Be Brilliant Like Einstein

Like most people, I have my share of celebrity crushes. Though their legacies are very much alive, most of the influencers who make me swoon happen to be dead.

I was looking over some of my favorite, go-to inspiration sources and came across one of those mentors from the beyond: Einstein. I’m no scientist and I’m certainly not a mathematician, but many of Einstein’s quotes can help us on a daily basis.  

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~ Einstein

Who isn’t filled with awe when looking at what this one individual brought to our world and society? Obviously, Einstein is one of my role models. Many of the things I appreciate about him are not that well known. Yes, he crafted the general theory of relativity, yet he struggled to learn French. Brilliant and even studious in math, he had a relentless disregard for the status quo, conformity, and dogma. He broke the rules, tested limits, bucked authority and often changed paths, or even quit things in the middle. I make many of my decisions with my gut. I’m well informed, but ruled by instinct and intuition. My sister makes a pros and cons chart, weighing out every option when making decisions. She crunches data, looks for statistical findings, and relies on “the facts.”

These are both valid ways to make a decision. But, what happens when your gut and “the facts” don’t line up? What do you do when all that evidence (“the facts”) point to no but your heart, your soul, your inside dances and screams toward yes!

Over the last year, I have been taking huge personal and professional risks. I left what I thought would be my dream job: a well-compensated position pioneering a new wellness approach for primary care at Mayo Clinic, a highly esteemed organization. It was an amazing job with great benefits and connections; all the facts said stay. But, my heart said go forth and create your own program of wellness and offer it up to the masses in the way you feel it would be most beneficial.

Logic doesn’t always work. It doesn’t always lead you to the “right” answer. I’m not saying don’t look at the evidence or throw out practicality, but don’t underestimate the power of inspiration and creativity. Maybe something that you want to do isn’t the most practical thing. Maybe it doesn’t even look doable. Sometimes when we make a bold decision, the power of our imagination kicks in and we find ways to make it work that we would never have conceived using logic alone.

I’m a visionary. This is not bragging or self-promotion, it’s just the truth, and it is both a gift and a curse. I often see trends or have insights years before they hit the public vortex of media. I rarely share these pioneering thoughts until, well, now. Because, why not?!

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” ~ Einstein {tweet out}

Nature is one of the most powerful healing elements. Have you ever had that experience where you actually notice the beauty of your surroundings? I mean truly connect with it? Most days we rush around too busy to notice all of what is happening in this natural world all around us. We miss out on it. Nature is gorgeous and amazing and happening around us all the time, even in the inner city. We are connected to, inspired by, and taught by our environment. Get out into it, or get it into your house. Be in awe; be curious.

Maybe you’re not a “nature lover.” No matter. You can connect to nature’s healing power. Anyone can. Just give it a minute. Bundle up and brave the weather for a brisk walk. Open up your window and let the birdsong and spring breeze in. Pick up a leaf or a rock. Wonder about it. Be part of nature. It’s healing.

When we are contemplating decisions we look inward, but it’s good to take time to reflect outside of ourselves. Sometimes what we see outside changes the way we think, feel, and act. Give yourself that gift.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.”  ~ Einstein

For years, I practiced yoga with a dear friend (she now lives in Paris with her husband) and I remember her saying this to me time and time again: “The best decision or solution is most often the most simple.” It’s not the one steeped in drama and details, or the one with a well-laid-out but complex or rigid plans.

Have you had those moments where you push your “solution” or your “desire” into a situation? I know I have, and I can tell you how it worked out – bleah. When we surrender and allow the situation to have its own miraculous unfolding, it happens in ways far beyond what you or I could ever imagine.

