WE LOVE EVERY NEW FAD.  IT’S LIKE THE PROVERBIAL “EATING AN ELEPHANT?”

How do you eat an elephant?

“One bite at a time,” as they say.

LATEST NEW TREND, DETOXING, IS LIKE THE PROVERBIAL EATING AN ELEPHANT

Grab the newest fad.   If it’s a new thing it looks exciting.  Not one bite at a time.  Let’s just do it!

We get excited about a new trend and go to it, no piecemeal for us.   If it’s a new fad we jump on the bandwagon NOW!

NEW PROJECT SOUNDS EXCITING, MAKE A TEAM

Empty the schedule, make calendar/Day Timer note, “Elephant eating,” get supply box with big knife, forks, water bottle…  Get a team.

First of the week.  Gather the team, and supplies.  Begin, one bite at a time.

Going great at first:  “It’s great to have a goal.  Finally got up courage to do this.” “Glad you guys are with me, part of something big!”

EXCITEMENT WANES AS WE SEE THE SIZE OF THE PROJECT

But…after 4-5 days, half of the team doesn’t show.  Excuses,  last-minute appointments, car breaks down, lost the big knife, mother-in-law getting married….

Elephant eating is a big job.  “It’s not as though I don’t have a million other things that take my time,”  “How big is an elephant?” “How many days…”

It’s not easy sticking with a project, especially one that will take a long, loong time.

WE ALL LOVE EXCITING NEW TRENDS AND FADS

We love fads as long as they don’t last too long.

In that way a fast/cleanse/detox is like eating an elephant.   The proverbial “40 days and 40 nights,” of lemon, water, and juices.

Master cleanses are like that.  BIG ELEPHANTS.  Fads everywhere.  T.V. advertising, the World Wide Web  Master  Cleanses,  Detox Programs.

We jump on the latest great idea, the magic health cure without taking our stressful schedules into account.   It’s just life, but every minute of every day is packed with activity.   We think it’s no big deal to add a detox.   We have little respect for what our body is required to do.

Problem is, we start and because we’re not educated about what is involved we don’t stick with the program.  Healthy living is about little changes to the daily routine, changes that, over time, support true health.  Habits that remain part of everyday life.

TOXIN BUILDUP SLOWS BODY SYSTEMS

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in favor of regular cleanse/detox.  John and I do a cleanse on a regular basis.

Toxins slow normal actions of our organs.  Cleanse systems (liver, kidneys, colon, skin, and lungs) don’t function 100% when sludge keeps them from working smoothly.   We gain weight, especially around the middle,  when our bodies can’t clean out toxins.  So, yes, do a detox/cleanse.

But pick a detox you can fit into your already busy, stressful life.  Begin slowly if you intend to take this regular habit into your healthy routine.

INCLUDE PROTEIN TO RETAIN LEAN MUSCLE

A few tips for your journey:

• Always include protein when you’re cleansing.  During a detox you’re restricting calories, so your body might interpret that restriction as famine and lower your metabolism.  Without protein along with your detox drink, your body may take calories from lean muscle, not from stored fat.  Snacks can include boiled egg and a small green salad with lemon juice dressing, a handful of raw almonds, or celery sticks. This should go without saying, but avoid all processed foods which are mostly carbohydrate-based, and have no essential nutrients.

• When you’re not eating normal meals, you’re allowing your body to switch from digesting food to cleansing.  Respect and support your internal wisdom. Don’t ask your body to support heavy exercise.  You won’t profit from your detox.

• Cut back on exercise. An extended cleanse/detox can, if you allow your inner wisdom to guide, bring you to a “different” reality.  You might want to let that happen.  Some have noticed a more introspective, a more “spiritual” mood.  Respect that and take time to assess your life.  Instead of vigorous exercise, take a walk outside, in the fresh air noticing the natural world.

• Keep a journal.  If you’re serious about a healthy lifestyle, and if you believe your body has internal wisdom, you want to learn from yourself, and you’ll want a record of that learning, during this experience.

• Do not do any detox or cleanse if you have health problems, such as diabetes, unless you’re under the direct care of a physician.   This is very important.  Check with your doctor first.

John and I have what I think is a great routine.  We take 1/4 cup of Isagenix “Cleanse for Life” drink every night just before bed (2 hours without food between dinner and bedtime).

