The Most Common Mistakes Health Nuts Make With Their Diet

There are phases that people typically go through while learning to eat right and take control of their health. For me, the first step was choosing the fast food restaurant that makes those sandwiches fresh, right in front of you.  I also switched from cola to the clear lemon and lime flavored sodas, because I decided to obey my thirst, as the old slogan went. Then, after multiple kidney infections, I finally gave up soda completely, switching to store bought fruit juices. I loved seeing my favorite snack food bar begin to appear at convenience stores. After all, what could be better than whole grains sweetened with brown rice syrup, marketed via a picture of a guy climbing a cliff?

The more I learn, the more I realize how simple achieving good health can be for most people. I have achieved a level of health that few people in this world will ever realize.

We tend to make things too complicated, and we tend to look to replace our bad habits with less harmful bad habits. We tend to use the word “healthy” when “healthier” would be more appropriate.

Here are the common pitfalls we health nuts often fall into that keep us from experiencing a level of health and vitality that we preach about and dream of.

1. Relying on Supplements

Some supplements are great. There are people who cannot get enough nutrition from food. There are people who live nowhere near a farmer’s market and cannot grow their own food. There are people who are very sick and need the targeted nutrition supplements can offer. Personally, I take Total Nutrition daily. It’s one of the few supplements I take regularly. I also use SF722 for Candida, but that’s only for the rare occasion that I ate too much sugar or drank a little alcohol.

In my experience, people tend to turn to supplements and tinctures for a quick fix. I know the tricks. I know what can stop a migraine in its tracks. I know what to do if I am experiencing nausea. If I were to have acid indigestion, I know exactly how to alleviate it naturally and immediately. If I were suffering from insomnia, I know what I could take that will knock me out, without the side effects of prescription drugs. And I can stop a cold or flu from happening quicker than other people even realize they’re coming down with something.

But none of these “cures” get to the root of the problem. And natural remedies that do not address the cause have a very important and overlooked side effect—they mask symptoms, allowing us to continue living our toxic lifestyles. This is not a good choice in the long run.

The foundation of health comes from the food you eat. Supplements should be used to supplement your diet, not to replace your diet.

2. Too Much Organic Junk Food

Just because it’s labeled organic, or vegan, or natural, does not mean it’s healthy. “Healthier” would be a better word for it. But the convenience of prepackaged food certainly has its allure and I understand how hard it is to let go of those all natural cheese doodles when the conventional ones were your favorite snack food.

Refined food, prepackaged food, “snack” food should be severely limited. I used to have a pantry full of organic chips, all natural snack bars, organic soda, and sugar free, vegan something-or-others. Now my pantry contains healthier staples such as dry beans, brown rice, lentils, and quinoa. There was a direct correlation to my health and well being and the elimination of processed foods.

I still eat junk food occasionally. If I go to a movie, I like to sneak in the organic chips and sugar cane juice sweetened chocolates (and fruit). The difference is, my pantry is not stocked with them. They are a special occasion treat. A rarity. And one that feels less and less worth it every time I indulge.

3. Too Much Eating Out

This is a tough one to get over. I loved going out to eat. I loved being waited on, relaxing, enjoying myself, have a good conversation, not having to cook. And these days, there are plenty of healthier restaurants to choose from. There is a problem though. Even the healthiest restaurants still produce food that is not good for you. I know of one restaurant, out of the thousands I have dined at, where I could eat regularly and still feel as healthy as I do now. And only about a third of their menu was what I would call truly healthy.

I realized that I was going out and eating at restaurants, in large part, to get some wind-down time. It was the only way I could have a simple, casual conversation with whichever woman I was dating. It was the only time I took for myself that forced me to slow down and enjoy life. In every other moment of my existence, I was rushing.

And then I realized that the more I took time to cook, to slow down, to take time for myself (and now, my family) the better the meal. I became a really good cook.  Now restaurants, even t he healthiest and best reviewed, generally disappoint me.

Restaurants, for a myriad of reasons, cannot prepare healthy nutritious meals as well as you can at home. The fact is, health food restaurants should be a treat. And conventional restaurants should be avoided.

4. Too Much Sugar

Typically, sugar is the last thing a health nut is willing to give up. Sugar cane juice, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, and every other natural sweetener that comes to mind, save stevia, have something in common; they are refined sugars. And refined sugars feed and/or promote viruses, bacteria, Candida and other fungi, and virtually all other parasites that affect us. They also contribute to cancer, diabetes, and all the other ailments that sugar can be attributed to promoting (which is almost every ailment we humans suffer from).

Sugar Is Sugar Is Sugar!

If you suffer from allergies, or if you’re battling that one last health issue that has been plaguing you since before you give up soda, try eliminating all the refined sugars from your diet for one week. Most are shocked to find that agave nectar was that one last thing making it impossible to get rid of those seasonal allergies, or the one thing they had to eliminate to finally heal their damaged knee they hurt in football 13 years ago (believe it or not, this is common; injuries do not heal well until sugar is given up). Allergies are also a sign of Candida overgrowth. SF722 and FloraMend will get rid of Candida in just a few days or less, faster than anything I know. But if you need constant support for your intestinal flora, your diet is off.

5. Too Much Juicing

The juices and the smoothies with the juice fall under the same category as sugar. When you juice fruits, and the sweeter vegetables, you loose a lot of nutrition. This includes fiber that helps slow the absorption of sugar. In effect, you are refining your own produce, turning it into simple sugars, when you juice.

Juicing regularly has its place. Juicing produce with very little sugar is a nice way to get a lot of nutrition into your body at once (it’s just not so pleasant to my palate). Also, there are people who are so sick that they cannot digest whole foods. Furthermore, when detoxifying, juicing can be a way to get in nutrition easily without making your body work for it while it is overburdened with the release of toxins.

I do juice occasionally. I do ginger and turmeric shots at least a few times a week. I also juice kale, carrots, beets, and granny smith apples a couple of times a month. I love juice. The difference is, it’s not a staple (unless I am detoxifying). Whole, unadulterated produce is my staple.

7. Too Little Produce

In my experience, this is the last step one takes to regaining their health and living a life full of vitality without aches and pains. Fresh, raw, and organic (whenever possible) produce is the key to health. Eighty percent of my diet is raw produce. I eat many more vegetables than fruit. I make myself a large salad almost every single day, containing a minimum of 10 different vegetables. I get a variety of produce, as opposed to sticking to just a few. I eat like a rabbit when I am snacking. For instance, I open the fridge and I pull out a stalk of kale.

I do not let a lack of organic food stop me. I prefer organic whenever possible. After all, I am the chief editor of a publication called Organic Lifestyle Magazine. But it surprises people to find out that I would sooner buy conventional raw produce than organic frozen produce, provided the food is not genetically modified. This means I avoid the following conventional produce at all costs: sweet corn, potatoes, Hawaiian papaya, alfalfa, and soy (sprouts, beans). Other than that, you’re safe from GMOs with produce.

And I am not saying don’t buy organic. Let me stress that. Buy organic whenever possible! Just don’t let a lack of organic produce turn you towards the less beneficial packaged foods.

Conclusion

It may seem like I have a very limited diet. I don’t. I eat very well, and anyone who comes to my home eats very well, too. Everyone is always blown away at how good, unusual, and healthy my meals are. It takes time, though. I take time to prepare my food. And it took time to get good at cooking (and often, not cooking, as in preparing raw dishes). It also took time to become reasonably quick at it.

There are few shortcuts in life that work, and this holds true for health as well. It takes time, patience, dedication, and discipline. I promise you this: it’s an investment that is well worth it. Health is a hobby for me. Other people live and breathe football, or reality television, or the nightlife. I learned, some time ago, to make family, health, food, and learning my passions. They all coincide nicely. I continue to simplify my life, to let go of the noise, the distractions, and the stuff that doesn’t really matter, so that I can keep my focus on those four passions.

Recommended Reading:


How to Avoid GMOs

As more people are seeking to preserve or restore their health through natural means, they are trying to avoid genetically modified organisms. Not everyone can find everything they need with the organic label, and some laboratory testing has shown that even foods that carry the organic label have been contaminated with genetically modified organisms.

I believe that in the not too distant future we will have consumer protection from GMOs with labeling laws, but with Monsanto’s control over our government, this is not right around the corner.

The best way to avoid genetically modified foods is to understand which foods are genetically modified and which foods are not. Understanding the difference between heirlooms, hybrids, and GMOs is imperative to understanding this issue, and there is much confusion here as well.

With heirlooms, you save the seeds of a fruit or vegetable with favorable characteristics. Other than selecting which plant seeds to save, the seeds are not manipulated. The plants are allowed to pollinate and ripen as they would naturally.

People often lump hybrids and GMOs together when arguing in favor of GMOS. And while there is modification to the plant at a genetic level, it’s not the same as when we talk about “GMOs.” Hybridization is the act of cross-pollinating two plants; each with a dominant favorable trait resulting in fruit that will bear both of those traits.

Seedless watermelons are a good example of a hybrid. I’ve heard many people tell me they avoid seedless watermelon in an effort to avoid GMOS, but these watermelons are not a GMO food. The best reasons to avoid seedless watermelons is they don’t taste nearly as good, and likely contain less nutrition than their natural seeded cousins.

Another point of confusion is potatoes. Many consumers have begun to notice that their potatoes don’t sprout anymore. It used to be that if you didn’t eat potatoes fast enough, as it sat in your kitchen, the eyes would begin to turn into vines. The conventional potatoes bought in the grocery store don’t do this anymore, not through some form of genetic modification, but due to very heavy doses of chemicals. This renders potatoes lifeless. They look good to the ignorant consumer and last longer on the shelves of the grocery store, as food generally does when it’s not alive.

Foods that are Genetically Modified

Beets, corn, cotton, Hawaiian papaya, soy, rice, canola, alfalfa, yeast (for making wine) and milk (RGBH) are genetically modified foods that have been deemed “fit for human consumption,” and are being produced and sold to us.

More than half of the cotton grown in the world is genetically modified. Not only used to make clothes, but cottonseed oil is used frequently in food production.

Genetically modified rice has been approved but is not yet in large-scale use.

GMOs were recently banned in Hawaii, but they excluded papaya from the ban.

Genetically modified wheat has been developed but not approved for consumption. Unfortunately, commercial wheat fields have been contaminated with the genetically modified seed. It is not unlikely that we have been consuming GMO wheat.

Other genetically modified foods that have been deemed fit for human consumption, but are not being sold (or are very hard to find ) at this time (due to consumer and/or farmer demand) include summer squash and zucchini, tomatoes, and potatoes.

GMO foods  under consideration for human consumption include rice, salmon, bananas, apples that don’t brown, and a purple tomato. They may be coming to your local neighborhood supermarket in the near future.

GMO Foods

Genetically Modified Foods in our Grocery Stores

First and foremost, the easiest way to avoid genetically modified organisms is to eat whole, unprocessed foods that are labeled organic. When organic is not available, know the most likely offenders; these include soy, sweet corn, alfalfa, and Hawaiian papaya.

When buying packaged foods, such as snack foods, know your GMO ingredients. Without a GMO free guarantee, to avoid GMOs, one should avoid corn, dairy, soy, canola oil, sugar (sugar beets), and any conventional meat. Conventional, factory farmed livestock are fed genetically modified grains, including GMO foods that aren’t even trusted for human consumption.

As far as corn is concerned, it should be noted that popcorn comes from corn that is not genetically modified, and sweet corn is, typically, not genetically modified (though as with other genetically modified organisms, they will become more and more common very quickly).

Also, note that even when you buy organic, it is imperative, in order to completely avoid GMO foods, to know and trust the company when it comes to soy, alfalfa, wheat, sugar (from sugar beets) and corn. A reputable producer of food that cares about their customers’ health and freedom of choice will test their products regularly (like Eden Foods and Bob’s Red Mill). GMO contamination is a very serious problem, and it’s getting harder and harder to grow food without genetically modified seeds sneaking into the crops and taking over.