Sometimes the answer is just simple, and we make it complex and hard.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” ~ Einstein

How often do you make a decision on any given day? Thousands of options are ahead of us, and we navigate our days with the past tucked under our wings. I see myself repeating things I have done before or attempting to remedy a situation using what worked for me in the past. We use a different energy and have access to a different mindset and plane of thinking when we are solving a situation verses when we are in a situation. When we are struggling through something and attempting to bring some kind of order to what might look like disorder, it can bring up some anxiety or fear and send us right into survival thinking, locking us out of using those higher planes of thinking and being (another one of my dead mentors, Maslow, came up with this revolutionary way of thinking called the Hierarchy of Needs). This is entirely reasonable, but not very helpful. Only when we can see for ourselves that all things really will work out do we start to see something bigger and use resources that are in our reach to move us past just surviving. With a bigger perspective, my friends, we can reach past the lowest hanging fruit and get to that apple at the top of the tree that we really want.

Be your own Einstein today and show your brilliance.

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Kill Candida and Balance The Gut Quickly

People who suffer from an overabundance of yeast like Candida, or any other type of fungal infection, need to cut out sugars. This protocol has worked for many people, and it works faster and better than any medication as long as the diet is right, refined sugars are not ingested, and the body is not filled with toxic pharmaceuticals. This includes vaccines. Vaccinations have toxins in them that kill gut flora and weaken the immune system.

A Few Things to Know

If you don’t have your appendix, if you get regularly vaccinated, or if you have mercury fillings, you should take a good quality probiotic every day for the rest of your life.

If you have allergies, asthma, headaches, cancer, or diabetes; if you see floaters; or if you have almost any other ailment or disease; you have too much Candida.

Related: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

It’s not just white sugar and high fructose corn syrup that feed Candida. Agave nectar, coconut sugar, dates, fresh pressed fruit, carrot or beet juices, raw honey, and brown rice syrup all feed Candida in the body.

If you have taken antibiotics, you need to heal your gut and rebuild the healthy bacteria in your system.

Candida makes you crave sugar. When you feed the body sugar, you feed the Candida. It multiplies. The fungus eats you when it gets hungry. So you feed it again. This is a very simplistic way of putting it, and there is so much more going on, but this explanation is close enough for these purposes.

Candida can cause joint pain, stiffness, slow healing, and an inability to heal.

Candida can lie dormant for up to six months. When everything is back in control, keep in mind that Candida is always ready and able to spring back into life if it’s fed. You have to keep the gut balanced even after you heal it with a proper diet.

This protocol only works with the right diet. That’s also true for anything that will kill excess Candida and balance the body. Diet is key.

Related: How to Heal Your Gut

The Diet

A healthy diet consists of 80% or more raw, fresh, organic produce. Eat more vegetables than fruit. This is imperative for anyone who is ridding the body of Candida. Big salads (see 80% Raw Food Diet for a recipe) are the foundation of a healthy diet that balances the digestive system.

No refined foods. Whole foods only. Make smoothies with coconut water, whole pineapple (it’s juicy), unsweetened nut milk, or water instead of fruit juice. Make nut milks at home with sprouted nuts. Take extra supplements when consuming pineapple or grapes, as they are very high in sugars, and remember to limit fruit until your gut is balanced.

Gluten and Candida do not mix. If the gut is unwell, gluten is causing serious problems. Nobody with Candida overgrowth should be attempting to digest gluten. A gut with an excess of Candida has holes in it. When gluten breaks through the gut undigested, it is toxic to the body.

Do not drink anything that is sweetened unless it’s sweetened with stevia. Anyone with hypoglycemia or diabetes should use stevia with caution, as it can be problematic, but it doesn’t feed Candida. The second source below has a cranberry lemonade recipe to help detox.

Supplements

Supplements that are known to combat fungus include:

All of these are great to have around, and a few of them are exceptional at killing parasites, viruses, and bacterial infections (Coptis Chinensis, wormwood, black walnut hull, Spanish black radish) but while they are certainly antifungal, they’re not the strongest solution to kill excess Candida.

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

The first three should be plenty for most people, but for really prominent fungal issues or for impatient people with a bigger budget I’d recommend all of these:

I recommend taking the SF722, Berberine, MycoCeutics, and Microdefense with meals, and the Abzorb and Syntol separately, on an empty stomach (like in the morning and before bed). The Abzorb and the Syntol are a bit redundant, but I find good results using both if the budget can afford it. If money is really tight, just get the SF722 and put your money into your diet.

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The Health benefits of Moringa: A Modern Miracle Tree

In northern India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, the moringa has long graced the region with its miraculous fruit. Ribbed pods, each a foot in length, hang in clusters from this tree’s wiry branches. These pods, called drumsticks, have attracted the attention of mankind for millennia and for good reason.

While the aptly nicknamed drumstick tree has a rather slender appearance, it is anything but frail. A tropical native, this prolific powerhouse has spread its roots across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. And now, it seems to have anchored itself in American soil.

Part of a new wave of exotic vegetables, Moringa oleifera is a botanical platypus. A member of the order Brassicales, it’s a distant relative of both the cabbage and the papaya. Its roots taste so much like its cousin horseradish, that it’s also earned the nickname the “horseradish tree”. Its fruit, a popular Indian vegetable, looks like a cross between an okra and a pole bean with the flavor of asparagus. Its cooked flowers mimic mushrooms in taste, while its leaves hint at spinach and lettuce. Its immature seeds are used like peas and if fried when mature, resemble peanuts.

In fact, it’s hard to find a part of moringa that isn’t edible. Even the bark is sometimes taken internally for diarrhea. But that doesn’t come as a surprise to the locals, who consider it a living pharmacy. Moringa has proven to be a multipurpose arsenal that dispenses some of the best secrets nature has to offer. For centuries, it has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat a host of ailments including anemia, bronchitis, hyperglycemia, scurvy, and skin infections.

Today, several research studies seem to validate this knowledge. In a study conducted by Jaiswal et al. (2009), on diabetic rats, moringa leaf extract was shown to significantly reduce high blood glucose levels. Within 14 days, it also eliminated the presence of sugar and protein in the urine, two important warning signs of uncontrolled diabetes. In another study, moringa leaf extract was shown to notably reduce body weight, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in rats with high levels of fat in their blood. Moreover, it not only lowered bad cholesterol (LDL) but also elevated the good kind (HDL) (Rajanandh et al., 2012).

Furthermore, the leaf extract triples as a potent mosquitocide. At different stages of the life cycle, moringa killed Anopheles stephensi, a major carrier of malaria in India. These effects may be due to the rare and unique combination of phytochemicals found in moringa, including beta-carotene, zeatin, quercetin, beta-sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid, and kaempferol.

Overall, the tree possesses numerous anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal effects, among others.

Drought hardy and disease resistant, moringa is a godsend during the dry season, when little food is available. The fresh leaves and branches serve as an excellent source of forage. Indeed, a Nicaraguan study confirms moringa’s ability to boost milk production in cows without affecting its taste, smell, or color.

The leaves also offer a spectrum of nutrition, rich in vitamins A, B, and C, as well as protein, calcium, and iron. They are so nutritious in fact, that they contain more vitamin A than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more potassium than bananas, and more protein than either milk or eggs! A traditional item in pickles and curries, the raw leaves are also perfect for salads.

As a result, moringa could play a key role as a wholesome food source in impoverished nations, where malnutrition is often rampant. The World Health Organization has stressed the importance of amino acids and protein for growing children. Luckily, moringa leaves are rich in these nutrients, with the added benefit of omega-3 fatty acids and a host of protective phytochemicals.

When mixed in with different cereals, children regained normal weight and health status in 30 to 40 days, while the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s recipe for malnourished children took 80 days.

“[It] is a very healthy satisfying food that meets all nutritive needs. It is cheap to produce, can be cooked or eaten raw, sold in the market, or dried as a powder to be sold over long distances,” added Nikolaus Foidl, a world leading agricultural researcher on moringa.

Foidl has been studying the tree for over a decade in conjunction with the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. He has traveled to many countries, including Senegal, Honduras, Guinea Bissau, and Argentina, promoting the miracle tree’s cultivation by working with the locals.

In Nicaragua, he helped farmers utilize the leaf extract as a growth spray for other crops.

“Moringa leaves contain the growth factors gibberellin, kinetin, and some lower levels of auxin. We got up to a 25% increase in sugarcane and turnips, onions, and radish.”

Such a bountiful increase should not be ignored, especially in areas where food shortage is an issue. Foidl, who has the financial support of the Austrian government, first came across the tree by accident.

He recounted, “By chance, I had a Jatropha plantation with rows of moringa as windbreaks and the damn cows were always breaking down my fences to get to them. So I wondered, what is so special about this tree that the cows are willing to risk injury?”

That question has now led to a new understanding of moringa’s multifaceted potential. As a vigorous hardy grower, it surprisingly does not require much water or many soil nutrients once established. This makes it one of the most valuable tropical trees in terms of overall utility.

Like the leaves, the flowers, too, are edible when cooked, and are packed with calcium and potassium. As a bonus, they are not only incredibly fragrant, they also support native bee populations.

Moringa roots and bark, on the other hand, are used with caution. The bark contains the toxic chemicals moringinine and spirochin, which can alter heart rate and blood pressure. However, they do show promise in the medical field. The inner flesh of the root is less toxic, and roots of young plants are picked for a hot sauce base while the resin is added as a thickener. Interestingly, blue dye can be obtained from the wood, which is also used in paper production.

The famed moringa drumsticks contain all nine essential amino acids that humans must obtain exclusively from their diet. Oftentimes, the drumsticks are chopped into logs, boiled, and split into thirds lengthwise. The fibrous rind is inedible− rather it’s the soft jellied pulp and seeds that are sought after. These can be scooped out or scraped away by the teeth.

Hidden within the drumsticks are even more remarkable seeds. Loaded with protein, they also contain special non-toxic polypeptides that act as natural Brita filters. When ground into powder and mixed with water, they cause sediments to clump together and settle out. Then when strained through a cloth, they provide cheap access to clean water. Amazingly, just two seeds are enough to purify a dirty liter.

“It has been widely used at the village level in Africa to transform river water into drinking water,” shared Foidl. “I had a project working with the seeds in a wastewater treatment plant in Nicaragua (wastewater from 4,000 people). It was very effective− about 99.5% separation of turbidity in 30 minutes.”

In turn, the seeds themselves yield a valuable yellow oil called ben oil. Sweet, clear, and odorless, it doesn’t spoil easily− perfect for perfumes, cosmetics, and lubrication. It has also found use in cooking due to its high levels of healthy unsaturated fats.

For such a versatile tree, it’s almost hard to believe that moringa is easily grown via seeds or cuttings. Foidl remarked, “It grows virtually better than willow.”

Fresh seeds have the best chance at germination with a success rate of around 60-90%, provided that they have not been in extended storage, and require no special pretreatment. Seeds should be planted ½ inch deep in well drained, neutral to slightly acidic sandy loam and kept moist. Seedlings readily sprout within one to four weeks and do not transplant well due to their long taproot. As an alternative, branch cuttings can be used— these will be genetically identical to the parent tree. For best success, select hardwood cuttings that are 12 inches long and 1-4 inches thick, planting 1/3 of the length below soil.

Given its tropical nature, it is no surprise that moringa has quickly established roots in the southern states, particularly in Florida, California, and Texas where there are large Asian communities. In northern climates, however, the tree can be treated as either a summer annual or as a potted perennial. Moringa can be overwintered indoors where it will often go dormant and shed its leaves, only to re-sprout in spring.

As agriculture becomes more expensive, managing the long-term productivity of the land is essential. Moringa solves this issue through a practice called high density planting. The trees are grown closely together to increase the yield per given area, while at the same time reducing the need for herbicides. Because moringa grows rapidly, it crowds out and suppresses neighboring weeds.

