Congratulations! =)

I've heard of the ACV drink you mentioned. My questions:

1. Better to drink on empty stomach, before, or after meals?
2. Better to sip it slowly or gulp it rapidly?
3. What exactly does that concoction (of things I absolutely love separately) DO in your body? How does it heal us?

Thanks!
Amy =)

I have a very similar process I used to clear out my own brain fog. I must say it was getting very scary there for a bit, but I studied and studied, mostly using this site as a base and I have finally hit a solid break through.
I should mention that before all this brain fog started I was a very heavy diet soda drinker (NutraSweet), so I think this was the main culprit leading up to the problem. I also ran a course of Chinese Herbs (bulk from China) the month before my brain fog got very bad (I was studying TCM). I think I must have picked up metals from the herbs or some other heavy neuro-toxin. NutraSweet of course is a major neuro toxin.

Anyhow after much study I progressively changed many things (over the course of 7 months).

1. I completely cleansed my colon (Bernard Jensen/colonic board).
2. I dewormed (Hummaworm double dose for 6 weeks).
3. I flushed my liver (Clark method) 8 times (the last 3 where clear).
4. I was vegetarian before, but am now a Raw oragnic Vegan (aprox 80/20% raw). This had a big impact and I felt so much better right away. This is similar to the Budwig diet - I use David Wolfes Sunfood (raw) Diet suggestions. I take considerable omega 3 and 6 oils and momosaturated olive - these rebuild the brain which is mostly fat. There is one exception to my vegan diet, I drink 4 raw or lightly poached egg yolks a week for the lecithin. I just do not like the soy lecithin because of the enzyme inhibitors and lectins.
5. I eat largely alkaline as well - with the exception being my my protein sources of rice protein powder and raw hemp protein powder mixed with fruit in smoothies. I avoid beans because of they also contain chemicals that prevent their digestion (creating debris). Alkaline minerals of course displace metals from receptor sites and then escort toxins out of the body. I drink a lot of Nettles and Oatstraw tea as part of a metal detox and alkalizing (aprox 3 to 4 large glasses daily - found in bulk at co-ops).
6. I am running systemic enzymes morning and night two hours away from food and timed with sleep while my stomach will also be empty (when the body is already fasting). This cleans out the garbage toxins loading the body by digesting it.
*7. And I use organic Barley Grass with MSM twice a day. These two things, especially the sulfur (MSM or L-Cysteine) have been the keys for me - when I added these two elements I snapped out of my brain fog very quickly (it also returns a bit but to a lesser degree if I go without the MSM. I take 2 rounded tsp of Barely, 1 in my morning smoothie, the other with my night smoothie. And anywhere from 2 tsp's of sulfur (either MSM or L-Cysteine) to 1 tblsp with the smoothies.
*8. I drink a lot of fresh squeezed lemonade a day (with stevia) - both are very alkaline and replace soda quite nicely :-) However I drink this because lemon chelates metals - meaning it oxidizes metals into a form that can be excreated by the kidneys - otherwise it stays in the body. It's curious that vinegar also chelates metals. I prefer the lemonade though as it builds a alkaline base in the body - vinegar is acid. I have to watch that since I was on the acidic soda so long.
*9. I drink a couple a small mineral drinks a day. I mix in a teaspoon of Bob's Backing soda, a pinch of epsom salt, a pinch of nu-salt and a dash of Celtic Sea Salt into 3.oz of water and drink between meals twice a day. I test my alkaline level a couple times a day and only skip this if I get over 8.0 alkaline, otherwise I drink up.
10. I only drink distilled water and skip any kind of mineral supplements that are from rocks or coral. I've found the only minerals my body wants is bio-available and from plants.

For anyone curious about metals I found out a few tricks from Dietrich Klinghardt M.D (see link below). And I simply started this "program" because there is no good way to know if one's brain fog is from metals or not - I simply proceeded as though I had a degree of toxicity and just have tried to get so healthy that other problems would be chipped away at as well. I could get no help from M.D's and could not afford chelation therapy. Anyway, I try to follow a few steps. I drink the mineral drink and Nettle's tea mid-morning between meals, and then will drink lemonade aprox 40 minutes later. The reasoning is because the minerals will lift the toxic metals away from receptor sites as they compete for the same sites. Once they are lifted they will re-circulate in the bloodstream - you then want to get the lemon juice in your system to oxidize the metals so they can be excreted. Otherwise they will just settle in the system again. Dr. Klinghardt also suggests going hard with Barely Grass, not reducing it when symptoms appear (see link). Here is where MSM or sulfer really comes in for me - I have yet to understand sulfur very well but it is obviously very important to detox. When I'm running the sulfur the brain fog STOPS. I don't think this this is because detox stops, but because it is doing something that completes the detox cycle in the body. Curiously I found out about sulfur through doing Hulda Clark s Tapeworm cleanup protocol - I felt terrific after wards. I started feeling unwell about 5 days after the L-Cysteine left my body completely - so I started up with MSM in it's place and sure enough my brain fog left again. It's not any one thing I've done, but all things put together - just getting back to natural eating, cleansing the old garbage out and replacing things just not found in the diet any longer. Sulfur is a very important missing element.


A few links:

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/9steps.htm


http://www.thetipsbank.com/detox.htm


http://www.cancer-healing.com/acid_alkaline_balance.php


http://www.amazon.com/Sunfood-Diet-Success-System/dp/1556437498/ref=pd_bbs_sr...