Toxic Overload - It Can Kill You

On this eve of Easter I am thankful that my mother is still with us, as it was just over a week ago that we feared we might lose her to a sepesis infection caused by a blocked bile duct. The stone blocking her duct is still causing issue and toxins are being drained by catheter until the infection is gone and surgery can be done. It was not her time and God performed a miracle - bringing her body back through answered prayer and meds that could bring her blood pressure back up towards life. 
How does one get to such a point that the body becomes toxic? I did a lot of reading on those trips to the hospital.  I am not sure if pancreatitis was actually part of my mother's diagnosis, but it had been mentioned, and I read up on that as well as other disease of the lower GI tract.
One of my most recent posts provided insight in to how what we consume today, or even ten years ago, affects our health a few years, or even 40 years, down the line.  Toxins store up in our bodies, and for a number of bio-logical reasons, are not excreted. If you would like specifics, I encourage a book titled "Health & Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life - Harness Your Body's Natural Healing Powers" by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.  If you are looking for a "light read" this book is NOT it.  It is more of a textbook - there are very few illustrations, pages are filled with 10 point font type. It is a book that requires an alert mind, or one with a purpose - for me, it was to find out what caused my mother's dire situation.

While reading Blaylocks's book, chapters dealing specifically with the pancreas and toxicity - I was pleased to read  that certain flavonoids, ellagic acid and such found the in the AB Anti Oxidant & Immunity Booster are specifically beneficial to pancreatic healing. Amen for that!  I had gone to the hospital armed with AB Anti-oxidant & Immunity Booster, a 3 oz. powerhshot, 40 calories that supplies nutrients equivalent to 5000 calories of vegetables and fruit. God's natural medicine cabinet is always number one in my book of healing treatment. My mother had had such a miraculous turn around overnight that I was able to give her 3 power shots, or 15,000 calories of anti-oxidants to help fight the infection, in one day.  I knew God would have His hand in removing the infection from her body and  use the booster drinks as His tool.
My mother is on the mend, infection remains and surgery awaits, but lets look at...

The Cause of Pancreatic Disease

Dr. Russell Blaylock states diseases of the lower GI are all directly related to diet.  Pancreatic cancer is increasing in the United States by leaps and bounds in the past 10, 20 years and Blaylock attributes much of this to processed meats. Nitrates, nitrites are heavily used to preserve hotdogs, sausages and brats, BACON, deli meats, and well.... processed foods period are laden with chemicals. Pancreatic cancer is one cancer that Blaylock states can be avoided.
Hey bacon lovers....a tip from Blaylock, himself a bacon lover, rinse your bacon off in lukewarm water and it will help remove the nitrates and nitrate preservatives; pat dry before frying.

From other publications I have also learned that the pancreas is your "overflow" system. The liver is the filter for toxins consumed, but when we give the liver more than it can handle, or it is not detoxified (think of this as putting in a new, clean filter as you would for your furnace twice a year) - the excess toxins find their way to the pancreas.  This is why it is so important to detoxify your body several times a year. Not to be confused with  a colon cleanse, a body detoxification supports all major organs of the body. Detoxification systems are not the same. I am not an advocate of fasting for detoxification.  A healthy detox should include CLEAN eating so your body has fuel for energy, as one can actually  become fatigued when the body is in process of shedding toxins.

A key ingredient that many detoxification solutions are missing is chlorella. A sea algae based cleanse, per Dr. Joe Mercola, chlorella is the only ingredient that can help flush mercury from the body. Mercury is consumed by most of us, without realizing it. Mercury is found in many OTC and prescription drug medications. Vaccinations also inject mercury into our body. AND unbeknownst to most of us, including myself until a few years ago, the silver amalgam fillings from the dentist contain mercury. Each time I chew, I am releasing mercury into my system. I don't have the money to have them removed and replaced with ceramic fillings, and for now, must keep in mind the importance of detoxing every 3 or 4 months. Fortunately, the 7 day body cleanse I use does contain chlorella to help eliminate mercury from the body.
Medications add toxicity to your body. Being of a synthetic nature, the body cannot excrete all traces of medicine. Synthetic substances, whether it be artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors or medications - build up. The liver cannot filter an overload of these substances. If you drink diet soda or energy drinks with artificial ingredients, and take medications in addition - it's a double whammy against your liver. Artificial ingredients, per my chiropractor, often manifest as kidney or gall stones. When you have no gall bladder, such as my mother whose gall bladder was removed a number of years ago, you can still get a gall stone. Problem is, there is no gall bladder to contain it.  For my mother, a large stone parking itself on top her bile duct caused a life threatening situation. 

Getting Past A Toxic GI System

Vegetables. And lots of them!  Eating raw, blenderized vegetables is the best way to restore a healthy GI tract. Vegetables high in curcumin, quercetin and hesperadin are highly desirable to restore and detoxify the pancreatic system. Top choices should include broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. While recovering from a serious bacterial infection meats should be avoided, especially processed.
Cabbage is a top choice to help fight bacterial infections, and carrots make for a great blood cleanser. Lemons are known for having antibiotic and anti bacterial properties.

As I have said in previous posts, food is either fuel or poison.  Live food provides energy and is fuel for the body, with vegetables being the greatest fuel you can consume for your body.  If you are in need of more energy - eat in living color, and it can detoxify and change your life!

To your health,

Rita

"Hungry For Change" - We All Should Be!

Our children, today's young people, is the first generation that is expected to have a shorter life span expectancy than their parents/ancestors. Does this bother you? It certainly does me!

Earlier this month I received a link to a trailer for a new documentary called "Hungry for Change".  It is yet another film about the food industry and how it is making us sick as a nation. I say "yet another" not because I think there are too many of these types of films, but because it is an indication that there is an urgent need to educate the public so that we make smarter choices for our own health, and that of our children. 

It's a trailer preview of a documentary that is not yet released - you can view the trailer until March 31.

  http://www.hungryforchange.tv/free-worldwide-online-screening

I saw the trailer two weeks ago and it just came in my email again today as a reminder to preview before the end of the month. I don't know if there would be anything new for me in the full length film when released - but perhaps. It's a good reminder for our children to see these documentaries as well so they understand why our house is void of so many foods that their friends may have in their home. When our daughter asked for a snack the other day and all we had was apples, she wasn't thrilled. However, we did get to the store and restocked with organic carrots, and orange and red bell peppers washed and sliced into strips - one of her favorite snacks.

If you have not yet seen "Food Matters"   or "Forks Over Knives" you can check out trailers on YouTube. 

I know the South Central Library System has both documentaries as well as others. Watching these videos could be catalysts that help turn around your health, OR help prevent you from a future of Rx, disease, or cancer. Food Matters was a free download for one time watching from amazon.com  some time ago, but I am not sure if it still is.

God did not design us to get old and diseased.  But the foods in our grocery stores are doing just that to our bodies, and the drug companies are reaping the benefits. Disease, toxicity, lack of functioning immune system - and cancer rates are climbing, especially in our children. It's not coincidence. The foods God designed for us to eat can reverse symptoms and disease.

For your health - and for those that love you, I pray you check out these documentary trailers and consider checking the full version out of the library.

I thank everyone for the  birthday wishes, and like me, if you are not happy with your health, you CAN put it in reverse and turn back time and the affects of aging on your body! Nutrition based on whole foods vs. boxed and canned foods is key; and hormone balance is also a part of the equation. 

Love you all!

To your health - it is my goal to help you feel great, look great and live great!

Rita S.

What You Eat Today Affects Your Life Years Down the Road

"In 1997, a report from Columbia University School of Public Health, New York, stated that 95% of all cancer is caused by diet and environment. Cancer doesn't just happen!...By learning how and why cancer develops, you can learn how to support your cells to prevent and reverse cancer. Even if cancer is highly advanced in your body, it is never too late to start the process of restoring health"  - an excerpt from the book, "Never Fear Cancer Again  - How to Prevent and Reverse Cancer" - by Raymond Frances, M.Sc

If you already have cancer - never give up hope! It is amazing what God has provided in nature for our use as healing foods. If you don't already, learn to LOVE broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, garlic, onions and ginger. Rich in flavonoids, which are critical for apoptosis (programmed cell death - critical in eliminating cancer cells from the body), anti-oxidants to control inflammation. Flavanoids suppress a cell-signaling molecule that generates inflammation and promotes cell growth - something you DO NOT WANT if you have cancer.  The cruciferous vegetables named above provide high doses of quercetin, curcumin and ellagic acid - so eat your brussel sprouts!  My family tried growing them last year and we had beautiful, bushy plants -but no sprouts.  Perhaps it was the drought, even though my husband diligently watered, but we are doubling the plants this year and we are going to learn how to prepare them to LOVE them. I should try juicing them as well, as cauliflower and brussel sprouts are best eaten raw, broccoli can be light steamed - for the most nutritional benefit.

But today, rather than focus on what one SHOULD put in their body - I want to share a topic that has come to forefront lately quite a bit in the various health newsletters, books and articles I am reading.  There is quite a bit of in depth information available, and I will go into further detail another time...but for now, I really want to make my friends aware that ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS in our foods is NOT A GOOD THING. I don't care how it is marketed, why it was created in a lab, what the supposed benefits are....the end result is the side effects are not worth it.

Artificial ingredients are not metabolised by our body as real foods are. In fact, the body has a hard time recognizing synthetic foods, and cannot break them down entirely. These food additives are stored up inside our body. These "frankenfoods" foreign substances build up - it is higly conducive to inflammation, numerous diseases and symptoms, including the manifestation of cancer cell growth.

You can be perfectly healthy, eat well, perhaps your only vice is diet soda.  Diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners, and most likely, artificial coloring. Over the years these foreign ingredients take a toll.  We are so used to "chalking it up as old age" when in reality, we don't have to become old and achy.

I encourage you to read labels, avoid artificial ingredients and take care of your self for the many days ahead.  Consuming products with aspartame, Splenda (sucralose), processed fructose, hydrogenated oils, etc. - all contribute to a toxic environment within your body...and eventually, a day will come ...granted it could be 50 years later, but a day will come when you attribute all your aches, pains, disease, and maybe even cancer - to getting old. When in reality our disease has been building through the years when we started ingesting ingredients we can't even pronounce.

To your health,
Rita S

EPIC Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

EPIC!  That is how my 10 year old described the gluten free sugar cookies I had made. I shared them with friends, who also gave two thumbs up.  I used an organic raw sugar, which has larger granules than the refined sugar I used to bake with. I wasn't sure if the sugar granules and crunch would appeal - but the feedback was positive, and in fact, people loved the sugar texture.
Because there is sugar in this recipe, this is not a CLEAN EATING or elimination diet friendly, but it is free of inflammatory gluten, dairy and soy. If you need to take a bakery treat to a school function or social event, there will be those who appreciate a gluten free alternative.  Easy to make, I hope you enjoy making and sharing these EPIC sugar cookies with your friends and family.

Gluten Free Almond Sugar Cookies - bakes approx. 24
Cream together:
1 cup of organic butter, softened
1/2 c. almond milk (soy free - we prefer Silk brand)
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract 
2 cups raw, organic sugar
1 tsp. pure almond extract

Lightly blend dry ingredients:

3/4 c. rice flour

3/4 c. almond flour

2/3 c. coconut flour

4 T. potato starch

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until batter becomes fluffy.  Drop by rounded teaspoons (medium scoop) onto a baking stone. Bake at 350" for 12-15 min. or until lightly golden. Do not underbake.

It's important not to use extracts with artificial flavoring as it is in actuality an excitotoxin. Imitation foods and flavors, a form of gluatamate, are not good for our bodies on a cellular level, and our body actually has a hard time excreting these foreign-like substances. Instead, they build up in our body and lead to health issues down the line when they begin to overpower the body.

Always bake with organic ingredients wherever possible. For money savings and ease in locating gluten free baking flowers, I have found amazon.com to be a great resource. I do order a flour by the case, which equates to package of four, and should hold us over for some time since I have little time to bake. The original recipe for the above comes from the package of Bob's Red Mill coconut flour bag. Seeing soy milk in the recipe I immediately removed it as soy contributes to estrogen and is typically from GMO soybeans in the U.S., and is naturally high in glutamate, even if it is organic. Using almond milk iinstead, I also added in pure almond extract, cut back on rice flour and used almond flour.  Next time I bake this I may eliminate rice flour all together and see how the cookies turn out, as I would prefer to have as few flours as possible in my currently, varied gluten free pantry.

Enjoy!

I hope you feel great, look great, and live great!

To your health, 
Rita Shimniok

Heartburn? Don't blame your stomach acid.

Stomach acid. NECESSARY. Without it we could not digest food.                  

This past weekend I attended a raw food cooking class. In "cooking" raw foods  you are not really cooking them, but allowing them to "cook" in a salt bath, perhaps raw vinegar, or                                                     something similar, depending on the type of food and recipe. If I understood the concept correctly, raw food cooking  basically means you are breaking down the enzymes in the food to make it easier to digest. Before this class I really just thought raw food enthusiasts were all about eating their vegis raw, and I often wondered how in the world our bodies could break down the nutrients. I had learned from Dr. Russel Blaylock's newsletters a while back, and affirmed by Fuhrman and Mercola - that vegetables have cellular walls that can be difficult to digest, and some actually need to be steamed or lightly cooked to obtain maximum benefit.
If you are eating your carrots completely raw - hard and crunchy -   did you know you have to chew until the carrots are "juiced" by your teeth in  order for your body to truly gain benefit from the nutrients? This is why Blaylock states it is critical to chew "count of 20" for each bite. I am sure you have heard that number before, and there is a reason for it.          
One woman at the class was particularly concerned about the acidity of certain fruits and  vegetables and affects on her teeth enamel - to which I say (but not out loud), drink your orange juice with a straw if you are very concerned about that. I wonder if she is just as concerned about chewing meat and how it remains acidic based when ingested? Our raw food chef really did not know what to say to her concern - probably not one he hears often. Several of us in the group suggested she go on line to find a pH chart for fruits and  vegetables, which is readily available.                                        
I've been asked why the Bragg's Organic Raw Apple Cider vinegar is allowed in our 30 day elimination diet.  Great question, and I had to look into it a bit more to learn of its benefits. It is unpastuerized, and  therefore contains the "mother". It has not been exposed to heat, which alters raw foods as well know. When ingested it requires very little production of stomach acid to break it down. The same is true of your citrus fruits. These foods, acidic  outside of the body, become alkaline inside the body.  The are low acid generating foods.                         
Although Bragg's it sits in the bottle in an acidic state, when it lands in your stomach
it becomes alkline based.
and my heartburn essentially went away. I used to have   
I still eat cheese - although in limited amounts. I am also careful to CHEW the cheese. 
(okay, I have lasagna once a year at most...I think I will live with that.)                  
are 11 essential enzymes needed for breaking down certain types of foods and
your body cannot produce them. They are derived from certain plants, Bragg's ACV
can help your stomach grow them - good gut flora is so important.
Gluten and dairy, on the other hand, are very hard to digest and require a massive production of stomach acid to try and break these foods down. If you experience heartburn, like I used to two years ago - look at your foods. I used to have some pretty miserable nights - waking up to an awful taste in the back of      
my throat! I do not miss those days. I gave up drinking milk with meals, and cut back on gluten considerably. I do not miss drinking milk - although  growing up on a dairy farm, I thought it would cause me great remorse. Pastuerized milk is so very unehealthy - not at all like the milk we used to drink as kids, fresh from the cooler in the milkhouse! It has been exposed to heat- killing the beneficial enzymes, it is no longer a live, or raw, food - but dead food void of energy.
If you read the link to Dr. Joe Mercola's article that I had put on facebook on the worst 
foods to eat heated - cheese was one. The article explained what happens to dairy protein when heated - not a pretty sight to picture! I have decided that cheese is meant to enjoy cold or at room temperature - no more grilled cheese sandwiches, or homemade mac and cheese, broccoli cheddar soup, and oh my - lasagna!!
I was popping plenty of Zantac in the "old days", only to learn that antacids  are very hard on the stomach and contribute to microscopic holes in your gut lining...which can develop into leaky gut syndrome if used long term.          
Now, antacid medication is the typically THE "remedy" for heartburn, but it does 
not address the problem, which is why your stomach is surging in acid production in the first place. Simply put - it is struggling to digest certain foods. It can be different foods groups for each person. A person is also      
likely lacking in a full house of probiotics and prebiotics and enzymes.

I want to emphasize the importance of stomach acid. Pills reduce it, which means the foods your stomach is desperately trying to break down cannot do its job if your acid is reduced. This can either

create a build up of foods in your colon (which creates another set of problems), or can induce a

greater effort on the part of your body to create even more acid, which is why, I would guess, some

prescription antacids don't work for people.  We don't want to kill of our natural stomach acid. Perhaps what we do need to do instead is make some life changes, would you agree?

I encourage you to fiigure out which foods are causing the problem and either reduce or eliminate them. There are NO physical side effects, in contrast to side effects of medications.

To your health,
Rita S.