestive tract. Fixing the immune system means fixing the gut. The immune system is only as healthy as the gut, and a damaged gut overworks the immune system. Your body will continue to be inundated with infectious flora and undigested protein molecules, which the immune system perceives as foreign proteins, foreign invaders it must attack, as long as the intestinal tract is damaged.

No one can properly digest gluten, MSG, refined sugars, chemical additives, GMOs, or other toxic ingredients when the gut is damaged. The sicker one is, the sicker one’s gut is. The sicker one’s gut is, the greater the negative effect of toxic foods and other poor lifestyle habits.

Candida

In our toxic, antibacterial, chemically laden world, fungi is able to flourish in our guts. Candida, in particular, is an incredibly resilient and opportunistic creature that resides in anybody’s body in abundance when they suffer from MS. Testing for an overabundance of Candida does not yield accurate results unless the person is at the time of the blood test so overwhelmed with Candida that it shows up in the blood work. Anyone who has too much Candida, and consequently has Candida infecting his or her body (which can happen the same way viruses, bacteria, and parasites can infect anywhere in the body), has moments when the blood is overrun with Candida, but this is not the typical norm. If you’re sick enough to have MS, or any other autoimmune disease, assume you are dealing with an overgrowth of Candida and other fungi.

Undecylenic acid (SF722) is very good at killing Candida and other fungal infections. Wormwood is one of the best for killing parasites, and probiotics should be utilized as well to ensure the non-beneficial flora gets replaced by the good guys.

Addressing Imbalances

Many of the vitamins and minerals needed for optimum health are hard to come by in food alone thanks to our current farming practices. Whenever possible, buy whole organic produce grown by small farmers who take organic standards, nutrition, environmental issues, and food quality very seriously. If the budget is tight, before spending money on a slew of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, etc., get your diet right and get your gut flora balanced. Then consider what vitamins, minerals, fats, etc. you need.

Anyone with MS should benefit by supplementing with vitamin D, vitamin E, COQ10, selenium, magnesium, healthy fats, and B12, but minerals should be taken with other minerals and B vitamins should be taken with other B vitamins.

Supplements that address the immune system are a good idea considering the chance of an underlying infection. But don’t forget, even if it is an infection causing all these problems, an infection is still a symptom. Heal the immune system with the right diet, and then supplement that foundation with herbs that help the immune system. Echinacea, oil of oregano, and vitamin C will go a long way to boosting the immune system, and providing other benefits as well. In fact, oil of oregano and vitamin C are also powerful antioxidants, which is something anyone with MS needs a lot of.

Heavy metal chelation without injections can be done with supplements including food grade charcoal, food grade clays, and concentrated foods with chelation properties. I am yet to meet anyone with MS who wasn’t vaccinated or who doesn’t have a history of oral infections with metal fillings. (Usually both).

Conclusion

If you think you may have MS, or if you know you have it, it’s time to be strict. If you want to get well, to actually be well, or to at the very least, radically slow the progression of the disease, you need to completely eliminate toxic foods from your diet for a very long time. This includes gluten, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soy, artificial sweeteners, MSG, GMOs, any chemicals that don’t belong in food, and alcohol. It’s also time to do a lot more reading. See the further reading list below and read all of the articles. Find out everything you can, not just about MS, but about how the body works. Keep refining and perfecting a holistic approach, not a here-and-there approach. If money is very tight, skip supplements and put every extra penny you have towards the healthiest, freshest food you can find. Most of all, don’t accept conventional medicine’s sentence. You do have a choice. You can choose to heal your body.

Recommended Supplements:
Further Reading:
Sources:



Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look with Natural Remedies

I must have counted millions of sheep back when I regularly suffered from insomnia. I would lie in bed staring at the ceiling, or worse, staring at the clock. Minutes passed. Hours passed. I’d count the hours until I had to get up. Six hours. Five hours. Four. Regardless of how tired–how utterly exhausted my body and mind felt– I could not sleep.

Insomnia can be both debilitating and dangerous. According to The National Highway Safety Administration, 100,000 or more auto crashes each year are due to fatigue, with a resultant 1,550 deaths and 71,000 injuries. Some studies have shown that driving while exhausted can be even more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.

When you have insomnia, you’re never really asleep… and you’re never really awake. – Fight Club

A chronic lack of sleep not only affects your work, your relationships, and your enjoyment of life, it also wreaks havoc with your hormonal system, your immune system, and your body’s ability to heal in every way (we regenerate while we sleep).

You don’t need to resort to pharmaceuticals with dangerous side effects and residual fatigue upon waking. Use these natural remedies to reset your sleep cycle and end insomnia.

Contents

The # 1 Insomnia Cure – Earthing While Camping

Let’s cut to the chase before we get into everything else.For most people, camping is simply the best cure for insomnia. If you can get away for a few days, bring lots of organic produce and other healthy foods, forage if you know how, and go sleep outside! Leave your electronic devices at home. Leave your phone in the car. Take some time to meditate. Write. Do some yoga. Most importantly, sleep on the ground – not in a camper, your car, or a cabin. Get grounded. Reset. Your goal is to de-stress, to take a break from distractions and the EFTs, to avoid artificial light, and to use natural light and magnetic fields to re-set your circadian rhythms. By the third day, almost anyone will be falling asleep shortly after nightfall, as nature intended.

Camping and proper diet will work for most people’s insomnia, but for many people, camping is not an option right now. And for some, the need for significant dietary and lifestyle changes may need to happen before the benefits of camping.

The Different Kinds of Insomnia

There is onset insomnia, which is trouble falling asleep, and there is maintenance insomnia, which is waking from sleep prematurely and not being able to go back to sleep (marijuana and alcohol).

Onset insomnia is often caused by anxiety, depression, pain, sleep-shift disorder, and an active mind. Some studies have shown that very intelligent people often have a very hard time going to sleep, not so much because they can’t, but because they choose not to. After time, this can disturb the body’s sleep rhythm causing insomnia. When they try to get to sleep earlier, regardless of how tired they are, their bodies don’t cooperate. Imagine how much easier it was to go to sleep at the most opportune time before technology, before artificial light, even before candlelight. Camping is an obvious choice for those who just need to reset their biological rhythms and find some peace.

Depression, anxiety, and other altered mental states can cause insomnia by working the overactive mind that doesn’t want to go to sleep, but these conditions can be connected to health issues. When someone regularly gets depressed their brain is not working right, and this can typically be traced back to vitamin and mineral deficiencies and toxicity in the body.

Short-term Insomnia and Chronic Insomnia

Short term maintenance insomnia could be a result of drug use, chemical exposure, allergies, and sleep shift disorder. Short term onset insomnia is typically due to stress. Chronic onset insomnia can be caused by a wide variety of factors from poor health to an overactive imagination to high intelligence. Chronic maintenance insomnia is a sign that one’s health is seriously flawed.

