Here are the 5 Changes that will Drastically Improve Your Health

Improve Your Health starting right now by creating these 5 easy habits.

Are you ready to drastically improve your health? Lose weight and Look younger? Be full of energy and excited to take on your day?

I was really unhealthy. Fifty pounds overweight, tired all the time, acne, aches, and pains. I looked and felt awful. Today I feel younger, I look younger, I am at my ideal weight, and I always have plenty of energy to spare. If you would like to feel better, these 5 easy changes will help you to improve your health, starting right now.

I struggled with my weight for most of my life. I would read nutrition labels. I at the “healthy” boxed foods. I didn’t eat at McDonald’s. I didn’t drink soda. I always bought the “Healthy Whole Grains” and the non-dairy milk, and everything else that traditional advertising tells us is healthy. But I continued to gain weight and I continued to feel worse, both mentally and physically.

A Healthy Diet is not about going without. It is about Abundance. The most important tool in getting health is eating a lot of Real Food — You should never be hungry on a healthy diet. Fruits and Vegetables have far fewer calories than hamburgers and chips. Eat your fruits and vegetables in abundance, don’t skimp.

Then one day, I stumbled across a book at the library that changed my life. That book was Raw Family: A True Story of Awakening by Victoria Boutenko, and I learned the secret to health. I learned why I struggled with my weight and I started to change my diet that very day.

The change wasn’t always easy. But honestly, most of the time it was.

Once you get over the fear of change and you start to open your mind to the abundance of real food, you find that a healthy diet is full of variety.

Healthy food is vibrant and exciting.

Cooked and processed foods put us in a rut. They keep us stressed and depressed. We are too tired to try new things, but when you begin to provide your body with real nutrition, your whole outlook on life changes. You have more energy, you become more positive and you become happy.

Drastically improving your health can be easy if you just take it one small change at a time. Don’t try to take on too much at once. The five changes below will drastically improve your health if you implement all five of them. However, don’t feel like you have to do it all at once. The health changes that stick are the ones you can stick with every day.

It takes 21 days to create a habit, some habits take a bit longer (30-60 days), but they will become a habit if you just stick with it long enough. So start today, pick one change today and commit to it for the next 21 days.

Do it every day. Once it becomes routine, pick another one from the list and stick with it until it becomes a habit.

So Here are your 5 Easy Changes to Drastically Improve Your Health:

1. Trade Coffee for Green Tea or Herbal Tea

A little about the damages that coffee consumption causes.

Caffeine Disrupts Sleep — Caffeine disrupts sleep and leads to constant fatigue.

The Food and Beverage Industry spend billions of dollars to pay for studies that say coffee has health benefits. These studies are misleading and are released purely as advertising to sell their products.

Have you ever heard someone say “I’m not human without my coffee” or “My day hasn’t started until I have my coffee” or perhaps “Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.” We have all heard and made jokes about coffee, but make no mistake coffee is no joke.

Coffee is a highly addictive drug, just like heroin or cocaine or sugar. The only real difference is that it is socially acceptable and it doesn’t kill you as quickly.

This is why we “Don’t Feel Human” without this toxic beverage.

Each time you consume a cup of coffee you become more addicted. This is why people who consume coffee daily go through withdrawal symptoms when they try to stop.

Headaches, irritability, muscle cramps, lethargy, flu-like symptoms, constipation, and depression are the common symptoms of withdrawal from coffee and any other caffeine-containing beverage. (Yes, soda and energy drinks are just as bad, actually, they are much, much worse for your health, so dump the soda and energy drinks as well.)

Here are just a few of the negative health effects of coffee:

1. 1. Coffee consumption has been linked to bladder cancer.
  2. Mothers who consume coffee during pregnancy increase the risk of their child developing leukemia.
  3. The caffeic acid in coffee causes damage to our DNA, with other factors this can lead to cancer cells being activated.
  4. Regular coffee consumption reduces fertility in women by 27%.
  5. Caffeine impairs glucose metabolism which is dangerous for Diabetics and may lead to Diabetes in non-diabetics.
  6. Caffeine raises blood pressure for at least 2-3 hours after consumption increasing the risk of heart attack.
  7. Coffee causes heartburn and indigestion.
  8. Coffee consumption can lead to insomnia.
  9. Women who consume coffee regularly are 70% more likely to develop incontinence.
  10. Coffee releases the stress hormone Cortisol, which makes you feel stressed and anxious and creates excess abdominal fat.

The long list of negative health effects strongly outweighs any potential positive health effects that the advertisers want you to believe. Any positive health effects you can get from drinking a cup of coffee can be achieved just as easily by eating fruits and vegetables, with no negative side effects.

So start weaning yourself off the coffee and sodas today. Go slow to reduce serious withdrawal symptoms, but start today.

The easiest way to quit coffee is to trade it for another soothing beverage, this way you only have to deal with the physical withdrawal at first, without having to also deal with the emotional attachment or the habit.

Coffee is a highly addictive drug with a long list of negative health effects. Learn more here:

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Swap Coffee for:

Green Tea

Here is How Green Tea will Improve Your Health

Green Tea is a good option for transitioning away from caffeinated beverages. It offers a small amount of caffeine, which will help in managing withdrawal symptoms.

Green Tea is loaded with Antioxidants called catechins, which help our bodies to fight cellular damage and prevent cancer.

Green tea has been shown to improve blood flow and lower cholesterol, reducing your risk of heart-related ailments.

Green Tea is beneficial for Diabetics as it helps to better regulate blood sugar levels.

While there are no studies that conclusively show that Green Tea can prevent cancer, it has been shown that green tea supports healthy cell growth. Healthy cells lead to lower incidence of disease.

Green tea contains theanine, a natural chemical which has a calming effect on the body. This along with a relaxing ritual of sipping your tea slowly can lead to a more relaxed and calm state.

When you make Green Tea, do not use boiling water. Allow the water to cool some before steeping, to gain the most benefits. Boiling water can damage the catechins, lessening the antioxidant benefits of the tea. Instead, use water that is around 160 degrees for the best results. Additionally, adding lemon to the tea helps the body better absorb the catechins, while milk blocks absorption making the tea less effective.

Green Tea without sweeteners is best, but if you must sweeten your beverage, honey or maple syrup are the best choices for your health.

Green Tea can also be cold brewed. Place a tea bag in a glass jar or pitcher with up to 32 ounces of water and let steep in the fridge for 1 hour or more. This makes a much lighter beverage with no bitterness and a more floral or fruity flavor depending on the tea blend.

Green tea comes in hundreds of different blends and brands, some of my favorites are Prince of Peace Organic Jasmine Green Tea (tea bags – very affordable), Yogi Tea Chai Green (tea bags), and Wild Tea #2 Green Tea with Mint (loose leaf).

Herbal Tea

Swapping your daily coffee for herbal can drastically improve your health.

Herbal Teas are another excellent option to swap for coffee. Herbal Teas don’t actually contain tea leaves and are instead made from a blend of herbs and flowers.

There are hundreds of different varieties of herbal teas to choose from.

Herbal Teas have been used for centuries to treat everything from headaches and stomach discomfort to serious illnesses.

If you are looking for a boost of energy a few good options are:

Organic India Tulsi (Holy Basil) Lemon Ginger,

Organic India Gotu Kola Tulsi Tea,

Choice Organics Mental Focus,

and Be Resilient from Tea Tonix.

Yerba Mate

Here is How Yerba Mate can Improve Your Health.

Yerba Mate may be another good option for those looking for a bit more caffeine, without the jitters. Yerba mate contains B Vitamins and Vitamin C, as well as the minerals manganese, potassium, and zinc. It also contains the beneficial plant compounds Quercetin, Theobromine, and Theophylline.

The vitamin and mineral content of Yerba Mate give it a leg up over coffee since coffee strips the body of nutrients while Yerba provides the body with nutrients.

However, Yerba Mate does contain about 80 mg of caffeine per cup, which is significantly more than green tea at 15 mg. The caffeine content of Yerba Mate falls between Black Tea and Coffee, Coffee contains between 100 and 200 mg of caffeine depending on the variety and brew strength.

Since Yerba Mate contains vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants it is certainly a better choice than coffee for anyone in need of a bit more caffeine, especially those who regularly consume multiple cups of coffee per day.

However, some studies suggest that consuming too much Yerba Mate daily can raise your risk of some cancers, specifically respiratory cancers. These studies were based on individuals consuming a liter per day or more, which is a little over 4 cups per day.

Consuming 1 to 2 cups per day showed no negative health effects, but caution should be used because of the caffeine level.

Remember the ultimate goals is to get off the caffeine entirely so your adrenal glands can begin to heal. A good plan is to start with a higher caffeine tea (black or Yerba Mate) for 2 weeks, then step down to a lower caffeine option (Green Tea) and then to herbal teas that are caffeine free.

