As you can imagine, I am frequently asked the question, “What is the most significant thing I can do to improve my health?” I usually tell people that the most important change is to eat a diet high in raw fruits and vegetables. This is the absolute foundation for good health. No supplement or herbal tincture can give you the benefits that the right diet can give you.

The second step is to go organic if possible. USDA certified organic is great, but ideally, fresh, locally grown, truly organic food is the best choice. There is a significant difference between fresh locally grown food and food that was stored, later shipped, only to be piled up again at a distributing center before being shelved for another few weeks or longer. Those fruits and vegetables lose a significant amount of vitamin content and enzymes. We don’t get enough enzymes; eating fresh, locally grown, recently picked raw fresh fruits and vegetables is our best source.

Another benefit of buying organic is avoiding genetically modified foods. Most of today’s processed foods are full of GMOs and much of our produce is genetically modified as well. The only way to ensure you are not eating GMOs is to eat organic.

You can cite studies that seem to prove genetically modified foods are bad for our health, and you can cite studies that show there is no such evidence. I don’t need a study to tell me that a genetically altered vegetable is not going to be good for me.

There are two kinds of science that come to mind with regards to one’s health: the kind of science that works with nature and the kind that works against nature. Genetically modified foods work against nature and seek to overcome nature. If you want optimum health, work with nature and eat what naturally makes sense. Eating food that has been genetically modified to combine DNA from a plant and an animal or food that has been genetically modified to contain an herbicide is not natural.

Infertility and genetic diseases are on the rise. I believe the further we remove ourselves (as well as animals, plants, or any living organism) from nature, the more our health will suffer. Only time will tell what price we will pay for our cavalier attitude towards (or rather, against) nature.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

Since you’re reading this magazine right now, you probably either consider yourself healthy, or you are looking to become healthy. It’s time for some hard truth. If you are taking drugs, whether it be one or sixteen, over the counter or prescription, for prevention or a major illness, YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY!

There is a great misconception in America (and in many other countries) that drugs have something to do with health. They do not. In most cases, drugs are used by people who are looking for a way to make themselves feel better without actually having to change any of their habits. You see this if you ever pay attention to drug commercials. For instance, in a recent commercial for a blood glucose monitor, they talk about how to make diabetes treatment fit into their lifestyle. What about changing your lifestyle?

If you truly want to be healthy, I mean vibrant, no aches and pains, never a headache, hardly ever yawning, etc., you will have to get off of any and all drugs. But please note, there are many prescription drugs that are so dangerous, so addictive, that if you quit cold turkey, and/or without the assistance of a doctor, you may hurt yourself or others. I’ve seen this before. In fact, if you follow scientology and the many headlines scientologists make, you see what happens when people who know very little about drugs try to “cure” someone of their need for prescription drugs. Drugs are dangerous and in many cases getting off of drugs can be even more dangerous.

This magazine is about education. I’m not telling you to “get off of prescription drugs”. But I am saying that you can’t reach a level of optimum health if you are taking drugs. Do your own research. Take steps, baby steps, one step at a time, and start cleaning up your lifestyle. Or not. But don’t kid yourself.

In a recent conversation Dr. Tim O’Shea said, “I learned a long time ago, almost everyone who is sick is coming to me for the ‘magic bullet’. They’re saying, ‘Doc, what can you give me, so that I won’t feel this anymore? So I can go about my life continuing my destructive habits and unhealthy lifestyle?’”

Most of us know there are many herbs, supplements, and treatments for everything from the common cold to cancer. Vitamin C and zinc can help reduce the length and severity of a cold. Vitamin E can kill warts. Apple cider vinegar will knock out a sore throat. Quick fixes do have a place. But magic bullets and quick fixes don’t make us healthy. They don’t reverse diabetes. They don’t cure cancer.

We can continue to live destructive lifestyles and run to the doctor when symptoms of disease become uncomfortable or unbearable. We can accept a diagnosis of an “incurable” or “chronic” disease. Or we can choose health. We can choose to make a radical change in lifestyle.

We agree with Raymond Francis when he says, “There is one disease – malfunctioning cells. There are two causes – lack of nutrition and toxicity.” It really is that simple.

If you’ve been sick for a long time or you are extremely toxic, consider the aid of a naturopathic practitioner. You will probably benefit from some direction and may need supplements to regain your health. But remember, no one else can do it for you. No one can give you the magic bullet. It doesn’t exist.

If you choose health, you need to detox. You need to feed your body nutrient-dense, organic food. You need to choose an organic lifestyle.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

There is a strict criterion for advertising with Organic Lifestyle Magazine. We will not allow a company to advertise with us unless it shares our vision – to make the world a better place. Companies that are “green washing” or “organic washing” (my Enewly coined term) will not be allowed to advertise in these pages.

We want our readers to know that every product advertised in OLM, is (as far as we know) good for the environment and good for our bodies. But whether or not a product meets these standards can be a little tougher to determine than it sounds. Some health food products and supplements, for instance, may be good for one person and not for another. Multilevel marketing’s latest trend is superfood juice drinks. These products are often too sweet. A very healthy person would not have any need for them. But the average person, one who gets very little nutrition, may get more vitamins and minerals from one of these juice drinks than he or she would get all week from the packaged and processed food.

You may have seen the “OLM Endorses” label on some of our product highlights and product tests. While some products are good products developed by good companies, the OLM Endorses label means that through our research or testing we believe a product to be of superior quality, and we believe the company did what it could to limit its environmental footprint. Some products we’ve tested may meet this criteria, but we were not able to determine whether or not the products were made with the environment in mind (maybe the company was not available for comment) so no OLM endorsement was given.

We want you, our readers, to know also that our product evaluations are as fair and unbiased as possible. Even if a company advertises with us, this does not influence our evaluation. When we highlight or test a product, we may do so after the company decided to advertise with us, but rest assured, this will not affect our opinion of a product.

If you own a company with a product you would like us to try, email us at editor@organicmail.net. If you are a consumer, know that you can trust OLM to be fair, and please, check out our advertisers! When you support companies that advertise with OLM, you support OLM.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

The holidays are here—a time for family, friends, food, and, unfortunately, sickness. Colds and flus are common, and everyone blames them on the colder weather. But many alternative health care practitioners say the weather has nothing to do with germs, since germs are everywhere at all times. Some go so far as to say that you can’t “catch” a cold. Try telling that to a mom who just put her child in preschool or daycare. Too often the whole family will fight one infection after another.

You can “catch” a cold. They are certainly contagious. And while germs are everywhere at all times, I believe it is true that when your body is subjected to a significant climate change and other stress factors (such as in-laws visiting for Thanksgiving, or a tight budget and a Christmas shopping list), your immune system can become vulnerable. And if your immune system is vulnerable, you are more likely to “catch” something if you come in contact with a high concentration of a virus or bacteria.

There are many factors involved in getting sick. But one of those factors is always a lack of nutrition and/or an accumulation of toxins (and the two are typically one and the same). I will not get sick this holiday season. I also doubt very much that Dr. Kelly, Dr. Shillington, Eric Harr, or most of our other regular contributors will “catch” anything, either. While my opinion does differ from that of many alternative health care practitioners with regard to the issue of weather changes, I’m sure we agree you have to have the right breeding ground—a compromised immune system.

An easy way to compromise your immune system (the most common way, especially this time a year) is to eat candy, desserts, processed and refined foods, and to drink alcohol.

I will certainly partake in many of the holiday traditions which include eating and drinking some foods and beverages that are not good for me, but I will limit them. I will choose carefully, and most importantly, I will listen to my body. When you are eating something bad for you, you can feel it in your mouth and your throat and then in your stomach. You will feel the first signs of sickness in your throat and sinuses. Your sense of smell will heighten and everything will smell stale, and that’s when you can really tell if something is not good for you. Right before you get sick, your body will let you know if it doesn’t want something. Don’t ignore it.

I will also have echinacea and Total Tonic on hand at all times, and I will have Bio-gest and Vitälzym (digestive enzymes and systemic enzymes). I will also be sure to continue to get optimal amounts of nutrition from both the foods I eat and my multivitamin/mineral supplementation.

Health is not so much a goal as it is a series of choices that one makes while carefully listening to the body.

Sincerely,

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

I don’t live a perfect organic lifestyle. I don’t always eat exactly what I should. I miss workouts. Sometimes I drink alcohol, though I don’t believe even one glass of red wine is good for me. But I am careful with my health. I never get sick. Not at all. I don’t have allergies. And while I’m not in perfect condition, I do balance out my poor health choices with good ones. 

A lot of people get so focused on one thing, they get stuck and miss the big picture. Even health care practitioners are guilty of this. One feels that the most important thing is to make sure your body is slightly alkaline. Another says that if you cut out all of the refined sugar in your diet all of your health problems will be solved. Yet another is only concerned with essential fatty acids. This isn’t a balanced outlook on health. 

On the other hand, you could get radical. You could move out of the toxic box we all call home and build an eco-friendly toxin free house in the country. You could breathe clean air and (if you’re lucky) drink clean water. You could avoid all plastics, synthetics, chemicals, and fragrances. You could grow all of your own food. 

Or you can do your best to live a balanced lifestyle, learn the truth about health, and be healthier than anyone you know. 

You can rid your body of allergies, disease, aches and pains, and most other ailments. You can clear your head. You can increase your energy. You could learn how to eat perfectly and try each day to meet that goal. You could be balanced. Even if you aren’t perfect, you could achieve a level of health our modern medical profession thinks to be impossible. 

OLM may appear to be a radical magazine to some, but it’s not. Although I believe in everything OLM says about health, as I said, I don’t live a perfect organic lifestyle. I don’t know how far I will take it, but I make healthier choices each day. I am healthy, happy, and full of energy.

What are your goals? Do you want to improve the quality of your life? Do you want to live to be 100 or more without aches, pains, or disease? It’s possible—challenging in today’s modern society, but it can be done.    

A diet consisting of 80% raw fresh fruits and vegetables (or more) may seem unusual, but it’s really just a basic foundation for health. Making sure your diet is alkaline, rich in the right balance of essential fatty acids, and low in toxins is much easier when you focus on raw, fresh, organic produce.

You have to find what works for and your lifestyle. Learn everything you can, radical or not. Knowledge is power, and your health will always be your responsibility—no one else’s. 

I can promise you that each step you take on the path to an organic lifestyle will improve your health. Identify your goals. Incorporate what you can. But above all, find your balance.

Sincerely,

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief