A Complete, Step-By-Step Guide to Restoring Your Health and/or Staying Healthy

It’s simple. But in today’s world, it certainly isn’t easy. The hardest part about being healthy is learning how simple it can be. Simplifying one’s life can be very complicated.

Start Listening

Listen to your body. When you eat crap food there is an itch in your throat. That’s infection feeding off of the sugars and the damaged cells caused by one soda or one cookie. Headaches, skin itching, brain fogginess, fatigue, and aches and pains can usually be traced back to something you ate. If you are not yet in tune with your body, pay attention.

Don’t take painkillers. They make it too easy to continue the poor behavior. Healthy people, the truly healthy ones, deal with a headache naturally. They ask themselves what they did to get this headache so they don’t get it again, and they use natural means to remedy the pain. They don’t cover it up, causing other problems in the long run.

Accept the Fact That Your Health Is Up to You

Learn the absolute truth that your health is your responsibility and totally in your hands. A doctor cannot make you healthy. Neither can this article. Your health is totally and completely dependent upon your actions. There are very few people reading this article who don’t have the choice to be healthy. Most people think that their sickness is out of their control–a hand dealt by fate, bad genes, etc. This is so rarely true. Every single ailment has a natural cure. An absolute cure. And none of them work well without a very healthy diet as the foundation of one’s lifestyle.

And the truth is that a healthy diet cures most problems by itself. But there are those who are so sick, so toxic, that they need targeted nutrition.

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

Forget the magic pill. Almost everyone who comes to me asking what they can do to be well is looking for a shortcut. They’re looking for a few natural “tricks” that will allow them to keep smoking, or drinking soda, or eating fast food. And I know them. I know tons of them. And they work – for a little while. You can take an Advil for a headache, or you can take enough high quality Boswallia, but being healthy means avoiding behaviors that cause headaches and not blaming them on stress and/or genetics. When the body is healthy, I mean really healthy, it is amazing how well it can handle stress, allergens, and even environmental toxins without negative physical reactions.

Genetics are a predisposition. If your father died of a heart attack at 50 years old, that does not mean that you have to die at 50. It simply may mean that if you don’t take care of yourself your heart may be one of the first organs to go. That’s how genetics work.

It’s a hard truth for most to accept. It’s hard because it takes away the excuses and makes it much more difficult to live life in the conventional way, the way most have been raised believing is “normal.”

How To Eat Healthy

Cut Out All the Crap. No soda, coffee, smoking (anything), drugs (over the counter and prescription), alcohol, pre-packaged processed foods, fast foods, microwaving, and restaurants.

That last one is tough, I know. And that includes restaurants that claim to be healthy. They aren’t. Of the 65 restaurants I know of that claim to be healthy, two of them are. Even the healthiest options from the other 63 are prepared by cutting corners that render the food much less beneficial than if it was prepared by you at home. I do eat out. But I don’t do it often, and I know how to order healthy when I do. And every now and then I splurge. But I spent a lot of time eating perfectly, detoxifying, and learning to listen to my body. I also worked in a few restaurants that were supposed to be healthy, and know what to avoid. For the purposes of this article, it’s better to just give up restaurants for a month at least. If you want to be truly healthy, it’s time to prepare your own food. It’s time to learn raw food recipes. It’s time to cook with quinoa and brown rice. No more refined foods. Almost everything should be unadulterated. The few exceptions are certain foods that can or should be fermented, but that’s another article.

Recommended: Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)

No More Drugs

Smoking marijuana is not healthy. It’s got a ton of benefits, and there are way worse things you can do to your body that are totally legal. But smoking, smoking anything, introduces tons of carbon and free radicals into your body. And if the marijuana isn’t the pure high quality stuff, who knows what else you’re burning into your lungs. There are better ways to get all of the benefits that marijuana can provide.

As written above, no more over the counter medication. It’s not a small thing. One aspirin is not inconsequential. It does damage. I have yet to see anything at all healthy that is sold at a pharmacy, believe it or not. Everything in there is toxic! That is, unless you know of one that sells some organic produce. I haven’t found that drug store yet. Give up cough medicine, throat lozenges, and antacids; nothing you would buy at pharmacy is good for you or your health.

There is a catch that I am well aware of–birth control. Other than condoms, birth control is absolutely terrible for you. Pills, shots, IUDs, they are all absolutely terrible for your health and I have yet to find a natural birth control that works. I recommend condoms and/or spermicide. But I do understand that sometimes those aren’t the best options and we all have to figure out what works best for us. But I do not know of a way artificial hormones can be healthy. And IUDs have serious problems associated with them as well.

Another tough problem to deal with is the prescription drugs for serious issues such as mental illness or diabetes, or other conditions with dangerous consequences if/when we quit taking them. In most cases there is a way off of them. But it’s a long road, and it takes time, patience, and diligence. And while I feel everyone should take health into his or her own hands, this is an exception. Most people on medications such as these should have guidance; someone should be watching and making sure things are going well.

It can be very tough to find a professional who knows enough about health and knows how, or has the desire, to get someone off drugs. If you suffer from a physical health issue, take things slowly. And consider getting help if possible. If it’s a mental condition, and it would be dangerous to be off the medication, I do believe there is a way to get off of the pharmaceuticals and be healthy, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of help, and a lot of discipline for the rest of your life. There are a few cases were I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to take this route. The risks are so high.

No More Processed Foods

I know a lot of vegans. I only know two who are healthy. The rest are junk food vegans.

