Nearly everyone I know has disconnected the cause and effect of their food intake and their health, especially as they age

Memory is a funny thing. We think we remember the past, maybe even think we remember it well, and then we run across a letter, a journal entry, a list—and discover that our memories are woefully incomplete.

Worse yet is the tendency to downplay or ignore cause and effect when we are faced with making major changes in diet or lifestyle.  We don’t want to remember that there are patterns of pain or disease when we are faced with giving up foods we love.

I was reminded of these tendencies when I ran across a list of symptoms I put together for medical doctors back in the day when I wasted a few thousand dollars chasing a definitive diagnosis for my auto-immune “disease.”

Oh, I remember that it was bad—horrific, actually. I remember the day I stood at the bottom of a flight of stairs at work and cried because I just couldn’t make myself climb them. And I remember the day I sat with my accountant struggling with a mental fog so profound that my lack of short term memory made coherent speech nearly impossible. I remember how my joints, my bones, my muscles, and my organs hurt. But I didn’t remember half of the actual acute and painful symptoms on that list, like the blisters inside my mouth or the lumps in my salivary glands.

This started me thinking about my journey towards health. Once the worst of the  acute symptoms were under control and I felt significantly better, the denial of cause and effect took over. Sometimes when I ate bread or other wheat, my heel hurt so badly I could barely walk. Sometimes I broke out in weeping rashes. My joints ached. My muscles hurt. Sometimes the symptoms appeared within a few hours, sometimes the next day, sometimes in three days.

These discrepancies were enough to allow me to dig a deep, deep trench of denial—to crawl inside and eat my pizza, French bread, and cookies for years. It wasn’t until I mentioned these symptoms to a friend who sent me a link on Celiac disease that I stopped pretending the cause and effect wasn’t clear and convincing. It wasn’t until I understood that every time I ate gluten more of the cilia in my gut was destroyed, and it became harder and harder for my body to pull nutrients from the good food I was eating. That’s when I gave up gluten.

But I still hadn’t conquered sugar.

Now mind you, I always ate better than the Standard American Diet. For years I had eaten more fresh food than anyone I knew. I’d given up sodas and nearly every food with preservatives, food coloring, or flavorings except for the occasional bag of Cheetos.. I avoided MSG, except when I ate out (See how it works?).  I limited my chocolate intake, but I kept ignoring the fact that sugar feeds Candida, even though my ear and my gums hurt every time I ate it and other nasty symptoms popped up, too.

You see, I felt so much better than I had at the height of my illness, I ignored the pain and discomfort I still lived with every single day.

I am happy to say I finally adopted the motto, “If it makes you hurt, don’t do it dummy!” and I eliminated hidden gluten from my diet and really cut out sugar (almost completely). It was then that I discovered the third piece of the puzzle: I was vitamin D deficient. Wow! What a difference a little vitamin D made!

When you live with chronic pain, you learn to ignore it (as much as is humanly possible). You stop remembering what it feels like to actually feel good. When the day comes that you wake up pain free, cause and effect takes on a whole new meaning. Once I reached this level of health, I knew every single time a tiny bit of gluten slipped through my defenses. I could feel it in the stiff muscles of my back and neck as well as other muscles that tightened up or became inflamed. I discovered that every single time I ate refined sugar my glands, my ear, my sinuses or something else ached.

Nearly everyone I know (other than the majority of my Facebook friends who are health nuts) has disconnected the cause and effect of their food intake and their health, especially as they age. Most of my friends drink alcohol. They eat out of cans and boxes and nuke their food with a microwave. They hurt. They are sick. And they all accept their symptoms or illnesses as an inevitable side effect of aging.

I even have a dear friend recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s who told me there is no way she can eat a clean healthy diet of all fresh, organic food. The thought of giving up canned food and possibly shopping more than once a week was just too much to ask. So I didn’t even bother to talk to her about giving up alcohol. Cause and effect. Pure and simple.

