Part I - 12 Secrets to Health and Longevity: Keys to Good Nutrition and to Eating Healthy

Question: What would I say if someone asked me what they had to do to live a long and healthy life?

Answer: I'd say, "Do you want the short answer or the long answer?"

Here's my short answer...

Listen, seek, research, learn, study, and understand that there are keys of knowledge that will help you unlock the secrets to a long and healthy life. These keys to good nutrition and to healthy eating will open a whole new world of health, life, and vitality to you. I believe you were created by God and destined to a life of health and prosperity.

1. EAT ONLY HEALTHY ORGANIC NATURAL WHOLE FOODS

Eat foods that are grown organically, not with chemical pesticides and herbicides. Eat live whole foods, not processed foods. Eat natural foods, not artificial foods and additives. Eat foods that are grown naturally, without hormones and antibiotics. Eat raw foods. Try to eat at least 75% of your foods raw in their natural whole food state. Eat a lot of vegetables and greens, organic of course. Also eat plenty of fruits and berries. Eat non-GM foods; avoid all genetically modified and engineered foods. Eat whole food grains, legumes, beans, seeds, and nuts. Eat only organically grown and grass fed natural chicken, turkey, lamb, and beef. Eat only wild ocean fish with fins and scales, and avoid all farm raised fish and seafood scavengers. Eat only full spectrum Himalayan crystal salt, avoiding all table salt (sodium chloride). Eat traditionally fermented lactic acid foods like sauerkraut, sour pickles, miso, raw yogurt, raw kefir, apple cider vinegar, etc.

2. AVOID ALL MAN MADE PROCESSED "FOODS" MADE WITH THE FOLLOWING

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame, nutrasweet, splenda, sucrulose, saacharin; table salt (sodium chloride); white sugar, brown sugar, fructose, dextrose, sucrose, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup; white processed flour and enriched wheat flour; white processed rice; pasteurized and homogenized milk and dairy products; MSG, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce; cottonseed oil, palm oil, hydrogenated oil (trans fat) and partially hydrogenated oil, Crisco, Olestra, Olean, and all margarine products; canned and bottled juice, sodas, diet sodas, coffee, caffeine, caffeinated teas, and alcohol; shellfish scavengers (shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, scallops, oysters, etc.); deep-fried foods; all pork and pork products; deli luncheon meats loaded with sodium nitrates; "farm-raised" fish; fast food; junk food; artificial colors and flavors (toxic chemicals); anything labeled "fat free" or "sugar free" or "low carbs" or "net carbs;" chlorinated and fluoridated tap water; and anything microwaved. All of these things are toxic to your body and will poison your system. Avoid all these refined, processed, denatured, fattening, pre-packaged, sugar-laden, overcooked, toxic, man-made "food."

3. DRINK ONLY PURE NATURAL SPRING WATER

Drink your body weight in ounces every day. If you're 160 pounds, then drink 160 ounces of water a day. Never drink tap water that is loaded with chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride.

4. LEARN HOW TO EAT PROPERLY

This includes the following: eat only when you're really hungry; eat slowly and chew your food very well; relax when you eat and enjoy the experience; practice conscious under-eating (this is the number one longevity and health principle); eat your whole meal within a one-hour period; eat all fruit by itself; don't drink liquids during or right after your meal; and always remember to give thanks to God for the food He provides. Keep in mind that overeating is one of the main causes of premature aging and degenerative illnesses.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3 of these 12 secrets to health and longevity...

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul prospers." - 3 John 1:2

To your health, the Naked Nutrition Knight

JUST DO IT - Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy

"Life consists of a series of choices. The little choices that we make on a day-to-day basis are the same factors that affect our health tomorrow, next year, or in the next decade." - Ted Broer

One of the major keys to good nutrition and tips to eating healthy is this: JUST DO IT.

Your long-term health is determined by all the things that you do and don't do, as well as by all the things that you put into your body and don't put into your body on a daily basis. This day-to-day chain of small choices will determine the condition of your health in the days ahead. This string of little decisions will create a healthy future for you or an unhealthy future for you.

The simple, undeniable truth is this - YOU, and you alone, determine your health on a daily basis, which determines your long-term health or ill-health. You are the only one who chooses to put healthy foods and drinks into your body every day - or not. You are the only one who chooses to take a daily walk and get the necessary exercise your body needs - or not.

