I thought I was healthy; I was forty-one years old and in the prime of my life. I worked out regularly, often with my new husband and at times with a trainer. On the weekend, my husband and I would ride 30-40 miles through the vineyards of Germany on our bicycles. I would have classified myself as healthy, maybe even very healthy.

I ate relatively well most of the time, at least compared to other people. I was always conscious of what I ate and usually chose the low sugar, low-fat option if there was one. I didn’t drink regular soda and only drank diet soda when water wasn’t available. As I said, I thought I was healthy.

The first sign that something was wrong came when my husband and I were on vacation in Greece on Valentines Day, 2014. As we walked back to the hotel after a long day of sightseeing, I noticed a slight limp on my right side. I also kept tripping on the sidewalk, and it was hard for me to keep up with my husband. The fourth time I tripped, my husband looked at me and said, “What is wrong with you?” I shrugged my shoulders and laughed. I chalked it up to the uneven sidewalks in Athens and maybe the wine.

That next week I noticed that with each day my limp got noticeably worse. I thought it must be the long-standing hip problem I’d had since my high school cheerleading days. I saw two different orthopedic doctors and got an MRI of my hip. They told me that eventually I would need a right hip replacement, but I needed to wait longer because I was too young. One orthopedic surgeon even watched as I walked down the hall and commented, “You do have a limp, don’t you?” but he didn’t offer any suggestions or advice.

About a week after the last orthopedic appointment, I realized that my worsening limp was not due to my bad hips. I was getting up an hour earlier than usual because I had become so slow at getting ready for work. I tried to dry my hair, something I’ve done a million times before, but the brush was so heavy in my right hand, I literally couldn’t keep it above my head. When I held the brush up, it would drop onto my head.

That same day, I was trying to sign documents at work. Again, it was something I’ve done a million times, but when my brain told my hand to sign, my hand wasn’t responding. I watched my hand move in slow motion.

During that same week, I started bumping into walls. I lost all sense of where my body was in space. I lost my balance while walking around a corner or while walking down the sidewalk. I would have to reach out and grab something to stabilize myself or use my forearms against the wall to prevent myself from falling. I also had to hold onto a dresser or nightstand to brace myself when I got out of bed and when I put my clothes on, or I would fall. By the end of the week, I had bruises up and down my forearms. I worked as a Domestic Violence Victim Advocate, and I was covered with bruises. I kept getting strange looks, and a few people even questioned me about the bruises.

Once I realized that my hand was involved, I immediately suspected MS. Ten years earlier, I was diagnosed with optic neuritis, inflammation of the optic nerve, which is often a precursor to MS. One morning, ten years ago, I noticed the lower left quadrant of my left eye was completely black. I saw a couple doctors and was diagnosed with optic neuritis. After three days of IV steroids, it went away. I followed up with a neurologist who gave me an MRI and told me that I did have brain lesions, but they were small and were not in the right location of the brain to justify an MS diagnosis. He didn’t seem to be worried about it. He told me to watch it. I followed up with him for a few years, and then I stopped. I had actually forgotten about it, until now.

I am right handed but, because of my progressively worsening paralysis, I found myself compensating with my left. This was only three weeks after the first symptoms. I would try to pick up something with my right hand; it would fall. Soon I was brushing my teeth, maneuvering the mouse, and even signing my name with my left hand. My handwriting looked like a third grader’s, no matter which hand I used.

It took me twice as long to do anything: to shower, get dressed, walk to the bathroom, walk to the car. Every time I would lie down, my legs would go into action. Relentless leg spasticity disturbed my sleep all night long. About every 30 seconds my right leg, and sometimes my left as well, would contract intensely, then release. I was exhausted before I even got out of bed in the morning. I didn’t want to go on. I didn’t know who I was anymore. My body had betrayed me.

Immediately after I suspected MS, I went to see my doctor and begged for a neurology consult. I knew that what I was experiencing was neurological, and I was pretty confident it was MS due to my history. I asked for IV steroids immediately. My doctor laughed at me. She didn’t believe me. She said no one was going to give me IV steroids. She called me hysterical and gave me a prescription for Valium, which I willingly took at the time. I responded to this by doing what I had started doing so often; I burst into tears. Finally, I was referred to a neurologist: my appointment was scheduled two weeks from that day.

During the fifth week, I continued to research conventional treatment for MS.  I felt scared and hopeless as I became more and more disabled. I couldn’t walk up or down stairs without using a cane and holding onto the rail. I had already fallen three times. I couldn’t raise my toes on my right foot. This made driving difficult and frankly dangerous. I had to lift my whole foot and put it on the pedals. I was rapidly losing control over my body.

I couldn’t wait two weeks for the appointment. I walked into the neurologist’s office a week before my scheduled appointment, and surprisingly, the doctor agreed to see me. I just couldn’t take it anymore –not knowing what my body was doing, getting worse each day. I was a mess. Through my tears, I explained my history to doctor number four. I pressed for IV steroids because I knew in my heart that this was MS. He scheduled me for two MRI’s for the following week, one of the brain and one of the spine, both with contrast.

During this first appointment with the neurologist, I mentioned that I had been researching MS on the Internet and that I kept seeing stories of women who’s MS symptoms had improved simply by making dietary changes. I asked him what he thought about cutting out meat, processed food, sugar, dairy, and gluten. My doctor told me that there was no evidence that diet had any impact on the course of the disease or the severity of symptoms.

During the next week, I got the two MRI’s and kept the initial appointment with my neurologist, which was now our followup appointment. I was officially diagnosed with MS on March 20, 2014. This was six weeks after the onset of symptoms. MS had hit me fast and hard. I was still working, but I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t write. It was hard to type. I could barely walk. Some co-workers were questioning whether I should continue to work. My future was bleak.

I had training for work that had been pre-planned six months previously, and I was scheduled to go to the States in two days. My neurologist told me that we would talk about preventative medication when I returned from my trip in two weeks. I received 1000 mg of IV prednisone that day, 2000 mg the next morning, and oral prednisone to take with me on my trip.

My head was spinning. I didn’t know how I was going to make it through a 12-hour flight let alone concentrate on spouse abuse training. During my trip, an airline escort had to meet me at the gate with a wheelchair and wheel me to the connecting flight. All I could think of was how I was going to continue to deteriorate, and I wondered what my future would look like. I spent the majority of the next two weeks reading about MS.

I returned to Germany two weeks later and started taking Tecfidera, a preventative MS medication, twice daily. I was also taking a muscle relaxer, an anti-anxiety medication, and a pain killer for the severe leg cramps. In addition, I had been taking a twice-daily steroid inhalant for asthma for more than ten years, and I kept a rescue inhaler with me at all times to use as needed. I also suffered from severe migraines since childhood, and I took Imitrex for this as needed.

In my research of conventional treatment for MS, all I read about was how the disease was “incurable” and about how I would need to set up a plan for “progressive disability” and “wheelchairs, home health aides, and Social Security Disability.” For about three days, I was consumed with dark thoughts. I didn’t want my new husband to have to care for me like that. For those three days, I wanted to die. Then I continued my research.

When I read about natural remedies for MS, I started to regain hope. I realized that the conventional medical community didn’t know what caused MS and didn’t believe there was a cure. I kept finding examples of how diet changes not only improved MS symptoms, but also cured it. As I read, I started to believe that I could get healthy, truly healthy. I also started to take action. I maintained the diet changes I had started and learned more about real health every day. I chose to continue to improve my diet; because it was the one thing I had control over in this whole situation.

I then remembered my old friend, Michael Edwards, had a real interest in alternative health care. He asked me to read several articles in his magazine, Organic Lifestyle Magazine. I began to learn more and more about health, real health, and how it is intimately connected to what we put in our mouth. Together Michael and I developed a nutritional and detoxification plan for me.

I noticed improvements right away. Just as I had declined a little bit every day, I noticed that I got a little bit stronger and more stable every day. I soon noticed that my other health ailments were improving, too. I no longer wheezed or suffered from migraines. I learned how to heal my gut from 20 years of Tylenol and Advil abuse. I learned how to feed my body nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods that would aid in my healing. Many people looked at my salads and smoothies and said “You are so disciplined!” I typically replied, “My mobility is a good motivator.”

I stayed on Tecfidera from April until November 2014 and then made the decision to stop it. At first I was scared to make this decision. I had to get past the brainwashing; the belief that I had to take what the doctor prescribed. I had been able to wean myself off all of the other pharmaceuticals I had been taking, including the asthma medicine and migraine pills, which I had taken for more than 30 years. I was able to do this simply by adding organic, raw produce-more vegetables than fruit- to my diet.

I got confirmation that this was what was helping me whenever I would veer off the diet in any way. Once, about 45 days into eating only raw produce (organic when possible) I went to a going away luncheon for a close friend. The menu was abbreviated, so there wasn’t anything on it I could eat. I chose to eat a cheese pizza with whatever raw veggies they could put on top. Even though I only ate the top of the pizza (cheese, onion, and mushrooms), before I left the restaurant my forehead was pounding. I had an immediate, physical reaction to either the  dairy or the gluten.

More recently, I ate couscous for several days, not knowing that it was wheat. This time I didn’t get a headache; I had a full relapse of my MS symptoms. I noticed that my right foot had dropped, and I was tripping. I also had to stabilize myself when I rounded corners like before. I noticed a significant decrease in my energy and decreased ability to go up or down stairs. When I mentioned this to Michael, the first thing he said was, “Tell me exactly what you’ve eaten for the last four days.” When I stopped and thought about it, I realized couscous had been the only change in my diet.

There was another time, right after I finished the first two phases of my detox program (about 30 days of eating raw, organic produce) that I went out to eat with some girlfriends. I did this every Friday, so I knew how to stick to my program at a restaurant. On that day, however, we got to talking about how well I was doing. I shared with them how I was able to get off all of the medications simply by changing what I ate. I told them I was better – walking better, feeling better, and having more energy. I thought, “I’ve been good. I’ve stuck to my program so well I deserve some baklava.” It was delicious, but I couldn’t sleep that night because my stomach was turning in knots, and my legs, which had been peaceful for three weeks,started to spasm again. I told myself, “Baklava doesn’t taste this good. Nothing does.”

Four months after being diagnosed, it was time for a repeat MRI. My neurologist had said that the most I could hope for was no new lesions on my brain. Not only were there no new lesions, it showed no evidence of inflammation and the lesions I had previously were significantly reduced. The radiologist looked at me and said, “You’re better!”

Recently, I had a blood test that confirmed that the two indicators that show inflammation in the body were completely normal. These indicators were extremely elevated in March but normal in November. I have no doubt that it is due to the lifestyle changes I’ve made that have contributed to my healing.

It’s now been ten months since my initial diagnosis, and for the first time in my life, I am no longer an asthmatic. I don’t take asthma or migraine medicine or any pharmaceuticals for that matter. I only take natural supplements when needed to supplement my diet.

I use a good, whole food, nutrition supplement (Total Nutrition Formula) in my smoothie every morning and munch on a big salad all throughout the day and into the evening. My salad is full of 10 or more different organic vegetables and 3-4 different types of leafy greens with lots of garlic, onions, and turmeric. After all of that, if I am still hungry (and often I’m not) I’ll have some cooked quinoa mixed with raw garlic and any other raw vegetables. I drink a gallon of pure, living water every day (I also make this cranberry lemonade). To my water, I add either organic apple cider vinegar and organic strap molasses or organic lemon and cranberry juice sweetened with stevia and spiced with cayenne pepper.

As I continue on this healing journey, I continue to learn and make improved health choices. I learned that couscous is wheat, and it will imitate an MS flare up. I learned that nothing is as good as true health, not even baklava.

Note: I owe so much of my success in healing to the following article in Organic Lifestyle Magazine and the following supplements from Green Lifestyle Market. Much love to Michael Edwards, Chief Editor. Thank you!

Further Reading:

• 80% Raw Food Diet
• Inexpensive Easy Detox the One Gallon Challenge
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem
• Doc Shillington’s Total Body Cleanse
• Budwig Cancer Cure
• Cure Cancer Naturally
• Garlic, the Most Amazing Herb on the Planet
• Turmeric – Learn More about This Ayurvedic Herb

Recommended Supplements:

• Shillington’s Blood Detox Formula
• Shillington’s Blood Detox Tea
• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula
• HM Complex – Pure Encapsulations
• Shillington’s Liver & Gallbladder Formula
• Shillington’s Liver and Gallbladder Tea
• Shillington’s Echinacea Plus
• Formula SF722 – Thorne Research
• Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse Formula
• FloraMend Prime Probiotic – Thorne Research
• MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations
• Liquid Light – Sunwarrior

Change We Can Believe In

In 2007, then presidential candidate Barack Obama promised that if elected he would direct more money for organic agriculture. He also said, “If I am elected president of the United States, I will support legislation that will require the mandatory labeling of genetically modified foods.” Now, well into his second term, it seems Obama has no intention of honoring his promises. Even if Obama honored his word, would such steps be enough to ensure our survival?

Can organic farms yield comparable outputs with conventional farms? To answer this question in 2002, Dr. Paul Mader and colleagues analyzed more than two decades of data. On average, organic farms yielded 80% of the output conventional farms produced. Although the yield was lower, the quality of the produce and the quality of the soil was far superior in every conceivable way. There are more nutrients found in organic foods.

The use of chemicals, so prevalent in modern agriculture, may result in a high yield (for a time), but their use is actually more expensive than organic food production. Conventional agriculture is more profitable for farmers due to government subsidies. That’s right; our taxes pay farmers more to cause harm to the environment and to produce chemically laden foods.

Subsistence strategies are a cultural phenomena. Just as language cannot be separated from culture neither can food be separated from culture. The food people eat and how the food is produced varies dramatically from one group of people to another. As with linguistic centrism, people tend to think that their way is the best way. Americans are often under this delusion in regards to feeding the world without simultaneously polluting it. Could the world feed itself without the so called benefits brought forth by the chemicals and drugs used in conventional agriculture?