That way we’re cleansing all night as we sleep!   Regular cleansing routine is easy, and over time we’ve lost a lot of that bulge around the middle.

SHARE YOUR PRODUCTS AND IDEAS WITH US BELOW

Whatever product you use and either love/hate share your thoughts in the “Comments” section below and let’s learn from each other.   It’s much easier to find a routine and stick to it when you’re talking to others and sharing ideas.

Hope to “see” you below soon!

Previous Article/Video

Tweet This Post

DETOX HELPS BODY CLEAN OUT TOXINS, CHEMICALS

People call it “detox,”  or “cleanse,” but the basic purpose is the same, to clean toxins.

Usually the detox/cleanse drink is made up of natural herbs that encourage the body to excrete substances it can’t use.  Our bodies have wonderful, built-in systems to remove chemical poisons, dangerous toxins, and impurities it can’t burn as fuel.

TOXINS SLOW BODY FUNCTIONS

In today’s toxic-laden world it’s important to give your body a break from digesting food so it can shift energy to built-in cleansing systems: liver, kidneys, colon, skin, and lungs.

OUR BODIES CRAVE SUN, FRESH FOOD IN SPRING

It’s a century-old practice in many cultures throughout the world.  Detox teas brewed from traditional plants “wake up” cells after the long, sluggish winter.

Even though our culture has abandoned the spring cleanse our bodies still demand that spring ritual.  Drive around town on one of the first warm spring days and what do you see?

Folks out jogging, bicycles everywhere, people walking dogs, throwing frisbees, lying on the lawn in the sun.  Anything, just to be out in the sun in spring.

At the first sign of a warm day I lie on my front porch (break from computer work downstairs in my home office) in the sun loving sensuous heat on bare skin.

Our bodies sluggish from indoor bundling up, crave fresh spring air and hot sun.   Spring rejuvenation, and our bodies follow the sun.

Internal organs need spring stimulation, too, after months of limited fresh food, higher calories, and heavy meals.

In the spring, traditional cultures brought the sun inside with teas and pot liquors of burdock, spring greens, collards, beets, and dandelion greens, aloe vera, lemongrass, peppermint, high in essential minerals.

WE CAN DETOX TODAY IF WE UNDERSTAND

But today!  Where to start?  Can we cleanse in today’s world?  Do we need to? Many want to, but have questions. Does it have to be difficult?  Is it safe?  Is it hard on the body?

These questions encourage a comparison of our lives today with those of traditional cultures in the past who made a regular practice of detoxing.

IS IT SAFE TO DETOX TODAY AS THEY DID YEARS AGO?

How is your life today different from life even 50 years ago when a spring tonic cleanse was commonplace?  Think through your lifestyle today before you hop into a detox.

Here are a few thoughts to get you started:

• We live different lives from traditional cultures of yesterday.  A 10-day fast using juices and water might have been easier for them but more difficult for us today.  Why?  Is there anything more we should know to support our bodies today?

• We live fast-paced, stressful lives without much relaxation. How can that affect our detox?

• Living healthy beyond fifty demands we clean out accumulated impurities.  How is our cleanse different from what we would have done years ago, when really young!

• If we eat anything processed our body will accumulate “sludge.” Frankenfood (food that’s not really food, no nutrition, empty calories that clog bodily systems.)

• We have, oh, so many more toxins in our environment.  Bodily systems work hard every day today and may need more support than was true in the past.

• Most of us know close to nothing about detoxing.

• Many of us don’t get as much sleep as we need.  Why is that important when we’re cleansing?

I’d like to talk through each issue one by one, and I’d like your input.  Whatever product you’re using or thinking of using, feel free to share with all of us your experience.

John and I routinely use “Cleanse for Life,” an Isagenix product, but whatever you use let us all know about it.  Results, bad experiences.  Was your cleanse hard?  How hungry did you get?  Did you continue to exercise while you were cleansing?  How long a detox did you do?

We can talk about all that.  So, until next time, do a little research and share with all of us!

P.S. Next time: Juices, lemon, water for “40 days and 40 nights?”  How’s that going to fit today’s schedule for most of us?

Previous Article/Video Next Article/Video

Tweet This Post

BIG NEWS, LITTLE BERRY

Melissa asked in the comment section of the blog about the Acai Berry diet. 

“What kind of diet do you guys think I should be on while taking acai berry and what workout plan works the best with it?

It’s all over the Internet.  The Acai Berry diet.  Even Dr. Oz on Oprah’s show, touted the health benefits of the Acai Berry , from the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. 

He’s right. 

The Acai Berry contains anti-oxidants and, like many berries, many of which grow in the U.S., Acai Berries support the body’s natural cleansing.  It’s that cleansing action that aids weight loss.

You can find all sorts of Internet claims for the Acai Berry:

“I lost 30 pounds in 3 months.”

“I lost 20 pounds in 2 months.” 

Some use the Acai Berry diet alone, some take it with a colon cleanse.  (Ever done a colon cleanse?  Had fun, did you?  I didn’t think so…)

The Acai Berry has become big business, along with African Mango, for quick, no-effort, weight loss.

Many berries, though, are high in anti-oxidants.  Berries are good for you.  They

• neutralize free radicals,
• reduce belly fat, (the fat stomach)
• promote urinary tract health,
• preserve vision,
• support brain health. 
• With their high fiber content they even dissolve “bad” cholesterol,
• control constipation,
• fight cancer. 

WOW!  It’s an impressive list! 

Red, blue, and black berries do all this.  They’re really good for you!

This includes Acai berries, but also more common blueberries.  Those little round blue berries are in every produce section in the country.  And, blueberries come from a lot closer to home than either African mango or Acai Berries!

What’s with this fascination with exotic berries?  We’re looking for the magic potion which will answer our obesity fixation without personal sacrifice?

Does it bother you at all that this magic potion comes from a distant rain forest?  The berries are imported, even though we have farmers growing healthy blue berries right here at home?

Acai Berries are sustainably grown.  Right?  Or are we contributing to destruction of the rain forest with our purchases?

They’re shipped from Brazil to the U.S.  How far is that?  What resources are used to get those berries to our plates?

We Americans are fascinated with quick, health gimicks, especially when they promise easy solutions that don’t involve personal sacrifice. We’re easily motivated by advertisers with astoundingly exaggerated weight loss claims.

If you’re committed to the Acai Berry diet, though, or a diet including other berries, what foods should you include and what sort of exercise will bring best results?  Melissa’s question again,

“What kind of diet do you guys think I should be on while taking acai berry and what workout plan works the best with it?”

Let’s talk about that on the next post!

Stay with me,

Tweet This Post

The World’s Toxic.  Is Your Body Toxic, Too?

All of us are aware of poisons and toxins in our environment.  We hear about factory waste, car exhaust, polluted water, polluted oceans.  Not just T.V. and Radio.  It’s common knowledge for us who live in the 21st century.  It’s one of those ubiquitous facts of our lives.  Unavoidable.  Even children know.

What Exists in Our Environment Exists in Our Bodies

Many see the environment as separate, “out there.”  They don’t realize that what’s “out there” is also “in here,” inside our bodies, a part of every cell.

No matter how much we exercise, wash, shower, eat organic fruits and vegetables, our bodies absorb pollution because toxins are everywhere. 

In the bathroom, showering, fixing breakfast in the kitchen, driving to the grocery in the car, mopping, vacuuming, dusting the house. Every activity takes place in our toxic 21st century environment.  Poisons that surround us are also within us. 

Possible 116 Chemical Toxins in the Human Body

We’re walking, talking toxin carriers.  Toxins. We’ve got lots of them.  Some estimates put the toxic load in each one of us at over 116 chemical compounds. 

Toxins Are Present in Every Activity 

We wake in the morning wash face, shower, apply makeup and shave, brush teeth, drink water, and brush hair.

Unless you carefully read labels of personal products before you buy you’re exposing your body to toxins proven to increase cancer:

Parabens, PTH, pthalates, chlorine, mercury, aluminum, and fluoride in water, toothpaste, shaving cream, cleansing products, cosmetics, fingernail polish, and hair spray. 

Processed Food, Cleaning Compounds Dangerous to Health

Preparing breakfast you’ll encounter PaH PCBS, and nitrates in bacon and sausage, and antibiotics and hormones in meat and milk.

Cleaning the kitchen you’re using manmade chemicals DECA, BDE, PBDES, Phenols, Chlorine, Ammonia, and Formaldehyde which make up common cleaning solutions.  Many chemicals are impossible for the liver to break down and send to kidneys, skin, lungs, and colon for excretion.  They accumulate in the body in fat and water deposits

Products containing flame retardants, lead, heavy metals, Disphenols, Pthalates, PDBE, and BDE, all of which increase cancer risk, can be found throughout the house in furniture, paint, bedding, pajamas.

Driving the car, you’ll run into Triclocarbans, bisphenols, phthalates, phenol, and more chlorine, ammonia, and formaldehyde.

Fruits, vegetables, meat, soda, desserts add pesticides, herbicides, Dioxins, BHA, BHT, Phosphoric Acid, Bisphenol A (BPA), Preservatives, and Coloring Agents toxins to the load.

                   l

That’s you and your children.

Share with me and others in the comments below what YOU do to avoid toxic compounds.  What products do you buy? I have a few suggestions which I’ll share in a future post.

Tweet This Post

TOXINS MAKE YOUR STOMACH FAT

Your body stores toxins in fat cells. If your liver can’t break poisons down, it keeps them away from important organs by hiding them in fat and water, and that’s usually around the stomach. 

We’ve all known people, and perhaps we ourselves, who have lost weight, but who even with weight lost still have fat stomachs. 

That’s roughly where the liver is. When toxins overwhelm that organ, so it can’t do its job, it does the next best thing. It surrounds toxins in fat and water and “sequesters” impurities. Fat doesn’t have much blood circulation so toxins stay out of touch with the rest of the body.

Brilliant mechanism, but a fat stomach is annoying and not healthy. Fat bellies, if they stick around too long, are risk factors for metabolic syndrome, which includes diabetes, heart, and blood pressure problems.

So, it’s not just that we don’t like the look of fat bellies, they really are a sign our health is out of whack.

LIVER, MYSTERIOUS DETOX LAB

At the source of the problem is toxin overload. If I could encourage my body to get rid of poisons–help the liver detoxify–then maybe the fat would release naturally because it wouldn’t be needed any longer.

See, when the body recognizes a substance that can’t be used for fuel, mechanisms kick in to break it down to get rid of it through the skin, lungs, colon, and kidneys. 

To my mind those mechanisms are miraculous and mysterious, and most of the time they’re effective at keeping our bodies free from poisons.

DIETS DO NOT TAKE CARE OF TOXINS 

Restricting calories (diets) does not help the body handle toxins.  Nutritional cleansing is different from dieting and counting calories.

Traditional cultures have used certain natural ingredients for centuries to encourage toxin release. 

Aloe Vera is one of the best known.  And Licorice root, Burdock, and Yellow Dock.  Burdock has been used for centuries to clear the blood stream of impurities.  Yellow dock is a spring tonic to improve general health.  Licorice root is an over-all body tonic, and Aloe Vera is known for its healing properties.  Peppermint, and Fennel, too.

But, I’m not ready to start taking any of these without some advice on how to use them.  How would I go about putting them all together?  All herbs have effects in the body.  I don’t know enough about them to jump right in and start medicating myself.

Our youngest son Daniel is an herbalist.

The “Berry Boy”

He could help me identify cleansing herbs.  He’s loved plants since a little boy.  On family hikes his nickname was the “berry boy.”  He stuck by that early interest and studied in New Mexico, Alaska, and now California.  He understands it can be difficult to use healing herbs in proper combinations to gently encourage the body to release toxins.  Practitioners can help, but it does take patience and knowledge.

YOUR BODY IS EQUIPPED TO DETOXIFY

I’m probably not going to put my own herbal concoction together. 

But I know I need to consciously take steps beyond just eating good food.  My body needs a little more than that.

HELP THE BODY DETOXIFY AND LOOSE YOUR FAT STOMACH

Healing herbs and whole, natural foods used to be viewed as medicine.  That is not the case today in America for a couple of reasons.

• Corporate food production today has become a money-making industry.  More money can be made processing natural foods than selling those foods unprocessed.  Processed foods with low nutritional value and long shelf life, are what most Americans eat today.  The bottom line is profit, not good health.

• Foods grown in soil depleted by chemical fertilizers, devoid of minerals and living organisms, do not contain the full complement of vitamins and minerals that were present in food tested only twenty years ago.

• Personal products, cleansing products, exhaust from vehicles and factories, manmade chemicals in water and air, and pesticides and herbicides on our fruits and vegetables surround us and threaten health daily.

The knowledge of what is healthy food is largely gone from our culture.  The preparation of healthy meals from “scratch” is a lost art in many homes.

Most Americans have no idea what food is healthy and what food is nothing more than empty calories.  Our culture is no longer the repository of that knowledge.  Our bellies are satisfied temporarily by bulky processed grains and our taste buds by high fructose corn syrup.

So, what to do today?  Today you can make a difference in your health.

• Begin carrying around a water bottle with filtered water everywhere you go, Drink from it all day. Water is the great purifier. Your kidneys, lungs, colon, and skin will begin throwing off poisons almost immediately when you furnish your body with plenty of pure water.

• Become aware of processed food. Anything in a package is processed. Become aware of how much food is processed, not “real,” food.

Check the Blog for articles.  Do you know what happens to food animals in America? http://cleanse-for-better-health.com/blog/factory-farm-or-family-farm/

 We’ll talk more about that issue in future issues, for right now get into the kitchen and fill your water bottle… 

Tweet This Post

Part I

Cleansing has a different face today.  Different from even a few years ago.

Cleansing must be paired with nutrition today to support cellular health in an environment that is drastically different from that of even a few years ago.  

THE UNIVERSE, A LIVING SYSTEM, CONTINUALLY CHANGING

Change is the rule because the Universe is a living system, not a machine. 

Cultures rise and fall. Beliefs we lived with yesterday may not still be true today.  If we do not question our culture’s beliefs we continue to operate as though yesterday’s beliefs are still true.  Yesterday’s beliefs are impotent today. Living in yesterday’s paradigm will not bring health we’re looking for today.

TRADITIONAL CLEANSING METHODS DON’T FIT TODAY’S WORLD

As we cleanse to bring our bodies to a higher form of health we must operate from beliefs that we have tested personally, beliefs that are valid today, not beliefs from the past.

Cleansing today cannot take the same form as it did years ago in long-standing traditions.  We operate under beliefs different from those held by traditional cultures.

PAST CLEANSORS DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT POLLUTION

When tradional cultures cleansed (allowed the body to get rid of that which was not useful) it was unthinkable that food they ate might not be providing proper nutrition.  It didn’t occur to them that they might not be getting necessary nutrients.

In ages past there was no thought of pesticides, manmade chemicals, or toxins in/on produce.

No thought fruits and vegetables might not be nutrionally adequate because of depleted soil. 

People did not wonder whether water was pure and healthy.  They didn’t wonder about chlorine.  And they didn’t worry about stress. In ages past, those were unthinkable thoughts. 

 Navajos preparing ritual celebration

OUR BELIEFS ARE OUT-OF-DATE

We live in a different time.  We must adopt beliefs that serve today.

Today our soil is depleted.  People are under tremendous stress. Our water is polluted. 

Meat animals, in confined units, eat unnatural diets with added hormones and anti-biotics.  

Processed food has been robbed of nutrients. 

Drastic changes, so it’s no wonder many of us think cleansing is a good idea.  But the idea of cleansing must be paired with new beliefs about a polluted environment, not the same as in the past.

“IF WE JUST EAT GOOD FOOD WE’LL BE FINE,”

TODAY, AN OBSOLETE BELIEF

Many operate with the old belief that if we just eat good food we’ll be fine.  That belief is obsolete because our environment has changed.  It’s polluted. 

Many of us hold beliefs about CLEANSING that sound really good.

And many of us hold onto beliefs about FOOD that sound really good.

FOOD and CLEANSING must be seen as a package.  They must be seen together.  Refusing to accept a true view of the world today will keep us from discovering how food and cleansing work together.

Cleansing is a good idea, but it takes resources, and energy.  What if we don’t have those resources?  What if our bodies aren’t playing with a “full” nutritional deck?” What if organs aren’t healthy enough to process and digest food? 

What if cells, overloaded with toxins, are unable to deal with food? 

What if food is nutritionally depleted, lacking essential minerals and protein for healthy cells?

 CLEANSING AND HEALTHY FOOD IN THE PAST WENT TOGETHER NATURALLY

If you’ve tried cleansing perhaps that one reason it didn’t work as you expected.

