The Baby Boomer Diet

The health challenges now facing Baby Boomers didn’t happen overnight. They were created in the same way they must be confronted—step by step.

The Principle of Step by Step is a universal law and is not unique to the Baby Boomer Diet. It can be seen throughout nature and in hundreds of activities we complete each day. Every tree that matures does so in an orderly fashion, adhering to an imprinted set of steps it has followed for hundreds or thousands of years. A simple seed is planted in the ground, watered, tended, fed, and given sunlight; and eventually it grows to tower over the forest that nurtured and protected it. It does so day after day, month after month, year after year. Time-lapse photography collapses this progressive evolution, making the gradual, methodical process of growth seem quick and dramatic. In reality, though, it takes time to learn, to change, and to see the fruits of our efforts.

One of the loveliest gifts that comes with the passing of years is a deeper appreciation and understanding of this process. Most of us would never give up the wisdom we have gained over time … step by step … even if we were allowed to start our lives over again. Without this wisdom, we’d simply make the same mistakes again anyway. It’s how we learn … step by step.

The Principle of Step by Step also tells us that we can’t do everything we would like to do all at once. If we try, we will surely fail.

By the time you have finished reading this book, you will have learned many tools to help you reverse aging. But please, don’t try to pick up all of them right away. You can’t. If you take a minute to tune in to your intuition, certain tools will seem more appealing and easier for you to use. It will seem more urgent for you to adopt some, and your intuition will tell you to try these first. A few of the tools in this book may be ones you’ve been using for years, while others are the missing pieces that will excite you with new possibilities and inspire you to take action. Still, new tools are best introduced step by step; master one or two, and then add another when you are ready to do so.

The step-by-step concept is one of the most important healing concepts to embrace. Yet we often take it for granted and overlook it due to its simplicity. However, this universal law answers important questions: (1) How long will it take to rejuvenate and heal? and (2) Where do I start, and what steps do I take first?

Let’s answer the first question first, because part of the Step by Step Principle is about time—taking the time to heal.

The seasons of the year have an order. We cannot violate this order—we cannot go from winter directly to summer without first having spring. In spiritual traditions, this is the principle of dawning: dawn occurs little by little in the transition from night to day, and so it goes for all things in nature.

Unfortunately, we often spurn the Step by Step Principle, and our health suffers as a result. An example of this is when we are unwilling to take the time to get over a cold or the flu and reach for medicine and antibiotics as a “quick cure.” This suppresses our immune system and weakens our vital life forces. A strong, hardy body will naturally cleanse … pushing out toxins. Taking unnecessary drugs only drives these toxins back into the cells and makes our blood even more acidic. Drugs stop the cleansing process, which the body uses to get rid of illness. Disease is driven deeper into the body, giving the potential for an even more serious illness later. In taking drugs, we halt the body’s self-regulating effort to eliminate its toxins step by step. If we allow nature to take its course, cleansing and healing will take place, also step by step. (Please note that cessation of medication should be undertaken with your doctor’s supervision.)

Anti-Aging Application

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The Principle of Step by Step, with its emphasis on conquering infection and building energy, has clear anti-aging benefits. Infections in the body cause inflammation, the build-up of free radicals, hormone imbalances, and nutritional deficiencies, all of which are key factors in why we age.

Our unwillingness to take time got us into trouble when we replaced home-cooked meals with fast foods. Unlike previous generations, few of us take the time to learn which foods are best for us—to plan menus, shop, and prepare them. Fast-food meals have allowed us to skip over these steps, resulting in diets that satisfy our taste buds and cravings but not our nutritional needs. We’ve aged as a result of toxins found in these foods and the lack of nutrients our bodies have needed to stay young.

The last chapter talked about how each one of us is unique, but there is one thing that is true for all of us: we have built up a lifetime of toxins that are gradually breaking down our bodies. This breakdown has been occurring step by step—in fact, the increments often were so small that we didn’t even notice them.

Accumulation of toxins, nutrient deficiencies, chronic infections, deteriorating organs, poor lifestyle habits, and genetic tendencies toward certain imbalances are now beginning to show. That unexpected appearance of a heart problem, cancer, bulging veins, hair loss, or yeast overgrowth didn’t happen “all of a sudden.” These conditions are the result of many assaults on your body over a long period of time. The good news is that healing also takes place in a step-by-step sequence, and all you have to do is start.

This book holds exciting answers for what to do, but please be realistic and know that for the remainder of our lives we Baby Boomers will be reversing the “follies of our youth.”

The rest of the chapter contains a simple formula that will provide you with a step-by-step road map for your journey’s start toward reaching the Fountain of Youth.

I’ve often been amazed by how no one has quite understood or followed this formula before now. Even the brightest and best holistic doctors don’t truly understand or adhere to this part of the Principle of Step by Step. Consequently, they have not been able to help us when we go to them for advice.

You have most likely heard the expression that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Where do you begin “stepping,” however, when you want to become young again?

The first step to regaining your youth and your health begins with four simple yet profound actions that you will focus on each day until you master them. While each is a separate action, they must all be accomplished together. That is not really difficult to do, as the four steps are related and intertwined; one supports the other. This is the most effective way to begin implementing the Body Ecology system of health and healing, and you can go at your own pace in customizing these steps to your unique needs.

First and foremost, create energy. Nothing else can happen until this initial step has been taken. Most of us Baby Boomers began experiencing loss of our prenatal jing energy by our 40s. It may first manifest itself in joint and muscle pain or a general feeling of life seeming kind of flat.

But there are other signs. Do you feel spacey and forgetful at times? Suffer hormonal imbalances? Are you losing muscle tone? Often constipated? Are you no longer sleeping well? These are just some of the many symptoms that show that your vital prenatal jing and your daily chi energy have been compromised.

The most important first step we can take as we begin to reverse aging is to restore our original energy. Baby Boomers must be particularly sensitive to this. We are a generation of overachievers. We tend to keep very busy and to feel that we aren’t really “living” unless we’re “doing.” We’ve never learned how to relax. Too many things compete for our time and our energy—the Internet, cell phones, television—filling our world with incessant chatter. We may not even be aware of how much the static has increased over the years. Now, as many of us begin to experience “empty-nest syndrome,” where we feel less “useful,” or encounter new stresses such as having to take care of our parents, we must begin to learn how to conserve our energy and find ways to nourish ourselves.

I can certainly see a time coming soon when Baby Boomers begin to form support groups and live in health-based communities where the focus is on educating and encouraging people to slow down and build relaxation into their daily routines. Take a few moments to consider the things that are draining you of vital energy: Not enough sleep? Too many commitments? Toxic relationships? The amazing superfoods and anti-aging therapies found later in this book will provide you with excellent solutions to begin renewing your energy day after day … step by step.

During the course of your lifetime thus far, how many different drugs have you taken? Vaccinated often as children and given frequent rounds of antibiotics, ours is the first generation to reap the rewards and the devastating effects of pharmaceutical-driven medical care. Birth-control pills were taken by most of the women in our generation, and many of us used and still use recreational drugs. Alcohol has played an important role in our social life, and we are the first generation to have so much sugar abundantly available whenever we want it.

Well, today eight out of ten Americans suffer from candidiasis. The drugs, alcohol, stress, and sweet foods so available to us have accelerated this yeast/fungal problem (which you are most likely experiencing right now). The life we lead gives fungi even more opportunity to thrive. This serious chronic infection will only become more acute as our immunity diminishes with age, and this sets the stage for cancer.

The Body Ecology system of health and healing (“The Diet”) originally began as a way to conquer yeast infections. It is the most complete and comprehensive antifungal diet available. The Diet and its 7 Principles are just as effective for preventing and reversing aging as well. Infections cause inflammation, which then causes us to age, and diagnosing and conquering them all is essential to any anti-aging program.

When infections like candida are corrected through the Body Ecology approach, energy automatically goes up, and susceptibility to disease goes down. Other common infections most of us are struggling with include viral herpes; bacterial infections in the gums; low-grade, chronic bacterial infections in the bladder; and H. pylori bacterial infection in the stomach, causing ulcers.

These all deplete the body of energy. When they are conquered, the energy to rejuvenate and to stay young becomes yours.

When the digestive tract doesn’t work well, nothing works well. As a Boomer, you may be experiencing some of the signs of a compromised digestive tract, such as constipation, diarrhea, inflammation in the gut, irritable bowel syndrome, and flatulence. It is essential that you heal the gut lining and establish a healthy inner ecosystem, repopulating the intestinal tract with friendly microflora.

When first starting The Diet, during the first five to ten days, many people with an inflamed mucosal lining will want to “rest” the gut by eating primarily soft or liquid foods—broths, purees, and green smoothies—and also lightly steamed leafygreen and ocean vegetables.

These toxins are in our organs and in our cells. They come to us from nutritionally deficient, poorly digested, and poorly combined foods. They are in the water, in the air, and even in our self-destructive feelings. They are in drug residues and ingested metals, such as lead, aluminum, and cadmium. We have inherited toxins from our parents, and passed them on to our own children. Toxins snuff out our spiritual power and our intuition. When they are removed from our lives, boundless energy is created.

(The concept of cleansing will be covered in greater detail in the next chapter, as it is the third principle of the Baby Boomer Diet.)

Taking a step-by-step approach to healing doesn’t mean that your progress has to be slow. You can choose how quickly you embrace the steps, and you may experience immediate improvements in energy and vitality. On the other hand, you might need to go at a more moderate pace. Be realistic. Don’t take on more than you can handle. When you feel comfortable with one step, move on to another.

For example, when you first start the Baby Boomer Diet, you may have very uncomfortable symptoms of “die-off.” This is because you’re beginning to create more energy, and your body wants to eliminate all those toxins stored in your cells. As it dispels them, unpleasant symptoms occur. You will soon learn how to deal with this “cleansing,” but if you absolutely can’t stand it or if you need to feel better for work, you can slow down the cleansing by transitioning slowly into The Diet little by little … step by step. You choose.

Here are four simple steps you can take in the beginning that can make an enormous difference in your goal to regain your youthful energy and appearance:

1. Cut back on or eliminate sugar and high-carb sweets. Even those so-called energy bars are loaded with sugar, depleting your essential prenatal life force. Instead, you will be introduced to several alternative sweeteners that will allow you to still enjoy the sweet taste without the damaging and aging effects of sugars … even honey and the “healthy” sugars.

2. Change the oils you are currently eating to the extravirgin, unrefined fats and oils of The Diet. Later in this book you’ll be provided with a delicious array of fats and oils to keep you looking and feeling great. They also make eating more pleasurable.

3. Add some fermented foods to your diet, such as young coconut kefir (see Chapter 15). This is perhaps the most important step of all, as you’ll soon learn.

4. Pay attention to cleansing your colon. You might consider trying your first colonic, if you’ve never had one before (see Chapter 25). Cells also need to eliminate their toxic waste. When you’re constipated, your cells are, too. They also feel toxic, sluggish, and irritable. Actively cleansing with diet, herbs, colonics, and home enemas will soon become commonplace once our generation understands that we must purify our bodies to reclaim our youth. We have no choice, really.

Success comes step by step. That’s why you must be very determined to stick with The Diet until you master it. Advance according to your own personal pace, the one that supports you the best. Persevere. When you have a setback—an old symptom or reaction—take only the next step that allows you to get back on track. The beauty of this program is that if you do stay with it, you will have victory; you will successfully reverse the aging process and return to the youth and vitality you’ve been longing for.

As you begin to implement The Diet, I hope you will treat your body as an evolving experiment in self-awareness. Unlike other dietary approaches, the Body Ecology Way is not a short-term “fix,” but rather an ongoing journey of personal discovery and adaptation.