“The optimal density is 1 million plants per hectare (10 x 10 cm spacing), where the losses of plants per cut are around 1% and the losses are compensated through vigorous sprouting,” explained Foidl. “Moringa is cut at a height of 15 to 25 cm for vigorous regrowth.”

This practice allows for cutting every 35 days, totaling 10 harvests per year. In fact, 120 tons of dry matter can be harvested per hectare a year, 10 times more than corn and several times more than soy. As a result, there is a constant supply of fresh food, with little need for storage.

Moringa is in a unique position to address the issues of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and lack of clean water all at once, something no other plant can boast. It is even more valuable considering it is found widely throughout the tropics, in the regions where it is needed most, making this ancient tree a true modern day miracle.

Sources:
  • Jaiswal D, Rai PK, Kumar A, Mehta S, Watal G. (2009). Effect of Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves aqueous extract therapy on hyperglycemic rats. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 123(3), 392-396.
  • Rajanandh MG, Satishkumar MN, Elango K, Suresh B. (2012). Moringa oleifera Lam. A herbal medicine for hyperlipidemia: A pre-clinical report. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, 2(2), S790-S795.
  • Prabhu K, Murugan K, Nareshkumar A, Ramasubramanian N, Bragadeeswaran S. (2011). Larvacidal and repellant potential of Moringa oleifera against malarial vector, Anopheles stephensi Liston (Insecta: Diptera: Culicidae). Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 1(2), 124-129.


Wakefield and His Study Linking MMR Vaccine To Autism Has Been Vindicated

Wakefield is a fraud! Wakefield is personally responsible for the resurgence of measles and whooping cough! Wakefield is to blame for the Disneyland measles outbreak!

Read any pro-vaccine article that disputes the link between vaccinations and autism and chances are Andrew Wakefield and his “fraudulent study” will be mentioned. Dubbed the “father of the anti-vaccine movement”, Wakefield has been both revered and vilified, depending on which side of the argument uses his name. The funny thing is, he is not anti-vaccine. He is, however, a critic of the MMR vaccine and has publicly stated that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines should be given separately.

In 1998, Wakefield, Prof. John Walker Smith, Dr. Simon Burch, and 10 other co-authors published a paper in the Lancet, a British Medical Journal, which showed a possible correlation between the MMR vaccine and resultant gastrointestinal dysfunction along with developmental delays and autism. Though the paper itself did not state a conclusive causal effect, it did state the need for further study into the possibility that the MMR shot was to blame. Wakefield went on to publicly bring attention to the possibility, criticizing the MMR shot and calling for separation of the three vaccines.

The publication, the publicity, and the controversy caused an uproar, which is credited with a sharp decline in vaccine compliance in the UK and to some extent in the U.S. The United Kingdom General Medical Council regulatory board (GMC) investigated and came to the conclusion that the study and the published paper were fraudulent. The paper was retracted by the Lancet. Ten of the authors signed a letter retracting the claim that the MMR vaccine caused autism (even though the paper did not state that conclusion.) Wakefield, Smith, and Burch did not sign the paper. They were brought up before the GMC on misconduct charges. Wakefield and Smith both lost their medical licenses.

In 2012, Prof. Smith won an appeal against the GMC. Although he was already retired, his license to practice medicine was restored. Unlike Wakefield’s insurance, Smith’s insurance covered his expensive appeal. There was a clear ruling that the published paper and study met standards and that the GMC was at fault for the earlier ruling. The GMC has not taken the opportunity since then to restate Andrew Wakefield’s license or to clear his name.

Andrew Wakefield recently came back into the news with the CDC whistleblower case in which Dr. William Thompson reached out to Wakefield with the news of a CDC cover-up in a study, which linked the MMR to autism.

Wakefield continues to defend the paper he and his co-authors published and he continues to state the need for the MMR vaccine to be discontinued and individual shots to be manufactured and distributed instead.

If you’ve been vaccinated, check out How to Detoxify from Vaccinations, and Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins.

