Noni Fruit

An Analgesic 
Immune Booster and Skin Healer 




Noni fruit is a tropical superfruit variety used extensively by the Polynesian people for its many diverse health enhancing properties. The entire noni tree is considered an extremely valuable and versatile therapeutic plant species in which all parts of the tree, including the leaves, roots and stems, as well as the fruits, have been utilized for over 2,000 years among many cultures throughout the South Pacific.

The fruits, containing a broad range of active compounds, are generally the most popular part consumed and used topically as a medicinal fruit and tonic beverage with multiple medical uses for treating a wide variety of conditions.  



Receiving widespread attention in recent years for its actions as an immune booster, anti-inflammatory, digestive aid, mood uplifter, skin healer and overall beautifying agent, the fruit juice and powdered concentrates are sold around the world where fresh noni is unavailable.

Composed mostly of long-chain sugars, noni is a low sugar fruit variety with a less edible pulp that is a bit different than other fruits you would typically pick and eat straight from the tree. Ripe noni is usually eaten after it softens slightly after 1-3 days and is generally either blended and strained, pressed through a juicer or is customarily fermented to release its juice concentrate.

While freshly picked noni is a hard and somewhat attractive looking fruit, it rapidly becomes considerably less striking as it ripens off the tree. After harvest it quickly begins to break down and becomes very mushy, frequently developing dark horizontal bands and tends to take on a rotten-looking appearance. 

Noni, with its tart sour flavor, is also not a particularly appetizing fruit or juice. It is, however, an acquired taste that often becomes increasingly pleasant the more you drink it. The fruits are known for their distinctive strong pungent odor that smells a lot like blue cheese, hence its other name "cheese fruit."

Typically, noni juice is taken in small tonic doses throughout the day for therapeutic effects, rather than consumed as a beverage-type drink.

Dried powders are also available which have a slightly sweeter taste with a less odoriferous scent and are more favorable for those who don't care for the strong smell or taste of the juice concentrate. They are a convenient option for adding to water, blending into drinks and can also be taken in capsule form. 

Noni fruit contains a diverse spectrum of health promoting substances such as polysaccharides, polyphenols, flavonoids, iridoids, terpenes, glycosides, alkaloids, like xeronine, as well as anthraquinones.


The juice or powder used as a dietary supplement has shown to be helpful as an analgesic for pain management and is reported to exhibit immune regulating activities useful for conditions like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and other immune deficiencies. Noni is a potent antimicrobial and antifungal when used topically for skin issues and often beneficial when taken internally for gastrointestinal disorders and various ailments like candida overgrowth.

What is Noni Fruit?

The noni tree (Morinda citrifolia) is a tropical evergreen tree or shrub related to the coffee family that grows both as a wild and cultivated tree throughout many regions of the South Pacific including the Polynesian islands, like Tahiti and Hawaii, as well as parts of Southeast Asia (Indonesia), Australia, New Guinea, Africa, Central America and New Zealand.

Morinda citrifolia is a low-elevation understory species and is very adaptable to environmental conditions such as high winds, flooding and saline waters. Being a very persistent, resilient weed-like tree, it easily spreads from branching off-shoots and is one of the first plants to propagate in harsh volcanic lava flows.

Continuously bearing fruit throughout the entire year in balmy tropical climates, the fruits themselves are usually the size of a small russet potato with an irregular egg-like shape. They are also referred to as Indian mulberry as noni looks similar to an enlarged version of a mulberry fruit.

All parts of the tree are used for either industrial applications or therapeutic purposes. This includes the thick shiny leaves which are commonly infused in hot water to provide an energizing delicious tasting tea.


Noni tree production has attained substantial importance as an export crop in recent years as the fruit, root and leaves are sold commercially as a dried herb or as a liquid or powdered concentrate in health and beauty products.

Morinda Root in Chinese Medicine

In Chinese medicine the noni plant and especially its roots, called ba ji tian or morinda root, are prized as a valuable Yang Jing tonic with similar properties to that of eucommia bark. Morinda root is a strength building herb useful for encouraging healthy bones and joints. Morinda root, decocted as a tea, is warming to the kidneys and is used to treat kidney yang deficiency and certain sexual issues such as premature ejaculation, impotence and infertility. 

Both the noni tree bark as well as the roots have a deep red and yellow color and have been used for centuries as a clothing dye in many Polynesian cultures.

Names for Noni Fruit

Hawaii - Noni
India - Indian mulberry
Samoa and Tonga - Nonu
Tahiti - Nono
Caribbean - Painkiller tree
Guam - Lada
Malaysia - Mengkudo
Southeast Asia - Nhau
Vietnam - Grand Morinda
Australia - Cheese fruit
Fiji - Kura
Africa - Bumbo
Noni Juice Benefits

Polysaccharides and Antioxidants Boost Immune System

Noni fruit contains very high amounts of polysaccharide long chain sugars, like 6-D-glucopyranose penta-acetate. The juice concentrate is said to contain a third more polysaccharides than aloe vera, which is one of the highest polysaccharide-rich superfoods known in the plant world.

The polysaccharides in noni are believed to enhance white blood cell efficiency and boost immune system functions. The fruit extracts have been studied for their ability to modulate immune response by activating immune cells, like T and B cells.

Fermented noni concentrates were shown to stimulate lymphocytes, like natural killer cells (NK cells) and "were demonstrated to be markedly involved in fermented noni exudate-induced antitumor activity", in a 2013 study published in the journal of Molecular and Clinical Oncology.

In another study entitled "Immunostimulant Activity of Noni (Morinda citrifolia) on T and B Lymphocyte", it was shown that noni extracts significantly increased the cell-mediated immune response and it was concluded that, "The results of this study confirm the cellular and humoral immunostimulant properties of M. citrifolia fruits and justify its usage in traditional medicine." 

Noni is also extremely high in many beneficial compounds, antioxidants, alkaloids, glycosides and polyphenols including xeronine, rutin, coumarins like scopoletin, terpenes and anthraquinones. Each of these constituents exhibit certain effects on immune function by either defending against free radical damage and/or providing antibacterial characteristics that increase overall immune response.

Antimicrobial and Antifungal

Noni is well-known and researched for its antimicrobial, antiseptic and antifungal attributes, containing a number of compounds, like limonene and anthraquinones, which have been shown helpful for those with compromised immune systems.


In a study entitled "Anti-fungal Activity of Morinda citrifolia (noni) Extracts Against Candida albicans", noni fruit extract was shown to have an antifungal inhibitory effect on C. albicans in a dose dependent manner.

Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Properties

Noni and its juice has long been used as a medicinal plant for treating inflamed conditions and associated aches and pains. Modern research now confirms that several constituents, including scopoletin, rutin, iridoid glycosides and xeronine, are accountable for these effects as both an anti-inflammatory agent as well as a pain reliever.

In a study entitled "Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Morinda citrifolia (Noni) Fruit", an alcohol extract and fruit concentrate demonstrated effectiveness for treating  painful inflammatory conditions with results indicating that "preparations of noni fruit are effective in decreasing pain and joint destruction caused by arthritis."

Another study published in the 2014 edition of The Scientific World Journal it states that "scopoletin has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory effects", while "rutin has been reported to exert numerous pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant activity."

In addition, most iridoid-containing plants are known to provide anti-inflammatory benefits. Iridoid glycosides, specifically deacetylasperulosidic acid and asperulosidic acid, are found to be predominant in the fruit but also present in the leaf, root, seed and flower of the noni plant. The yellow-pigmented root, in particular, is additionally a source of anti-inflammatory compounds and is known to contain twice the curcuminoids to that of turmeric.

Noni contains proxeronine, which is a precursor for the alkaloid called xeronine, first identified in noni fruit in 1981 by chemist Dr. Ralph Heinicke at the University of Hawaii. Xeronine was shown to have the ability to modify the molecular structure of proteins, an essential mechanism for many biological activities. 

Xeronine converts certain brain receptor proteins which help to increase the release of endorphins, numbs pain and produces feelings of euphoria. Xeronine is believed to be one of several key compounds responsible for noni's reputation as a natural painkiller or analgesic.

For maximum absorption and uptake of xeronine in the large intestine, it is more beneficial to consume noni juice or powders on an empty stomach. 

Natural Detoxifier and Skin Healer

High quality commercial noni juice, homemade fermented juices or powdered concentrates are naturally detoxifying to the body and are healing as well as softening to the skin tissue and hair follicles when consumed internally or used topically.

These effects are due to several active ingredients in the fruit which help to normalize digestive, metabolic and bowel functions, all beneficial activities for cleansing the blood, lymph and intestines. Clear and beautiful skin, especially as we age, is often a reflection of the livers ability to process toxins effectively and noni liquid or powdered supplements can largely assist in achieving this goal.

One key component in the fruit that supports the detoxification process is a terpene called limonene, also present in citrus rinds and peels. 

Noni is also a source of MSM or sulfur, nature's "beauty mineral" necessary for the generation of the skin enhancing constituents like keratin and collagen. In addition, noni fruit is high in polysaccharide content and very nourishing, lubricating and detoxifying to the body, promoting supple soft skin and hair. The fruits are also high in selenium which helps maintain skin firmness and elasticity.


Noni, as we mentioned, is prized for its antiseptic and antifungal properties and can be used as a liquid juice or applied directly on the skin for a variety of fungal related issues.

Natural Energizer and Mood Elevator

Morinda citrifolia and its juice extracts have been shown to be useful as a naturally energizing substance with mood elevating effects. Noni fruit is slightly stimulating, though it does not contain caffeine. This influence is believed to be a result of its high alkaloid content and other primary constituents which also promote mentally uplifting qualities.

Some studies on noni have identified two active ingredients in the fruit, rutin and scopoletin, to be responsible for actions on the dopaminergic system.  In one study analyzing the effects of noni fruit and these two principle compounds, it was "demonstrated that scopoletin and rutin, respectively, showed antidepressant activity." 

Another study performed evaluating the "ergogenic potential of noni juice" confirmed its use "to combat fatigue, improve endurance and increase overall physical performance."

Harvesting and Preparing Noni Fruit


Unlike many seasonal fruit trees, noni is in season throughout the entire year. The fruits ripen individually and must be selectively harvested according to their level of ripeness, ultimately when the fruit is a white-yellow color, not when it is green. This is the best time to capture the full spectrum of enzymes and beneficial compounds. The fruits are then left out to soften and can be used fresh in blended drinks or fermented when they soften, become mushy and begin to liquefy. Fresh noni can also be dried into pieces or processed as a powder. 

How to Make Noni Juice

Noni is a high water content fruit and will slowly start to exude its liquid juice shortly after being picked. In tropical regions like Hawaii, noni fruits are placed in a container and allowed to ferment in the sun for a number days or even weeks. There is some controversy about whether or not this technique is the traditional way noni was prepared by ancient Polynesian's or Hawaiian Kahuna's, but today it is now a commonly acknowledged preparation method. This fermentation process produces a dark golden-brown juice and enzyme-rich liquid.

When making fermented noni juice it is considerably important that all equipment used is thoroughly sanitized. The noni fruit itself should be freshly harvested and rinsed in pure water to remove dirt, debris or any potential contaminants, but the skins should be left on the fruit. The whole fruits are typically placed in a glass jar so that you can visually see the color and juice extraction process, which will continue to rise as it ages.

Organic noni is available online by mail order in some countries, if you don't happen to live in a tropical location.

Steps for Fermenting Noni:

Stack whole clean ripe noni in a jar, with a loose lid on top to avoid pressure build up, and cover with a clean cloth.
Leave out in partial sun or in a sunlit window or counter-top.
After several days or weeks you will have mostly juice and less and less fruit material. The juice when properly fermented should be a darker color. 

The fruit pulp is then strained out and the juice can be preserved for later use when refrigerated or frozen.

Steps for Making Unfermented Noni Juice:

With skins on, blend the fruit with or without water, depending on desired concentration.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag.
Enjoy by itself or blended into drinks with natural sweeteners, citrus, mint or vanilla.
 The pulp is less edible to consume, but can be used on the skin as a poultice or facial mask for rejuvenating and beautifying purposes.
Purchasing Quality Noni Products

Noni is a highly marketed superfruit variety, like mangosteen or acai, there are many inferior products available made with low quality ingredients, very little noni and many fillers or additives. It is important to be aware of this when looking to purchase noni juices or powders.

The best noni fruit and products are organically grown without the use of pesticides and are selectively harvested at peak ripeness. 


To ensure that you receive maximum potency and beneficial health enhancing compounds, it is also imperative that you purchase unpasteurized noni juice and raw noni powders which preserve nutritional qualities and enzyme content. Second best options are flash pasteurized juices which still may retain some vital nutrients.

Types of Noni

Noni Fruit - Whole fresh ripe noni fruit sourced from wild or cultivated trees.
Noni Powder - Loose powder or encapsulated noni powder, preferably dried at low temps and slowly drum dried.
Dried Noni Fruit Pieces - These are slices of the whole fruit optimally dried at temperatures below 115° F (45°C).
Raw Unpasteurized Fermented Noni Juice - High quality noni fruit juice, usually fermented and aged.
Flash Pasteurized Noni Juice - Fermented juice of a lesser quality but a better option over others.

Noni Extracts - These are a blend of liquid concentrates preserved in an alcohol solution.

How to Use

Noni is most commonly consumed as a liquid dietary supplement in small amounts, depending on one's specific health issues.

One to two ounces of homemade fermented noni liquid concentrate or purchased high quality juice can be added to a quart jar of pure water (or coconut water) and consumed throughout the day. Citrus fruits also blend well with the juice and help to mask its slightly strong flavor.

In our opinion, the best way to consume the juice is on an empty stomach, preferably first thing in the morning or at least two hours before and after meals.

On occasion we also take noni with other superfoods like camu camu and aloe vera, both excellent skin nourishing supplements.

Because the noni fruit, like durian, tends to have a strong scent, it can also be ingested as a more mild smelling powder which can conveniently be blended into drinks and smoothies.

It is important to be aware of low quality noni products and juices often sold and highly marketed containing "less than healthy ingredients" with very little actual noni content.

Precautions

Noni is relatively free of side-effects and safe to consume for most people. However, you should seek the advice of a medical physician if you are taking prescription medications or have serious health conditions.

Chapter 6 DIET, THE SLOW KILLER

Chapter 6 

DIET, THE SLOW KILLER

Once, you've cleaned out and repaired your food processing and waste removal system, you're ready to begin the process of rebuilding your body. Keep in mind that your body is rebuilding itself all the time. The actual life cycle of a blood cell, for example, is approximately four months. That means you end up replacing your entire blood supply every 120 days. The question is: what
will determine the quality of that blood? What are you going to be building that new blood from—Cocoa Puffs and beer?

  Understand, it's not only your blood, but every cell and organ in your body that's being replaced. For the most part, you get an entirely new body every seven years. It doesn't take a genius
to realize that the better your nutrition, the better "quality" your new body will have.

Unfortunately, it's not so simple. Any attempt to optimize the nutrition we take into our bodies must address five key problem areas.

The Five Problem Areas

1. The Question of Meat

2. Milk. It Doesn't Necessarily Do a Body Good

3. Plastic Fats

4. Refined to Death

5. What's the Big Deal about Organic (which will be covered in Chapter 7)

1. The Question Of Meat

Probably no topic has been more discussed (and is more confusing) than what constitutes the optimum diet. There's the:

Caveman diet
The blood-type diet
The Hi-carbo diet
The Low-carbo diet
The High-protein diet
The Low-protein diet
The Steak Lover's diet
The Vegetarian diet
The Vegan (or pure vegetarian) diet
The Hollywood diet
The Scarsdale diet
The Twinkie diet
etc.

Heck, I'm getting confused just writing them down. So let's step back, take an objective view of the situation, and do a little reality check.

Let's begin by cutting through all of the nonsense and just taking a look at what kinds of food our bodies were designed to handle—then figure out what that means for us today. And the best
way to do that is by first identifying the key characteristics of our "eating and digestive" systems, then seeing which animals we match up with and what they eat. The key "indicators" that we're
going to look at are:

The teeth
The stomach
The length of the digestive tract

The Human Eating Machine


>Teeth. All of our teeth are nearly of the same height. Our canines are projected only a small amount, and our molars are broad-topped

>Stomach. The human stomach is slightly elongated, approximating the shape of a kidney bean

>Digestive tract. The average adult has a digestive tract (measured from mouth to anus) of about 30-33 feet long. This means that the ratio of the length of a person's digestive tract as compared to their height (also measured from mouth to anus) is approximately
10-12 times the length of their body.

Carnivores, the Meat Eaters: Lions, Tigers, Etc.

The first thing you notice about carnivores is that their teeth are nothing like those found in humans. They have huge canines for striking and seizing prey, pointed incisors for removing meat
from bones, and molars and premolars with cusps for shredding muscle fiber. In carnivores, the teeth of the upper jaw slide past the outside of the lower jaw so that prey is caught in a vicelike grip. In general, carnivores don't chew much; mostly, they just tear chunks off and swallowing them whole.

  An examination of the carnivore intestinal tract reveals a short (relative to the length of their body) bowel for fast transit of waste out of the body[1]. (The actual length of the carnivore bowel is
approximately 3 to 5 times the length of the body—measured from mouth to anus—a ratio less than half that found in humans.)

  Most of the digestive process occurs in the carnivore's stomach (which is a round, sackshaped, simple structure with a very high concentration of acid salts for digesting animal muscle and bone). Food usually remains for days at a time in a carnivore's stomach while it is digested (to a large extent) by enzymes present in the RAW meat itself (a process called autolytic digestion). In addition, carnivores are adapted to process huge amounts of food at a time (up to 25% of their body weight or more), then eat nothing for days at a time.

  Again, this doesn't sound very much like us.

Herbivores, the Plant Eaters: Cows, Deer, Etc.

  Herbivores have sharp chisel-shaped incisors for cutting, no upper incisors in some cases, and small incisor-like canines. Their diastema molars and premolars are flattened with ridges. Their
teeth and upper jaw meet the lower jaw so that lateral movement of the lower jaw produces the ...

[1 Fast transit of waste for carnivores is important for two reasons. One, the faster the transit, the less opportunity
for parasites to take hold. Two, meat tends to putrefy in the intestinal tract. Fast transit, therefore, limits exposure

to the byproducts of putrefaction.]

...grinding actions to break down plant materials. In herbivores, the incisors are dominant, the canines usually depressed, and the molars broad-topped.

  As for the herbivore bowel, it usually runs almost 8 times longer than a carnivores (20 to 28 times the length of the body, from mouth to anus) since, unlike meat, plant matter is not prone to
putrefaction, thus rendering quick elimination moot.

  Herbivores also tend to have extended, compound stomachs.

  Again, not much like us.

  Omnivores (Roots, Berries, Meat, Etc.): Bears, Wild Pigs, Etc.

  No animal is really adapted to eat all things; but if any animal comes close, it would have to be the bear. Typical foods consumed by bears include: ants, bees, seeds, roots, nuts, berries, insect
larvae such as grubs, and even flowers. Some meat, of course, is eaten by bears including rodents, fish, deer, pigs and lambs.[1]
 Grizzlies and Alaskan brown bears are well-known salmon eaters. And of course, anyone who has read Winnie the Pooh knows that many bears relish honey.

  Other than the ants and grubs and rodents, the bear diet sounds a lot like the typical American diet; and, it's for this reason that many people conclude that the natural human diet is that of an omnivore. But remember, we're stepping back and taking a look physiologically where we fit in, and on those counts, we don't match the omnivores.

  The biggest difference is in the teeth. Omnivores have the sharp canines of the carnivore AND the pronounced incisors of the herbivore. They also have molars that are BOTH pointed and
broad-topped.

  That's not even close to a human set of teeth.

Frugivores, Fruit and Nut Eaters: Gorillas, Etc.

  In the frugivore, all the teeth are nearly of the same height. The canines are little projected and the molars are broad-topped. (Sound familiar?) Unlike the carnivore jaw, which as we have seen is vertically mobile for biting or tearing, the jaw of the typical frugivore is laterally mobile to allow for chewing.

  As for the bowel of the frugivore, it runs about 10 to 12 times the length of the body from mouth to anus—the same as found in the human body.

  The stomach of the frugivore is typically long and extended—a complex structure—containing 1/10 of the acidic salts and pepsin found in a carnivore's stomach. Again, the same as in us.

  So, here we have our match, but what does it mean? Are we restricted to fruits and nuts?

[1 Polar bears feed almost exclusively on seals and an occasional human; but then, what vegetation is there for them to eat in the frozen wastes of the Arctic.]

   No. In fact, the frugivores we most closely resemble, the wild chimpanzees, periodically do indeed eat live insects and raw meat. Among the great apes (the gorilla,[1]the orangutan, the bonobo,
and the chimpanzee) and ourselves, only humans and chimpanzees[2] hunt and eat meat on a frequent
basis. But make no mistake, chimpanzees are largely fruit eaters, and meat comprises only
about 3% of their diet—far, far less than is found in the typical American diet.

   So Should We, or Should We Not, Eat Meat?

   Is a vegetarian diet automatically better?

   No. In fact, depending on blood type, some people actually do better when they include meat in their diet. Other factors in our diet affect our health to a much greater degree than whether or not we eat meat.

   So??

   The bottom line is that eating small amounts of meat, chicken, or fish probably comes down mostly to a personal choice. If you choose to, you can eat 3 oz a day, or less, of meat without any
significant health problems—with the following provisos:

  Keep the amount small—3 ounces a day or less.

>Heavy consumption of meat significantly compromises beneficial bacteria in the colon resulting in a 1,000% increase in the levels of harmful bacteria in the colon and a concomitant 90% drop in the levels of the beneficial bacteria as measured in fecal matter.

>High consumption of meat also tends to push the body's pH levels into the acidic range, which as you'll see in Chapter 12 presents major health risks including cancer and osteoporosis.

>Epidemiological studies at Harvard Medical School showed that, "Men who eat red meat as a main dish five or more times a week have four times the risk of colon cancer than men who eat red meat less than once a month." They are also "more than twice as likely to get prostate cancer."

[1 Gorillas have never been observed hunting or feeding on any animals other than invertebrates such as termites and ants.]


[2 Wild chimps love fresh baby monkey meat.]

   If you're going to eat meat, buy only organic meat to avoid exposure to the wholerange of chemicals,[1]growth hormones, and parasites present in beef and chicken, or the high levels of toxic metals present in most fish. If it isn't available locally, pressure
your supermarket to carry it as an option.

2. What About Dairy?

   The average American typically eats close to 600 pounds of dairy products a year, which makes it the single largest component of their diet. Unfortunately, this may not be as healthy asthe milk ads you see on TV would lead you to believe. Even if the cow's milk you get is free of chemicals, growth hormones, allergenic proteins, blood, pus, antibiotics, bacteria, and viruses typically found in milk, you still have major problems. Cow's milk is not designed for people. For one thing, it has 20 times the casein of human milk.[2]
 (Human milk is designed to take an infant from 8 pounds to 40 pounds in 18 months. Cow's milk is designed to take a calf from 90 pounds to 1,000 pounds in about 24 months. Although they are both white, mother's milk and cow's milk are totally different beverages.) And for that matter, the cow's milk you buy in the store and the cow's milk that comes from a cow are not similar substances.

> First, homogenized milk is not natural and presents serious health risks. The theory behind homogenization sounds simple: break up the fat particles in milk until they are so small that they stay suspended in the milk and don't rise to the top and form the
layer of cream that used to be the trademark of all bottles of milk. Unfortunately, there's a side effect to this process. Once you make the fat particles so small that they don't rise, you've also made them so small that they easily get absorbed into the body and clog your arteries.

> Second, there's the problem of the growth hormone used in dairy cows to increase milk production. This growth hormone, called bovine-somatotropin3(BST), was developed by Monsanto. It was supposed to be identical to the actual growth hormone found in cows, and in fact, as part of their 55,000 page application to the FDA, Monsanto submitted a chart identifying the 191 amino acids contained in BST showing that they absolutely matched the amino acid chain found in natural growth hormone.
Unfortunately, it seems, the application is inaccurate. The problem occurs at amino acid #144, which was supposed to be lysine in both the natural growth hormone and in Monsanto's BST. As it turns out, it isn't. In the July 1994, issue of Protein Science(3:1089-97, 1994), Bernard Violand, a Monsanto scientist published evidence that
amino acid #144 in Monsanto's growth hormone is, in fact, epsilon-N-acetyllysine, a freak substance. Whoops! Ah, but then you probably think that once this problem...

[1 Just as an example, over 90% of today's chickens are fed arsenic compounds. And while we're on the subject of chickens, it's probably worth mentioning that according to a government study, over 90% of the chickens sold in this country are infected with leukosis (chicken cancer). As for those chickens with too much cancerous tissue to be sold, well . . . they're destroyed, ground up, and fed back to the chickens that we ultimately buy and eat!]

[2 The high levels of casein are just one of several reasons that humans do not digest milk proteins very well, leading to numerous allergic reactions and high levels of mucous in our noses and bowels. Incidentally, Elmer's® glue is made from cow's milk casein; that's why you see Elsie the cow on each bottle of Elmer's® glue.]


[3 Also called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone).]

...came to light, totally nullifying the Monsanto application, that BST was recalled.
Nope, not in the United States![1]

   And then there's the fact that the body digests milk (any milk) differently once gastric juices begin to flow (at around 18-20 months old). Before gastric juices flow, milk is alkaline and non-mucous forming in the body; but once gastric juices enter the picture, they turn the milk acid, forming mucous, causing sinus problems, allergies, colds, etc. That's why every animal except man weans its young off milk! Think about that for a moment.

  In addition to all of that, milk has been implicated in:
>Heart disease[2]
>Cancer[3]—particularly breast cancer
>Diabetes[4]
>Allergies and colds
>Colitis
>Colic and earaches in young children

   And finally, milk has played a major role in the development of the "super bacteria" that have recently emerged to plague our health. How? In 1990, the USDA allowed the dairy industry to increase the one part per hundred-million antibiotic residue standard for milk by 10,000% to one part per million. The problem is that at this level of constant intake, the antibiotics actually destroy the probiotic colonies normally found in the intestinal tract, which then allows harmful bacteria to flourish and develop resistance to a whole range of antibiotics.[5]

   If you must have dairy, use organic. Avoid homogenized milk at all costs. Also, there are a number of grain and rice-based milk alternatives; some of which are spectacular.

[1 The FDA gave its approval for the sale of Monsanto's BST product back in 1993, but in Canada and the European Union, BST remains uapproved because of strong circumstantial evidence that it may promote cancer in cows and humans. Understand, this change in one amino acid is not insignificant. The replacement of one amino acid can change the configuration of a protein significantly; and configuration determines the properties and effects of a protein. Although the chemically detectable difference between true BGH and Monsanto's BST creation may be slight, the effects of the two hormones on the human body may be quite different indeed.]
[2 If you do drink milk, it is essential that you take a folic acid supplement to neutralize the xanthine oxidase found in milk. Xanthine oxidase, which attacks the arteries, is a major factor in heart disease. Interestingly enough, this problem seems only to occur with homgenized milk. When non-homogenized milk is consummed, the body excretes the xanthine oxidase.]
[3 It's worth noting that 60% of America's dairy cows are infected with the leukemia virus.]
[4 One particular protein, beta-caseine, found in cow's milk, can literally trick the immune system into attacking and destroying the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.]

[5 There are 52 different kinds of antibiotics and 59 bioactive hormones found in milk.

   Note: milk is often pitched as a great source of calcium. It is not. Yes, it has a high calcium content, but the body is able to utilize very little of it; and, in fact, because of the way the body deals with milk, consumption of milk actually leaches calcium from the bones.[1] If you have any doubt about this, just consider the fact that Americans are among the highest consumers of dairy in the world, eating an average of 600 pounds of dairy a year per person—and yet we have one of the highest incidences of osteoporosis in the civilized world!

   3. Unnatural Fats: The Number 1 Dietary Problem

  Food manufacturers love hydrogenated oils because hydrogenation makes those oils thicker, creamier, and more appetizing to the consumer. Unfortunately, hydrogenation also saturates the oils' fatty acids, changing them into trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids are the number one killer in our diets, and a major contributor to:

>Cancer

>Heart Disease

>Diabetes

   Hydrogenated (and partially hydrogenated) oils are absolutely unnecessary and have no place in your diet or in any of the foods you eat. The number one dietary prescription from this chapter
is to totally eliminate all hydrogenated oils from your diet. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it sounds. Food manufacturers have put them in almost every food they manufacture. The good
news is that if enough people refuse to buy foods that contain trans-fatty acid oils, manufacturers will stop putting them in their foods.

   You also want to eliminate refined oils and manufactured polyunsaturated oils from your diet. What oils are good? Virtually any raw natural oil is good. Olive oil is the best. Use lots of extra
virgin olive oil in your cooking. Surprisingly, butter is cool—provided that you can get butter that doesn't contain antibiotics and bovine growth hormone and all the rest of the nonsense that many
dairy farmers use.

  "Wait a second! Isn't butter high in saturated fat?" Absolutely, and let's put that bugaboo to rest. Natural saturated fats in moderation are not a problem. They do not raise cholesterol levels. They do not lead to heart disease. In fact, there is actually a diet that helps people lose weight, and lower cholesterol levels while eating as much meat and eggs and natural saturated fat as they like.[2]
 The two reasons this diet works are (1) natural saturated fats do
not cause heart problems, and (2) all versions of this diet call for the elimination of snack foods, processed foods, sugared foods, foods containing any trans-fatty acids, and foods high on the glycemic index.

[1 It is a myth that we need milk for calcium. There are many far superior sources of calcium—such as sesame seeds. The problem with milk is that because of its high acidity, your body needs to buffer it with even more internal calcium than you get from the milk itself. Also, the 10 to 1 ratio of calcium to magnesium found in milk is insanely high and devastating to the body.]

[2 I've already discussed my concerns with too much meat in the diet; nevertheless, these programs do demonstrate the health-building power of just eliminating the bad things from our diet.]

 4. Refined Carbohydrates: The Number 2 Dietary Problem

   This includes all refined and processed foods, including:

>Everything made with white flour

>White rice

>Cold cereals

>Most hot cereals

>Most snack foods

>All sugar foods, including cakes, candies, and soda pop[1]

   They negatively affect the body in a number of ways. They are all acid forming in the body, which we'll talk more about in Chapter 12. They are all converted to triglycerides in the body and
stored as fat. And they all rank high on the glycemic index (with no redeeming nutritional value such as the fruits and vegetables that are also high on the glycemic index).

The Glycemic Index

   The glycemic index, and identifying high-glycemic foods, is one of the hot areas of nutritional science right now. Not to make light of it, it is an extremely important dietary consideration, but with one huge HOWEVER. First, though, a quick discussion of the glycemic index.

   Diabetics have been using the glycemic index for years to help in controlling their insulin levels. Quite simply, foods that adversely affect blood sugar by elevating insulin levels are termed "high glycemic" foods, and foods that do not elevate insulin levels are "low glycemic." High glycemic foods can:

>Cause your body to store fat

>Make you fatigued

>Cause your brain to go "fuzzy"

>Lead to heart problems such as elevated LDL cholesterol levels and high blood pressure

   Obviously, these are conditions to be avoided. High glycemic foods that cause elevated insulin levels and the concomitant problems I just mentioned include:

Bananas

Raisins ...

[1 Soda pop, particularly colas, may be the single worst "food" ever invented. First, soda contains approximately 1 teaspoon of sugar per ounce of soda. (Aspartame is even worse—once having been considered by the military for possible use as a battlefield neurotoxin.) That works out to about 12 teaspoons per can, or 32 teaspoons per Big Gulp. Many sodas, particularly colas, are high in phosphoric acid, which leaches calcium out of your body at an astounding rate. And all sodas "feature" CO2 bubbles, which when you think about it, is the body's main waste product!]

... Carrots

Potatoes

Corn

Breads, cereals, pastas, and rice of all kinds

Virtually all snack foods

Sugars of all kinds and soda pop

   Earlier, I mentioned that there was a big HOWEVER to the glycemic index. What is that however? It's called chewing. If you chew your food well enough, the saliva neutralizes almost all of the glycemic response. So how much do you need to chew your food?

   There's an old saying that says, "You should drink your solids and chew your liquids." What that means is that you should chew the dry food you eat until it turns to liquid in your mouth (about 40 chews per mouthful), and that you should swish liquids back and forth in your mouth (chew them as it were) an equal number of times.

   As we've already discussed when we talked about refined foods, you should give up snack foods and refined flour products and sugar sweetened foods for a number of reasons. On the other
hand, for most people, if chewed enough, it's still okay to eat all of the fresh fruits and vegetables you want—even if they are high on the glycemic index.

   General Recommendations

>Diet. Clean up your act.

 Eliminate as much of the processed and cooked food from your diet as possible. Instead of canned or frozen, eat fresh.

 Eliminate as much of the refined flours, grains, and sugars as possible. Instead of white bread, eat REAL whole wheat. Instead of cake and ice cream for dessert,
eat fruit.

 Replace low-value foods such as potatoes and iceberg lettuce with high value foods such as sweet potatoes and almost any of the richly colored vegetables (particularly, spinach, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and beets).[1]

  As much as possible, eliminate all snack foods and fast foods. Replace with prunes (no kidding, an extremely powerful antioxidant), raisins, and all of the berries.

  Eliminate all hydrogenated oils and trans-fatty acids. Replace with olive oil and fresh butter.

[1 For those with arthritis, it might be useful to forego vegetables from the nightshade family, including: tomatoes,

spinach, and eggplant.]

     Cut back on the quantity of meat, pork,[1]chicken, and dairy in your diet. And make sure that what you do consume is organic.[2]
 Fish, of course, is okay—okay that is, if you can be sure it's free of heavy metals and toxins and hormonal "modifications."

> So what does that leave you? Actually thousands of choices. Virtually, everything that we've talked about eliminating is easily replaced with a healthier version. If you can't find the organic meats and dairy you want, or the whole grain foods you're looking for, talk to your supermarket. In most cases, they will get it if you ask.

>Of course, if someone is in an advanced state of illness, they better clean up their act TOTALLY, and eat no meat and no cooked food. In fact, ideally, they should go on a raw juice fast[3]—at least, until they get well. Once you're well, you can bake up a potato, or grill yourself a nice piece of organic beef (if that's your bent).

>The bottom line is that the worse you eat, the more often you will need to cleanse and detox and make use of supplements.

   So After All That, What Do I Eat?

   At one time, I was totally vegetarian, primarily for ethical reasons. Anyone who has any awareness of how cattle, poultry, and pigs are treated in our modern "superfarms," must think twice about consuming products produced by this system. It is incredibly cruel.
Unfortunately, after years of speaking engagements in numerous places around the world, I got tired of eating iceberg lettuce with second-rate Italian dressing for lunch, and white rice and dead vegetables for dinner. I broke down and started eating small amounts of chicken and fish.

   My diet now consists of:

>Fresh juices, superfoods, and ground flaxseed (see next chapter) for breakfast.

>Large fresh salads with a variety of greens and vegetables4
 with the occasional small piece of chicken or fish for lunch.

>Dinner is light. Sometimes a bowl of slow cooked whole-grain cereal so the enzymes are still active. Sometimes a small bowl of soup. Sometimes fresh fruit, etc.

[1 And no, pork is not "the other white meat." In fact, it's probably one of the more indigestible meats.]
[2 Incidentally, pesticide levels are far more concentrated in the animal flesh and dairy we eat than in the fruits and vegetables sprayed with those pesticides. Think about it for a moment. The animals consume these pesticides day after day, steadily concentrating all of the pesticides they eat through their entire lives in their flesh. The bottom line is that the higher up the food chain you go, the more concentrated the pesticides are. A cow eats hundreds of pounds of clover to make a few gallons of milk—concentrating the pesticide in that milk. Then again, it takes 21 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of butter, and 10 pounds of milk to make 1 lb of cheese—concentrating the pesticides even more.]
[3 See Chapter 13.]

[4 Sometimes I'll substitute a plate of lightly steamed or baked vegetables for the salad.]

 > On the other hand, I still have an occasional slice of pizza. When I was young, I'd eat pizza 2-3 times a week. Now it's once a month. And more often than I should, I still indulge a sweet tooth and have dessert.

Gallstone Flush & Liver Detox – Recipe & Cleanse Info

Gallstone Flush & Liver Detox – Recipe & Cleanse Info

[You Are Encouraged To Watch This Youtube (CLICK HERE)And Self Educate Yourself Here. Did you know that cancer cannot hold into your body when your liver is working well? Lets find out how to look after your liver and health; the only organ in your body that has the capability to regrowth itself.]

With the exception of the skin, the liver is the largest organ in the body and performs over 500 functions, far more than any other organ in the body. We cannot be healthy or recover from illness without a strong, clean well-functioning liver. If the liver is unable to carry out its full function, not only does it become congested and weak; all other organs will be more challenged as a result.

Imagine how much happier you liver feels after releasing these!

If you want to do more specific liver cleansing, you can try a Liver/Gallstone Flush at home. This flush can be done in just 24 hours, so it is easy to fit into a busy schedule. It is recommended that you have done a full 7-day cleanse prior to this flush, mainly to take the toxic pressure off your organs and to be sure that your body is alkaline.

In the days before the cleanse, it is important to avoid fried and fatty foods so your liver is not over-worked or stressed. Avoid avocado, cheese, nuts and fatty meats for at least 3 to 5 days before this cleanse. If you work a normal Monday – Friday work week, it is best to plan to do this cleanse on Friday night, that way you have the entire weekend to rest, relax and recover.

Mix Olive Oil and Fresh Lemon Juice in a bottle

The most common recipe to use for this cleanse comes from Dr. Hulda Clark’s book A Cure for All Diseases. If this is the first time you are trying this cleanse, I recommend that you use this formula, outlined below. If you release more than 200 stones in the first flush, it is recommended that you repeat the cleanse every 6-8 weeks until you have less than 20 stones come out. It is believed that you may have to release up to 2,000 stones to rid yourself of allergies linked to liver congestion. On my first Gallstone/Liver Flush, I released 600 stones – no joke!

Please note that with Dr. Clark’s recipe, she recommends using ornithine to help you sleep and she also recommends to do a parasite cleanse before you do the Gallstone Flush. If you want to do those things, that’s ok; personally I have never used ornithine and I’ve done this cleanse 13 times in the past 10 years. I did not do a parasite cleanse initially, although I have done them since…in my opinion you do not have to do a parasite cleanse prior to this flush, but admittedly you may get better results if you do so.

Preparation

Eat a diet high in alkaline-forming foods and low in fats for at least 3-5 days before the cleanse.

Help to gently prepare the liver by having a glass of fresh apple juice every day for 1 week prior to the cleanse. Apple juice helps to dissolve the stones.

Gallstone Live Flush Ingredients

• Epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate): 4 tablespoons. (You can usually buy this at your local pharmacy.)
• Olive oil: 1/2 cup or 125 ml (light olive oil is easier to get down).
• Fresh pink grapefruit: 1 large or 2 small, enough to squeeze 1/2 cup (125 ml) juice. (Or use 7-8 fresh lemons/limes: squeezed into 1/2 cup juice.)
• 1 liter jar with lid.

Gallstone Liver Flush Instructions

Choose a day like Friday or Saturday for the cleanse, since you will be able to rest the next day. Take no medicines, vitamins or pills that you can do without; they could prevent success. Stop the parasite program too, the day before. Eat a no-fat breakfast and lunch such as cooked cereal, fruit, fruit juice, bread and preserves or honey (no butter or milk). This allows the bile to build up and develop pressure in the liver. Higher pressure pushes out more stones.

Mix Epsom Salts and Water, marking the bottles with a black marker to know how much to drink each time

2:00 PM. Do not eat or drink after 2 o’clock. If you break this rule you could feel quite ill later. Get your Epsom salts ready. Mix 4 Tbsp. in 3 cups (750 ml) water and pour this into a container or jar. This makes four servings, ¾ cup (185 ml) each. Set the jar in the refrigerator to get cold (this is for convenience and taste only). Note: I also make the 9:45pm drink described below at 2pm and I put it in the fridge, ready to drink later. Making all the drinks at my last meal makes me feel more committed to do the cleanse, and I can prepare everything while not feeling hungry. I highly recommend that you do this too, and do not allow any re-negotiation to skip the cleanse for another day just because you feel slightly hungry at 6pm.

6:00 PM. Drink one serving (¾ cup) of the Epsom salts and water drink. If you did not prepare this ahead of time, mix 1 tbs. in ¾ cup water now. You may add 1/8 tsp. vitamin C powder or 1/4 fresh lemon squeezed to improve the taste. You may also drink a few mouthfuls of water afterwards or rinse your mouth.

8:00 PM. Repeat by drinking another ¾ cup (185 ml) of Epsom salts and water drink. Get your bedtime chores done. The timing is critical for success.

9:45 PM. Pour ½ cup (measured) olive oil into the pint jar. Squeeze the citrus fruit (fresh grapefruit, lime or lemon) by hand into the measuring cup. Remove pulp with fork. You should have at least ½ cup. Add this to the olive oil. Close the jar tightly with the lid and shake hard until watery. Do not drink it yet!

Now visit the bathroom one or more time, even if it makes you late for your ten o’clock drink. Don’t be more than 15 minutes late. You will get fewer stones.

10:00 PM. Drink the potion you have mixed. Take it all to your bedside if you want, but drink it standing up. Get it down within 5 minutes (fifteen minutes for very elderly or weak persons).

Lie down immediately. You might fail to get stones out if you don’t. The sooner you lie down the more stones you will get out. Be ready for bed ahead of time. Don’t clean up the kitchen. As soon as the drink is down walk to your bed and lie down on your right side with your knees pulled up close to your chest. Try to think about what is happening in the liver. Try to keep perfectly still for at least 20 minutes. You may feel a train of stones traveling along the bile ducts like marbles. There is no pain because the bile duct valves are open (thank you Epsom salts!). Go to sleep, you may fail to get stones out if you don’t. Try to sleep in this position.

Next morning. Upon awakening (6:00 am) take your third dose of the Epsom salts and water drink. If you have indigestion or nausea wait until it is gone before drinking the Epsom salts. You may go back to bed. Don’t take this potion before 6:00 am.

8:00 am (2 Hours Later.) Take your fourth (the last) dose of the Epsom salts and water. You may go back to bed again.

After 2 More Hours you may eat. Start with fruit juice (see note below). Half an hour later eat fruit (see note below). One hour later you may eat regular food but keep it light. By supper you should feel recovered.

*NOTE – Fresh apple juice is the best juice to break the fast. At 10:00am, make fresh apple juice using 5-6 large apples in a juicer and drink it. The apple juice helps dissolve gallstones and is a nice transition for the liver from the detox back to normal eating. After 30 minutes, prepare a chopped apple salad or a plain apple smoothie using 3-4 apples (with the skin is ok). If feeling unwell, stay with apples and apple juice for the entire day. Only transition to light foods, salads and regular eating when you are feeling good again.

How well did you do? Expect diarrhea in the morning. Use a flashlight to look for gallstones in the toilet with the bowel movement. Look for the green kind since this is proof that they are genuine gallstones, not food residue. Only bile from the liver is pea green. The bowel movement sinks but gallstones float because of the cholesterol inside. Count them all roughly, whether tan or green. You will need to total 2000 stones before the liver is clean enough to rid you of allergies or bursitis or upper back pains permanently. The first cleanse may rid you of them for a few days, but as the stones from the rear travel forward, they give you the same symptoms again. You may repeat cleanses at two week intervals. Never cleanse when you are [acutely] ill.

Sometimes the bile ducts are full of cholesterol crystals that did not form into round stones. They appear as a “chaff” floating on top of the toilet bowl water. It may be tan colored, harboring millions of tiny white crystals. Cleansing this chaff is just as important as purging stones.

How safe is the liver cleanse? It is very safe. My opinion is based on over 500 cases, including many persons in their seventies and eighties. None went to the hospital; none even reported pain. However it can make you feel quite ill for one or two days afterwards, although in every one of these cases the maintenance parasite program had been neglected. This is why the instructions direct you to complete the parasite and kidney cleanse programs first.

CONGRATULATIONS

You have taken out your gallstones without surgery! I like to think I have perfected this recipe, but I certainly can not take credit for its origin. It was invented hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, THANK YOU, HERBALISTS!

Gallstones can be flushed easily and naturally with no pain!

This procedure contradicts many modern medical viewpoints. Gallstones are thought to be formed in the gallbladder, not the liver. They are thought to be few, not thousands. They are not linked to pains other than gallbladder attacks. It is easy to understand why this is thought: by the time you have acute pain attacks, some stones are in the gallbladder, are big enough and sufficiently calcified to see on X-ray, and have caused inflammation there. When the gallbladder is removed the acute attacks are gone, but the bursitis and other pains and digestive problems remain.

Gallstones Released Naturally

The truth is self-evident. People who have had their gallbladder surgically removed still get plenty of green, bile-coated stones, and anyone who cares to dissect their stones can see that the concentric circles and crystals of cholesterol match textbook pictures of “gallstones” exactly.

From the book The Cure for All Advanced Cancers by Dr. Hulda Clark.

Some info from The Liver – Cleansing & Rejuvenating the Vital Organ by Dr. Richard Anderson

This article is not meant to diagnose any disease. For any serious medical concerns, always consult with your doctor.

Have you tried the latest health cleanse? It’s SO great. It’ll help you feel better about your body inside and out, and jump-start your healthy choices so you’ll have the motivation to be active and feel A-MA-ZING. THIS cleanse is brand new. None of the celebrity health gurus or fitspiration icons have tried this, and you’ll NEVER hear about it from an actress in US Weekly. You don’t have to drink cayenne pepper juice OR forego solid foods for days and you’ll STILL remove countless toxins from your body. But this time, the toxins are in your mind and they’re just as harmful to your health.

Those mental toxins have built up from years of taking in distorted, profit-driven messages about what it means to have a healthy and fit female body. Whether it’s health and fitness magazines featuring airbrushed celebrities in bikinis with the latest strategies to get “sleek and sexy” in 3 days without ever moving an inch, or fitspiration models with exposed buttocks, breasts and oiled-up abs all over Instagram and Facebook — you’ve likely got a pretty specific image in your mind of what it means to be a “fit” and “healthy” woman. (We’re not even going to show you an example here, because you already have it in your mind.) This is a trending beauty ideal that is parading as a fitness ideal — made to look attainable for any woman willing to put in enough effort, willpower and sacrifice.

But what about the vast majority of women who will never, ever have six-pack abs, jutting hip bones, cellulite-free thighs that don’t touch, and every other appearance ideal that is held up as a sure indicator of fitness — regardless of how many squats they do, how “clean” they eat, how many marathons they run, etc.? This image of what it looks like to be a fit woman is so ingrained in our cultural wallpaper that we are completely desensitized to it. It is so common and unquestioned that it has become natural and invisible. THIS cleanse will start to rid you of that numbness.

It’s called the media fast. Rather than cutting out food, you cut out media. You cleanse your mind in order to cleanse your body. Choose a time period — 3 days, a week, a month, or more — and avoid media as much as humanly possible. All of it. No Twitter/Instagram/Facebook, TV, Netflix, movies, blogs, radio, any advertising you can avoid. Without this never-ending stream of biased, $-driven, idealized, Photoshopped, self-promoting messages and images (even well-meaning ones from friends and family and people trying to encourage their version/depiction of health), you give your mind the opportunity to become more sensitive to the messages that don’t look like or feel like the truths you experience in real life, face to face, with real fit people and your own health choices. Without those messages, you can see how your life is different and how your feelings toward your own body are affected. When you return to viewing and reading popular media, you will be more sensitive to the messages that hurt you, that hurt your self-perception and those that are unrealistic for you. Then you can make personalized, critical, well-informed media choices for yourself and your household that will uplift and inspire, and promote health rather than objectification and unattainable appearance ideals that may shame you into poor health choices. 

The following is a personal story of a Beauty Redefined supporter and health blogger named Kate, who shared her health and fitness journey with a large community of fans at This is Not a Diet — It’s My Life. She has written about her experience with a media fast, and provides some fantastic insight into what makes this type of cleanse crucial for anyone genuinely seeking health and fitness — not just the appearance of health and fitness. Here is her story: 

I’ve been a larger person for the great majority of my life. I’ve never experienced being someone who has teeny little invisible-to-others flaws they pick apart in the mirror. In fact, for most of my adult life I thought it would just be fantastic to wear a size 14 so I could shop somewhere that sold clothes I liked. I never coveted a “thigh gap” or a stomach with so little fat you could see my abdominal muscles. I thought it would be great if my thighs didn’t chafe when I walked from all the rubbing. 

The closest I ever got to the nit-picking your body phase was at the end of my weight-loss and the year that followed. I flew past original goals, to wear that size 14 and be able to walk anywhere I wanted to without getting out of breath or chafing my thighs. I was wearing size 8, even 6 in some things. My thighs didn’t chafe. In fact, they didn’t touch at all. In clothes, my stomach looked flat. I lost most of my breast tissue and went from a DD-cup to a small C or even a large B. 

While I was deep in the process of obsessively losing weight, I became a consumer of a type of media I previously never knew existed: fitness and health. I started looking at pictures of fitness models. I started following them and reading about their workout routines and diets. I worked out at least 6 times a week, for 1-2 hours each time. It was all very intense. No walks in the park for me! I weighed myself every morning and I adjusted my diet accordingly. I was the thinnest I had ever been in my life and I kept it that way with constant vigilance. But I still didn’t look like the fitness models. There was a time when I thought I should, and could, look like them if I just tried a little harder. Why not? I lost 125 pounds. I could do anything. All it takes is enough “will-power” right? If I didn’t get the six-pack, I must be full of lazy-excuses. That’s what those fitness model types said, and look at them! It must be true…

mediafastExcept that it’s not true at all. My body is my body. The reason I do not, and never will, look like one of those headless ab posters actually doesn’t have anything to do with laziness or excuses. It’s just not the way my body is going to look due to my genetics and personal history. It took me a long time to recognize and be able to accept that, especially with all the messaging telling you that if you just Tried a Little Harder, you could make all your perfect body dreams come true.

The fitness and health world is not at all what it seems to be. My outlook on myself was far healthier before I ever started reading about health and fitness. Isn’t that just backwards? Shouldn’t the health industry be promoting actual health and fitness, not obsessive body re-composition?

I had long ago stopped looking at fashion magazines and models. I knew they were underweight and that it was crazy to think I would ever look like them. But the fitness look seemed so “healthy” and that’s how it was promoted. Anybody can do this, they tell you. You just have to want it bad enough. Just eat a “clean” diet, lift weights, and wake up one day looking like Jamie Eason!

Fast forward to now. My outlook is totally different. I’m never going to look like Jamie Eason. I’m me. I look like me. Kate. Hi! Nice to meet you. My thighs touch and my belly is not flat. I am strong and healthy. The 2013 picture was taken a few months ago. I’m wearing the same outfit today, so I must be a similar size. I don’t weigh myself anymore though, so I can’t say for sure.

I went on a new type of diet, you see. I went on a Media Diet. I already didn’t watch much TV or read magazines, but I do spend a lot of time online. Throughout my changing lifestyle I had managed to build up quite the repertoire of places to consume other people’s tight, toned, surgically and digitally enhanced bodies online and read about their endless nit-picking of their imperceptible flaws, Facebook being the most gluttonous. 

magazinesThe most important tool of the Media Diet for me is the Facebook UNLIKE button. Does the page post fitspo? Unlike. Does it go on about counting carbs after 3 pm to get the flattest belly? Unlike. Does it tell me I’m not good enough the way I am? Unlike. Does it send me the message that if I don’t look like the model in the picture, I’m a lazy, full of excuses waste of space? UNLIKE at the speed of light! 

If it does not lift me up and support actual health and actual fitness, I don’t need to consume it. 

We are bombarded with messages about not being good enough every single day. You cannot completely escape this. I can’t stop going to the grocery store and seeing the headlines about which celebrities are too fat and which are too thin. But I can take an active role in many parts of my life. I can choose.  

You do not have to buy those magazines or follow those pages to be healthy. If you’re like me, you might be a lot saner and healthier without them.  My New Year’s Resolution this year was to stop reading weight/health/nutrition books. I am proud to say that in 2013 I have only read fiction and art books. Come to think of it, ever since I went on my Media Diet, I am doing a lot of things I enjoy that are important to me that I wasn’t doing before. I’m not working out 6 days a week anymore. I am walking in the park. I am hiking. I am practicing yoga. I only go to the gym 1 time a week, for BodyPump, which is just plain FUN. I have drawn in my sketchbook almost every day this year, something I kept telling myself I would do that I never did. I guess I needed to free up the mental space for it. When I get sick or am too exhausted, I do a crazy thing: I REST. I do not worry about what it might do to my weight the next day. 

I don’t track anything anymore, except my menstrual cycle. When I exercise, I do it for myself, for my mental and physical health, and because I want to, not for calories burned. I don’t do it to earn my dinner. I’m going to eat dinner either way. And sometimes it’s going to be pizza. I have allowed myself time and space to think about what is really important to me, how I really feel about my body, and to stop comparing myself to anyone else. Comparing yourself to other people is stupid. A person with my body and my history is never going to look like someone who has always been thin. That’s a great big “DUH.” right? But I think a lot of people still don’t get it. 

Many people would look at my body and find things to dislike about it, but I am not them, so it’s okay. My hips? They are glorious. My stomach and thighs that touch once more (but don’t chafe) — so nice, so comforting, so warm and soft. Fat is not an enemy, it is part of my body. It gives me my hourglass shape. It gives me my fabulous D-cups. I gives me warmth. I am no longer constantly cold. I don’t feel dizzy. I have a lot more energy. I am more comfortable sleeping. I feel more attractive and less self-conscious. 

Contrary to what I thought, being the thinnest ever didn’t make me happier. It didn’t make me better. It just made me look different. I remember how I felt when I took the middle picture you see above, and I kept staring at it thinking “Wow, I am actually thin.” It was strange and intriguing. It was an out of body experience for sure. When I look at the picture of me now, I see me. It’s not weird, it just is. Living the life I want to live naturally returned me to the body I was meant to have. The funny thing is, this is the body I probably would have had if I had never dieted at all. If I had just let my body mature as it was meant to. But everything told me I wasn’t okay the way I was, and I believed it. I don’t believe it now. And anyway, it’s not for anyone else to say. 



You shouldn’t consume things that make you feel like crap. That includes food and media. Are there people in real life or online in your life who treat you like crap? Do they talk down to you? Do they act like they know you better than you know yourself? Do they make you doubt yourself? Cut them out. You deserve better. And make sure you’re not one of them.


Thanks to Kate for sharing her work with us! Her original post appeared here. For more information on how Beauty Redefined seeks to turn the conversation from focusing on looking healthy to actually being healthy, see our two-part Healthy Redefined series on how health is traditionally defined and how we’re redefining it. See also our popular piece on how to tell if the fitspiration images/messages you’re viewing are helping or harming your health goals. For in-depth help to reframe  your health perceptions and improve your body image, check out our 8-Week Body Image Resilience Program!



A Brand New Nutrient for PCOS Treatment: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine
Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Fertility while Reducing NDLF and NASH
Hormone-Balance-Specific-Nutrient-N-Acetyl-l-Cysteine
Watch an Expert Talk About PCOS

NAC Proves a Powerful Tool in The Fight Against Hormonal Imbalance
NAC is a stable derivative of the amino acid L-cysteine. It’s main importance in the body can be categorized into two main areas. The first comes from its necessity for the production of glutathione, one of the body’s most powerful antioxidants. Both NAC and glutathione are both strong antioxidants that are vital for protecting your cells from oxidative damage. Women suffering from PCOS tend to need greater amounts of antioxidants as they are under greater oxidant stress.

The second is due to it being one of only two amino acids that contain sulphur, an element plays a major role in metabolism and liver function (Both of which are important for PCOS). Unfortunately, NAC can’t be obtained from your diet and is solely available through nutritional supplementation.

Improves Insulin Sensitivity
Take a Look at What Insulin Resistance can Do to Your Body and Mind

"NAC may be a new treatment for the improvement of circulating insulin levels and insulin sensitivity in hyperinsulinemic patients with polycystic ovary syndrome." (Abu 2010)

Heightened insulin sensitivity is a known symptom of PCOS and a major one!

A 2002 study conducted an experiment to test the impact of NAC on insulin secretion in women with PCOS (Fulghesu 2002). The results of the study showed a clear link between NAC and normal insulin levels. Subjects who had exaggerated insulin levels prior to the trials showed a significant reduction of said levels. The NAC treatment also resulted in a significant decline in testosterone levels. Stabilizing hormone levels treats the PCOS itself and can often lessen or even reduce completely the associated symptoms.

Increases Fertility
"N-Acetyl Cysteine is proved effective in inducing or augmenting ovulation in polycystic ovary patients." (Badawy 2007)

NAC also has the effect of improving fertility in women with PCOS. In one study, the ovulation rates of 573 women with PCOS, taking Clomid, a widely used fertility drug, were monitored. NAC significantly improved ovulation rates by almost 200% from 18% (without NAC) to 52% (with NAC).

Similarly, a study of Clomid-resistant women concluded that NAC makes Clomid more effective. 150 Clomid-resistant women with PCOS were observed. Within those given NAC, 49.3% ovulated and 1.3% became pregnant. In contrast, within those not given NAC, only 21% ovulated and there were no pregnancies. (Rizk 2005)

NAC is Not Only Helpful for PCOS But for Fertility Issues as well

Reduced NFLD and NASH (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease)

"NAC...appears to ameliorate several aspects of NASH, including fibrosis."

A shocking 55% of women with PCOS also suffer from a fatty liver degeneration disease called Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NFLD). This disease can also worsen to become a more serious medical condition called "nonalcoholic steatohepatitis"(NASH), a form of liver inflammation to which there is no treatment.

Learn about NAFLD as a Progressing Condition

Conclusion
The main causes of both NAFLD and NASH appear to be oxidative stress and insulin resistance, both conditions that women suffering from PCOS also tend to have. A recent study from the University of São Paulo School of Medicine in Brazil has shown that NAC may be effective in treating NASH. After 12 months of a regular daily dose of NAC, both liver fat deposits and liver fibrosis were reduced.

The bottom line is that NAC has been shown to be helpful in treating a lot of PCOS symptoms including weight issues, increased hair growth, irregular menstrual cycle, infertility and more.

A Brand New Nutrient for PCOS Treatment: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine

Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Fertility while Reducing NDLF and NASH

Watch an Expert Talk About PCOS

NAC is a stable derivative of the amino acid L-cysteine. It’s main importance in the body can be categorized into two main areas. The first comes from its necessity for the production of glutathione, one of the body’s most powerful antioxidants. Both NAC and glutathione are both strong antioxidants that are vital for protecting your cells from oxidative damage. Women suffering from PCOS tend to need greater amounts of antioxidants as they are under greater oxidant stress.

The second is due to it being one of only two amino acids that contain sulphur, an element plays a major role in metabolism and liver function (Both of which are important for PCOS). Unfortunately, NAC can’t be obtained from your diet and is solely available through nutritional supplementation.

Improves Insulin Sensitivity

"NAC may be a new treatment for the improvement of circulating insulin levels and insulin sensitivity in hyperinsulinemic patients with polycystic ovary syndrome." (Abu 2010)

Heightened insulin sensitivity is a known symptom of PCOS and a major one!

A 2002 study conducted an experiment to test the impact of NAC on insulin secretion in women with PCOS (Fulghesu 2002). The results of the study showed a clear link between NAC and normal insulin levels. Subjects who had exaggerated insulin levels prior to the trials showed a significant reduction of said levels. The NAC treatment also resulted in a significant decline in testosterone levels. Stabilizing hormone levels treats the PCOS itself and can often lessen or even reduce completely the associated symptoms.

Increases Fertility

"N-Acetyl Cysteine is proved effective in inducing or augmenting ovulation in polycystic ovary patients." (Badawy 2007)

NAC also has the effect of improving fertility in women with PCOS. In one study, the ovulation rates of 573 women with PCOS, taking Clomid, a widely used fertility drug, were monitored. NAC significantly improved ovulation rates by almost 200% from 18% (without NAC) to 52% (with NAC).

Similarly, a study of Clomid-resistant women concluded that NAC makes Clomid more effective. 150 Clomid-resistant women with PCOS were observed. Within those given NAC, 49.3% ovulated and 1.3% became pregnant. In contrast, within those not given NAC, only 21% ovulated and there were no pregnancies. (Rizk 2005)

Reduced NFLD and NASH (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease)

"NAC...appears to ameliorate several aspects of NASH, including fibrosis."

A shocking 55% of women with PCOS also suffer from a fatty liver degeneration disease called Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NFLD). This disease can also worsen to become a more serious medical condition called "nonalcoholic steatohepatitis"(NASH), a form of liver inflammation to which there is no treatment.

Conclusion

The main causes of both NAFLD and NASH appear to be oxidative stress and insulin resistance, both conditions that women suffering from PCOS also tend to have. A recent study from the University of São Paulo School of Medicine in Brazil has shown that NAC may be effective in treating NASH. After 12 months of a regular daily dose of NAC, both liver fat deposits and liver fibrosis were reduced.

The bottom line is that NAC has been shown to be helpful in treating a lot of PCOS symptoms including weight issues, increased hair growth, irregular menstrual cycle, infertility and more.