Are you trying to lose weight, increase your overall energy and zest for life, and eliminate sickness in your life? Or perhaps your family is suffering from sickness, depression and weight problems? Did you know that Nature has provided the perfect solution to all our health issues? It’s as simple as fresh green vegetables and fruits. But if you are following a healthy diet, did you know that you are still missing essential vitamins and minerals from your diet? Welcome to the benefits of Green Smoothies!

I’ve been a health ‘fanatic’ all my life and was raised on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and minimal animal products. But as I grew older, I began to feel that essential minerals and vitamins were missing from my diet. Good quality vitamins from the health food store were expensive, and exactly how much was my body actually absorbing?

So I started researching about every single food that existed for humans. After following many wrong roads, I finally found the answer I’d been looking for. There is one specific food group that matched ALL human nutritional needs: GREENS.

We were not eating enough greens in my family. In fact, we didn’t really like a lot of them, except in our salad, covered with salad dressing. But we knew that greens were important since they have all the vital nutrients our bodies need.

I remember being told frequently by my grandparents to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and to especially eat our spinach. In other words, people knew greens were important a hundred years ago. It’s only within the last hundred years, that the overall consumption of greens has decreased significantly. Most people rarely eat a salad everyday, and spinach is a popular food that many people actually dislike.

I began to read about other animals in the wild, especially gorillas and chimpanzees. They are biologically the closest creatures to human beings, and are almost 98% vegetarian, even though, technically, they are omnivores (eat both plants and animals), yet their diet is more vegan than omnivore. Only during certain times of the year when some plants are not available they’ll need to compensate by eating insects, etc.

Human beings and chimpanzees share an estimated 99.4% of our DNA sequence, making us more closely related to each other than either is to any other animal species. Yet, do chimpanzees in the wild suffer from heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes or weight issues? Have you ever seen an obese chimpanzee? Hmmm, think about that for a moment. Yet, despite all the scientific research, human health is continuously declining. It’s pretty easy to conclude that human health problems are related to nutritional deficiencies in the standard American diet. Examining and understanding chimpanzees’ eating habits may help us learn exactly what our own human dietary needs are.

Chimpanzees primarily consume fruits and greens, and sometimes insects, termites, etc. Greens are not the same thing as root vegetables like carrots, beets, or potatoes. And greens are not the same thing as non-sweet fruits like cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers.

According to Jane Goodall, a world famous researcher of chimpanzees, the percentage of time that chimpanzees spend eating greens in relation to the rest of their diet varies from 25-50% depending on the season.

Two to seven percent of their diet is pith and bark. (Piths are the stems and more fibrous parts of plants.) When the trees are blooming, in March and April, chimpanzees consume blossoms, up to 10% of their [diet] ratio.

Chimpanzees do not eat very many nuts, but their diet could be up to 5% seeds. Also, particularly in November, they consume small amounts of insects and even small animals, however, Goodall says this part of their diet is irregular and insignificant, as they could go months and months without consuming any animals, and seem to have no ill effects.

So when you begin to compare the standard American diet with that of chimpanzees, there is a huge difference. There is nothing in common between the two diets. Most humans eat things that chimpanzees don’t eat at all, like cooked starchy foods, oils, candy, yogurt, cheese, hamburgers, chips, ice cream, etc.

Chimpanzees almost never eat root vegetables, unless there is a drought and fruits and greens are unavailable. As I mentioned earlier, the intake of greens has declined significantly within the past 100 years in the human diet. Most people’s idea of a serving of greens is two wilted iceberg lettuce leaves on a sandwich!

When you begin to compare the standard American diet with an average diet of a typical vegan, you’ll see that a vegan diet is significantly healthier and provides more nutrients than the regular diet.

For a raw diet, it goes without saying that all ingredients are uncooked, which allows them to provide all the necessary enzymes and vitamins our bodies need; consequently, the raw food diet is like a revolution compared to the standard American diet (often referred to as SAD).

This can account for why many people state that they immediately feel better on a raw diet. Most raw foodists eat a large quantity of fruit, which includes bell-peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes as they are also fruits. Nevertheless, even though raw-foodists generally consume significantly more greens than people on an average mainstream diet, greens rarely comprise 45 percent of their food. [As in the typical chimpanzee diet.]

So how can we obtain the missing greens? To compensate, most people on a raw food diet consume large amounts of fruits, nuts and seeds. Nuts are used as a substitute for carbohydrates, particularly when trying to mimic cooked dishes with raw ingredients, even though nuts are 70-80% fat.

Additionally, raw foodists will increase their consumption of oils and avocados because the most common way of eating salads, their main staple, is to have it mixed with dressing, sauce or guacamole. Keep in mind, there is nothing wrong with certain oils, especially avocados. Many raw food experts consider avocados to be a perfect food.

Also, raw foodists frequently will increase their consumption of root vegetables through juicing, such as carrots, and beets, especially since roots taste sweeter than greens and thus comprise a large portion of raw salads.

When looking at the two diets, standard human diet and the chimpanzee diet, it’s easy to see that in order to improve our health it is necessary to increase our consumption of greens, and to keep our intake of nuts, seeds, and oils to a minimum.

It’s also interesting to note that chimpanzees never eat late in the afternoon or evening. It’s quite possible that they were plenty satisfied with the greens and fruits they consumed during the day, that they had no more need for food. Upon further research, I determined that greens are the most important food that humans can eat. And eating more salads was not the answer.

I used to juice a combination of carrots, beets, wheatgrass, and apples on a regular basis, almost daily. I had learned that our body absorbed the nutrients quickly and I actually felt a kind of ‘high’ after drinking the juice. But I also wondered about all the fiber that was expelled during the process. There wasn’t much you could do with it, unless you maintained a compost. But I didn’t like throwing the fiber away, after all, isn’t fiber important for us? Other than the pulp from wheatgrass, which our stomachs cannot digest (we don’t have two stomachs like cows do!), I really wished there was a way to consume the fiber. Mix it back into the processed juice? Nope, that wouldn’t work.

In my research, I came up Dr. Christopher’s mucus-less diet program, and in he talks about a blended salad. Basically, it’s like taking your green salad loaded with healthy vegetables and dumping it into the blender. Then drink or eat it like a soup. I tried it, and it wasn’t too bad, needed a lot of seasoning though.

It was about that time I came upon a book by Victoria Boutenko titled:
Green For Life. In her book she discusses how important it is for our bodies to consume greens, her personal testimony with her family about adding greens to their diet, and recipes that she came up with that are actually very delicious. They were similar to the blended salad recipes with one difference; she adds fruits, like apples, bananas, pears, peach, etc.

So I started creating my own recipes using fruits and greens, and fell in love with green smoothies! I have been making them everyday for several months, and have never felt better! It really is the missing link in our diet!

If you are interested in learning more about Victoria Boutenko’s family, their journey into raw foods and how it cured them all of their diseases, you will want to get her book. Even her kids have written a couple of books!
One is Eating Without Heating. They were teenagers at the time it was published, now they are 21 and 22. It is one of my favorite books.

Sign up for my free newletter where you will receive healthy recipes, information for how to eat healthy to lose weight, eliminate disease and increase your energy. Also, when you sign up for my newsletter, you will receive a free preview of my Smoothies for Health ebook!  Grab it now, as I am only releasing it for free temporarily. When I’m finished writing it, I’ll be putting it up for sale.

Til next time!
In Joy!
Lauren

Here are 12 tips for coping with the Holidays.

Your health can be in danger if you allow stress and depression to ruin your holidays. Remember to try and be realistic and plan ahead, and seek support to help ward off stress and depression.

As I said, this Christmas is a crazy time for us. All three of our grown children will be with us for the first time in over 8 years. But it’s also a sad time. Both my parents and grandparents are gone, and my brother and sister live too far away to visit. I have many fond memories of spending Christmas with my parents and grandparents. We had wonderful fun times spent around the Christmas tree singing carols, sharing jokes and telling stories around the dinner table. Funny gifts were exchanged, and everyone always had a great time. Now those days are gone, and it’s up to us, my husband and I, to carry on those traditions with our own children and grandchildren. Hopefully, we can create fond memories for them as well.

For some people, there are no family members to share these special times with. For my brother, he spends it alone, and I have to try and cheer him up on the phone. It’s not always easy. He misses the special family times we shared together. Getting involved with a church helps, I know it does for me. Volunteering at the homeless shelter’s food line and helping others takes my mind off my own problems, and makes me so grateful for what I have: my husband, my children, my health, my home… and believe me, once I start counting my blessings, the depression is gone!

But not everyone has time to do volunteer work at this time of the year… there is just too much to do! For many people, the holidays bring unwelcome guests — which causes stress and depression. And it’s no wonder. In an effort to pull off a perfect Hallmark holiday, you might find yourself facing a dizzying array of demands — work, parties, shopping, baking, cleaning, caring for elderly parents or kids on school break, and scores of other chores. What happened to the peace and joy?

Actually, with some practical tips, you can minimize the stress and depression that often accompany the holidays. You may even end up enjoying the holidays more than you thought you would. Below are 12 tips from the Mayo Clinic that may be helpful.

The trigger points of holiday stress and depression

Holiday stress and depression are often the result of three main trigger points. Understanding these trigger points can help you plan ahead on how to accommodate them.

The three main trigger points of holiday stress or depression:
• Relationships: Relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time. But tensions are often heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts can intensify — especially if you’re all thrust together for several days. Conflicts are bound to arise with so many different personalities, needs and interests. On the other hand, if you’re facing the holidays without a loved one, you may find yourself especially lonely or sad. • Finances: Like your relationships, your financial situation can cause stress at any time of the year. But overspending during the holidays on gifts, travel, food and entertainment can increase stress as you try to make ends meet while ensuring that everyone on your gift list is happy. You may find yourself in a financial spiral that leaves you with depression symptoms such as hopelessness, sadness and helplessness.

• Physical demands: The strain of shopping, attending social gatherings and preparing holiday meals can wipe you out. Feeling exhausted increases your stress, creating a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep — good antidotes for stress and fatigue — may take a back seat to chores and errands. High demands, stress, lack of exercise, and overindulgence in food and drink — all are ingredients for holiday illness. 12 tips to prevent holiday stress and depression When stress is at its peak, it’s hard to stop and regroup. Try to prevent stress and depression in the first place, especially if you know the holidays have taken an emotional toll in previous years. Tips you can try to head off holiday stress and depression:

1. Acknowledge your feelings. If a loved one has recently died or you aren’t able to be with your loved ones, realize that it’s normal to feel sadness or grief. It’s OK now and then to take time just to cry or express your feelings. You can’t force yourself to be happy just because it’s the holiday season.

2. Seek support. If you feel isolated or down, seek out family members and friends, or community, religious or social services. They can offer support and companionship. Consider volunteering at a community or religious function. Getting involved and helping others can lift your spirits and broaden your friendships. Also, enlist support for organizing holiday gatherings, as well as meal preparation and cleanup. You don’t have to go it alone. Don’t be a martyr.

3. Be realistic. As families change and grow, traditions and rituals often change as well. Hold on to those you can and want to. But accept that you may have to let go of others. For example, if your adult children and grandchildren can’t all gather at your house as usual, find new ways to celebrate together from afar, such as sharing pictures, e-mails or videotapes.

4. Set differences aside. Try to accept family members and friends as they are, even if they don’t live up to all your expectations. Practice forgiveness. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discussion. With stress and activity levels high, the holidays might not be conducive to making quality time for relationships. And be understanding if others get upset or distressed when something goes awry. Chances are they’re feeling the effects of holiday stress and depression, too.

5. Stick to a budget. Before you go shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend on gifts and other items. Then be sure to stick to your budget. If you don’t, you could feel anxious and tense for months afterward as you struggle to pay the bills. Don’t try to buy happiness with an avalanche of gifts. Donate to a charity in someone’s name, give homemade gifts or start a family gift exchange.

6. Plan ahead. Set aside specific days for shopping, baking, visiting friends and other activities. Plan your menus and then make one big food-shopping trip. That’ll help prevent a last-minute scramble to buy forgotten ingredients — and you’ll have time to make another pie, if the first one’s a flop. Expect travel delays, especially if you’re flying.

7. Learn to say no. Believe it or not, people will understand if you can’t do certain projects or activities. If you say yes only to what you really want to do, you’ll avoid feeling resentful, bitter and overwhelmed. If it’s really not possible to say no when your boss asks you to work overtime, try to remove something else from your agenda to make up for the lost time.

8. Don’t abandon healthy habits. Don’t let the holidays become a dietary free-for-all. Some indulgence is OK, but overindulgence only adds to your stress and guilt. Have a healthy snack before holiday parties so that you don’t go overboard on sweets, cheese or drinks. Continue to get plenty of sleep and schedule time for physical activity.

9. Take a breather. Make some time for yourself. Spending just 15 minutes alone, without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do. Steal away to a quiet place, even if it’s to the bathroom for a few moments of solitude. Take a walk at night and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Find something that reduces stress by clearing your mind, slowing your breathing and restoring inner calm.

10. Rethink resolutions. Resolutions can set you up for failure if they’re unrealistic. Don’t resolve to change your whole life to make up for past excess. Instead, try to return to basic, healthy lifestyle routines. Set smaller, more specific goals with a reasonable time frame. Choose only those resolutions that help you feel valuable and that provide more than only fleeting moments of happiness.

11. Forget about perfection. Holiday TV specials are filled with happy endings. But in real life, people don’t usually resolve problems within an hour or two. Something always comes up. You may get stuck late at the office and miss your daughter’s school play, your sister may dredge up an old argument, your partner may burn the cookies, and your mother may criticize how you’re raising the kids. All in the same day. Accept imperfections in yourself and in others.

12. Seek professional help if you need it. Despite your best efforts, you may find yourself feeling persistently sad or anxious, plagued by physical complaints, unable to sleep, irritable and hopeless, and unable to face routine chores. If these feelings last for several weeks, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. You may have depression. Take back control of holiday stress and depression Remember, one key to minimizing holiday stress and depression is knowing that the holidays can trigger stress and depression. Accept that things aren’t always going to go as planned. Then take active steps to manage stress and depression during the holidays. You may actually enjoy the holidays this year more than you thought you could.

Author: By Mayo Clinic Staff
Publication: MayoClinic.com
Publisher: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

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I have read that caffeine addiction has been classified as one of America’s most most popular legal drugs. Imagine, a cup of coffee being considered a drug? But caffeine is found in soft drinks, headache pills, diet pills, and chocolate besides just in coffee. Not to mention the growing popularity of coffee and expresso bars featuring sugary lattes’ and all their other similar concoctions. One would be amazed at how much caffeine ends up in your body over the course of one year!

Why do so many people depend on this potent legal drug to not only wake them up in the morning, but to keep them going all day?

Well, from Wikipedia, we learn…

Caffeine… is a xanthine alkaloid found naturally in such foods as coffee beans, tea, kola nuts, Yerba mate, guarana berries, and (in small amounts) cacao beans.

For the plant, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide since it paralyzes and kills some of the insects that attempt to feed on the plant.

Caffeine’s main pharmacological properties include a stimulant action on the central nervous system with psychotropic effects and stimulation of respiration, a stimulation of the heart rate, and a mild diuretic effect.

Is this something you want to put in your body on a daily basis? Even after knowing these facts, I hope some of you will reconsider your morning cup o’joe.

According to Stephen Chernisek, author of Caffeine Blues, caffeine in the human body…

1. Raises blood sugar levels and disrupts sugar-regulating effect of insulin
2. Raises fatty acid levels in the blood
3. Raises homocysteine levels, which greatly increases the diabetic’s risk for cardiovascular disease
4. Causes vascular resistance (circulation is reduced)
5. And caffeine raises stress hormone levels which is a primary risk factor for diabetes

If that is not enough info to get you to reconsider, Wikipedia’s article on caffeinism reveals that…

Caffeinism is poisoning resulting from excessive intake of caffeine, whether via coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, over-the-counter medications, or other caffeine-containing products.

Its symptoms are both physiological and psychological. The amount of caffeine needed to generate caffeinism depends on individual sensitivity.

It is commonly assumed that only a small proportion of people exposed to caffeine develop symptoms of caffeinism. However, because it mimics recognized psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis, a growing number of medical professionals believe caffeinism victims are routinely misdiagnosed and unnecessarily medicated.

A study in the British Journal of Addiction declared that “although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population.” (JE James and KP Stirling, 1983).

Shannon et al (1998) point out that: “Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses… The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine.”

The fact that caffeine is known to exacerbate organic mental illnesses (Hughes et al, 1998) can make accurate diagnosis difficult.