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Women – How to Age Gracefully

You’re getting older. You’ve earned those wrinkles along with every gray hair on your head. You’ve done a lot of living, but you’ve decided you’d like to stick around for many more years. The thing is, you’d like the coming years to be quality years – happy, healthy years.

Vibrant health is within your reach, regardless of your age. It’s time to take stock and decide what changes you need to make in your life in order to create the future you desire.

Make yourself the priority

First and foremost, it’s time to put yourself first. Chances are you may have been the last on the list for most of your adult life. While this is not true for all women, we have certainly been socialized to take care of our boyfriends, husbands, and children long before we take care of ourselves.

The children are grown. It’s your turn.

Sleep well and often

Sleep is essential for the body and the mind. Sleep experts say we need less sleep as we age – an average of seven hours rather than eight. But they also say everyone is different. You may need nine hours or ten. Find out how much sleep you need by catching up on your sleep and then allowing yourself to wake naturally. And if you can, allow yourself the luxury of napping.

Find an exercise (or two or three) that you like and do them often

If you do not exercise now, it’s time to start. Yes, you can take up running. But why not start with walking? Or turn up the stereo and dance. Swimming is great and so is yoga. But regardless of the exercise or exercises you choose to incorporate into your daily life, do a few get-ups every day.

Get-ups are aptly named. Basically, you lie down on the floor, flat on your back, then you roll over to one side and get up. Each time you get up, roll to the alternate side and use the alternate leg. This deceptively simple exercise uses lots of different muscles and keeps you limber. Too many older Americans couldn’t get up off the floor if they fell. Don’t be one of them.

Eat a truly healthy diet and get the nutrients you need

In order to achieve vibrant health, you must eat a truly healthy diet. A truly healthy diet is a whole foods diet, a plant-based diet, more vegetables than fruit. A full 80% of you diet should be fresh, raw, organic produce. This is how you get the most nutrition out of your food. Focus on a wide variety of nutrient dense foods. Also, make sure your diet includes omega 3 fatty acids. Flax seed oil, combination omega 3 oils, fish oil…choose one or several and make an omega 3 oil a daily part of your diet. Drink lots of pure, clean water.

Eliminate all artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, MSG, trans fats, and GMOs. In other words, toss the processed foods. You don’t need to eat from cans or boxes. It’s not real food. Get off processed sugar – completely. It destroys your immune system. Avoid caffeine. And if you’re willing to go all the way, get off dairy and gluten, too. You will be amazed at the difference in the way you feel.

Learn about alternative medicine and healthy supplements

Conventional medicine does not treat the cause of disease, it treats the symptoms while creating more disease. Learn about alternative medicine but begin with the knowledge that your diet is the basis of your health. There are supplements and vitamins that may help you, but do not assume that all are created equal. There is a huge difference between synthetic vitamins and whole food vitamins. Purchase your vitamins and supplements from trusted sources.

If you are suffering from any disease, heal your gut. If You Are Sick Chances Are Candida Is the Foundation of Your Illness is a must read.

To make your own nutrition powder bursting with vitamins and minerals, check out Total Nutrition – How to Make Your Own…. Add this powder to a smoothie once a day and you will definitely give your nutrition a boost.

To learn more about healthy eating read the 80% Raw Food Diet. Though you don’t need to drink a gallon a day, check out Inexpensive Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge. Between cranberry lemonade, lots of raw produce, and elimination of toxic foods from your diet, your body will naturally detox and you will find renewed health and vigor.



Autoimmune Disease – The Body’s Betrayal

When you think of disease, life-threatening disease, what first comes to mind? Cancer? Heart disease?

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), 9 million Americans suffer from Cancer on an annual basis; 22 million suffer from heart disease. Autoimmune disease beats them both with an annual number of 23.5 million and rising.

According to American Autoimmune, 50 million would be a more accurate number because the NIH only counts and tracks 24 autoimmune diseases (all with good epidemiology studies) though researchers consider 80-100 diseases to be chronic, autoimmune conditions.