I know a lot of health nuts. It’s my field; it’s my circle. And while many of them don’t want to hear this, I only know of a handful that are really, truly healthy. Most choose to be “healthier.”

Understanding the difference between healthy and healthier is imperative. Cliff Bars are healthier than a Snickers bar. The latest raw food spirulina bar sweetened with dates and apple juice is healthier than the cliff bar. But what’s healthy is raw whole dates and apples. I haven’t found a mass marketed food bar that is actually healthy. I’ve only seen healthier. The few that I have seen that I would consider to truly be healthy are made by very small companies and sold at smaller individually owned health food stores. And still, the other 19 out of 20 of those sold at these places would fall under the “healthier” category.

Prepare your own food. Take the time. Health is taking time for yourself and your family. Enjoy cooking or preparing raw foods from scratch with your family, instead of choosing a lifestyle that demands quick and cheap meals.

I can cook most meals as fast as other people can cook out of a box. It takes practice, lots of time and energy put towards learning the skill. But there is nothing more important to one’s health than preparing one’s own meals.

Drink

Don’t drink coffee. It’s acidic. It’s not good for you. The caffeine wreaks havoc on your thyroid. It causes a lot of other problems. Soda should come with a warning label as serious as a pack of cigarettes. Don’t touch the stuff. Diet soda is worse. Artificial sweeteners are an absolute no. Truvia is bad too. No soda. No flavored water. No store bought juice.

Limit the fruit juice even when it’s fresh and pressed. It’s still refined and processed because you are removing the fiber. Fruit juice, at its best, is still a concentrated refined sugar product. Green apples are an exception, and can be mixed with vegetables, but juice green apples, beets, and carrots sparingly because of the sugar content.

No alcohol. Humans weren’t meant to ingest alcohol. A glass of red wine has benefits, but those benefits can be had with better choices. Drink water. And make sure it is filtered and toxin free whenever possible. Don’t worry about drinking “enough” if you’re eating right. More on that in a moment.

Exercise

When someone tells me that they don’t have time to eat right or to exercise, I ask them if they ever watch television, and if they have a Facebook or a Twitter account, and if they ever go out drinking with their friends. People are so addicted to convenience and pleasure that it all ends up being very inconvenient. I try to remember that what is convenient today may have a high price to pay, and I also try not to confuse pleasure with happiness.

The truth is exercise pays you back with time in more ways than one. I’m not just talking about the idea that you live longer. And exercise alone does not necessarily help one to live longer when their diet is poor. Exercise for 20 minutes in the morning and once your body becomes accustomed to it you get back much more than 20 minutes in that day. You get that time with mental clarity and the ability to handle stress more effectively. We are more efficient, more productive, and see things in a more positive way when fitness is a part of our lifestyle.

And 20 minutes done right is all I believe anyone needs. I workout for longer than 20 minutes on most days, but the benefits of 20 minutes of very intense ass-kicking exercise are massive. And while one could argue that 30 minutes would be better, I find that on a busy day when I feel that my time is limited, 20 minutes offers me the best return on my investment. I am a firm believer in HIIT training. High Intensity Interval Training. Google it if you’re unfamiliar. I also do yoga, I ride bicycles, I weight lift, I do exercise that last for hours and I do very short and intense circuit training. I mix it up. There are different benefits to all. That said, for anyone short on time, nothing beats HIIT.

If there is no time or money for the gym, that’s fine, because the best exercises in the world are bodyweight exercise! From yoga to squats to sprints, the variety is endless. I believe that squats are the most important exercise anyone can do, and you don’t need weight. If you’re too out of shape to squat all the way down, try what I call “get ups.” You lay down and you stand up (alternating between what side you get up on each and every time is very important). When one ‘s health is too poor do “get ups” then sit down and get up as many times as possible from a seat. As soon as the soreness goes away, try for at least one more than you did before.

Be careful not to do it if you’re out of shape, especially for those with issues that affect muscles and joints like fibromyalgia. It is very easy to get very sore when you’re out of shape, and a toxic body takes so long to heal that a tough workout can be counterproductive.

And while this is one area that I do not heed my own advice with often enough, I recommend everyone take up yoga. An intense 20 minute exercise routine that builds endurance and strength is essential, but yoga is a close second. I don’t make enough time for it, but I will, as it improves one’s life immensely when practiced regularly.

Fast and Detoxify

You can fast without detoxifying. You can detox without fasting. And you can fast and detox while getting lots of nutrition, too. I recommend the latter. A calorie fast is a great way to reduce and eliminate the urge to eat junk food and to eat too much. It helps to reset the taste buds so that fresh raw produce tastes as it should. It can eliminate addictions. And when one is looking to lose weight, the initial results from a fast can help inspire those to start eating well afterwards. But it can also be the beginning of a rollercoaster ride. Coming off the fast gently and slowly with raw and healthy produce is the proper way to ease off. For a few choices on affordable fasting and detoxifying check out Fast and Easy Detox. You can also add a high quality nutrition supplement to the detox and insure you are getting plenty of nutrition. I am a fan of calorie fasting, but not nutrition fasting.

Get Educated

Read all about natural health. The key phrases for Google are: natural health, alternative health, natural remedies, home remedies, holistic health, and alternative medicine. I will warn you, like everything else, most of the information on these topics is crap. But almost all of the information is better than conventional medicine, and even most of the lousy information on natural healing has a higher success rate than conventional medicine, believe it or not. Seriously, the statistics on conventional medicine are scary!

It takes time to get educated. You get better and better at weeding out the B.S. It needs to become a hobby. Health and the knowledge of it should be one of everyone’s favorite hobbies. Doesn’t that make sense?

A lot of people who go through a traumatic health experience dabble in alternative medicine. Then they say, “I tried everything.” The truth in many of these cases is that the person tried 19 conventional medical treatments and one or two alternative medical treatments, none of which included patience and the most important aspect of holistic healing, a lifestyle change. True natural health takes time, patience, and discipline. But once you find it, that magical balance when you are totally in tune with your body, it’s easy and surprisingly simple.

If you’re looking for alternative medicine to compliment conventional treatments, I firmly believe you are wasting your time. As I’ve stated, the only alternative medicine that works in the long run includes a nutrient dense, toxin free (or as close to it as possible) diet, which cannot possibly be very effective if one is consuming the incredibly toxic substances that pharmaceutical companies call medicine.

Take Supplements

There are two reasons I recommend people take supplements. One is that our food, even the organic produce, is grown in depleted soil using conventional farming practices. We have spent a long time developing our agriculture practices to grow food that looks good and lasts a long time on the shelves, without a care for the nutrition content or taste of the produce (and the two usually go hand and hand). For this reason I recommend a nutritional supplement like Total Nutrition Formula. I like to make my own. This article shows you how to make your own Total Nutrition Formula. I also recommend vitamin D, a B vitamin complex (a whole and complete B vitamin complex), and Body Balance. You can also easily make Body Balance yourself, if you are so inclined.

Some people need more nutrition than others. For instance, when someone’s thyroid is weak, which is very common with our lifestyle, there are a lot of supplements to choose from based on their specific needs.

The other reason I recommend supplements is to eliminate parasites and fungi. If you’re familiar with Candida, you know that it’s yeast, a fungus, that when left unchecked causes series problems. And almost everyone you know living the modern conventional lifestyle can contribute every single one of his or her health conditions, at least to some degree, to Candida. Many different kinds of parasites also affect many people in many ways.

And what most people don’t know is that Candida can grow anywhere. Yeast infections are not just vaginal. Athletes foot, sore throats, ear infections. Most infections are actually in part, if not completely, caused by Candida.

How to Know If You Have Candida

If you are prone to any kind of fungal infection (including athletes foot), if your tongue is white, if you regularly drink alcohol (which turns into simple refined sugar in the bloodstream feeding all the bad bugs), and if you have taken antibiotics recently and not addressed Candida, you have Candida overgrowth.

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

Kill The Parasites

What do bacteria, virus, yeast, and parasites hate? Garlic, Oil of Oregano, Clove, and a healthy body. In addition, nothing is better at killing Candida than SF722.

Anyone who is getting started with natural health, and/or detoxifying, needs to take Oil of Oregano, a parasite cleaning supplement with clove, and SF722 for at least the first month. And most should continue with lots of garlic and SF722 thereon after if they are typically going to “cheat” and eat sweets every now and then. This is why I always have SF722 ready. I do “cheat” every now and then. You don’t have to always be perfect to be healthy, but most people have to be perfect for at least a month or two (in many cases more) before cheating doesn’t set them back as if they never cleaned up their diet in the first place.

The Most Important Supplement

Blood Detox. I believe everyone should take this. It’s one of the (if not, the) most powerful tinctures there is. Thick, sludgy, toxic blood comes with an unhealthy body. It contributes to all health issues. Thick and gross blood makes it harder to rid the body of any and all infection.

The Mindset

I think this is the hardest part. The healthy mindset sets apart those who are “healthier” and those who are truly healthy. People who will never get cancer, people who will never die in a nursing home, people who will have their cognitive abilities until the day they pass on, all understand that every aspect of our health in almost every single case is under our complete control.

Now comes the information that even most of my close friends who are health advocates will disagree with me on, but I know that the following is absolutely true. If you’re pregnant and have morning sickness, you’re not eating right. If you are nursing a baby who gets diaper rashes, you’re not eating right. If your nails break easily, you’re not eating right. If you have allergies, you’re not eating right. If you get headaches, you’re not eating right. If you have body odor and need to mask it with deodorant or perfumes, you’re not eating right. If you wake up in a fog, sore and achy, you are not eating right.  If you have ADHD or you are not sleeping well, chances are you are also not eating right. If you get cavities, you are not eating right. If you need any medication that is not for an emergency situation, you’re not eating right. The bottom line is, if you have health issues, you either are not eating right, or did not eat right for a significant period of time.

There are so few exceptions. Genetics is very rarely one of these exceptions. In almost every case, genetics are simply a predisposition, not a curse.

There are a very few people who try eating right but are so infected with Candida and various parasites that it seems as though there is nothing they can do to their diet to get healthy. That’s where the nutritional support listed above comes in.

A Truly Healthy Diet

The most important part of this whole article is the diet. Nothing else alone will get anyone to a healthy state, but for many, especially younger people, the right diet can be followed and everything else ignored to get one to a healthy physical condition.

Stop Feeding the Bad Guys – No Sugar, No other Crap

Candida makes everything worse. And it is fed by sugars, rancid fats, and damaged cells. It doesn’t take much! Even a little bit of sugar feeds it and keeps Candida thriving. It is hard to kill, and it comes back so easily. The reason Candida is so pervasive is that humans were not meant to eat refined sugar. This includes agave, fruit juice, sugar in the raw, and date powder. It’s all refined sugars (even “raw sugar” is a refined sugar). Even the seemingly healthiest health-nuts typically eat way too much sugar. This is the number one reason why so many of my health-food loving friends still have health issues. They cannot get away from sugar.

Bacteria, viruses, fungus, molds, and all manner of parasites love sugar and decaying cells. If you eat crap with sugar you feed these infectious organisms. If you eat crap food without sugar you damage your own cells, which feeds these organisms.

These organisms are not inherently bad. We need them. Our bodies and our planet need scavengers to take out the garbage. The trick is not to eat garbage causing our body’s cells to become garbage.

Avoid These Foods

Soy, pasteurized foods, homogenized foods, foods from conventional farms, prepared packaged snack foods, microwaveable foods, “ready-to-eat” foods besides fruits and vegetables, and foods in the health food section (because the real health food section is the produce section).

Also avoid MSG, GMOs, and anything refined that we wouldn’t normally eat wild in nature. I do make an exception for oils, not for health, but for taste. I use a very little bit in my salads and some of my cooking. I cook with high temperature oils, so I don’t eat spoiled rancid fats. I also get plenty of healthy fats from my diet. At times, when money is tight, and/or good produce is scarce, I do take a fat supplement. UDO’s Oil with DHA is my personal favorite. I also like the Nordic Naturals, Thorne, and Carlson brands for their commitment to quality.

If you choose to take a fat supplement, make sure it smells right. It should not smell rancid or fishy.

What to Buy

My diet, in order of what I eat most of to least of, when I can afford it is: fresh raw vegetables, fresh raw fruit, cooked vegetables, brown rice, various beans, quinoa, oatmeal, eggs, and fresh herbs and spices. With very few exceptions, this is my diet. The main difference between when I have a better income and when money is tight is that rice and beans move closer to the top of the list.

I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. I have in the past, but not anymore. There are plenty of great reasons to boycott Wal-Mart, but the point I am making here is their food is awful. I shopped there for groceries a long time ago before I knew better, and a few times since to prove a point. The produce is absolutely tasteless. There are few exceptions that come and go. For the most part, the produce at Wal-Mart is bland and nutritionally void.

Unfortunately, most grocery stores aren’t much better. A little, but not much. Find your local farmer’s markets. Buy produce at a supermarket as a last resort. And buy organic whenever possible, but don’t let that stop you from eating fresh raw produce as often as you can. The exception here is genetically modified foods. Read about GMOs here. Avoid them at almost any cost.

What’s better than buying food, if at all possible, is to grow your own food. It takes time to master the art. It’s not a quick and easy solution. It will likely take a few seasons to get things right, and most people who do grow much of their own food cannot grow everything they need to sustain a healthy diet with enough variety to get all of their nutritional needs meet. Though I do know a few people who forage with great success, but that’s another topic for another article.

Related: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Meat

If you do not want to be a vegetarian or a vegan, choose your meat carefully. Make sure it’s sourced from humane farms for ethical reasons and for good health. Chickens should be pasture raised and allowed to eat all kinds of bugs, grasses, and weeds. Cows should be free range too, grazing on grasses all day long. Healthy meat, from a healthy animal, cooked in a healthy manner, is not bad for you, contrary to what most vegans will tell you. But overcooked meat, meat that is cooked on too high a temperature, meat smothered in MSG and other toxic ingredients, and meat from unhealthy animals feed unhealthy unnatural diets is what most people eat. And that is how meat causes cancer.

How to Prepare Healthy Food

If you think my diet is bland, think again. I eat very well. People love my food. It’s really very good. And I am still learning. It’s fun. It takes time, but you get fast and you get good. I can make the most amazing rice and beans in a pressure cooker in 20 minutes. I do have to soak the beans first, and there is about 5 minutes of prep time chopping the onions and mincing the garlic, etc., but once the beans are cooking, I’m able to clean up the mess I made and relax well before it’s finished.

Make salads. Not your typical salads, but salads with lots of variety. My type of salads typically consist of spinach, arugula, collard greens, spring mix, shredded leeks, red onions, red cabbage, red bell pepper, rainbow chard, beet greens, grated beet root, graded carrots, grated zucchini, cucumbers, cilantro, pomegranate seeds, raisins, dried unsweetened cranberries, sesame seeds, and ground papaya seeds. A large salad with a wide variety of vegetables is the most important meal of every single day!

I mix it up. Sometimes I have other vegetables in there. Sometimes I shred an apple and throw it in. My dressing is a balsamic vinaigrette. For the recipe check out my article 80% Raw Food Diet.

You will find that when the bulk of your diet is made up of fresh raw produce, you don’t necessarily need to drink a lot of water. You get it from the produce. And your body will do a much better job than it used to of letting you know when you are thirsty.

When cooking foods, it is important to understand Advanced Glycated End Products. Don’t overcook your meat as this binds the proteins. Rare beef is not dangerous when it’s from a healthy cow.

I also love sprouts! They are super easy to make at home. Check out Five Reasons to Sprout.

Soaking and Sprouting

To be on the safe side, soak all dried beans for 24 hours. Soak all raw nuts for 24 hours as well, and then dry them before eating for taste if you want the familiar crunch. Don’t eat more than a handful of nuts a day except on special occasions. It is common for raw food enthusiasts to eat nuts with every meal. They make cashew cheeses and almond butters. Once you get the hang of these recipes, what you can make is simply incredible. But most raw food advocates eat too many nuts and I believe this is the most common cause of health issues for people who eat mostly or entirely raw. Raw junk food is much healthier than regular junk food, but it is still junk food.

Veganism

I wish everyone would eat vegan. I love animals. But I do not believe that meat is inherently bad for us. And I do know that most vegans are no more healthy (or only slightly healthier) than meat eaters. Junk food vegans, junk food vegetarians, and junk food health-nuts are people who eat prepackaged processed foods of the healthier variety. This isn’t healthy. At best, it’s healthier.

If you do choose to go vegan or vegetarian, you really don’t need nearly as much protein as we have been led to believe. And the protein you do need does not have to come from meat. There are plenty of all natural vegan bodybuilders. And a good protein supplement for those who do need more protein is the Nutrition Formula I also recommend as a multivitamin/mineral.

Get Enough Sleep

This can be very difficult to do when one’s health is poor. But the body needs to regenerate or else lots of health problems will remain and damaged cells feed the bad bugs. For more on sleep check out Ask OLM, Pure Sleep, and 10 Things You Can Do to Have More Energy. We have many articles.

No Shots

Vaccines and other shots are toxic. No matter how useful you think immunization are (and the reason they are crap is beyond the scope of hits article) they put toxic chemical preservatives in every single one of them. You cannot be as healthy as possible with that toxic crap in your system.

My Diet and Lifestyle

It’s simple. Eat like we would eat in nature’s most optimal conditions. If we were the very best, very fastest, very smartest humans before technology and alcohol were discovered, in the healthiest most abundant environment, how would we eat?

But like everyone else, I have my demons. I don’t eat perfectly. There are a few people I know who are healthier than I am. But only a few. And only two of all of the many doctors I know are healthier than I am. I find that when you focus your energy on healing other people all the time, it’s too easy to let your own health become secondary.

I rarely get enough sleep. This is my biggest issue. I spend much of my time trying to help people and trying to make the world a better place in the ways I believe I can, while giving my family as much of my time as possible. It’s a balancing act I am still getting the hang of. I know it’s difficult, balancing one’s life.

But our child is healthy. He’s progressing very quickly, without a single health issue or a cold or anything. At 7 months old he has not had one single health problem besides an occasional diaper rash when his mom’s diet has a little too much sugar (due to smoothies at work with sweetened almond milk or apple juice). Gabriel doesn’t get sick, I don’t get sick, and neither does his mother. We both wake up with energy and clarity. We can focus almost all day, every day. We are vibrant and full of energy. And we ride our bikes everywhere.

I still have a ways to go. I get better and better at practicing what I preach every day. Health is a journey, not a destination.

Must Reads:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes

Approximately 200 synthetic industrial chemicals interact with our cells every single day.

Autism now affects one in 50 children.

Cancer is the leading cause of death (after accidents) in children younger than 15 years in the United States.

In the last twenty years, the rates of asthma, allergies, and ADHD are on the rise:

• 400 percent increase in allergies
• 300 percent increase in asthma
• 400 percent increase in ADHD

$2.6 trillion of the GDP is spent on treating disease every year.

These are facts. Unacceptable facts.

And Ed Brown wants to do something about it.

Moved by his wife’s two unexplained miscarriages and a nasty tasting glass of water at work, Ed (now father of two healthy children) was determined to uncover the possible cause of these and other health issues. With camera in hand, he traveled the country seeking insight from the top minds in the fields of science, advocacy, and law.

The result: an award-winning documentary, Unacceptable Levels.

The film poses challenges to our companies, our government, and our society to do something about a nearly unseen threat with the inspired knowledge that small changes can generate a massive impact.

You don’t have to take on the world to change it. Just pick one thing in your life. Water, food, regulations—it doesn’t matter. Just pick something. Become curious about it and start asking questions. Find the answers just like I did.

“And know that of all the people out there, you finally found someone that can truly make a difference. That person is—and always has been—you.” ~ Ed Brown

His documentary dissects the ways chemicals saturate our homes and environment amid a backdrop of a glaring lack of regulation. It chronicles the results of the post-WWII chemical boom and details common avenues of exposure, from food to fluoride to toxic sludge. The film brings together 47 non-profit organizations and 91 companies to support the overwhelming need for chemical reform in the United States.

Unacceptable Levels opens the door to conversations about the chemical burden our bodies carry so that we can make informed decisions now and in the future.

Screening in San Francisco July 11th and Chicago July 24th (with special guest actress/eco activist Mariel Hemingway), the film will hopefully reach beyond the typical environmentally conscious audience… and empower all viewers to make better decisions for their children and themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/PVB6XSyBTVE

Please help spread the word about the film by sharing this post and liking their facebook page here. You can also follow them on twitter @UnacceptableLev.

If you live near San Francisco or Chicago, please come out for the screening! Both will be followed by a panel discussion led by Ed Brown. I’ll be attending the Chicago event and hope to see you there!

There are so many supplements to choose from, so many supplements with so many claims. I have tried hundreds. One of the reasons I do what I do is that I have always been very in tune with my body. I can tell what feels good, what feels amazing, and what feels like nothing, or worse. Most of the supplements people take don’t do anything. Or worse, these mainstream supplements often toxify the body.

Don’t get me wrong, I do a lot of research. I’m researching almost every day for hours and hours. But my body knows best. And in my experience, the two supplements everyone should have are a nutrition powder and a very good all purpose detoxification tincture.

The Best Nutritional Supplement

I don’t take a nutritional supplement every day. I am fortunate to have access to a wide variety of nutritionally dense vegetables and I eat large salads with a wide variety of produce virtually every single day. This is by far the very best way to get your vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and all of the nutrients you need for vitality.

But every now and then I do need extra nutrition. And sometimes I can’t or don’t have one of my salads. When I am traveling for instance, it can be tough to find healthy produce. I like to have a complete whole food sourced multivitamin/mineral nutrition powder with me for times like this. And if you don’t eat fresh raw produce regularly and/or if you eat refined processed foods, you would benefit from a high quality nutrition powder.

For mass produced supplements I like Green Vibrance. It’s a good company that makes good products. For the money and the availability (you see Green Vibrance everywhere these days!) it’s a great product.

But for getting the most nutrition possible, insuring that all of the nutrition is completely bio available, I like Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula. It’s not as easy to find. In fact, there are only a very few places you can get it. But it’s the best nutrition supplement on the market that I know.

It doesn’t have the most ingredients, but what it does have gives your body the right building blocks for health and wellness. When there are too many ingredients in a formula, it can’t do that. Shillington’s Total Nutrition Formula has the highest quality ingredients and you will actually feel the difference. It’s amazing.

Is is expensive. In fact, any good nutrition powder is going to be pricey (Total Nutrition Powder and Green Vibrance are about he same price). Sure, health is priceless, but getting your nutrition out of a bottle costs a lot when it’s quality.

Want to save some money? Eat salads like the ones I make (click here). Still need a good supplement? Most people do. I recommend you make your own (click here).

But of course, you can always purchase from us. Total Nutrition is available at our store, Green Lifestyle Market.

The Best Herb

I have to give you two here. Garlic and Cayenne are a tie. I could not include one without the other.

The Amazing Benefits of Garlic

Garlic. If you are coming down with a cold, chew on a clove. Breath in and out of your mouth and keep chewing as long as you can (it likely won’t be long at first, but you’ll get better and better). I put raw garlic in my salads and when I cook I put in garlic at the last minute so it doesn’t cook and lose it’s effectiveness (sometimes I put some in early and then some in later). I feed garlic to my dog in her homemade dog food. It keeps fleas and other parasites away.

My family of four goes through a lot of garlic. I suspect anyone who knows a tenth of what garlic can do would eat a lot of it.

All that garlic can do for us is astounding! Its nutrition includes magnesium, calcium, B1, B6, C, phosphorus, copper, potassium, selenium, and tryptophan.  Garlic can help with a wide range of ailments including, but certainly not limited to, hair loss, acne, colds and flus, bacterial infections, fungus (yeast, Candida, athletes foot, etc.), psoriasis, weight control, cold sores, detoxification, cardiovascular health, and inflammation reduction. It even wards off mosquitoes!

The Amazing Benefits of Cayenne

Capsaicin is incredible. What Capsaicin can do is just mind boggling to me. I always try to keep a bottle of liquid cayenne extract with me because it can actually save someone’s life. If you see someone suffering from a heart attack, they need Capsaicin and lots of it! It can make the difference between life and death, and it can also make the difference between major damage and an easy recovery.

Capsaicin increases blood flow, helps to sooth muscle tension and pain, wakes you up, and helps with focus. Capsaicin is also used to treat bursitis, diabetes, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, shingles (herpes zoster), postherpetic neuralgia. stomachaches, digestive problems including stomach aches, indigestion,  cramping pains, gas, treatment of the circulatory system, and hemorrhaging.

The Best Herbal Supplement

The best herbal supplement has garlic and cayenne. Ingredients also include Red clover, chaparral, poke root, periwinkle lower, mullein, burdock seed and root, yellow dock root, goldenseal root, Oregon grape root, and bloodroot. This is not for the faint of heart! This tincture will kick you in the mouth! But it’s truly amazing stuff.

Shillington’s Blood Detox

I was really sick recently. I haven’t been sick in such a long time, but I was bedridden, feeling like I was 90 years old on my deathbed.

I have little restraint. And I loved getting high. I had just moved to California and got a prescription for marijuana. I told them I needed the prescription for anxiety, which was due to using marijuana illegally. I thought it was funny, but the prescriber made me come up with another reason to get the prescription. I think we said insomnia.

I got high a lot. And my tolerance shot way up very quickly. I was over a gram a day in less than a week. I was wasting a lot of money and my health was deteriorating. I am not one of those people who have convinced myself that smoking marijuana is good for you. THC has its benefits, but smoking anything, as much fun as it can be, is not healthy. And that’s not to mention the likelihood of smoking pesticides and other chemicals.

Within a couple of months my thyroid was shot, my adrenals were barely functioning, and I was peeing dark brown, almost red urine, And I still had a bunch of weed left!

One day I woke up and I couldn’t move. My body wouldn’t stand. I felt nauseous and dizzy and as sick as I’ve ever been. The next day I was worse. I won’t bore you with the long list of symptoms, but the point is that I made myself very sick (for the first time in so many years!) with a combination of way too much smoking and (probably) some weed that got sprayed very heavily with pesticides. And yes, it was medical grade.

I called my warehouse and told them to send me some Blood detox.  For 3 days I was having trouble simply making it to the restroom (and urination took forever!). When I got the Blood Detox, I was up and walking normally within an hour. It was amazing.

It was a great experience, too–one that I am yet to completely recover from– but I’m back to about 97% (I need to take the time to do a radical full body detox). I learned a lot. And I suppose you could say I grew up, since my desire to get high is next to nothing now. But mostly, it solidified my belief that blood detox is the most amazing herbal supplement I’ve ever come across.

For absolutely any health condition, I recommend blood detox. By itself, in many instances, it can make a huge difference. In combination with other target herbal remedies and nutrition it can work miracles.

If you can only afford one herbal tincture, Shillington’s Blood Detox is what I recommend you have and keep with you at all times. At the first sign of a cold, like a sore throat or congestion, take a dropper full. For any and all ailments, from cancer to diabetes to fibromyalgia, this is the first tincture I recommend, second only to a healthy diet. After a night of drinking and/or using recreational drugs (not that I condone getting high) I do recommend Blood Detox afterwards.

Healthy blood means a healthy body. There is nothing more important for your health than getting enough nutrition and having clean, relatively toxin free blood.

If you need a total body detox or are suffering from any serious ailment, I recommend using the Blood Detox Tincture in conjunction with the Blood Detox Tea.

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask underneath within the comments or contact me via Facebook or Twitter.

Bet you thought I gave up already—that I fell off the diet and crawled away to hide. Nope. Here’s what I have to report: the weight loss isn’t going so well, but other things are great.

The best news I have to report is that I am not smoking. Not at all. Not one bit. Nada. (I am taking a pause here to listen to imaginary applause. Yes, I really am doing that. It helps.) Other good news is that I’m not thinking about smoking, either…except when I see someone smoking on TV, or I feel stressed out by a work deadline, or I am writing about how I am not thinking about smoking!

Not smoking is already helping my circulation. Aside from my optic nerve, I have another marker to measure my progress. My right thumbnail thickened, pulled away from the nail bed on one side, and curved inward (think of an ingrown toenail). Now the root of the nail is adhering to the nail bed again—a sure sign of increased blood flow.

Now the not so good news.

A little more than a week ago, I had a run in with a cherry pie. Did you have one favorite food as a child? Something that you rarely ate? A food so magnificent it topped every other food by a mile? For me, that food was cherry pie.

When I grew up, I still didn’t eat it very often. But it remained my favorite food.

When I stopped eating gluten 7 years ago, I stopped eating cherry pie—except for the two times I bought a tiny, one person size, gluten free pie from Whole Foods for the outrageous price of ten dollars apiece. So imagine my surprise when my son Joel brought home a nearly normal size, gluten free cherry pie on his birthday.

I was all ready to politely decline cake, cookies, hard apple cider, or any other treats he and his wife brought home to celebrate the day. But when Joel asked me if I wanted cherry pie, I said, “I just started a diet! Yes, please!”  There wasn’t even a decent pause between the two sentences. And the, “Yes, please!” was much louder and emphatic than the sentence that came before.

The next day I told Michael about how I had emotionally beaten myself up for having absolutely no control when it comes to cherry pie. I loved his response. He wants me to end the guilt, to find every way I can to stop beating myself up about food. I am going to break the cycle. And I am going to start by preempting guilt; I will earn treats ahead of time.

Michael used the analogy of purchasing something I want with cash vs. credit. The next time I really want cherry pie, I will exercise especially hard BEFORE I eat it. No punishing myself after, no negative talk, no punitive exercise. I will earn it. I love that idea. I love it so much I have not had to use it. There is a real security in knowing you can eat whatever you want. Then, you don’t necessarily want it.

The day after the cherry pie, Joel brought home something else—a horrible virus, one related to whooping cough. I know this because we have had whooping cough. Like that monster virus, this one produced tons of mucous and coughing fits that persisted until he vomited. Luckily, I skipped the vomiting. Instead I perfected the art of coughing uncontrollably and sneezing at the same time. That was a new one on me. And it was very entertaining except for the explosive dynamic of it all causing me to wet my pants on more than one occasion. TMI?

So I, the woman who prides herself on never getting sick, have been really sick for the last week. I still am. I have not been following my eating plan of all raw food. And I have not lost any more weight. However…

• I have eaten one large very healthy salad every day plus raw fruit.
• I have continued with my organic raw lemonade with cayenne and stevia.
• Other than the cherry pie, I have not eaten any sweets or junk food.
• I have not eaten out except for eating at the salad bar at the farmers market.
• I have not eaten any white rice or noodles.

I am not really on a “diet.” I am changing my diet. I am changing my lifestyle. So this is true success; success I can build on.

Tomorrow, I start over on my cleansing diet. Not because I have to. Not because I failed. Because I want to.

 

The Wake Up Call – February 22 – Day 6

Yesterday was moving day. Not the kind where furniture is lifted—the kind where lazy bodies are put into motion.

I decided to start with walking each day as my first basic exercise. But before I took that walk, I gave considerable thought to what I like and don’t like about walking. Through this intense contemplation, I do believe I found the fatal flaw for inexperienced walkers like me.

I never know how far to walk. Either I push it too far and feel like I am going to die before I can make it back home, or I turn around too soon and don’t walk far enough. Either way, I don’t enjoy walking as much as I would like to or feel as accomplished as I would like.

So I came up with a solution. I will walk as far as I can in one direction and then call home for a ride. This temporary support from my family will allow me to easily push myself farther each day at a faster pace.

My second exercise is one Michael made up for me a few years back. We call them “getups”. You lie down on the floor, on your back. Roll to the right and get up. Lie back down. Roll to the left and get up. Make sure you alternate the foot you start with to stand. Okay. Go ahead and laugh. Now do twenty getups as fast as you can. Are you still laughing?

Think about it. Each getup is a sit-up, a pushup, a squat, and more. Problem is, there is no room in this house to do getups. Seriously, no room. I’ll have to do them in the park. But I want to add something to my walking, so today I will add chair squats. Standing and sitting a bunch of times—no hands or push-offs allowed.

Moving, moving, moving. Moving moves the blood. Moving moves the lymph. Now I will explain why I don’t want to make an appointment with the eye specialist.

I don’t think non-pressure glaucoma should even be called glaucoma. As far as I can, it is just another optic nerve problem of unknown origin, that looks the same. Non-pressure glaucoma is a mystery. They don’t know what causes it. The two main types of glaucoma are caused by increased/abnormal pressure in the eye. This is treated with drugs and/or surgery. So what do doctors in their infinite wisdom do to treat non-pressure glaucoma? They lower the normal eye pressure to below normal through drugs and/or surgery.

Sorry guys. That’s just plain stupid as far as I can see.

Many eye doctors think non-pressure type of glaucoma is caused by a lack of blood flow to the optic nerve. So blood flow is what my diet and exercise routine will address. I’m going to increase blood flow, clean up my blood, and eliminate any autoimmune response I can control.

I will check my eyes in a few weeks to see if the swelling has gone down. And I will research conventional treatment modalities and their efficacy. But I doubt I will have to resort to conventional medicine, which as usual, would treat the symptoms but not the cause. Except in this case I don’t think that is even true. They can’t treat the symptom (high pressure in the eye) if the pressure is normal. Lowering the normal pressure is more like “do something rather than nothing.” No thank you. Not now. Probably not ever.

Are you always sick? If feeling ill is more normal for you than feeling healthy, here are some of the common reasons and what you can do to get your immune system back on track.

Junk Food

If you’re sick all the time, change your diet. Stop eating processed food.

Less than one hundred years ago, there was absolutely no need to explain the difference between whole food and processed food. Food was just food. It was healthy, farm-grown, nutritious, and filled with live-promoting nutrients. Not anymore.

Now we run to the nearest supermarket or convenience store to stock up on MSG-laden cereals and aspartame-laced diet soda. Most of our food comes from a box or a can.

You can get healthy by getting rid of the fast food, microwavable meals, soda, potato chips, and French fries and trade it in for healthier fare.

Whole foods such as organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, legumes, organic meat, wild-caught fish, and healthy fats like coconut oil and butter will do absolute wonders for your health.

Try it!

You Bathe in Toxins

The amount of toxins lurking in your shower is unbelievable. Read the labels on the shampoo and conditioner you use to beautify your hair and the slick-smelling body wash you use to impress the ladies (or the gentlemen).

Shampoos and other conventional bathing products contain parabens that have been linked to infertility, muscle dysfunction, learning disabilities, and mood swings. They are also loaded with phthalates that have been proven to cause cancer.

Get rid of all the chemical cosmetics in your bathroom and start fresh. Invest in a good bottle of castile soap. You can use it as a body wash, shave cream, and shampoo all in one and it’s completely pure and natural! Also, make the switch to paraben-free mineral make-up. Your face will thank you.

You Shoot Up with Toxins

Do you get the flu shot every year? Vaccines are loaded with three of the most potent neurotoxins on the market: Aspartame, mercury, and MSG. If you have unexplained muscle twitches, movement disorders, chronic fatigue, and mood swings, these toxins could be to blame.

Do your research and learn all you can about the pros versus the cons of vaccines so you can make an informed decision about your health.

You Use Hand Sanitizers

If you’re trying to avoid getting sick by using copious amounts of hand sanitizer, it’s not helping. Hand sanitizers not only kill germs on your hands, they also kill the good bacteria. Your immune system’s first line of defense is your skin. And alcohol isn’t the only ingredient in hand sanitizers. They also contain a potent pesticide called Triclosan, which has been linked to chronic immune system dysfunction.

You Don’t Move

Do you get enough exercise? Regular exercise helps prevent illness by raising your T-cells (fighter cells) and cutting down on your body’s inflammatory response. There’s no need to become a bodybuilder to get the exercise you need. Just start by walking or hiking for 30 minutes three times per week.

You’re a Vampire

Do you get enough sun? Or are you like millions of others who believe that if you step out into the sun, its harmful UV rays will penetrate your skin and rearrange your cells until you’re riddled with skin cancer? It’s not true. As a matter of fact, studies have actually shown that lack of sun can cause skin cancer!

Vitamin D is essential for a healthy immune system. Unfortunately, Vitamin D deficiency is rampant in the United States and Canada because so many of us are avoiding the sun by either staying inside or bathing in sunscreen (which, by the way, contains toxic chemicals). Yes, you will bring on skin cancer if you tan at high noon each day for hours but fifteen minutes of sun exposure each day will help boost your vitamin D levels and your immune system.

You’re a Zombie

Warm bodies? If you don’t get enough sleep every night, you probably find yourself slogging through your day like the walking dead. Plus, if you’re making up for your sleep deficit by pounding energy drinks or high-test coffee, you’re doing some serious harm to your health. Excessive caffeine intake coupled with lack of sleep equals taxed adrenal glands and a very weak immune system.

Magnesium deficiency is a common cause of chronic insomnia. This essential mineral is responsible for more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. Adding a chelated magnesium supplement to your diet can work wonders in calming your mind, relaxing your body, and improving your sleep.

There’s no reason to always feel sick when you have the power to change it. Good health is just a few dietary and lifestyle changes away. Don’t go back to the doctor just to have him run more tests and look at you like he’d love to recommend a good shrink. Take control of your health. If you make all these changes and still feel sick a lot, make an appointment with a naturopathic physician for a second opinion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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