If you are sitting on the fence in contemplating a healthy lifestyle, whether it is a radical change or just a further shift towards health, I strongly suggest you start a journal. Write down all of your symptoms—everything that hurts or isn’t optimal. Then do a cleanse and follow it up with a truly healthy diet until you are symptom free and pain free. Once again, write down how you feel and compare it to your first journal entry.

Every time you feel sick or you hurt, or you have no energy, take an honest inventory of everything you ate for the previous 3-4 days and write it down. Be honest with yourself. I am willing to bet you will soon discover your own cause and effect. And with the proof right there staring you in the face, maybe you won’t waste years like I did fooling yourself. You’ll find the strength to heal yourself and live a happier, healthier life.

Why Mary’s Little Lamb Shouldn’t be at School

We live in a country where fried chicken tenders and grilled cheese sandwiches are typical children’s meals. It’s not surprising that many people pay little attention to where their meats come from and what is in them. Are they natural, or not? 

Healthy Lean Proteins Can Help Improve Your Diet

The building blocks of a healthy diet include five food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein foods. The amount of protein people should eat each day depends on their age, gender, and activity levels.

While most Americans do eat a sufficient amount of protein, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) points out that most people need to make more varied selections to include leaner options. Lean cuts of lamb are a healthy protein food that is often overlooked.

Lamb and other lean meats can be found at many meat markets and grocery stores, but consumers receive very little information about the protein they place in their shopping carts. Unless labeled otherwise, meat products often come from animals that were raised in feedlots and fed grains. These meats often contain traces of growth hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs that the animals received during their lifetimes.

GMO Foods: The Dangers

Feedlots are used in commercial factory farming because they allow farmers to contain more livestock in less space. The animals live in incredibly cramped, inhumane quarters, essentially living in their own waste. As a result, they frequently succumb to illness and constantly receive antibiotics. In addition, they are fed a diet that consists mainly of genetically-modified (GMO) grain, which is unnatural for both humans and animals.

A variety of commercialized GMO crops are grown in the U.S., and meats and other animal products such as eggs often come from animals that have been fed GMO foods. Anywhere from 85 to 91 percent of grain crops have been genetically modified. The reasons for genetic modification are often to increase production and reduce cost. Commercial growers can spray weed killers over the entire crop, but the weed killer is unable to kill the GMO plants. The plants that have had their DNA toyed with in the lab have been dubbed “frankenfoods” by those who are concerned about long term health of consumers.

GMOs can lead to unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects and health risks. These include but are not limited to allergies, toxins, nutritional problems, and even new diseases that are yet to be determined.

Understanding Organic Claims

Purchasing naturally raised foods is the easiest way to avoid foods that contain genetically modified ingredients. The U.S. and Canadian governments do not allow companies to label foods and products 100% Certified Organic if they contain genetically modified foods or ingredients. Unfortunately, foods that are labeled Made with Organic Ingredients may contain up to 70% organic ingredients—which means some ingredients may not be GMO-free.

Grass-Fed, Pasture-Fed Meats: The Basics

Lamb and other meats are often labeled with stickers reading grass-fed, a USDA term that means the animal was fed nothing but grass from weaning to harvest. Pasture-raised meats come from animals that were held in pastures rather than feedlots. Meat from  animals that were grass-fed and raised in local pastures are the only meats that are certain to be GMO free. There are substantial nutritional differences between meats from pasture-raised animals and those raised in feedlots.

Pasture-raised meats are comparatively:

• Lower in fat.
• Higher in protein.
• Lower in calories.
• Four times higher in vitamin E.
•  Higher in beta-carotene.
• Contain two to four times the omega-3 fatty acids, which greatly lowers risk of heart problems. Eggs from pasture raised chickens have ten times the amount of commercially-raised hens.
• Contain three to five times the level of CLA, which is a potent cancer defense.

Kindness to Animals

Animals do not fear the future. They live moment by moment, experiencing life and emotion in the short term. Animals raised in feed lots suffer each moment of their lives. Everything about that existence is unnatural and frightening. When the mass butchering begins, the animals are frightened by the smell of blood and by being hustled about, not knowing what is happening. This fear results in the release of adrenaline, which causes meat to be tougher than it would if the creature died while relaxed.

When animals are raised naturally, out in the pasture, they enjoy each moment of life. Rather than standing in their own waste, they live in the outdoors with sunshine, green grass, shade trees, and fresh, clear water. When the age of processing comes, there is no feed lot to endure. Most of the smaller growers are keenly aware of each detail and do their utmost to cause little fear for the herd.

While food labels can be confusing, it’s important for us to understand what we are putting into our own bodies. Spend a few minutes learning more about the dangers of GMOs and the importance of purchasing organic products and grass-fed, pasture-fed meats. The truth will shock you.

Chemicals and Other Contaminants You Really Shouldn’t Be Drinking

If you’re like most people, you use tap water for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and drinking. Also like a lot of people, you may not have given a thought to what could be in that water—things like chemicals, microorganisms, and bacteria. If you’re concerned about your health, you should consider purchasing and installing a home water filtration system to ensure that the water you and your family members use is safe and clean.

Contaminants in Drinking Water

Recently, the Environmental Working Group analyzed almost 20 million drinking water tests that had been done by U.S. water suppliers between 2004 and 2009. The results showed that there were hundreds of different pollutants in American drinking water. Most of those contaminants have no safety levels set by the government; others exist at levels higher than recommended by health guidelines.

These contaminants may come from chemicals added by water utilities for treating the water, from industrial or agricultural contamination of water supplies, from chemicals leached from water pipes and tanks, or from wastewater treatment plants.

Chemicals Intentionally Added

Just a few of the chemicals intentionally added to drinking water include , supposedly for oral health, but the World Health Organization  does not advocate the addition of this toxic substance to water supplies where people have a good health structure. In fact, the World Health Organization recommends the removal of fluoride from drinking water in first-world countries. Fluoride consumption is linked to certain cancers, lowered IQ, and diminished thyroid levels.

Other chemicals that may be intentionally added to drinking water during the water treatment process are potassium permanganate, aluminum sulphate, hydrated lime, chlorine, and polyphosphate. Some of these chemicals are added to disinfect the water. Some are added for other purposes.

Unintentional Contaminants in Drinking Water

In addition to industrial pollution, common sources of unintentionally-added contaminants to drinking water are agriculture, factory farming, and the water treatment (disinfection) process itself.

Nitrates from fertilizer can infiltrate groundwater and run off into rivers and streams, contaminating water supplies. Nitrates are particularly dangerous to infants and children. Other agricultural contaminants include perchlorate, bromochloroacetic acid, MTBE, and Di-n-butylphthalate.

Trihalomethanes, bromate, haloacetic acides, and chlorite are among more than 600 by-products of the disinfection process. Most of these by-products are not restricted, nor do water treatment plants test for them.

Yet another group of contaminants in our drinking water are microorganisms. These may come from factory farm run-offs and sewage treatment plants. Some include Cryptosporidium, Giardi lamblia, Legionella, E. Coli, and a variety of viruses.

For every contaminant we test for, there are thousands we don’t. We don’t know the dangers of these chemicals in our drinking water, and no attempts are made to remove or prevent the contamination.

Types of Home Water Filtration Systems

One of the best ways to protect yourself against these contaminants is to install a home water purification system. There are several different levels of filtration that you can use. It depends on how many of those contaminants you want to remove and how much money you want to spend.

If you have a limited budget, a carbon filter system (pitcher, faucet-mount, or large dispenser) will remove chlorine, mercury, lead, asbestos, and VOCs. It will not remove fluoride, nitrate, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, or perchlorate. Some carbon filters are better than others.

The very best (and most expensive) way to remove the most contaminants from your water supply is to install a reverse osmosis (RO) system combined with a top-level carbon filter. Reverse osmosis uses a semi-permeable membrane that holds all particles larger than water molecules. This type of system will filter out perchlorate, hexavalent chromium, fluoride, arsenic, and nitrates. These types of filters are used for drinking and cooking water only.

To kill off bacteria and microorganisms, an ultraviolet light system works the best. These filters do not remove chemicals, but you can install a UV system to your reverse osmosis and carbon filtration system.

Stephen Colbert was absolutely brilliant in his comedic rant on big pharma!

I love good kitchen equipment—non toxic, well designed, long lasting equipment. However, there are some non-toxic kitchen appliances that are difficult or impossible to find.

Take electric waffle makers for instance. You can buy small round ones, rectangular ones, or big square ones. Some flip over while others are gymnastically challenged.  Their prices range from $15.00 to hundreds of dollars. But every single one I can find is coated with a non-stick cooking surface.

Why can’t somebody make an affordable waffle iron with pop off cast iron plates? Remember cast iron? The original non-stick surface? All you have to do is season it right and maintain it. And if you screw it up by washing it with soap or forgetting to oil it, it’s still foolproof. You just start over by seasoning it again. Its surface won’t flake off or scratch off to contaminate your food. You won’t find its chemicals in your bloodstream (though your iron count might rise a bit). And it doesn’t emit toxic fumes guaranteed to poison you and kill your pet birds. (Yes, the fumes from over-heated non stick pans or appliances really do kill pet birds).

A few years ago, I bought a small cast iron waffle maker made for camping or the kitchen, but I’ve never used it. The problem is this: I can clearly imagine batter oozing out the sides and onto the burner of the stove while I burn the waffles.

Waffle irons aren’t the only problem. Lately, I’ve been thinking about buying a bread maker. Every single one I looked at was non-stick. And then I was looking into electric rice steamers. Imagine my disgust when I ran into the same problem.

Plastics, aluminum, and non-stick pots, pans, and appliances have no place in a healthy kitchen!

On the upside, I recently found that Lodge makes cast iron woks, muffin pans, and two burner griddles along with a bunch of other interesting cookware and you can finally buy a stainless steel Sweet and Easy popcorn popper.. (I’ve wanted one for years, but they only made aluminum.)

But this good news does not take care of my waffle problem. Maybe it’s a sign that I should speed up my slow transition to a raw vegan diet and never concern myself with cookware again. That would solve the problem.

What if there was a health food that cleansed your blood, detoxified your liver, made your body more alkaline, built up your red blood cell count, contained 17 amino acids and 80 different enzymes, contained all known minerals, oxygenated your body systems, and provided a good boost of energy? Wouldn’t you want an ounce or two?

Wheatgrass juice, also called “liquid sunshine” is a superfood made up of 70% chlorophyll. It is about as close as you can come to hemoglobin, the compound in your blood that carries oxygen. It’s easy to digest (taking less than 5 minutes), and it can provide a boost of energy much more healthful than downing a can of Red Bull or any other energy drink.

Wheatgrass is unique. It builds and destroys simultaneously. It builds up your immunity and your red blood cell count, while it destroys (or neutralizes) toxins. It purifies and cleanses while strengthening and providing super-charged nutrition.

If you’re ready and raring to go on a wheatgrass juice kick, have at it, but know that you should start slowly. Wheatgrass juice can have an effect on some people almost immediately, so it is recommended that you ease into your new habit of healthy wheatgrass shots. A single ounce is plenty to get you started. Any more than that can cause you to become nauseated or give you a case of the trots (diarrhea). For the stout of heart, you can take two ounces, but work up to over a period of a couple of weeks, at least. Because of the many enzymes it contains, wheatgrass juice goes to work almost immediately, and if your system is the least bit toxic, it may do too good a job in eliminating those toxins.

