Five Steps to Creating the Healthy Body You’ve Always Wanted
A Synopsis
Are you fatigued? Overweight? Lethargic? Generally unhealthy and unhappy? Are you satisfied with this state of being or do you want to improve your life?
Improving yourself in any way – physical, mental, emotional – requires common sense and dedication. It requires having a vision and working toward it every day. Only you can improve yourself – no one else is going to do it for you.
If you have any of the following problems, read on:
Ulcers Belching Migraine headaches
Irritable bowel syndrome Gastritis Psoriasis
Constipation Crohn’s disease Periodontal disease
Chronic fatigue Gallbladder problems Hiatal hernia
Yeast infections Diarrhea Bloating and gas
Eczema Food sensitivities Ulcerative colitis
Indigestion Constipation Arthritis
We are what we put into our mouths. No one else forces food down our throats. Food from advertisements does not jump out of the television and race to our stomachs. It is we who feed ourselves, pure and simple. Because our bodies make new cells out of the raw material we give them, we look like what we eat. If we don’t like our appearance, it is our own fault. The blame belongs to us; the buck stops here.
Over the years, we tend to put on weight as our metabolism slows down. Activities interfere with exercise; lifestyle interferes with healthy eating. Our choice of food is determined by how much time we have and where we are at mealtimes. Times have changed, no doubt about it, and the slim, youthful bodies we used to have are becoming a distant memory.
You can regain those healthy bodies. It takes work and dedication. There is no miracle pill available; there is no machine you can buy which will give you these astounding results in six weeks. Change your life and your lifestyle, and your body shape will change, also.
Dedication is required. Now. If not now, when?
There are five steps to regaining your healthy body. You may not wish to take all of them. Three or four may be sufficient for attaining your goals, and that is fine. Each of us has a different path to health, but the goal is the same – to put our bodies back on the track to health. Good luck!
Step number one: drink distilled water.
There are no minerals of any kind in distilled water. It is free of salt and is perfect for flushing the kidneys. It contains no inorganic minerals that settle in our bodies to solidify as kidney stones, gallstones and arterial plaque. A build-up of inorganic calcium causes arthritis and osteoporosis; tiny capillaries encrusted with inorganic calcium slow circulation and cause skin discoloration. Delete (leach) inorganic minerals from your body by drinking distilled water. Your body needs organic minerals as nutrients; it cannot use inorganic minerals. There is a marvelous invention that changes inorganic minerals to organic ones – it is called a plant. More on that later!
Step number two: add natural apple cider vinegar and natural honey (ACV&H) to your distilled water.
Natural apple cider vinegar has been used for centuries as a cleansing and healing elixir. It is a naturally occurring antibiotic and antiseptic that fights germs and bacteria. It has been used as a body deodorant, a healing tonic, and to prevent scurvy. It is one of Mother Nature’s most perfect foods.
Distilled apple cider vinegar does not have these properties. Distilling destroys enzymes and organic minerals, including potassium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, essential amino acids and other powerful nutrients. Distilling also destroys the natural malic and tartaric acids that are important in fighting body toxins and inhibiting unfriendly bacteria.
Apples are a rich source of potassium, the mineral of youthfulness. Potassium is the “artery softener,” keeping the arteries of the body flexible and resilient. Potassium goes into clogged arteries and cleans out the cholesterol and toxic poisons. Use one to two teaspoons of ACV per 8-ounce glass of distilled water; add the same amount of natural honey for taste, since vinegar is definitely a mouth-puckering substance!
A glass of distilled water and ACV&H should be taken before each meal; if you are following a weight-loss program, drink eight glasses each day, more if possible.
ACV can also be used topically for skin problems such as sunburn and itching, minor cuts and abrasions, chicken pox, poison ivy irritations, swimmer’s ear, and insect bites.
Step number three: fasting.
“I can’t fast,” you say. Well, why not? Do hunger pangs overwhelm you? Are you cooking for a family and feel obligated to join them? Do you have no self-control? Have you surrendered your body to the ravages of time?
You are not getting any younger or younger-looking, at least the way you are going now. It is time to change your ways. Stand up for yourself and take back your body! It belongs to you and only you.
Animals in the wild know how to take care of themselves when they are hurt or sick. Through natural instinct, they fast until they are healed. Man eats and drinks anything and everything and then wonders why he is sickly.
We dread growing old and becoming a burden on others. You can avoid this fate by setting aside specific times during the year for body purification. You can keep toxins flushed out of your body’s muscles and joints. It is the toxic debris and waste from metabolism that bring on physical ailments and premature aging.
In addition to by-products of metabolism, our lungs are bombarded with noxious and harmful filth from the sky. Toxic residue can cling to the fruits and vegetables we buy. Fasting allows the energy that was previously used in digestion to be used to flush these poisons from the body. The average person does not know how horribly unclean the inside of the body is, caused by years of overeating and wrongful eating of dead, devitalized foods.
Put an average person on a distilled water diet for a few days and his breath will become putrid, his tongue will have a foul-smelling, white coating. His urine will be dark and smelly. This is the beginning of detoxification and should be a “wake-up call” for the truly health-conscious person.
Sickness is Mother Nature’s way of showing that you are filled with toxic waste and internal poison. By fasting, you are working with Nature to help expel the wastes and poisons your body has accumulated. When your body signals you to stop eating, pay attention to it!
Fasting should be done in stages. The neophyte should start with 24-hour distilled water and ACV&H fasts. You should fast from the end of one dinner to the beginning of the next. Skipping breakfast and lunch is easy for most Americans. When you deliberately set out on this program, informing your body that you are doing it for its benefit, you will have little problem with hunger. The ACV&H drink is excellent for controlling hunger pangs.
Although a pure water fast is best, you can slip into this lifestyle easier if you do a juice fast. Take organic, raw, live fruit and vegetable juices. If you have a juicer, use it.
Next, try a 36-hour fast. Drink nothing but distilled water and ACV&H from the end of one dinner to breakfast two days hence. If you tend to have headaches, take something in the evening before bedtime. Fruit is best. Break your fast in the morning with fruit, Nature’s most easily digested food.
If you are getting results from these fasts and are ready for a challenge, try a three-day fast. You will truly have a new body and mind after the cleaning and clearing you will receive. A three-day fast requires cooperation from your family, since you will not be eating with them. For very ill people, fasts can be carried out for as long as ten days under a doctor’s supervision.
The day before your fast, do not eat meat. You will not be as hungry on your fasting day. Break your fast with fruits and other “close to the ground” foods. Be gentle with yourself. You have accomplished a great deal and a celebration is in order.
Coping with your family during a fast.
One: announce your “water day” in advance. Ask family members not to tempt you with your favorite goodies. If you must prepare a meal, do it quickly and leave the kitchen. Better yet, assign the evening meal to a dependable family member!
Two: prepare your distilled water and ACV&H drink in advance. All you have to do is grab it and sip while still keeping to your daily activities. Plastic, one-quart containers are perfect for this purpose.
Three: stay fairly close to a toilet. This process is a toxic flush and you definitely will be flushing.
Four: allow yourself the pleasure of looking forward to breaking your fast. Promise your spouse you will join him/her in a nice, light meal after your fast has ended. Assure your family you are doing this for them also, since a healthier “you” has more time and energy for family activities.
Five: announce the results to your family. When they see that fasting is working, they will not only support you, they may decide to join you!
Six: realize that fasting is somewhat of a yoyo procedure. You may lose two pounds and gain back one of them. To keep this weight off, you must be prudent in your selection of food during the rest of the week.
Seven: you will discover that the cells of your body have memory. Your weight loss will “plateau” at certain weights. If you look back, you will recall that you spent a lot of time at these specific weights. Your body, in reaching these weights, thinks its job is done. It has gotten you down to a previous weight. But if this is not your final goal, keep at it. You may need to spend more time fasting in order to offset this plateau. In addition, your body has adapted its metabolic rate to your new lifestyle. To lose even more weight, you are going to have to do more fasting until your ultimate goal is reached. As all dieters know, the hardest pounds to lose are those last five pounds.
You have an appetite-boosting hormone.
New research has determined that an appetite-boosting hormone known as ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and acts on the brain, as do other hormones. Ghrelin peaks before each meal and falls afterward. In addition to boosting appetite, ghrelin also acts to slow metabolism and reduce fat burning. The hormone probably developed to defend the body against unhealthy weight loss in a harsh environment. Today, however, we are surrounded by high-calorie foods, and ghrelin may be a major contributor to the epidemic of obesity.
During normal dieting for weight loss, ghrelin actually sabotages the dieter. Studies have shown that the level of gherlin in people who have lost weight is higher than in people who have not lost weight. Those who have lost weight are actually hungrier than those who have not. The more weight a person has lost, the bigger the increase in gherlin. People who have undergone stomach by-pass surgery do not have this problem; in fact, they show a generalized disinterest in food. They are most likely to be successful in keeping the weight loss off.
Stomach by-pass surgery is not something most of us want to do. Drug companies are searching for a drug that will block gherlin, as the market for such a drug would be enormous. People would pay anything to lose weight and keep it off.
Those who fast, however, have discovered a striking resemblance to this not-yet-discovered drug. It is the closest thing to mind over matter. If you DECIDE not to eat, and if you put NOTHING into your stomach, your stomach will NOT produce gherlin and you will NOT be hungry. Once you take a bite or two of food, your stomach readies itself for a full meal and pours out the gherlin. Resistance to food is thus futile, and assimilation is imminent!
The hunger pangs that do develop during a fast can be alleviated by drinking distilled water with ACV&H. Those just learning how to fast should begin with small, 24- or 36-hour fasts until your bodies become used to going without food. You are literally retraining your bodies to not demand so much food. Understanding what your body is doing is necessary for success at losing weight.
Step number four: healthy eating.
Consolidate your weight loss by choosing what you eat carefully. Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables are the best, with grains added for bulk. Feed your family salad for dinner every night, whether they like salad or not. (The more for you if they don’t!) Choose a vegetable or pasta as your “main dish” – a baked potato, noodles, produce from your garden. Add any necessary meat as a side dish.
Are we recommending you adopt the mindset of a vegetarian? Yes. Remember that the plant is the magic invention that changes inorganic minerals to organic minerals. Do we expect you to be totally successful at this endeavor? No. The average person is too surrounded by meat – in grocery stores and restaurants – to be totally successful. As a society, we have been raised as meat-eaters. It is very difficult to adopt a vegetarian or a vegan diet. Only those with astonishing will power can change their diet overnight. Again, be gentle with yourself in this new endeavor. Don’t give up, and if you fall off the wagon, get right back on again as soon as possible.
Step number five: internal cleansing.
The healthy person practices discrimination in eating while exercising regularly. His or her days are marked by wellness, vitality and optimism, all of which result from having a well-cared-for bowel.
Years ago, it was found that many of mankind’s diseases came from the poor handling of wastes or lack of proper sanitation. People would let urine, kitchen wastes and feces run in the street gutters. This situation played a major role in spreading the many diseases and plagues that were once prevalent in Europe and throughout the world. Over the centuries, sanitation was improved and such plagues are no longer with us.
We have the same situation in our bodies. We have a sanitation department that has been charged with filtering and carrying off waste material. It is imperative that we keep it running smoothly.
The five organs of elimination are the bowel, the skin, the kidneys, the lymphatic system, and the lungs and bronchioles. It is essential to keep all these systems functioning well, but the most important of these organs for good health is the bowel.
When the bowel is under-active, toxic wastes are more likely to be absorbed through the bowel wall and into the blood stream. The blood then circulates these toxins to every part of the body and deposits some of them in tissues. As toxins accumulate in the tissues, alterations in cellular function take place. Digestion may become poor and the body may suffer fatigue and poor circulation.
There is a clinical, observable relationship between intestinal toxemia and abnormal cellular function. Thousands of people suffering from various ills improve or are healed after clearing up their intestinal toxemia.
An under-active bowel invites disease in four ways. First, it creates in itself a highly reactive, disease-friendly environment. Second, its slower transit time allows more toxic substances to penetrate the bowel wall and pass into the blood and lymph. Third, any inflammations that develop can, strangely enough, cause symptoms in remote parts of the body. Fourth, as the toxicity builds up in the body, the immune system is depressed, compromising the body’s natural defenses.
Health food stores carry products that have been designed for deep bowel cleansing. When you are ready for this step, start there.
A note on Body Mass Index (BMI)
For every increment of 1 on the BMI scale, a height-to-weight comparison, risk for heart failure increases 5% for men and 7% for women. Calculate your BMI by taking your weight in pounds, dividing it by your height in inches, dividing it again by your height in inches, and multiplying the result by 703. Most people fall between 18.5 (underweight) and 30 (obese) on the scale. Between 18.5 and 24.9 is normal weight; between 25 and 29.9 is overweight.
Critics of BMI point out that the scale does not differentiate between weight in fat and weight in muscle. Certainly a more muscular person will be in better shape than a fat person. How being in shape pertains to heart attacks is still open to discussion. The heart has to pump blood to all this extra weight no matter what form it is in. We have all read about world-class athletes with blocked arteries; we also know 95-year-old men with weak muscles and strong hearts. Be on the safe side – keep your arteries and veins in good working order!
These are the secrets to weight loss and permanent health. Enjoy!
© 2002 Nancy Mitchell and Laura Mordaunt
http://www.lightstreampubs.com
References:
Bragg: Water, The Shocking Truth, Health Science www.bragg.com
Bragg: Apple Cider Vinegar, Health Science Bragg: The Miracle of Fasting, Health Science