Recommended Supplements (These supplements help detoxify GMOs):

Further Reading:

Sources Include:



GMO-Bananas are Going Into Human Trials

Why This Won’t End Well

Some people have had it with “natural” food.

For fifteen years, Urvashi Rangan, director of consumer safety and sustainability for Consumer Reports, has been pointing out that “natural” is just about the most misleading label that you’ll ever see on a food package. Yet consumers still look for that word, food companies still love to use it and the Food and Drug Administration can’t or won’t define it.

So Rangan now says it’s time to kill the “natural” label. Consumer Reports is about to submit formal petitions to the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking them to ban the word from food packages, so that consumers won’t be hornswoggled by empty promises.

It’s the latest turn in a debate that’s gone on for decades, in part because defining naturalness seems to be just as hard as defining beauty.

According to a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the FDA told a food manufacturer in 1940 that canned, heat-treated grapefruit juice couldn’t be called natural. “This term should be reserved for fresh juice or juice which has been kept without intervention of any process of heat treatment,” the agency wrote.

But times and technology change. These days, the FDA only objects to calling a food “natural” if it contains artificial flavor, color or other synthetic additives. Otherwise, there are few restrictions.

Farmers can grow crops using pesticides and genetically modified crops, often called GMOs. They can feed antibiotics to animals or keep egg-laying chickens in cages. Food processors can add sugar (an “all-natural” sweetener, after all) or corn starch or anything else derived from plant or animal life to their products. It’s all “natural.”

This is galling for Rangan, because Consumer Reports been campaigning against several of these practices, including the use of antibiotics and GMOs. Most consumers, she says, believe — mistakenly — that food labeled “natural” is produced without these practices. Surveys show that most consumers think that the label is equivalent to “organic.” Organic rules do ban the use of antibiotics, GMOs and almost all synthetic pesticides.

In theory, the FDA could define “natural.” In reality, Rangan says, there’s little chance that will happen, at least not quickly. It took many years for the USDA to come up with a working standard for organic food, and defining “natural” would be just as complicated. Better, she says, just to ban the word.

Others have attacked the problem through the courts. More than 200 lawsuits have been filed against the use of “natural,” arguing that it can’t apply to food containing GMOs or hydrogenated oils. In some cases, companies responded by erasing the offending word from the label.

Rangan’s quest to ban the word entirely, however, faces tough legal hurdles.

“I’d be very surprised if the FDA has any interest in acting on this,” says David Ter Molen, an attorney with Freeborn & Peters in Chicago who’s also editor of a “Food Identity Blog.” “This is not a health or safety issue for them” and not high on the agency’s list of priorities.

So, for now, whether something is natural remains a matter of opinion.

Republished from Living Maxwell

Recommended Supplements (These supplements help detoxify GMOs):

Further Reading:


Autism, Down Syndrome, and Other Genetic Disorders

Definition of Genetic: adjective – Of or relating to genes (a unit of heredity) that is transferred from a parent to its child and is thought to cause physical and/or mental characteristics in the child: all the cells in a body should contain the same genetic information.

Definition of Heredity: The passing on of physical or mental characteristics from a male and a female to their children and their children and the following generations.

Simplified Definition of DNA: It is material in a body that carries all of the genetic information.

What Causes Autism, Down Syndrome, and Other Genetic Disorders

Pharmaceutical Companies tell patients and parents that genetics are solely to blame for every medical failure that comes about from using their expensive, toxic, and destructive drugs and procedures. But more and more people are seeing what plenty of research shows, these super drugs and vaccinations being pushed down our throats are actually the cause of the modern day diseases such as Autism, Down syndrome, and the many other epidemics.

In 1998, I discovered the basic physical common denominator of all disease: “stoppage.” In 2007 I realized the 3 basic physical reasons why all stoppage occurs:

  1. A person is DOING something they shouldn’t be doing.
  2. A person is NOT DOING something they actually should be doing.
  3. Lastly, they are doing both #1 and #2 at the same time.

For most people this seems overly simplistic. And of course (as usual) most of the authorities would vehemently disagree with these principles, if only because applications using them are inexpensive and just too easy.

A few of the many real life examples I have come across in my practice:

A person is DOING something they shouldn’t be doing.

At the urging of their medical doctor, a mother and father of a small boy have him vaccinated at an early age. One of the main ingredients in this shot is Thimersol, of which 49% is the heavy metal Mercury. Mercury, besides being highly toxic in itself, can cause the nerves and the brain to short circuit. This brings about weird physical and mental behavior in children and creates Autism in its many forms.

A person is NOT DOING something they actually should be doing.

A woman doesn’t exercise at all while pregnant. The birth is very difficult, the baby is physically stressed and often even damaged. Often she will end up having to have a cesarean section rather than a natural child birth simply because she wasn’t in a good enough physical condition.

A person is NOT DOING something they actually should be doing while doing something else they should not be doing.

A husband and wife are alcoholics or drug addicts and spend a great deal of their time boozing or doping up, rather than consuming nutritious food and drink. Alcoholics and drug addicts are well known to be suffering from malnutrition due to their bad diets. While not addressed or promoted broadly, it is a scientific fact that alcohol and drugs taken to any excess can create abnormalities in the DNA. Now scientists are beginning to discover what many of us naturopaths have long known; diet, too, can have a significant effect on DNA. Is it really any surprise that because of this one fact, Down Syndrome is also on a dramatic rise in this current society?

Because every case is different, and some bodies are more susceptible to damage than others, or some just don’t have the recuperating powers or the stronger immune systems that others have, the above is not broadly recognized or promoted, and is actually suppressed in many circles. The amazing thing is, these conditions cannot only be prevented, and in most cases these diseases can actually be stopped and reversed.

It stands to reason that in order to begin the healing process and the reversal of any one of these Genetic disorders, one need only…

Treatments and Remedies; The Protocols For Reversing Autism, Down Syndrome, and Other Genetic Disorders (Listed in order of importance)

  1. Add Proper Nutrition

    One needs to put the proper building blocks there so that when the correction starts happening, the right nutrients are available for the rebuilding process.

