I am literally begging you...

I'm begging you...

Looking back over 20 years of employment since I graduated college, I have seen that I have never had to go through the job hunt crap that most people have had to endure.  I've always worked for myself.  This has its pros and its cons, but in general it allows a lot more freedom than a job working for corporate America.

One of the freedoms that it has allowed me to pursue is my curiosity for knowledge.  I have basically been allowed, for the last 20 years, to read almost all day, almost every day, about whatever interested me.  Interestingly enough, nearly everything in our society ultimately is about money so whatever interested me was useful to my job in some fashion.  It didn't hurt that many, many things interest me.

Being in the financial services allowed me to see, first hand, the depths of depravity of mankind.  I got to witness over and over and over again how people will lie, cheat, steal, and sell out their grandmother for a little cash.  Not once, but about a hundred times or more I witnessed this.  It admittedly made me a bit more than a little cynical of...well...everything.

One of the things that interested me - because of the cynicism and because of some health issues that members of my family were going through - was the western medical system (vs eastern "traditional" herbs and natural treatments).  I read up on the FDA, patents, and alternative medicine.  Since I was an insurance agent, I read up on insurance payments and reimbursements.  I read everything I could get my computer on...and I began to apply my knowledge against the only thing that I found that I could trust - my own personal experience.  Since I was a cynic, I knew that profit motives were fierce and that even trusted sources could be compromised.  I began to experiment on myself.  Not willy nilly, though.  Did it have a history of safe use?  Was there a dosage that needed to be heeded?  A specific preparation method to be aware of?  I would read as much as I could, both pro and con, about different things then when I felt safe, I would test them on myself.  Did it work or did it not?  If it did work, I would begin to share the treatment ideas with my family.

Over the years, I found many things that I have become quite comfortable with using to treat various diseases.  Some treatments I cannot tell you *why* they work, only that they do.  Others I can tell you not only why they work, but why the conventional treatment is inferior - and why it is still used even though it is inferior.

I had to come to grips with the fact that while billions of dollars are annually given to charity x,y, or z every year to find a cure for_____ we often have the knowledge to prevent x,y, or z but we fail to disseminate that knowledge.  We love our conveniences, even if they make us sick and die.  My journey to where I am today did not happen overnight, but a series of events and close calls nearly landed me in a very bad place, health-wise.  I slowly began making various small changes that addressed the problems that I knew I was facing at the time.  While I am still far from where I would like to be, most people now consider me somewhat of a hippy or nature freak.  I accept that.

There are indeed many things that I think people should be doing to improve their health.  But first and foremost is a problem that nearly 1 out of every 2 people I encounter is dealing with, whether they know they are or not.  That problem is an excess of sugar and simple carbs (like white flour and breading).  Add that to an Omega 3:6 ratio that is WAYYYY out of balance (salad-type stuff and fish contains omega 3 fats, and nut/grain oils contain omega 6 fats), and most of our health problems in America can be traced to these two things.  Yes, I do mean that.  Nearly every major disease and health problem that Americans are facing can be PREVENTED AND CURED by changing our diets.

As an example, we have known for years that sugars (simple carbs) feed cancer cells.  Yet we eat sugars in amounts that no other nation in history has eaten them.  We also know that too many carbs are responsible for obesity, diabetes, some types of arthritis pain, and fibromyalgia. This is not a question...it is a fact. But we continue to eat these things because - mainly - we see no alternative to not eating them.  Excess sugars not only cause systemic inflammation, they cause oxidative stress which then causes our cells to not function correctly and our bodies to age faster.

Making this ONE change will help Americans more than any other change that I can think of...eat less sugar and simple carbs and more whole foods.  Simple enough, right?  But when nearly every processed food that we buy has these cheap carb "fillers" in them, it really means we need to make some conscious changes in the way we live.  We also need to be careful what we replace our sugar with.  For instance, artificial sweeteners like aspartame are excitotoxins which are perhaps more harmful than the sugar that we were seeking to replace.  Additionally, replacing sugar with other simple carbs makes almost no difference to our body's metabolism.

There are, however, some simple - and tasty - bridge steps that we can use to get beyond sugar.  Thankfully, there are solutions that have come which allow us to wean ourselves off of some of our bad habits until we no longer desire them.  If you are at all interested in avoiding the hell of some of the diseases that I've seen wreck the lives and bodies of WAY too many of my friends, let me know.  I won't and can't charge you.  If you are reading this, it's probably because I love you - or you love me - and I want you around and healthy for a long time so your kids and grand kids can enjoy you.  Let me transfer the 20 years of reading I've been doing to something useful in your family life.  The side effect will be a more confident you with less pain and a healthier body.

I do love you...and I consider it a gift from God that you are in my life.  I want you around and healthy to enjoy life as we age.  The simple conveniences that we have enjoyed as fun addictions are killing us.  There are certainly mental, emotional, and spiritual addictions as well, but it's good to start with the physical.  Thankfully, there are some easy solutions (including moderation!) for that. Let's talk about them...I'm begging you!

Addicted to ...?
Candy
Sodas
baked goods
breads
fried foods
processed foods