Tag: detox

  • What Happens to Your Body When You Sleep

    Sleep is more than a luxury. It’s a pillar of your health that’s just as valuable as diet and exercise. Your body needs it for daily maintenance, hormone balance, and to fight off infection. Yet many people get far less than the seven to nine daily hours needed. Your body isn’t shutting down when you sleep. It’s shifting into a different mode. One that you need to stay mentally and physically sharp. 

    In a typical night, your body goes through four to six 60 to 90-minute sleep cycles. Within each of these cycles, you pass through five sleep stages. You move through stages I through IV while also spending time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep where active dreaming takes place.

    However, your sleep isn’t linear. Within each cycle, you bounce back and forth between light and deep stages. Your body needs to spend time in each of the sleep stages to fully recover from a day’s worth of work.

    The Brain

    The glymphatic system, the brain’s cleaning system, boosts its activity by 90 percent when you’re asleep. This system flushes spinal fluid through the tiny spaces in the brain to cleanse them of leftover waste. Without it, communication within the brain slows because toxins clog your communication pathways.  

    Your Muscles

    When you enter stage III sleep, the first of the deep sleep stages, your body releases human growth hormone. This hormone floods muscle tissue and stimulates healing and rebuilding. Whether you’re a bodybuilder or not, your body needs to repair itself from damage and injury on a daily basis. 

    The Immune System

    Sleep gives your immune system time to recharge and strengthen itself. T-cell levels drop when you sleep and redistribute themselves in the lymph nodes. At night, your risk of infection is relatively low, so it’s the perfect time for the immune system to pump up its defenses. Once all your defenses are in place, they’re ready and waiting for deployment once you’re up and moving. 

    Help Your Body with Better Sleep

    All of these vital functions get disrupted if you don’t get enough sleep. Consequently, your health suffers. The length and quality of your sleep cycle, in part, depends on your habits and behaviors. The right ones will help you sleep soundly while others can leave you tossing and turning. 

    Do:

    • Go to bed at the same time every day. Your body adapts to your schedule so keep one it can predict. 
    • Follow a bedtime routine. A routine reduces stress before bed and helps your brain recognize the start of the sleep cycle. 
    • Eat healthy meals at regular intervals. The timing of your meals influences your sleep cycle. Keep your meals consistently spaced and stick with a well-balanced diet for optimum nutrition. 
    • Make your bedroom sleep supportive. Dark, cool, and quiet should describe your bedroom. You should also have a mattress that caters to your weight and preferred sleeping position. This keeps your spine aligned and reduces morning aches and pains.  

    Don’t:

    • Look at electronic screens before bed. Bright blue light can suppress sleep hormones. Turn them off two to three hours before bedtime. 
    • Drink stimulants in the late afternoon or evening. Caffeine and similar stimulants stay in your body for hours. Stop consuming them early in the day to prevent them from blocking sleep hormones. 
    • Eat high fat, heavy meals before bed. Discomfort and indigestion don’t make good bedfellows. 

    Adequate sleep gives you energy, keeps you well, and lets your mind stay clear and sharp. Make the change to better sleep and your body will thank you. 


    Stacey L. Nash is a Seattle area writer for Tuck.com whose insomnia led her to research all aspects of sleep. With a degree in communications from the University of Puget Sound, she helps put sleep into the forefront of the health and wellness conversation. When not researching and writing about sleep, she spends time with her husband and four children on their heavily-wooded, twelve-acre piece of heaven.

  • The Many Ways Cultured Foods Detoxify Your Body

    Detoxification is an important component to maintaining health. It can be difficult for our body to keep up with the assault chemicals added to our water, food and sprayed in our air, applied to our skin – our bodies are inundated. In this article shared by Moms Across America learn the many ways you can use cultured foods to detoxify your body. 

    Reprinted with permission from culturedfoodlife.com

    I love my microbes and all they do for me. Not a week goes by that I don’t discover something new that my 100 trillion microbes are doing just for me. I used to think that my liver was mostly responsible for filtering and removing compounds from within my body including hundreds of toxic chemicals and extra hormones (like estrogen) that can damage cells and weaken my immune system, but this is only half of the story. Your bacteria in your gut are responsible for 50% of the detoxification that your body undergoes, but if you don’t have the right microbes and a lot of them, they can’t do their job. So, what do bacteria do to detoxify you?

    Chemical BPA

    The chemical Bisphenol A (BPA)  is found in plastics, paper money, and thermal printer receipts. BPA is a powerful endocrine disruptor and has been linked to forty different diseases. But interestingly, animal research has shown that the proper bacteria in your gut can help detoxify this chemical by reducing the intestinal absorption of bisphenol and speeding it out of your body.1 What’s really exciting is that many of the strains of bacteria you need are found in cultured foods. Eat them and they become a part of you!

    Pesticides

    When you make cultured vegetables, specific strains of bacteria go to work that have been shown to degrade many different pesticides in your vegetables such as chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, diazinon, methyl parathion, and parathion. They do this while fermenting on your counter, and the pesticides will be degraded by 83.3 percent in as little as three days. Give it a few more days and they remove them completely.2 The really cool part is that these microbes actually use these hard-to-break-down chemicals as sources of carbon and phosphorous food!

    Sodium nitrate and heavy metals

    The chemical sodium nitrate is used as a food preservative in cured meats because it contains powerful anti-microbial properties which prevent food spoilage, but it is also used in fertilizer, explosives, rocket fuel, and for enamels made of pottery or glass. Sadly, it’s even found in organic food. We can’t seem to hide from it and it’s been linked to a variety of chronic degenerative diseases, including cancer. However, Mr. lactobacillus and his many friends are capable of breaking down this toxic chemical 3  as well as breaking down heavy metals 4 and heterocylic amines 5 which are compounds formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures.

    Cultured Foods Reduce The Toxicity Of Foods

    Probiotics found in so many cultured foods, and even in my sourdough bread, possess the ability to reduce the toxicity of foods and help me assimilate many foods I otherwise would struggle to digest. Just as they called in special forces of microbes to degrade and remove the oil spills in the ocean, they’ll do the same inside of you and me. But you have to take care of them and feed them, then watch them grow in strength and number to do their jobs. We have just scratched the surface of all they can do, but I encourage you to make some cultured vegetables and keep them on hand. I hope you make kefir daily, and as you drink it you’ll feel the wonderful thing you’re doing to your microbiome. If you consume bread, make it sourdough that has the help of lactobacillus microbes to transform it. And last, but not least, have some kombucha when you’re feeling you need a pick-up. Let them do the work for you and you just take care of them. You’ll start speaking of yourself in third person . . .   “Would Donna’s microbes like this cultured food?  I think they would – time to eat!”

    This article originally appeared at: https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/cultured_foods.
  • Detox and Nutrition: The color code of foods

    By addressing nutrition, exercise, thought patterns, and many other factors at the same time, you can break through toxic barriers and create a vibrant, healthy life, an energized, full-spectrum life! Dr. Minich has written extensively on food, healing, and wellness in her books Quantum Supplements, Whole Detox, Quantum Healing, Chakra Foods for Optimum Health and in her latest book The Rainbow Diet.

    Color influences us.It can change our feelings. It may alter our behavior.

    On a recent episode of HealthMade Radio local Dr. Michael Karlfeldt interviewed Deanna Minich about How Colorful Food Creates a Vibrant, Healthy Energized Life. 

    Her fascinating insight in to the spectrum of phytonutrients in foods was shared recently with her newsletter subscribers:

    Red—Immune system and survival: Red-colored foods tend to be high in vitamin C, which supports adrenal health and immunity. Red-colored foods, such as tomatoes, lycopene, and red beets, have also been shown to be anti-inflammatory.

    Orange—Reproductive health and fertility: Eating orange-colored foods abundant in carotenoids like beta-carotene may help lower the risk of reproductive issues like endometriosis. Carotenoids are also found within the ovaries and the sperm to support fertility.

    Yellow—Digestion: Eating too many of the “wrong” yellow foods, like breads, baked goods, and processed cereals like corn, can put out our digestive fire and give us metabolic syndrome and even diabetes. On the other hand, eating the acidic, warming yellow foods, like lemons, ginger, and grapefruit, can help us burn brightly and rev our metabolisms.

    Green—Cardiovascular health: Green foods like leafy greens are rich in nutrients such as folate, vitamin K, and naturally-occurring nitrates that make them healing and expansive for the heart and blood vessels.

    Blue-Green—Thyroid health: Blue-green foods like algae, sea plants, and even spirulina contain minerals such as iodine and selenium, which nourish and support the function of the thyroid gland.

    Blue-Purple—Cognition and mood: Blue-purple foods like berries and grapes have been shown to help with better brain function like learning and memory, as well as improving mood and calmness.

    White—Cleansing: White foods, like white flour, white sugar, and white salt, can be toxic in high amounts. When we detox our bodies from these white foods, we may feel clearer in mind and purer in body. There are also specific white-colored foods, like garlic, coconut, sauerkraut, and cauliflower, that can help with cleansing through their antimicrobial or detoxifying effects. Fasting is also a “clearing of the inner slate” — the white of nothingness.

    Listen to the interview

    Subscribe to the newsletter: www.deannaminich.com

    Deanna Minich, PhD, FACN, CNS, IFMCP

  • Why You Should Do An Ayurvedic Spring Cleanse

    As we (at least here in Idaho) watch the snow melt away (hopefully soon), we know Spring is on it’s way. This is the time of year Mother Earth renews herself, and celebrates with blooming flowers and new leaves.  While we aren’t always aware, our own bodies are also beginning to shift with the change of season. This is a great time to reset, restore and cleanse our mind and body with a seasonal cleanse to leave us healthier and stronger. 

    What is an Ayurvedic “Cleanse?”

    “De-Tox” and “cleanse” have different meanings to different people.  But don’t worry… when I speak of “cleanse,” I am not suggesting a starvation detox that consists of lemon water and fruit or juice. No fasting involved! An Ayurvedic cleanse is a time-tested, gentle cleansing approach that nourishes the body, while setting up an environment for the elimination of toxins.  Unlike many of the trendy detox diets and cleanses out on the market that do more harm than good, this cleanse will leave you rejuvenated. This sets you up for optimal health.  The best part?!  You get to eat simple, yet delicious foods with a variety of herbs and spices to optimize your digestion.  In an Ayurvedic cleanse there are three phases:  

    1. The preparatory
    2. The cleanse
    3. The post-cleanse, where you reset your digestion to transition back into a diverse diet.  

    Ayurveda also places a strong emphasis on cleansing/rejuvenating self-care practices that will guide you to healthier habits to optimize your wellness.

    Why Cleanse?

    The unfortunate reality is we live in a world full of toxic substances. In our food we find pesticides, antibiotics, microbes, mercury, and more – even if we are eating organic. Our air also carries pollutants, which then get absorbed into the body. The good news is our body has a system to detox. A cleanse will support this system, and – when done properly – will leave you feeling rejuvenated, and healthier than when you started.

    Cleanse Benefits

    A cleanse comes with many benefits, in both mind and body: improved digestion, a sense of calm, and balanced sleep cycles. A cleanse will reset your natural balance, and you will feel rejuvenated!

    – Improve your digestion

    – Restore a sense of calm

    – Restore balanced sleep-cycles

    – Reset your natural balance

    – Cleanse and rejuvenate

    Interesting in a cleanse?  I offer guided cleanses, and can do consultations in person or by phone.  For those of you in Valley County Idaho, I will be offering a guided group cleanse throughout the month of April.  For more information, please contact me at jean@theyogamomma.com 

    Jean Keese is a Health Freedom Advocate, Clinical Ayurvedic Practitioner, Wellness Coach, Yoga/Pilates Instructor and Homeschooler.  She lives in McCall with her family, small herd of dairy goats, and free-range chickens.   You can learn more about Jean at theyogamomma.com.jwww.theyogamomma.com.    

  • Finding Hope When You’re not Experiencing the Healing You Long For

    You’ve been implementing healing protocols in your life for some time now. You feel like you’re doing all the right things but you’ve hit a plateau and you can’t seem to pinpoint why.  

    I’ve been there, several times throughout my healing journey actually. Being in this place often felt hopeless and initially cause me great despair.

    Health Freedom Idaho is thrilled to hear from Jennifer, a Certified Essential Oil Coach and Health Coach with FeastingOnJoy.com as she shares healing journey overcoming the feelings of hopeless by providing practical encouragement and hope for each individual healing journey.

    The Dreaded Plateau

    When I first starting healing my Hashimoto’s, after my rock bottom I began to experience what it felt like to feel well again. I was on cloud nine! After feeling awful for years, this victory was extremely motivating. However, as some time went on, I started feeling like I was on a plateau or that I just wasn’t progressing in healing like I thought I should be. The frustrating thing was that I was doing all the right things to obtain optimal health, but I would still have bad days and not be able to pinpoint why. Sometimes these times became overwhelming and I would often feel like I was never going to heal.

    Have you been there? Are you there right now?

    Being a Certified Essential Oil Coach and (soon to be) a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I consider myself a hope-giver. 

    “As a hope-giver, we guide others to anticipating, embracing and living out the vision of God’s hope, love and beauty, creatively exploring ways to live fully alive, right where we are amidst life’s brokenness.” Dr. Catherine Hart Weber.

    If you need some encouragement and hope on your healing journey, I wanted to share 3 steps to move through the plateau and persist for the healing you’re longing for.

    3 Steps to Embrace the Plateau

    1. The “P” Word

    The healing journey can be rigorous. You may be learning a new protocol, spending time at the doctors, coordinating appointments, ordering supplements among many other things. Just those tasks can be exhausting and stressful for the body. 

    Sometimes the mind can’t rest because of all the “to-do’s” when it comes to healing. That’s where my first step comes into play.

    As counterintuitive as it may sound, it’s beneficial for you to PAUSE where you’re at. Pausing will look different to everyone but it could include:

    • Not making any new doctor’s appointments

    • Refusing to read or learn any more on healing your condition

    • Purpose to think about other things 

    • Spend time on a hobby, or going outside into nature

    • Set aside time to dig into God’s Word and write some scripture 

    Of course, this is only a temporary pause but it will allow your mind to reset and refocus on the task at hand.

    “In taking a step back, you are awaiting your step forward.” Jennifer | Feasting On Joy

    2. The Right Path

    Once you have given your soul, mind and body the pause it needs to refocus you will inevitably have clarity on what the next step is to get yourself off that plateau. You may need to get on a different path.

    For example, as important is whole, unadulterated food is for healing, I learned that food is not the only area I needed to focus on to heal. It was during one of those plateaus in my healing journey that I stepped onto a different path of parasite cleansing and dealing with silent infections {like the Epstein Barr Virus}.

    In veering off the path I was on, and heading a different direction for a time, I was able to get off my plateau and help my body get rid of some nasty bugs {a-hem, we all have them}, conquer an infection and continue deeply healing my body.

    If I hadn’t paused and taken a step back, I never would have known I needed to get on a different path for a time to get off my plateau.

    3. A Caring Someone

    Journeying through healing chronic illness is not for the faint of heart. Additionally, it’s not meant to be done alone. Creating a support system is crucial for healing not only your body but your soul.

    Throughout my healing journey, I have been privileged to have a very supportive husband and parents. They’ve helped me through many discouraging times where I was in deep despair. More importantly though, for me personally, one of my biggest supporters is Jesus. He is the ONE I have leaned on and trusted in daily {and sometimes hourly} to help me through the day. He is the ONE that has given me the strength to fight this battle and He is the ONE who I surrendered my healing too. His plan is perfect.

    Not only do I dialogue with my family about what I am struggling with but I write Scripture every single day. It’s so therapeutic.

    I use this system called QUEST {Quiet Unmatched Enjoyable Scripture Writing Time} which allows me to choose the topic I am struggling with and write the Word specifically about that. It could be the topic of fear or Healing, or even anger and getting wisdom. It’s been a perfect tool to help me be content with the plateau and eventually move off the plateau and continue healing. 

    Don’t walk this journey alone. 

    As Helen Keller says, “Alone we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”

    Finding Hope When You’re Not Experiencing the Healing You’ve Been Longing For

    It is so hard when you have such strong desires and visions of what life could be like if you felt better, or if you completely healed. However, by pausing and taking a step back, potentially taking a different path and creating a support system you can lean on, you can learn to find contentment on the plateau and gain strength for when you move past it.

  • Heart Disease. What if Cholesterol isn’t to Blame?

    Here’s a secret most drug manufacturers don’t want you to know – millions of people die from heart attacks with normal cholesterol levels.Three Large Industry-Funded studies found it was impossible for cholesterol to be the main cause of heart disease. For years, decades in fact, we have been conned into thinking that high cholesterol levels were contributing factors to heart disease. “Cholesterol and heart disease has been almost synonymous for the last half-century. Cholesterol has been portrayed as the Darth Vader to our arteries and our heart.”, Ron Rosedale, MD. While heart disease is a real health problem, cholesterol isn’t necessarily to blame.

    “Cholesterol is ESSENTIAL to every cell in the body.”

    Would you believe that cholesterol is a good thing?

    Cholesterol is a fatty substance produced by the liver that performs or assists in thousands of bodily functions such as building cell membranes, nerve sheaths, and critical for your brain.25% of the cholesterol in our body is found in the brain. It works to facilitate membrane function and is the raw material for making progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, testosterone and vitamin D.

    Learn more about cholesterol’s benefits on this interview from Healthmade Radio with Dr. Jack Wolfson and Dr. Michael Karlfeldt

    It was determined many years ago that the majority of cholesterol in your bloodstream
    comes from what your liver is manufacturing and distributing. The amount of cholesterol that one eats plays little role in determining your cholesterol levels. It is also known that HDL shuttles cholesterol away from tissues, and away from your arteries, back to your liver. That is why HDL is called the “good cholesterol;” because it is supposedly taking cholesterol away from your arteries. But let’s think about that.

    • Why does your liver make sure that you have plenty of cholesterol?
    • Why is HDL taking cholesterol back to your liver?
    • Why not take it right to your kidneys, or your intestines to get rid of it?

    The body’s natural process of taking cholesterol back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health. 3

    Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs are Dangerous.

    Cholesterol-lowering drugs are dispensed like candy at the doctor’s office. Turn on the TV or radio and you are assured to hear a commercial about cholesterol dangers and why you need a drug to lower your numbers. Even your next-door neighbor or work colleague is bragging about the drug that lowered their numbers.

    If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Statin drugs used to combat high cholesterol actually do way more harm than good…they kill more people than they save. Millions of people swallow pharmaceuticals to lower cholesterol. This is totally unnecessary “the benefits from statin treatment have been exaggerated”. 2

    Dr. Mercola says, “Using drugs to reduce cholesterol levels or inflammation may increase your risk of fatal side effects; natural remedies that are not associated with dangerous health problems include magnesium, balancing essential fats and reducing hyperinsulinemia.”

    Cholesterol is one of the “most vital” molecules in the body and prevents infection, cancer, muscle pain and other conditions in elderly people. Lowering cholesterol with medications for primary cardiovascular prevention in those aged over 60 is a total waste of time and resources, whereas altering your lifestyle is the single most important way to achieve a good quality of life. -Vascular and endovascular surgery expert Professor Sherif Sultan from the University of Ireland

    This information is more than two years old, so why are doctor’s still prescribing cholesterol reducing drugs to patients to ‘reduce their risk of heart disease’? Perhaps its the $316,000,000 paid by patients and insurance companies each year for treatments for heart disease that plays a role in their recommendations. 5

    If not cholesterol then what is causing heart disease?

    The fixation on cholesterol as a major cause of heart disease defies the last 15 years of science and deflects from real causes such as the damage (via glycation) that sugars such as glucose and fructose inflict on tissues, including the lining of arteries, causing chronic inflammation and resultant plaque. Ron Rosedale, MD

    Hundreds of excellent scientific articles have linked insulin resistance and more recently leptin resistance to cardiovascular disease
    much more strongly than cholesterol, and they are in fact at least partially responsible for cholesterol abnormalities. For instance, insulin and leptin
    resistance result in “small dense” LDL particles and a greater number of particles. This is much more important than the total cholesterol number. 

    The focus therefore should be to reduce inflammation.

    Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is the root cause of most all diseases.

    This is a serious concern that most regular MD’s aren’t treating. Rather, they are just prescribing Big Pharma medications to treat the symptoms of inflammation, rather than the causes of the inflammation itself. Dr. Wolfson, Paleo Carteologist suggests, instead of taking a statin for the rest of your life to treat a symptom, seek out a natural doctor who will get to the cause of why your arteries are inflamed.

    Concerned with heart disease 11 ways to reduce your risk of heart disease?

    Research Resources: 

    1. https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/10/10/high-cholesterol-heart-disease-myth.aspx

    2.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/06/12/high-cholesterol-does-not-cause-heart-disease-new-research-finds/

    3. https://oawhealth.com/article/cholesterol-is-not-the-cause-of-heart-disease/

    4. https://www.thedrswolfson.com/inflammation-causes-symptoms-natural-treatments/

    5. https://www.drugs.com/slideshow/most-expensive-conditions-to-treat-1123

    6  Heart Disease, Stroke and Research Statistics At-a-Glance. American Heart Association. Accessed January 21, 2017 at https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/ahamah-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_480086.pdf

  • Grow a Detoxing 100-Year-Old Food Forest in Your Backyard in Just 10 Years

    Now surrounded by cities and agriculture, humans are no longer living in their “natural” habitat. Industrial engineer turned forest perma-agriculturalist  Shubhendu Sharma. His methods enable him to grow a 300-tree forest in the space of 6 parked cars. Amazingly, the cost of growing a forest is roughly the same as an iPhone.

    Not only do trees help to detox the air and the soil, they can block the new 5G emissions from those who are emf sensitive and studies show trees help to reduce stress levels naturally. (Study: The More Trees We’re Surrounded By, The Lower Our Stress Levels)

    Shubhendu Sharma was an industrial engineer for Toyota hired to offset some of the carbon emissions of the company’s factories. Sharma solution was to plant mini forests right next door. He uses the Miyawaki method, which was developed by Akira Miyawaki, “a Japanese botanist and expert in plant ecology, specializing in seeds and the study of natural forests. He is active worldwide as a specialist in the restoration of natural vegetation on degraded land. (Since 1993, he has been Professor Emeritus at Yokohama National University and Director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology. He received the Blue Planet Prize in 2006.”) 

    Since then his company Afforest has helped “build” 75 such forests in 25 cities across the world. Sharma’s forests grow 10 times faster, are 100 times more biodiverse and 30 times more lush than typical reforestation projects. He used his model for manufacturing as many cars as possible per square feet of factory space and applied it to growing trees. His methods enable him to grow a 300-tree forest in the space of 6 parked cars. Amazingly, the cost of growing a forest is roughly the same as an iPhone.

    “We discovered every single element needed to make a forest is right around us,” Sharma said. “All we have to do is bring these elements together and let nature take over.” 

    “We start with soil. We touch, feel and even taste it to identify what properties it lacks.” Next, his company mixes in local biomass — compost, manure, etc. — to help compacted soil become more porous and allow water to seep in. “If the soil is lacking nutrients, we don’t just add nutrients directly to the soil — that’s the industrial way,” he says.

    Instead, he adds microorganisms that feed on the biomass and convert it into more bioavailable nutrients. “As the number of microorganisms grows, the soil starts breathing again,” he says. “It becomes alive.” When planning a mini forest, Sharma’s company starts by determining which tree species were native to the area before human intervention.

    Then they decide whether they want a fruit forest, a flower forest, a forest that attracts a lot of birds or bees, or an evergreen forest, and chose different species for each layer — canopy, tree layer, sub tree layer and shrubs.

    Then, they collect the seeds, germinate the saplings, and plant them in a tight-knit pattern that intersperses the various species.

    Next, they spread a thick layer of mulch to hold in moisture during the summer and protect the soil from frost during the winter.

    This makes for extremely soft soil, allowing roots to penetrate and grow quickly. Within 3 months the roots reach one meter deep and form a mesh holding the soil together. Microbes and fungi make nutrients available to the roots. The forest is watered and weeded for two to three years, but as the forest grows it blocks the sunlight and weeds stop growing.

    Shortly after this, the canopy becomes so dense, the forest retains every drop of water, eliminating the need for watering. The forest floor remains moist and dark, enabling leaves to decay quickly and become food for the soil. As more and more leaves fall, creating more and more food for the soil, the forest starts growing exponentially, Sharma says.

    “If the tree species were planted independently, they wouldn’t grow so fast,” he says. “This is how we create a hundred year old forest in just ten years.” For more details on forest-scaping your yard, check out Sharma’s website Afforestt.com.

    Other successes in recreating forest environments include “Ernst Gotsch”. He has a +40 year old forest of his own, in Brasil, made on a 400 acres of what everyone said it was sterile land, dead land. Now 40 years later, that same patch of land already has 9 water springs that came back to life, and produces one of the best cocoa in the world.

  • Detox Your Body with Fermented Foods

    The easiest way to support your body’s natural ability to detox is to consume fermented foods and beverages. These easy-to-digest, mineral-rich traditional foods contain important nutrients including  Vitamins A, D, E, K2, B and C, minerals, enzymes and friendly bacteria (probiotics). These elements not only boost immunity and digestion function, but also support overall health by increasing the amount of available nutrients in food.  

    Making your own fermented foods at home is optimal since you always know what you are putting in your own preparations. These are also typically less expensive than store-bought. However, many health food stores now offer some excellent products if you aren’t in a position to make your own including: sauerkraut, pickles, and other fermented vegetable combinations. 

    Some health food stores now offer raw and pasture-raised cultured dairy foods such as yogurt, kefir, sour cream and cream cheese. Lesser recommended would be pasteurized cultured dairy foods which are more difficult to digest since enzymes and proteins are compromised during the heating process. These typically contain less beneficial bacteria than their raw counterparts.

    Fermented teas such as kombucha, water kefir, and vegetable juices are also available and beneficial. These mineral and probiotic-rich beverages can be a healthy part of your diet and support for detox. All kombucha and kefir is prepared with some type of tea and sugar as the SCOBY mother (kombucha) and water kefir grains consume them to allow propagation of more bacteria. However, store-bought kombucha and water kefir tend to be much sweeter than homemade, and can also contain unwanted additives. 

    Although the fermentation process can help neutralize effects of caffeine in tea on the body, some people find they are still sensitive. If you don’t know whether you are sensitive, try a bottle of organic, store bought kombucha to test (or homemade from a friend). Some find that they need to avoid drinking kombucha tea no later than 2 p.m. during the day due to its “awakening” and energizing effects, which can affect sleep cycles. Be sure to always check labels and look for organic and if you purchase a store-bought brand.

    Always read the label carefully and choose organic whenever possible that contain only salt and vegetables/herbs for fermented produce (not vinegar). When choosing cultured dairy foods look for whole milk products (not skim or low-fat, which reduces essential nutrients in dairy foods) and which contain no additives such as modified food starch, sugar, or others you may not recognize or can’t pronounce.

    Interested in making your own kombucha? 

    Visit Kombucha Kamp

    Learn how to make other fermented foods and beverages:

    Water kefir

    Sauerkraut

    Raw milk yogurt, whey and cream cheese

    Beet kvass – a traditional, Ukrainian beverage using just beets, salt and filtered water

    Sour pickles

  • Why We MUST Detox from Glyphosate Toxins

    By now, most of us have heard about glyphosate in one way or another. Glyphosate has been found in the majority of our environment and food: rain, tap water, air, streams and even in our cereal, honey, breast milk and cotton products. It is almost impossible to avoid.

    Monsanto corporation – now a part of Bayer – lost the trial of the century against a man dying of cancer, his cancer alleged to be caused by Roundup herbicide. The corporation was found by a jury to be responsible for all claims and ordered to pay $289 million dollars in punitive damages to school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, whose life and limb are stricken with deadly lymphoma after years of using Roundup Pro and Ranger Pro. 

    Moreover, the jury found that Monsanto “acted with malice, oppression and fraud.” 

    Monsanto internal documents depict a “rampant corporate culture that has no interest in looking at whether or not their product is safe,” says Brent Wisner, lead trial counsel for Dewayne Lee Johnson in his lawsuit against the company.

    See the internal Monsanto papers and documents now unclassified that the jury saw that lead them to that conclusion.

    Our children are the sickest generation – 54% have chronic disease or neurological illness. Its easy to see that their health conditions are likely connected to this toxin’s pervasive use. Our children, the most susceptible to toxins. They are suffering the consequences of more than 250 million pounds of Roundup herbicide every year. At the same time, weeds are becoming more resistant to Roundup, so farmers are using more and more chemicals to deal with super-pests and super-weeds. From 1994 to 2005, the use of glyphosate has increased by 1,500 percent.

    Increasingly, glyphosate is also sprayed just before harvest on wheat, barley, oats and beans that are not genetically engineered. Glyphosate kills the crop, drying it out so that it can be harvested sooner than if the plant were allowed to die naturally.Monsanto’s Round Up ‘pre-harvest’ spraying guide meant for conventional farmers recommends that they spray crops just three days prior to harvest – and they don’t just mean on GMO crops. This means you’re likely consuming food which had been drenched in toxic pesticides.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the following non-organic crops are sprayed with glyphosate (reporting years: 2004-2013) (10):

    1. Alfalfa*
    2. Almonds**
    3. Apples*
    4. Apricots
    5. Artichokes
    6. Asparagus
    7. Avocados
    8. Barley*
    9. Beans, Green
    10. Blueberries
    11. Broccoli
    12. Brussels Sprouts
    13. Cabbage
    14. Caneberries
    15. Canola*
    16. Canteloupes
    17. Carrots
    18. Cauliflower
    19. Celery
    20. Cherries*
    21. Chicory
    22. Corn**
    23. Cotton**
    24. Cucumbers
    25. Dates
    26. Dry Beans/Peas*
    27. Fallow**
    28. Figs
    29. Garlic
    30. Grapefruit*
    31. Grapes**
    32. Hazelnuts
    33. Kiwifruit
    34. Lemons*
    35. Lettuce
    36. Nectarines
    37. Oats*
    38. Olives
    39. Onions
    40. Oranges**
    41. Pasture*
    42. Peaches*
    43. Peanuts*
    44. Pears*
    45. Peas, Green
    46. Pecans*
    47. Peppers
    48. Pistachios*
    49. Plums/Prunes*
    50. Pluots
    51. Pomegranates*
    52. Potatoes
    53. Pumpkins
    54. Rice*
    55. Sorghum**
    56. Soybeans**
    57. Spinach
    58. Squash
    59. Strawberries
    60. Sugar Beets**
    61. Sugarcane*
    62. Sunflowers**
    63. Sweet Corn*
    64. Tangelos
    65. Tangerines
    66. Tobacco
    67. Tomatoes*
    68. Walnuts*
    69. Watermelons
    70. Wheat**
    *Over 100,000 pounds of glyphosate herbicide sprayed on them throughout the year
    **Over 1,000,000 pounds of glyphosate herbicide sprayed on them throughout the year

    Applying glyphosate to non-GMO crops as a desiccant before harvest is probably one of the worst times to spray, because the glyphosate then absorbs into the food crop directly. In other words, glyphosate can’t simply be “washed off,” as it has become part of the food itself. This chemical is them ingested by those who consume the whole, unprocessed food, or via processed foods that contain glyphosate as an ingredient.

    Poison Served with Breakfast

    The Environmental Working Group has released independent laboratory test results that found that Roundup’s weed-killing poison, glyphosate, has been found in 43 of 45 cereals tested, including those we feed our children.

    Of the 43 cereals that tested positive for glyphosate, 31 of those had a glyphosate level greater than 160 parts per billion–the threshold the EWG used. 1 part per trillion was shown to increase the growth of cancer cells. NO exposure is safe. 

    Cereals found to contain even higher levels of glyphosate include:

    • Quaker Simply Granola Oats, Honey, Raisins & Almonds
    • Nature Valley Granola Protein Oats ‘n Honey
    • Quaker Dinosaur Eggs, Brown Sugar, Instant Oatmeal
    • Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal
    • Lucky Charms, among others

    Dangers of Glyphosate

    Did you know that if your child has multiple allergies, rashes or even just irritability and learning focus challenges, that could indicate they have leaky gut? That means small holes in your child’s small intestines are leaking unprocessed food and potentially medications into their blood stream and causing havoc in the immune system. 

    Did you know that Glyphosate (Roundup) weed killer sprayed on GMOs and non organic food,  is allowed on 160 of our foods by the EPA at levels far above that which has shown to destroy gut bacteria? The gut bacteria is the stronghold of our immune system and is where Tryptophan is stored and made. Without Tryptophan our bodies cannot make Serotonin or Melatonin which regulate insulin, (diabetes) mental processing and  illness, feeling satiated (obesity), bi polar and even acts of violence. 

    Did you know that glyphosate can break down the blood brain barrier, allowing toxins into the brain such as chemical off gassing from fire retardent on pajamas, sofas and toxins in vaccines?

    Did you know that glyphosate destroys the tight junctions of blood vessels, hampering the flow of nutrients to bones and organs, leading to osteoporosis, arthritis and more?

    In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, reviewed extensive U.S., Canadian and Swedish epidemiological studies on glyphosate’s human health effects, as well as research on laboratory animals. The IARC classified the chemical as probably carcinogenic to humans, and has steadfastly defended that decision despite ongoing attacks by Monsanto.

    In 2017, California listed glyphosate in its Proposition 65 registry of chemicals known to cause cancer. The state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA, has proposed a so-called No Significant Risk Level for glyphosate of 1.1 milligrams per day for an average adult of about 154 pounds. That level of exposure is more than 60 times lower than the safety level set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    Scientists have been able to correlate a number of health issues related to glyphosate exposure, including, but not limited to:

    •  ADHD [1] 
    •  Alzheimers Disease [2] 
    •  Autism [3]
    •  Birth Defects [4] 
    • Cancer [5]
    • Celiac Disease [6]
    • Colitis [7] 
    • Heart Disease [8]
    • Inflammatory Bowel Disease [9]
    • Kidney Disease [10]
    • Liver Disease [11] 
    • Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma [12]
    • Parkinsons Disease [13] 

    Glyphosate Detox

    If we’re not directly eating glyphosate-sprayed crops, then we’re inhaling it, or drinking it (or even bathing in it). There is quite literally no way to escape the glyphosate chemical giant Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) has created. 

    Here’s the steps to take to detox: 

    1. Eating Cleaner Foods. 

    • Choosing the organic or pesticide-free label. 
    • Seeking out stores that sell local produce labeled pesticide free. *Shopping in-season helps to reduce the costs. 
    • Shopping the regular sales at THRIVE MARKET seeking out the CHOSEN brand. 
    • Getting meats and eggs from local farmers.
    • **Eliminating refined sugar – specifically GMO beet sugar is important as well!

    “Herbs such as cilantro help us to eliminate metals such as lead and mercury. Herbs like turmeric and garlic help to lower the levels of inflammation that are often the underlying causes [of chronic diseases” -Dr. Robert Zieve, an integrative medicine expert and medical director of Partners in Integrative Cancer Therapies, in Prescott, AZ 

    2. Sipping Ferments. 

    Apple Cider Vinegar , Sauerkraut juice and Kombucha contain a beneficial bacteria that neutralizes glyphosate! That is absolutely amazing! 

    Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, ““With every mouthful of sauerkraut you’re consuming billions of beneficial microbes which will be killing the pathogens in your gut driving them out and replenishing the beneficial flora in your digestive tract.” 

    Click here to learn how to make sauerkraut at home and here to learn how to make kraut juice, a more gentle on the stomach probiotic for those with leaky gut. Getting your child to take the tangy savory liquid tends to be a bit more challenging.

    3. Regular Detox Baths (with filtered water).

    1/4 cup of Epson salts or baking soda or apple cider vinegar on a regular schedule has helped tremendously ESPECIALLY during the weeks before harvest as the fields around us are sprayed intensively with Glyphosate. 20 minute soak – or for our kids “until they get ‘wrinkly’. 

    4. Restore balance. Support Natural Detox.

    We have added a new element to our routine. Toxic exposure is constant and even with a clean diet, sneaking in ferments (which is really hard to do with young children) and doing regular detox baths its not enough to overcome the hurtle of these health issues. We are calling in reinforcements. 
    As a family we are adding Biome Medic a product specifically designed to tackle glyphosate toxicity to help flush harmful toxins, support “good” bacteria and repair your microbiome. 

    $50 Discount Biome Medic or Any Purium Detox Product

    Biome Medic. Studied under a randomized, product-controlled IRB approved protocol,the six-week pre-clinical trial reported a 74%reduction of the herbicide glyphosate, a 75% reduction in the inflammatory bio marker reactive protein(CRP) and a 35% increase in gut immune response as measured by reduced food sensitivities.
    http://www.puriumcorporate.com/purium1/php_uploads/BiomeMedicResearchResults-PressRelease.pdf

    Purim is a family owned company dedicated to providing whole, organic, GMO-free nutrients for the whole family. 


    [1] The journal Environmental Health Perspectives reported in 2002 that exposure to Roundup [glyphosate herbicide] was been linked to attention deficit disorder (ADHD), likely due to the herbicide’s capacity to disrupt thyroid hormone functions.

    [2] A study published in the journal Toxicology found that glyphosate exposure can cause the same kind of oxidative stress and neural cell death found in Alzheimer’s diagnosis. It also affects CaMKII, an enzyme whose dysregulation has also been linked to Alzheimer’s.

    [3] A research scientist at MIT says the symptoms of glyphosate toxicity closely resembles the same of autism symptoms.

    [4] Glyphosate exposure can disrupt the Vitamin A signaling pathway, which is critical for normal fetal development. A study from Paraguay found that babies born to women, living less than a mile from fields sprayed with glyphosate herbicide, were more than twice as likely to develop birth defects.

    [5]: There are numerous glyphosate studies that link glyphosate to cancer. The International Agency of Research on Cancer (an agency within the World Health Organization) published a study in 2015 that determined glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. There is also a meta-analysis study from 2014 published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and a 2008 Swedish study that link glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are others, including a study in Argentina of 65,000 people in farming communities where Roundup is used (communities referred to as “the fumigated towns”), found cancer rates to be two to four times higher than the country’s national average. Specifically, the study noted increases in breast, prostate and lung cancers. In a comparison of two farming communities—one that sprayed Roundup and another that didn’t—31 percent of residents in the Roundup sprayed community had a family member with cancer. In the community that didn’t spray, only three percent of residents had a family member with cancer. The high cancer rates among those exposed to Roundup [glyphosate herbicide] can likely be traced to the herbicide’s known capacity to induce DNA damage, which has been demonstrated in a number of laboratory tests.

    [6] A study of fish exposed to glyphosate herbicide showed that some developed digestive problems similar to those with Celiac Disease. Parallels between glyphosate exposure and Celiac Disease include impairment in enzymes critical to detoxifying environmental toxins, imbalances in gut bacteria, amino acid depletion and certain mineral deficiencies.

    [7] A Roundup study titled ‘The Effect of Glyphosate on Potential Pathogens and Beneficial Members of Poultry Microbiota in Vitro’ found that glyphosate toxicity could be a significant predisposing factor in the overgrowth of clostridia, an established causal factor in colitis.

    [8]: A study published in Entropy found that glyphosate exposure can cause disruption to the body’s enzymes, causing lysosomal dysfunction, which is a factor in heart failure and cardiovascular disease.

    [9] In another Entropy study, researchers found that exposure to glyphosate has been demonstrated to create a severe tryptophan deficiency in some, which can cause inflammatory bowel disease.

    [10]: Glyphosate herbicide exposure may explain the recent spike in kidney disease statistics among farm workers in India, Central America and Sri Lanka. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health“Although glyphosate alone does not cause an epidemic of chronic kidney disease, it seems to have acquired the ability to destroy the renal tissues of thousands of farmers.”

    [11] A 2009 study showed that very low doses of glyphosate can disrupt liver cell function.

    [12] A study looking at meta-analyses of nearly 30 years worth of research on the relationship between Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and occupational exposure to pesticides, found a positive association between glyphosate herbicide exposure and B cell lymphoma.

     [13] The onset of Parkinson’s following glyphosate exposure has been documented by a number of lab studies, which show that glyphosate can induce the cell death characteristic of the disease.

    Contaminated Cheerios: https://www.reuters.com/article/products-general-mills-glyphosate/general-mills-hit-with-lawsuit-over-glyphosate-containing-cheerios-idUSL2N1VB1MY

    To read more about allowable glyphosate levels and the chemical’s effects, read “Glyphosate: Unsafe on Any Plate”.

  • Unsuspecting Families Are Feeding Their Children Contaminated Finger Foods

    My pediatrician told me that my when my infant was about 9 months old (maybe a bit older) he was ready for solid foods like original Cheerios. So I followed the doctor’s advice, I kept a ready supply of this handy finger food in my diaper bag. My children ate boxes and boxes of Cheerios. In fact, I served it almost daily. Like you, I thought I was feeding my family a nutritious source of ‘whole grain part of a balanced diet’. Unwittingly, I was filling their body with high levels of toxic glyphosate and the 10,000 food additive chemicals, all of which are allowed to be added (directly or indirectly) to their food.  

    75% of US foods are contaminated with Roundup with glyphosate. 

    Now, my children are suffering from ADD, anxiety, depression, chronic constipation and a myriad of other ailments that are linked to imbalance known as a “leaky gut”. People who have leaky gut are more likely to have a number of other health problems including “gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn’s disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, among others.”

    Our gut is the key to our health and wellness. its responsible for 75% of our immune response. <Learn More about Leaky Gut>

    Glyphosate responsible for gut imbalance? 

    Glyphosate is the key ingredient of the herbicide Roundup, more than one billion pounds sprayed in the US alone. It’s applied to our food as little as three days before harvest. It is absorbed into the plant and can’t be washed away. It is catastrophic to the beneficial gut bacteria that is responsible for our immune system response.

    Monsanto has steadfastly claimed that Roundup is harmless to animals and humans because the mechanism of action it uses (which allows it to kill weeds), called the shikimate pathway, is absent in all animals. However, the shikimate pathway IS present in bacteria, and that’s the key to understanding how it causes such widespread systemic harm in both humans and animals.

    The bacteria in your body outnumber your cells by 10 to one. For every cell in your body, you have 10 microbes of various kinds, and all of them have the shikimate pathway, so they will all respond to the presence of glyphosate!

    Glyphosate causes extreme disruption of the microbe’s function and lifecycle. What’s worse, glyphosate preferentially affects beneficial bacteria, allowing pathogens to overgrow and take over, including the highly toxic Clostridium botulinum. 

    In the interview above, Dr. Seneff reviews a variety of chronic diseases, explaining how glyphosate contributes to each condition. So to learn more, I urge you to listen to it in its entirety. It’s quite eye-opening. According to Dr. Seneff, glyphosate is possibly “the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies.”

    It’s disconcerting to say the least. I did what my doctor said, and fed my children Cheerios and other foods recommended by the government via the food pyramid. Now my children are part of the statistic of that is 54% of children suffering from chronic illness and disease. 

    Not giving up the possibility of healing my kids

    My mission, to see if I can undo the damage, support their body’s healing processes and help them to make better food choices. Its never to late to start making a change and to heal from the damage done. This is what we are doing to help detox the glyphosate, build our guts and provide nutrient-dense foods to support healing.