  2. Remove the Toxins

    The mercury, the food additives, the pesticides, the hormones, the steroids, the alcohol & drug residues, and the radiation buildup all have to go. These are what created the stoppage in the first place. Complete detoxification is a must!

  3. Use of GOOD Bio-chemicals

    Vitamins and herbs that increase circulation and deliver nutrients to the nerves and the brain will also stimulate and improve their function. These are essential. The main ones for doing this are vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin B3 (niacin), a vitamin B complex, gingko biloba, cayenne, horseradish, garlic, and ginger (not a complete list by any means, but a good start).

  4. DMSO Therapy

    DMSO has four main characteristics:

    1. It will penetrate any organic cell wall.
    2. It takes whatever you mix with it through the cell wall as well.
    3. It is a free radical fighter second to none. Free radicals are particles that destroy cells.
    4. Most exciting and extremely important: There is every evidence that it realigns the body’s DNA back to the original blueprint (form).

  5. Oxygenation Therapy Used Along With Inversion Therapy

    Oxygenation therapy by means of food grade hydrogen peroxide when used with inversion therapy (hanging upside down) will START that which has been stopped. This part of the process will reset and turn on the switches that were turned off when the damage was done.

  6. A Quality Exercise Protocol

    Any game such as tennis, or any sport that requires coordination, played every day for an hour or three, no matter how badly played to begin with, is absolutely vital when it comes to reprogramming the body.

The above is very inexpensive to do and so will not be popular with those who are money motivated. Not only are they listed in order of importance, they were also placed in the proper sequence for getting the best results. It will not be appreciated by those who believe that throwing money at a problem is the way to solve everything. However, using the above program, with some hard work and dedication anyone will see dramatic improvement in conditions, and in most cases the above protocol will remedy them altogether.

There is no limit to the number of times a person can be put through the entire program. Once completely done in sequence, extra emphasis can then be placed on one or more of the protocols thereafter. After the first time through, each step can be done over and over again as needed. It is not uncommon to put a person through the detox part of the program at least 4 times in the first year, and once or twice a year from thereon out. Step one (the addition of excellent nutrition) should not only be done throughout, but must be maintained even after one has attained the desired results and is no longer on the program. Though not to the same degree of importance, the same is true for step 6 as well.

The Importance of Proper Nutrition

You can’t build a bowl of clay pottery without clay. You can’t run a car without fuel. And you most certainly cannot build or rebuild a healthy body without excellent nutrition. Without the proper building blocks, neither a building nor a body gets built with any permanence or strength to it. If you create a structure with junk materials, you’ll get a junk building that soon decays and crumbles into ruin. If you attempt to build a body on junk food, you’ll get a body that decays and is always sick, tired, and diseased. It only stands to reason that the opposite is also true. If you add great nutrition to your daily regimen, you will now have the “building blocks” necessary to start building a healthy body. This is especially true when attempting to bring a body back from a condition of disease, and into a state of health. When building or rebuilding anything, you’ve got to have the right tools and the right building materials!

First and foremost is to eat only 100% organic, all natural foods. Nowadays, the GMO companies (Monsanto, ADM, Dupont, etc.) are trying to get the organic standards changed so that even GMO soy can be legally labeled organic. There is a great deal of evidence pointing to the fact that even many so called organic standards have been compromised or soon will be if they haven’t been already. We all should make friends with our local farmers and start supporting our local farmer’s markets. Additionally, start gardening! This is tremendous fun for the kids (gets them away from the TV), and the health benefits are noticed immediately. You’ll be amazed at how much better the taste of your produce is, and the whole family’s health will start improving overnight. If you live in a big city, join a local co-op.

Don’t forget, raw fresh produce is the healthiest food you can eat! By volume, most of your diet should be produce, and consume more vegetables than fruit.

Many people simply can’t do this due to the location where they live. Many simply have no access to high quality food. This is why I created my Total Nutrition Formula. I wanted a formula that had the best of the best in it and that was accessible to everyone. I wanted a nutritional supplement that could do it ALL, and this recipe does exactly that. Also very important to me was making the recipe “public domain” = publishing the exact formula, and making it fully available for anyone to make on their own if they so wished. Anyone wanting the exact recipe has only to go to: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Herbal_Remedies/ and look in the “FILES”. There are no exceptions. Every single one of my recipes, formulas, and health tips are there and FREE for the downloading.

Why is the Total Nutrition Formula so good and so vital?

The most important ingredients in Total Nutrition is spirulina, a blue green algae. Spirulina is one of the most concentrated, nutritious foods on the planet. It is the highest natural source of complete protein (77% = much higher than many meat sources), plus we use only 100% organically grown spirulina. It is extremely high in beta carotene and is also a rich source of all the B-vitamins. It is one of the best sources of organic minerals, yet it is easily metabolized and assimilated, even by those with major digestion difficulties.

The second most important ingredient is chlorella, a close second  to spirulina in overall nutritional content. Another of the algae, it is an extremely concentrated food where the cell wall has been cracked to make the nutrients quickly available. But that’s only half the story. Chlorella is very special, in that it acts as a  natural chelation agent that will bond with heavy metals to facilitate their removal from the body. It is a vital tool for autistic children who have been exposed to high levels of mercury and is essential when it comes to removing all heavy metals from the brain and other areas of the body.

The third major ingredient is astragalus. In Oriental herbology, astragalus shares the #1 spot with ginseng. Astragalus not only has a reputation for preventing cancer, but it is legendary for rejuvenating digestive organs and balancing blood sugar levels. Astragalus also corrects metabolism and can therefore bring about weight-loss or weight-gain depending on the needed improvement. This makes it equally great for weight lifters and weight reducers. It strengthens and builds the immune system, promotes the healing of wounds and injuries, reduces edema and is well known for dramatically increasing energy levels and assisting those who wish to handle diabetes. Astragalus also has the added benefit of helping to balance hormone levels in both men and women, plus it is an adaptogen second to none, (adaptogen = a natural, herbal substance that helps the body adapt to stress and which also brings about a normalizing or balancing effect upon all bodily processes – the two top adaptogens are ginseng and astragalus). It is a marvelous herb.

The are many other important ingredients in the recipe. Alfalfa, barley, and wheat grasses are rich in natural vitamins. Purple dulse seaweed is the greatest source of organic, assimilable minerals and trace minerals on the planet. Beet root and spinach leaf have the highest easily assimilable levels of organic iron, which is essential to blood building. Rose hips, orange peels, and lemon peels are the best sources of vitamin C, and together these three offer a completely balanced C-complex source. The citrus peels are also one of the highest sources of pectin, which has been proven to remove heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.) from the body, and they even remove radioactive contaminants like the deadly strontium 90. The non-active saccharomyces cerevisiae nutritional yeast is a non-active yeast that is grown on beets and in pure molasses. It is the second highest source of complete protein in nature (50%), is the richest source of B-complex vitamins, and is also a rich source of iron and many other minerals. The yeast we choose is heated high enough to absolutely destroy any yeast activity, but not high enough to lessen the B vitamin content. It is totally NON-active and safe for those with Candida Albicans or on yeast free diets.

The Importance of Detoxification.

For almost every disease a quality detox should be done along with the other parts of the program. They should also be done at regular intervals thereafter to handle day-to-day contact with common toxins in the environment. A very important fact I’d like to state right up front, and this will not be popular with the conventional authorities, is a point about safety. Unlike contemporary medicine and drug therapies, it is very difficult to hurt yourself using herbal remedies, regardless of what mistakes are made. Herbal regimens are very safe, even if you don’t stick to recommended amounts. One really has to go out of his or her way to do any kind of actual damage. It happens, but it is exceptionally rare. And any harm that might be done is almost always temporary and usually limited to discomfort such as a headache or an upset stomach. As a matter of fact, when it comes to herbs, doing more is usually better. Because drugs are truly that dangerous, pharmaceuticals need to have specific dosages and very exact scientific protocols. But a piece of information that is kept top-secret by the medicos is that these drugs damage and toxify the liver and other organs, requiring the necessity of detoxification. Herbal remedies are not rocket science, but unlike pharmaceuticals, they don’t have to be.

As previously covered, mercury, food additives, pesticides, hormones, steroids, drug residues, and radiation buildup all have to go. Most often, these are what created the stoppage and the genetic damage in the first place. Complete detoxification of the entire body is a must!

There are a large number of detox programs out there, but only a few of them are excellent. Many of them are either barely effective, ineffective, or just plain junk.

My own Total Body Cleanse is crucial when it comes to doing a deep and thorough cleanse that not only cleans out the elimination organs, but gets rid of enough toxins so that a permanent healing can then take place throughout the entire body. The basic theory behind the TBC is that the complete detoxification of the major elimination organs and corrective glands of the body, will then allow the body to repair itself using the excellent nutrition previously introduced and continuously being supplied to the body. You have to get the junk out, and the only way to do this is through the elimination organs. The place to begin is with a complete cleanse and detox of the bowels, followed by a liver and kidney detox. While cleansing, it is also necessary to increase circulation and nutrients to the nerves and the brain in order to stimulate and improve their function. This is essential. The main vitamins and herbs for doing this are vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin B–complex, gingko biloba, cayenne, horseradish, garlic, turmeric, cilantro, and ginger. Also, supplementing with MSM, co-enzyme Q-10, minerals from my Body Balance+ Formula (potassium & iron), and plant enzymes will also bring quicker results.

For more information on Total Nutrition Formula, including how to make your own,check out OLM’s Total Nutrtion article.

For more information on DMSO, and trust me, you want to know more because this stuff is amazing, check outOLM’s DMSO article.



The Unbelievable Benefits of DMSO

DMSO = Dimethyl Sulfoxide – a Sulfur Compound

DMSO is a bio-chemical from pine trees that is made in the pulp and paper industry. It is also found naturally in garlic as one of garlic’s 70+ sulfur compounds. DMSO has four main characteristics:

What DMSO Does

  1. You can put a drop of DMSO on your big toe and taste it in your mouth in about 12 seconds. It has a bit of a garlicky / oyster taste. It goes through the cell walls of the body so fast that a dropper-full of it taken internally through the mouth never reaches the stomach when swallowed. Most of it is absorbed directly into the mouth, the rest in the throat. This gives one an unusual feeling of heat as it goes directly through the individual cells of the mouth and then penetrates into all other areas of the body.
  2. One has to pay attention and use caution when using DMSO because it has the ability to take other things with it when it penetrates each and every cell wall of the body. This is very beneficial when you mix certain herbal formulas with it as it carries the awesome bio-chemical properties of the herbs into the body and gets them to where they’re needed most. But, very importantly, you don’t want to take DMSO right after you change the oil on your car either, because it will take any unwanted toxins into your body as well. Just as it will take good things into the body, so will it take the bad. However, when used with highest quality detox herbs, especially chelating herbs like garlic, fruit pectin, and cilantro, there is nothing that removes toxins and heavy metals from the body quite so thoroughly and as quickly as DMSO. Easily passing the blood/brain barrier, DMSO when mixed with these awesome detox herbs becomes the ultimate therapy and tool for detoxifying the brain and other vital organs of the body.
  3. DMSO effectively wipes out free radicals (destructive, single, unconnected atoms). When toxins start moving around inside the body, they have the ability to create free radicals. DMSO instantly bonds with these wild atoms, neutralizing and rendering them harmless.
  4. Last, but not least, is the apparent ability of DMSO to realign DNA back to the original blueprint (the body’s original intended form). DMSO is a tool that allows the basic characteristics of the cell (through growth or healing) to go back to its original form before it was damaged by an outside source. Damaged cellular structure is actually encouraged to regrow back into its purest and most basic, original form. It is the physical catalyst that allows complete healing to occur. Using DMSO, people beyond count have attested to amazing results such as scars disappearing, organs being rejuvenated, vitality being restored, hair regrown, and wrinkles vanishing. It also works well against viruses. Autism, Down Syndrome, and other genetic disorders have been completely reversed!

Why aren’t the benefits of this marvelous compound being screamed from the rooftops? How and why has this information been suppressed for the last 60+ years?

Well, for one thing, it is extremely inexpensive to make. For another, it is a natural substance and cannot be trademarked, copyrighted, or patented. In other words, there’s no money whatsoever to be made from any research into this vital, extremely valuable tool. And yet, DMSO was actually outlawed in Canada a short while ago without any concrete proof that it created any negative effects whatsoever. The giant pharmaceutical companies swing so much weight in governments nowadays, that they have been able to suppress this incredible knowledge for over half a century. Unbelievable!

DMSO Miracle

My most dramatic experience in using DMSO was when I was actively practicing in my clinic in New Mexico. A neighbor brought me his black Labrador that had been attacked by a pack of coyotes and was missing half of his shoulder. The muscles, and the skin & hair had all been torn from the shoulder leaving only a gaping hole the size of my fist with severed veins just hanging loose. My neighbor was just hoping we could save the dog’s life, but I informed him we could do much better than that. For the next 6 months we mixed and applied an herbal preparation using my Total Healing Poultice Powder and DMSO. We crudely loaded the wound up with this mixture, bandaged it up (changing it weekly), and at the end of 6 months, the flesh, muscle and tissues had all grown back, the skin had reformed over the wound. Even the hair had grown in again leaving no scar whatsoever. The dog had no limp, and there was no way anyone could even tell he’d ever been injured at all. All traceable signs of the wound were gone.

How to Take DMSO

Start with 1 dropperful of USP Grade DMSO a day taken internally through the mouth. When the person stops stinking (garlicky smell), raise the amount to 2 dropperfuls and so on up to 5 dropperfuls. When the stink stops at 5, this part of the program is done.

When shopping for DMSO, be sure to purchase the product from a reputable company and the bottle must be glass! We’re looking for a reliable and consistently high quality source to sell at Green Lifestyle Market but have not had success yet.

Recommended Reading:


The First Steps to Health

When someone shows interest in natural health, the first question is often, “Where do I start?” Organic food is often prohibitively expensive or hard to find, and there are thousands of supplements pushed, each marketed with its one promise to magically cure what ails us. It can be overwhelming, and getting started is, for many people, the toughest part.

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that there are some very easy, relatively inexpensive steps almost anyone can take to holistically improve their health.

The bad news is that health and vitality is not to be found in a bottle or some other form of packaging.

I, the owner of Green Lifestyle Market, a company that sells supplements, am here to tell you that if you’re looking for a quick fix, an item you can purchase and consume to allow you to continue living a toxic lifestyle, this is the wrong article. And anyone who tells you that you can get all of your daily nutrition in one shake, smoothie, pill, or powder is only trying to sell you something.

Drink Lots of Good Water

I weigh 210 pounds and I try to drink a gallon of water a day. I need less water when I eat more raw produce, but I still shoot for a gallon of water a day. I get spring water when I can, fresh from a spring that I trust. But if you don’t have access to a spring, or if you have a seriously compromised immune system, distilled water could be a better choice, initially. Just make sure you’re not drinking a gallon of tap water a day. Tap water is toxic, and fluoridated water is a crime against humanity.

Sometimes just plain water is boring. I usually make cranberry stevia lemonade. I take fresh lemons and pure bottled cranberry juice and sweeten it with stevia. For more, check out our Stevia Lemonade with Cayenne within our Cheap and Easy Detox Diet Plan article.

I find that this lemonade is easier to drink when I am not feeling particularly thirsty, and there are tons of health benefits! The lemon and the cranberry help flush out toxins and balance the body’s pH while providing you with electrolytes and other nutrients.

Eat More Raw Fresh Produce

I eat a huge salad almost every day. If I make rice and beans, I add avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, and shredded carrots right on top. If I eat soup I add shredded and diced vegetables right before eating. When I snack, I choose fruit and vegetables. I eat red bell peppers like other people eat apples. Approximately 80% of my diet (by bulk) is raw fresh produce. Check out my salad recipe in that article, too.

the joker memeAs the editor and chief of Organic Lifestyle Magazine, I am telling you that “organic” is not the most important thing.

When you’re shopping for produce, if you can afford it, and if it is available, buy organic. By all means, this is very important and you will feel the difference. But when choosing between organic frozen carrots and fresh conventional carrots, I’m picking fresh almost every time. I draw the line at genetically modified foods. To understand what foods to be aware of in order to avoid GMOs, read our Foods that are GMO article.

Cut Out These Foods

GMOs

Soy should not be consumed unless first fermented and not genetically modified. Over 99% of the soy we consume is terrible for our health. Soy naturally has enzyme inhibitors that wreck havoc on our hormones. The way Asians were eating it for thousands of years included fermentation, which nullifies the enzyme inhibitors. This is why health nuts soak and sprout their nuts, seeds, and legumes.

Like soy, conventional corn and potatoes that you find in your grocery store are almost always GMO and should be avoided.

Gluten

There are two problems with wheat. The first problem is that through our farming practices we have genetically modified the gluten protein. This is not to be confused with what we call GMOs. Hybridization is the practice of cross-pollinating plants. For instance, the bananas we eat today are hybrids. They are nothing like the bananas of our ancestors. So, at a genetic level the bananas and every other food we eat today are actually genetically modified, but this is not the same thing as what we refer to as GMOs.

So while our hybrid practices has made much of our food more palatable and more nutritious, it has changed the gluten protein in wheat into something we cannot properly digest.

In addition to the modified gluten, we also do not make bread the way we used to. Our technique for making bread included a fermentation process using lactobacillus bacteria that broke down the gluten proteins and rendered the wheat digestible, or we would soak and sprout the wheat before making the bread.

For most people, cutting out wheat in their diet yields amazing vitality. Try it for a week and you’re bound to notice a difference.

Refined Foods

Your food should give you nutrition. But refined foods rob your body of nutrition. Consuming white rice, for instance, is acidic. Your body uses minerals to balance out the acidity in order to keep your body’s blood at a slightly alkaline pH. If not, you’re dead. So every time you eat white rice, you’re robbing your body of alkalinizing minerals to maintain this balance. Brown rice has these alkaline minerals. This is true for white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and almost any other refined food. Eat whole foods that have all of their nutrition. Once your taste buds adjust, you won’t even be able to stand the refined crap everyone else ingests. It’s very much like quitting smoking. You wonder how you ever put up with the smell, because now it makes you sick!

Dairy

Some people tolerate raw (unpasteurized, un-homogenized) cow’s milk from grassfed healthy cows very well. Others don’t.  But nobody does well on conventional dairy products. It’s not natural. And milk is a very poor, toxic source of calcium. If you’re looking for calcium, eat green vegetables.

Squat

We are meant to squat. We squatted to go to the bathroom, we squatted to hide from prey, we squatted to hide from predators, we squatted to keep our asses off the ground while relaxing, we squatted many, many times day. In the wild, if we couldn’t squat, we didn’t have much more time to live. Squatting is the most important exercise you can do. It even helps detoxify the body. It puts gentle pressure on your organs while aligning them properly to help eliminate waste. Squatting can even help with several ailments including constipation, kidney infections, back pain, and even baby malposition during labor.

We should all be able to do 100 squats in a row, going all the way down. Most people can’t do 10.

If you cannot squat, try get-ups. Lay down on the floor. Get up. Lay back down on the floor.  Alternate the leg you use to get up.

If you can’t do get-ups, sit in a chair, and stand, and sit, and stand some more. Try to use your legs as much as possible while using your arms and momentum as little as possible.

Conclusion

Many people read an article like this and ask with disdain, “So what can I eat?” There are so many choices out there. But the problem is not so much a lack of choice as it is a lack of convenience. You’re not going to get healthy nutrition from packaged, processed, easy foods. If you want fast food, that’s what fruit is for. But if you’re making dinner and you want to prepare a healthy meal, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and make a meal from scratch using whole, unadulterated foods.

There are so many other things you can do for your health. For instance, a huge step you can take is growing your own food. If you can do this, the return on your investment will be a bit slow, but hugely rewarding once realized. But for most people, nothing else need be done until these steps are first realized. If you suffer from serious health issues, you may want to see Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases, and checkout and bookmark this list of “Foundational Articles.”

Recommended Supplements:
Further Reading:


How I Lost Over 150 Pounds, and How My Life Changed

I used to weigh 368 pounds. I had a 58 inch waist. I was 46% body fat. In addition, I was often sick and had many allergies. My body hurt. Moving was becoming more and more difficult. I was only 17.

I was one of the targets at my school. I was ridiculed and picked on incessantly. The name that everyone knew me as was Fat Ass or sometimes Pillsbury.  And I did have a fat ass. It was huge. I did not store my excess fat in a manly way. It was all badonkadonk!

I was beat up regularly, and I felt tortured. < ahref="https://www.phentermineonline.com/phentermine-before-and-after">Before age 17 I had been in about 75 fistfights, none of which I started. I would get jumped by someone, and if I won, I got jumped by three of his friends. I was the laughing stock of the school and the punching bag for anyone looking to get some fight cred, or to just take out their anger.

I was rarely taken seriously, and the few friends I had were younger than me, as no one my age would be seen with me. While I appreciated the friends I did have, I was still the punch line for many of their jokes. All this simply led to more eating.

On top of all of this, I had a very hard time with social skills. Looking back and talking with some doctors, it became clear I suffered from undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, as well as a host of other developmental issues. I was tactile defensive and had a very hard time properly communicating with people. Looking people in the eyes was (and at times still is) extremely difficult.

How I Got in Shape

I owe that weight loss to a beautiful woman I had a huge crush on. She was older than me and absolutely stunning. I had to be with her. It was the best motivation a 17-year-old virgin could hope for.

The day after I saw her, I rode my bike to the YMCA. I worked out, lifting weights and using the Stairmaster. I ate more fruits and vegetables and stopped eating entire packages of hot dogs, whole blocks of cheddar cheese, and half gallon containers of yogurt. As much as I loved to tell people that I was genetically predisposed to obesity, the reality is I ate like there was no tomorrow.

I remember that first day I went to the gym. It was a Tuesday. Then came Wednesday. The only difference between that Wednesday and every other Wednesday that preceded it was that I went back to the gym, and I continued to eat better.

I didn’t do everything right, though. I didn’t know any better. I drank Sprite like it was going out of style. I followed the old food pyramid model, so bread was the foundation of my diet. But I quit binging, and I exercised every single day like a man possessed. I lifted weights 5 days a week, played basketball 6 days a week for 2 hours every day, and I ran 6 miles every Sunday. I could not be stopped.

The more I lost, the better I felt. The better I felt, the more I listened to my body. I noticed that the more produce I ate, the better I felt. I ate more produce and fewer packaged foods. When I finally gave up Sprite (after learning how bad refined sugar is for you), my allergies went away! Food allergies, pet allergies, seasonal allergies, allergies I had lived with for years and thought I was stuck with forever, disappeared. But they quickly came back as soon as my diet went off track.

At almost one year to the day, I got my weight down to 215 pounds. I still had a little chub, but I was in incredible shape. I ran 30 miles just to see if I could run a marathon without stopping.

The Difference

Obviously, I was not made fun of the way I used to be. I wasn’t picked on. I was able communicate better, to socialize, and to be more comfortable with eye contact and touching. A couple of times, some of the people who used to torment me tried to pick a fight, and I was able to scare them into backing off. After all the fights I had been in, my new found confidence, my ability to communicate, assert myself, and intimidate, as well as a massive amount of real world experience with fighting, I was easily able to convey to people that I was no longer an easy target. The few guys that decided to try me anyways got put in their place, and that only increased my confidence.

Oh…and I got the girl.

It actually felt like I could have had any woman in that town. At age 18, I knew what it felt like to be popular for the first time in my life. I dedicated my life to putting a stop to bullying. It was a rough town I grew up in, and my friends and I (and I had many more at that time then I ever did in my life) went around looking for people who were being picked on. We would stop the bullying. If need be, I did it by force. Then I moved away, and my vigilante days were over. Well, for the most part. I’ll still fight the good fight if someone is in need.

Relapse

I still, to this day, struggle with my weight. It is an ongoing battle. Some people need to throw out the scale. I need to weigh myself every single day. If I don’t, I quickly notice my pants getting tight. My weight fluctuates by about 25 pounds. I’m 6’3”, so that’s not as extreme as you might think, but it’s still a lot.

About 10 years ago, I ballooned back up to 290. I knew much more about health at this point, as I had been studying naturopathy for many years, but I had not been practicing what I preach. I was engaged to what is commonly referred to as a “chubby-chaser” and we ate and ate and ate together. I loved to cook, we both loved to eat, and she was a tiny little Asian woman who could eat almost as much as I could and not put on a pound. We ate a lot of starchy Asian foods like sticky rice and fried noodles. It was easy to put on the weight with her. But eventually I wanted to get back in shape. Not because I was being picked on, not because people didn’t respect me, and not to “get the girl.” I wanted to get in shape for me this time. As I lost weight, I noticed once again a tremendous difference in how I was treated. I hadn’t even noticed the decline in how people looked at me as I gained the weight, but as it came off, everyone seemed to respect me more and more. My ideas at work were given more consideration, and people wanted to ask my opinion more often. I was invited out more. And that chubby-chasing girl friend of mine? Even she changed her tune. She was digging the new me, a version of the old me that she found a new appreciation for. (And ever since then she has preferred men in good physical condition, so I guess I cured her of that).

How I Lost 50 pounds

I worked out, of course, but this time I had a job and a life, so working out to the extent I did before was not an option. I cut out all of the refined foods. I severely limited the starches. I got down to 220. My diet was 80% raw fresh fruits and vegetables, mostly vegetables. I ate a huge salad every day for breakfast. It filled me up for hours and eliminated my cravings for the rest of the day. Instead of my famous pesto pasta, salads became my specialty.

I also drank a gallon of stevia sweetened lemonade with cayenne every day. This helped to reduce my appetite considerably as well, and it also flushed toxins. A healthy liver facilitates healthy weight loss.

My snacks were produce, usually vegetables. Not just celery and carrots like most people think about when they think of snacking on veggies, I ate kale, collards, chard, beets, peppers–any vegetable that could be eaten raw. I was known for a being the guy who ate vegetables the way people eat fruit. “He’s eating that bell pepper like it’s an apple!” they’d say, bewildered.

Those are my three biggest recommendations: A gallon of stevia sweetened cayenne lemonade with made with clean pure drinking water, a big salad every single day, and snack on produce as well. If money isn’t too tight, I would also say to get SF722 and FloraMend to fix the gut which can radically help reduce bad food cravings.

Stress Eating

Then my whole life changed. It was turned upside down. These words don’t do it justice. My life was shaken up like a snow-globe. I was arrested. I was charged with a crime I did not commit. I went to jail for a month. I bailed out. Then I awaited trial for a year out on bail, and I put back on the weight. I am and always have been a stress eater, and starches are my biggest weakness. I ate and I ate and I ate because I couldn’t cope. I was looking at 30+ years and a lot of other crap that I could not handle. I guess I did handle it, as I’m here. But the way I handled it was with food. I got back up to 310 pounds.

How I Lost 100 Pounds

I went to jail.  My bond was revoked, and I spent another year waiting for trial, but this time in jail. I had nothing to do in jail but read and work out. It’s a bit harder to binge eat in jail, though I certainly saw some people doing it. But I was determined to come out of that situation better than I went in, and one of the ways to do that was to get fit again, once and for all.

I traded my deserts, juices, milks, and starches for vegetables, and got as many donated to me as I could. I could even put together a decent salad. The diabetics traded my candy for their oranges. They hate fruit. That explained the diabetes.

The only problem with this is I ended up with a jail cell full of people who decided to follow my lead. I was very popular in that dorm and become sort of the jail doctor for my fellow inmates. Any ailment, they’d come to me, and I could almost always fix it. I was honest, so people said, “What can I do to get healthier?” and I’d tell then, eat vegetables! So the price of vegetables skyrocketed like gold has done in the last few years. Suddenly, I was having to get money from my family to buy store food to trade for vegetables. Eventually even this quit working and almost all 60 of those inmates wanted to eat their veggies. Even the diabetics wanted their fruit!

So I switched dorms. Well, actually, I got into a fight with a bully, and was moved to another dorm. Then I realized I could just repeat this pattern whenever the price of produce got too high. So that’s what I did, and when I got out a year later I was 205 pounds. I wouldn’t say I was healthy. I aged considerably in jail. It’s not like the vegetables there had an ounce of nutrition, but they were certainly the best choice I had. For the first time in my life,  I knew what it felt like to be fit and unhealthy at the same time.

Stretch Marks and Loose Skin

When I got into my best shape, which was 210 and very strong, I tightened my skin considerably. The bouncy, loose, flabby skin went away. When I took systemic enzymes and really got strict on my diet, the stretch marks faded. You can still see them, but only if you look closely. I believe that most cases of loose skin that people complain about after weight loss can be alleviated by getting down to a very low body fat, and then adding on some weight if desired. I don’t think it’s loose skin as much as loose fat.

Supplements for Weight Loss

I also took vitamin D and Total Nutrition. I found this helped speed my weight loss and noticed a difference immediately, compared to not supplementing.

Conclusion

So we have three distinct methods here:

  • Workout like a man (or woman) possessed in order to lose your virginity
  • Eat right, drink a lot of water, and workout regularly
  • Go to jail

I recommend the second one. But also, find your motivation, and focus on it. And see yourself as healthy. Appreciate your body. Know that it’s brought you this far no matter how you treated it, and love it for this. Love yourself. It’s hard to treat yourself well when you don’t.

Today, at this very moment, I weigh 212 pounds. At 204 I start to get that elusive six-pack. I only had it for a very brief moment. I’m working on it. But I’ve never gone over 235 since that last time before I got arrested, and at 235, I’m just a little pudgy.

I still eat for stress, but I started practicing my gallon a day routine again, I am back at the gym, and I am aiming for that six-pack. I want it.

If you’ve been overweight for a long time, and you’re ready to get in shape, check out Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones and Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases.

Related Reading: