CHAPTER 6
TIME TO CLEAN OUT THE CRAPOLA!

Let me get one thing straight with you all. Dis‐ease (meaning the body is not in harmony) in the body of any, any, any, any (I can’t emphasize that enough) description is not OK. If you are suffering in some way, and your body is functioning at a low‐level vibration because you have stomach ache, a headache, are bloated, foggy in the brain, or some ill‐effect is making you feel less than energetic, possibly even making you feel like you are treading the treacle of life instead of gliding over fields of daffodils (OK, a slight exaggeration of a fantasy perfect life) you need to do something about it. I see people day in, day out, that have been suffering for years from migraines or digestive complaints such as irritable bowel, acid reflux, bloating, or excess gas. Or they may be afflicted with constant urinary/bladder infections or erectile dysfunction. Or some sort of breathing issue, such as asthma, allergies, coughs, and chest infections. Or stuffy noses, throat infections, or aching bones and joints. Or chilblains, cold sores, constipation, vomiting, vertigo, varicose veins, tinnitus, thyroid issues, swollen glands. Or skin complaints such as psoriasis, eczema, dryness, irritation, or ovarian cysts, thrush, mouth ulcers, miscarriages, menopausal symptoms, leg cramps, anaemia, haemorrhoids, gout, fibromyalgia, memory loss. The list goes on and on, and I have seen it all.

What I find alarming though is that because so many people are suffering from what I call the ‘common complaints’, when they realize many others have the same illness, they suddenly think it can’t be that bad, and resign themselves to a life of visits to the doctor and pill popping. NO! There is no safety in numbers. You must break free.

My point is this: do not be a sheep. Stick to your guns and do what you believe to be right for you. Break free of the general thinking and take care of your own body. If you give it what it needs it will thank you so much in the end, and give you back your life, your energy, your zest, and your control. Always remember you are the driver of your body! Almost all the ailments I have mentioned can be helped, if not cleared up completely, if you clean up your diet. And I mean really clear up … properly, like a house move where you remove all the crap, dust it out, scrub all the carpets, chuck out and remove the debris, and replace with new and shiny things. You will be very surprised at your new enthusiasm for life.

Here are the rules for your clean‐up.

Stop Putting Rubbish Into Your Body and Start Putting the Right Nutrition In

This is a very simplistic thing to say. ‘If only it were that easy,’ I hear you scream! Well, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Slowly, over the coming weeks, if you want to start making changes, you need to start pulling out some of the bad stuff that you eat. It depends on where you are already on the health scale, but if you eat fast food four times per week and drink six pints every night, then I would start by reducing the amounts that you consume. Or if you already have a great diet and want to maintain health or enhance your energy, start by adding a few more superfoods.

Know and Understand the Two Main Reasons Why Disease Manifests

You are nutrient deficient – in other words, you simply do not have enough of the good stuff going in on a daily basis. If you start to view food differently and use it as a tool to help you at every single mealtime, and every single snack, then you will start to shift your mindset, which makes new challenges much easier. Every single thing that you put in your mouth has the potential to make you feel amazing and energized or foggy and sluggish. Take a quick recap on what you have eaten today. Is it good enough for your precious body? Did you really deserve that chocolate bar that added a few more pounds to your butt, challenged your liver just a little bit more, and made you feel sleepy an hour after eating it? Or did you deserve that ripe juicy mango, that is low in calories and high in fibre which will help to keep your beautiful intestines clean. It also contains real folate, vitamins B6, C, and A, so your eyes look whiter, your skin glows, and your body purrs from the antioxidants you have just drenched it in. Do you see the difference in the choices that you made today?

You are too acidic/toxic – ditch the junk! What is so appealing about highly processed foods anyway? If you look at a nice green juicy apple and then a slab of sliced processed ham, in the real world what looks more appealing? Well, the secret to all those foods that we supposedly love, such as crisps, biscuits, cakes, and chocolate is because they are loaded with a trifecta of fat, sodium, and sugar with plenty of extra ingredients that function to preserve and improve their appearance. These foods are carefully engineered to achieve a perfect balance and produce pleasure so you can’t help but keep eating them. I have seen many clients who describe their eating habits as out of control and this is the reason why: eating these man‐made hyperpalatable foods produces pleasure‐providing opioids in the human body.

There have been trials carried out on laboratory animals where they actually preferred the intense sweetness from food to cocaine. These animals became quickly addicted to sugar and demonstrated significant withdrawal symptoms, including the shakes and anxious behaviour, when it was removed. Individuals participating in ‘comfort eating’, or as I like to call it ‘junk food eating’, are looking for a certain sensation of pleasure or relief not unlike abusers of nicotine, alcohol, or drugs such as heroin or cocaine. When you get into this behaviour the same terms are used about eating – it’s called ‘using’ food rather than ‘eating’ food. We need to ask ourselves the very important question: how is this allowed in the food industry? How are mass food producers allowed to concoct certain foods which produce similar addictive effects to drugs?

So is food addiction real? Yes, I think it is. I think it’s too easy for someone to feel emotional about something and reach for that bag of crisps because they want a lift that very second. Before you know it, you have trawled your way through the entire packet and then your feelings of self‐loathing go through the roof! Not only do you feel sick from eating too much salt and fat but that then provokes angry feelings, which sparks yet more toxicity within the body. Other junk foods such as processed meats, sausages, bacon, and salami are all classed as everyday foods. Really? Who made that normal? Then there the doughnuts and cakes that every office purchases for birthday celebrations. What’s wrong with bringing a basket of delicious fruits for everyone to feast on? In the olden days, when you got sick, people would bring you grapes and bananas. That’s because we instinctively knew it would contribute to making you better. And it did!

Then there are pizzas and chips, and fast food restaurants everywhere. The word ‘junk’ refers to something that is both extra and useless, and that is exactly what junk food is. Look at what is in front of you. What are you about to eat? Does it have a purpose for your beautiful body, or is it going to back up the crapola so much that you explode. Junk food makes you tired! FACT! It makes you feel full and satisfied temporarily, and then you want more, because it hasn’t actually satisfied you for very long, and that’s because of the lack of nutrients. When the body is nutrient rich you shouldn’t crave anything, because you have all that you need. Junk food lacks nutrients and causes havoc in your body and if you eat it on a daily basis it will affect your everyday performance levels.

Teenagers in particular have a great deal of hormonal changes going on in their bodies, which makes them susceptible to mood swings and behavioural issues. These are two reasons we have an epidemic of depressed teenagers: because of the lack of physical movement and the increase in eating junk food daily. It actually puts their risk of depression up by over 50%. It’s so simple though. They are basically not getting enough of the good stuff and clearly getting too much of the bad stuff. Would you ever run your Rolls Royce on nitroglycerin? No, because it would blow up. So why eat junk? It makes no sense. You are simply filling your body up with muck as there is a serious lack of fibre making it difficult for the digestive system. Then people can suffer from reflux or irritable bowel syndrome.

Just imagine this … because junk food is deep fried all the oil gets sloshed around and stuck, causing irritation of the stomach lining and inflammation of the intestines and bowel. The reason you want more of it is because it is high in refined sugars putting your metabolism under great stress. It causes your pancreas to secrete more insulin in order to prevent a dramatic spike in your blood sugar levels, causing irritation and more cravings when you have a blood sugar crash! This then affects brain function, behaviour, and immunity in as little as a week of eating the stuff. Not only that … because of the high fat and sugar content it massively increases your risk of heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, and liver damage. Colorectal cancer is related to consuming processed food.

Cut Out the Coffee and Stimulants

If you have health challenges and want to be as clean as you can be in order to achieve great health then you need to consider the following. There are lots of studies to report that caffeine is good for you. Well, you can make up your own mind, but my point of view is this. If you experience withdrawal symptoms when you do not have something in your diet for one day, you are addicted. Plain and simple. The reason you get a headache when you give up caffeine, whether that be your energy drink, coffee, or tea, is because of the sudden increased circulation to the brain when blood flow is no longer constricted. When you consume your cup of caffeine there is a widespread constriction of vital organ blood vessels, which actually decreases circulation and oxygen supply by up to 30%. As a stimulant it will increase your heart rate, raise your blood pressure, and form an acidic environment for all your healthy cells to bathe in. This is far from ideal, as your cells need an alkaline fluid to thrive. Alkaline and health‐enhancing foods are best to keep our bodies happy and maintain an anti‐inflammatory environment. Don’t be fooled either into thinking that decaf coffee is a better choice as this causes even more acidity and most of us, to be real, are acidic enough. Too much caffeine has been linked to calcium loss, contributing to osteoporosis and bone issues. Roasted coffee beans have also been linked to cancer because they form a potent carcinogen called benzoprene when roasted, which is said to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Energy drinks stress our bodies out by overworking the adrenal glands, and the stress hormones can remain in the body for up to 18 hours, which promotes the production of cortisol. Too much cortisol reduces our immune function and decreases the energy that we need for the healthy repair and renewal of our 100 trillion cells. When you try to remove energy substances, not only can it give you a headache, you can feel fatigued, irritable, discontented, depressed, and even have flu‐like symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. The effects of withdrawal can be so powerful that as soon as you reintroduce the substance, all your horrid symptoms disappear, which is why so many people cannot live without these substances.

So what are the good points? Are there antioxidants in coffee? Or in chocolate? Yes, of course, but they also exist in cocaine and heroin too. Forget the energy caffeine drinks altogether. They contain so many other toxic ingredients that I would eliminate them. The polyphenols found in coffee that provide you with your antioxidants are found in so many other plant‐based foods too. Vegetables such as bok choy and mustard greens, and the skin of grapes have it in full supply. The difference is that whole foods can provide you with the very same thing, but also with fibre and high amounts of quality vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids, therefore giving you the balance that you need for good health. Do not compromise your health, instead nourish your body.

Eliminate Dairy from Your Diet

I have friends that are farmers, and I don’t like broaching this subject because people’s livelihoods are at stake. However, I have to be honest and speak as I find. In my clinics I can only say that there are numerous disease processes I have witnessed that have been massively helped by cutting dairy out of the diet. A person can feel almost immediate relief, especially when it comes to inflammation, congestion, or pain. The question I get asked all the time is ‘where do I get my calcium from?’ Let’s set the record straight, because we are so preconditioned to think we need this drink in order to keep us strong. Most of the calcium present in cow’s milk is useless to the body. In order for calcium to be absorbed, magnesium must be present in equal quantities. Remember I said that’s why vitamins and minerals are much better consumed as nature intended because we have all that we need to absorb the goodness. One cup of milk contains 291 milligrams of calcium and 33 milligrams of magnesium, so only about 11% of the calcium can be absorbed. Milk contains a high level of protein, and, like meat and caffeine, is extremely acid forming. Then the body must have the resources to neutralize this. Most of us don’t have enough alkaline minerals to do the job, so what happens? The body leaches from the bones in order to get the alkaline substances that it needs. In other words, it robs minerals from your bones when you do not provide it with enough, due to your dietary choices. This results in bones dissolving in order to release the necessary minerals to neutralize the acids. So milk not only offers very little in protecting against osteoporosis, it may very well contribute to the disease that we are trying to prevent!

The highest rate of hip fractures worldwide occur among the populations that consume … you’ve guessed it … the most dairy! The USA consumes more milk than anywhere else in the world and has the highest incidence of osteoporosis. The lowest rates are found amongst people who eat little or no dairy. And think about it.

Where do the cows get their calcium from anyway? From the green grass that they eat!

Greens are one of the richest sources of chlorophyll in the world, and as magnesium is the central atom of the chlorophyll molecule it makes greens the richest sources of minerals needed for calcium absorption. So, what do you think you should be consuming in order to prevent osteoporosis? Greens, greens, and more greens such as broccoli, kale, spinach, and collard! In abundance. Cow’s milk, including organic milk, contains more than 50 active hormones, a ton of allergens, and loads of fat and cholesterol. It’s said the recommended three glasses per day contain the same amount of cholesterol as in 53 slices of bacon! Other ingredients your white stuff could include are antibiotics, blood, pus, faeces, bacteria, viruses, pesticides, and herbicides. Needless to say, milk has been at the forefront of many studies relating breast, ovarian, prostate, and colon cancers to its intake, as well as MS and diabetes. Don’t even go there with raw milk either. It is promoted as having enzymes needed to digest the milk, but in reality, it contains dangerous bacteria such as salmonella and listeria to name only a few.

Basically, nature did not intend for us to drink milk after weaning, especially not that of another species, and it can contribute to serious disease. Officially dairy is right up there, being linked to serious diseases. Think about this … is it a normal process to suck milk from another species? Just because it’s the farmer milking the cow, doesn’t make it any better than you taking a chair over and putting your head right under the cow’s belly and having a good old suck. Sounds gross, right? Well, it is, if you think about it logically. And when I say dairy, I mean all dairy. Milk, cream, cheese, cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt, kefir. You name it. When you consume such foods, they produce more mucus in your body, therefore creating gloopier blood. Gloopier blood presents health challenges like clogging of the arteries, potentially leading to premature death.

Reduce or Ditch the Meat

The fact is that people are getting sicker, younger. We live in a very polluted world and one of the most essential things to stay healthy and energetic is to try and keep the body from being toxic. When we eat meat, we are carrying more heavy metals, more antibiotics, more harmful hormone‐related chemicals and toxins right back into the body, and if it takes something like three days to leave the body those toxins are just going to accumulate. Our bodies were not designed to eat meat. And for those of you that think chicken, turkey, and duck are a safe bet, think again. These meats contain more saturated fat, linking them to heart disease and strokes, and have been linked to breast cancer in some studies. This is not to say it is the only cause of breast cancer but it is being found to be a major contributor. Most meats are injected with various steroids and female hormones to fatten them up as the fatter the animal the more money you can get for your meat. But when you eat the meat you, too, are ingesting the hormones, creating all sorts of carnage in your body. In higher meat‐eating communities it has been suggested that there are more murders, more rapes, and more incest, and this can surely be linked to higher oestrogen and testosterone being pumped into your body.

But meat is the only way for you to get protein, right? Wrong! 100 calories of steak provides you with 5.4 grams of protein. How would you feel if I were to tell you that 100 calories of broccoli is equivalent to 11.2 grams of protein. It’s double the amount in steak! Crazy, hey! So why are we led to believe that we need meat? The meat industry is big business. Think about cows as an example. They get big and strong by eating grass. That is where they get their protein from, so why can’t you get yours from greens? Half a million people every year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn into their coronary artery because it’s blocked. Change your lifestyle choices and maybe you wouldn’t need to have this extreme and life‐threatening surgery. Meat of all descriptions is acidic to the body, and a body living in an acidic environment is at higher risk of disease. Meat causes inflammation, raises insulin growth factors, and causes insulin resistance, leading to diabetes, and disrupts the endocrine pathways, which is linked to cancers and obesity.

Not only is it potentially harming you to consume too much meat, but it could be the biggest cause of global warming too. If you want to help your planet and care about global warming, then it might be good to cut down or cut out altogether your consumption of meat. The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than cars, planes, trains, and ships combined. Our attention has been very much on deforestation over the years, and rightly so, but preventing catastrophic warming is dependent on tackling our worldwide meat and dairy consumption, too. Eating a plant‐based diet is probably the best way you can reduce your impact on Planet Earth, not just for greenhouse gases, but also global acidification, plus land and water use. Life is all about choices and information.

Ditch the Fish

It’s hard to comprehend, but the entire planet is contaminated. The ocean contains a plethora of pollutants and toxins such as mercury, plastics, pharmaceutical drugs, and a complex amount of other highly health‐challenging chemicals. You take the drugs, pee in the toilet, flush the toilet, which then takes that water into the rivers, lakes, and streams, where it gets dumped into the sea. Man‐made pharmaceutical drugs can take thousands of years to break down, and Prozac (one of the most common antidepressants) is said to be creating havoc amongst dolphins, sharks, whales, and fish. Because of toxicity in their bodies, they have been reported to be beaching themselves in confusion instead of swimming into the ocean. Fish hold onto the toxins found in the water and then we eat them. We must ask ourselves if this is a good choice if we want great health? While they do have health‐enhancing properties such as being rich in omega 3, it is becoming more and more debatable how effective this is because of the amount of pollutants they are carrying.

Reduce the Alcohol or Stop Completely

OK, OK, I know I do like a few bubbles every now and again, but I am known amongst my party gals as the ‘lightweight’! In all seriousness I have very strong views on the UK’s drinking culture. In fact … I hate it! I am sorry for all you die‐hard UK fans. I really love my country and am proud to be British on so many levels, but when it comes to drinking, and I am having a discussion with any other nationality, I want to run as far away from admitting that I’m British as is humanly possible. I have been in proper hardcore drinking countries such as Russia and Lithuania on corporate training events, and boy, they can drink. But they start to tell me stories of how they cannot keep up with us Brits when it comes to all‐night sessions. What? This is not something to be proud of.

When I was growing up, I remember being desperate to be able to tolerate drink a little better, so I could stay at the bar with my friends, shot for shot. Little did I know at the time that being the tiniest out of all my friends (5ft 2in, and that’s pushing it!) I literally didn’t have the body build to be able to tolerate large volumes of alcohol in this way, so it wasn’t my fault that I passed out quicker than everyone else. It was human biology! The human body is made up of more water than anything else. The water is mostly stored in the blood so the taller and heavier a person is, the bigger their circulation, and the more water they carry. When alcohol enters the bloodstream, it gets diluted by water, lessening its impact. Then, the more water there is, the more alcohol gets diluted. So, it’s official, the larger your body is, the more watered down your drinks become. This can also explain why men are generally better at holding their booze than us ladies. A man is 60% water, and a woman 55%, so even with equal body mass it would be an uneven contest! Sorry ladies, but as much as you may want to argue this point, we are just not as well equipped to tolerate alcohol in the way a man’s body is. And we are also prone to more liver toxicity and other complications from drinking to excess.

Generally, though, drinking lots of alcohol is just not great for us. We all know that next‐day feeling. The headache, feeling tired and groggy, not to mention the detrimental effect on our appearance. It also increases our risk of other, much more serious diseases including breast cancer, oral cancers, heart disease, strokes, and cirrhosis of the liver. It has a detrimental effect on our mental health, can lead to depression, affect fertility, and shrink our brain. There are conflicting studies to suggest that a glass of alcohol used as a relaxant can have benefits, but the risk of increasing serious disease is so apparent now that you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? So if you like a few glasses every now and then you are not going to get shot down in flames. Just make sure you are balancing it with a lorryload of alkalizing fruits and vegetables the next day to put the body back in order. However, if you are regularly binge drinking or drinking several glasses every day, you need to seriously reconsider your lifestyle choices, and the reasons behind your drinking may also need to be addressed.

Smoking

There are so few people that actually still do but if you participate in the odd puff here’s what it does to you. Nicotine is an addictive substance, I think we all know that by now. It stimulates dopamine in the brain, which is responsible for pleasurable sensations such as boosting your mood, alleviating minor depression, and giving you an overall sense of well‐being. But, the more you smoke, the more your nerve cells become immune to the pleasure, so as with any drug, you need more and more to get that high. While smoking may make you feel good temporarily, it’s slowly killing your body. It is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. Let’s start with the bad breath first, and the yellow stains on your teeth. No one wants that now, do they? It also leads to premature wrinkles, gum disease, and tooth loss. So what’s the attraction? Plus, your poor immunity gets a hammering every time you have a little puff.

People who smoke from a young age are more likely to continue smoking into adulthood, which could eventually lead to heart issues and increase their risk of stroke and permanent respiratory issues, in turn leading to progressive loss of function and a condition known as emphysema. This disease causes the air sacs in your lungs to deteriorate, reducing the surface area which makes it hard to breathe. I think all children should be taken to hospitals where you can see people living with emphysema. My great aunt, whom I really loved, had this condition and it was horrific to watch someone deteriorate in this way. Almost suffocating to death. And please don’t be fooled into vaping either. Although e‐cigarettes do not produce smoke, the vapour is not harmless. The aerosol from the e‐cigarettes contains many potentially harmful chemicals, including lead and other heavy metals. It also has flavourings including diacetyl which has been linked to lung disease. There have not been nearly enough studies on these devices yet, but I can only say one thing. The only substance we are meant to breathe into our lungs is fresh air! Full stop! That’s it. Nothing else is safe enough for you to dabble with.

Remove the White Stuff

Sugar is considered by some to be as bad as heroin in the way it is processed and used, sugar dulls the brain, impairs organ function, strips the body of calcium, taps mineral reserves, contributes to obesity, depression, and cellular death. It is officially a poison. Refined sugar is stripped of all its nutrients, and then we are back to the same scenario as the milk. In order for our body to process this substance that has no nutrients, it must rob its own reserves of vital vitamins and minerals. It will target calcium in the bones and teeth because calcium is the primary mineral the body uses to neutralize high acid levels in the cells. Then there is a danger of being left with toxic minerals when there is not enough calcium left to fight the acid. That may lead in turn to dental plaque, osteoporosis, arthritis, kidney stones, and hardening of the arteries.

You see sugar alters our blood chemistry, and critical enzymes are unable to do their job when minerals are depleted. When this imbalance is created our digestion is all over the place and our immune system weakens. Sugar is very difficult for the body to break down, even as little as a tablespoon creates a strain on the body and it takes a lot of effort from magnesium, sodium, and potassium to restore the balance. With a daily diet of refined sugar, now in fatty acid form, the liver begins to swell, causing a backup. So it has to go into the blood which then stores it in inactive places such as your butt, belly, thighs, and stomach. Sugar kills off the good bacteria and causes deficiencies in B vitamins (the energy‐enhancing vitamins) which can disturb sleep, increase memory fog, and in the long term can lead to depression and dementia.

Take our average breakfast for an example of how much sugar we take in at one sitting. Sometimes half the ingredients in cereal are made of sugar and 2/3 of a cup of fruit‐flavoured yoghurt can be loaded with up to 2 teaspoons of sugar. A bottle of orange juice can contain 10 teaspoonsful. And that’s meant to be the healthy option! The rule is to avoid anything with refined sugar. Have a gorgeous health‐enhancing green juice for your breakfast instead. You will feel energized, invigorated, and focused for the day. You certainly don’t need a mix of processed junk to send you into a fog before your day has even started. And please don’t go for the same foods, but just the sugar‐free version. Many artificial sweeteners have been potentially linked to all sorts of serious diseases, including cancer, and if they were so good anyway, why isn’t everyone super skinny? If you make sure you feed your body with excellent nourishment, your sugar cravings will naturally reduce anyway. It’s a work in progress, and something that is hard to do because of the constant temptation that surrounds us, but it is possible to kick this habit for good.

Remove Stress – Get It Out of Your Life!

For those of you in your twenties, I don’t think you will understand what I mean by this. I don’t mean that in an offensive or patronizing manner, but when you are twenty you are just loving life and living it to the max with millions of friends, parties, and socializing. This is the way it’s meant to be for the majority of us! I know I am generalizing here, and not everyone is the same, but basically that was me and most of my friends in our twenties and it was fabulous. I would let any old Tom, Dick, or Harry into my life. Energy vampires, happy laughter givers, bitches from hell, adorable kind souls, loud offensive nutters, quiet and shy introverts, and vivacious extroverts. They were all there. As many different types of people as possible! Bring them on! Then, in your thirties, you wise up a little to the people you love and start to value people more and realize what they bring to you and you to them. You might pop out a few little bambinos or not as the case may be, you might adopt, get IVF, buy five dogs, a houseboat, and a 4x4, but by the time you reach your forties you are beginning to question things and people more than before. Material things begin to have less meaning.

I am not quite so brave yet, but my friends that are in their fifties are harsh! Basically, watch out world … They are spitting out friends, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, toy boys, puppies without a care in the world. They take no prisoners! They have learnt that finally they need no crap in their lives. If someone has a negative effect on you, ditch them. They don’t care who it is but know that you no longer have to ‘people please’ because it causes you stress. Negative people bring negative situations, and negative situations cause disharmony to your precious beautiful bodies. Stress will cause you harm and manifest your disease process, affecting your gut, skin (could be the major cause of eczema and psoriasis), hair, nails, heart and lungs, mind and sanity. It affects your muscles and joints, your ability to think rationally and make decisions correctly, and causes a high level of anxiety and sleepless nights. It can affect your sex life, make you feel depressed, and crush your confidence. Make a list of all the things that are stressing you out and remove them from your life. No mercy and no prisoners. And if you can’t fix it or get rid of it, it’s not worth worrying about. As the Dalai Lama said: ‘If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.’

Get Moving

I have spent a lot of time in the library for peace and quiet whilst writing. At my regular haunt, there is a beautiful sweeping staircase leading up to the quiet area on the first floor and I cannot tell you how many people I have seen use the lift to get up to this floor. It’s one thing if you have a medical condition, disability, or injury and you can’t climb the stairs, but if not, get your lazy little bootie walking up those stairs. The importance of exercise is obvious and we have covered that in Chapter 4. But make decisions every day that are going to get you moving just that little bit more. Vacuum your house frequently, mow the lawn, take an extra flight of stairs just for the sake of it. Park your car further away from the ticket machine, park two extra blocks away from your work, walk to get your groceries instead of getting the tube or the subway.

When my beautiful daughter and I were in New York City recently, we walked everywhere. You can see so much more and get your bearings better in any city, and I guarantee you that everything’s a lot closer than you think. We just get conditioned into habits that are difficult to break. Make time to walk to work. Factor that into your day and keep your trainers in your bag at all times so there are no excuses. It’s a fact that sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes, and increase your risk of high blood pressure, colon and numerous other types of cancers, and your risk of depression and anxiety. It’s plain and simple … get moving as much as you can.

Ditch the Medication

I’m getting into dangerous territory here, and I know I must be careful what I say. Some people have to be on medication for specific health issues, but all medication without exception is challenging to your liver and will result to some level of toxicity within your body. If you are taking numerous medications, prescription or otherwise, once you reach five or more different types you are entering into something called polypharmacy and the risk of harmful effects, drug interactions, and hospitalization begins to increase. The craziest thing of all is that the people that are the sickest take the most drugs, but they are the most vulnerable to unpredictable effects, not only on the disease and their well‐being but also interactions between the drugs themselves. Then the more you take, the more drugs you need to counteract the side effects of the drugs you are already taking. Madness!

As we get older the brain becomes more sensitive to drug effects, and medications stay longer in the body due to the fact that we have less muscle and more body fat. Our bodies contain less water so medications can become more concentrated, and our liver and kidneys do not process medications as effectively as they did when we were younger. Regardless of your age or your disease, check that you really do need to be taking the medication that you on, or as many pills as you are taking. Question your doctor if you are not sure why you are taking it, and make sure it is necessary for you and your disease. Gone are the days where you said ‘yes sir, no sir’. Doctors don’t know everything, and nor do I, but it is your right to question and make the best decisions that you can for your own body. Take control, get all the facts, and make sure you are not polluting your environment (body) any more than you have to.

Don’t Avoid the Sun

We have been told for so long to avoid the sun because it’s bad for us, and yes, the harsh UV rays are dangerous if you are baking yourself for hours on end laying in the midday sun. But a burst of sunshine with no sunscreen on is a breath of fresh air to your body – literally! Sunshine boosts your levels of serotonin, the body’s natural happy hormone. Just 5 to 10 minutes of exercise outdoors (a walk in the park will do) is enough to make you feel less stressed and happier. Not only that, serotonin can act as a natural appetite suppressant helping you to maintain a healthy weight. High levels of vitamin D can boost your memory and protect you against cancer, help to increase your fertility and maintain strong bones and gorgeous skin. Being woken up gradually by the sun’s natural light switches off melatonin, the hormone that stimulates sleep, which improves your energy and mood for the day, so get rid of the blackout blinds and let the natural light wake you.

People who do not get enough sunlight have altered cellular defence mechanisms that can predispose them to excessive inflammation, which can result in autoimmune diseases such as asthma, psoriasis, dermatitis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. Basically, do not avoid the sun completely. Your body needs it. A little sunlight every day (even if you live in a cold dark country you can still get vitamin D on a cloudy day) can reduce the number of activated cells that lead to inflammation and doing so you help reduce your risk of serious diseases.

Do not Compromise on Sleep

I am a bit of a night owl, and always have been. I do my best writing when everyone else in my household is in bed. I guess there is an element of comfort knowing that everyone is safe under one roof and when I know my children are safe and happy all is OK with my world. But I also love early morning runs, and I know I need eight hours’ sleep in order to function at my best, so getting this balance is a challenge for me. Some people genuinely need less than the average eight hours, but any less than six and you are getting into deprivation territory. However, if I go to bed at 1 or 2 a.m. I do not feel that great the next day, even if I do get the same number of hours. Why is this? The sleep you get before midnight has been scientifically proven to be better for you as it can restore your body more efficiently. Every hour of sleep you get before midnight is worth three times as much and better for your overall health than the after‐midnight sleep. Before electricity everyone went to bed early and woke up early. That’s because the sun helps guide your sleep/wake cycle, making your daily life much easier to manage.

While you sleep your immune system releases a type of small protein called cytokines. If you are sick or injured these cytokines help fight body trauma, infection, and inflammation. That’s why our immune system becomes compromised if we don’t get enough sleep. Sometimes you can go to bed with a headache and wake up without it! It’s a small miracle! Your stress hormone cortisol also decreases while you sleep which gives your body the welcome rest that it needs in order to set about all its restoring and repairing of your luscious little cells. When you are deprived of sleep, your sympathetic nervous system activity increases, which is also mirrored by an increase in blood pressure. Investigations are still going on to see if there is a relationship between decreased sleep duration and the increased risk of heart disease, which I think is very likely. There are numerous hormones released while you are sleeping, such as melatonin, which is secreted by the pineal gland, an important process that helps to control your sleep patterns.

People that do shift work can get really messed‐up sleep cycles and this can take a negative toll on their health. Around 10% of shift workers have a diagnosed ‘shift work sleep disorder’ which involves ill effects from sleep deprivation. They can experience fatigue, weight gain, lack of concentration, high cholesterol, and memory issues. In fact, anyone who doesn’t get enough sleep can suffer damaging effects over time. Being more emotional, moody, or angry is a classic symptom of sleep deprivation. Your body becomes less resilient against viruses and infections and releases more insulin, increasing the risk of diabetes. Your chances of having an accident are much higher too, making sleep deprivation extremely dangerous in some circumstances. The effects on the brain from lack of sleep are similar to the effects of drinking too much alcohol. Yet drowsy driving does not get nearly as much attention as drunk driving. Drivers who sleep less than four hours the night before have 11 times the crash rates of drivers who slept seven or more hours a night.

I remember coming back from Australia a few years ago. I had never really suffered from jet lag to that extent before, but it was utterly horrendous. I had to do a simple one‐hour journey to work two days after returning home from our trip, and it wasn’t until I got in the car that I realized how disorientated I felt. I had to concentrate on every tiny move I was making. Normally driving a car is an automatic procedure. It was the strangest out‐of‐body experience I have ever had. Needless to say I got 10 minutes up the road, pulled over, and slowly made my way back home to bed. I felt completely out of control, my coordination was all over the place and my brain was without doubt dangerously out of sync with my body!

And have you ever looked closely in the mirror after a few nights of poor sleep. It ain’t pretty! The boost in the human growth hormone from restful sleep is related to an increase in the production of collagen, the protein that gives skin its elasticity and firmness and helps keeps wrinkles at bay. If the only reason you want to get a good night’s sleep is because you want to keep your glowing youthful appearance, that’s good enough for me. Just know that getting enough sleep is vital for great lasting health and vitality.

Ditch the Microwave

I wish I could leave it there without any explanation, as in my eyes it’s utterly unnecessary and not one of us really needs this device in our house. We have enough radiation and pollution bombarding our fabulous bodies at the best of times. Why would you want to cook your food (because it would be convenience food anyway, packaged and processed) in a microwave oven? Yes, I know it’s quick, but I believe it zaps the nutrition out of your food like a leach sucking blood. It becomes dead food. And in addition, the non‐ionizing radiation of the microwave can cause changes in your blood and heart rate. It’s a toxic risk you can do without, despite how safe it is claimed to be. And what exactly do you need it for anyway? To cook your jacket potatoes? To heat up your milk? Organize your meal planning better and cook them in the oven, or heat it on the stove.

Ditch the Mobile Phone at Bedtime

The Californian Department of Public Health, along with many other public health officials, warns that the radio frequency energy emitted from your phone while you sleep could increase your risk of brain cancer and tumours of the acoustic nerve and salivary glands. And in any case, it can interfere with sleep leading to nightmares and regular wakening. If you carry your phone around during the day in your bra or you pop it in your pocket you could be causing far more harm than you realize. Sperm cells can be damaged, and prolonged exposure to mobile phone radiation has been linked to many types of cancers including breast and testicular. The World Health Organization has classified mobile phones and any wireless device as a 2B risk which means they are ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’. Human blood exposure to cell phone radiation has a 300% increase in genetic damage in the form of micronuclei (the name given to the small nuclei that form during cell division). This poses a health threat much greater than that of smoking or asbestos exposure. Anyone that has used a mobile phone continuously for 10 years or more is at a far greater risk of eye and brain cancer, on the side of the head most likely to have had the phone closest too. Switch to aeroplane mode at night, or better still remove your device from your room completely and sleep phone free!

Toxic Cleaning Products Need to Go

Chemicals from many household cleaning products could be harmful to your health, especially your lovely lungs. Asthma and other allergies can be directly worsened by using cleaning chemicals, not to mention the risk of cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption, and neurotoxicity. If something says quite clearly on the label, ‘Hazardous to humans’, it’s not something we should be spraying in the air we breathe on a daily basis. There are a whole range of non‐toxic products on the market now, but you can also make your own from extremely simple ingredients. Vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils are all amazing when it comes to a sparkling house. Why put yourself in unnecessary danger when you don’t have to? I don’t know about you, but if I go into a house or a building where they use plug‐in air fresheners, it makes me feel like I can’t breathe properly. Using aromatherapy oils to make the place smell wonderful is so much better for your health and can offer therapeutic healing effects too. With a little time, effort, and thought you can easily have non‐toxic household products. It’s such a simple thing to change, with massive benefits to your health.