2. Take a Green Super Food Supplement

Green Superfood Supplements are a great way to drastically improve your health with a tiny amount of effort. Humans are naturally designed to eat pounds of leafy greens per day. But the industrialization and commercialization of our food supply has led us to a drastic change in our diets over the last few generations.

We have moved away from fresh fruits and vegetables and toward disease causing processed foods, meats, cheeses, and oils.

According to the CDC, only 1 in 10 Americans eats enough fruits and vegetables per day. And that is based on the government guidelines, which many nutrition and natural health experts agree is far too few, to begin with.

While there is no substitute for eating your fruits and vegetables, there is a benefit in supplementing to make up for lost nutrients from years of dietary neglect. That is why a green superfood powder can be so helpful.

Green Superfood Powder‘s are made from grasses, fruits, vegetables, and seeds, that have been freeze dried or dried at low heat to preserve the nutrients and then powdered for optimal digestion. A single scoop of powder contains 88% of your RDA of Vitamin K and 57% of your requirement for Vitamin C. It also contains a number of essential minerals, including Calcium, Iron, and Potassium.

Adding the Amazing Grass Superfood Powder to my morning routine when I first started to get healthy allowed me to easily quit the coffee habit. It also helped with fighting cravings as I moved from less healthy foods to a fruit based diet.

The grasses, fruits, and vegetables in Amazing Grass are also highly alkalizing. Cancer can only live in an acid state, so keeping your body in its proper alkaline state is the best tool you have in preventing cancer.

The powder can be added to a glass of water or to juice or a smoothie. Take it first thing in the morning if you are looking for that morning boost of energy. Or take it in the afternoon if you often find yourself in that mid-afternoon slump. Either way, it is a great way to supplement your diet while you are working towards more healthy eating habits. As always, real whole foods are best, but as we transition a green powder can help us on the path to a healthy diet.

Superfood Grasses can change your life. Find out how:

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3. Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies are an excellent way to improve your health and make sure you are getting in enough fruits and vegetables every day.

Green Smoothies are an excellent way to get in several servings of fruit and vegetables in a delicious, quick and easy way. The average Green Smoothie recipe contains 2-4 servings of fruit and 1-2 cups of leafy greens and other vegetables.

Check out some of these recipes to get you started:

Pineapple Green Smoothie

Apple Ginger Green Smoothie

Pineapple Cilantro Green Smoothie

Even if you hate vegetables there is a green smoothie out there that you will like. Your taste buds will quickly acclimate to the “green-ness” and you will find yourself becoming more adventurous over time. And if you really can’t get into the “green-ness” right off the bat, start with just the fruits and add the greens after a few weeks on fruits.

Here are a few Green Smoothie Tips:

If you are brand new to green smoothies and you do not already like the taste of leafy greens, start small. It is perfectly okay to start with ¼ or ½ the amount of greens that any recipe calls for. Start your first week with ¼ then slowly, over a few weeks, keep adding a little bit more each day until you work your way up to the full amount.

Your taste buds will change the more healthy food you eat. Fruits and Vegetables you currently don’t like, you will come to love them over time. The cleaner your body becomes the more it will crave the healthy stuff.

Make sure you blend everything really well. If you don’t have a Vitamix or a Blendtec, then blend everything in stages. Start with water and leafy greens. Then add any nuts, dates or figs. Once those are nicely blended, then add your fruits and any other ingredients. This way the greens will get really well blended and you won’t end up with a yucky chunky smoothie.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. Just because you didn’t like something one way, doesn’t mean you won’t like it in a different recipe. And just because you didn’t like it a few months ago doesn’t mean your new cleaner body won’t like it more today.

Starting your day with a Green Smoothie will give you an energy boost that far surpasses that of coffee, and it lasts for hours with no crash.

Green Smoothies are also highly Alkalizing, which leads to better health overall. To learn more about the importance of an Alkaline Diet for your health, check out this article: Why Alkalize?

Foods that help Arthritis - Leafy Greens like Kale, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, and Bok Choy. — Leafy Greens like Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard and Beet Greens are some of the most powerfully healing foods for any disease or discomfort.

Green Smoothies provide you with a great way to get in a variety of leafy green vegetables, from Kale to Beet Greens to Swiss Chard and more.

Kale is considered the World’s Healthiest food, let it improve your health.

Researchers have identified over 45 different flavonoids in kale. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and immune system benefits.

Kale also contains Isothiocyanates (ITC’s), ITC’s help to regulate the bodies detoxification process. So daily consumption of leafy greens, especially kale, helps your body to release toxins that are stored in fat cells. This also leads to a reduction of fat cells, as they are no longer needed to store the toxins. That means you lose weight and you lose cellulite just by eating Kale (or drinking it in a tasty smoothie).

Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, Dandelion Greens, Arugula and more, there is a whole world of leafy greens, try them all.

Less than 10% of us eat enough fruits and vegetables. Here are 5 Easy Ways to Eat more.

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4. Snack on Raw Nuts and Seeds

When we first move from high protein and high fat unhealthy foods like meat, dairy and eggs we need something to help calm the cravings. Nuts provide protein and fat to calm our nerves as we transition.

Substituting a handful of nuts or seeds for a junk food snack will help you lose weight and feel more satisfied. Flaxseeds, Walnuts, and Chia Seeds are all sources of Omega 3’s, which are often deficient in those eating a cooked foods diet. While Sunflower Seeds and Pumpkin Seeds are sources of Vitamin E which is important for healthy radiant skin.

The down side to Nuts and Seeds is they are acidic, so they should be eaten in moderation. Nuts and Seeds are designed to grow the next generation of food, they are not designed to be eaten, so as such they contain acids which protect them from being digested. They make a good transition food in moderation.

The Importance of Omega 3’s to Improving your Health

Besides Magnesium deficiency, Omega 3 deficiency may be the most pervasive deficiency in America.

Omega 3’s are found primarily in plant foods, with Flaxseeds being the most abundant source. Some fatty fish also contain Omega 3’s, however, the toxic heavy metal content of many fish along with the acidity of fish and all animal proteins makes fish a poor choice for Omega 3’s.

Omega 3’s should be consumed in a one to one ratio with Omega 6, but the average American diet is far out of balance. For every one part Omega 3 we typically consume 15 parts Omega 6.

This imbalance increases the risk of a huge list of diseases and disorders, including Heart Disease, Depression, BiPolar Disorder and other Mental Health Disorders, Hyperactivity and Autism Spectrum disorders and Arthritis, to name just a few.

Snacking on a handful of nuts and seeds daily can help you get this ratio back into balance, improve your health, and reduce your risk of disease while crowding out those unhealthy alternate choices.

Vitamin E is a Powerful Cancer Fighter that will Improve your Health

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that is essential for healthy skin and a beautiful complexion. It protects us against eye disorders, like cataracts, diabetes, environmental toxins, and neurological disorders, like Alzheimer’s.

Nuts and Seeds also contain bone-building minerals like calcium and other health promoting minerals like manganese, magnesium, copper, phosphorous, zinc and iron among others.

To get the healthy benefits from Nuts and Seeds they should only be consumed Raw. Roasted nuts and seeds contain Acrylamide, a carcinogenic substance. Nuts and seeds also contain natural oils which become rancid when heated to high temperatures. Additionally, nuts and seeds which have been roasted are often coated with iodized salt or sugar, both of which are highly detrimental to your health.

Nuts and seeds are a quick and easy snack, and a small handful is enough to satisfy. Keeping a small container nearby of mixed nuts and seeds can keep you on track and away from unhealthy snacks when hunger hits.

Studies show that people who consume nuts and seeds daily consistently maintain a healthier weight than those who do not consume nuts regularly.

Health Tip: Nuts and Seeds make a healthy snack and promote weight loss. See 4 more tips:

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5. Trade one Meal a Day for a Big Salad

Creating a daily Salad Habit will drastically improve your health. — Creating a daily salad habit will drastically improve your health.

Perhaps one of the best ways to get in your fruits and veggies and crowd out the junk is by eating a salad every day.

Make it a habit. Fruit Salad, or Green Salad or Vegetable Salad, you choose.

Even if you just start your meal with a salad. Just make it a habit. Everyday.

A salad will keep you hydrated which will naturally curb your snacking. Many of us snack or eat when we are thirsty rather than hungry because we don’t recognize the hunger as thirst.

Keeping your body well hydrated by eating plenty of hydrating foods will minimize these false
hunger urges.
Eating a green salad every day will get you closer to a pound of leafy greens per day. A pound of leafy greens per day is one of the best ways to keep away all disease.

A green salad plus a green smoothie every day can easily make up your pound of greens per day, getting you on your way to ultimate health. Plus a salad is big on volume and low on calories, so it will fill you up without adding to your calorie count too much.

Making a daily salad a habit also crowds out the bad. If you are full from a salad you will not have room for junk and you will naturally eat healthier later because you will be on a roll.

Remember that salad greens are low in calories, so a small bowl is not going to cut it. If a salad is a meal it should be in a large bowl, not a tiny little salad bowl.

Check out this article to learn how to make a salad that is satisfying and fills you up as a meal. Make sure you are using at least 4-5 cups of greens for a meal salad. And make it colorful and exciting by adding lots of bright colored fruits and vegetables.

Health Tip: Creating a daily salad habit will drastically improve your health. 4 more tips:

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To Recap, Here are your 5 Easy Changes that will Drastically Improve your Health:

Trade Coffee for Green Tea, Herbal Tea or Yerba Mate
Take a Green Superfood Supplement to make up for years of dietary neglect while you transition
Get more Leafy Greens in and maximize nutrient absorption with Green Smoothies
Snack of Raw Nuts and Seeds, especially Omega 3 rich Flax Seeds and Chia Seeds
Create a daily salad habit – Fruit Salad, Vegetable Salad, Leafy Green Salad

So these are the 5 easy changes to drastically improve your health. Remember, you don’t have to try to tackle them all at once. Do what you can, but commit to at least one today. Commit to making it a habit, repeating it daily until it is just part of your normal routine. Once you have made one healthy change part of your daily routine, choose another healthy change to focus on next.

Want to help others take charge of their health today? Share this article, send a tweet, or click below to share on Facebook or Pinterest.

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Want to learn more?

What is Healthy? What Does healthy really mean? and what does a healthy diet look like?

What is Disease? Rethinking Health and Disease on a Macro Level

Why Alkalize?

Resources:

Conis, Elena. “Yerba Mate Tea: Drink in Moderation.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/16/health/he-nutrition16>.

Scott, Paula Spencer. “Green Tea Health Benefits.” WebMD. WebMD, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/health-benefits-of-green-tea>.

Boekema, PJ, M. Samsom, GP Van Berge Henegouwen, and AJ Smout. “Coffee and Gastrointestinal Function: Facts and Fiction. A Review.” US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 1999. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10499460>.

Higdon, JV, and B. Frei. “Coffee and Health: A Review of Recent Human Research.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2006. Web. 19 July 2016. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16507475>.

WebMD. “Coffee.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-980-coffee.aspx?activeingredientid=980>.

Boyle, Coleen H., Ph. D, Gertrud S. Berkowitz, Ph.D., Virginia A. LiVolsi, M.D., Sharon Ort, M.P.H., Maria J. Marino, M.D, Colin White, M.B., and Jennifer L. Kelsey, Ph. D. “Caffeine Consumption and Fibrocystic Breast Disease: A Case-Control Epidemiologic Study.” Oxford Journals – Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Oxford Journals – Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 21 Dec. 1983. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/72/5/1015.short>.

Burgos-Moron, E., JM Calderon-Montano, ML Orta, E. Guillen-Mancina, S. Mateos, and M. Lopez-Lazaro. “Cells Deficient in the Fanconi Anemia Protein FANCD2 Are Hypersensitive to the Cytotoxicity and DNA Damage Induced by Coffee and Caffeic Acid.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8 July 2016. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27399778>.

Moore, Latetia V., Ph.D., and Frances E. Thompson, Ph. D. “Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendations — United States, 2013.”Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 July 2015. Web. 17 July 2016. <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm>.

Shocking Truth about Sleeping Pills + 4 effective alternatives

Everything You Need to Know about Sleeping Pills

plus Effective Natural Alternatives to these Deadly Pills

It was 1999 and she was only 41 the day she died. Sleeping pills.

Half a Million Deaths each year are caused by prescription sleep aids.

No, this isn’t a story of a celebrity overdose, or mixing pills with alcohol. This is a story of a sister, a mother, a woman who was happy and loved by her family. This is the story of taking a single prescribed dose of a supposedly safe sleeping medication and never waking up.

Brenda (name changed to protect the family) was a 41-year-old woman in the prime of her life, happy and outgoing, she generally had her life together.

She was not one to abuse medication, but on this fateful day, after a few weeks of sleepless nights, she chose to take a sleeping pill. A pill approved by our government, recommended by her doctor and believed to be safe.

And she never woke up.

Everyone assumed it was an overdose. After all, sleeping pills only kill if you abuse them, right?

We were all at a loss, we couldn’t believe that this woman who had never abused drugs in her life would overdose.

And we were right.

The coroner only found a single dose in her system. The sleeping pill had caused Brenda’s breathing to slow until she suffocated in her sleep. They called it a freak allergic reaction but ½ a million deaths are attributed to sleeping pills each year…

They called it a freak allergic reaction but ½ a million deaths are attributed to sleeping pills each year…

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Counting Sheep

We all struggle to sleep from time to time, tossing and turning, watching the hours tick by. Perhaps it is an overactive mind, stress or depression that is keeping you awake. But as we search for a solution, many of us are tempted to pop a pill.

We assume that these Sleeping Pills are safe. After all, they have been approved by our government for sale.

We see them advertised twenty times a night while we watch our favorite programs.

But are they really safe? Or have we just been duped into believing they are harmless?

Sleeping Pills like Lunesta, Ambien, Sonata and Rozerem are all household names, thanks to the billions of dollars spent by Pharmaceutical companies on advertising campaigns.

These advertisements are designed to make the pills look appealing, with butterflies and soothing images. We are programmed to believe these pills are safe and the perfect solution to our restless minds and poor dietary choices.

Many of these ads even say that you will awake the next day rested and ready to tackle your day. Although the side effects listed clearly indicate the opposite is true.

They prey on the frustration you feel at being exhausted. They prey on the fact that we all have overactive minds from time to time. They want us to believe that this magical pill will solve our problems in the easiest way possible, with no negative ramifications.

Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. As with most advertisements, these pills are too good to be true. The Pharmacuetical company doesn’t care if you sleep well, they only care about your money.

A study by Dr. Daniel F. Kripke, M.D., of the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, California found that patients who had been prescribed a Prescription Sleep Aid were 4.56 times more likely to die in the next 2.5 years than patients who were not taking any sleep aids.

Patients who had been prescribed a Prescription Sleep Aid were 4.56 times more likely to die in the next 2.5 years

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Taking Prescription Sleeping Pills also correlated to a 20% to 99% increase in Cancer depending on the brand:

“Most surprisingly, even those in the lowest third of sleeping pill consumption (0.4 to 18 doses per year) were 3.6 times more likely to die. Those in the middle third of consumption (18 to 132 doses per year) were 4.43 times more likely to die, and those in the top third (more than 132 doses per year) were 5.32 times more likely to die, suggesting a dose-response relationship.

Sleeping pill users in the middle third had a 20% increased risk of developing a new major cancer, whereas those in the top third of users had a 35% increased risk. Zolpidem users in the top third had a 28% increased risk of major cancer. Temazepam users in the middle third had a 44% increased risk of major cancer, and users in the top third had a 99% increased risk. ”

-Sleeping Pills May Dramatically Increase Death Rate – Daniel Weiss, Senior Editor Tuesday, March 6, 2012, http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/sleeping-pills-may-dramatically-increase-death-rate

The Addiction and Dependence Cycle

Sleeping pills are physically and emotionally addictive. When they are used for an extended period of time your body will come to rely on the pills and you will not be able to fall asleep without them.

Sleeping pills can also cause an emotional addiction, where you begin to believe that you can not sleep without the pill. This emotional and physical addiction, as well as the bodies growing tolerance to the pills, can lead to a deadly overdose as you need to take more pills for them to be effective.

But even worse, rather than being able to just pop a pill once in a while to get caught up on sleep, sleeping pills actually disrupt your sleep patterns, leading to a circle of dependence and a state of chronic lack of sleep.

Although you sleep when you take a sleeping pill, you don’t gain the same health benefits as you do with natural sleep.

Benzodiazepines, the most common form of sleeping pills, disrupt both your REM (rapid eye movement) and reduce your slow wave sleep (deep sleep) which are the most important parts of the sleep cycle, the times where your body repairs itself, processes the events of the day, and files away your memories.

This disruption creates a negative sleep imbalance the next day, which leads to you taking the pills again. Your bodies natural rhythms become disrupted causing a negative spiral of dependence.

Sleep is one of the most important health parameters which is often taken for granted. Chronic lack of sleep can trigger hallucinations, depression, suicidal thoughts, impulsive behavior, and paranoia. Sleep deprivation also raises your risk of Heart Attack, Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and may even raise your risk of Cancer.

Sleeping Pills, due to their tendency to disrupt your sleep patterns, leading to a chronic lack of REM and Deep sleep raise your risk of all of these diseases.

In the short term, Sleeping pills supposed blessing also come with a tremendous list of negative side effects, including making you less alert the following day. Below is a list of just some of the negative side effects of the most popular brands of sleeping pills:

Side Effects of Prescription Sleeping Pills

Sleeping Pills Dangerous Side Effects — The Scary and Dangerous Side Effects of Sleeping Pills.

If you look back at that list, you will notice that there are many symptoms which indicate neural effects, or that the pills are changing or disrupting your brain. Since there is so much that we still don’t know about our most powerful and important organ, is it really worth the risk?

Especially when there are so many natural remedies, harmless behavioral changes, and easy dietary changes that we can make to reach the same end? Sure a pill may seem like a good idea in that moment of restless frustration, but the lifetime of dealing with the damage caused does not seem to me like a smart risk. What about you?

Better Alternatives to Sleeping Pills

So what are the better options? What can we do to get the sleep that is so necessary to a healthy, disease free life?

There are actually a lot of effective options from herbal supplements to eliminating sleep disrupting foods and beverages, to simple behavioral modifications that will all help you get the right amount of deep, restful and rejuvenating sleep. I’ll talk about all those in just a moment, but lets quickly take a look at what a good night’s sleep really is.

How much sleep should I be getting?

5.5 to 7.5 hours is the Ideal Amount of Sleep — How Much Sleep Should You Be Getting?

Several recent studies have put this number between 5.5 and 7.5 hours of sleep as the ideal amount for an adult. Sleeping more than 8 hours or less than 6 hours increases your overall risk of death. The farther from this range, the greater the risk of disease and overall mortality.

But oversleeping can actually be more detrimental than lack of sleep.

One recent study showed that those who on average slept 9 hours or more had a 30% higher mortality rate than those sleeping 6-8 hours. Those sleeping 5 hours or less had a 12% greater mortality rate.

Sleeping 9 or more hours increases your risk of early death 30%.

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So if you have been trying to get that eight hours and your body says its time to get up after 6 hours, it’s time to listen to your body. If you are getting 6-8 hours of sleep but you are still feeling tired, it may be time to assess your diet. Your body is telling you that you are not giving it the correct fuel to get you through the day.

Check out Healthy Habits to learn about how to fuel your body for ultimate health and abundant energy.

So now that you know how much sleep you should be getting, let’s talk about how to get the best nights rest possible.

What’s keeping you up? Eliminating the cause of your insomnia will let you sleep restfully.

Let’s look at a few common things which keep us awake: caffeine, sugar, and stress. If you regularly have trouble sleeping, you may be consuming too much caffeine and sugar throughout the day or it may be stress or discontent that is keeping you awake.

Caffeine

Caffeine can stay in your system for as long as 28 hours after consumption and the average half-life of caffeine is 3-5 hours, with some people showing a half-life of up to 9 hours.

This means that if you are sensitive to caffeine, even a cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage in the morning may be affecting your sleep that same night.

If you choose to consume caffeinated beverages and foods, avoid consuming them at least 6 hours before bedtime. This includes coffee, green and black teas, Yerba Mate, sodas, energy drinks, chocolate and all chocolate-containing foods and beverages, like hot cocoa, chocolate ice cream, chocolate yogurts, or chocolate cupcakes, etc.

Also, check any prescription or OTC medications as well as vitamins and diet pills or supplements which may also contain caffeine. Eliminate these pills immediately if possible, or if they are prescription medications check with your doctor for an alternative that does not contain caffeine. If you cannot eliminate these pills, try to take them as early in the day as possible.

Caffeine is a highly addictive drug and as such you will experience some symptoms of withdrawal if you go cold turkey. Cutting back gradually over 1 to 2 weeks may be a better long-term plan to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include headaches, irritability, constipation, sleepiness, depression, muscle pain, cramping, stiffness and lack of concentration among others.

Sugar in all its sneaky forms

Sugar Cubes — Sugar in all forms disrupts the natural sleep hormone through blood sugar spikes.

If you ate anything today that wasn’t a raw fruit or vegetable in its most natural form, then you likely had some hidden sugar today. Sugar is everywhere in our food today thanks to some brilliant marketing by Sugar Industry Executives.

Everything from our breakfast cereal to our canned vegetables contains sugar, and sometimes it isn’t even obvious. There are at least 61 different names for sugar on nutrition labels that our government has approved so that companies can dupe us into thinking that a product does not contain sugar.

From sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup to barley malt, dextrose, maltose and rice syrup there are so many hidden sources of sugar that the average American consumes 66 pounds of hidden sugar a year.

There are at least 61 different names for sugar. On average, we consume 66 pounds of hidden sugar each year.

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So what happens when you consume sugar close to bedtime? How does that affect your ability to fall asleep and to sleep well? You can see from the illustration that those late night snacks or your favorite dessert may just be the key to your insomnia.

The Sugar-Sleep Cycle — How Sugar Disrupts your Sleep

When you consume sugar, in any form, whether it is white sugar, wheat products or hidden sugar in any of it’s 61 fancy names, it causes a spike in your blood sugar. Eat this sugar within a few hours of bedtime and the sleep deficit cycle begins.

When your blood sugar spikes, the pancreas releases insulin to get the sugar quickly out of your blood stream.

Since most of us already have a strained pancreas due to the high levels of processed foods, sugars and starches we consume, our pancreas tends to overreact, dumping too much insulin. The insulin eats up all of the sugar and this now leads to a blood sugar crash.

This blood sugar crash alerts our adrenal glands that there is an emergency and now our adrenals pump Cortisol, the stress hormone, to counteract this dangerous low blood sugar situation. This release of Cortisol counteracts the natural melatonin, which our body naturally produces to allow us to fall asleep and sleep well.

The Blood Sugar Roller Coaster — The blood sugar roller coaster keeping you awake at night.

So now with this battle raging in our body, our sleep is disrupted and we toss and turn. But even worse, this nighttime blood sugar rollercoaster drains our adrenal glands, leading to adrenal fatigue.

Guess what? Adrenal fatigue is just another name for being tired all the time.

The adrenal glands are responsible for our energy levels. If they become drained they are unable to recover efficiently and therefore you become more tired.

So now we wake up exhausted and so we grab a cup of coffee in the morning, which further drains your adrenal glands. Then at lunch we grab a caffeinated beverage and causing more damage, further draining our energy.

It is a crazy cycle which can only be broken by recognizing the cycle and jumping off the wheel. Break up with the sugar and the caffeinated beverages and you will be tired for a few days, but after a short time, your adrenals will repair themselves. You will begin to experience restful and restorative sleep and you will wonder how you ever ended up on this crazy train in the first place.

Stress – The Ultimate Insomnia Battle

Good Morning. Let the Stress Begin. — Stress in a common cause of insomnia.

We all experience stress from time to time in our life. Some levels of stress are healthy and can be beneficial. But when stress is keeping you awake at night, something needs to be done. The kind of stress that keeps you up at night is also the kind of stress that shortens your life.

While no one particularly likes to hear this, the best way to handle stress is to turn and face what is bothering you head on. We often allow ourselves to become stressed over small things, which in our minds manifest into huge worries or problems.

So the first step to tackling stress is to truly identify what it is you are dealing with. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down exactly what is stressing you out. Sometimes getting the stress down on paper makes it feel that much more manageable and really lets you see how insignificant this worry is in the grand scheme of your life.

But sometimes there are big things that are stressing you out. Perhaps the illness of a loved one, a recently lost job or a difficult financial situation. These legitimate stresses will need to be dealt with if you are to regain your sleep and your sanity and save your health.

The longer you take to act on these stressful situations the bigger the problem becomes. So if you are facing a stressful situation that needs a resolution, right now is the time to come up with a plan.

Take that same notebook paper and write down at least 3 things that would make the situation better. It doesn’t matter if the first 3 things that you write down are completely ridiculous or not achievable, just write them down and get the ball rolling.

Continue to focus on any solutions no matter how far fetched until you come across something that is an action that you can take now, or tomorrow morning to make a difference. Even if this doesn’t fix the problem, you will still be lessening your stress just by taking action.

Here are a few other suggestions for reducing stress:

Get some exercise – it doesn’t have to be crazy, just go for a walk around the block.
Turn off all Technology – at least an hour before bedtime – that means TV, Video Games, your phone, all of it. Give yourself time to disconnect completely from all programming and distractions.
Take that hour and meditate or just sit and allow yourself to think. (This will be scary at first for some of us.)
Release the guilt from your inner conversation- you are only human, you are doing the best you can do, even if you only gave 40% today, that was still your best for today. It’s okay not to be perfect, its okay to not always be 100%, stop beating yourself up.
Grab a notebook and brain dump- just start writing everything you are thinking about, it could be a to-do list for tomorrow, or something that is bothering you, or something that made you angry or sad, just get it out. Release it to the atmosphere and let it be swept away.
Tell your subconscious to solve the problem. Write down on a card or a piece of scratch “I will awake tomorrow morning, rested and refreshed with the answer to (your problem). I give myself permission to sleep restfully so I may best solve this problem.” Repeat this to yourself 3 times before bed. (This is a Think a Grow Rich Secret)

What to do if you still can’t sleep?

Some days we still need a little bit of help . Maybe our diet wasn’t the best, maybe we are feeling stressed or we are just struggling to put our minds to rest. There are natural alternatives to the dangerous sleeping pills that the pharmaceutical companies want to get you hooked on. From Herbal Teas to Herbal Pills there are a number of safe alternatives to turn to when you need it most.

Here are a few of my favorites:

100% Natural and Side Effect Free Herbal Sleeping Pill

Natural Alternative to Sleeping Pills — Natural Herbal Alternative to Dangerous Prescription Sleeping Pills. Far more effective and no negative side effects.

Bio Terra Herbs offers a completely natural and plant based Sleeping Pill alternative called Sleep…Snooze and it really works. All BioTerra Herbs dietary supplements are vegan, gluten-free, Non-GMO Project Verified and 100% natural.

The Sleep…Snooze herbal formula contains four powerful herbs which help you to gently and naturally fall asleep: Jujube, Chinese Salvia , Schisandra, and Turmeric.
Sleep…Snooze has no adverse side effects and will not leave you feeling drugged or dull the next day.

I personally use these pills when I find myself counting sheep and I am always amazed at how great I feel the next day. I typically drift off to sleep within ten to twenty minutes and sleep soundlessly and happily dreaming throughout the night.

When I wake in the morning, there is no grogginess or disorientation. My only complaint about this product is that it is not Certified Organic, but the company did say that they will work toward their organic certifications, so hopefully they will be able to bring a certified organic version to the market soon.

Sleep Well Tea, Supplement and Essential Oil Pack

Sleep Well Herbal Supplement — Sleep Well contains an Herbal Tea, Magnesium Supplement and two essential oil blends which promote healthy sleep and relaxation.

GoDesana offers a Sleep Well Pack which includes their Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea, a liquid Magnesium supplement and two essential oil blends that promote relaxation and stress relief. The Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea includes Rooibos Red Tea, which is a caffeine-free tea that is rich in minerals and contains more antioxidants than green tea. It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.

The Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea includes Rooibos Red Tea, which is a caffeine-free tea that is rich in minerals and contains more antioxidants than green tea. It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.

It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.

Soothe the Soul also includes Licorice Root which has the ability to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.

Magnesium is essential to restful sleep, yet it is one of the most common deficiencies for Americans. Magnesium deficiency can lead to all of these health issues: Depression, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADHD, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease, Sleep problems, Migraines, Cluster Headaches, Osteoporosis, Premenstrual Syndrome, Chest Pain (Angina), Cardiac Arrhythmia, Coronary Artery Disease and Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, Type II Diabetes and Asthma.

The Sleep Well Pack also includes two essential oil blends to promote relaxation and restful sleep Lavender Chamomile and Still. Lavender Chamomile is a relaxing, calming, and soothing blend which is used for calming stress, tension, anxiety, and treating insomnia. Still can help relax and quiet the mind, body, and spirit while encouraging more restful sleep.

Soothing Teas to Help You Sleep Better

Traditional Medicinals offers a wonderfully soothing organic Lavender and Chamomile Tea which is great for just before bed or anytime you are feeling stressed. This tea will not put you to sleep but it will help you calm your nerves and conquer the stress that may be keeping you awake.

Tulsi or Holy Basil has been used for thousands of years to combat stress and strengthen the immune system. Organic India offers a Tulsi Tea with a blend of three varietals of Holy Basil for a powerful stress relieving and naturally energizing tea. Holy Basil is also a powerful adaptogen, meaning it will increase the body’s ability to resist the damaging effects of stress and promote or restore normal physiological functioning.

These supplements are all meant to help treat insomnia in the short term. There is no substitute for a healthy diet if you want to live a long and healthy life, free of pain, disease and depression. Make today the day you decide to dump the science projects and get back to real food.

Raw, Whole Food, Plant-Based Nutrition can heal your body and your soul. Choose to love yourself today. If you don’t know where to start, check out my Recipes or the Healthy Habits section for everything you need to know to become a healthy, happy and balanced human today. I would love to hear your thoughts, please comment below if you have any questions, thoughts or tips to offer.

Resources:

“Side Effects of Sleeping Pills: Common and Potentially Harmful Side Effects.” WebMD. Ed. Joseph Goldberg, M.D. WebMD, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/understanding-the-side-effects-of-sleeping-pills>.

“U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” Side Effects of Sleep Drugs. FDA.gov, n.d. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm107757.htm>.

Kripike, M.D., Daniel F. “Sleeping Pills Could Shorten Your Life: Chapter 1 of The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills, an Ebook by Daniel F. Kripke, M.D.”Sleeping Pills Could Shorten Your Life: Chapter 1 of The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills, an Ebook by Daniel F. Kripke, M.D. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://darksideofsleepingpills.com/>.

Alexander, Ruth. “Why a Long Night’s Sleep May Be Bad for You.” BBC News. BBC News, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31928434>.

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research. “Caffeine for the Sustainment of Mental Task Performance: Formulations for Military Operations.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. NCBI – NIH.gov, 2001. Web. 4 June 2016. <https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/caffeine#section=Metabolism-Metabolites>.

PubChem. “Caffeine.” PubChem. PubChem – National Institute of Health, 16 Sept. 2004. Web. 4 June 2016. <https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/caffeine#section=Metabolism-Metabolites>.

Weiss, Daniel. “Sleeping Pills May Dramatically Increase Death Rate.”Pharmacy Times. N.p., 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/sleeping-pills-may-dramatically-increase-death-rate>.

Devi, M.D., Gayatri. “This Is Your Brain on Drugs: The Effect of Sleeping Pills.” The Huffington Post. N.p., 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 4 June 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayatri-devi-md/this-is-your-brain-on-dru_b_439577.html>.

My Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners

As a beginner to Raw Foods it is important to have a few references to both keep you motivated and to give you new recipes to try so you don’t get bored or stuck in a rut. So I am providing this list of the Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners to help you get started. Each of these books I have personally read and used as I started out in my Raw Food Journey. Each of these books offers something different, some are predominantly recipe based and other are more about the science and results behind a Raw Foods Diet. I hope you find these books as helpful as I did on your own personal Raw Foods journey. So here are my personal recommendations:

#1 Twelve Steps to Raw Foods

The first book I recommend is 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko. Victoria is probably one of the most well known and respected raw food advocates in the raw food community. She has authored several books on the subjects of raw food and green smoothie nutrition.
12 Steps to Raw Foods – How to End your dependency on Cooked Food is not only an excellent primer on the merits of the Raw food diet from an expert in her field. It is also a highly motivational book. One which I continue to reread any time I am feeling a little weak or just need a mental boost.

In this book, Victoria talks about her own personal journey from debilitating illness to excellent health. Victoria is a mother of three and in the early nineties, her husband was deathly ill, her young son had just been diagnosed with Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes, her daughter had severe Asthma and Allergies and Victoria herself had just been diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia, the same disease which killed her father. The doctors that she spoke with offered her no answers and so Victoria went on a crusade to find the answers and save her family.

In 12 Steps to Raw Foods – How to End your dependency on Cooked Food, Victoria shares those answers in a warm and helpful way. There is no preaching and Victoria’s writing can really take the stress out of the health problems you are facing. So for this reason 12 Steps to Raw Foods is my number one of the Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners.

#2 Green for Life

The second book on my Top Five Raw Food Books for beginners list is also by Victoria Boutenko. Green For Life is the book that launched the Green Smoothie revolution that has become so popular today.

In Green For Life, Victoria documents the many and varied health benefits that come from eating abundant leafy green vegetables. She documents the science behind this current fad and explains how to take advantage of this often undervalued food group.

Green For Life explains not only the why but the how of Green Smoothie Nutrition with easy recipes, stories from those who have regained their health and even a scientific study. Green For Life is written in Victoria’s easy to read and comforting style which makes it another great book for beginners in raw food nutrition.

The comforting style combined with strong scientific evidence and testimonials make this an easy read with practical advice that any beginner can use right away. So Green For Life is number two on my Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners list.

#3 Ani’s Raw Food Detox

The biggest hurdle for most beginners to Raw food is the first few weeks of grocery shopping and meal planning.

That is where Ani’s Raw Food Detox comes in. Ani’s Raw Food Detox is a 15 day detox plan which includes meal plans, grocery lists and some great tips for boosting your metabolism and helping your body shed pounds and toxins quickly and painlessly.

This book will set you up for success on your Raw food journey for the long haul. Each week Ani introduces new staples into your pantry and gives you meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that you will continue to enjoy well after the first 15 days.

The recipes are quick and simple, with minimal food preparation skills necessary and there is enough balance of heavy nut based meals and lighter fruit based meals to help minimize cravings that are so prevalent in the first few months of transitioning to raw foods.

So for being a great 15 day get you started plan, Ani’s Raw Food Detox is number three on my Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners list.

#4 Easy, Affordable Raw

Another hurdle that many people deal with when first starting out on a raw food diet is budget. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the decadent recipes and expensive ingredients. And to feel like you just can’t afford to eat raw. So the next book on my Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners list is Easy, Affordable Raw – How to Go Raw on $10 a Day, because everyone should be able to afford nutritious food.

Easy, Affordable Raw – How to Go Raw on $10 a Day shows you how you can eat amazing nutrition packed raw food all day long for less then the cost of 2 fast food meals a day.

The recipes in Easy, Affordable Raw are not only affordable but they are delicious and attainable. Most of the ingredients can easily be found at your average grocery store, no trip to the health food store required.

All of the recipes in Easy, Affordable Raw are also great for beginners as they don’t include a lot of fancy techniques or odd ingredients. So for making Raw food attainable by anyone, no matter the age, budget, kitchen skills or location, Easy, Affordable Raw is number four on my list of Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners.

#5 Raw Energy

As a new Raw Foodist having some tasty snacks on hand is key to fighting those detox cravings. So the last book on my Top Five Raw Food Books for Beginners list is Raw Energy – 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies and Other Snacks to Supercharge your Body.

Raw Energy has an amazing array of cookies, chips, energy bites, bars and smoothies that will satisfy any craving. Most of the recipes are easy to make, but there are also some unique recipes which will stretch your imagination of what raw food can be.

The ingredients in most of the recipes are typical grocery store fare so you don’t need to bend your budget or go searching for obscure ingredients. It is a good way to get to know some unique ingredients without having to spend a fortune to make recipes.

I hope that you found my list of the Top Five Raw Food Recipe Books helpful. If you want to learn more about a Raw food Lifestyle and its health benefits check out Healthy Habits. You can also check out my Raw Food recipes.

6 Disturbing Reasons Why Americans are so Unhealthy

Why are Americans so unhealthy today? Are we feeding ourselves to death?

Why are We so Unhealthy - All Diseases are on the Rise due to these 6 Disturbing facts. — Obesity, Cancer, Heart Disease and Diabetes are all on the rise with no end in sight.

Obesity is on the Rise, So is Cancer, Diabetes, and Heart Disease. We are a nation that is dying younger than our parents and the statistics are not getting any better. We are waging a hundred billion dollar war on disease but more people died of Cancer this year than 30 years ago.

$100 billion dollar war on Cancer but more people died this year than 30 years ago. Learn why:

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From 1976 to 2006, 62 million people died from medication errors, according to a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The cost of adverse drug reactions are more than $136 billion annually, this is more than cardiovascular and diabetic care combined. One in five hospital patients become injured or die from adverse drug reactions. Yet our medical industries motto is “First Do No Harm.”

Learn more: Check out this article from the National Institute of Health.

One in five hospital patients become injured or die from adverse drug reactions.

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Why are Americans so unhealthy?

6 Reasons Why we are so Unhealthy - Reason #1, our food is less nutrient dense because our soil is less nutrient dense. — Why are we so unhealthy? Our food is missing essential nutrients that keep us healthy and fight disease.

Over the last several generations, and most drastically over the last 50-75 years we have radically shifted our diets from farm grown, organic produce, fresh organic eggs and farm fresh, pasture raised meats, to chemically produced fruits and vegetables, heavily processed foods and antibiotic ridden meats that are raised on nutrient poor grains instead of their natural diet of organic grasses.

Why are Americans so unhealthy? – Our food is less nutrient dense.

The quality of our food supply has changed drastically. Experts agree that your average vegetable contains up to 40% less nutrition than just a few decades ago. Add to that, the fact that we eat far fewer fruits and vegetables than we did just one and two generations earlier and that 40% less nutrition really adds up (or should I say subtracts?).

Read more about soil depletion and our loss of nutrients here: Scientific America, New York Times, Time Magazine.

Natural and Organic Soil contains 50 or more known nutrients, as well as millions of bugs and bacteria that work together to create, store and process all the nutrients in the soil. After the second World War, the government had surpluses of chemicals from weapons production. These chemicals were passed off to farmers as fertilizer and make up the N-P-K that we know today.

N-P-K stands for Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) which are three elements found in soil which help plants to grow. The problem is, these are only three of fifty or more known nutrients that should be in healthy soil. So year after year, our farmers put down their N-P-K neglecting all of the other Nutrients found in healthy soil.

This depletes the soil as all the other minerals are slowly used up. Now our plants growing in this N-P-K heavy and everything else poor soil have no place to draw up all the other essential minerals. The beneficial insects and microbes can’t survive in this poisoned soil and slowly die off. So we are left with a dead soil which leads to unhealthy, malnourished plants and consequently unhealthy, malnourished humans.

These unhealthy plants then require more and more chemicals to help them survive; pesticides, herbicides and more – a chemical soup.

Why are Americans so unhealthy? – Our food is old.

Before the World Wars, if you wanted fresh vegetables you went to your backyard or to the farmer down the road. Your food was picked fresh that same day. Eggs were laid by the hens that morning and the meat was slaughtered just hours before, maybe even right in front of you. People brought seeds from the old country and passed them down through the generations. The variety of vegetables was plentiful. Wild greens grew readily all around your home, fresh for the picking.

Why are we so Unhealthy? Our Food is Old - Shipping Container - Food Shipped Around the World — Food Shipped Halfway Around the World sits for days or weeks before reaching your plate, losing valuable nutrition the whole time.

Today, most of your food has been shipped 2000 miles or more. It comes from Australia and China, on giant container ships, it comes on trucks from all around the country and from Mexico. It may take a week or more from the time it was picked until the time it was delivered to your grocery store. Then it sits in your refrigerator for another week or more. All of this time the nutrients are slowly breaking down, so by the time this food gets in your mouth, there is barely any nutrition left to feed your body.

Why Are Americans So Unhealthy? – Our Food is Poisoned.

Pesticide Poisons being sprayed on Crops — Pesticides sprayed on food cannot be washed away. The plants absorb them and then we absorb them.

Most of the produce you buy at your local market has been sprayed with all types of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and chemical “nutrients”. We are told this is all safe, but all of these chemicals have giant poison warnings on them. If it is not safe to eat out of the sprayer (or even be nearby when it is being sprayed), why would it suddenly be safe once it is sprayed onto the food? Many of these chemicals have been shown to cause cancer on their own, but most of our foods are sprayed with a whole cocktail of chemicals, not just one.

The chemical companies say, just wash it off, you’ll be safe. Sure, that’s why Round-Up is being found in Breast Milk and our babies are being born with high levels of DDT and Round-Up and many other chemicals before they even take a bite of food.

Or they say, peel the vegetables, the chemicals are only on the outside. Seriously? Vegetables absorb what is sprayed on them, just like a sponge. They suck it up through their root systems, they absorb it through their leaves. Peel away the outside, the poisons are still there.

So now, our food is lacking in the nutrients that help us heal and coated in poisons which our Liver now needs to clean out of our body, along with all the pollution in the air and water it’s already trying to handle.

These poisons not only build up in our bodies, but they build up in the bodies of the livestock we eat. Farm Animals are also fed these heavily sprayed foods, along with a huge cocktail of antibiotics and other questionable “supplements”. And since these pesticides are eaten daily by the animals, when you eat that piece of chicken or that steak, you are now getting all the poisons that animal ate through its lifetime as well. So animal products drastically increase your exposure to these cancer-causing toxins.

Raw Food is Bright, Vibrant and Alive, Cooked Food is Dead Food, which would you rather be? — Live Food makes your more alive, vibrant and full of energy. It makes you look and fell younger. Dead food makes you feel tired and look old.

And Then We Cook the Heck Out of It.

So, if you only walk around the perimeter of the grocery store and you buy fresh produce, eggs, milk and meat, what do you do with it? We cook it! We know that cooking damages the nutrients, scientist have been telling us this for decades. But new studies now prove that cooking changes the molecular form of foods creating additional toxins. Cooking food actually makes many foods carcinogenic (cancer causing), especially high heat cooking, blackening, and grilling. Cooking food creates the carcinogenic chemical Acrylamide, the higher the temperature, or the darker the color(think burnt toast), the more Acrylamide is produced. (Learn more about Acrylamide from the National Cancer institute here.)

So if you regularly cook at home, from fresh simple, unprocessed ingredients, then your food is 40% less nutritious, chemically coated and cooked to death. But how many of us don’t even cook from “scratch”. That is where the middle aisles of the grocery store come in. And if you have been to the grocery store lately, you may have noticed, the middle is the largest part.

So the largest part of the store sells the stuff in the boxes and the cans, and this is where the majority of Americans spend their money. Or perhaps, like 1 in 4 Americans, you are also getting your food from a Fast Food Restaurant every day…

Why are Americans so unhealthy? – Our food is heavily processed.

Dead Food Can't Give Life - Learn how to Avoid Dead Food and Eat only Life Promoting Foods. — Eating dead food makes you tired and sick.

So now we have food that has less nutrition in it and has been sprayed with a toxic soup and now we process that food. Cook it, strip it down, add some more chemicals to it for seasoning and a few more to preserve it and throw it in a box or a can or a bottle. Then we ship it off to a warehouse to sit for a few months or a few years before we ship it to a store to sit on the shelves. Then we bring it home and let it sit in our pantry a little more.

So now this food is old, old, old, and guess what? It’s dead. There is no life in it, there is no vibrancy, the nutrients are gone, the energy is gone. So we fuel our bodies with the calorie dense, nutrient poor sludge and then we feel tired, depressed, sluggish and slow. Why? because our food is dead, it can’t give us life.

We think we know what to eat, but we are way off the mark.

So now we know that the majority of our food is cooked to death, starved of nutrients and loaded with Toxins, but at least we know the right things to eat right? Wrong.

Our perception of what our plates should be has been skewed far from a natural human diet. Our government has presented us with the “Food Pyramid,” where we are told to stuff ourselves with heavily processed starches: 6-11 servings of Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta. Consuming all of these wheat and starch based products sends our blood sugar on a wild ride with wide-ranging negative effects on your health from Diabetes to Heart Disease.

Now add to that 2 to 3 servings of meat and 2 to 3 servings of dairy. Eat only 2 to 4 servings of Fruit per day, which most people don’t even meet on an average day. Eat 3 to 5 servings of vegetables, but no mention of leafy greens. And of course don’t forget your added sugars and fats, used sparingly of course. So if we were to follow this guideline strictly and eat the maximum servings, that is 26 servings, only 7 servings are coming from foods that contain vital nutrients: fruits and vegetables. That leaves 19 servings of useless filler: fats, sugars and mostly indigestible animal proteins.

So we are stuffing ourselves to the brim with “foods” that keep our body constantly starved for nutrients. Sounds crazy right? So lets put a stop to this madness. Let’s start preventing disease by eating food, not science projects.

Want to learn how to eat healthily easily and prevent disease? Sign up for my newsletter to get recipes, healthy tips, quick fixes and important health news. Read on:

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What is a Healthy Diet?

How Do we determine a healthy diet through all the misinformation?

What is a healthy diet really? There is so much misinformation and contradictory information that we are bombarded with daily, it is difficult to discern the truth from the half truths and the outright misinformation. Advertisers have, for decades now, been able to provide misinformation about health in order to promote their products, with a complete disregard for our health. Scientists and Doctors are being bought by industries to deliberately mislead us into believing that we should eat more of this and less of that. So how to we sort through all the lies and find a truly healthy diet?

Our Food system is broken – How do we fix it?

Our food system has become a wasteland of nutrition-less junk, science projects and non-foods that we routinely are led to believe are healthy. So what is a healthy diet really? How do we even determine what is healthy and what is not? Well to start with, we need to look for nutrient rich foods. As we talked about in What is Disease?, a nutrient poor and toxin rich diet leads to disease. So a healthy diet is a diet which is nutrient rich and low in Toxins.

So where do we look for a more nutrient rich diet?

How do we find out what we should be eating?

The best way to sort through all the misinformation and get to the facts is by looking at nature. Animals in their natural habitat eat food which is naturally designed for their optimal health. They don’t eat cooked food, they don’t eat processed foods, they just eat foods as nature intended.

To find our ideal diet we can look at our closest biological relatives in the animal kingdom. The Chimpanzee shares 98.6% of the same DNA as humans. They are our closest ancestors, and while I am not suggesting that we hop into the trees and start eating insects, we can certainly base a healthy human diet off of their example.

Chimpanzee Diets consist primarily of fruits, greens and blossoms, with some seeds, pith, bark and small amounts of insects. Some chimpanzees eat a small amount of meat, the equivalent of about 3% of their total diet or 9 days a year, although not all Chimpanzees eat meat. The meat they eat is raw, fresh and unprocessed, as close to its natural form as possible.

So using this example we can look at a healthy human diet like this. We should be consuming primarily fruit, 50% of our diet should come from fruit. Then large amounts of leafy greens, at least 20-25% of our diet should be leafy greens. Vegetables would come next with 15-20%. Fruits, greens and vegetables should include a large variety, varied both seasonally and weekly. The remaining 5-15% should consist of Nuts, Seeds, Cold Pressed Oils, and if desired, organic pasture raised meats or organic fish and organic eggs.

So how do we go from a nation living in a state of chronic dis-ease to a state of vibrant health and abundant energy? How do we change from a nation of Animal Protien and Dairy consumers to fruit and vegetable consumers? We start slow, we make small changes until they become a habit and then we make a few more.

Want to learn more about how to eat healthy? Read on:

How do I transition to a Healthy diet? Getting Started in a Healthy Diet. Healing your body from the inside out.

How to get healthy today – Part One: Eliminate the Toxins

Are the foods we are eating unhealthy? Do unhealthy foods lead to disease? Can healthy foods undo the damage?

To attain good physical health, to be free of disease, to achieve a healthy weight and to gain strength and vibrancy, we must fuel our bodies with the nutrients it requires.

To attain true mental health, we must first have a brain that is functioning properly. To have a brain that is functioning properly, then we must fuel our brain with the nourishment that good food provides. Once our brain is nourished, then we can begin to rebuild our thoughts to attain the strongest and happiest version of ourselves.

So it all comes down to the food we consume. Good food equals good health and unhealthy food equals disease, depression and discomfort.

In order to understand what good food is, first we must look at what unhealthy foods we consume regularly in the Standard American Diet. It is important to understand what is unhealthy so we can begin to replace these unhealthy foods, which rob our energy, with healthy foods that support a vibrant, strong body and a strong positive mind. So lets take a look at some of the food that we eat in a Standard American Diet (S.A.D.):

Dairy

Dairy is a huge contributor to disease in our country. We have been taught since childhood to drink a big glass of Milk every day for strong bones. But did you know that there is not a single study, that was not paid for by the Dairy Council, that shows that milk builds strong bones?

All independent studies showed that people who consumed milk daily actually had less calcium in their bodies at the end of the study then when it started.

This is why, even though most of us have been taught since childhood to drink milk every day, the rate of Osteoporosis is steadily on the rise. Crazy right?

Milk is acidic (6.5 ph) and consuming milk and all dairy products regularly, leads to the body being in an Acidic state. In order to survive, the body must maintain a ph of between 7.35 and 7.45, so when the body becomes Acidic, the body pulls from its mineral reserves, calcium being one of the most effective, to neutralize the acid and get the body back into homeostasis. (See Alkalize to learn more about Ph and why it matters.) So if we consume too many acid causing foods, without balancing them with abundant amounts of Alkalizing foods, eventually our Alkalizing Mineral stores will become depleted, and this is when disease begins.

Let’s look a little deeper at Milk. If we look to the animal kingdom, there is no other species around the world which consumes the milk of another species, this should be our first clue. Also looking at the animal kingdom, there is not another species on our entire planet which drinks milk from its mother once it has been weaned. You don’t find a juvenile or adult animal anywhere in nature who consumes milk.

Cow’s Milk is specially designed for baby calves, which being born at around 100 pounds quickly gain weight, growing to 8 times their weight (800 lbs) before being weaned. A human baby, being breast fed should gain about 6-8 pounds in their first year, so with an average weight of 8 pounds at birth this is just about 2 times their birth weight by their first birthday.

The composition of human milk, cow’s milk, goat’s milk and all other mammalian milks are completely unique, they contain different levels of proteins, sugars and nutrients in a specific balance which has been determined by millions of years of evolution. These milks are specifically designed for the unique bodies and growth patterns of their own species. The only milk we as humans need, is human breast milk, and only until we are grown enough to eat solid food.

Let’s just look at one last factor about dairy. How do we get the milk we drink? As you probably know, female cows, just like human women, only produce milk as long as they are nursing. As the baby cow weans, in nature that is, the milk production stops. So how do factory farms circumvent nature and get cows to continue to produce milk long after they naturally would?

Modern Dairy cows, through extensive genetic manipulation, have been bred to significantly increase the amount of milk they produce, up to 12 times what they would in nature. Then by artificially inseminating cows (on what the dairy industry so appropriately calls a “rape rack”) and then taking away their calf, the dairy “farmer” is able to take the milk meant to raise the calf.

So we have bred these cows to produce far more milk then they ever would naturally and we steal their newborn child from them. If you have ever been a mother or know someone who has, you can attest to the physical drain that the body is put through during childbirth and breast feeding. This is why it is so important for mothers to be properly nourished, so they can support their own health as well as their babies health. Well we are taking this extremely draining process and forcing these cows to go through it for an unnaturally long time, just so we can drink something that is detrimental to our own health. Does this sound crazy to anyone else?

Protein

We have a misguided notion that we need large amounts protein to build muscles and to survive. I am not sure where this idea came from, but it is pervasive. If you don’t believe me, just ask any vegetarian or Vegan what is the question you get asked most frequently? They will say, “Where do you get your protein?” As Americans we are always concerned that we are getting enough protein, but actually the average American eats more the double the RDA for protein, primarily from animal and dairy sources. At 125 lbs your RDA protein requirement would be 46 grams for females and 56 grams for males, however this RDA has a large margin of error built in, and our bodies actually can survive and thrive on far less protein.

You can determine your own RDA for protein by using this formula: Body weight (in pounds) x 0.36 = recommended protein intake (in grams)

The problems with consuming too much protein, particularly from animal sources are numerous. Consuming large amounts of protein has been shown to increase urinary calcium loses. Which means the more protein you eat, the more likely you are to get Osteoporosis. Protein from animal sources has also been shown to be the cause or a major contributing factor to several Cancers including Colon Cancer, Breast Cancer and Colorectal Cancer.

The biggest problem with consuming Animal proteins is in the cooking process, most Animal foods require cooking and most are cooked at very high temperatures, which not only kills enzymes which help to break down food in the body so it is digestible, but also cooking anything at high heat, changes its molecular form, making it Carcinogenic (cancer causing) to the body. Cooking also destroys most, if not all of the nutrients in the food, so not only are we consuming large amounts of foods which have been shown to be cancer causing but we are cooking all of the beneficial nutrients out of these foods. So what are we left with? A big mass of hard to digest useless material which makes us nutrient deficient, tired and depressed.

Toxins

As Americans we consume a staggering amount of Toxic substances, from food coloring and MSG to artificial sweeteners and petroleum by products. We are also subjected to Toxins in the air, in the water we drink, in the pesticides sprayed on our foods and in the personal care products we use on our bodies every day. We have been led to believe that these products are safe to use everyday, through advertising campaigns by the companies who make a profit off of these products.

Scientific studies saying the opposite have been silenced by the big corporations that profit from our pain, even to the point of threatening Scientists lives or the lives of their children and families. Scientists and Doctors have been bought, put on the payroll of giant food companies and industry boards, like the Dairy board, to spread misinformation and discredit true studies. But slowly this information is coming out and we are no longer subject to only the information that the most money can buy, thanks to the internet and social media, documentaries, independent publishers and individual people who are tired of being sick and poisoned for profit. Advertisers no longer have ultimate control over the information we receive. We are now free to search for studies that have not been paid for by the corporations trying to get approval from the FDA.

All of these toxins are acid causing in the body, which further strips our bodies of nutrients as our body naturally tries to keep our body at a slightly alkaline Ph. (To learn more about Body Ph and why it is the key to disease, check out the Alkalize Section of this website.)

Most people don’t realize, that the body uses fat cells to store toxins which it can not process quick enough. So the more toxins your body is subjected to, the more fat cells your body will store. One amazing example of this process is “Diet” Soda. Diet Soda uses artificial sweeteners to maintain a low calorie beverage. The problem is these artificial sweeteners are highly toxic to the body, so the body attempts to clean them out using the liver and kidneys. But as we continue to consume them daily, the liver becomes over taxed, so the body jumps into survival mode and starts shoving these toxins into buffered little fat cells. To protect the body from these poisons.

This is why, even though the market is saturated with “diet” products, obesity is on the rise. Have you ever noticed that there are very few skinny people who drink diet soda regularly? And those that do are usually skinny for other reasons, like being smokers or taking diet pills. They do not typically look healthy, their complexion is usually a little grey or even yellow. They are tired all the time or they are constantly hyped up on caffeine.

Grains

We consume large amounts of grains through not only the consumption of breads, cakes and pastries, but also hidden in lots of processed foods like your breakfast cereal. Have you ever tried to eat a dry, unprocessed grain? Not very appetizing, yet grains make up an astounding percentage of our daily meals. You have probably heard, through advertising, the health benefits of consuming “Whole Grains” and I’m sure you’ve seen the stickers on products all around the grocery store for “heart healthy, contains whole grains”.

Haven’t we always consumed grains?

Grains are so ingrained in our lives (pun not intended) that we think that they have always been a part of the human diet, but in reality grains have only been consumed by humans for 10,000 years. Okay, you are probably thinking, 10,000 years is a long time, I’m sure they are fine. But when you consider that scientists have determined that humans as we are now have been around for about 200,000 years and our ancestor species have been around for about 6 million years, 10,000 years is a comparatively small length of time and certainly not enough time for us to evolve our digestive processes significantly.

Grains began being harvested in mass quantities during the Agricultural Revolution. The consumption of grains is also in direct correlation with the decline in human intelligence and strength. Scientist have been studying the strength and intelligence of humans, which peaked just before the Agriculture Revolution and has been on a steady decline since.

Grains are not all bad, but unfortunately the way that we consume grains has changed so drastically that our bodies can get little to no benefit from them in their current state. Originally, grains were harvested and left in the fields, where they would naturally sprout before consumption. Grains contain Phytic Acid, which is a nutrient blocker. When Phytic Acid is consumed, it blocks the bodies ability to absorb nutrients. When allowed to sprout, the phytic acid is broken down and the nutrient content rises in the grains.

Since our grains are now harvested immediately and shipped off for processing, they still contain this Phytic Acid and the nutrients are limited. So now we are consuming another food which is stripping our body of nutrients rather then providing them. If we could bring our grain processing back to more natural methods, where they are sprouted and naturally fermented they might not be so damaging, but in their current highly processed state, they are not offering us much in the way of nutrition.

So now that we have looked at the biggest offenders of unhealthy foods in the S.A.D. diet, lets look at how we can remove these unhealthy foods and replace them with healthy food options.

What is Healthy really?

What is healthy and how do we get there?

Healthy is a body free of disease.

Healthy is a mind free from negative thoughts.

Healthy is being full of vibrant energy, enjoying life and being truly happy in your life.

Healthy is being at peace.

If we are missing any piece of the puzzle it keeps us from achieving true health. If we don’t eat well we all know that we can gain weight or feel ill. But what is more important is that when we don’t eat well our body is not vibrant and full of energy and our mind is not clear and positive.

Obesity is the most common form of malnutrition in America.

Poor diet and malnutrition affect our mind. Being malnourished can lead to depression, emotional imbalance and negative thoughts and feelings.

The sad fact is, nearly all Americans are malnourished thanks to the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) of grains, animal products, sugar and processed “foods”.

The food choices you make can have far-reaching consequences and can influence your life and your future.

Poor food

can lead to weight gain
and poor complexion
makes us weak and sad
makes us tired
and not willing or able to exercise
makes us old before our time
makes us achy and sore
makes us sick
makes us depressed
causes unbalanced hormones
and so much more…

Every cell in your body is affected by what you eat and drink. You are the sum of everything you put in and on your body. What you eat, drink and breathe feeds the cells that create you. If you feed them poorly, they will create a damaged version of yourself, both physically and mentally.

What about exercise?

We all know that exercising can boost our mood and help us lose weight.

And we know that we are supposed to exercise. But we don’t. Why? Because we are tired, our body is lacking the fuel it needs to run.

The truth is exercise should not be a chore, a healthy body vibrates with energy and is naturally drawn to move.

But with our poor diets and a food system which is calorie dense but nutrient poor, we feel fatigued just climbing off the couch.

This leads to further mental discomfort, as we blame ourselves for being too “lazy” to exercise.

But this is not the case.

It is not your fault.

We have been misled by years of advertising to think that healthy foods are unhealthy and unhealthy foods are healthy.

We have been led to believe that it is our fault if we are overweight, and we should just pop another pill to make us skinny or happy.

Have another cup of coffee to pick you up.

Have another drink to make you fun.

Meanwhile, the pills and the food and the alcohol make us fatter, sicker and more depressed.

We have been led astray from vibrant health. But we can get it back.

I have gone from a tired, overweight, sad, “lazy”, non-athletic woman, to a vibrant, happy, strong and determined woman. I have seen 50 pounds shed from my body effortlessly, not from exercise or starving myself, but from focusing on nutrition.

I am not a member of a gym, I am not running on a treadmill to burn calories. I don’t count calories or points either.

I have shed sadness and depression from my mind, and I have gained a confidence in myself which I have never possessed before.

I have gone from being exhausted and out of breath walking a mile, to hiking 16 miles and 4000ft to the top of Mount Charleston without any fatigue, ready to go further. Exercise is no longer a chore I force upon myself, but a freedom that brings me great joy.

As with any change, there have been bumps along the road. I have not been perfect, there have been weeks at a time where I go back to eating junk. But the difference now is that I can feel how bad it makes me feel.

Before, my body was so burdened by the S.A.D. diet that I didn’t know what it felt like to be happy and vibrant and full of energy.

Now I know that it is the fake food making me tired and stressed and depressed, and I love the way my body feels when I eat real food, nutritious food, so I go right back.

Gaining true happiness starts with your food. When your body is clean, your mind is filled with positive thoughts and your soul is at peace. Then you have reached true health.

If you would like to learn how to shed weight effortlessly, to have abundant energy and to free your mind of negativity then read on: