FOOD FOR NAUGHT: 5 Reasons To Kick Factory Farmed Meats Off Your Plate

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) These days, just about everything is mass-produced, including our food, with large, factory-style farms churning out a seemingly endless supply of meat, chickens, eggs and dairy products. All that mass production equals abundance and lower prices, but if those factory-farmed products are eroding your health, is the savings really worth it? Not in my book. Here’s what’s really going on with mass-produced meats and why you should steer clear:

1. Factory-farmed animals eat crap. Literally.

To keep production costs low, animals raised in factory farms are fed the cheapest possible grains and feeds containing among other things, “by-product feedstuff, ” which begs the question, what’s feedstuff? It’s a nausea-inducing assortment of disturbing ingredients, including municipal garbage, stale cookies, poultry manure, chicken feathers, bubble gum and even restaurant waste. So, when you eat factory-farmed animals, you’re also getting an unintentional serving of “feedstuff.” In short, their bad diet becomes your bad diet – which is counter-productive to your health.

2. Bad diets make for sick animals – and people too.

Cud-chewing critters such as cattle, dairy cows, goats, bison and sheep were designed to eat fibrous grasses, plants, and shrubs—not starchy, low-fiber grains and feedstuffs. When these animals are switched from pasture greenery to grains, many wind up suffering from a number of disorders and painful conditions. The sickened animals are then given chemical additives, plus constant, low-level doses of antibiotics. Their drugs in turn enter your system when you eat antibiotic-treated animals, setting the stage for drug-resistance in your body, particularly if you’re a heavy-duty carnivore.

3. Lousy ingredients won’t create a nutritious product.

It should come as no surprise that animals fed a crappy diet will make for a less nutritious meal. Compared to grass-fed, factory-farmed, grain-fed meats have less vitamin E, beta-carotene, and little of the two health-promoting fats called omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA. So what’s the end-result of the feed-’em-fast-and-cheap factory farmed method? Inferior food with negligible nutrients and more of the unhealthy fats. Small wonder the stuff is so much cheaper than grass-fed.

4. Stress hurts everyone.

If your goal is to sustain wellness, factory-farmed products just don’t deliver the nutritional goods. In factory farms, chickens, turkeys, and pigs are typically raised in inhumane conditions, tightly packed into cages and pens, unable to practice normal behaviors, such as rooting, grazing, and roosting. In these conditions, the animals get stressed and wind up producing products that are lower in a number of key vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids – talk about empty calories!

5. Factory farming pollutes the earth.

In a conventional feedlot operation, for example, confined cattle deposit large amounts of manure in a small amount of space. The manure must be collected and removed. As it costs money to haul it away, the manure is often dumped nearby, close to the feedlot. As a result, the surrounding soil gets over-saturated with the stuff, resulting in ground and water pollution. But when animals are raised on pasture, their manure is a welcome source of organic fertilizer, not a “waste management problem.” Bottom line: raising animals on pasture is kinder to the environment.

In short, though factory farming enables us to have plenty of cheap and convenient food, it’s food with little nutritional benefit, that can increase your resistance to antibiotics as it pollutes your air, land and water. With so little going for it, doesn’t it seem slightly crazy to eat factory-farmed meats? It does certainly does to me – which is why I strongly suggest that if you’re going to eat meat, buy the good stuff, even if it means having to pay a bit more or buy less of it. Choose grass-fed beef, lamb, bison and poultry, to insure that you’re eating nutritious and healthy meats, as nature intended.

To learn more about what to look for when buying meat, check out my post on meat labeling and for some additional inspiration, check out this animation movie about the meat you eat at themeatrix.com.

Candida Overgrowth Symptoms

Chances are, you have Candida overgrowth. We all have Candida, just like we all have bacteria. And like the microbes in our gut and the rest of our body, it’s all about balance. The problem is that in this day and age, our modern diet feeds Candida.

Candida is a fungus, a kind of yeast. Candida is as opportunistic as they come.

I know very few people without Candida overgrowth. I know lots of health nuts who are aware of it. I know lots of people who take probiotics, who eat the alternative, healthier sugars when they do eat sweet foods. The thing is; I know very few people who don’t eat too many processed, refined foods. If it’s not whole, completely unrefined food, it’s likely to feed fungus. Even fresh, slow pressed vegetable and fruit juice will lead most people to an overabundance of the fungus.

