There are so many fad diets, ways to eat and ways to live that most of our heads are starting to spin. In my clinical opinion, it is very simple to live a happy and vital life. It just takes some health; “taking responsibility for oneself.” Sometimes just getting back to the basics and putting in our bodies what mother nature gave us, is all it takes. Listed below are some simple holistic (treating the person and not the disease) lifestyle recommendations to follow. Beginning with one at a time and progressing your way through the rest is my recommendation.

1. If it is white-----do not eat it! The four white devils are white flour, white sugar, white salt (see #9) and pasteurization and homogenization milk products. If you must use a dairy product and cannot acquire raw dairy, choose Certified Organic as your second choice. Additionally, those who are lactose sensitive should use full-fat cream, which is very low in lactose and high in fat. Additionally, you can enjoy a high quality yogurt, in which lactose is predigested. The white foods listed above are denatured, altered, processed and full of man made chemicals that do nothing for you, except damage cells and take your vitality away from you!

2. If you can’t pronounce a word on a label-----do not eat it, your liver won’t like it! Start reading labels and be more aware of what you are putting in your body. Most of the daily symptoms that people face (gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, depression, decreased concentration, etc) are linked to these man made chemicals.

3. If it wasn’t here 10,000 years ago, don’t eat it!

4. Fruit juice is sugar water! Don’t drink it. Small quantities of freshly squeezed juice may be ok as an occasional treat. It takes 4-6 juiced apples to make one 8-12oz glass. Could you eat that many apples in one sitting? Anything that ends in –ose is sugar. Sugar is sugar no matter how you slice it. Whether it is organic, does not matter!

5. The longer the shelf life, the more harmful it is likely to be to your body!

• If irradiated, don’t eat it! Irradiated food is basically zapped 10K times more than your average xray to kill bacteria?

• If pasteurized, it’s not good for you. Ultra-pasteurized is very bad for you!

• Unless packaged in glass, the longer it’s been in the package, the more toxic it will be! Plastics can leak what is called xenoestrogens, which are harmful to the body. They can increase estrogen levels in females and put there hormonal systems into a state of disarray.

6. Always eat ORGANIC! You are what you eat!

7. Always season foods and water with 100% unprocessed sea salt. The best is Celtic, followed by sea salt from New Zealand because there is less heavy metal toxicity there.

8. Drink ½ your body weight in pounds in ounces of water daily.

• Buy water in glass if possible.

• Adding a pinch of sea salt to water is recommended to replace electrolytes. Additionally, it will harden otherwise good, but soft waters and will significantly increase the TDS.

9. Follow the 80/20 Rule. If you live right 80% of the time, you can absorb the other 20%.

10. Get to bed by 10 p.m. and sleep until 6 a.m. minimum.

• The body (physical) repairs itself from 10pm - 2pm

• The mind (spiritual and emotional) repairs itself from 2pm – 6am

Live Well,

Joshua Rubin