Re: Okay - here it is (Caution Adult Language)

I decided to post it here... note that I have taken lots of herbs and such, some for the health benefits and some to flavor food, and some for both, that I have not listed here...

A Healing Journey

In March of 2005, I had what was to be a visit with my doctor... and I learned through that visit that I had erroneously put my faith for my health and well being in the hands of others. It was a bad move on my part, however a wonderful awakening and realization. I learned, almost over night, albeit the hard way, that I, and I alone had the ability and power to control my health and well being.

The ONLY way to true health is through our own physical, mental and spiritual behavior. There is absolutely NO ONE that holds the power over individual well being but that being.

In order to make this as short as possible I have condensed it as best I can...

This is a list (not inclusive) of health issues I have beat all together or reduced in severity. ALL of these symptoms came on and\or intensified in my mid to late 40's as I went ever deeper into finding my way out of some health issues through allopathic medicine.

Chronic Seborrheic Dermatitis
Chronic Athletes foot
Chronic Jock itch
Chronic Arm Pit rash
Chronic halitosis
Major plaque build up on teeth and poor oral health in spite of rigorous cleansing and and professional cleaning 4x a year.
Generally poor skin (name the skin issue)
Dry skin and scaly elbows
Thin toe and finger nails
Chronic constipation
Very poor flexibility
Major Brain Fog
greatly reduced endurance and strength
chronic digestive issues (you name it)
High Blood Pressure
Low Thyroid function
Shortness of breath
Chronic fatigue
Insomnia
Weight management issues; I gained 45+ pounds on prescription meds in a little under 2 months; 20 of it in less than a 2 week period.
MY KNEES which have been through 2 surgeries each and at their worst 2 years ago when many doctors, friends and family insisted I get knee replacements (I am now glad I refused)...
Probably a bunch of things I am forgetting due to their long absence from my life :-)

In order of importance, those things that have helped me most;

In retrospect, I am glad I followed the order presented here as I think, in some cases inadvertently, this was a very good path to follow. Note that some of these changes took place over a period of time spanning 2 years now... and are still evolving and refining. I did not cold turkey jump into this at all. I studied my butt off and eased myself into it.

Basic dietary change - replaced all artificial sweeteners with raw sugars like honey, maple syrup, rapadura, sorghum, agave nectar, and molasses. Replaced common table salt with unrefined Sea Salt (I use Redmond's Real Salt Primarily, but do buy Himalaya Pink Salt as well). Replaced all oils and fats with healthy oils and fats - olive, real organic (raw when I can get it) butter, coconut oil. Prepared ALL my own meals from raw organic ingredients with as much of the food raw as possible. Note that over time this increased to the point where I am about a 70% raw foodist. I do not see myself becoming 100% raw, but would like to push this up to the 75 to 80% range in the not to distant future.

Foods and supplements that I think have made the most difference in my health are; since you want to know which things helped with my knees I marked them:

Good clean water (I am now getting all the plastic water bottles out of my life)
The alkalizing drink from
http://www.askmoreless.com
(helped with knees)
essiac tea (helped with knees)
Real unrefined salts; I also use magnesium salts and potassium salts; (helps with knees)
Real organic unrefined cold pressed oils
Fish oils (helps with knees, especially cod liver oil)
Fresh Ginger (helps a great deal with inflammation and pain in knees... if I did not have ginger in my food one day, I used to feel it the next... I am past this now though)
Maca
MSM (helps with knees)
Chlorella
Spirulina
Iodine (I am most certain Iodine has helped my knees too, though I do not understand completely how)
Oil pulling (great improvement in oral health; Iodine pushed it another notch upward)

Basic exercise change - I exercise 1 to 1.5 hours 5 - 6 days a week. This is paramount to joint health and their is no doubt that it has helped with my knee health.

Basic mind think change - I had to get away from negative thinking and thought and this required a detachment at times from others around me, especially those that have a habit of dragging others down into their depths... very difficult to do when some are family members. Had to steel myself and not permit anyone to sabotage my efforts. This can cause rough times, believe me. Some people seem to depend, or even thrive on another's helplessness, insecurity, illness or disability... when you take that away from them, it can make for some rocky roads.

Basic spiritual change - even though I am not a firm follower of any one faith, I believe we are all spiritual beings and find that a healthy spiritual life is at least as important as body and mind health. I made it so...

Bowel cleansing - I started with Dr. Natura along with their parasite cleanse, but it did not feel like it did what it should have... maybe because I found out later that I could not handle psyllium and I switched to oxygen cleansers. I did a total of 4 complete Bowel Cleanses over the course of about 6 months. After that I occasionally used the oxygen cleansers over a weekend about once a month for another 10 months or so. Bowel cleansing along with the above beginnings cleared up almost 80% of all my skin conditions and had me feeling more alert and sleeping better than I had in years. It also was the beginnings of losing the weight I had gained on pharmaceuticals.

Liver Flushing - This had about the same profound effect for my skin, weight, and energy that bowel cleansing had. I have done 22 flushes to date and believe I am not too far from maintenance.

Kidney cleansing - I use Watermelon Seed Tea and also did MHs (barefoot forum) kidney cleanse. Not as profound a health change as I had hoped... maybe I just need to keep gently plugging away at it for a while.

Lymph cleansing - exercise\rebounding does this, but I also skin brush, take detox baths etc.

http://www.askmoreless.com


Getting enough fresh air and sun on as much skin as possible. This is critical, especially if you have not had exposure to the sun in a long time (have used sun block etc.) The skin needs to be awakened so it can start helping to manufacture the much needed hormones and vitamins your body needs.

Understand that health is synergistic. There is no one pill, food, drink, exercise, etc. etc. that will lead anyone to total health or immortality. One must be willing to make huge changes in all aspects of their life to make it all come together.

What else do I think will have an impact on joint\knee health?

Get rid of Amalgams in your teeth and all mouth metal possible. I have yet to do this but believe it without doubt.

I have not used magnetics but this has been suggest to me more than once by more than one health guru here at CZ... based on my research and use in professional medicine, I have no doubt it would work well.

What helps with pain and inflammation besides the food and supplements you eat?

Hot and cold packs
Castor oil packs
Warm olive or peanut oil massage Tweet