Sustainable Farms

Farmers all over the world are proving it can be done, among them farmers such as Takao Furuno, a successful organic farmer from Japan. The Furuno farm works as a part of an ecosystem. Every year, after planting their rice, they release hundreds of ducklings into the rice paddies. The ducklings consume weeds that would otherwise compete with the rice. They also consume pests such as insects and snails. The ducklings fertilize the rice with their waste and oxygenate the water by their movements.

The Azolla fern is also grown on the farm. This plant helps to fix nitrogen into the soil as it feeds the ducks, provides cover for the fish from predators, and provides habitat for critters that also help feed the ducks.

By manipulating the natural processes on their farm, the Furuno family’s level of production is amazing. With only three hectares of land, they yield 7 tons of rice, 300 ducks, 4,000 ducklings, and sufficient vegetables for a hundred people.

Japan is a relatively small country. When including the entire Japanese archipelago, the total landmass is about 142,000 square miles. The Furuno farm is twice as productive as other conventional Japanese farms ­– not 80% as productive as Mader’s study would indicate. Twice as productive. With this kind of yield, 2% of the Japanese people could farm and feed their nation, organically and sustainably.

Eduardo Suiza’s Sustainable Fois Grais

Sustainable, humane, and organically produced foods also tend to taste better. Eduardo Suiza has been helping to prove this. Recently he took 1^st place in the Cu de Cois Culinary Competition for his legendary fois grais.

Chef Dan Barber explained that fois grais literally means to force feed geese or ducks a massive amount of food. This makes their liver expand by a factor of eight, a practice many see as inhumane. Eduardo Suiza uses an entirely different approach. He lives by the concept of giving the geese what they want. On his farm, he has everything the geese might need – olives, figs, lupin bushes and other plants to feed the geese.

In the fall, the temperature drops and Eduardo’s geese gorge themselves in preparation for the coming winter. After the geese gorge themselves, Eduardo slaughters some of his birds. This makes a more natural, more humane, and better tasting fois grais. His geese are so content; they invite wild geese flying by to join them. These regular additions to the flock voluntarily stay.

Examples of a sustainable approach to food production can be found all over the world. Thankfully, not all of these examples are in small-scale farming. In the Seville province of Spain, located 10 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, another example of sustainable, high quality agriculture thrives.

Veta La Palma 27,000 Acre Farm

Aquaculture has been instituted on an island farm, and their productivity and quality has caught the attention of the world. The original owners planned to create a cattle ranch so they dug canals to drain the water away. Despite their best efforts, the area was poorly suited for dry farming or raising large amounts of cattle, so eventually the property changed hands. The new owners had a different concept; they reworked the canals to reverse the water flow back inland. The result: Veta La Palma.

Here was a company trying to solve what’s become this unimaginable problem for us chefs. How do we keep fish on our menus?” – Dan Barber

Veta La Palma is a 27,000 acre farm with an amazing annual yield –1,200 tons of fish and shrimp. This aquaculture is self-sustainable; there is no need to feed the fish, as the fish feed themselves. There is no need to feed the shrimp, as the shrimp also feed themselves. In addition, the fish have attracted more than 250 different species of birds (some of which are endangered), and many of these birds fly to the farm from over 150 miles away. One might think that losing fish to the birds is the last thing anyone in aquaculture would want, but the farm is so productive they can feed the birds as well. Veta La Palma has become the largest bird sanctuary in Europe as a well as an incredibly successful fish farm.

Organic agriculture is seen by some as low-tech, and it is often described in terms of what it isn’t rather than what it is. Organic agriculture is agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. But it is so much more. Organic agriculture isn’t low tech; far to the contrary, the techniques used in organic agriculture today would astound the farmers of days past. True, sustainable, organic farming is a holistic approach to the microbes in the soil, the plants, the animals, and the relationships between them.

Barack Obama and Monsanto

In 2007, during the presidential debates, Barack Obama promised that if he got elected he would allocate more money for organic agriculture. Instead of honoring that promise, he appointed a man with ties to Monsanto, Tim Vilsack, to head the USDA. If we are to have change that we can believe in, it has become apparent that we must become the change.

Voting for change doesn’t necessarily bring change. Agribusiness votes, too, and they vote with their donations to politicians’ political campaigns. Monsanto, ADM, and other large agribusinesses are able to drown out the desires of the American people with huge sums of money.

Conclusion

Collectively we can change the world overnight by changing the way we spend our money. If we don’t want GMOs on the market, we can stop buying them. If we don’t want our foods grown in chemicals and sprayed with chemicals, we can stop buying conventional produce. And if we don’t want animals to be treated inhumanely, we can purchase our meats more selectively, as well. Together, by changing our buying habits, we can change the world. That’s change we can believe in.

Further Reading:

• 5 Reasons Small Scale Gardening Could Save the World
• Ten Great Gardening Tips
• Urban Gardening
• Planning Your Organic Garden

Sources:

• How I Fell In Love with a Fish – Veta la Palma, TED Talks
• A foie gras parable – Eduardo Sousa, TED Talks
• Jay Withgott and Scott Brennan, Environment The Science Behind The Stories (Boston: Pearson Education, 2011), 274.

Lately, there has been a lot of publicity about unsafe arsenic levels in rice and poultry due to a report from Consumer Reports. This is very disconcerting to hear, especially if you have only heard of arsenic as a poison. It actually is a metal, frequently found in our food and our water in both inorganic and organic forms. But arsenic, especially inorganic arsenic, is a carcinogen that increases the risk of bladder, lung and skin cancer. It also has been linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In utero exposure may damage the baby’s immune system.

Arsenic is found in dirt and water, but of course mankind has added to the problem through arsenic-based insecticides and factory farming methods. Factory farms have been feeding arsenic-based food additives to poultry through the FDA recently revoked three of these. They warn, however, that the supplies on hand for many of these operations will last a year, giving us another reason to eat organic chicken.

High arsenic levels in rice are attributed to the irrigation water and the dirt in which it is grown. Consumer Reports’ 2012 investigation, combined with the FDA study in 2013, and the latest 2014 investigation by Consumer Reports covers the level of arsenic in 697 rice samples and 114 samples of other grains.

Consumer Reports states, “White basmati rice from California, India, and Pakistan, and sushi rice from the U.S. on average has half of the inorganic-arsenic amount of most other types of rice.”

But other states in the U.S. did not fare as well. “All types of rice (except sushi and quick cooking) with a label indicating that it’s from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas or just from the U.S. had the highest levels of inorganic arsenic in our tests.”

Arsenic levels are higher in brown rice (80% on average) because the arsenic accumulates in the outer layers (the bran and the germ), which are removed when rice is milled to make white rice.

Consumer Reports recommends the following: “Brown basmati from California, India, or Pakistan is the best choice; it has about a third less inorganic arsenic than other brown rices.”

Due to these findings, Consumer Reports and the FDA recommend eating a wide variety of grains rather than designing a diet with rice as a main staple. High levels of arsenic were found in processed rice products such as rice cakes, cracker, pasta, and dairy alternative products. They suggest small children should not be fed rice milk. Consumer Reports recommends limiting rice intake using a point system. See the link below for details.

You can reduce the amount of arsenic in your rice by thoroughly rinsing it before cooking it and by cooking it in large amounts of water (6 cups of water to one cup of rice) – the traditional Asian way of cooking rice. This method does, however, decrease the nutritional value as it loses vitamins and other nutrients in the water. These two practices are said to reduce the arsenic content by 30%

While arsenic in food is a concern, it gives us one more reason to focus on the best possible diet, which is 80% raw produce, eaten with naturally chelating foods such as garlic and cilantro. Eating this way helps us remove heavy metals from our bodies on a daily basis through the foods we eat.

Other likely sources of metal toxicity include poultry, beer, wine,  fish, brussels sprouts, and  Mercury Fillings. See Mercury Fillings, Root Canals, Cavitations – What You Need to Know. To remove heavy metals from your body, check out the recommended supplements, and the articles, How To Detoxify From Vaccinations & Heavy Metals & Top 5 foods that detox heavy metals and toxins.

Recommended Supplements (natural chelators):

• Shillington’s Intestinal Detox
• HM Complex – Pure Encapsulations
• Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• How To Detoxify From Vaccinations & Heavy Metals
• Top 5 foods that detox heavy metals and toxins
• Total Nutrition – Make Your Own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula

Sources:

• How much arsenic is in your rice? – ConsumerReports.org
• 5 Foods You Should Maybe Not Eat All the Time – Rodale News

Another year is starting, which means New Year’s resolutions are a common theme. The new year can be a time for setting goals and making plans, a time to continue long-term goals you began the year before, and a time to reflect on the previous year. It’s a time to see what you can do differently in the year ahead.

Whether you are trying to lose weight or have goals of being more financially stable, resolutions can be hard to keep. When your resolution involves kicking a bad habit such as smoking or drinking, it can be even harder to accomplish. Here are some ways you can take control and beat unhealthy habits.

Be Realistic

When you’re used to doing things a certain way, it’s difficult to change that routine, especially when unhealthy habits are involved.

For example, if you’ve been smoking three packs a day for 10 years, you can’t expect to be a nonsmoker in a week. It’s going to take time when you’re used to a large number of cigarettes each day. Gradually cut back on how many cigarettes you smoke in a day. As you start getting used to the change, it will be easier to give up the habit.

Incremental goals will make it easier to quit, and you won’t be as tempted to go right back to smoking.

Cut Out Drugs and Alcohol

When you’re addicted to substances like drugs or alcohol, it’s going to take a lot of work to stop. The key thing to remember is that nothing happens overnight. It takes a conscious effort to keep moving forward when you’re trying to quit.

The first major step is committing to stop using the substance. From there you can start focusing on a plan that will help you overcome the addiction. While temptation will be all around you, having a serious will to quit is going to help you accomplish your goal.

Burn Off Pounds

Like any other habit you’re trying to break, losing weight takes work. You can’t snap your fingers and expect your problem to be solved

There are different ways you can go about losing weight, with diet and exercise making the top of the list. The task seems easier for some than it does for others, but with the right attitude you can make it happen.

One thing you can do is eat from smaller containers. Whether you mean to or not, the larger the bowl, the more you may consume, sometimes without even realizing it. This can add up fast. Also, never skip breakfast. This will cause you to eat more later on and in no time, you’re overeating and gaining more weight. This will undermine your goal.

Stick to Your Guns

Make those goals work for you this year by having a sensible attitude and a plan of attack. This could make all the difference for you in the new year.

Sources:

•  7 Tips to Kick Bad Habits for Good – Cleveland Clinic
•  Alcohol Rehab Treatment at 12 Keys Recovery Center – 12 Keys Recovery
•  9 Bad Eating Habits and How to Break Them – Every Day Health

For most people, learning about natural health (which, incidentally is the only kind of health there is) includes many of these common pitfalls that impede healing. The average person, especially those under 50, can achieve a high level of health very quickly, but it’s rare. The reason for this is brainwashing. Health is not nearly as complicated as we’re led to believe. Deprograming our brains, getting rid of all of the nonsense, is the challenge that takes people weeks, months, or usually years to achieve in order to restore health.

If you’ve had enough of the aches and pains, disease, doctors pilling on medications, or you just feel it’s time to avoid the fate you see your friends and family fall into, here’s what you can do to radically accelerate your learning curve and achieve a truly wonderful state of natural health and vitality, quickly.

No More Diet Foods

Diet soda, lean microwave dinners, healthy this and low fat that… are almost always garbage! If they reduce the fat, they increase the sugar. When they reduce the sugar, they increase the MSG. If the processed food does not have any fat or sugar, it almost always has artificial chemicals.

Stop Reading Labels

That’s right, I said stop reading labels, for a little while. Now that I’ve got your attention, I mean stop buying packaged foods. It’s important to learn how to read labels, but it’s much more important to shop in a manner that doesn’t require a lot of reading.

Typical self-proclaimed health-nuts love their junk food just as much as the conventional, sugar and caffeine addicted, soda drinking, GMO eating, processed food-buying consumer. The difference is that the health-nut generally buys foods labeled organic, or all natural, or something similar. Under many circumstances these words mean next to nothing. All natural is practically an industry joke played on gullible consumers. The phrase “Made with organic ingredients” is often simply a way to mark up the price. There are exceptions, and there is some junk food that I personally purchase from time to time, but organic junk food is still junk food!

Know What Health Food Really Is

Look at it this way, food has three levels: healthy, neutral, and not healthy. Healthy food heals. Neutral food has lots of benefits, especially when eaten with healthy foods, but it doesn’t really heal the body on its own.

Healthy food is produce. – raw, fresh produce. Foods that are alive are foods that heal and help rebuild the body. The fresher, the better. Enzymes are the key to assimilating nutrition, the key to vitality, the key to health. Very few people get enough enzymes. Enzymes are in raw foods, not in cooked foods. Cooking kills enzymes.

It’s important to understand that every time we eat foods void of enzymes, we’re taxing our bodies and reducing our lifespans, even when those food choices are of the healthier variety like rice and beans.

Brown rice, beans, quinoa, and lentils are examples of good foods to eat that should be considered neutral foods. These foods are wonderful sources of protein, bulk calories, minerals, and some vitamins. While raw food is best, it can be difficult for most, and impossible for some, to get enough minerals, protein, and calories from raw foods alone (for instance, I know plenty of people who have very poor access to fresh produce, or cannot afford it). Obviously, when cooked right, these foods have lots of benefits, but they don’t come close to the amazing health benefits of a salad. On the other hand, brown rice and beans with some raw produce such as avocados, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, crushed garlic, and ground turmeric is an incredibly healing, very beneficial, warm, and truly healthy meal. But, it still doesn’t even compare a big, diverse salad.

Cut Out the Sugar (this includes juicing)

Brown rice syrup, agave nectar, honey, coconut sugar, maple syrup, apple juice, beet juice, and sugar cane juice are much healthier choices than conventional sugar and high fructose corn syrup. They are “healthier” choices, but they are not “healthy” choices. To rid the body of disease and other ailments, cut it all out. Even allergies are a sign of too much sugar; that includes seasonal, pet, dust, and food allergies. Cut out the excess sugar completely for a while.

For a treat every now and then, wait until the body’s health is where it needs to be, and then eat some of those foods occasionally, while paying careful attention to the body. As soon as an allergy, an ache, or some other ailment starts creeping back, cut back your sugar intake.

Sugar is sugar, which is to say sugar weakens the immune system and deteriorates the body in many ways, unless it is within whole foods.

Nutrition Trumps Toxins

Avoid GMOs at all costs. Choose organic first, but when you can’t, avoid the “dirty dozen,” the foods most heavily contaminated with pesticides, especially if your health is in a poor state (see the last source below the article). Otherwise, fresh is best! When choosing between conventional, fresh produce, and organic frozen, canned, or otherwise processed, prepackaged foods, choose fresh. Get the enzymes. Unless someone is extremely sick, when the diet is balanced, the body can detoxify the chemicals and use the nutrients. More often than not, a person with a lack of nutrition and very low toxic load is typically less healthy than a person with a considerable toxic load and an abundance of nutrition. There are exceptions and a lot to learn, but doing research while eating lots of raw fresh produce is better than putting off dietary changes.

No More Vaccines, Prescription Medicines, or Over the Counter Drugs

There are some cases where prescription drugs are absolutely necessary. Most of those cases are for a limited period of time. It’s impossible to be truly healthy when the body is bombarded with chemicals. There is no drug that is healthy. Some drugs can help in some ways, but that doesn’t make them beneficial to your health. It’s not possible to reach the highest state of health and vitality while taking prescription drugs.

This is a question everyone taking drugs should ask themselves if they want to be healthy: “If I were stranded on an island, surrounded by the healthiest food imaginable, would I die without my drugs and/or vaccines?” If the answer is yes, then health will continue to elude you. If the answer is no, it’s time to do research and take control of your health.

There is the hard truth about vaccines that so many are unwilling to hear or understand. Regardless of a vaccine’s efficacy to prevent disease, there are two key problems with them:

1. Vaccines are toxic – just read the ingredients. It doesn’t take an MD to know that injecting those ingredients into the body can, and will, damage health.
2. Parasites, infectious disease, all the little critters that harm us go after weakened immune systems. The best defense against anything, from cancer to Ebola, is an incredibly strong immune system!

There’s no excuse for the flu shot. Even if they worked, which they don’t, it will still degrade your health. The real flu fighters are in the foods we eat.

Buy Whole Foods

Unadulterated, unpackaged, unprocessed, unmolested foods are what counts. This includes herbs and spices. The most benefit you can get from turmeric, or ginger, or garlic, or pepper for instance, is from the whole form that you crush, grate, crack, etc. Turmeric is an incredibly beneficial spice, and should be included in any healthy diet, but if the unprocessed root in unavailable, go ahead and get the packaged pre-ground version. But try for the whole food version whenever possible.

Drink Clean Water

Tap water is not good for us. Soda is extremely toxic to us. Milk feeds infection. Fruit, carrot, and beet juice has its place, but they have too much sugar to drink regularly for most people. Drink lots of clean drinking water. Spring water from a good, clean spring, or distilled water are the best choices. Check out the recipe for cranberry stevia lemonade, and try drinking a gallon a day for a powerful detox.

Stop Taking Cheap Supplements

Cheap supplements are ineffective and toxic. Supplements are so much safer than medications, but most of the time they are still a hindrance to good health. Be careful with supplement purchases, and don’t use supplements to replace a good diet. Supplements should “supplement” a healthy diet instead.

Where To Start?

Salads and lots of good water. Try this for two weeks: make a salad every single day with lots of fresh, raw produce. Check out the recipe from the first source below. Only eat salads, huge, diverse, nutrient rich salads, every day. Make the kind of salads that get finished in three sittings, not one. And make a gallon of cranberry lemonade sweetened with stevia. Eat fruits for snacks. Spend these two weeks researching and listening to the body, and slowly add more foods into the diet after ailments subside.

