Another year has passed and it is time for new beginnings; however, I believe that each day is a day of new beginnings and it is never ever too late to start making changes for a healthier you.  I have seen remarkable changes in people even in their 70’s, just by adopting healthier habits.  Please remember that no matter what your age or your situation, it is never hopeless.

Let’s begin this year by addressing the issue of taking vitamins and herbs for our “ailments”.    I do want to emphasize that using wholefood vitamins and herbs for symptoms and problems can be very beneficial, but I emphatically believe that this is a starting point; you must also stop doing the things that are harmful and that caused the problems in the first place.  Rather than only trying to find a vitamin or an herb to cure what ails you, also use this time to evaluate what might be contributing to the symptoms and begin there.  Let me explain.

 I am frequently approached by friends and acquaintances wanting to know what they can take to have more energy, what theycan put on their skin for rashes, athletes foot, etc., and what can be done for other disorders.  Most people do not realize that seeking to cure the symptom with vitamins, herbs or other alternative treatments,is no different than taking pharmaceuticals to put a band-aid on the symptoms;unless the cause is addressed, the symptoms will return and the disease will worsen.   

 Ignorance about our bodies and how they work is caused in a large part by the emphasis over the years on drugs and “disease care” rather than on education about the link to our good health with our diet and other lifestyle habits.  I am not going into detail right now about the severe side effects of drugs and the toxic burden they place on your body.  I just want you to know there is a better way, the way God intended for us.  Diseased bodies are not a consequence of old age—for the most part, they are a consequence of our unhealthy lifestyle choices.  I want you to realize without a doubt that the road to good or bad health begins the minute you open your mouth to take a bite.

If you are experiencing any type of skin disorders, lack of energy, and/or aches and pains, it is because your body is crying out to you to pay attention; telling you that something is not right.  Once symptoms show their ugly head, it has already begun to get ugly on the inside a long time ago.  Nothing you can take or apply will change the ugly on the inside; you will have to make some serious dietary and lifestyle changes to begin the process of healing from the inside out.  Our livers become so overloaded with toxins that they can no longer do their jobs and filter, so the toxins creep into our blood stream and enter various parts of our bodies, manifesting themselves in many ways including tiredness, skin rashes, arthritis, and other symptoms too numerous to mention.  

Eliminating toxic overload on the liver is an important key to good health.  We can do many things to reduce this overload; some things we cannot, but if we do what we can, then the things we cannot do will not put additional stress on this very important organ. So let’s eliminate toxic overload on the liver by doing as much as we can do to help it out; after all, it is one of our very best friends.

Not only by eating unhealthy foods do toxins enter your body, but also what we breathe into our lungs is an entryway for toxins such as cigarette smoke, gases from cleaning supplies and detergents, candle emissions, pesticides and fertilizers.  Our skin is the largest organ in our body and what we put on it by the way of lotions, soaps and cosmetics, also enters into our bodies to be filtered by the liver and kidneys.  Just by using safer cleaning products,detergents and skincare products, the burden can be taken off the liver and free it to do its job more efficiently.

Therefore, this year, let us begin by ridding ourselves of old, unhealthy habits and replacing them with new habits.  As the weeks progress, I will try to help you understand the “why”, so your motivation to make changes will be stronger.

May I suggest beginning by eliminating the white stuff (white flour, white rice, and white sugar) and drinking more pure water.   Even if you do nothing else this year, this will make a huge improvement on your health, because these are the major sources of inflammation, and inflammation is one of biggest causes of major diseases….

That will be a subject for another time.

May this be the beginning of a healthy and happy year!

From my heart to your health,

Debby