Causes for Insomnia

  • Marijuana – While marijuana can cure insomnia, chronic use of marijuana can lead to chronic maintenance sleep insomnia, and it can lead to onset insomnia when the person quits using it.
  • Allergies – A runny nose; itchy, watering eyes; painful sinuses; and itchy rashes are not conducive to sleep.
  • Diet – Poor diet equals poor health, and anything can go wrong.
  • Toxicity – Chemical toxicity and heavy metal toxicity interferes with the neurological system, the endocrine system, the immune system and every function of the body.
  • Medications – Pharmaceuticals are toxic, which is why all of them have side effects.
  • Gastrointestinal problems – Candida overgrowth, leaky gut, bacterial and parasitic infections, and autoimmune disease lead to insomnia and originate with poor diet.
  • Asthma – It is very difficult to sleep when breathing is impaired by bronchiospasms and mucous.
  • Neurological conditions – Multiple Sclerosis, Restless Leg Syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, etc.
  • Chronic pain – Lower back pain, headaches, arthritis, migraines, injuries, etc.
  • Coffee – Other stimulants including nicotine, teas, energy drinks, and drugs.
  • Hormones – Thyroid, adrenal system, endocrine system (see gut health).
  • Brain Health – If the endocrine system (see above) is unwell, or blood is toxic, so is the brain.
  • Vitamin B deficiency – Almost anyone with any mental or emotional issues from schizophrenia to depression has a vitamin B deficiency.
  • Depression – See brain health.
  • Sleep Shift Disorder – When the circadian rhythm is disrupted, hormones that aid in sleep are not released at the appropriate time.

Natural Remedies for Insomnia

There are many more well-known causes of insomnia than we can go over here, and the same is true for solutions. From meditation to warm milk, everyone has their solution to prevent a sleepless night. Most will also admit, if probed, that their solution doesn’t always work that well.

If camping is impossible, prolonged exposure to early morning light and regular contact with the earth (try grounding for 15 minutes a day) will reset your biological clock. Spend two hours in the early morning sun for one or two days. Set your alarm if necessary, and go back to sleep outside (on the deck or in the yard).

Eliminate stimulants from your diet. Coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks… If you won’t give these up, be sure to limit them to the early hours of the day.

For those who are too stressed out to sleep due to anxiety, consider stress management. Chronic anxiety should also be addressed as a physical health issue and addressed with nutrition. Don’t underestimate exercise, which has been proven in multiple studies to beat many prescription drugs in studies involving anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Studies also support the importance of getting out into nature. Take a walk in the woods, breathe the cleaner air, and just feel connected with nature. It’s also a good time to get grounded. Earthing, absorbing the energy, the electrical fields that we have been connected to for most of our existence, can improve health in a multitude of ways.

The aforementioned we should all be doing regularly regardless of how well we sleep. But, the best way to put an end to insomnia is to address the cause, or in most cases, the causes. While typically one of most common multiple causes of insomnia is a result of EMF exposure and not coming into contact with earth regularly, but there are many other common factors at play as well. Thyroid and adrenal fatigue can lead to insomnia and poor quality sleep, so address those glands, and the whole endocrine system, if needed. B vitamins are essential to the nervous system and deficiencies can result in disruption of sleep cycles. Take a high-quality B complex vitamin each day. If you do not get daily exposure to sunlight or you live north of Atlanta, Georgia or Los Angeles, California, supplement with vitamin D. A lack of healthy fats can also impair hormone production and proper vitamin B and D assimilation.

The only problem with getting healthier to get better sleep is that health doesn’t happen overnight, especially when said night is not restful, and it’s pretty hard to make good choices and take care of yourself when you’re chronically exhausted. Fortunately, there are plenty of herbal approaches that have been shown to put most to sleep without the side effects of pharmaceuticals.

Herbal Remedies and Supplements for Insomnia

To fix the biological clock long term, diet is key. B vitamins, thyroid health, and exercise are paramount, but the right combination of the following herbal remedies will knock almost anyone out at least for the first few nights they’re used, without the pharmaceutical side effects.

Tryptophan

Our bodies require tryptophan, an amino acid, to make serotonin and melatonin. It can help you fall asleep and improve your quality of sleep by lengthening the time you spend in deep sleep. In addition, studies have shown an increase in alertness upon waking. Tryptophan is plentiful in many different foods including tart cherries, spirulina, soy, many different kinds of meat, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, eggs, oats, lentils, and much more. The problem is that eating foods with tryptophan has been shown to not increase the tryptophan levels in the blood. Supplementation works better, but the need for tryptophan shows a need to address the endocrine system and balance the body’s hormones.

5 HTP (hydroxytryptophan)

5 HTP is produced in the body from tryptophan. You won’t get 5 HTP directly from your diet. The 5 HTP used in supplements is obtained from the seeds of Griffonia simplicifolia, a plant native to Africa. 5 HTP is a direct precursor of serotonin and it’s an intermediate for synthesis of melatonin.

Valerian Root

Valerian root aids in sleep onset as well as the quality of sleep. The best results are found when combining valerian root with melatonin or hops. Take 400-500 mg at bedtime.

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland and may be also synthesized in the gastrointestinal tract from L-tryptophan. There are those who cannot convert tryptophan into melatonin as well, which is likely the reason why many find melatonin works better than tryptophan. For some, melatonin can help with the length of sleep or the quality of sleep, but many say it helps with sleep onset, but they find themselves waking after four or five hours. Side effects may include strange dreams, nightmares, and daytime drowsiness. Dosage ranges from 1-10 mg.

Must Read: How To Heal Your Gut

Hops

Hops extract is another sleep aid that helps one get to sleep and  improves sleep quality. It works well with valerian extract and the combination may help increase alpha brain waves.

Black Cohosh

Black cohosh minimizes sleep disturbances which is great for relief from maintenance insomnia, and it also reduces irritability and mood swings.

Passionflower

Passionflower clears anxiety and restores the body to a more peaceful state.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is known as an adaptogen that blocks stress messages in the body, promoting relaxation and peacefulness.

Chamomile flower

Chamomile flower and leaf soothes anxiety and has sedative properties. Check out Organic Solutions Cal-Calm Tea, with chamomile, red clover, and raspberry leaf.

Skullcap

Skullcap promotes calmness and increases the body’s ability to adapt to stress. It also acts as a sedative for aches and pain.

Marijuana for Insomnia

Cannabis works so well to put people to sleep that is truly a miracle drug/plant for many. Unfortunately, it’s not without its problems. Smoking anything is toxic to the body. Vaporizing is too, but with the right equipment, “vaping” can be much less toxic (the industry is new, and there are lots of toxic vaporizing products out there, so be careful). THC has both positive and negative side effects on the body.

Using marijuana is very hard on the thyroid, the pineal gland, the prostate, and probably the entire endocrine system (the endocrine system regulates our hormones and much more). Marijuana acts a lot like alcohol and other drugs to the body with sleep quality. The sleep isn’t deep enough and sleep is often interrupted. Many also find that marijuana use makes them more tired, groggy, and sometimes irritable during the day.

On the other hand, it really does work amazingly well to put someone to sleep. Used sparingly, combined with the right diet, exercise, and a few supplements will result in fewer side effects than simply smoking oneself to sleep. This is a very smart approach for anyone who is suffering from chronic pain, and need the powerful effects of marijuana to sleep while trying to repair the body and get well.

Music and Sounds for Insomnia

My Own Protocol for Insomnia

Having a family with a small child and having a business I love makes insomnia much less common. I don’t get nearly enough sleep, but it’s typically by choice. It’s hard for me to stop working at night when everyone else is finally quiet and letting me work undisturbed. Growing up, I suffered from severe insomnia and depression. It was more of a health issue. Today, if insomnia does grip me, it’s usually because I’ve been staying up working too late for too long and I need to push back my sleep schedule. When I was younger, I used this protocol to reset my sleep rhythms and improve my sleep quality, and to ensure that I slept for as long as I needed for optimum health and woke up feeling alert and refreshed.

  • Anytime I need to get to sleep on time, no matter what, I make sure I exercised that day. I also stay active throughout the day, too.
  • I like naps, but of course, I skip them if I am having trouble sleeping at night.
  • When I am adjusting my internal sleep clock from weeks or months of going to bed too late, I always make sure to wake up at the same time every morning, and I stay up, regardless of when I went to bed. Make sure your bedtime allows for enough sleep, regardless of when you fall asleep, and get up at the same time every morning no matter what.
  • I also get grounded and take that time to do some peaceful meditation in the mornings and before bed.
  • I make sure I get sunlight during the day, and I take vitamin D and B vitamins.
  • Before going to sleep, all the lights should be turned off or covered (those little blue, red, flashing lights on electronics inhibit proper sleep rhythms). Absolute darkness aids in melatonin production. If thoughts are swirling in my mind, I write them down. A bedside journal can be a great sleep aid.
  • L-Tryptophan or melatonin, Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Formula, and some B vitamins will knock me out within a half an hour every time. I like L-Tryptophan better than a melatonin supplement because it increases production of melatonin and serotonin, and I know my gut is healthy enough to convert it as it should. I have also had very good results with using both.

30 mins Before Bed

Laying In Bed

When I lay down to go to sleep, I make sure I am breathing properly (see How to Breathe) and I do math in my head. If the math problems are big or complex (or both), it’s something I can focus on without drifting into thoughts that are more likely to keep me up, and it will eventually put me to sleep. I also like to make up a dream for myself, roleplay it out in my head, and imagine it is a dream. I try to feel it like a dream, which is not easy to explain, but it also works well for me.

Shillington’s Nerve Sedative Recipe (or click here to purchase):

  • 2 – parts Valerian Root
  • 2 – parts Lobelia Seed Pods
  • 2 – parts Passion Flower
  • 1 – part Hops Flowers
  • 1 – part Black Cohosh
  • 1 – part Blue Cohosh
  • 1 – part Skullcap
  • 1 – part Wild Yam

A “part” is a measurement by volume.  Blend all ingredients together and make into a tincture using a 50 – 50 blend of alcohol and distilled water. For more, see How to Make a Tincture.

A dropperfull is considered to be about 1/2 way up the dropper from a two-ounce bottle.

Be sure to shake well before each use.

Other Steps You Can Take

Eliminating EMFs can help keep your sleep schedule consistent and rejuvenating. Try pulling mattresses away from outlets and keep electronic devices at a distance, or better yet, out of the bedroom.

A humidifier can help some people with dry sinuses, allergies, and those who snore.

Sleep on nontoxic bedding with nontoxic pillows, sheets, and blankets. This is a big deal! As previously mentioned, there are multiple causes for any one case of insomnia. One of those causes, and in fact, one of the causes for overall poor health and diseases is toxicity. Conventional mattresses are very toxic. Laying on them and breathing in the offgasses all night makes for a very toxic toll on the body. Fortunately, our bodies can take a very high toxic load without much complaint if the diet is healthy. Unfortunately, for those who suffer from autoimmune diseases and other health issues, a toxic mattress may inhibit them from restoring their body to optimum health and getting enough sleep even when their diet is improved for a consistent period of time.

Conclusion

For those who just need to reset their sleep rhythms, once you get your biological clock reset, your new sleep habits will require discipline, but you will reap the benefits of healthy, restful sleep. The trick to having a set sleep schedule (besides health) is all in the wakeup time. If 7 a.m. is when you want to wake up, then that’s when you wake up, no matter what, for the next 6 weeks. This includes your days off work and the morning after staying up late on purpose.

If you suffer from chronic insomnia, be it onset, maintenance, or both, your hormones are off, your health is not well, and your gut flora is unbalanced. The thyroid, the adrenal glands, and the entire endocrine system will need to be healed, and to do that, you’ll need to fix the digestive system. The following articles will help you address these conditions.

Again, get off the caffeine!

Let us know the tricks and tips you have to get to sleep easily. If none of these tips work for you, the least you can do is spend your time wisely. You can always develop a case of multiple personality disorder and spend your nights setting up a band of violent misfits to topple our banking system via high-powered cheap explosives. (Yes, I saw Fight Club too many times.)

Recommended Products:



The Toxic Toothpaste Ingredients That You Need To Avoid For Good Oral Health

Conventional toothpaste is full of toxins that make your teeth look pretty and feel clean while they slowly erode the tooth enamel and gums. Conventional whitening toothpastes are very toxic to the mouth. All of the conventional brands and many of the “natural” brands put chemicals in their toothpaste that no one would never put in their body knowingly, except fluoride, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin that people have been brainwashed into believing is good for them.

If you’re shopping for an all natural toothpaste, here is a list of ingredients to avoid, and why:

Triclosan

Triclosan is used in skin care products, deodorants, laundry detergents, mattresses, toilet fixtures, hand sanitizers, toothpaste, and more. This chemical has powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties, but it’s also been linked to numerous health problems. Triclosan impedes the thyroid gland, is likely an endocrine disruptor, and it may cause cancer. Triclosan is used in some of the most popular toothpastes.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

A common ingredient in toothpaste and another likely cancer contributor, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is as a surfactant that helps thicken toothpaste, and is responsible for its foaming action. SLS is said to help dissolve dental plaque. It is a known skin irritant, it pollutes our groundwater, it is toxic to fish and other aquatic animals, and it’s a pesticide and herbicide that is used to kill plants and insects.

The manufacturers of SLS recently petitioned to have the chemical listed as an approved pesticide for organic farming, but fortunately the application was denied because of its polluting properties and its ability to cause environmental damage.The manufacturing process is also highly polluting, with cancer-causing volatile organic compounds and sulfur compounds that get released into the environment.

There have been many studies showing that SLS may contribute to cancer, teeth and gum problems, ulcers, and many other health issues.

Aspartame, Saccharine

These are artificial sweeteners that often show up in toothpaste formulas and many sugar free foods. Each has been linked to many serious health problems and should be avoided altogether.

Fluoride

Fluoride is an endocrine disrupter that calcifies the penile gland, and can reduce thyroid and adrenal gland function. Fluoride increases cancer risk, causes damage to DNA, inactivates enzymes within the body, accelerates aging, disrupts the immune system, and should be avoided both in toothpaste and in water.

There’s a lot of talk of Nazi Germany using fluoride to pacify the Jews, but I cannot verify this to be true. If you have a strong source on this, please leave us a comment and let us know.

Propylene Glycol

Propylene glycol is a form of mineral oil. It’s an alcohol that is produced by fermentation of yeast with certain carbohydrates.

Propylene glycol comes in several grades, and it has a variety of uses. The industrial grade is an active ingredient in engine coolants and antifreeze, airplane de-icers, paints, enamels, and varnishes. Propylene glycol in pharmaceutical grade form is used in many products, including toothpaste, as a solvent or surfactant.

Adequate testing has not been done with propylene glycol, but the EPA considers propylene glycol to be so dangerously toxic that it must be handled with gloves, protective clothing, goggles, and proper disposal. Truth be told, that’s true with most of the other chemicals in toothpastes and other body care products, and many ingredients in our foods. Obviously, if you want a healthy mouth, do not put chemicals on your toothbrush. They virtually always prove to be problematic in the long run.

Glycerin

In itself, glycerin is not toxic. The problem is that glycerin, when scrubbed onto the surface of teeth, leaves a residue that is hard to remove. You can rinse your mouth two to three dozen times to remove it.

Calcium and phosphorus, minerals the teeth need which are normally present in our saliva, continually flow through of our teeth. Glycerin residue prevents this natural flow, the natural demineralization and remineralization process. This accelerates tooth decay and other dental problems.

Diethanolamine

Diethanolamine (DEA), is in products that foam like toothpaste. DEA disrupts hormones and forms cancer-causing nitrates. Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor of environmental health at University of Illinois, states that repeated exposure to skin may lead to increased risk of liver and kidney cancers.

Sorbitol

Sorbitol is used as a thickener and a humectant to prevent toothpaste from hardening when the tube is opened or when the toothpaste is exposed to air. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol (similar to xylitol) used to sweeten some “health food” products. Some researchers have recently discovered that sorbitol found in chewing gum can cause chronic diarrhea. Very little research has been done on this chemical.

Microbeads

If polypropylene, poly-e-terephthalate, and polymethyl methacrylateis are tiny pieces of plastic that are included in toothpaste as an abrasive. While these little plastic beads may help scrub plaque off your teeth, they also damage tooth enamel and become lodged in sensitive gum tissue. To make matters worse, they absorb both bacteria and industrial chemicals and are believed to be endocrine disrupters.

Conclusion

Don’t buy the brands with the aforementioned ingredients. A brand with any of the ingredients listed should not be a brand you trust. Try an all-natural toothpaste powder; you may find you love it like many others have. Or just make your own! Here’s a super easy recipe:

  • Equal parts of coconut oil and baking soda
  • Add essential oil to taste (I like peppermint)
  • Add stevia (if desired) to taste
  • Add a pinch of unrefined sea salt for a boost of minerals

If you suffer from serious tooth and gum issues, check out Heal Gum Disease and Cavities Naturally – Step By Step and Mercury Fillings, Root Canals, Cavitations – What You Need to Know, and see the first two articles below for more oral health recipes.

Further Reading:
Sources:



Things You Should Know About Garlic – DIY, Recipes, Other Tips

Most know about garlic’s antimicrobial properties. A healthy diet rich in raw garlic is the best defense against fungal, bacterial, viral, and parasitical infections. Garlic may also be used topically to treat vaginal yeast infections and athlete’s foot.

WWI soldiers used crushed garlic on infected wounds suffered in battle. Hippocrates, considered by many to be the “Father of Medicine,” also used garlic to heal cancerous tumors. Garlic’s history is as rich and plentiful as its benefits. It is a truly amazing herb and one that many naturally minded healthcare practitioners will tell you is one of nature’s most incredible plants.

Be forewarned, garlic does burn the skin. It’s not pleasant, but the results are amazing. Here’s a personal story about treating a spider bite with garlic:

In Los Angeles there was a spider with a bad attitude in our apartment. He bit me nine times over the course of four nights. I do not know what kind of spider it was, but he was nasty, and five of those bites got very infected.

I’m not one to get infections easily, but the spider that bit me was a potent little bastard! The bites were on my left arm near my elbow. I couldn’t move my elbow and I was starting to look like an Ebola virus victim. One of the bites was so bad that there was almost a third of a cup of green and greenish yellow, thick, oozing puss that I spent 5 hours carefully extracting, only to have it fill up the next day. I was taking tons of supplements and eating well; I was doing everything I could to ensure I did not get an infection, but this toxin the spider bit me with was unrelenting.

I was also using some of the most potent herbs I knew of, putting them directly into the huge hole left behind from the puss extraction. During the third time (seven days after the bite) of removing the puss (I was cutting open my arm and literally digging into the infection, scooping out this nasty pussy junk), I noticed streaking. Blood poisoning. So I decided to take drastic measures. I knew it would burn me badly, but I filled up the hole with garlic. I shoved a total of four large minced cloves into the infection, which gives you an idea of the massive size of the hole that was there on my arm just below my elbow. Then I bandaged the wound.

It itched so badly that night, but my whole arm hurt and itched so much already that the garlic itch didn’t matter to me. I taped my hands in my sleep so my fingers wouldn’t claw off the bandage while scratching in my sleep.

The next day I awoke to a huge purple welt. It was three times the diameter of a quarter, and it looked like something had eaten a huge chunk of my arm. It was ghastly! But it was also uninfected! I had no itch, and very little pain right there, unlike the other bites.

The other bites had to be drained for infection a few times, even well after the wound closed. I did not do the garlic trick with them, as the scar that I thought might be permanent was massive and disturbing to look at. It took a month for the other spider bites to heal, and it took 6 weeks for the garlic wound to completely heal leaving a very large scar.

But here is what I found most interesting. Today, one year later, every single spider bite left a scar, except the big one. The one I put the garlic into is less visible than the others. As massive and nasty as it was during the slow healing process, the permanent damage done was less than that of even the relatively insignificant other bites.

Garlic Potency – Allicin

A sulfur-based compound called alliin and an enzyme called alliinase are separated in the garlic’s cell structure when garlic is whole. Cutting garlic ruptures the cells and releases these elements, allowing them to come in contact with each other and oxygen to form a powerful new compound called allicin, which not only adds to the number of garlic’s health-promoting benefits but is also the culprit behind its pungent aroma and gives garlic its “bite.”

Allicin is garlic’s strongest antimicrobial component. This is also why researchers tell us that slicing, chopping, mincing or pressing garlic before cooking will enhance its health-promoting properties by releasing more allicin. Avoid boiling or cooking whole garlic cloves as this deactivates the enzymes.

By chopping garlic more finely, more allicin may be produced. Pressing garlic or mincing it into a smooth paste will give you the strongest flavor and may also result in the highest amount of allicin. Let it sit for five to ten minutes before eating or cooking. If cooking is required, do not expose to heat for longer than five minutes.

The processes used to create garlic tablets destroy allicin. Fresh garlic is best, but if you need to take it as a pill, don’t take garlic in tablet form. Use powdered capsules instead.

Garlic and Cancer

When garlic is a regular part of the diet, it has been shown in studies to help prevent cancer of the prostate, bladder, colon, stomach and breast.

One study of 40,000 postmenopausal women showed a 50% reduction in colon cancer.

Fingernails and Cuticles

Garlic strengthens nails and can heal cuticles. While ingesting garlic has a positive effect on skin and could, therefore, help cuticles, and possibly promote nail growth, people usually use garlic topically to enhance nail growth and repair cuticles.

Here’s a recipe for garlic infused nail polish.

Make sure to use nontoxic nail polish! Here are a few:

  1. Piggy Paint, non-toxic, odorless, kid-friendly, kid-colored, water-based formula.
  2. Honeybee Gardens, an alternative to solvent-based nail polish, water-based, odorless, removes with rubbing alcohol.
  3. No-Miss, does not contain the three-to-avoid above, and also does not contain camphor.
  4. Acquarella, water-based system of nail polish, conditioner, remover and moisturizer.
  5. Suncoat, water-based nail polish that has been recognized and honored from the Canadian Health Food Association Expo.
  6. Gaiam, created by New York City’s first organic spa, our non-toxic nail polish is free of known carcinogens.

Check out more nontoxic nail polishes at care2.com.

Alternatively, you can also soak nails in garlic oil, or apply garlic oil to nails regularly.

For damaged cuticles that don’t want to heal, take crushed garlic, apply to the cotton of a Band-Aid and wrap the finger. The way to do this is to open the Band-Aid wrapping, place the Band-Aid on a table or counter, place garlic in a “U” pattern to lineup with the cuticle line, and then put the finger, nail down, onto the Band-Aid and wrap the finger. It’s a little easier with help, but it’s not too difficult to do alone. It will itch for about 20 minutes. One finger is pretty easy to manage the irritation, but multiple fingers can get pretty difficult to bear. Leave it on for a minimum of 3 hours – 8 hours max. Once the Band-Aid is removed, let the skin air out for a few hours at least, but if there’s the potential to damage the cuticles again, wrap them up in new Band-Aids.