Recommended Supplements:

• Total Nutrition Formula
• Shillington’s Body Balance+

Further Reading:

• Raw Food Diet
• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Eco-system
• Garlic – The Most Amazing Herb on the Planet
• Cheap and Easy Detox Diet Plan
• 8 Easy Steps to Health

If you’d like to do something for the environment, but don’t really know where to start, don’t worry – you don’t have to change your entire lifestyle to make a change. It’s often the little things that add up and can make a real difference. If you’re scared of committing to a lifetime of organic and sustainable living, then why not start small and see what happens? We’ve compiled a few easy tips for beginners who want to work towards a more sustainable future and a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Eat Green(er)

You don’t have to become a vegan or vegetarian overnight, but why not skip meat once in a while and try and cut down on your chicken and beef intake? If you cut down on meat, you will also save quite a bit of money, which means that you could go to the butcher or farmers market more often to treat yourself to some grass-fed organic beef. After all, it’s quality over quantity. Plenty of people around the UK are doing meatless Mondays – and there’s no reason why you couldn’t be one of them. So look for some vegetarian recipes online and get cooking.

Choose Sustainable Cleaners

It’s easy to buy strong, harsh household cleaners from the supermarket, but did you know that you could simply use basic household items instead of harsh chemical cleaners and get the same effect? A mixture of vinegar and baking soda, with some lemon juice added in, makes for a great cleaner for household cleaning emergencies in the kitchen and bathroom. Cleaning has never been so simple and cheap – and sustainable.

Turn Off the Lights

We all know we shouldn’t waste energy, but how often do you actually find yourself leaving on the lights, simply because it’s easier? Try to make it a habit to turn off any lights and lamps that you don’t need, even if you’re just popping to the shop across the road. And remember to swap your light bulbs for energy-efficient ones to save energy and money. You won’t have to feel so bad if you do end up forgetting the lights once in a while.

Avoid Plastic

It’s generally a good rule of thumb to avoid plastic whenever possible. Take your own bag for shopping instead of getting a new plastic bag every time you buy something. Not only are tote bags sturdier than plastic, they will last you a long time, while being a lot better for the environment.  What’s not to love? Try and avoid bottled water, too, as plastic generates massive amounts of container waste. Get yourself a reusable water bottle that you can refill, and save some money while you’re at it too.

Sources and Further Reading:

• Maybe We Shouldn’t Ever Buy Grocery Store Chicken – Green Lifestyle Market
• Greening Yourself – Green Lifestyle Market
• DIY and Green Cleaning Tips – Cleanipedia

Of all the rooms in a house, it’s probably bathrooms that need the most attention – and a regular, ideally weekly, scrub in order to get rid of any dirt and prevent mould and unpleasant smells. But while you want to get rid of all the germs and soap scum, luckily, there’s no need to turn to harsh chemicals and toxic bleaches to keep your bathroom clean. Natural cleaning products are better for your skin, lungs, and the environment – and surprisingly, there’s nothing in the bathroom that you can’t clean the green way. Take a look at these simple tips for how to get your bathroom sparkling using only sustainable and organic cleaners.

Green Clean Your Toilet

To get rid of nasty stains, calcium residue, and germs, mix together half a cup of vinegar and a spoon of baking soda, and let the mixture sit in the toilet bowl for an hour before you start scrubbing the toilet with a brush or sponge. If you do this regularly, you won’t need abrasive chemicals to keep your toilet spotless.

Using Homemade Cleaners in The Shower

No-one likes a shower full of soap scum – and all you need to get rid of soapy residue is some baking soda and biological dish soap. Mix those two together, apply to a sponge, and you’ve got yourself a powerful cleaner for shower doors and ceramic surfaces. If the stains are slightly more stubborn, use an old toothbrush for extra powerful scrubbing. For your shower curtain, mix some vinegar and water, spray the mixture onto the curtain, and clean it with warm water. If you’ve got mould on the curtain, apply some baking soda mixed with water and rub the stain. Did you know that you can also wash most shower curtains in the washing machine? Use an organic detergent to get rid of stubborn dirt and give your curtain an overhaul.

Unclogging Drains the Natural Way

Clogged drains in the bathroom can be a nightmare, but there’s no need to pour toxic chemicals down your drain – think of the environment, and opt for a natural de-clogger instead. Simply mix baking soda with vinegar and let the mixture sit for a while – it will break down any gunky residue and allow the water to flow again after. But keep in mind that this is no substitute for a plumber – sometimes, you just have to make that call.

Use Natural Scents

You don’t need to buy air freshener to have a constant lovely scent lingering in your bathroom – use lavender oil or peppermint oil to keep it fresh, or place dried herbs and flowers in small bowls around your bathroom. You can also add some lemon and cinnamon to a small few spoons of baking soda for a nice and cosy winter smell.

 Sources and Further Reading:

• Natural Cleaning Ingredients
• DIY Cleaning Tips – Cleanipedia