God has given you, and you alone, the solemn responsibility to feed your spirit, soul, and body on a daily basis with good, healthy, life-giving things. What are you doing about this God-given responsibility? Do you take it seriously, or are you careless with it?

I encourage you NOT to wait until you've been diagnosed with some terminal life-threatening illness to learn to value your health and protect it. NOW is the time to be wise and to value your health and to take preventative steps to protect it. Most of the medical industry is focused on the wrong thing; namely, they give all of their attention to the diagnosis and treatment of illness. Instead, they should be focusing much more attention on the PREVENTION of illness. I warn you that it's time to wake up and start taking preventative steps to protect your health, before it's too late.

NOW is the time to start eating right and living right. Don't wait any longer, and don't continue to put it off until later. There will never be a better time than right now to start changing your health and creating for yourself a healthy lifestyle. This blog is dedicated to helping you do just that.

TODAY is the first day of the rest of your life. Therefore, make the necessary changes to start turning your health around by making healthy food and drink choices and by incorporating walking or some other form of exercise into your daily routine.

JUST DO IT! Get on with it already. Stop procrastinating and move forward. You CAN do it!

Morning Health Declarations - Keys to Eating Healthy and to Good Nutrition

"I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers." - 3 John 2

Good morning, my faithful readers who have a deep desire to live a healthy, prosperous, and long life. I would like to share with you some more keys to eating healthy and good nutrition. Are you ready?

I call these my morning declarations. These are declarations of my purpose and intentions for each day related to my health and well being. I encourage you to write these down on a piece of paper and tape them to your bathroom mirror and/or your refrigerator. Every morning take a minute to declare these health purposes out loud before you start your day. In this way you will train your mind and body to work together to create a more healthy lifestyle. God bless you, this wonderful morning. The Naked Nutrition Knight

MORNING DECLARATIONS TO START YOUR DAY

"I will this day live a simple, sincere and serene life; repelling promptly every thought of impurity, discontent, anxiety, fear, and discouragement. I will cultivate health, cheerfulness, happiness, charity, and the love of brotherhood; exercising economy in expenditure, generosity in giving, carefulness in conversation, and diligence in appointed service.

I pledge fidelity to every trust and a childlike faith in God. I will be faithful in those habits of prayer, study, work, nutrition, physical exercise, deep breathing, and good posture. I shall fast for a 24 hour period each week, eat only healthy foods, and get sufficient sleep each night. I will make every effort to improve myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually ever day."

These morning declarations were written and used by Paul Bragg and Patricia Bragg.

You Become What You Eat is a Key to Good Nutrition and a Tip to Eating Healthy

Daily Quote: "I become what I eat." - Frank Atkins

Good morning friends. I've noticed lately that my postings have been getting too long, so today I promise to try to keep it short. I'd like to share with you another key to eating healthy and to good nutrition, and it is simply this: you become what you eat.

Let that simple, yet profound thought permeate your being. Whatever you eat becomes a part of your body and your cells. What you put into your body, whether food or drink, will have a powerful effect on your total physical well-being, either for good or for bad. The laws of nature and of God say that what you sow, you will reap. What you eat and drink will manifest in your body, either as health, vitality, and longevity, or as ill-health, sluggishness, lack of energy, physical problems, various kinds of illnesses, premature aging, and eventually premature death.

What you eat and drink today is what you become tomorrow. Your past and present eating habits, whether good or bad, will determine your future health, either positively or negatively.

WHAT GETS BETTER CAR, YOUR BODY OR CAR?

Here's an analogy to think about. Compare your body to a car. What do you put in your car every week and every few months? What does your car need to run properly and last a long time? You might answer the following: it needs good quality gasoline, good quality oil, water and coolant, transmission fluid, the proper amount of air in the tires, and regular preventative maintenance. That's exactly right! If you take good care of your car, provide it with the right fuel, and give it regular preventative maintenance, then your car will last you many years and will be a real blessing to your life. However, if you never change the oil, you're going to wreck your engine real fast. If you put water or kerosene in your tank instead of good quality gasoline, you'll destroy your engine in a few minutes. If you don't keep the water and coolant filled up, your engine will overheat and you could ruin your radiator and crack your engine block! Basically, if you don't take good care of your car, it won't perform properly, it will develop major problems, and it will eventually die prematurely.

Now, you've got to realize that your body is similar to your car. If you feed it healthy nutritious whole food, it will be strong, it will function properly, and it will last you a long time. However, if you don't feed it properly, and if you feed it unhealthy food, it will become weak, frail, sluggish, and soon it will stop functioning properly, and eventually it will break down and die prematurely. So...the question is:

Do you take better care of your car, lawnmower, motorcycle, boat, or power tools than you do your own body and your own health?

Given the health crisis in America today, most people take much better care of their cars and machines and tools than they do their own bodies. This is sad and tragic because it doesn't have to be that way. If you look at people's actions, the evidence supports the startling conclusion that people value their cars and machines more than they do their own bodies and health.

HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE?

It's very simple. Everyone needs to start taking responsibility for his or her own health. This begins, of course, with choosing to value your health and body more than you value your car and machines and tools. Make a decision today, right now, to love your body and value it. Decide right now to make the necessary changes to start loving your body and taking good care of it. Choose to start creating for yourself a healthy lifestyle which begins with good nutrition and eating healthy. Evaluate your eating habits and decide to break those poor eating habits and replace them with good eating habits.

Make a commitment to take complete charge of your health and the health of your family. Don't ever give that responsibility away again to anyone else, not even your doctor or the health care system or the government. You, and you alone, must be the Captain of your own health. Start doing your own research on good nutrition and find out exactly what your body needs to function properly and to achieve optimum health. Remember, you become what you eat. This simple, yet profound truth actually goes much farther than that. As Patricia Bragg states in her book, Bragg Healthy Lifestyle,

"You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, say, and do."

Keys to Good Nutrition & Eating Healthy Include Avoiding Synthetic Vitamins From China

Daily Quote: "Most vitamin pills have vitamins and minerals in a proportion never found in nature. These inexpensive 'vitamins'(from the cheapest grades available) in many cases are chemically produced and are not natural. It is true that you are most assuredly deficient in vitamins and minerals. The best way to correct this deficiency is by juicing. The second best way is to take whole food supplements. These are not vitamin and mineral pills. Whole food supplements simply take organically produced vegetables and fruits and concentrate them into a convenient tablet [or powder]..." - Kevin Trudeau

China is Becoming the Largest Exporter of Synthetic Vitamins

Wondering what China has to do with keys to good nutrition and eating healthy? Let me explain. With all the bad press China has been getting related to the poisoned pet food scandal and the reported cases of toxic toothpaste and food, you may be wondering what’s next.

Put on your seatbelt because it may get much worse now that China is one of the largest exporters of synthetic vitamins and many drugs. Are yo aware that over 90% of all Vitamin C sold in the U.S. is made in China and that China makes the majority of Vitamins A, B-12, and E? Since the F.D.A. does not require country-of-origin labels for any of our drugs, foods, or supplements, there is no way for consumers to know where their vitamins come from.

Americans who care about their health should beware of the source of their vitamins and drugs because they may come from unsafe sources such as China. One major problem is that China suffers from the same conflict of interest that we are seeing here in America, namely that regulators have financial interest in the industries they are supposed to be inspecting and regulating.

So, what can you do about this?

Take your health into your own hands and create for yourself a healthy lifestyle based on eating live whole foods farmed locally. The best source of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes is, and always will be, fresh organic live whole food grown in your local area. The second best source is juicing fresh organic produce. And the third best source is live whole food based nutritional supplements made from organic vegetables and fruit, such as "The Feast."

And remember, you can’t make up for a poor diet by simply adding synthetic vitamins and inorganic mineral supplements as a kind of “magic bullet” approach to health.

Health comes from living a nutritious and healthy lifestyle, which always begins with fresh whole foods that are loaded with the nutrition your body needs and can process.

References: The Seattle Times (6/2/07), Dr. Mercola

Keys to Good Nutrition Include the Tip of Eating 5-13 Servings of Healthy Fruits & Vegetables A Day

An extremely important key to good nutrition is eating lots of fruits, berries, greens, and vegetables every day. In fact, the government recommends that people eat 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day. Unfortunately, most Americans only eat about 3 servings a day, which is far below what their bodies need. Keep reading because I've got some valuable tips to eating healthy and creating for yourself a healthy lifestyle.

I would like to give you the link to The Harvard School of Public Health that recently published findings on this topic. It is copyrighted 2007 and has a long list of references at the end of the article.

The Harvard School of Public Health article on fruits and vegetables

One of the conclusions they came to after much research was this:

"The latest dietary guidelines call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one's caloric intake.(1) For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings, or 4½ cups per day."

Let me ask you a simple question:

Have you had your 5-13 recommended servings of fruits and vegetables today? How about your kids?

There are tremendous health benefits to eating 5-13 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Read some of the paragraphs I have quoted below from the Harvard study to find out what these amazing health benefits are.

Now, I can just hear some of you moms out there saying to yourself that there's no way to get your kids to eat that many healthy fruits and vegetables every day. Right?

Wrong! There is a way.

It's easy, convenient, affordable, mostly organic, lifestyle-friendly, and actually tastes great.

It's called, "The FEAST." What is it?

The Feast is a live, whole food based InstaFresh juice that you simply mix with water and drink. It's like having the whole produce aisle in the supermarket in a glass to drink & be done with it.

What's in it? It's a live whole food nutritional supplement that's loaded with 30 fruits and berries and 30 powerful greens and vegetables. It's also got 11 seeds, nuts, and sprouts, living probiotics, and 83+ active enzymes and fulvic minerals. It's simply the easiest and best way to ensure that you and your kids are getting your daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Of course, you still want to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to get all the fiber your body needs, but this super juice is one simple way to fill in the gaps when you're not getting the full recommended 5-13 daily servings. Give it a try; you've got nothing to lose and your health to gain.

If you're interested in more information, you can click on the link on the top left of this blog entitled, "Try the Feast," and it will take you to a website that will give you a lot more information about it. You can also call the following number and listen to a recorded message by the creator of the Feast, Uri LeBaron. Simply call: 1-732-463-6339.

My wife and I love drinking the Feast every day, and our kids love it too. For me, it's been the single most nutritional experience of my life.

The Naked Nutrition Knight

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For your added benefit, I have included some paragraph excerpts below from the Harvard School of Public Health article dated 2007 and referenced above. Please take a few moments and read what they have discovered about the value and power of fruits & vegetables. I strongly encourage you to click the link above and read the article in its entirety.

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"Over the past 30 years or so, researchers have developed a solid base of science to back up what generations of mothers preached (but didn't always practice themselves). Early on, fruits and vegetables were acclaimed as cancer-fighting foods. In fact, the ubiquitous 5-A-Day message (now quietly changing to Eat 5 to 9 A Day) seen in produce aisles, magazine ads, and schools is supported in part by the National Cancer Institute. The latest research, though, suggests that the biggest payoff from eating fruits and vegetables is for the heart.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Cardiovascular Disease

There is compelling evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The largest and longest study to date, done as part of the Harvard-based Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, included almost 110,000 men and women whose health and dietary habits were followed for 14 years. The higher the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables, the lower the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Compared with those in the lowest category of fruit and vegetable intake (less than 1.5 servings a day), those who averaged 8 or more servings a day were 30% less likely to have had a heart attack or stroke.(2)

Although all fruits and vegetables likely contribute to this benefit, green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and mustard greens; cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale; and citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit (and their juices) make important contributions.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Gastrointestinal Health

One of the wonderful components of fruits and vegetables is their indigestible fiber. As fiber passes through the digestive system, it sops up water like a sponge and expands. This can calm the irritable bowel and, by triggering regular bowel movements, can relieve or prevent constipation.(10) The bulking and softening action of insoluble fiber also decrease pressure inside the intestinal tract and so may help prevent diverticulosis (the development of tiny, easily irritated pouches inside the colon) and diverticulitis (the often painful inflammation of these pouches).(11)

Fruits, Vegetables, and Vision

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables also keeps your eyes in good shape. You may have learned that the vitamin A in carrots aids night vision. Other fruits and vegetables help prevent two common aging-related eye diseases - cataract and macular degeneration - which afflict millions of Americans over age sixty-five. Cataract is the gradual clouding of the eye's lens, a disk of protein that focuses light on the light-sensitive retina. Macular degeneration is caused by cumulative damage to the macula, the center of the retina. It starts as a blurred spot in the center of what you see. As the degeneration spreads, vision shrinks.

Free radicals generated by sunlight, cigarette smoke, air pollution, infection, and metabolism cause much of this damage. Dark green leafy vegetables contain two pigments, lutein and zeaxanthin, that accumulate in the eye. These two appear to be able to snuff out free radicals before they can harm the eye's sensitive tissues.(12)

In general, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains appears to reduce the chances of developing cataract or macular degeneration. (13-15)

The Bottom Line: Recommendations for Fruit and Vegetable Intake

Fruits and vegetables are clearly an important part of a good diet. Almost everyone can benefit from eating more of them, but variety is as important as quantity. No single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you need to be healthy. The key lies in the variety of different fruits and vegetables that you eat.

Some basic fruit and vegetable tips:

* Try to eat more fruits and vegetables. If you need 2,000 calories a day to maintain your weight and health, aim for at least nine servings (4½ cups) a day.
* Choose a variety of different fruits and vegetables. It's easy to get into a rut when it comes to the food you eat. Break out and try a wider variety - include dark-green, leafy vegetables; yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables; cooked tomatoes; and citrus fruits." - Harvard School of Public Health, 2007

The aim of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source is to provide timely information on diet and nutrition for clinicians, allied health professionals, and the public. The contents of this Web site are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The information does not mention brand names, nor does it endorse any particular products.

©2007 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.

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Daily Quote: "Have you had your 5-13 servings of fruits and vegetables today? How about your kids? - The Naked Nutrition Knight

Eating Healthy Good Nutritious Food Will Be Your Remedy

"Your Food Will Be Your Remedy," said Hippocrates, the great physician-teacher and father of medicine. In this profound maxim, Hippocrates described the secret to living a healthy lifestyle. Natural, organic, fresh fruits, berries, greens, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and sprouts have remarkable nutritive compounds that give life to the human body and help cleanse, purify, and rebuild the body when it is weakened and struggling to overcome ailments. These live whole foods are loaded with thousands of naturally occurring nutritional compounds, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, live enzymes, and amino acids in their natural synergistic state that can only be obtained from these live foods. These bioavailable nutrients cannot be isolated and placed into a synthetic vitamin or mineral supplement.

Now, think with me for a moment about your daily diet. Is the food you're eating being a "remedy" or a curse to your body? If you were to take Hippocrates' wisdom and apply it to your lifestyle, what would your eating habits look like? What kind of nutrition would you be putting into your body? Which denatured processed toxic foods would you stop buying and stop eating? What fresh produce would you start eating several times a day? I want this blog to be personal and practical, not theoretical. My hope is that the information you learn from this blog will lead you to make some very significant changes to your eating habits. Start applying this ancient wisdom to your diet today by making good nutritional choices one day at a time. Decide right now that your food will be your remedy and that you will start eating healthy.

Daily Quote: "True wisdom consists in not departing from nature, but molding our conduct according to her wise laws." - Seneca

Good Nutrition & Eating Healthy Are Some of the Keys to a Healthy Lifestyle

I want to begin by saying that it IS possible to be healthy and to create a healthy lifestyle IF you truly want it bad enough. In the end, you, and you alone, determine your health - not your doctor, not your parents, not your spouse, not your genes, and not even God. In fact, God has put the responsibility for your health into your own hands, with the recommendation that you choose LIFE and not death. Every day of your life you will have to make decisions about what you will eat and drink, what you will say and do, and what you will think about. In each of these decisions, you will be choosing life or death, health or ill-health.

This blog will focus on good nutrition and eating healthy as the cornerstone to living a healthy lifestyle. There are other important keys to health: regular exercise and deep breathing, drinking plenty of natural spring water daily, giving your body the rest it needs to rejuvenate itself, detoxifying your body and its environment, giving and receiving love and being forgiving, accepting, and thankful; and developing your spiritual life through a friendship with God. I will touch on these important keys to health occasionally, but the main focus of this blog will be on eating right and giving your body the good nutrition it needs to function the way that God intended it to.

You and I need to be wise regarding what we put into our bodies. The expression, "You are what you eat," is profoundly true and sobering. What we put into our bodies (food & drink) will determine what kind of life we will live. It's a simple "cause-effect" relationship. The cause is what we eat and drink, and the effect is the health or ill-health of our bodies. There is a spiritual principle involved here that comes from the Bible that says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." Think for a minute how this applies to what people "sow" into their bodies every day. Whenever a person eats right and puts good nutrition into his body, he will reap health and life. On the other hand, when a person eats badly and puts refined, denatured,toxic, processed food into his body, he will reap malnutrition, ill-health, and premature death. Unfortunately, most people are deceived about this basic principle, and they continue to eat the wrong foods, all the while mystified about the various ailments they are continually suffering from. I am writing this blog to help people get free from this deception, and to guide them to living a healthy lifestyle through changing the way that they eat.

Daily Quote: "You are what you eat, drink, breathe, think, say, and do." - Patricia Bragg