Different Kinds of Garlic

Garlic can be broadly classified into two groups known as hardneck and softneck. Hardneck garlic may be broken down into three types,  the purple stripe, porcelain, and rocambole. Within the softneck classification there are artichokes and silverskins. Hardneck varieties tend to grow and thrive better in regions with colder winters.

Hardneck cultivars tend to have are richer, spicier, and generally have a more complex flavor. Hardneck varieties, due to their plumpness and fairly regular clove shape and thicker skin, are considerably easier to peel. Softneck garlic is usually milder. Much of the softneck garlics are used in processed products and for garlic powder for seasoning. The cloves of softneck cultivars are also more difficult to peel due to irregular shape and tight, thin skins.

Pest Control with Garlic

Germs, parasites, and most animals don’t like garlic. If you have a garden that you want to protect or a pet you need to keep flea free, it’s easy to make a garlic spray that you can apply directly to plants and animals.

Garden Protection Recipe

  • 1 whole bulb of garlic
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper
  • 1 quart of water
  • 1 tablespoon liquid dish soap

Chop all ingredients finely (or crush, or use a food processor), and put in blender with water. Blend at a low speed until well mixed and then strain. If you blend at too high a speed, you may have nothing to strain, and the mixture may be too thick for a spray bottle, but it depends on the sprayer.

Put liquid into a spray bottle and add dish soap. Mix well.

Use a spray bottle to liberally apply to plants, all over, including the top and underside of leaves.

Flea Control Recipe

  • 1 whole bulb of garlic
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 quart of water
  • 10 drops of peppermint oil clove oil or any other essential oils that pests don’t like.

Chop all ingredients finely (or crush, or use a food processor), and put into a blender with water. Blend at a low speed until well mixed and then strain. If you blend at too high a speed you may have nothing to strain, and the mixture may be too thick for a spray bottle, but it depends on the sprayer. Spray pet before it goes outside, and regularly if there are fleas in the house. Avoid spraying near the pet’s eyes.

Other Garlic Health Benefits, Tips, and Tricks

  • Garlic might help prevent hair loss! Massage garlic oil into scalp.
  • Garlic is definitely a low calorie food with 4 calories per clove.
  • If you put a slice of garlic over a splinter and cover it with a bandage, it will help the skin push it out.
  • Garlic has its own day of recognition! April 19 is National Garlic Day.
  • Garlic is rumored to ward off mosquitoes and other vampires.
  • Garlic helps babies gain weight while they are in the womb.
  • Rub garlic on a cold sore to get rid of it.
  • Put a slice on a skin tag and cover with a Band-Aid to get rid of it.
  • Garlic is high in iodine – good for the thyroid.
  • Garlic is high in vitamin C.
  • Garlic doesn’t need to be refrigerated.
  • Avoid CHINESE GARLIC!
  • Garlic helps to regulate blood sugar.
  • There are 300 varieties of garlic grown worldwide.
  • Garlic has been grown for more than 5000 years.
  • To quickly peel an entire head of garlic, put it in a jar and shake until the cloves come loose and the skin comes off.
  • Grow a new bulb from any clove that sprouts.

Shillington’s Total Tonic, and Blood Detox are two of my favorite garlic recipes.

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Garlic is my go-to herb for many ailments, and I eat it every single day. I put it in my salads and in the foods I cook. I eat it raw and cooked, but more often raw. I use it to reset my gut flora, I use it to detoxify my body, and I use it to make food taste better, but it does so much more.

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Lyme Disease – Holistic Protocol to Completely Rebuild the Immune System

Lyme disease is no longer an obscure malady that can only be caught in Connecticut. In 2013, the year with the latest available data, the CDC predicted an estimated 300,000 actual new cases, though only 30,000 per year were reported and confirmed. Cases have been diagnosed in all 50 states, but as of 2013, 95% of the confirmed cases came from the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Contents

What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is an infection from the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. It is not known to be a contagious disease spread from person to person. Its only known transmission is through the bite of an infected tick. (Though there is now argument that other insects, including mosquitoes and fleas, may also be carriers, and that it may be sexually transmitted). Although symptoms can and do vary, the majority of cases adhere to the following pattern:

Phase One – 3 to 30 Days

Also called early localized infection

  • 70-75% develop a rash. A characteristic bull’s eye rash develops, starting at the site of the tick bite. It is not itchy or painful but may be warm to the touch.
  • Flu-like symptoms develop: fever, chills, swollen lymph glands, headaches, muscle pain, joint pain.

Phase Two – Days to Weeks After Bite

Also called early disseminated infection

  • Rash spreads
  • Large joints may become swollen and painful
  • Stiff neck in some cases
  • Meningitis may develop
  • Dizziness
  • Heart palpitations

Phase Three – Later Months to Years

Also called late disseminated infection

Many infectious disease specialists believe that “chronic Lyme disease” does not exist, and that Lyme disease from a tick bite can be cured with a short course of antibiotics. It is possible that those who have undergone antibiotic treatments are suffering from the side effects of antibiotics, but more and more experts are coming around to the idea that Lyme disease can survive and cause long-term autoimmune symptoms when antibiotics don’t work. We all know (or at least, we all should know) that antibiotics do not always work and can cause more problems.

  • Arthritis symptoms – swollen, painful joints (fluid filled joints)
  • Neurological symptoms – numbness, tingling, shooting pains
  • Cognitive symptoms – brain fog, short-term memory deficits, confusion
  • Mood disturbance – depression
  • Fatigue
  • Abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure

Facial paralysis may also occur in this stage or stage two.

History of Lyme Disease

In the 1960s and 1970s, something was very wrong in Connecticut. In a population of 12,000 living in three contiguous towns: Old Lyme, Lyme, and East Haddam, 39 children were diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and 12 adults were diagnosed with arthritis of unknown cause.

In 1975, frustrated by the lack of answers from their medical community, two mothers became patient advocates, gathering information from residents that they passed on to the Connecticut State Department of Health and the Yale School of Medicine.

Researchers were able to identify the disease and recognize its symptoms, but it wasn’t until the early 80s that the actual cause was discovered. Willy Burgdorfer, a scientist who was studying Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, discovered the tick connection along with the bacterium, a spirochete, that caused Lyme. The bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, was named after him.

The Lyme Controversy

A quick review of current articles about Lyme reveals a great deal of frustration on the part of both patients and doctors battling the disease. First of all, there are serious problems with diagnostics. Since 25-30% of patients who have been infected with Lyme do not exhibit a rash – the first and most specific symptom is missing. Of those who present with a rash, many do not exhibit the characteristic bull’s eye rash. Blood tests to identify the bacteria produce both false negatives and false positives. Therefore an initial, correct diagnosis may be hard to come by. Lyme disease also imitates other diseases and is therefore regularly misdiagnosed as MS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, ALS, and other illnesses.

There are multiple tests for Lyme. The CDC recommends screening with the ELISA test and confirming with the Western blot test, but during the first 4-6 weeks of infection these tests are unreliable because they measure the patient’s antibody response to the infection, not the bacteria itself.

Lyme disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose using conventional tests. And there’s great variation in the presentation of the disease as well, depending on where you contracted it, and whether or not you have any other coexisting infections. There is a group of seven or eight microbes that are the most common. The worst ones are Babesia microti and the different forms of Bartonella.

It is said that an initial course of antibiotics given in stage one cures the disease most of the time, but why not all the time? Is the course of antibiotics too short? Should more be given? Should they be given long term, especially for those who have stage 3 symptoms? What if blood tests no longer show spirochetes? If the antibiotics don’t work, the patient now has to combat Lyme with a very depleted immune system.” – Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD

Why Antibiotics May Not Work for Lyme Disease

  • Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, has a corkscrew shape that allows it to bore deep into tissues and cartilage (including the brain and nervous system), safely out of reach of most antibiotics.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi can give up its corkscrew shape and convert to a form that is able to live inside cells (“intracellular”) where again, antibiotics have less reach.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi, along with other similar microbes, can form dormant cysts that are completely resistant to antibiotics; the harder you hit it, the more resistant it becomes.
  • Borrelia burgdorferi is usually accompanied and aided by co-infections of other stealth microbes that also live inside cells.

Antibiotic resistance occurs at a high rate with these types of microbes. An antibiotic is one single chemical substance. Bacteria, such as Borrelia (and also its co-infections), respond slowly to antibiotics and have more time to develop resistance to the antibiotic. In other words, the longer they can hang on, the more likely they are to become completely antibiotic resistant. Using multiple antibiotics at once seems to accelerate this process and alternating antibiotics doesn’t seem to help. Resistant bacteria become even more entrenched.

Antibiotics destroy the normal flora (friendly bacteria) in the gut and skin, causing bacterial imbalance and a host of other symptoms in the body. Most importantly, use of antibiotics suppresses immune function, which may present the greatest hurdle to recovery—you cannot get well without optimal immune function.

Borrelia burgdorferi can exist in biofilms, which are protected colonies of microbes that form on a surface (such as plaque on your teeth), but what role this plays in Lyme disease is controversial. The symptom profile of Lyme disease suggests that it is not a biofilm disease and that biofilms are not a big factor in overcoming Lyme.

Doctors Treating Lyme Disease

…he is treating the patient, not the disease.

Some doctors complain that patients who have never been definitively diagnosed with the disease demand treatment for chronic Lyme disease. Other doctors contend that it is rare for a patient with Lyme disease to only suffer from one singular infection as ticks often carry and can infect us with several pathogens at once. In addition, there is not one “Lyme Disease.” There are five sub species of Borrelia burgdorferi. Of these subspecies, there are more than 100 strains in the U.S. and 300 worldwide. And many of them are now antibiotic resistant. Even the worst infections may not test positive for Borrelia burdorferi. They may not test positive until initial treatment has occurred, a situation called the Lyme Paradox.

Dr. Richard Horowitz, of Hyde Park, New York, is one of the most sought after Lyme specialists. He states that at least half of his patients are infected with babesiosis. Rather than a bacteria, babesiosis is a microscopic parasite that infects red blood cells. Since most of his patients present with multiple infections and an overwhelmed immune system, he focuses on strengthening the immune system, knowing that he is treating the patient, not the disease.

Patients who are not lucky enough to see a doctor as knowledgeable as Dr. Horowitz often get caught in the crossfire that occurs when doctors are faced with limited understanding of a pathogen, a complicated infectious process, and a treatment modality that does not work the same for every patient. Stories abound of doctors accusing Lyme sufferers of being hypochondriacs or malingerers when they are experiencing very real, debilitating, painful symptoms.

On top of all of this, spiders, mosquitoes, fleas, and mites may also be spreading the same or similar bacterial infections.

How to Cure Lyme Disease Naturally

The bacteria that cause Lyme can be found in the skin, heart, joints, and nervous system. On top of that, Lyme disease specialists are finding that what we call Lyme disease may be caused by several different infectious organisms and may even be caused by a combination of different infectious pathogens. Some speculate that Lyme disease is an infection from the bacteria along with an overabundance of fungi (like Candida) or a parasite.

Everyone plays host to countless viruses, infectious bacteria, fungi, toxins, and cancer cells in their body. Many may be carrying Lyme, along with or many other scary diseases, and not know it.

Those with stronger immune systems often pass on infections they didn’t even know they have to others with weakened immunity. Currently, specialists are saying Lyme cannot be passed from person to person. Some are challenging this belief, especially in regards to sexual transmission. Regardless, those infected can carry the disease for years without knowing it.

The good news is that a holistic approach to fixing the body’s immune system and ridding it of infectious agents can cure almost any disease. The approach to Lyme should be similar to the approach to curing HIV, fibromyalgia, chronic strep, lupus, Chlamydia, and many other diseases. The first step is to heal the gut, balance the gut flora, and rebuild the immune system.

Your Gut and Your immune System

Chronic infection is an underlying factor in most chronic illnesses. Our sugar-laden diet, GMO foods that kill beneficial bacteria, antibiotics, other antibacterial products, and many of the chemicals in our food supply deplete our beneficial bacteria, which wreaks havoc on our immune systems. This sets the stage for systemic, chronic fungal infections and parasites to multiply, permeate the gut, enter the body’s bloodstream, and spread infection throughout the body.

The immune system is only as healthy as the gut.

Conventional doctors are very bad at finding and diagnosing parasitical and fungal infections that cannot easily be seen on the surface of the body. The average person is dealing with Candida overgrowth at the very least (the most common fungal infection in our bodies) due to the aforementioned modern diet and lifestyle.

Obviously, to treat a difficult bacterial infection such as Lyme (or whatever combination of bacteria, viruses, and parasites causing Lyme symptoms) the immune system needs to be as strong as possible. The immune system is only as healthy as the gut. The body’s intestinal tract mirrors the body’s health and dictates the power of the immune system. Step one is to balance the gut flora and eliminate most of the harmful pathogens in the body.

Diet

A healthy diet relies on a foundation of on raw, fresh, organic (when possible), whole foods and herbs. Salads are one of the best ways to do this. Not your typical iceberg lettuce salads with a few carrots shreds and some ranch dressing, but a salad with a wide variety of at least 10 different vegetables along with fresh garlic, turmeric, ginger, unrefined sea salt, and healthy fats. It is the best way to get a wide array of the best nutrients that will repair the gut and rebuild the body’s immune system. Don’t underestimate this; a large salad every day, done right, will do more for the body than any supplement regimen, and when followed long enough, the right diet with these kinds of daily salads can completely heal the body from disease, in most cases. But the right supplement protocol can radically speed things up and is often necessary for the very ill.

A perfect diet would not be complete without lots of clean drinking water. For detoxification, cranberry stevia lemonade is very good for rejuvenating the kidneys, cleaning the liver, purifying blood, and flushing out the whole system. For most people, a gallon a day will yield remarkable results, but for smaller people, or those who have rare conditions that make this dangerous, use common sense and don’t ever drink too much water (or any fluid). And for everyone else, a gallon of cranberry lemonade every day will have amazing benefits, second only to salads and cutting out other junk food, but again, use common sense. Drinking that much water in a very short period of time can kill people, believe it or not.

Supplements

When healing the gut, you want to kill fungi and parasites, balance the bacteria, and begin healing the intestinal walls. Undecylenic acid is the best supplement on the market for killing Candida and other fungal pathogens. Wormwood, barberry root, black walnut hull, cape aloe leaf, and garlic are all very powerful, broad-spectrum antimicrobials that kill the bad guys and help reset the balance of gut flora. Many of these also have other healing benefits on the digestive system. Garlic, bentonite clay, and activated charcoal are all powerful toxin removers with a host of other benefits.

A high quality probiotic designed to make it past stomach acid will help restore the balance of the body’s naturally occurring beneficial bacteria by crowding out, and competing with and even feeding off of the harmful flora. The bacteria from these supplements don’t last very long (regardless of what the manufactures tell you), but the idea is that your body’s natural bacteria can proliferate once the probiotics do their job. This is why a prebiotic diet is so important, and raw, fresh, organically grown produce provides the best prebiotics.

Don’t underestimate the power of beneficial bacteria for a properly working, strong immune system. Your beneficial bacteria play a major role in our immune system.

The appendix is a safe house for good bacteria. The body releases these bacteria when the body needs it. If you don’t have an appendix, it behooves you to take probiotics every day for the rest of your life. But take them at the right time. If you take probiotics at the same time you take antimicrobial supplements, the antimicrobials will kill the probiotic bacteria.

When doing a supplement protocol that employs antimicrobials, take the probiotics at night, just before bed, a few hours after taking other supplements that can harm the bacteria. Take the other antimicrobial supplements throughout the day. Or how ever you can work it out to give the probiotics ample time to do their thing before you kill them with antimicrobials.

How to Kill Lyme

Since the bacteria that cause Lyme can be so difficult to kill, a multifaceted approach should be taken with supplements. As mentioned, anyone suffering from Lyme disease is bound to have other issues depleting their immune system as well. The severity of Lyme symptoms will correlate with the overall toxicity in the body. Toxin elimination (which includes toxins released from the Lyme bacteria itself, and all other toxins) is imperative, along with building a healthy gut.

Common Co-Infections Must Be Addressed

Dr. Klinghardt (if you suffer from any disease, check out his research as well) states that common co-infections include, “roundworms, tapeworms, threadworms, toxoplasmosis, giardia and amoebas, clostridia, the herpes virus family, parvovirus B 19, active measles (in the small intestine), leptospirosis, chronic strep infections and their mutations, Babesia, Brucella, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella, mycoplasma, Rickettsia, Bartonella, and a few others.”

As mentioned previously, fungi including molds, Candida, and other yeast are always part of the picture, and other toxicity issues such as heavy metal contamination are typically a heavy burden on a Lyme infected host as well.

A holistic Lyme protocol has a healthy diet as the foundation, focusing on vegetables, herbs, and whole foods, with the elimination of processed and refined foods, especially those with toxic chemicals added to them. When the diet is dialed in, the supplements have much more effectiveness, and the body is able to purge toxins more easily, and the immune system is radically stronger. Diet is key, and with almost all diseases, the right diet will prevent the disease in the first place, and can usually cure the disease given enough time. But, with today’s toxic loads, supplements are often needed, and even when diet could do the job on its own, again, supplements will radically speed up the process.

Specific Lyme Disease Protocol

This protocol will flush toxins and alleviate the body’s toxic load, replenish nutrition and ensure your body can absorb and assimilate nutrients, strengthen the immune system, and kill pathogens that cause us harm. It will work to rid the body of any infection, including viruses, but the protocol does emphasis effectiveness against difficult bacterial infection, molds and fungal infections, and parasites.

This means that this protocol will be extremely effective against bacterial infections such as syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and any ailments caused by fungal infections as well.

If a known viral co-infection exists, this protocol is strong enough to eliminate viruses, but you could do so faster by adding St. John’s Wort, Pau d’Arco, colloidal silver, zinc, olive leaf extract, and systemic enzymes. Personally, if it were me, I would just up the systemic enzyme dosage with the following protocol to combat viruses.

Step One – Lyme Disease Diet

It’s time to tighten the diet. Dial it in. Get strict. This doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy food; it means it’s time to learn to enjoy salads! Make a salad every day, using at least ten different vegetables and at least five different herbs and spices. Variety is key, and be sure to mix it up, but always include garlic, turmeric, pepper, healthy fats like avocado, flax, and coconut oil, and get organic, fresh (recently picked from the ground, not frozen or canned) vegetables whenever possible.

Fruit is great to consume with this diet, but every time fruit is eaten, SF722 or another powerful fungal fighter needs to be taken with it.

Juicing is a common problem for us health nuts. Sweet juice is a refined sugar, even fresh squeezed organic orange juice. Beets, carrots, and all fruits (save lemon, lime, granny smith apple, and cranberry), feed fungal infections, bacteria, and promote viruses. Juicing is fine, when done right. Juice regularly, but instead of those sweet juices, try ginger and turmeric shots (see the golden milk recipe below). On the other hand, you’re not likely to have much room for juicing because you will be drinking a lot of cranberry, stevia lemonade.

Every day, make a gallon of cranberry lemonade sweetened with stevia, and a very large salad (at least 6 cups). Obviously your size should be taken into consideration, don’t kill yourself trying to drink a gallon a day if you only weigh 80 pounds, but for most people a gallon of water a day will do them a world of good.

Absolutely no alcohol is allowed on this diet save what little bit is in some of the recommended tinctures.

Recipe links for recipes that don’t feed infection

Other Foods

Beans and rice (when made right, soak and sprout beans, soak rice), quinoa, amaranth, eggs, homemade nut milks (only if nuts are sprouted first, and cashews and pasteurized almonds will not sprout), and organic free-range meats are all okay on this diet.

Review:

  • Eat a big, diverse salad every day (fresh, organic whenever possible, never GMO foods).
  • Consume fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
  • Gallon of cranberry, stevia lemonade with cayenne to taste.
  • Turmeric and ginger juicing regularly, daily is best.
  • No processed, refined, foods. No pasta, no breads, no cereals, no white rice.
  • Prepare your own foods – this is not the time to be going out to eat.
  • No chemically laden foods, fake foods, GMO foods, or even “healthy” junk foods (such as organic chips, organic cereals).

Step Two – Reset the Gut to Heal the Body

Read the article,Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections. I know, you’re just getting to the meat of this 5,000+ word article, and I’m asking you to read another beast of an article, but you’ve got Lyme! A supposedly incurable disease means you have plenty of research to do. If you have Lyme, your real problem is a a leaky gut full of fungus that’s overwhelming the immune system.

The aforementioned diet will go a long way to heal the gut, and given time, will typically heal the gut on its own, especially in cases where the body is not dealing with a heavy load or a systemic infection. Since we’re dealing with a systemic infection, the supplements below are highly recommended.

Do not underestimate the importance of this step. This is, in fact, more important than the proceeding steps that specifically address viruses. In fact, most people that find themselves with disease only make it through this step and then feel so much better that they tend to stop the protocol. This is probably fine if you spend the rest of your life eating extremely well, which you should do regardless, but even when the body feels better than it has since you can remember, that doesn’t mean the infection is gone. It means the infection(s) is at bay, but ready to bounce back at the first chance.

The following are supplements that will clean out the gut, help detoxify the body, remove parasites, fungi, and begin the removal of heavy metals and other contaminates.

SF722 is the best supplement I know of for taking care of any kind of fungi (yeast, mold, Candida). You can take a lot of it at once. I’ve taken up to 30 at once with no side effects. For someone with obvious signs of Candida overgrowth I recommend people take 30 a day for the first few days, and then cut back to 10 a day for a few weeks. For cases where someone is unsure of a Candida infection, take 10 a day for a few days and cut back to 5 a day thereafter. Take this supplement whenever consuming foods that may feed Candida (like sweeter fruits such as pineapple), and always have this supplement on hand.

SF722 is very powerful against fungal infections, but it does kill some other bad guys as well, which means it can kill some good guys too, so I recommend taking it with other antimicrobial supplements throughout the day, and replenish beneficial bacteria every night with a probiotic like FloraMend.

Whatever probiotic you choose, be sure it is designed to make it past the stomach acid. Stomach acid kills most of the beneficial bacteria in fermented vegetables and cheaply made probiotic supplements. Bio-K (we don’t have this one at our sister site, Green Lifestyle Market, but most health food stores carry it) is an example of a bacteria specifically designed to make it through stomach acid.

FloraMend is a probiotic with a capsule designed to pass through stomach acid and release in the more alkaline environment of the gut. The benefit of FloraMend it that it stores easily and is tolerant to fairly extreme weather temperatures (up to 110 F). The benefit of Bio-K is that you can add it to your smoothies, feed it to young children and infants, and use it to strengthen the probiotic nature of other yogurts for a treat every now and then (but occasional treats should come after the body burden is substantially lessened, and the host is feeling much better).

Shillington’s products should be taken exactly as directed. His Intestinal Detox has activated charcoal, but I recommend getting more of it on this protocol than the intestinal detox would give by itself, so I added an additional supplement of just the charcoal. I recommend 5-10 a day depending on the body’s burden.

The following supplement regimen should be done for 1-2 weeks, depending on the severity of the flora-imbalance. If most symptoms do not significantly decrease, tighten up the diet and consider adding some more SF722 to the daily protocol.

  • Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse – Kills parasites, heals the intestinal walls, sets up a hospitable home for healthy flora.
  • Formula SF722 – Undecenoic acid, kills Candida and other fungal functions.
  • Floramend-Prime – A strong probiotic designed to pass through the stomach acid and into the intestinal tract.
  • MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations
  • Shillington’s Intestinal Detox – This is necessary only for those with seriously damaged intestines, anyone who has recently been vaccinated, or those looking to do a thorough detox. Pulls out heavy metals, positively charged protozoa, and other toxins.
  • Activated Charcoal – Activated Charcoal is highly porous, negatively charged, and attracts and adsorbs unwanted substances, carrying them out of the digestive tract.
  • Blood Detox Formula (tincture) & Blood Detox Tea – This is an absolutely amazing formula for cleaning out the blood, keeping things detoxifying and moving well, and assisting the elimination organs such as the kidneys and liver. I consider this formula to be essential for any detox. Clean blood makes for a clean body. You can use one or the other, but the combination of the tea and tincture is even more powerful. Do not take this formula for more than two weeks, practice two weeks on and one week off. Tip: the instructions on the bottle say to take externally, but it is designed to be taken orally.

Step Three – Kill Lyme, and any other infection

Foundational supplements should be taken for months and could be taken indefinitely. They provide the body with a foundation of the minerals and vitamins and other nutrients needed so that, along with the right diet, the body remains at peak performance, able to fend off new invaders and rid itself of any current infection and toxins.

For those on a tight budget, looking for a stopping point, I recommend completing the first phase of the protocol (above) and then always having on hand the activated charcoal and the SF722. If affordable, add the Total Nutrition Formula and the Fish oil as well, and take every day for a year. A lack of nutrition or an abundance of toxins at any time before the Lyme bacteria is completely eliminated will likely result in resurgence of infection along with renewed symptoms. For most people, a very strict diet and just a few supplements (after balancing the gut flora as previously advised) will eventually rid the body of any and all Lyme.

Foundational Supplements

  • Total Nutrition Formula – This is actual food, perfectly balanced to provide a nice foundation of the most important vitamins and many other essential nutrients. You can also make your own, see below.
  • Liquid Light – The most common minerals Lyme patients tend to be low on include copper, magnesium, manganese and iron. Liquid Light has these and many other minerals the body needs. It’s one of the best mineral supplements on the market.
  • Activated Charcoal – For the same reason mentioned above, this will just continue to pull out toxins as your body heals and fights infection.
  • SF722 – Always keep it on hand. With today’s modern diets and lifestyle, Candida and other fungal infections are an extremely common problem.
  • Systemic Enzymes – These enzymes are designed to pass through the stomach acid and release in the intestinal tract (like the aforementioned FloraMend). While this is one of the least important supplements for specifically killing bacteria, it is a powerful antiviral supplement with an incredible array of other benefits and detoxification capabilities. For more information on this, check out our Vaccine Detox article.
  • Floramend-Prime – For those without an appendix. If you don’t have your appendix then you should be taking a probiotic for the rest of your life.
  • Fish oil with D – Vitamin D is a common vitamin to be low on, even for those eating the healthiest of diets, and the fats are extremely important for building healthy cell structure so that the body’s cells are less susceptible to infection and toxin damage from infectious organisms. For vegans, there are separate vitamin D and fat supplements.

Anti-microbial and Immune Boosting Supplements

The previous list of “foundational supplements” can be taken indefinitely for better health and vitality. They are in fact the supplements that my family, my dog, and I take regularly. This next group of supplements should be taken for two weeks at a time, and then halted for one week. When the body is functioning well, these supplements will eliminate unwanted pathogens, but they also kill our good micro flora, too. Some of the supplements lose their effectiveness after a couple of weeks, and it’s a good idea, after two weeks of these supplements, to build up beneficial bacteria in the body.

One of the reasons this phase of the protocol is so good at eliminating bacteria, even the hard to kill kind, is that we’re attacking it with a wide array of natural chemicals. Many protocols call for three or four different supplements that are known to kill bacterial infections, but do so in the same way with the same chemicals. For instance, Oregon grape, coptis chinensis, and goldenseal are sometimes recommended in the same protocol to kill bacteria, but they use the same naturally occurring chemical called berberine to do so. This regimen utilizes supplements with very different chemical compounds to attack the infection in different ways.

  • Mushroom Complex – This mushroom formula called MycoPhyto Complex uses a mix of six different medicinal mushrooms to improve and maintain the immune system. The phytochemicals in these mushrooms limit the spread of tumors and infections on a microbial level, strengthening the body’s defense system.
  • Oil of Oregano – The beneficial effect of oil of oregano resonates in several of the body’s systems. It’s a powerful antioxidant and a powerful anti-microbial.
  • Berberine – This is the alkaloid known to kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that is present in a number of plants including barberry, tree turmeric, Oregon grape, goldenseal, and goldthread.
  • Liposomal Vitamin C – This vitamin C is highly bio-available, and will strengthen the immune system and provide a host of other benefits.
  • Colloidal Silver – Most are familiar with its antimicrobial properties. I’ve never found it to be as effective as other compounds, but combined with other supplements, colloidal silver makes it nearly impossible for infection to flourish.
  • Olive Leaf Extract – This is one that can be taken indefinitely. Olive leaf extract is one of those rare supplements that supports the immune system and kills the infections without harming beneficial microflora.
  • Shillington’s Echinacea Plus – Minimize the severity and duration of a current illness and enhance your immune system – a great addition for anyone detoxifying and looking to keep their immune system strong while the onslaught of toxins works through the elimination organs.

Conclusion

The whole protocol above is overkill. It’s expensive, and it’s more than enough for most. On the other hand, if you have the money and want to knock out chronic disease fast, there’s no better protocol, and all of the recommended supplements have immense benefits to the body for a multitude of reasons. If not, try getting through the first two phases, and then maybe choose just one or two of the supplements for the third phase.

EMF’s should also be limited, and grounding, or Earthing should be done as much as possible. Himalayan salt lamps can be very beneficial for those suffering from Lyme.

Be sure to get enough sleep, and make sure the water you’re drinking is clean, beneficial water.

There are new approaches for diagnosing Lyme in development. They look promising, but you do not have to wait for a proper diagnosis to heal your body and feel vibrant and healthy again. It really doesn’t matter if it’s Lyme or anything else. Healing the body is about restoring the immune system, reducing toxins, and feeding the body right.

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