One of the more noted pioneers of the use of wheatgrass juice was Anne Wigmore. Over a period of about three decades, Ann helped people recover from all types of chronic illnesses, including cancer by concentrating on regimens of raw foods and wheatgrass juice. She founded a health resort in the United States in the year 1968 called the Ann Wigmore Foundation, which was renamed the Hippocrates Health Institute after her death. While living, Ann was given the title of “the mother of living foods.”

One of the popular contemporary theories of disease is based on inflammation. Wheatgrass juice contains P4D1, a “gluco-protein” that acts like an antioxidant, reducing inflammation. There are a myriad of maladies that wheatgrass has been used to treat. Among those diseases and conditions that people have treated with wheatgrass juice are skin disorders, digestive disorders, arthritis, asthma, insomnia, kidney stones, ulcerative colitis, cancer, fatigue, allergies, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and many others.

If you’re ready for some wheatgrass, “the ultimate blood purifier,” you have the option of sprouting some of your own homegrown specimens or buying a swill of it every day at your local health food store. Wheatgrass is one of the more popular seeds for sprouting, and it is quite simple to grow on your own at home.

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These days, a lot of people are doing everything they can to stay healthy. They are buying organic groceries and hitting the gym five or six times a week. Many are forsaking their cars for bicycles and using their kitchens instead of always dining out. And of course, fewer people are picking up the terribly unhealthy habit of smoking cigarettes, while more people are putting those cancer sticks down. But while all of these changes are great ways to get healthier and to  live a better, fuller, healthier life, a lot of people are missing an important component to their health: air quality.

We breathe air all day long, every day, so air quality can make a huge difference in our health. And while pollution is often misunderstood as an outdoor problem, indoor air quality matters, too. If you are experiencing frequent headaches, unusual lethargy, allergies, or sinus problems, air quality might be to blame. The good news is that there are plenty of ways you can monitor and improve the air quality in your home.

To monitor your air quality, you have two options: actively test the air or passively monitor it. Actively monitoring air quality includes cleaning air filters in heating and air conditioner systems and looking for signs of black mold or other harmful contaminants. Passive air quality monitoring involves using an air filter system that can be watched and routinely checked. The method that you choose will depend on the type of space,  what it is used for, and who is using it. Consider consulting a professional to determine what makes the most sense for your home or office space.

You probably also want to know how to improve your indoor air quality, and there is no reason to wait to make some basic improvements. Here are a few easy ways to get started.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #1 – Install or update the batteries in your air monitoring systems, including carbon monoxide and radon gas detectors. Make sure you have a monitor in all the main areas of the building or home. Don’t skimp here – the consequences can be disastrous!

IMPROVEMENT TIP #2 – Keep your home and/or office clean. There are a lot of reasons to keep a tidy home or office. Besides the fact that it will make you and your employees/co-workers more productive,  it is better for air quality. Do not allow old building materials or other items to lay around if they should be in storage or in the trash. Make sure your rugs are vacuumed and your trashcans are emptied regularly.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #3 – Replace all of your filters! No matter what the season or how long you have lived in your home, get into the habit of regularly changing your air filters. You should be changing the filters in your air conditioners and heating systems once a month. Pay for semi-annual inspections and cleanings too.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #4 – In addition to removing toxins from the air, you can also make changes that will neutralize them. Consider purchasing in-room air purification machines and decorate with plenty of green plants, especially in areas with poor air circulation. The plants will eat up toxic carbon dioxide and provide clean oxygen fit for human breathing.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #5 – Get rid of the air fresheners! A lot of people try to mask bad odors or other air problems with artificially scented air fresheners. These sprays have toxic chemicals that you should be shooing out, not inviting in. Instead, make your own air freshener by simply adding some herbs or citrus peels to a pot of boiling water.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #6 – This one might seem like a no brainer. Open the windows! Opening windows quickly cleans your indoor air and it’s free! For a significant impact on your air quality, keep a window in each room open every day for at least five full minutes.

Further Reading:

• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• Improve Indoor Air Quality to Promote Health
• Home Detox, Reduce Indoor Pollution