What Is an Autoimmune Disease?

The simple definition of an autoimmune disease is a misguided immune system that attacks healthy body tissue. Some autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis or arthritis target specific body parts, while others, such as lupus, affect many parts of the body.

These diseases cause more than inflammation, pain or discomfort; many are crippling and are among the leading causes of death in America. The following is a short list of the most common autoimmune diseases.

Common autoimmune diseases

  • Addison’s disease
  • Arthritis
  • Celiac disease
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Diabetes (type 1)
  • Graves’ disease
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome
  • Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
  • Lupus
  • Myasthenia gravis
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Pernicious anemia
  • Polyarteritis
  • Polymyalgia rheumatica
  • Psoriasis
  • Raynaud’s phenomenon
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Sarcoidosis
  • Sjögren’s syndrome
  • Ulcerative colitis

Conventional medicine offers no cures and has not reached a definitive answer as to the cause of autoimmune diseases. The primary treatment is medication. Steroids are commonly prescribed, despite how damaging their long-term use can be to the body.

Conventional medicine recognizes a genetic component and questions whether a viral infection could trigger an autoimmune disease. They have also acknowledged the fact that many people suffering from autoimmune diseases have celiac disease as well as another autoimmune disease.

How to Cure Autoimmune Disease

Natural health care practitioners believe that health, or lack of health, begins in the gut. Not only is the gut responsible for 80% of our immune system, an unhealthy gut cannot absorb the nutrients the body needs for every function, including healing.

A sick gut is often a leaky gut, one that allows proteins and food particles to pass into the bloodstream, causing the immune system to attack these foreign particles as pathogens.

An unhealthy gut is the result of an unhealthy diet, antibiotic use, and Candida overgrowth. If you want to rid yourself of any chronic condition, you have to heal the body, one cell at a time. If you are ready to do this, it all starts with diet.

A Truly Healthy Diet Is the Key to Health

The healthiest diet is a whole food, plant-based, 80% raw diet. A full 80% of your diet should be fresh, raw, organic produce – more vegetables than fruit. This will provide your body with the nutrients, fiber, and enzymes it needs and the perfect food to help the colonies of beneficial bacteria in your gut to thrive and reproduce.

There is no room in a healthy diet for processed foods with the exception of a few organic products such as healthy oils. The following should all be permanently eliminated:

  • Artificial colors
  • Artificial flavor
  • Preservatives
  • MSG, BHA, BHT
  • GMOs
  • Trans fats
  • Artificial sweeteners
  • Processed sugars

During the healing process eliminate the following foods as well:

  • Dairy products
  • Caffeine
  • Gluten (very important!) All grains containing gluten and all sources of gluten contamination.

You may be able to add some or all of these foods back into your diet on a limited basis after you have healed your gut and eliminated the autoimmune disease, but it is highly possible that you will find you feel better without them.

If you choose to eat meat, be absolutely sure that it is organic. This is vitally important. When you eat meat, you are eating off the top of the food chain. Animals that are not raised organic are fed hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feed, all of which is passed onto you.

To Eliminate Disease, Help Your Body Detox

Once you are eating right, you need to detox and avoid as many environmental toxins as possible. Give your immune system a rest. Use only organic soap, shampoo, skin care products, perfumes, colognes, cleaning products, etc. Your immune system responds to viruses, bacteria, fungi (Candida is the main one), parasites, and toxins. If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system needs all the help you can give it. Get rid of the chemicals. Remember that your skin is a sponge, soaking up whatever you put on it.

You must kill the overgrowth of Candida in your body. Chances are the “indiscriminate attacks” that your immune system makes on your tissues are either an attempt to kill Candida that is present throughout your body or it’s a response to the proteins and other food particles that are routinely released into the bloodstream from a leaky gut. To heal the body, kill the Candida and heal the gut.

You need to move. Your lymphatic system is an integral part of your immune system. In order to work properly, it must circulate. Rebounding is considered the best exercise to move the lymph, but other exercise works as well. Walk, run, swim, yoga, dance – just move.

A healthy immune system also requires vitamin D. The best source is the sun, but many of us don’t live in an optimal climate and many with autoimmune diseases are photosensitive. If you supplement, be sure to choose a quality vitamin.

Conclusion:

To heal the immune system, you must heal the whole body. The good news is that every cell in the body requires the same thing: elimination of toxins and high-quality nutrients.

To learn more about a healthy diet, read 80% Raw Food Diet. To learn how to detox safely, read about a Total Detox Plan, How To Detoxify from Vaccines and Heavy Metals, and Inexpensive Easy Detox. (But know you will need to do a full detox.)

Autoimmune disease usually starts in the gut, and typically ends with healing the thyroid. Check out , How To Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem and see Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies.

Recommended Supplements:
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Cheap Dollar Store Products Shown To Have Very High Levels Of Toxic Chemicals

Everyone wants to get more than they paid for. Who doesn’t like a bargain? Unfortunately, recent testing of 164 dollar store products found that the little extras they’re offering are toxic chemicals like toxic metals, phthalates, BPAs, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.

Healthystuff, an organization that researches toxic chemicals in everyday products, teamed with the Campaign for Healthier Solutions to release this report, which found over 81% of the products tested from retailers like Dollar Tree and Dollar General had a troubling level of at least one hazardous chemical.

With the majority of dollar store customers unable to afford to shop elsewhere, will these findings change the way the dollar stores do business? Or will they continue to take advantage of people who feel they don’t have a choice?

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Can You Trust Big Business?

Walmart is the first corporation you think of when you think of big business that caters to lower-income people and families. That dollar store hidden in a strip mall doesn’t even seem to be on the same level. Don’t be fooled – dollar stores are big business and they’re getting bigger. Dollar Tree has 4,900 stores and with their tentative acquisition of Family Dollar has potentially added 8000 more stores. In contrast, Walmart had only 4,399 locations in the United States at the end of last year.

The four stores that had products tested in this study (Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and 99 Cents Only) have combined sales of over 36 million. This is big business, and it seems like dollar stores are more concerned with profiting from cheaply made, toxic items than providing consumers with safe products.

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Healthystuff found widespread causes for alarm in their tests of dollar store products. In addition to the 81% of items that were found to contain concerning levels of one hazardous chemical, a little less than half (49%) of the items tested had two or more hazardous toxins at concerning levels.

PVC was found in 38% of items tested and 32% had high levels of pthalates, a group of chemicals found to cause birth defects, diabetes, and cancer as well as other health issues. Forty percent of sales at these dollar stores are food products. Too often, lower income people choose these items due to their affordability, not knowing about the presence of cancer-causing BPAs or other chemicals.

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Who Does This Effect?

So who’s shopping at here? Who are the dollar stores hurting with their lack of regulations on toxic chemicals? Thanks to the recent recession, the pool of customers who do their shopping at the dollar store has increased. The number of Americans living below the poverty level increased by 40%, and as more people find themselves living paycheck to paycheck, these cheap, just-for-right now products have more appeal. Dollar stores also rely on their widespread store locations. Convenience is a big deal to consumers, and that’s another thing that attracts people to dollar stores.

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The Results and What You Can Do

Now that these tests are out there, the onus is on the dollar stores to do something. Removing the chemicals from their products would, of course, be the best-case scenario.

The Campaign for Healthier Solutions is calling on dollar stores nationwide to remove children’s products with lead and phthalates and adopting chemical management policies that will identify, share, and remove chemicals. You can also check your state and local policies requiring discount stores to disclose hazardous materials and make efforts to switch to less toxic, safer alternatives.

If you’re using toxic cleaning products, see Clean Your Home Cheaply and Easily Without Toxic Chemicals – DIY. Also, check outHow to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors.

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