Water : You Need To Know This

I often mention the importance of drinking plenty of good clean water. It is the fundamental element needed for good health.

But perhaps I don't always make clear some of the very important things that you should know about drinking water. Let's fix that right now!

Do NOT drink chlorinated water until the chlorine has been removed. Chlorine kills bacteria. That is why we put it in water. But if it is still in the water when you drink it, it will also kill the good bacteria in your gut that is important for proper digestion and nutrition.

Do NOT drink fluoridated water. Fluoride is a poison. One of it's nasty little side effects is that it allows soft tissue (for instance the brain) to absorb heavy metals. That is not good! It may well be one of the major causes for so many people getting Alzheimer's disease these days. Besides that, (here's the dirty little secret) it really isn't good for your teeth.

DO drink mineral water. Not the fancy store bought kind. That is not necessary. But if you live near a natural spring, that is generally a very good source of drinking water.

I recommend that you make your own mineral water. (I'll tell you how in a minute.)

You have probably already read that I suggest that people try to drink a cup of water for every 10 pounds of body weight daily. That means that if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink 16 cups of water during a 24 hour period.

Why so much water? Because water makes everything in the body work. Most people walk around in a perpetual state of dehydration. When your body doesn't have enough water it can't rid itself of toxic wastes that build up in the body from our polluted environment and from our processed foods. Without water, nutrition cannot be moved through the body to get to the places where the body needs it, even if you do eat good food.

High blood pressure is actually a sign that the body is dehydrated.

In today's society, we need plenty of water to flush out toxins. Particularly if you want to lose excess weight, or cleanse the body of disease.

You will find many recommendations all around for systems to cleanse the body, or parts thereof. But by far the best way to cleanse is to make sure that you get plenty of mineral water.

Getting minerals with your water is important, because otherwise you could flush too many minerals out of your body and cause other problems. The minerals allow the cells of your body to use the water.

One example of the importance of minerals in your water: Drinking excess water without minerals can cause constipation due to the mineral deficiency. However drinking salt water will end constipation quite readily.

If you drink lots of water, but don't get the necessary minerals, your cells can't use the water.

I suggest you use Redmond Real Salt for your minerals. It is a product taken from ancient sea beds. It contains all necessary minerals and trace-minerals for human health.

Use clean water, (I just use reverse osmosis filtered water) and put in a pinch of Redmond Real Salt. Just do it to taste. Basically, an 8th of a teaspoon will treat 3 or 4 cups of water.

I do this with nearly all the water I drink.

Or you can use this Himalayan Salt that Dr. Mercola has arranged to bring to the U.S.
Click HERE to find out about it.

Back to Basics : It Really Is This Simple.

People are always looking for that magic pill that is going to solve their problems.
Here is my last response to one of those questions like "Are there any good pills for...":

"Not that will do you any long term good, in my opinion.

But try this.
Cut out all sugar, caffeine, vegetables oils, and artificial sweeteners from your diet.
Eat whole grains and veggies as much as possible, along with fresh fruit.
Make sure that your are drinking lots of good clean water.
Start with a minimum of 12 cups of water daily. Put a pinch of real sea salt (with all the trace-minerals in it) in each cup of water.

And to help balance everything out and help heal the nerves, etc, take 3 or 4 tablespoons of coconut oil a day.

Also make sure you are getting regular exercise. At least 20 minutes at a time, at least 3 days a week.

Also, try to get to sleep 2 or 3 hours before midnight each night."

I think most people would be amazed at the improvement in health if they would just try these simple basic things.

LDN - Low Dose Naltrexone

There has been a lot of hubbub these days about Low-Dose-Naltrexone.

Here are the basics about it.

Naltrexone is a drug that has been used for several years to treat drug and alcohol addiction. It has some serious side effects. But they have discovered that at very low doses, (about 1/100th of a normal dose) the side effects are minimized and it helps to boost the immune system functions.

The theory is that it causes the body to release more endorphins, thus increasing immune function.

Here are my thoughts on it.

Now they are trying to sell you pills with so little active content in them you will be paying for fillers. The fillers are generally not good for you, just contributing to clogging up your system.

But the pills will be inexpensive compared to most drugs. Well, of course you do still have the expense of paying the doctor big bucks to tell you you need it.

Why buy a pill to get what you can get for free by living a healthy lifestyle?

Do you know what naturally causes your body to release more endorphins, to raise your immune function?

Check out this list:

1. exercise
2. smiling
3. laughing
4. eating spicy foods
5. eating dark chocolate

There is not a lot of time or expense involved with those, and they will most likely do you much more good than a pill.

One word of caution : don't get your dark chocolate from a sugar laden candy bar. I suggest raw cacao powder.

Well, that's what I think. Feel free to share your feelings.

Cactus Oil : Just More Snake Oil?

I've seen a few questions recently on cactus oil for health benefits.

Here is my take on it.

Cactus oil (made from prickly pear fruit, and/or seeds) is not a good idea.

Some people claim that it is good for heart health. The problem is that the only research done has much more information to take into account than blood lipid levels. The very same study that is cited to say that the blood lipid levels were better, also shows that it caused both the pancreas and the liver to enlarge. Neither one of those is good.

For those interested, here is a link to that study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6R-4JG5FPR-5&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9527a6634675484fc5b5a705b4e0d826

So, the cactus oil is like so many of the other vegetables oils. The companies that sell them tell you they are heart healthy, but in reality they can be very damaging to your long term health.

Personally I avoid nearly all extracted oils, including fish oils. I try to only use coconut oil, raw butter, or extra virgin olive oil. Those are the healthy ones.

Genetics : What Do We Know?

Since the human genome has been mapped, perhaps you were wondering why we haven't eliminated all disease now. Since the map was supposedly completed in 2003, haven't we had enough time to make cures for all the diseases?

This is, of course, a little bit ridiculous to expect such results. But most people don't seem to realize how ridiculous it really is.

We have learned quite a bit about genes in the last decade, so let me fill you in on some of the most interesting things we have learned.

Genetic engineering isn't nearly as accurate and precise as many of us are led to believe. It is very complex, and a little chaotic. New genetic material can be injected or shot into a mass of older genetic materials, and it is hoped that some of the new genetic material will integrate with the old. Of course one of the problems with this is that we don't know precisely which of the old genes could be affected or changed by the new genetic material. That is one of the problems with genetically modified foods. Instead of just changing the one gene that they want to change, they generally end up changing anywhere from 5% to 15% of the genes. This, of course, causes all kinds of unexpected side effects.

So, instead of easily fixing genetic disorders (which is the dream), we are actually creating other genetic disorders.

Last year it was reported in the news that they have added another 11 genes to the list of cancer-causing genes.

It just goes to show you that we still don't really know much about genes. The human genome project has helped us learn many things about genes, but there are still so many that we don't know.

I'll let you in on one of the little secrets we have learned about genes: They don't actually do anything.

I'm sure you read the last sentence a couple of times, just to make sure you read it correctly. We have been told for so many years that the genes determine everything in the human body, that we just take it for granted that that's the way it is. Let me explain a little further.

Genes do indeed hold a type of blueprint material for what our bodies may become. However, it is nothing like a blueprint that a contractor would use to build a house. It doesn't contain a set plan that must be followed as we grow and develop. Instead, it contains a whole bucket full of possibilities.

Genes are, believe it or not, inactive. They don't actually do anything. They are more like books in a library. If they are left on the shelf, then nothing is gained from them. They have to be read and acted upon by some active part of our systems in order to make any difference. That is why you can have a gene for being short, but grow very tall.

The gene is entirely dependent upon it's environment. Proteins are the carriers of genetic messages. Only certain proteins can read certain genes. The proteins go to the genes to look for solutions for particular challenges that may come their way. The body only creates the proteins that the environment calls on it to create. If you have a gene for colon cancer, but your body never creates the protein that reads that genetic sequence, then you will not get colon cancer.

The body is very complex, and there are millions of possibilities contained in our DNA. There are literally billions of possible combinations. The more we learn about genetics, the more apparent it becomes that genetics are not the determining factor in what happens to our bodies in our lives. That is why we now use the terminology "genetically predisposed".

We now know that just because you have a gene for something, that doesn't mean that that particular thing will manifest itself. As we study this process we come to the realization that the environment determines which genes will be read and acted upon. You will never get cancer if you live a lifestyle that never calls on the cancer gene.

It is starting to be realized that many of the things that we thought were genetically determined are actually environmentally determined. We are starting to see that children have many of the same attributes and challenges that their parents had because they inherited their environment from their parents. We tend to live the same life styles that we grew up with. Our internal environments start off in the internal environments of our mothers wombs. We live where our parents lived. We tend to eat the way they ate. We tend to exercise in the same ways they did. It's even been shown that we tend to use the same eye movements that our parents used, which can effect our eye sight.

That is why as our world becomes more and more polluted, we see children getting more diseases earlier in life. Many children now have diseases that people used to only get in old age. The environment is everything when it comes to genetic causes of things.

So, yes, the genes do matter. But the good news is that by changing our behavior, our environment, we can control which genes get used. A clean environment with good wholesome food creates an entirely different set of proteins than a polluted environment. The proteins then interact with the genes and take messages to the cells of the body. The body acts according to those messages.

The more polluted our environment gets, the more negative proteins we build. A polluted environment can also actually change the DNA causing even more problems. Kind of like going through the library and throwing all the books in a big mud puddle. Then when you try to read them, you only get some of the information. Some of the information can be so distorted that you get an entirely different message than the author of the book intended.

Luckily the body has a pretty good librarian. If given the time and the right materials in a clean enough environment, the librarian can repair most of the damage previously done. However, if we keep it too messy for too long, sometimes even our marvelous librarian can't fix all of the mess.

So make sure you give your librarian the proper materials, and the proper environment as soon as possible.

Just eat a high quality natural foods diet, exercise, drink plenty of good clean water, make sure you get fiber (whole raw foods), get plenty of sleep, breathe deeply and have a gratitude attitude.

Your body will take care of you, if you take care of it.

Coach G.

Oil In The Scriptures

I was asked the other day about why, if coconut oil is such a great health promoting substance, it isn't mentioned in the scriptures.

This is an interesting question. Particularly for LDS readers, who have been given a law of health to follow from living prophets of God.

If you look through the scriptures and look for references to fat you will note that in most cases, except when it is talking about the animal fats used in sacrifices, fat or fatness refers to plenty or abundance.

You might also note that it says not to eat animal fat. We now know that animal fats are where many of the toxins that an animal takes into it's body become concentrated. Even today, it is not a good idea to eat animal fats.

If you look in the scriptures for references to oil, you will find that in most cases it does not mention what type of oil. Olive oil is specified sometimes for making holy anointing oils.

The "Word of Wisdom" does not mention oils or fats specifically, and yet we know that they are an important nutrient for the body. Another interesting point is that even though the people that were given the "Word of Wisdom" were mostly farmers with chickens and cattle, there was no mention made of eggs or milk.

When the Lord said to eat the flesh of beasts sparingly, or only in times of winter or famine, he made no such restrictions on milk or eggs. It turns out that milk and eggs are both excellent sources of fat, and animals produce them in abundance. The Lord says that animals are for the benefit and use of man, but not so much for the flesh. Hmmm? I guess that leaves using them for labor and for milk and eggs.

Another important point to remember is that fat, or oil, is found in many foods. If you follow the "Word of Wisdom" you will find that you will be healthy and you will get good fats.

If grains are the staff of life, particularly wheat for man, then as you make wheat the pillar of your diet you will get many health benefits. One note of caution, it must be whole wheat. Along with the essential proteins and polyphenols, etc that you get from wheat, you will also get good fats. And as you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, you will also be eating good fats.

However, what the major medical and major media calls "essential fats" these days are in no way essential to health and may even be detrimental. The important thing to remember is that fats and oils that are extracted and concentrated are more like drugs, and can be beneficial or destructive, depending on the situation. Most polyunsaturated fats, in spite of what you have been told, are destructive in the human body.

So with all of that said, why do I push coconut oil? Most people in a diseased state today have too much polyunsaturated fats in their bodies. Coconut oil is one of the best ways to turn that around, and to do it in a fairly safe and balanced manner. Remember that I often say that balance is the key in all health. Coconut oil seems to have the ability to balance the fat systems of the body, and therefore leads to health.

If you are without any health problems, then you probably don't need to take any extra coconut oil. Following the "Word of Wisdom" rules on what to eat will serve you fine.

If, however, you are unhealthy, in most cases coconut oil will help your body to heal and return to health.

For those who prefer something a little more 'biblical', raw butter mixed with raw honey is a great combination to get good fats and cause healing in the body. The only reason I talk more about the coconut oil is that it is usually easier to get in today's world than raw butter and raw honey.

For those wondering about this "Word of Wisdom" reference, go HERE.

CoQ10 : Let's Not Get Crazy

You may have seen some of the fantastic claims made by people trying to sell supplements containing CoQ10. But before you go and buy any of these supplements, thinking that this will solve all of your problems, lets talk a bit.

Most of the things that CoQ10 salesmen claim about there product are actually unproven. There are cute little anecdotal stories spread all around, but not much actual science to back them up.

Let's look at what the basic sales line is.

As your body ages you need more CoQ10. Is this true? Not necessarily.

Guess where CoQ10 comes from. It is found in grains, vegetables, nuts, animal products. In other words, it is all over the place in the foods you eat.

Of course the more that those foods are processed the less CoQ10 they retain. So should you supplement if you eat a lot of processed foods? In my opinion, no. Simply stop eating all those processed foods that are bad for you anyway. Eat good whole fresh foods and you will not only get all the CoQ10 you could ever need, but you will also get all the other goodness that goes along with it.

CoQ10 studies are very often not conclusive at all. Why? Because it is only one part of the picture of what goes into building a strong healthy body. Many other things are necessary to help CoQ10 to do it's thing.

I bet you didn't know that CoQ10 can intercept energy from your bodies energy production cycle and keep it from getting to the very important mitochondria. This is just one example of how trying to micro-manage your health through supplements can be nigh unto impossible.

There are many ways that a body can get out of balance. Some will involve CoQ10. But by far the best way to seek balance in the human body is to feed it the foods created by the creator for it. Natural foods have a way of creating a natural balance in the human body. No need to guess how much of what supplement your body might need.

Eat whole grains, whole fresh veggies, whole fresh fruit, nuts, fresh eggs, raw milk, raw butter, raw honey. If you ate some of each of those each day, you would probably be amazed at how healthy you would be in a couple of months.

Fat Discussion Leads To Comment

A discussion about fats on Dr. Mercola's site got interesting, when you got down into people's comments. There is so much confusion and misinformation going around.

I decided to comment there to see if I could help some people out. Here is what I said:

It is important to realize that a healthy lifestyle is the key to living healthy.

That sounds like stating the obvious, but many people don't seem to get it.

A 16 week test (as sited in the article) is interesting, but hardly long enough to show any cause and effect relationship.

Most of today's diseases have been developed by negative lifestyle choices made over years.

The human body is an amazing machine and can compensate for bad choices for a long time before finally reaching a breaking point and manifesting a disease.

I like the works of people like Ray Peat. Even though it can be hard to understand because he goes into so much detail, that many of us are unfamiliar with, he does a good job of explaining what happens in the human body.

It is very important to understand that the basics are the important thing. So many people are looking for that magic supplement that will make them healthy, but at the same time they don't exercise, or drink plenty of good clean water with good minerals and trace-minerals, or eat fresh fruits and veggies, or whole grains and nuts.

Health in the body is all about balance. The problem with most supplements is that you don't know how much you need to be in balance. Any supplement you are taking could be putting you out of balance. The wonderful thing about natural whole foods is that they cause balance in the human body.

As far as fats go, taking omega-3s or omega-6s could put you out of balance.

If you are not having health issues, just continue to eat good whole foods, and avoid toxins, and you will probably be fine.

If you have health issues, I would go with coconut oil, as it seems to help balance out the fat systems of the body.

How To Legally Avoid Shots

Several of you have told me that you are trying to avoid all the dangers that are becoming more and more apparent from immunizations.

I thought I should share with you this article about avoiding shots legally.

http://www.mercola.com/article/vaccines/legally_avoid_shots.aspx

Miraculous Coconut Oil : How To Use It.

Many people have asked me how I use coconut oil. I use it for many different things, so I thought I should give you a report on what I do.

Coconut oil is great for your skin!
It is the best sunscreen I have ever used. That is saying a lot, since I spent many years working on construction jobs in the heat of the Arizona sun. Yes, I am fair skinned.

There is an important trick however in using coconut oil as a sunscreen. Don't put it on in the sun.

It is best to put coconut oil on about 20 minutes before going out in the sun so that it can absorb into the skin and protect it. If you put it on in the sun, it can contribute to cooking you instead of protecting you. You've heard of boiling in oil, right? But if the skin absorbs the oil first, then it does a marvelous job of keeping the skin healthy.

Are you getting this information too late, and you just came in with a sunburn? Coconut oil will help it to heal quickly. Be sure to use pure coconut oil instead of some cream or ointment claiming to contain coconut oil. Cold pressed virgin coconut oil is by far the best.

Coconut oil not only moisturizes. It also cleans and heals. Did you know that coconut oil is one of the very best conditioners for hair that money can buy. Put coconut oil in your hair before going to bed. Wrap it up and let it stay in all night. Rinse it out in the morning and you will be amazed at your healthy hair.

Coconut oil is antiviral, antibacterial, anti fungal and has even been called a "low fat fat".
When coconut oil is taken into the body, it is used like the best kinds of cholesterol, to heal cells.
It is not stored in the body like other fats, it is used for energy and healing.

Coconut oil also causes the break up of undesirable fats in the body, thus leading to weight loss for those who need to lose weight.

Much has been said these days about the importance of getting omega-3 fats. But this is only talked about because it has been identified as an imbalance. Balance is the important thing for health. If you take too many omega-3 fats you will also be out of balance and cause problems.
Coconut oil is a healthy fat that seems to help balance the body. I therefore consider it far superior to omega-3 fats.

Fish oils are quickly and easily oxidized and can cause many problems in the body and the brain. Use coconut oil instead.

See a great discussion on that from Ray Peat HERE. Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils can be bad.

Coconut oil is also the best oil to cook with. Most oils are very unstable and quickly become rancid when heat is applied. Cooked oils become trans fats. Corn oils are some of the worst oils to cook with. Coconut oil, on the other hand, is very stable and can withstand much higher heat before going bad. Any time I need to use oil in cooking, I choose coconut.

As a marathon runner, I have to deal with the problem of chaffing on long runs. You guessed it! I use coconut oil. It keeps the skin healthy and eliminates much of the friction. And it's much less expensive than those special products people buy for such things.

Coconut oil is also the very best oil to use for "oil pulling", or "oil swishing". You will read lots of interesting (almost mysterious sounding) things on the internet about 'oil pulling'. Much of it is wrong. But that's a subject for another day. Coconut oil works better than the others, and I'll explain that when I write more on that subject.

When you eat coconut oil, it improves digestion, as well as insulin control. It also boosts immune function. Coconut oil is good for the heart, in spite of much dis-information disseminated by the soy and corn industries. It actually helps to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. Regular users of coconut oil have less heart disease and even more normal blood pressure.

If I was overweight or having health problems, I would make sure that I got 3 or 4 tablespoons of coconut oil everyday.

I also "swish" with coconut oil everyday.

Coconut oil is one of the healthiest fats you can get. To me it seems much more important to consume coconut oil for health than it is to worry about omega-3 oils. Another day we will talk about the toxicity of omega-3 oils.

Here is a great book by the guru of coconut oil, Dr. Bruce Fife:





You can find coconut oil in most health food stores. But if you are having a chanllenge finding some virgin coconut oil here is a link you can follow: