Guest Post: By Skip Hellewell, Wisdom Lost

Picture of thier Breakfast Compote recipe - Word of Wisdom Living



This post was written by Skip Hellewell. The creator of a new non-profit blog named Word of Wisdom Living. I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Skip Hellewell, via email, and thoroughly enjoyed the insight he gave me on nutrition books as well as his new website.

Hellewell's site is full of beautiful pictures and wonderful information. The site's motto; eat smarter, look better, live longer - all things we aspire to here at Simply Healthful.

I hope you enjoy his post.



Wisdom Lost

It’s not like we weren’t warned. Nearly a century ago, books on nutrition were written as husband-wife projects. They made a good team: the scientist husband brought knowledge from the lab; the wife rejoined with wisdom from the kitchen. In the 1920s an English scientist and his wife wrote a best seller, Food, Health, Vitamins. Vitamins were the discovery of the time and the book warned about the rise of factory foods, deficient in vital nutrients:

Civilisation (sic) has made it too easy to get wrong foods of all kinds and difficult to get the foods we ought to eat. Natural foodstuffs form but a small part of the present-day diet, because they have for convenience been replaced by less perishable [processed] foods.

An American couple, also well qualified, John A. and Leah Widtsoe, followed with a book titled The Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation. The Widtsoes linked processed foods, especially sugar, with the rise of chronic disease:

Is it purely incidental that appendicitis, diabetes, cancer and many other nutritional diseases have increased alarmingly since . . . the cheap manufacture of sugar? . . . The people of the United States have become known as the “sugar gluttons” of the world.”

It’s true that Americans eat the most sugar. And the link between high sugar intake and chronic disease has since been confirmed. But our appetite for sugar, despite dire warnings, has only increased—as have the diseases. A startling fact: sugar is the largest source of calories in the average American diet. Government policy has facilitated this disaster; USDA guidelines allow 25% of calories from added sugars!

The perceptive observer will note that corporations have taken the addition of sugar out of our hands. The bulk of our sugar now comes from processed foods, beginning with sugary soda drinks. In the ‘80s a new form of factory sugar was added: high fructose corn syrup. Table sugar contains glucose and fructose in equal amounts. HFCS has more fructose. For an education on the health penalty from fructose consumption, google Robert H. Lustig’s video lecture, “Sugar : The Bitter Truth”. Watch it and you won’t forget it.

There is a new blog, Word of Wisdom Living (http://wordofwisdomliving.com/), that is a forum for nutrition information and comment. The difficult task of actually changing our behavior is addressed by making one small change a week for the 52 weeks of 2011. These 52 healthy changes can transform the American diet over to the healthiest possible, in the course of a year.

Because talk is easy and action is hard, a premise of the blog is to engage your friends in this change. Studies of cigarette smoking cessation showed that doing it with friends was more effective, and that friends who did not stop found new friends who smoked. So keep your health while keeping your friends by inviting them to join in your diet reformation.

How To's and Links to Cleansing Part II

I thought this picture of my girls 'cleaning' their feet in a river was appropriate for our topic of posts as of late.

I had a request to give some further guidance to our last post.

Here are some links to further explain the suggestions for preparing the body before cleansing. I have also included some easy applications to what was suggested.

Preparing the Colon:

Slippery Elm Bark - You buy this in powder form (you can buy it HERE). Slippery elm is very easy to eat. The taste is extremely mild. You can sprinkle a teaspoon to a tablespoon (depending on how much you need, start out with a tsp.) in applesauce, oatmeal, or make into a grule.

Amaranth - You can cook this similar to how you cook oatmeal, it takes a little bit longer though. Or, you can sprout amaranth. Here is a great source on how to. Also, I posted on sprouting a while back (my favorite thing to sprout right now is mung beans, yum).

Bentonite clay or Montmorillonite clay - You can mix a teaspoon in a 4 oz glass of water and drink 1-3 times a day.

Preparing the Kidney and Liver:

Kidney and Liver herbs - You can take these in capsule form.

Yellow dock decoction - To learn how to make this decoction go HERE and scroll down to liver formula at the bottom.

It may have been listed last but it probably should have been listed first, get your food intake in check. Food matters, and when our bodies have enough nutrition many wonderful things can happen. Again, make sure you eat mostly fruits and veggies, preferably in variety and season.


If there are any other links or instruction needed, send me an email.

Cleansing Part II: Preparing Your Body

Flax

After the last Cleansing post I received a few emails asking me to share with them what cleanse I did and to further explain what cleanse they should do. I hope I answered your questions well enough. Other than my own personal experience and taking classes on these subjects, I really am not an authority on cleansing.

I'm hoping many of you if not all of you, after reading these posts, will do your own research and make the best educated choice for your own body. The cleanse I did may not be the best for you as it was for me. The cleanse I did was something I came up with on my own. I guess that is what I am hoping for, that these posts will empower you to take control of your own health. That you will not have to rely on a company's program to achieve where you want to be.

Okay, on with the fun stuff.

Before you go on any food cleanse (especially a food cleanse), you will want to prepare your body for it. What I mean by this - there is a reason you want to go on a cleanse, whether that is to lose excess weight, rid yourself of toxins or help your body overcome sickness. Therefore, you most likely have toxins or toxic lymph to cleanse and there is no way of knowing how much or where they may be in your body. So, you need to prepare your body as a whole. I like the rule, 'It is better safe than sorry.'

We all have our eliminative organs; the colon, kidneys, skin, liver, and lungs. I feel the most important organs to focus on, in and before a cleanse, are the colon, kidneys, skin, and liver.

Preparing the Colon:

One way to know if your colon is in a happy place is if you are regularly eliminating from it. That does not mean once a day. That means having a bowel movement at least two to three times a day. Yeah, most people I share that with either laugh or are in disbelief. As if such a thing was not possible.

If you feel you are not 'regular' (in the sense that I just explained), then increasing your fiber intake would be helpful. Some ways you can do that is, take 1 tsp freshly ground flax seed three times a day, take herbs known to help the colon like slippery elm bark or aloe vera, eat amaranth two to three times a week, even taking bentonite clay internally has been known to help the colon. There are many natural options here. Further research will help you find the best for options for your body.

Preparing the Kidneys and Liver

It is vital if you have weak kidneys or liver to strengthen them before going on a cleanse. You can do this by taking herbs known to strengthen them (kidney herbs: uva ursi, juniper berries, etc. liver herbs: milk thistle, burdock root, dandelion root), drink lemon water (kidneys), drink yellow dock root decoction (liver), coffee enema (liver, make sure you use organic coffee and do this correctly).

Preparing the Skin

I believe one of the best ways to get the skin ready for a cleanse is dry brushing. This is inexpensive and fairly easy to do. For instructions go HERE. This brushing technique I used to do all the time just because it felt so good! Also, before and during a cleanse you can take salt bathes (use only real salt or Himalayan salt), or clay bathes.

Two last things I would do to prepare for a cleanse. First, I would build up my immune system. You could take natural vitamins, greens, drink lots of water (stop drinking soda!), take herbs that help build up the immune system (astragalus, golden seal, echinacea, etc.), get enough sleep while you are at it, etc.

Second, start increasing your fruit and veggie intake. Make sure you are consuming more raw food than cooked at every meal.

It may seem like a lot to do but once you get into it and your body starts reacting in a positive way, even before you start your cleanse, you will then know that this will all be worth it.

Cleansing Part I

(Cleansing the body is like a balancing act.)

Where to begin . . .

I believe cleansing is one of the most misunderstood aspects in health. It is a subject I have pondered on many times and experimented with many times. There are many things to learn within this one subject that I know I will not touch upon. I myself feel there is more for me to learn about cleansing my own body before I can give others a good explanation on it. So take this post and future posts for what they are worth. If anything in the end, I hope it will inspire you to make an honest effort to get your body to a healthy happy state.

Let me share with you my first encounter with cleansing. Two weeks before returning home from a proselytizing mission for my church I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. After two runs of strong antibiotics taken at a months time I called it quits with what the medical world was offering me for treatment and made a prayerful decision to try alternate means for my health.

This began with a change in my diet, in my way of receiving vitamins/minerals, and along with that cleansing my body of toxins. With the little information I had at the time I started a 10 day cleanse. The cleanse consisted of liquefying my food which consisted of raw vegetables.

The first two days were fairly easy, minus the fact that my food was less than appetizing - being liquid sludge and all. When I awoke on the third day though, I was hit with nausea to the point of vomiting. For the next five days I could only get down water with a little greens in it, but even then the vomiting didn't end till the fifth day. After that, I was able to finish my cleanse by gradually adding the liquefied raw veggies back to my diet.

If my experience has made you cringe or given you a queasy feeling inside and turns you off to the whole cleansing thing then you are completely right in feeling that way! I may have lost nearly 15 pounds of weight and threw up all of the toxins in my body but I also gave myself gastritis, which is inflammation of the stomach lining (if your not extremely careful with the way you eat, can cause severe pain), from all the vomiting I did. If any of you know me really well you would know that my least favorite thing in the world to do is vomit. That was not an experience that I wanted to repeat over.

After that, cleansing (in more than one way), left a bad taste in my mouth. It took some time for me to warm up to the idea of ever trying it again. I felt like either cleansing was something that was not good for me or that the program that I followed was flawed somehow. I concluded the later and began my own research of the topic. In studying, I realized some flaws in my first approach to cleansing my body.

First and for most, I learned that every person is unique and different and there really is know standardized method of cleansing that is perfect for all. For a person that has been eating highly processed foods and very little nutrient filling foods, cleansing would need to be approached differently than compared to a person who has been eating completely raw.

This leads me to my second realization or flaw to my first approach of cleansing. It probably was not the best idea to put myself on that extreme of a cleanse after being fed for 18 months by other people and trying to overcome the Lyme disease. My body was on toxic overload and I put it through the exact opposite (cleansing overload), without realizing the consequences until it was too late. Believe you me - lesson learned!

So before any of you jump on to the cleansing train there are a few steps that you should probably take before you leap.

Steps before you cleanse:

1. Take an honest look at how healthy your body is. Are you sick in any way? What foods are you taking in on a daily basis? Are you nutrient deficient (most everyone is because our food is, so don't count yourself out!)? What's your toxic load looking like? What toxins are you exposed to on a daily basis? I'm sure you could add to this list of 'how healthy your body is' questions.

2. Do some research on some cleanses (I will list a few at the bottom, that does not mean I endorse any of them, they will be listed for you to come to your own conclusion, remember this is a few there are numerous ways of cleansing), and ask yourself some of these questions about each cleanse you research. Does the cleanse offer your body a high nutrient diet during the cleanse? Do you feel it offers enough liquid including water to flush your body of toxins? How 'extreme' is it to you? Does it offer any prep work for your body before the cleanse? Does it offer any help in what to eat after your cleanse?

I'm not sure how many cleansing posts I will end up doing but I wanted to try to make the process simple to understand. Questions are welcome and may be answered either in the comment section or in a future post. Remember, I do not claim any authority on this subject. Being healthy and eating healthy is something I am passionate about but I do not have a degree or certificate. Before starting a cleanse it is good to chat with your doctor to get all points of view and know your options.

The Master Cleanse
The pH Miracle Cleanse
Dr. Christopher's 3 day Cleanse

Healthy New Year!

Christmas morning with the family and in-laws. I'm trying to show you how I'm looking. Not the best picture of me but, for right now, it's all I have.


Happy new year everyone! How did the holidays treat your health?

My family and I traveled to stay with my husbands side of the family for Christmas. With 7 siblings, 4 married with children, staying underneath one roof including the grandparents, you could say it was a tight squeeze. I actually loved it though. Brought back many fond memories of my childhood (I have 8 siblings!).

While there we all ate horribly, got sick, and gained weight. Well, that's actually not completely true. My husband gained a few pounds and I, drum roll please . . . gained nothing! We did eat horribly at times and some of us did get sick but I think this is the first time I didn't gain weight over the holidays. Yay!

I attribute it mostly to eating well most of the time (ah, maybe I should say some of the time darn it), taking my greens daily, and drinking tons of water. But, something also needs to be said to the fact that I have been on a cleansing kick for a couple of months now to get my body to a happy place.

Since the beginning of November I have been cleansing off and on, eating healthy, and taking my herbs and greens. I have lost quite a few pounds, bringing me back to pre-pregnancy weight(120)! Haven't been there since getting pregnant with my first in 2004.

I know we Simply Healthful contributors have been a hit and miss with our postings but I am hoping to put up a few posts in the next coming months on some cleansing tips, my greens recipe (that's right, I like to make my own greens) and recipes that might give you a little healthy inspiration.

Please be forgiving if the postings are not coming out on a weekly basis. This 3 kids thing has me having to increase my time with my main 3 little priorities in life and that really is how it should be.

Until the next post, take a look at where I used to be and our weight-loss planner .