There is so much information I want to share with you that occasionally I put the cart before the horse. So it occurred to me that I should go back to the basics and explain from another angle why I know my Eat Right teaching and preaching is correct. As I discussed in my "Eating Right and Cholesterol" DVD click here to order, the true enemy is inflammation and its secondary adverse health affects. Your diet has a direct affect on your circulatory, immune, and neurological systems. Your diet initiates and advances other inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and a myriad of other chronic inflammatory diseases and disorders. A term coined by a colleague of mine for this type of diet induced destruction is "dietary trauma". This dietary suicide leads to biochemical and physiological changes which can be predictable. Every time you eat you could be contributing to the inflammatory load on your body and inducing physiologic trauma. This is no different than physical trauma caused by an automobile accident, or exposing your body to a factory job where you move in the same direction against resistance 8 to 10 hours a day, everyday for 30 years. Either of these two things will cause a physical breakdown of your body, just like eating incorrectly. This is where belief system changes come into play. By understanding what is real food and what is poison to your body you can stimulate a recovery from the adverse inflammatory affects of a grain based Western diet.

First, I recommend you avoid sugar, and I will tell you that you are all addicted to sugar in some form . It may not be refined sugar as we normally think of it. It may take the form of grains such as bread (also loaded with bromine, which competes with iodine for binding sites on such glands as the thyroid and breasts, but that's another story). Sugar addiction could also take the form of an addiction to fruit. Yes, something good for you can also be inflammatory if you are consuming too much or the wrong type. Find the glycemic index of your foods. Second, you must avoid or eliminate all grains, even "whole grains". They're all inflammatory! Beans and legumes are also inflammatory. Refined vegetable oils are very inflammatory to your system because most contain primarily corn oil (not a vegetable but a grain). Compound this with the fact that most people use rancid oils and it's a double whammy because this inflammatory grain oil is now causing free radical formation in your system. Come to think of it, you get a third adverse health affect from this rancid corn oil product because it increases your Omega 6 levels, which are already at toxic levels in most Americans. Third, you need to limit your consumption of saturated fat, which not only causes inflammation, but will increase your cholesterol levels.

So what do you eat? I think you have enough to digest now (sorry, I couldn't resist). In my next edition of Health Hints tm I will begin the process of guiding you to the correct foods.

Think Right
For the past several weeks we have all been inundated with print, TV, and radio media information about the terrible state of affairs and our current  "economic crisis" (their term not mine!). The presidential debates have centered on the issue as well. The current topic of conversation for everyone is how terrible things really are. I have refused to acknowledge this subject with my patients for quite a while but the time has come however for me to address this issue with my patients and everyone in my Inner Health Circle tm. You see, when I notice an external issue beginning to affect your health and wellness, then it's time for me to step into action.

So what does all this worry translate into physically? How about insomnia, head aches, muscle tension, fatigue, and a plethora of other symptoms. I have stated in numerous articles that approximately 80% of our physical ailments can be linked directly to the secondary affects of STRESS. We know there are problems and it's frustrating to know of a problem but not know the solution. Here is your solution: "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

I enjoy coaching forlorn looking patients by helping them to change their belief system, and therefore their perspective. You see, many patients were forgetting to do a number of very important things like count their blessings. They forgot they had their health, food to eat, a bed to sleep in, a roof over their head, and people that loved and cared about them! Wow, that can reboot your thought processor in an instant! They were also forgetting that the worrying, complaining, and repetitive discussion about the bad things would do nothing to improve or resolve the situations. Ruminating only creates more worry. As my friend Zig Ziglar would say, there is no place, now or ever, for "stinkin thinking."

So here is what you do today:

Your health and that of your family and loved ones is your top priority. Now is not the time to make any rash changes in your health and wellness plans. Remember what every pilot learns early in his training when disaster strikes; "Oh, how hard it is to resist the temptation to lunge into action when you have run into disaster. Yet the first step to survival is this do nothing!"

I will leave you with two quotes from my mentor, Dr. Robert Schuler. Please remember "Tough times make calluses that may someday save our hands from bleeding" and "Tough times never last, but tough people do. Tough people stick it out."