I drank coffee for many years, and a few years ago, then when I wanted to quit, mixed my coffee with half caffeine and half decaf. Then switched over to Yerba Matte tea. It has some caffeine in it, not nearly as much as coffee, but I thought it was better than coffee. Gradually, I weaned myself off the Matte, and now enjoy a cup of herbal tea instead.

Some people experience awful symptoms when they stop drinking coffee. Some symptoms can be headaches, upset stomach, sweats, and mood swings. I would not recommend going cold turkey, unless you like the pain of withdrawals. No, I didn’t think so! The best methods to stop drinking coffee are two ways that I can recommend:

1) Gradually reduce your intake on a daily basis. For example, the first day you decide to really quit, and say you usually have three cups of coffee, have two cups instead. Drink just two cups for a few days. Then when you are ready, say in a week, reduce it to just one cup of coffee for the day. And then drink that one cup of coffee for 2 – 3 days. Next, drink just ¾ cup of coffee, and then after another few days, reduce it to ½ a cup, and then a ¼ cup. Soon, you’ll be able to substitute a cup of herbal tea and feel just fine.

2) The method I used works great too, but you really don’t kick yourself of the craving for the ‘taste’ of coffee. I did half caffeine and half decaf. I would buy the coffee grounds and grind them myself at the store. So I would dispense regular coffee beans into the bag until it was half full, then switch over to the decaf beans and fill the bag up. Soon I was able to drink all decaf coffee. But like I said, this doesn’t cure you from the coffee flavor craving!

So obviously, one of the best things you can do for your health is to decrease or, even better, totally remove, caffeine from your life.

Once you get past the withdrawal problems (if any!) you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel physically and mentally.

Forever Young:

The Anti-Aging Guide

A Downloadable Digital Book

by Gerald (Storm) and Johanna (Jinjee) Talifero

The Anti-Aging Guide offers you real rejuvenation techniques through foods and a way of eating that prevents and reverses aging. This diet will help you to effectively rejuvenate your body and extend your life expectancy. According to the latest scientific and medical research our bodies are designed to be healthy and live until the age of 120 to 140 years old. It is our un-natural tendencies and lifestyles that have caused us to evolve into civilizations in which death by disease is considered natural.

After you read this eBook you will hold the keys to natural anti-aging. All you need are the laws of nature and the knowledge of what the natural diet is and how to eat it in modern times. It is totally possible to eat a diet that fully supports your health, tastes great, is satisfying, and is fast and easy to prepare. In this eBook we are going to tell you how you can do it!

When you order you will be taken instantly to a web page that contains the entire eBook on one scrollable printable page. You can read it online or print it out and read.

About the Authors

The authors Gerald and Johanna Talifero who have been called “the new life-extension couple” keep things simple. This incredibly easy-to-make and delicious diet consists of food you can buy in almost any grocery store and requires no special equipment. Using this diet they have rejuvenated and become younger looking and feeling every day!

Gerald (Storm) Talifero has been eating the anti-aging diet for 30 years, and has improved his physique over this time. At 55 he competes with college-level athletes. He is mistaken for being in his 30’s. He has the same vitality as he did in his 20’s. The span of 26 years is shown on the left. The before and after are almost exactly the same except his muscle tone and size has improved. How does he maintain his weight on a diet that leaves many men too skinny? Find out Storm’s secrets in this eBook!

Johanna (Jinjee) Talifero has also taken years off her life. When she started the anti-aging diet in 1993 at age 25, she was overweight and suffered from numerous physical complaints. Ten years later at the age of 35 she is finally enjoying her youth! She has rejuvenated, healed her candida and a breast tumor, and lost weight, while also having four children! This is a phase of life in which women usually gain weight and lose their youthfulness. This eBook will show you the natural and simple way of eating that is in harmony with nature and your own body, allowing your natural beauty to emerge.

Our whole family thriving on the anti-aging diet…Storm 55, Raven 10, Shale 4, Jome 7,
Adagio 9 months, Jinjee 38

The Taliferos take no medication of any kind. You won’t even find aspirin in their house. They take no supplements. They eat the simplest foods prepared in the most delightful way. Preparing meals takes only 5-10 minutes, and they taste divine! When you hear about this diet, you will say “Of course that is how we are meant to eat!” As humans we have a tendency to complicate everything, to tamper with everything, and this is not always beneficial. When it comes to diet we have gotten far off course. The epidemic levels of disease and obesity in our society is proof that we need to make some serious changes.

Young And Beautiful 100% Naturally

Our program consists of showing you how to obtain enough nutrients to prevent the aging of the cellular body, how to avoid the toxins that promote cell-decay, and how to maintain the elasticity of your body’s tissues through simple balanced health practices such as eating correctly, exercising and drinking sufficient water. Its that simple. It will not cost you any money! There are no pills, powders, supplements, machines or other products to buy. In fact you will spend far less on your groceries than you do now.

Excerpt from “The Anti-Aging Diet”

“It only makes sense to try to bring our bodies into alignment with the natural foods found on the planet which are part of the same natural realm as we are. This is not a radical diet. This is a natural diet and the further you get away from this diet the more radical your diet becomes. This diet is the holy grail everyone is looking for”.

Total Health System

Our nerve cells are also made from the food we eat. When we eat the right nutrients then our nerve cells remain healthy. When we don’t get the right nutrients, over time our nerve cells begin to weaken causing us to slow down. Our nerves no longer fire rapidly, but become sluggish. There are specific vegetables that give you the nutrients you need to reproduce nerve cells. These vegetables must be prepared correctly in order to not destroy the nutrients. Our recipes include balances of foods that will keep your nervous system young and quick. The eBook also includes exercises that create a balanced muscular system

Gourmet Food

The average gourmet cooked food gives your body things you can’t use. It is clogging and unbalancing. And you feel it. And we all know it. This is common knowledge. We look older. We feel sluggish. We get sick. The purpose of this eBook is to take rejuvenating food and make it taste better than gourmet food. And after a week you’ll definitely feel the difference.

Reverse the Aging Process

We will explore in depth the three cycles that make up the living cycles of our lives. When we are young our bodies make more cells than we wear out so we grow. When we reach middle age we replace cells at the same rate that we wear them out so we remain the same size. And when we reach old age then we wear out cells faster than we replace them. The rejuvenation of cell growth is totally dependent upon the quality and vitality of our diets. Vitamin pills, Mineral supplements, Enzyme tablets and liquids that have been processed from various foods are all great things to sell to make money. It is easy to make them sound like miracle cures. It is easy to convince people that they will work because that is what people want to hear. They want to find youth in a bottle. Well, the truth is actually even more simple than a pill! The truth is that the only really usable form of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and nutrients is found in specific foods, prepared in ways that do not damage these elements.

When we eat the anti-aging diet then the aging process is totally slowed down and we are able to retain our youth for a much longer period of time. The processes and habits humankind has developed for preparing food over the past million years have contributed to shorter lifespans and the proliferation of disease. When you hear how to prepare foods so that they will be healthful you will say “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that!” . The principle behind the Anti-Aging Diet is a similar discovery to when medical doctors discovered 200 years ago that if they washed their hands in-between operations it prevented infection. This discovery revolutionized medicine and prevented an untold number of hospital deaths that used to be common occurances. This is just such a discovery. It is just as simple as washing your hands! And just as obvious!

Sometimes we humans overlook the obvious because we are so blinded by our cleverness. We were so blinded by our cleverness in being able to perform operations that we didn’t think of the very obvious truth that we were killing people through spreading germs from one sick person to another. We are so blinded by our cleverness in creating delicious meals that we do not realize the very basic and simple way in which we are killing the nutrients in the foods! When you hear it you will understand completely. You will see the purest common sense in the basic philosophy of the Anti-Aging Diet. You will look at other people as though they are crazy to eat the way they do.

The Alchemy

We have drawn from a variety of ancient schools of knowledge where hundreds of years of searching for enlightenment including the development of extraordinary physical capabilities and longevity were recorded on scrolls that were carefully guarded. This is knowledge that has been reserved for centuries for the select few initiates who earned the right to view them through rites of fasting and tremendous physical discipline. The Anti-Aging Diet is really not an accidental discovery. It is the hard-won result of thousands of years of searching to find the panacea or universal remedy for diseases. Alchemy is the process of turning your body from coal (ordinary/poor health) to gold (vibrant health). From the temples of the orient to the druids of the Emerald Isle the spiritual searching for enlightenment seems to invariably also lead to a knowledge of physical enlightenment, - dynamic, vibrant, powerful, joyful, sensual, strong, and beautiful health!

The Anti-Aging diet gives us life energy, radiant beauty, heightened clarity, clearer and stronger connection with our thoughts and inner life, and increased physical presence, strength and personal power!

Testimonials

I ordered your eBook and enjoyed all the recipes. I have now lost 43 lbs and still losing. My goal is to lose 27 more. I am a 70 year old woman, trying to change my life. I wasted many years eating the wrong way and developed diabetes, high blood pressure, Fibromyalgia and other colon problems. I am slowly changing all these problems and plan to live a long and healthy life. I can now exercise, where for a while I just couldn’t even walk. Peace and love, Sue Harris, living in Kansas, Oklahoma.

From the bottom of my heart I thank you for your truly enlightened words! For many years I have believed in the Anti-Aging Diet principles, but I have not put these beliefs into practice. It has given me much sorrow that I felt so completely that this is the way of integrity for me, but then I fail to act. Reading your e-book and your masterful words in your e-mails has revitalized my commitment to the right way of life for me. I have read nearly everything in the subject of Nutrition and have found some good from this, but you have the most amazing way of communicating these principles! Your writings have truly rejuvenated my soul! I thank you from the depths of my heart for the gift you have given me! With you as my witnesses I commit to this joy and love filled way of living, this path of integrity. I thank you for caring enough about our world to share your knowledge and love with all of us! Alexei Romanov

Have you ever read something that was so “right”, that it brought tears to your eyes? Your e-book just made me feel that way! Thanks. Loraine Hill, Tampa, FL

I read your eBook. I cant seem to stop reading the part about “You get to go back to the Garden.” Every time I read it or think of those words I cry–my heart opens so deeply. - Anahata

I find your eBook is so nice and simple and easy to follow. - Alida Penny

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I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2001, although I probably had it way before then. Since it finally explained why I was tired all the time, just wanted to go to bed when I came home from work, and had very little enthusiasm for anything. Even though I ate healthy food and avoided high fat and sugars in my diet, I was always struggling with my weight. I literally would starve myself, or go on juice fasts and still could not lose any weight.

Finally, I went to the doctor and he couldn’t figure it out either. He did a blood test and everything looked ‘normal’, except I had high cholesterol, and low iron in my blood. Maybe I had the wrong doctor (I did switch doctors several times during the next few years), but he didn’t test my TSH blood levels, the thyroid hormones. When I asked him if he tested, he said no, and immediately had me re-test. Well, the numbers came back SO high, like in the 200’s (3-5 is considered normal) he had me re-test again! The numbers did not change. He was amazed that I hadn’t yet ended up in the emergency room. But I was very close. It’s actually amazing that I was able to work full time and not fall asleep at my desk!

He prescribed the usual Levothyroxine, Levoxyl, or Synthroid hormone drugs. I didn’t want to take them. My research revealed that once I start, I would be on this prescription for the rest of my life.

So I tried some alternative natural hormone pills from the health food store. No change in my blood levels, or my energy level either, for that matter. I was frustrated! Here I’ve been an advocate for natural health and wellness, anti-prescription and “anti-establishment doctors” all my life, and now I had no choice but to cave into it. My life literally depended on it! What an ironic situation! I started taking Levothyroxine, and at my own request, later added Cytomel. Cytomel provides the T3 that is missing from Levoxyl, Synthroid, etc. Some patients’ thyroid do not produce either T4 or T3. Yet the doctors generally just prescribe the pill for T4. Go figure….

Now this involved two separate prescriptions; I had to take Cytomel in the morning and again at noon because it is short-lived in the system. What a pain, let alone, what an expense! But I was getting better.

So I purchased an excellent book that really opened up my eyes to this thyroid disease issue. It’s called Thyroid Power by Dr. Richard Shames and his wife, Karilee Shames. In their book they offered many recommendations on how to deal with hypothyroidism, and what the mainstream doctors won’t tell you. I learned that I would be better off taking Armour Thyroid, even though most doctors will not prescribe it because they (the doctors) say that the dosage cannot be consistent since it is a natural preparation derived from porcine [pork] thyroid glands. Well, it’s true, it is almost impossible to find a doctor willing to prescribe Armour, or Thyrolar, another natural thyroid medicine derived from porcine glands. Why? Mainly because they’ve been brainwashed to believe that Armour doesn’t work. Hogwash!

I also read Mary Shoman’s book: Living Well with Hypothyroidism.

Below is a clip from her article at: http://thyroid.about.com/cs/thyroiddrugs/a/armour.htm

Alternatives to Synthroid and the Other T4-Only Drugs

Some thyroid patients in the U.S. who do not take levothyroxine sodium (the generic name for Synthroid, Levothroid, Levoxyl, Euthyrox) are instead prescribed either Armour Thyroid or Thyrolar, two drugs produced by the same manufacturer, Forest Pharmaceuticals.

What is the difference between Armour, Thyrolar and the levothyroxine sodium drugs? Primarily, Armour and Thyrolar are drugs that provide BOTH T4 and T3 thyroid hormones, instead of just providing T4, as levothyroxine sodium drugs like Synthroid do.

Current endocrinology practice believes that T4-only drugs are the ONLY appropriate thyroid hormone replacement drugs. The prevailing opinion is that everyone converts all the T4 needed into T3 automatically, and that drugs such as Armour and Thyrolar are outdated and old-fashioned at best. Some doctors are even vehement about this, and swear that Armour has consistency problems or is dangerous, despite the fact that is was the primary thyroid replacement hormone drug for years, until Synthroid came on the market. Also, in terms of consistency problems, the levothyroxine sodium drugs have recently come under heavy FDA fire for problems with stability and potency. (See my article “Synthroid and other Levothyroxine Drugs Have Significant Stability and Potency Problems,” located at http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa090197.htm.)

Generally, most people do fine on levothyroxine sodium T4-only drugs. But some people do not. These people may be candidates for Armour or Thyrolar.Armour was the first thyroid medicine developed and was successfully prescribed to patients back in the 1940’s, before the pharmaceutical companies developed the chemical alternative and wanted to make money from it. Hmmm, you think the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors are in it together? Yeah, they’re in it for money, what else? They don’t care about the patients. Okay, enough ranting on that topic.

The other good thing about Armour and Thyrolar is that they both naturally contain T3, which eliminates the need for taking two separate pills. Since I was benefiting from the addition of Cytomel, it was obvious that my body was not producing both types of hormones, T3 as well as T4. So I was able to find a doctor that would prescribe Armour, (only at my own peril, he said!) and slowly, my numbers started to come down, my energy level increased, my weight began to drop, my hair stopped falling out, my skin rashes disappeared, my mood swings stopped, (no, I did NOT have PMS!), and so many other aspects of my life began to improve. But, none the less, I am still on this prescription for the rest of my life. I found out later that my grandmother, who lived to be 94, was also on thyroid medicine. So it could be hereditary. But I also believe that there are environmental factors that contribute to thyroid disease. Like flouride. It’s in our toothpaste, our water, food, everywhere. See my review on ToothSoap.

So if you are tired all the time, or feeling fatigued and possibly depressed, cry easily, your hair is falling out, can’t lose weight no matter how hard you try, etc., check with your doctor. A simple blood test will reveal everything.

Once I got my thyroid levels back to normal, my anemia (low blood iron levels), and high cholesterol numbers were all back to normal. Low thyroid hormone levels in the blood can also cause other health symptoms. You don’t want to be diagnosed and treated for a specific health symptom with a prescription when it could actually be caused by something else, like your thyroid.

The following is from: What is hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism refers to any state in which thyroid hormone production is below normal. There are many disorders that result in hypothyroidism. These disorders may directly or indirectly involve the thyroid gland. Because thyroid hormone affects growth, development, and many cellular processes, inadequate thyroid hormone has widespread consequences for the body.

This article will focus specifically on hypothyroidism in adults.

What are thyroid hormones?

Thyroid hormones are produced by the thyroid gland. This gland is located in the lower part of the neck, below the Adam’s apple. The gland wraps around the windpipe (trachea) and has a shape that is similar to a butterfly - formed by two wings (lobes) and attached by a middle part (isthmus).
The thyroid gland uses iodine (mostly available from the diet in foods such as seafood, bread, and salt) to produce thyroid hormones. The two most important thyroid hormones are thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), which account for 99.9% and 0.1% of thyroid hormones present in the blood respectively. However, the hormone with the most biological activity is T3. Once released from the thyroid gland into the blood, a large amount of T4 is converted into T3 - the active hormone that affects the metabolism of cells.

So there you have it my friend, please get yourself checked out if you experience any of the above mentioned symptoms. Also, lately, more men are being diagnosed with hypothyroidism as well as women.

Child Obesity… it’s everywhere now. Over 1 in 5 kids are obese now. What is happening to our kids?

Things have changed a lot since I was a child, nearly 50 years ago. We had Physical Education in school every single day, it was mandatory. Most of us kids brought our lunches to school, consisting of a healthy sandwich, fresh fruit, homemade cookies, and juice or milk to drink. Or you could purchase milk and apples from the snack bar. Oh yeah, there was candy and Twinkies, etc., But the Washington Red Delicious apples were so good who wanted candy?

After school we’d play tag football or ride bikes around the neighborhood, and on weekends helped our parents with the chores, and then played some more out in the street, or in the backyard with friends. In high school, I rode my bicycle to school, approximately 6 miles from home on a hilly road. Many of my friends had cars, but we couldn’t afford it, and I didn’t like riding the school bus. We rarely had any ‘fat’ kids in school. If there was an obese child, it most likely was a specific health issue.

We didn’t have computers back then, video games, DVR with cable TV, cell phones to text messages on, chat rooms, or movie rentals. The only fast food restaurant that I recall was McDonald’s and it was only on special occasions that we would ever go there. Eating out in restaurants was a treat, but we didn’t do it all that often. Money was tight. It was more practical to buy the ingredients to make a nice meal at home. I loved to cook, and often would use my parents as ‘guinea pigs’ creating unique and interesting dishes. This is a fond memory, because many of those dishes actually turned out to be delicious and I still make them today. When my kids come to visit they always request them.

But I’m getting off topic. I want to talk about child obesity. It’s become the new ‘epidemic’. Everywhere you go, the children are chubby. What is happening to our next generation? It’s been reported that between 5-25 percent of children and teenagers in the United States are obese (Dietz, 1983). The prevalence of obesity in the young varies with ethnic groups. Is it based on economics? Junk and fast food is considered cheaper. It is estimated that 5-7 percent of White and Black children are obese, while 12 percent of Hispanic boys and 19 percent of Hispanic girls are obese (Office of Maternal and Child Health, 1989). Note that this quoted citation is as of 1989, so increase those percentages by another 5-10%, at least, since that was almost 20 years ago!

Is obesity among children on the rise? A study done by the National Children and Youth Fitness Study revealed in their finding that 6-9 year olds have thicker skinfolds than their counterparts in the 1960s (Ross & Pate, 1987). Other studies done during the same period, also disclosed their findings to show a 54 percent increase in the prevalence of obesity among 6-11 year olds (Gortmaker, Dietz, Sobol, & Wehler, 1987).

Defining Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Most folks know what obesity looks like, or what the ideal weight should be for children of a certain age. If not, their doctor will certainly tell them. When the total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls (Lohman, 1987). Although childhood obesity is often defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal, skinfold measures are more accurate determinants of fatness (Dietz, 1983; Lohman, 1987).

Skinfold measures are easy to obtain by a trained technician in a school or clinical setting. The triceps alone, triceps and subscapular, triceps and calf, and calf alone have been used with children and adolescents. When the triceps and calf are used, a sum of skinfolds of 10-25mm is considered optimal for boys, and 16-30mm is optimal for girls (Lohman, 1987).

The Problem of Obesity

I remember when my children were babies. They were just about the chubbiest little babies you ever saw. But they were 100% breastfed for over 6 months, and then gradually began to add bananas, cereal, and fruit to their daily diet. They were breastfed for nearly 2 years, all three of them. They lost their chubbiness when they started walking, and now, they are all in their 20’s and by most standards, would be considered underweight. Today, they are all tall, handsome and beautiful, and not an ounce of fat on either of them.

It’s true that not all obese infants become obese children, and not all obese children become obese adults. But it goes without saying that the prevalence of obesity increases with age among both males and females (Lohman, 1987), and there is a greater likelihood that obesity beginning even in early childhood will persist through the life span (Epstein, Wing, Koeske, & Valoski, 1987).

There are many health risks to the child that is obese. The challenge of dealing with the extra weight into adulthood is only one of the issues. Pediatric hypertension is of the complications resulting from obesity, and this health issue is associated with Type II diabetes mellitus, increases the risk of coronary heart disease, increases stress on the weight-bearing joints, lowers self-esteem, and affects relationships with peers. Obese children also suffer from social and psychological problems and these can cause additional emotional and mental problems long into adulthood.

For more information about Childhood Obesity, check out my book about Childhood Obesity.

Washington, Dec 04 (ANI): A new study has found that children suffering from night time cough can fare better with a dose of honey than over-the-counter medicines.

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine found that giving a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime can provide better relief from the night time cough and sleep difficulty children face than dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cold medications.

The severity, frequency and bothersome nature of night time cough was found to be considerably reduced with the intake of honey. It also prevented upper respiratory infection better than DM or not giving any treatment at all.

Honey was also found to have a positive effect on the sleep quality of the coughing child and its parents, something which DM or no treatment could not offer.

The discovery was particularly noticed after an FDA advisory board cautioned that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be given to children less than 6 years old as they lacked effectiveness and had probable side effects.

Researchers led by Ian Paul, M.D., M.Sc., had in a previous study showed that neither DM nor diphenhydramine, performed better at reducing night time cough or improving the quality of sleep.

They however found that honey, which has been used for centuries in some cultures to treat upper respiratory infection symptoms like cough, and is considered to be safe for children over 12 months old, has well-established antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, and was a great contributor to healing wounds.

Honey also soothes on contact, which may help explain its effect on cough as suggested by the World Health Organization.

In the latest study, the researchers enrolled 105 children between the ages of 2 and 18 at a single university-affiliated physician practice site.

On the first night of the study, children received no treatment. Parents answered five questions about their child’s cough and sleep quality as well as about their own sleep quality.

On the second night, children received either honey, artificial honey-flavoured DM or no treatment about a half hour prior to going to bed. Parents answered the same five questions the following morning.

The randomized study was partially double-blinded: Medical staff did not know what treatment each participating family received when distributing their sealed syringe-containing envelope. Parents of children who received honey or artificial honey-flavored DM in a measured syringe were blinded to their treatment group. Parents of children in the no treatment group received an empty syringe, and therefore were aware of their child’s treatment group.

Across the board, parents rated honey as significantly better than DM or no treatment for symptomatic relief of their child’s nighttime cough and sleep difficulty. In a few cases, parents did report mild side effects with the honey treatment, such as hyperactivity.

“Our study adds to the growing literature questioning the use of DM in children, but it also offers a legitimate and safe alternative for physicians and parents,” said Paul, a paediatrician, researcher and associate professor of paediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Children’s Hospital.

“Additional studies should certainly be considered, but we hope that medical professionals will consider the positive potential of honey as a treatment given the lack of proven efficacy, expense, and potential for adverse effects associated with the use of DM,” he added.

Potentially dangerous effects of DM in young children include dystonic reactions, severe involuntary muscle contractions and spasms. Further, DM is a commonly used as a drug of abuse by adolescents.

The results are published in this month’s Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. (ANI)

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There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the Master Cleanse. Lately it seems like every Hollywood actress or actor who needs to get in shape is turning to this decades old health system that involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.
With all the diets out there to choose from why would anyone bother with the Master Cleanse?

There’s two main reasons people like the Master Cleanse. The first (and most obvious) is that it works. The results people are getting with the Master Cleanse border on miraculous, and they are backed by thousands of devoted users who are living testimonials to the effectiveness of the Master Cleanse.

The second reason people choose the Master Cleanse over other diets and wellness programs is that it’s fast. The typical person only spends 10 days on the Master Cleanse, compared to other diets that can last months or even years you can see why they choose the Master Cleanse.

Another interesting thing about the Master Cleanse lasting just 10 days is that you only need a short term burst of will power to get through it. Having to sacrifice for months is what makes other diets so hard to stay on, but most people can will their way through 10 days.

What can you expect from 10 days on the Master Cleanse?

Even though most people are going on the Master Cleanse to lose weight quickly, there’s many other health benefits to be gained by doing the Master Cleanse. Flushing out your system is what the Master Cleanse is really designed to do. Even back 60 years ago when the Master Cleanse was first invented people had health problems as a result of waste building up inside of them. Today with processed foods, pollution, and all around poor diets our bodies desperately need to be flushed out every once in a while.

When you flush out your body with the Master Cleanse the waste you eliminate will be abnormal. The smell, color, and texture of the waste that comes out of your body shocks some people, so you should be prepared.

If you want to try the Master Cleanse there’s more you need to know then just drinking the lemonade mixture for 10 days. In fact most people who try the Master Cleanse without knowing all the steps fail. If you think the Master Cleanse is something you would like to try there’s a good book at the Master Cleanse website that you should read before starting the Master Cleanse because it covers the common problems people face, and how to avoid them.

If you are not prepared for what you’ll experience when you do the Master Cleanse there’s a good chance you’ll fail. Typically lasting just 10 days, it’s easy to see why people just “jump right in” to the Master Cleanse thinking it will be easy. It’s not.

During your time on the Master Cleanse you are likely to experience hunger, aches, and irritability. Most people give up because of hunger. Putting solid food aside for a couple days and only drinking liquids is harder then most people think. Even though the cravings for whole foods can be difficult they do subside after a few days on the Master Cleanse.

So rule number 1 for finishing the Master Cleanse is getting past the third day. Instead of focusing on completing the entire 10 days from the onset of the cleanse just focus on getting past day 3. Breaking the Master Cleanse down into smaller milestones will be a big help.

Rule number 2 for finishing the Master Cleanse is dealing with aches and soreness. Headaches are one of the most common Master Cleanse side effects, but some people also get body aches.

To reduce aches you should drink a lot of water. It’s also good to relax and not push your self too hard when you do the Master Cleanse. Exercising should be kept to light walking and stretching. Your body will be going through a rigorous cleansing process during the Master Cleanse, and won’t be able to adequately recover from intense exercise during this time.

Rule number 3 for finishing the Master Cleanse is overcoming irritability. This affects the people around you more then it does yourself, but it’s something you need to be aware of before starting the Master Cleanse.

It’s best to let the people around you know that you’re going to be doing the Master Cleanse ahead of time so they can do their best to accommodate you. Also try to plan your Master Cleanse when you’re not too busy. Most of us can’t just take 10 days off to do the Master Cleanse, but you should try to avoid doing it when you’re swamped at work, or have other stressful events going on in your life.

There’s more to succeeding at the Master Cleanse then I can cover in this small article. If you are serious about trying the Master Cleanse and want to be one of the people who do make it through the whole 10 days the Master Cleanse Secrets book at the Master Cleanse website is the most complete guide available for helping you get through the Master Cleanse.