Cleansing and replenishing with nutrients, produce results beyond what each can bring alone. To bring health today we need both. 

MISSING PIECE IN THE WELLNESS PUZZLE, NUTRITIONAL CLEANSING

Today’s missing piece in the wellness puzzle is nutritional cleansing: Cleansing paired with super nutrition to build health.  Cleansing at the cellular level in a matrix of complete nutrition.  Cleansing is not stand-alone; it must be paired with complete nutrition or results will not be optimum.

Part II next Blog entry!

Tweet This Post

Toxins Are Stealing Your Health and Energy

Environmental Toxins Linked To Most US Disease

There are 72 different insecticides, pesticides, and chemical poisons in our fruits and vegetables. Animals are injected with hormones, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals, and our air, filled with toxins. PAH toxins, from anything that burns (barbecues, cigarettes, automobiles, factories), are linked to the breakdown of immune mechanisms that protect us from breast cancer. Toxins in our environment are a serious problem, linked to most disease in the U.S. today.

LIVER: THE BODY’S CLEANSING FACTORY

The liver is the body’s cleansing “laboratory.” It filters toxins from the blood, breaks them down, and sends them to the lungs, skin, kidneys, and colon for excretion.  It’s the liver’s job to disable toxins to isolate them from important organs.

WHY YOU HAVE A FAT STOMACH

Poisons the liver can’t break down must be stored away from important body organs.  They’re coated with fat and water and deposited.

There are no boundaries to man’s creativity, so there are manmade chemicals beyond the liver’s ability to disintegrate. To immobilize and hide them, the liver coats them with fat and water and stores them.

Heavy metal toxins, aluminum, lead, and mercury, from lipstick, anti-per spirants, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals, when absorbed, are stored in more fat and water. 

By-products of the petroleum industry in plastics, cosmetics, and shampoos are coated in fat and water and stored.

The result is an accumulation of fat and water in upper arms, thighs, and the belly.

THINK YOU’RE HEALTHY?  YOU’RE TOXIC

Fat buildup. Water Retention.  Fat Stomachs.

80% of us are overweight; 31% meet the criteria for “obese.”

We spend over $75,000,000,000 (billion) a year on weight–related diseases.

No matter how good you think your health is, toxins are part of your reality. Because of toxin buildup internal organs are sluggish and unable to function, and disease becomes part of life.

4 TIPS FOR FIGHTING TOXINS

• Become aware of cleaning products for house, and clothes.  Chlorine is a poison, so investigate natural cleaning and “green” laundry options. Use vinegar in a spray bottle, a non-toxic sanitizer/cleaner.

• Be aware of ingredients in personal care products. If you can’t read the name, it’s a toxic chemical.

Anti-per spirants contain heavy metal aluminum. Shampoos contain ingredients in auto anti-freeze.

• Eat Food, Whole Food, with natural packaging. Processed food has little or no nutrition, and many toxins.

• Eat food in its natural state. 

Read the labels on Twinkies, Cool-Whip, Sara Lee’s, Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread. (white bread, with the whole part of the wheat kernel removed, can be called whole grain?)

More than 5 ingredients=frankenfood, not real food. Avoid.

Michael Pollan’s, In Defense of Food, Penguin Press, 2008. 

SHOULD YOU CLEANSE TOXINS?

You can undertake a “cleanse,” to cooperate with your body. Some cleansing products on the market, recommend no solid food while cleansing.  “Fasting” should be with a physician’s guidance because our bodies, with today’s fast-paced lifestyle, need balanced fuel: carbohydrates, fat, and protein.

MUSCLE NEEDS HIGH-QUALITY PROTEIN

1. No solid food for many days won’t give the body fuel it needs to build and maintain lean muscle tissue.  Support muscle growth and maintenance with ample high-quality protein.  Your heart is a lean muscle.

2. Drink water, preferably filtered, to flush toxins.  No little plastic bottles, please, no chlorine, at least 100 oz. a day.  

To flush toxins your body needs plenty of water, not high-energy caffeine drinks. Energy drinks give you energy by pulling from the body and depleting the body’s reservoir.

BEGINNING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Take the few steps above. Become aware of toxins in your world, and take small steps to minimize impact.

As they’re flushed, fat and excess water will be released, and you will feel more energetic than in years. Your fat stomach will begin to shrink.

Built-in systems seek balance in your body. When you cooperate natural good health, your birthright becomes an easy companion.

Check the link in the upper left corner of this blog for  the “Cleansing for Better Health” free newsletter. 

Previous Article/Video Next Article/Video

Tweet This Post

CLEANSING THE ANSWER TO BETTER HEALTH BUT ONLY PART OF THE ANSWER

Cleansing should be partnered with a diet of healthy whole foods. But where do we get our food? Do you know?

FOUR CONGLOMERATES PROVIDE AMERICA’S FOOD FROM FIELD TO PLATE

America is loosing it’s farms. Chicken, beef, hog, and dairy production is increasingly centered on large CAFOs (Contained Animal Feeding Operations).  Animals from these CAFOs are crammed into small spaces (hogs in some CAFOs literally cannot turn around. they stand all day in their own waste.)

The Bush administration approved mergers creating monopolies of dairy and animal producers. The result gives us only four companies, Cargill, ADM, Monsanto, and Dairy Farmers of America, that control food production from field to plate.

With this “bigger is better’ philosophy fewer than 2% of farms account for over 50% of all farm sales.   Conglomerates produce and market seed sold to all farmers.  The same conglomerates produce and market feed, bedding, and equipment for hog, chicken, and beef farmers. These same also own feed lot and packing houses that bring animals to the market.

MONOPOLITHIC OWNERSHIP OF FOOD SUPPLY DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA

Not only is this not cost effective for either farmer or consumer, a small number of producers is not safe for America. Our food supply is more vulnerable to disease, and climate disruptions such as floods, and drought.

The health of some Americans is being affected right now, since some mammoth factory farms spread toxic waste directly onto fields near homes and towns in the midwest. Southern Michigan is an example.  This waste can contain hormones, urine, feces, parasites, blood and body fluids, possible antibiotic resistant pathogens, and sometimes even chopped body parts. It’s spread over open fields where it seeps into ground water, runs off into streams, and attracts flies. 

Waste, spread directly onto frozen ground in winter, runs off into water sources.  (notice trees along a stream in background of the picture from www.nocafos.org.)

Waste in some cases is dried and srayed into the air near homes and towns. Dried waste particles settle on lawns, swing sets, picnic tables, pets, farm animals, and homes.  Here’s pivot spraying dried CAFO waste in south central Michigan, www.nocafos.org/.  Check the website for more information. Click the back arrow on your browser to return to this page.

ATTORNEY GENERAL TO MEET WITH FARMERS NEXT YEAR!

Last week, in a shocking development reported by National Public Radio, (listen: http://tinyurl.com/lpr2jl Click back arrow of browser to return to this page.)  the antitrust division of the Attorney General’s office met with a nonprofit group of farmers and academics, led by Mississippi rancher Fred Stokes, to talk about “gigantification”of American agriculture.

Beginning next year. 2010, the Attorney General’s office will hold town meetings with farmers across the country. These joint hearings between departments of Agriculture and Justice will uncover the extent of harm because of lack of antitrust enforcement of the former administration. These meetings are unprecedented and are a very encouraging sign.

We’ve talked before about factory farms on this Blog.  (see:  http://cleanse-for-better-health.com/blog/factory-farm-staph-infection/)

We need to be aware of what’s happening to our food.  Factory farms are not a “natural” development. They  are engineered for efficiency and profit.  They are cost-effective for the owner and producer. Factory systems keep their costs down.

Factory Farms do not exist to provide healthy food to the consumer. Their purpose does not include keeping family farm in business.  They are not an agency for diversity so they go directly against Nature. Nature hates a monoculture and will break a monoculture down given time.

Keep this in mind as you shop for groceries this week.

Factory Farms or Family Farms. 

You get to choose with your dollar.

Tweet This Post

Cleansing is the answer to diets. Regular cleansing takes care of diets–throws them in the trash.  American, though, are still obsessed.

My Oprah magazine just came. The cover story for the September issue, is ”Finding the diet that fits your life. 

Americans have a love/hate relationship with food. We’re dieting, counting calories, watching our weight, continually on some diet or restricted food plan. And yet, a high percentage of us are not only overweight, but obese.

Why do we have so much trouble with food?

Why can’t we relax and enjoy something that’s such a big part of living? Other cultures don’t seem to have these American hangups.  Look at the French, for example, and you’ll see a lot of slender French people eating gobs of saturated fat washed down with wine. These are a people who have a relationship to food completely different from ours, according to Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food.

The French eat small portions, don’t come back for seconds, and they spend considerably more time eating than we do. Taken together, these habits contribute to a food culture in which the French consume fewer calories than we do, yet manage to enjoy them far more,” page 183.

• Drink a large glass of water first thing in the morning to hydrate your brain. Continue drinking water throughout the day.
• Follow with breakfast, containing high-quality protein along with carbohydrate and fat.
• Have a 100 calorie snack about 10:00 a.m. (raw nuts, celery, carrots, vegetables, nut butters, tuna, and crackers.)
• Drink water throughout the day.
• At Lunch include high quality protein with carbohydrate and fat. 
• It’s another snack at 3:00 p.m. Aim for 3 snacks and 3 balanced meals every day.
• Evening meal around 5:30, or 6:00.
• Snack at 8:00 if you head for bed around 10:00.

EAT MORE FOOD TO RELEASE MORE FAT

1. Three 100-calorie snacks a day. Eat more to get best results because you don’t want to go more than 3 hours without eating something with protein. If you restrict calories, don’t eat, your body will lower metabolism and drop into starvation mode.
2. Avoid processed food, anything with high fructose corn syrup, long chemical names. These products are not food. Much of what we see in our groceries is a chemical rearrangement of three ingredients: corn, soy, and wheat, not real food.  When Pollan says, “Eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables,” he’s not referring to processed food which is fake.
3. Don’t avoid good fats found in eggs from open-range chickens, avocados, coconut, healthy fish, olilve oil, and butter from grass-finished cows. America’s diet is devoid of Omega-3 fatty acids that are very important to all aspects of good health.
4. Take time to prepare food, eat slowly, and enjoy it with someone you love.

Previous Article/Video

Tweet This Post

AACK!!!

Toxins in the environment, in my food, in my shampoo. Mad Cow disease, e Coli, and Avian/swine/Spanish flu popping up in Africa and South America…

Panic time for my immune system. 

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY IMMUNE SYSTEM IF MY BODY IS OVERWHELMED WITH TOXINS?

If my body is overwhelmed with toxins, my immune system is compromised, and I’m more likely to get sick.  My body is naturally designed to capture and destroy bacteria and other invaders, but if it’s already fighting hords of poisons from food, environment, and personal care products how can it do its job of warding off disease? 

How often do you think about your liver?

Probably not very often. 

Yet it’s probably one of the most complicated organs in our body.  It works silently, below awareness, to break toxins into pieces that can be excreted through the skin, kidneys, and colon.

I drink a lot of water during the day.  Almost a quart in the morning as I take my morning herbal drink and shake and vitamins. Through the day my trusty water bottle goes with me to town and downstairs as I work on the computer.

Water is the most important thing you can do to support detoxification. I filter mine even though we have water with no chlorine at our house. I don’t feel good drinking chorine.  It makes water supply in the U.S. safe by killing bacteria, but I don’t want to deliberately put a poison into my body. So I filter.

John and I eat lots of vegetables and local free-range meat (lamb, beef, chicken) and eggs. Animals in the industrial agricultural system are routinely fed various antibiotics and hormones to prevent infection and increase weight gain.

We get those vegetables from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. That’s new for us this year. We love getting healthy produce every week. In the process we support a farmer who is small–not part of the military-industrial complex that is U.S. agriculture today.

40% OF AMERICA’S FOOD GROWN TODAY IS NOT INTENDED FOR PEOPLE

Next week I’ll send you the trailer for “Fresh,” the movie. It’s all about what’s happened in just the last 50 years or so to America’s food supply. We all need to be aware how vulnerable our food supply is today.  Our food supply is controlled by only 4 companies, and 40% of food grown in the U.S. is not grown for human consumption.  Many conventional farmers today, subsidized by our government, grow nothing on their farms that is intended for humans.

More in a couple of days. In the meantime, do you buy “organic” at the store? Why is it important to you? Why not?
 
 

Previous Article/Video Next Article/Video

Tweet This Post