As Promised

One year ago today, I was in the hospital, having a stent inserted into my heart to clear a blocked valve. Aside from the generous offerings of morphine, this isn’t the best way to spend a day. The best moment was a moment after the stent was in place and my blood began to flow normally. The worst moments were yet to come, as I walked out of the doctor’s office with a fistful of prescriptions. There were three blood pressure medications, one of which interfered with my asthma meds and sent me into distress. There were other “heart-related” medications, one of which was the sinister statin drug, Lipitor, which hurled me back into the Dark Ages. I saw myself being put on the “medicate-you-until-you-die” conveyor belt. The only ones who seem to benefit from this process are doctors and drug companies. The thing that nags at me, to this very day, is that “they” knew that these drugs weren’t going to help me. They were making me sick and keeping me sick. So, I dove into the deep end and spent the last 12 months studying and researching and crosschecking the issues that I was dealing with. I’m far from alone here, but it doesn’t do me, or anyone that I know, any good if I don’t spend the time learning and sharing. I learned a lot. Some of it is shocking; much of it is comforting, because I learned how to take control of my health. Now, I’ll admit that I can’t set a broken bone, or insert a life-saving stent in my heart, but I can do a lot, now that I know how. And these are the things that I want to share with you.

I’ll mention exercise, once. Done.

Diet. What I found out about foods ranks amongst the most nefarious, complicated and frustrating of the issues. But, it’s one that you can learn to control. The things that food companies put into our foods may well cause the downfall of our culture. Eliminate processed and fast foods…especially, processed meats. The things that they put into these foods are destructive to our minds and bodies. I started by learning to read labels and, for starters, put anything back onto the shelf that had High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils, or any of the 15 or so different names for Monosodium Glutamate. Have a weight problem? Asthma? Panic Attacks? Sleep disorder? Memory problems? Sluggishness? Stomach problems? Headaches? Dizziness? There’s a good chance that these things will go away when you stop putting this stuff into your mouth. The FDA knows that these substances are dangerous, but they still allow food companies to use them to enhance foods. The benefits attached to them are that they make foods taste better to Westerners and they make people sick, which leads us to the doctor, who gives us prescriptions in an attempt to snuff out the symptoms, because they know nothing about nutrition. So learn to read the labels. When you start to notice differences in how you feel, you will become more sensitive to things like food colorings and artificial flavorings. You won’t want to eat them. Stark has a son with Tourettes Syndrome, which ran amok…until she discovered that the culprit was Red Food Dye triggering his seizures. The list goes on, but if you go down this path, you will begin to discover that the FDA doesn’t really want you healthy and that the majority of doctors don’t know how to make you healthy. We’re on our own…

Another thing that needs to be addressed is processed sugar, which by definition, is a poison. It is commonly known that white sugar kicks in the insulin cycle, which, among other things, only makes us hungrier. The amount of sugar in one can of soda is far more than our body can handle. But, there’s something that no one has EVER told us…something so critical that it makes me wonder about everything medical. Why aren’t doctors screaming in our faces to “STOP USING WHITE SUGAR!”????

"Man is the only being that destroys the nutrient value of his food before consumption."

One of the most critical factors that keeps us alive is our pH level.

“What does it mean? pH is the abbreviation for potential hydrogen. The pH of any solution is the measure of its hydrogen-ion concentration. The higher the pH reading, the more alkaline and oxygen rich the fluid is. The lower the pH reading, the more acidic and oxygen deprived the fluid is. The pH range is from 0 to 14, with 7.0 being neutral. Anything above 7.0 is alkaline, anything below 7.0 is considered acidic.”

A slight variation one way or another is fatal (any fish owners here?). An alkaline body is a healthy body. An acidic body is sick body. Sugar causes our bodies to go acidic. It creates a breeding ground for all known diseases. ALL KNOWN DISEASES. Eliminating sugar is the first step to going alkaline. You’ll feel better. Symptoms will go away. Your immune system will stop struggling. You’ll be less moody and you’ll be able to control your food cravings.

So, Ridge….

I know…you like the way things taste with fat and sugar in them. Well, the good news is that you can still enjoy your fats and sweeteners. First, stop ingesting artificial sweeteners. They cause more problems in our nervous system that a bull in china shop. Just stop, okay? There are terrific alternatives. First, sugar…

I found some great alternatives…some of which you can find in your local market…some of which you’ll need to head to the local health food store to find. One is called Sucanat, which is unrefined sugar. It is just as sweet as refined sugar, but retains tons of beneficial nutrients. This, your body can handle. It is slightly tan because of the molasses, is sugar in its most natural state and is easy to get used to. It won’t make your body acidic and won’t kick in the insulin cycle. You use thise sweetener just as you would use poisonous, processed white sugar. Sucanat is not diabetes-friendly, however, as it still contains sucrose. And, don’t mistake them for what we call “Brown Sugar”, which is merely sucrose that is sprayed with molasses and/or caramel coloring.

Honey. Have you ever put honey in your coffee instead of white sugar? You’ll be surprised at how good it tastes. Its sweet taste is fructose instead of the sucrose that white sugar is made entirely from.

Agave Nectar is my favorite. It looks like honey, but is thinner and has a milder taste, although it is very sweet. And kinda pricey, depending how you look at it. I pay around $6.00 for 23 ounces. I put it in my occasional cup of coffee with rice milk and it tastes terrific. I drink around 48 ounces of green tea every day with Agave Nectar. I make cinnamon toast with Agave Nectar. I just love this stuff. When I crave sugar, I take a sip of it…or even better…I take a sip of another sweetener…Molasses…and the crisis is over.
There are many other natural sweeteners (Stevia, for one). Experiment with them. You will immediately sense a difference in the way you feel. But, again, avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague. Ingesting Nutrasweet, aspartame, phenylalanine, Equal, Spoonful, Neotame, Sunette (Acesulfame-k), Splenda (Sucralose), Sweetener 2000 / NutraSweet 2000) is like eating sweetened MSG and you are making yourself a guinea pig on largely and poorly tested chemicals, which is what they are.

Fat 101

Good: Polyunsaturated Fats
Monounsaturated Fats
Bad: Trans Fats
Saturated Fats

Not all fats and oils are for cooking. And not all fats are bad. Some are essential. The best oil that you can put in your body is Flaxseed Oil. Period. It’s the best source of omega 3 fatty acids; has heart- healthy properties; is a colon-friendly oil; lessens constipation; boosts immunity; promotes healthy skin; contains healthy phytonutrients; spoils quickly without careful storage (refrigeration works). Not to be used in cooking. Chemically, it’s a short molecule and will digest in your stomach, long before it has a chance to reach and gum-up your liver. I use 2-3 teaspoons of it everyday. I mix it with yogurt, sprinkle it on a salad, or make various concoctions with it, like organic peanut butter that I grind freshly at the local market, with Agave Nectar and a mega dose of crystalline Vitamin C. Nice taste.
Grape Seed Oil. This is an ideal oil when heat is required, because it has the highest smoking point of any edible oil, which is good because heat doesn’t destroy the essential properties of the oil. It has a mild flavor and is inexpensive.
Olive oil. Always buy “Cold-Pressed, Virgin, or Extra Virgin”. No heat has yet been applied to it and it retains all of the good stuff. However, it does have a moderate smoking point and shouldn’t be used at high heat. But, it does have a nice flavor, so when I fry something, I use Grape Seed Oil and splash a little olive oil in for extra flavor. I primarily use it cold on salads, or as an alternative to butter on toast. Nice flavor and very good for your body chemistry.
Soybean Oil. Avoid like the plague. This is one of the most abused of all oils. When you’re in the market, check out the labels on foods and you will see that this once good oil has been modified into Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean oil more than any other oil, except Corn Oil. Bad. Bad. Bad. Safflower, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean and Cottonseed Oils all contain over 50% omega-6 fatty acids, which is proven to oxidize our cells. Bad. Go with Omega-3 fatty acids…Good…
Corn Oil. Bad. Bad. Bad. Most modified of all oils and most innutritious of all oils.
Peanut Oil. One of the better cooking oils since heat doesn’t create bad fatty acids.
Virgin Coconut Oil. I think this has suffered a bad rap. Well, it is quite pricey. I paid around 11 bucks for 20 ounces. The good part about it is that it is a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA), which gets digested in the stomach and helps us to lose weight, improves diabetic conditions, reduces the risk of heart disease and has antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties, so they are beneficial to our immune system. In addition, coconut oil assists people with under-active thyroids by increasing the metabolic rate of the body and creating more energy. The only drawback besides the price is that it imparts a strong taste to food. Coconut shrimp? Okay. Fried eggs? I don’t think so.
Butter. Got a bad rap. It’s alternative is margarine which, basically, is hydrogenated vegetable oil laced with colorings. (BTW, what hydrogenating the oil does, is allows the oil to remain as a solid at room temperatures, so it won’t ooze out of your Oreos. Big deal...). Why bother? In moderation (a good rule of thumb), butter is far from “not bad for you”, but is actually good for you, as long as you don’t burn it. It’s a monounsaturated fat with Vitamin A and good acids. No oil hits the pleasure center like butter. Cholesterol? This is a scam issue. Butter has less cholesterol, ounce-for-ounce, than chicken or fish. Enjoy your butter…in moderation.

By understanding and putting this basic knowledge to use, not only will you feel better, but you will make fewer visits to the doctor over the course of your life. By exploring these issues, you will run into many other interesting things about foods, the food industry and the insanity of the FDA. Here’s one of the latest and most disturbing issues that I recently ran across…

We already know that diseases love an acidic body to thrive in and don’t do well in an alkaline body (BTW, you can get a PH test kit to test your own PH levels at your pharmacy). Here’s something else that diseases don’t like: Vitamin B-17 aka Amygdalin aka Laetrile. This is still controversial, but the over-whelming amount of data and research shows that this is true. Very true. Check you bottle of multivitamins. Bet that B-17 isn’t in there. The most potent, natural source of this substance is found in Bitter Almond Kernels (the seeds in the pits). But, when the FDA found out that cancer couldn’t grow in the presence of Vitamin B-17/ Amygdalin/Laetrile, it banned the importation and planting of these trees in the U.S.!!! You can go over the border into Mexico and buy all of the Laetrile that you want. They knew that there was a cure for cancer and suppressed it. This is a complicated issue and the dosage and accompanying diets vary with the state of the cancer. But there are preventative measures that you can take to prevent cancer from showing up, or growing.

Yah…right? On Ridge’s Blog?

(Yah)

The most potent available source of Vitamin B-17/ Amygdalin/Laetrile is found in Apricot Kernels (also in Peach Kernels, Apple seeds, Cherry pits and basically any non-citrus fruit seed). I was amazed, since all of my life I have heard that peach pits and apricot pits were poisonous! The fact is that they are bitter and unappealing, but that bitter taste is the Vitamin B-17/ Amygdalin/Laetrile. Here's a link so you can check it out for yourself. You can buy Apricot Kernels on line. You should pay around $13.00 per pound (around 600-700 kernels). Make sure they are raw and not sun-dried. Recommended dosage is 7-10 kernel per day for a healthy body.

First step? Get you family together and go through your cupboards and fridge and throw out, or donate to a food bank anything with the bad things in them. Then, never bring them back into your house again.

This stuff is just the tip of the iceberg and is condensed from one solid year of studying. There’s so much more and, hopefully, you will do some learning on your own. If any of this helps you, your children, your friends, or family, then I am proud to be the one to share it with you.

What could be a more appropriate way to end than with a video from Mike Adams, The Health Ranger?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jvVkWsDY78

Ridge