Check out our latest: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

In nature, way back in the day, we didn’t have fruit juice. We didn’t have refined foods. Fruit was seasonal and much harder to get than vegetables. We ate pounds and pounds of vegetables. We pulled up leaves and roots from the ground all day. We got meat when we could, but there were times when that was hard to come by. Our brains need a lot of fuel, and before agriculture, it was much harder to meet our needs. Today we tend to think of balance as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and meat for those who eat meat. But most people are shocked to know that a true Paleo diet would consist of more vegetables than most people would have time to eat in a day.

Here is an incomplete list of symptoms and other clues that are likely to be caused by too much yeast in your body. And while most (not all) of these can be signs of something else being out of balance, more often than not, if you regularly have even one of the symptoms, you’ve got too much Candida in your inner ecosystem.

Most Skin problems are a Sign of Candida Overgrowth

Skin problems such as acne, Keratosis pilaris, dry skin, hives, rashes, dandruff, and eczema are a sign of too much fungus in the body. You know all those white bumps on the back of your arms? You’ve got Candida overgrowth. I’m not saying that whiteheads are fungus. It’s much more complicated that that. Sometimes aforementioned skin problems such as rashes are a direct result of fungal abundance, but other times, the issues are an indirect result of the colon microbes being out of balance. For instance, acne is often caused by hormonal issues. Hormonal issues are often caused by, exacerbated by, or at the very least virtually always are accompanied by, out of control Candida.

Athlete’s foot and even an itchy arch are also a sure sign of too much Candida.

Diaper rash is almost always candida.

Itchy crotch, itchy vagina, yeast infections, and a funky discharge from the vagina and anus are sure signs of too much Candida

If you need a shower every day in order not to itch, you’ve got too much yeast in your body. If you itch or feel a stinging sensation around your anus or your perineum when you wipe after bowel movements, that’s another sure sign. If it smells funky down there, while this may be perfectly normal, it’s also a sign of Candida overgrowth.

Body Odor

Yes, bacteria are one of the primary causes of body odor. But what many people don’t know is that “bad bacteria” (what we call bacteria that doesn’t benefit us) coincides with too much fungus in the body. If you need antiperspirant or deodorant and daily showers, again this is totally normal, but it’s a sign of too much fungus.

You may be thinking, “This writer must be some kind of non-showering hippie or something!” Yeah, well, let’s just say I don’t smell bad at all if I miss a shower. And while traveling the country I have gone weeks without one and smelled just fine. I still love a good shower as much as the next person. But I just don’t feel like I need them unless I am dirty and grimy.

Trouble with Digestion, Gas, Bloating

Digestion problems, gas, and bloating can be signs of other issues such as kidney problems, allergies, and more. But typically, whenever someone is unhealthy in one area, they also have Candida issues. Too much Candida in the gut means not enough beneficial bacteria to digest food properly, and this can cause fermentation. Too much Candida in the whole body and even the stomach and kidneys are affected. While we’re on the subject of gas, slow kidney function causes flatulence, and as mentioned, this can be caused by too much fungus.

Allergies and Allergic Reactions

Many times when people think they are having an allergic reaction due to a rash with hives, this is actually a spike in fungus that is out of control. Antibiotics cause these reactions in people regularly because they cull all of the beneficial bacteria that balance our body’s ecosystem.

Seasonal allergies and food allergies tend to vanish when Candida is brought completely under control. It sounds radical, I know, but it’s true.

Other signs of too much Candida include thrush or a white tongue, itchy ear canals, and sugar cravings. Candida overgrowth also leads to a host of other health issues from insomnia to severe mood swings. While Candida is not the sole cause of most health issues, it accompanies almost every health issue.

For more information on how to get your body’s inner ecosystem balanced,

Your Healthy Diet Isn’t Complete Without These Foods!

When it comes to eating healthily, we all know roughly what to do –limit the fast food, get our 5 a day, cut out snacks etc. But when it comes to writing your healthy eating shopping list, have you remembered to add these goodies?

Kale

This high-fibre leafy green vegetable is a top source of vitamin A, which works to strengthen your immune system and keep your eyes and skin in top health. As well as this, just 1 cup of kale contains almost the same amount of vitamin C as a whole orange! Need another reason to toss some kale into your salad? To top it all, kale is packed with antioxidants which help to fight off illnesses such as cancer. Definitely a healthy diet must!

Watercress

Watercress is full of iron and contains an abundance of antioxidants that combat lung and breast cancer. Just three daily ounces of watercress can enhance your levels of particular antioxidants by 100%! Also, the high iodine content in watercress means that it helps to strengthen the thyroid gland, making it a beneficial superfood for hypothyroidism sufferers.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is another food full to the brim with antioxidants, which lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and heart disease. Studies have also shown that pomegranates can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as protect the kidneys against harmful toxins, preventing kidney problems. And of course, they taste beautiful!

Salmon

Aside from being absolutely delicious, salmon has a number of great health benefits. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, B and D, iron, calcium, selenium, and phosphorous, salmon is definitely brain food that helps to improve your memory. It also contains tryptophan, a natural sedative, which means it can help aid sleep to help you get a good night’s rest.

Lentils

Budget-friendly and versatile, lentils are a very healthy staple to include in your diet. There’s over 9 grams of protein in just 1 cup of lentils, not to mention 8 grams of fibre, which can help to lower cholesterol and reduce digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. They are also a fantastic source of folate, which can decrease the risk of heart disease by reducing your homocysteine levels.

Spinach

This superfood not only tastes great, it is versatile and packed full of nutrients. One cup of spinach holds 20% of the recommended daily amount of fibre, which helps to maintain low blood sugar and aid digestion. As well as this, the high amounts of vitamin K within spinach means it’s great for keeping your bones healthy and strong.

Broccoli

This yummy green vegetable is bursting with soluble fibre, which is excellent for lowering your body’s cholesterol. It is also a fantastic source of calcium and vitamin K, which are both very important for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining good bone health. Broccoli is also beneficial to the heart, thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties of the isothiocyanates found within it. These can prevent blood cell damage.

7 Horrible Food Ingredients You Should Absolutely Never Eat

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) Not long ago, a seemingly radical idea arrived at the grocery store – the mandatory nutrition information label. Designed to help consumers get a clearer picture of what exactly was in their food, the idea essentially legislated food processors into being more transparent about their ingredients. Instead however, we got a lot of confusion as Big Food found ways to put questionable substances and suspected carcinogens in plain sight, right there on the nutrition label! Buried in the small print, with abbreviations and chemical chart names only a Stephen Hawking would understand, consumers were left little more enlightened than they were before mandatory labeling. To help unravel the label gibberish, here are the 7 ingredients you should always leave behind on the supermarket shelf:

1. Aspartame

If it says Equal or NutraSweet on the box, don’t put it in your cart. It’s a chemical sweetener that’s loaded with phenylalanine, which in high doses is a neurotoxin which many scientists believe can alter brain function, cause behavioral changes in adults and even mental retardation in growing fetuses when used by mothers-to-be. If that weren’t enough, side effects can also include headaches, seizures, menstrual problems and gastro-intestinal distress.

2. BHA and BHT

These two similar chemicals are used to prevent oil-containing foods from going rancid. A seemingly admirable enough use. However, they also come with some serious concerns – they’re known carcinogens, having caused cancer in lab rats, mice, and hamsters. Avoid BHA and BHT at all costs.

3. Food Coloring

Designed to make foods more attractive, food coloring has an ugly side: caramel coloring manufacturing involves the use of industrial solvents and carcinogens. Red dye number 3 is associated with tumor development. Red dye 40 and Yellow 6 are closely associated with aggressive behaviors and impulse control problems in children. I say, stay far away.

4. Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is a chemically created, flavor-enhancing protein substance that’s similar to MSG, but whitewashed a bit with a healthier sounding name. The problem with HVP is that it contains hidden MSG, so you can still wind up sickening yourself with headaches, migraines, heart irregularities and so on. Two more members of the MSG family to avoid: autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed yeast extract – they too can make sensitive types feel awful.

5. Parabens

Parabens are chemical preservatives most commonly found in cosmetics and beauty products, but oddly enough, they’re also found in many baked goods, like breads, cakes, pies, pastries, cereals and some processed meats. Designed to inhibit mold growth, there’s evidence to suggest that parabens in food may play a contributing role in hormone-related problems in women, such as breast cancer, and reduced testosterone levels in men. My advice? Steer clear.

6. Partially Hydrogenated Oil

Partially hydrogenated oil and trans-fat are essentially one in the same; And most folks don’t realize that a product can claim “0g trans fat” as long as there is less than ½ gram per serving, so if you see it on the label, don’t buy it (even if it says trans fat free). Case closed. Sure the stuff makes your food less likely to spoil, but it clogs your arteries, raises bad cholesterol and lowers the good cholesterol and who needs that?

7. Nitrites

Left unadulterated, meat will start to spoil and look pretty unappetizing quickly. Add some refrigeration and a layer of nitrites, and the shelf life, not to mention the fresh-looking red color, lengthens significantly. But what happens to the nitrates when humans ingest it? Well, not only can nitrites trigger headaches and allergic reactions, research indicates that a daily habit of nitrate-laden cured meats can increase risk of cancerous tumors. While I don’t recommend eating foods with nitrites, if it’s unavoidable, then start you meal with antioxidants Vitamin C and E to protect your body. (Note: Naturally occurring nitrites, like those in some vegetables don’t cause health woes, so feel free to eat your veggies!)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT BONUS:

While carefully reading labels can help you make somewhat better choices, here’s a more radical and much simpler approach: stop buying foods with labels on them and make the switch to whole, natural, organic or local, grower-to-table foods. You’ll get exactly what your body needs and virtually none of the dangerous additives your body is better off without.

For more ideas on how to treat your body to additive-free foods, take a look at my top 9 Superfoods.

Processed Milk is BAD for Your Bones – We’ve all been ‘White-Washed’

(NaturalNews – S. D. Wells) Most milk does a body BAD, not good, but it’s the biggest lies that are more likely to be believed, and there are myths that refuse to die. So, in the name of good health, let’s try to rid ourselves of them now.

Food that is cooked dead is useless

Did you know that pasteurized milk is dead milk? The nutrients are lost, burned up at high heat, between 145°F and 160°F for about 30 seconds. Yep, that milk’s dead. Did you know that calcium alone does not build bones or bone density? Let’s start this off with those infamous words, pasteurized and homogenized. Homogenized and pasteurized are bad, bad words. Were you taught differently growing up? Did the school books brainwash you? Did the commercials say just the opposite, that milk helps build strong bones? Is your “dead” milk polluted with inflammatory carcinogens, medications, hormones, antibiotics, pus, pathogens, bacteria, viruses and artery-clogging animal fat?

Milk, cigarettes, diet soda and margarine for America!

The United States is in the midst of a public health epidemic due to poor diet. While much of the focus has been on obvious culprits such as sugary soft drinks and fast food, dairy foods often get a pass. The dairy industry, propped up by government, has convinced us of the health benefits of milk and other dairy products. But the context of how people consume dairy matters. …

[P]atterns of consumption [have shifted] away from plain milk toward dairy products laden with sugar, fat, and salt. …

Nearly half of the milk supply goes to make about 9 billion pounds of cheese and 1.5 billion gallons of frozen desserts–two-thirds of which is ice cream;

11 percent of all sugar goes into the production of dairy products.
(http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com)

A few years ago, David Wolfe, nutritionist, best-selling author and world traveler, speaking via Natural News, said it best:

Okay, well the nations that consume the most calcium, the United States, Canada and the Scandinavian countries, have the worst osteoporosis and that’s because our theory of mineralization or our theory of nutrition is incorrect. The general theory is that a hundred years ago they started looking at people’s bones. They found out that, “oh my god; these bones are made out of calcium”. When people don’t have enough bone density the thought is, “oh they just have to eat more calcium because that’s what builds bones”. Calcium does not build bones and that is one of the biggest misconceptions ever and it actually goes to the real core of our problems with science. …

What increases bone density? Well, it turns out it’s two other minerals and that is silicon and magnesium.
(http://www.naturalnews.com)

Pasteurized milk – this is NOT good

The goal with pasteurization is to kill potentially bad bacteria, but at what cost? It kills all the beneficial bacteria and damages the minerals and vitamins. Plus, pasteurization denatures the proteins. This milk gets heated over 160°F for half a minute to “sterilize” what you’ll probably have trouble digesting. Even “low-temp” pasteurization stops at around 145°F, still killing most of the beneficial enzymes.

Homogenized milk – this is NOT good

Around the turn of the 20th century, homogenization became the “industry standard,” because people liked not having to shake up all the fat globules for consistency. This process rearranges the fat and protein molecules, which ALTERS how they act in the human body. Then you have “fortified” milk with vitamins A and D added back in so that the general population feels better about drinking milk past infancy.

The calcium myth – why millions of Americans are “doing it” wrong

The US is the most dairy-consuming nation in the world, yet we have the highest rate of osteoporosis. No animal on Earth drinks milk past infancy or from another animal, except humans.

Don’t get “white-washed” by the Dairy Industry! Get your calcium from organic leafy greens and raw nuts and seeds. Find organic silicon and magnesium and stay informed. (http://drbenkim.com)

Sources for this article include:
http://drbenkim.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://labs.naturalnews.com
http://ajcn.nutrition.org [PDF]
http://draxe.com
http://www.nomeatathlete.com
http://science.naturalnews.com

5 Reasons to Avoid Factory-Farmed Fish

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) While it may seem like a modern invention, “aquaculture,” has been around for ages – man has been “farming” fish in net enclosures, ponds, vats, urns and even woven baskets for thousands of years. More recently though, say within the last few decades, worldwide demand has exploded and farming fish has grown just as rapidly, evolving into a multi-billion dollar industry. Its mission: to produce more fish quicker, faster, larger and cheaper to meet the insatiable demand for what once seemed a limitless and inexpensive source of protein and good fat.

Not surprisingly, the extraordinary growth of the fish farm business has brought with it a number of industrial farming problems that concern me enough to advise all my patients to avoid factory-farmed fish. While there are some fish farmers producing eco-friendly and healthy fish, they are the exception, not the rule, so unless you’re able to purchase fish from those types of purveyors (usually smaller-scale, artisanal or boutique-style fish farms), just say No Tanks…that is, no to farmed fish – and here are five simple reasons why:

1) There’s no such thing as a free-range, farmed fish

In fact, it’s quite the opposite, with fish farm enclosures packing the creatures in, well, like sardines, leaving little room for the fish to swim freely or to engage in their normal behavioral patterns. The result? Stressed fish, who like us, tend to get sick more easily when their defenses are down. With their immune systems compromised, the fish become more prone to illness, parasitic infections and diseases, which then can spread quickly through their over-populated aquatic quarters.

2) Farmed fish are like really into drugs, dude

Next, the sickened fish have to be made well again, with you guessed it, drugs. To do this, farmed fish are fed antibiotics, antifungals and/or pesticides – which means so are you, with every fork-full. Hardly an appetizing thought. As if that weren’t enough, farmed fish are often injected with booster shots of sex hormones. Turns out, captive fish populations tend to produce fewer offspring, so fish farms often enhance Mother Nature with fertility treatments (i.e., hormone shots, special feed, etc.) to stimulate offspring production and pump up the yield. With this in mind the question becomes, what are those fish hormones doing to our bodies? And is it worth the risk? I don’t think so.

3) Their diet is simply revolting

As is the case with industrially farmed, land-based livestock, top quality, 5-star feed isn’t on the menu, so what does the average farmed fish eat? Mostly fishmeal. Sound innocuous enough, that is till you discover that fishmeal is made up mostly of smaller fish mixed with (presumably genetically-modified) soybeans, grains and corn. Possible GMO issues aside, the larger issue is that in order to make all that fishmeal, a tremendous amount of smaller fish are fished out of the sea – anywhere from 3-to-6 pounds of small fish are needed to produce just one pound of farmed fish. In addition to being an enormously wasteful process, it also leaves less food available for wild fish to feed on, which contributes to their population declines. Oh, and what else do farmed fish snack on? The carcasses of deceased neighbors floating in or lying at the bottom of their tanks. It’s not a pretty picture.

4) If you’re looking for nutrition, farmed fish falls short

Even if you could overlook the drugs, hormone shots and less-than-optimal diet, farmed fish still comes up short in terms of nutrition, one of the reasons so many of us turned to fish in the first place. Compared to wild fish, farmed versions can have as much as 20% less protein, twice as much inflammation-boosting omega 6 fatty acid, less usable omega 3’s and fewer nutrients overall. In short, wild is better.

5) Industrial fish farms pollute their surroundings

Numerous studies report that water quality suffers in areas where fish farms operate, creating something akin to the aquatic version of agricultural run-off. Decaying fishmeal, diseased and dying fish and their waste products combine to create conditions that enable bacteria to flourish, polluting not only the fish farm waters but seeping into and damaging neighboring wild fish habitats, marshes and wetlands either by accident, carelessness or poor fish farming methods. Isn’t all this damage and pollution is too high an ecological price to pay for farmed fish-on-demand? I believe it is.

So, with all this in mind, what’s the alternative to farmed fish? The answer is wild fish though the wild stuff is not without its own set of issues, including over-fishing, dwindling populations and mercury concerns. To help you make the best possible choices, when buying fish at the market or dining out, ask questions and find out where your fish is sourced, and if it’s fished sustainably. Before you buy, check your choices with the Blue Ocean Institute’s helpful Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood or download printable lists of eco-friendly seafood recommendations from Seafoodwatch.org

For more on how to make informed seafood choices, check out School Yourself the Smart Way to Eat Fish.

Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge

You’ve heard of the ice bucket challenge, and maybe even the Ferguson Challenge. Here’s a new challenge: the one gallon challenge. Drink a gallon of cranberry lemonade a day, sweetened with stevia, and spiced with cayenne. This is one of the best ways to detoxify and clean out your system.

There’s more.

Exercise. Sweat. Get your heart rate going. Deep, heavy breathing helps detoxify the body. Exercise vigorously for 20 minutes a day. If you have access to a sauna, especially one of a non-toxic variety, use it! A steam room is great, too, as long as the water is purified, with the fluoride and other chemicals removed.

Rebounding

There is one specific exercise that can help this detox in an unusual way—bouncing. Rebounding on a trampoline, jumping rope, or jogging while ensuring that you’re running with good form (not heel striking) all help circulate your lymph. Do one of these activities for at least 20 minutes a day. Of course, if done vigorously enough to induce heavy breathing and to work up a sweat, the bouncing activities count as the exercise for the day.

Eat. This isn’t a fast. You can detoxify without fasting. You are welcome to fast if you want to and you know your body can handle it, but it’s not necessary in order to receive amazing benefits. Eat produce, salads and fruits. A serious detox is a good time to avoid pretty much anything else and just focus on produce. If the body is very toxic or so sick that it cannot get nutrition out of food, it is a good time to juice. Otherwise, we recommend eating whole, unadulterated vegetables and fruits in order to get the fiber and many other benefits that are lost when juicing.

If the gut is out of balance, i.e. Candida overgrowth and/or an abundance of bad bacteria, eat lots of garlic with those salads, and take a high quality probiotic and some undecylenic acid or oil of oregano. (When taking oil of oregano, do not take it with probiotics as it will kill the beneficial bacteria}.

Cranberry Lemonade Recipe

Glass gallon jar
Safe, clean, spring water or distilled water
1 cup of 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.

If you don’t have access to a good spring water source, use other clean drinking water that does not have fluoride. If you don’t have access to organic lemons, use conventional. If there are no fresh lemons, use bottle 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. No excuses.

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.

Drinking a gallon of water a day makes an amazing difference to your health and your appearance (google gallon a day water before and after). Drinking this much fluid flushes the organs and the lymph nodes, hydrates the skin, and helps the body to rebuild cells and regenerate in ways that most people do not get to experience. The cranberry and the lemon help flush the liver and the kidneys even more, and in my experience it’s a lot easier to drink a gallon of cranberry lemonade than it is to drink a gallon of plain water. And cayenne has a ton of amazing health benefits. For more, check out, Cayenne – Natures Miracle Medicine.

How long should you do this for? I challenge you to ten days. But do it as long as you like. While produce should always be the staple of any healthy diet, no matter what you’re eating, your body will always benefit from this gallon of hydration a day.

Please use common sense with this. If you do not follow a healthy diet with lots of produce, the amount of liquid consumed on this regimen can deplete the body of much needed minerals. Do not attempt to drink a gallon of anything in one sitting. This has been known to kill people, even with just water. If you have kidney problems, this may be the best thing for you. On the other hand, depending on your health issues, it may overload the kidneys. I find that smaller people who weigh less than 120 pounds can see the benefits at 1/2 to 1/3 of a gallon. Your health is in your hands. Again, please use good judgment.

If you’ve got a bit of money and you’re willing to take this detox program to a whole other level, consider detoxifying the blood, killing parasites, and balancing the body’s ecosystem. Shillington’s Blood Detox, MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations, and will detoxify the blood and kill parasites. SF722 will kill Candida (yeast). Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse will clean out the colon, and FloraMend will restore beneficial bacteria.

If Candida is an issue for you, as it is for most, check out How to Cure Candida.