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General Guidelines for Healthy Living #3

Pantry Detox, Shopping, Exercise, EMF's and Sweet Potatoes

"If it had a face or a mother or man made it, don't eat it."
(This is a pretty famous vegan maxim. But: Do eggs have a mother? Do fish have a face, or a mother? This has always confused me. I don't subscribe to it totally, but certainly the "man-made" part, I do)

Now that you have taken all of the unhealthy, processed foods  let's review all those pretend, mostly factory-made foods that you have thrown out. Refined sugars and substances made from sugar, fake sugars and substances made from them, processed foods (most of those are in a bag, box, jar, can or wrapper), things with HFCS, food with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oil, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrate products, anything with MSG, and anything with the following cancer causing additives: sulfites(dried fruits), potassium bromide (breads),preservatives like BHA, artificial colorings like FD&C red etc, and artificial fats like olestra.

Don't put these in the storage pantry, either! Not for later, not for end-times, not for anytime. You will just sneak around and eat bad stuff when no one is looking. Just get rid of it all in your big trash bag and put it out right now for garbage day. (There is the true story about The Good Mom who threw away all the unhealthy food, including the Froot Loops she had purchased for her daughter in a weak moment. She put it all in the garbage can a few days before pick up. A couple days later she found her 9 year old daughter eating the Froot Loops out of the garbage. A little sugar addiction? )

After you have done this and while you are patting yourself on the back for being so thorough, make a final sweep of your pantry and remove anything whose ingredient list is long, the print is too fine, you don't recognize more than two or three names, there are too many names, your third grader can't pronounce them and lastly, there are too many ingredients and your grandmother would never have used it. Yes, the Triscuits, too. And the gluten-free pretzels. And the healthy corn chips. I know. I sympathize totally with you, but don't shoot the messenger.

Now you need to go shopping at Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. Think fruits, vegetables, organic meats and fish, plain yogurt, plain kefir, nuts, organic eggs, olive oil, butter, ghee, golden flax seeds. Buy a couple of healthy cookbooks that appeal to you. Shop the perimeter and remember, load up on fresh, whole foods, not that stuff Michael Pollan calls "edible food-like substances" but is still called "food" by the marketeers and advertisers and that usually comes in a bag, box, can, jar or wrapper. You will be eating lots of fresh raw and steamed veggies, and if you are a meat eater, roasted chickens, grass-fed beef and fish. Smoothies made with a good whey protein and good green powder go a long way in giving you your vitamins, minerals and most of your 8 servings of fruits and veggies per day in one fell swoop.

I can recommend a book by Frank Lipman, M.D. called Revive. He pretty much tells you in a step by step fashion how to clean out your pantry, what foods to buy - plus he offers many suggestions on how to treat your flagging energy levels, get your healthy energy and vitality back and then to remain healthy and vital.

Here is a counter-intuitive thought for you to wrestle with: Make sure you eat enough on your new healthy plan. Many of us who can't lose weight or perhaps don't have the energy we want just aren't eating enough, or maybe we are eating too much at the wrong time. A big and very common mistake is to eat no breakfast, almost nothing all day then gorge at dinnertime. Even if you eat healthy food, this unbalanced way of eating is an automatic weight gain/energy depleting program. If you eat only healthy food - like I am talking about here - and a good bit of it throughout the day, starting with a substantial breakfast, you will automatically lose weight and maintain your energy levels. It's good to eat every couple of hours, too. Don't forget. Prepare your snacks and take them to work. Yes, this healthy life-style takes a bit more time and you just have to cook more, but it's worth it, believe me.

Regarding Exercise

"If God had meant me to touch my toes, he would have put them higher up on my body."

You have to do some, but you don't have to overdo it. In fact, over-doing is bad and will seriously hurt your adrenal glands. If you have been checked out by a doctor and have been given the all clear, I suggest a brisk walk (or a slog) 4 or 5 times a week for 30 minutes. Get yourself a pedometer (Jenny Craig sells one) and see how close you come to the desired 10,000 step mark in any 24 hour period. If you can, get a fitness trainer to show you how to do upper body weights correctly so you don't pull a muscle or hurt yourself. You could even carry light weights (1 or 2 pounders) on your walk. Yoga, Pilates and either Tai chi or Chi Gong are all great in every way, but particularly for the even toning of your muscles, core strength and balance. By all means, don't do anything you have to grit your teeth over or you won't do it. For example, I hate gyms. And all of their blasted complicated machines, yes, including treadmills. However, I love the outdoors. So instead of going to the gym to do machines or whatever else people do in those hot, oppressive, smelly places, I hike in the mountains.

Regarding Electromagnetic Balance

There is an electromagnetic field surrounding all matter. Because of the intense EMF smog we all live in today, our physical field is being negatively influenced on a fairly regular basis. Some negative fields are caused by microwave ovens, microwave towers, light poles, radio waves, fluorescent lights, computers, water beds, electric blankets and perhaps the worst of all - cell phones. I recommend that everyone try their best to reduce their EMF stress. Other than moving to the mountains and turning off your computer and cell phone, there are more realistic ways to do this. One is to purchase and wear around your neck a Bioelectric Shield which reduces EMF stress and purportedly protects you from bad human juju, too. I wear one almost every day and can feel the difference. They are sold on Amazon for about $275. (Read the "Evils of Electro-smog" in my Archived Hot News Section)

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