There’s a reason your precious little Fluffy’s weight and health is less than perfect during the holiday season, every year! And also there is a reason why humans feel frustration from the same results, every year!

We all have partaken of foods and drinks that compromise our health unaware. Sometimes your conscience or the people who care about you will say, “you are going to kill yourself if you keep eating that.” I think you know exactly what I mean.

We are what we eat. There’s plenty of proof that this statement is very true. After 4 ½ decades of passionate and dedicated research, I have my own truthful information on why people become overweight and sick. I also have the same perspective on why your beloved pets are becoming chubby and sick, and the cause is, surprisingly, the exact same issues.

When you consume refined and processed foods that damage your body, the result is immediate weight gain all the while you are loading your body with inflammatory ingredients in almost every meal you eat. And most likely at the same time, you are offering inflammation and poisoning foods to your own pet, unknowingly of course!

That’s right, little Fluffy’s current weight gain or illness wasn’t caused by accident. It was caused by what you feed him. Again, I’m not putting blame on you.         After all if you are like most folks, you would certainly do anything possible to keep your pet healthy and happy.

The problem is not you or Fluffy. The problem is the marketing of very addictive refined food.

Many only feed their pets what they eat themselves. Are you starting to get the picture? Pet food manufacturers usually load pet food with less than healthy ingredients–the same ones that are included in your food, like MSG. The most common factor in both is explained with one word: addiction. That’s what food manufacturers do best–addict you to their products (toxic actually) so you will keep coming back for

more, forever! At the same time, little Fluffy becomes addicted, and sick.

I know you have questions, and I have answers for you…many answers that make sense! Unfortunately most pets are fed leftovers from dinner, your leftovers–the same food that more than likely is making you overweight and sick!

How would you like to become extremely lean and healthy, and give the same results to your pets, while still eating your very own food? If you can get your own weight and health in order, then it’s quite possible you can help your pets also. And I can help you with that!

This is my passion and my mission in life. What works for you will work for your prized pet. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, that animals and humans are different.

I know what I am talking about: poison is poison, and I will teach you how to wise up to discover how to avoid these bad choices made in innocence and ignorance of the present day market reality!

Everything I teach is true–nothing more, nothing less! You can get this information in my new book Healed by Farm at johnrankinswayback.com. Fluffy will thank you, and you’ll like what you see in the mirror in just a short time from now. Blessings to you and yours, and to all your dear beloved pets who deserve only the best you can offer them.

Just seeing the words home-brewed on a food product makes one automatically assume the product is something that is probably healthy. If you are one who seeks to eat wisely, this might give a sense of comfort, thinking that by partaking you will be further down the road to greater health.

Truth in labeling and truth about really great health can be miles apart. When it comes to becoming or staying well, you need to know the difference.

How many times have you had an illness that no matter what natural products you ingested, applied, sprayed, etc., you were still sick days later? Well no more, as I have a remedy for you!

Brewing your own remedy might just be the easiest, cheapest and healthiest way to take care of your family during flu and virus season, without any side effects! (And with a bonus of not having to stand in a drug store line with dozens of other sick people, coughing!)

When the flu infects your body, it usually hits fast. One of the major complications of that infection is inflammation. Sinus cavities, esophagus, lungs and all your airways shrink. Breathing becomes a chore. Your heart beats under higher pressure. And your liver struggles to empty your body of the toxins that have invaded it.

Would you like to naturally and permanently rid your body of these problems? Live the John Rankin’s Way where prevention is the cure! Being well is a much nicer and easier way of living than being sick and having to fight off infections and diseases.

I know this is true for myself. I haven’t been sick in many, many years, not since discovering the way to excellent, consistently great health and faithfully living by these truths. So do what I do, and skip right past all the usual misery of the flu season!

I have many healthy recipes in my wellness arsenal. For the flu/virus infections, I invite you to try something that works great for my family and friends, and that should help you too.

My first tip is to stay away from other sick people. Then drink lots of this home-brewed anti-inflammation tea. Lastly, get ready to feel much better. This is a simple (but proven) tasty medicinal drink to help get you up and going when you’re down with the flu.

JOHN’S VIRUS/FLU-FIGHTING TEA RECIPE

Place a gallon of spring water in a large pot. Add ½ # ginger root sliced thin.

Add ½ # turmeric root sliced thin.

Add cardamom seeds from 10-12 cardamom pods, crushed. (or use the whole crushed pod too, since we will strain this when done.) Add 5-cinnamon sticks.

Add the juice of 2 lemons.

Add a small handful of fresh mint leaves. My favorite is spearmint.

Place the lid on the pot and cook this brew on low heat for up to 2 hours, stirring every 15-20 minutes.

You will need 3 or 4 quart jars. Add 6-8 tablespoons (about ½ cup) of local honey (know the beekeeper) to each of your jars.

Pour your fresh pot full of wonderful tasting home-brewed elixir through a strainer into each jar while still warm.

Cap and shake until honey is dissolved. Drink warm or refrigerate.

Drink at least a cup full in the morning and again in the evening. Drinking it all day long is not a problem if needed.

I have 4 ½ decades of research and a life experience that has allowed me to be extremely healthy and to help others find and stay on the right path to excellent health as well. I sincerely care about you and the health of your family.

I hope this message will help you and your family to use a more holistic approach to health. Start right now, and never stop living as close as possible to the natural gifts of our beautiful earth.

You can find more of my healthy recipes along with the exciting story of my journey…all available now in my new book “Healed by Farm’’ @johnrankinsway.com. Be well!

You’re going to do it. You know it will happen. So why does a large percentage of the Western world (including you) eat inflammatory weight gaining foods during the holidays? The kind that keeps them bloated with bad health? Most do this every year with the knowledge that after the crystal ball falls on New Year’s Eve, they will (again) wish they had eaten healthier, but couldn’t.

Most folks do this every year for a lifetime. Would you be interested in learning how to break this healthy cells-ravaging cycle? I might just be able to show you how in my extremely informative new book Healed by Farm. It only takes a short time to learn the johnrankinsway.

For those of you who need a little help getting through the holidays and keeping your health intact, I recommend the following10 easy to do but very important things that will keep your gut healthier, your inflammation lower, your immune system stronger and your weight lower, even if you haven’t changed your eating habits just yet and still eat terribly!

  1. Upon rising each morning drink a minimum 8 oz. water, even before your feet hit the floor. A human body is dehydrated after 8 hrs. of sleep. This will re-hydrate your organs such as kidneys, bladder, colon and liver– all while flushing out the bad toxins you ate the night before. The more you drink, the healthier you become. Water is cheap, so try some!
  2. Deep breathing. Take 10 deep breathes, half thru your mouth and half through your nose. Exhale slowly. Breath extremely deep into your lungs to the point you feel them expand. Do this 2-3 times daily for oxygenated muscles and a faster metabolism, which will give you much more energy for any activity. And it makes you feel great!
  3. Enjoy a daily fresh-squeezed lemonade to help reverse an acidic body from an overdose of processed holiday foods. This happens when the lemon metabolizes into a great alkaline food source. It should help to keep inflammation and weight down. For sweetening, use only a pure stevia with no other ingredients on the bottle, no maltodextrin or dextrose labeling, none, just stevia! Squeeze 1 lemon in a quart of pure water and sip all day long, every day!
  4. Keep your vitamin-D 3 level at around 85-90. (A simple blood test will reveal your level.) Some people take 10,000 to 15,000 units daily to achieve this level, especially in the winter. If needed, get this from organic liquid drops and not hard pills or capsules. This should do the trick to help keep your immune system in overdrive protecting you from disease, even while eating poorly chosen foods.
  5. Get some exercise. Even during the holidays, you need to move your body. Something such as hurrying up a hill or some yoga-type extreme stretching a couple times daily will keep your heart and muscles pumped full of healthy blood and oxygen. This takes 3 easy minutes, so do it in the morning and also before bedtime for a better night’s
  6. Spend time outdoors as often as possible…even a short time is better than not at all. This reconnects you to nature and allows your body to breathe in all of the healthy bacteria and viruses that are meant to pump- up our immune systems, naturally! It’s Mother Nature’s way!
  7. Steep and drink ginger, turmeric and cardamom tea once daily, swapping out occasionally with a healthy green tea. Make this with a couple of ginger and turmeric root slices the size of a quarter each and 1⁄8 tsp crushed green cardamom. Steep all this in 12-16 oz. pure hot water under 155 degrees. A tablespoon of pure local honey would add a little extra good health along with delicious taste
  8. Keep some healthy finger foods at your fingertips. Use olive oil on vegetables in place of processed ranch dressing. Go for the watermelon first (very alkalizing) if available on party trays and be sure to include nuts and seeds in your
  9. Study something everyday that will greatly improve your life, like my new book Healed By Farm. This will make a big difference in the way you think, eat, and feel, plus give you intense motivation to make healthier food choices
  10. Getting a good night’s sleep could be your best friend. 8 hours is best for most. Slow down the evening sugars and caffeine by 7pm so that a good rest is possible. My favorite evening medicine is a glass of raw milk at

Are you interested in becoming extremely lean and healthy? If so, read on and decide for yourself what’s the best way. No pressure here, just lots of healthy real truthful guidance that is sure to improve your life.

Almost daily we hear someone tell us about the newest greatest diet plan. You know, the one that everyone in town is trying. You may even try that plan for yourself. Why not, everyone is doing it so it must work, right? But why would you even consider it? Didn’t you try last year’s greatest plan, and the year before that?

If you’re like most trusting Americans, I’m guessing that you have tried every so-called diet plan since the very birth of diet plans. So why do you keep doing something that’s really never worked for you? Maybe because it’s culturally popular and you are afraid you will be left out if the newest diet plan actually works.

My guess is that the powerful marketing scheme accompanied with the new plan convinced you to try it…the same marketing plan that convinced all of your friends to try it. The same friends that told you how great it would be, because someone else told them, but of course that person heard it from someone else! So then that settles it, it must be the mother of all diet plans!

That’s how mass marketing works and it has absolutely nothing to do with losing weight and improving your health, It usually goes something like this: marketing team 100 you 0! More often than not most people who buy into these plans end-up fatter and sicker than they were when they started. That’s how these plans are designed to work. Why you say? So that you will keep coming back for more year after year. That’s their exact plan and it works, just not for you!

You don’t possibly think they want to lose you as a permanent customer do you? I would love to lose you as a customer. That would mean I did my job, and did it well! That’s actually my intention, with all my heart I want to help you just like so many others that have followed my way!

Almost every adult we know has tried dieting as a fast and healthy fix at least once in their life. The only problem is that most of these nonsense (less than honest) fads don’t, won’t, and never will work.

They only help to hurt your health, not to mention the tens of billions of dollars spent annually by consumers for these dangerous products that don’t work!

You’re better off investing your money elsewhere. Many diet plans include high doses of caffeine and similar chemically induced products. Caffeine is considered an excitotoxin and is designed to speed up your body. The problem with this speedy heart rate substance is that it usually causes irregular heart rates and also over excites your brain neurons and can kill them. If that’s not enough reason to stay clear of these famous movie star endorsed plans, it can also cause irreversible thyroid problems and raise cortisol (stress hormone) levels. What happens when cortisol levels rise in your body? Yes weight gain…the very thing you were trying to rid yourself of in the first place!

Some of the most popular diets include the centuries old self induced diarrhea plan. Most of these products promise 15 pounds off in two days. But here’s where it gets tricky! These diets include ingredients that empty your bowels and cleanses the inner lining of bacteria. The problem with this kind of living is there can be some horrific long term effects. These diets greatly deplinish your healthy gut flora also. This could be the beginning of leaky gut (disease) for you. Yes you temporarily lose weight after sitting on the toilet for half of the

day. The summary is that you have stomach cramps, dehydration, and low energy all weekend as your immune system crashes to a new low.

Self induced dehydration and emptying your body of all healthy nutrients is not my way of becoming lean and healthy. When Monday morning rolls around and you start eating again, the 15 pounds comes right back on, plus a few more! This happens because your suppressed thyroid and liver are screaming for sugar and other weight gaining carbohydrates! And that’s where the addiction continues. Be aware that the 15 pounds was water (your hydration) and poop, not body fat.

Another not so good side effect from this dangerous fad diet is that some of the weight you lose is healthy muscle. There is simply no good (healthy) reason to force your body into something this damaging just so you can fit into last year’s jeans, for a weekend.

I have a completely different outlook on losing weight and becoming extremely healthy. It’s a tried and true way, the only way that works and is sustainable for life. John Rankin’s Way Back consists of eating real food that you cook, and plenty of it.

Eating delicious food until you’re full may seem somewhat unorthodox in the world we live in today, but actually we live in a very healthy world. We live in the same world as our healthy ancestors but unfortunately we don’t eat like them. There are many reasons why: marketing, addiction, economics etc.

I invite you to let me guide you to eat like we did back in a healthier time in history. I’ll help you become a lean and healthy person while eating delicious foods, not diet food! Follow me along on this journey. Hopefully it won’t be your last journey, but it will be your longest.

John

I am John Rankin, a “natural health guru” with years of proven results. I am not a medical doctor, but I firmly believe in using natural methods alongside the treatments of doctors and pharmacies. Many natural methods have worked for me and have improved my health.

Our world has continued to progress despite medical rough spots, like the plague and the flu epidemic early in the last century. We will get through the current pandemic of coronavirus, or COVID-19, as well.

All of us worry about our health and the health of our family members, neighbors and friends during the spread of COVID-19. I believe my years of study of Mother Nature’s offerings can give to us some winning solutions, using natural means, to keep ourselves healthy and resistant to the worst virus to hit our planet in 100 years.

It’s obvious at this time in history all of us are afraid we are going to get sick, if we haven’t already been sick, with this killer COVID-19 virus. I am not advocating violating the social distancing rules and I do not advocate abandoning a mask, but I have a completely different take on health and staying alive and well.

Let’s take a look at this.

We are all staying at home in order to stay safe and not get sick. But isn’t home usually the place we go when we are sick? Sounds confusing, doesn’t it, but the medical experts have decided quarantining the world, short of a medical cure, is the only way to fully eradicate this demon in our society. Everyone is staying inside to hide from the virus, which in the end may be all for naught.

Sadly, in the process of avoiding infection, world economies are being destroyed at the hands of the feared virus. We are practicing physical distancing with the intention of being saved from this dreadful disease.

We can flatten the curves, wear masks, draw new graphs and stay out of harm’s way all day long, but it appears to me this demon will still exist, only to rebound back into our communities just as fast as it left.

A good example of this was the 1918 flu pandemic. The world let their guard down after the first round, then a second blast of the flu killed millions more in the fall of that year.

In my opinion, staying locked up at home hiding behind our curtains sounds like we are waiting to hear the bombs blasting in our neighborhood during wartime. We are hoping one doesn’t hit us while in our home. That’s surely not the technique we want to use to save ourselves and our loved ones, and certainly doesn’t appear to be the best way to prevent illness.

Running from the bad guys has never been a winning strategy, in my view.

It seems everyone in the healthcare industry assumes they have the latest and most wonderful plan. I don’t know about you, but I am not comforted by the approach of simply taking experimental and probably dangerous medications and staying at home indefinitely while the economy and our futures are sinking. That’s not a very healthy approach. This sort of a plan technically could work, but only if 100 percent of the world’s population stayed indoors. They’re not. The bottom line for that plan appears to be somewhat useless in the long run. And we also must realize there are unknown side effects, such as gut problems, caused by dangerous medications.

All of the declarations and mobilizations deemed necessary by our leaders may help, but will not save us from an invisible virus pandemic.

If you look at this simple plan, I believe my study of natural ways could show you how you can save your own body. “How,” you say? Keep reading and by the time you finish this explanation of methods I have successfully taught for years, all over the world, you will have a whole new vision on life — a healthy new life.

As we examine 10 steps to protect ourselves, we must realize the most important way to battle any disease, (including this virus), is by having a healthy immune system. Most people have always been aware of this but really never quite know what that means nor have they seen it in action. Why? Because most Americans don’t have healthy immune systems.

Most of humankind has been programmed to believe the only way to fix a medical problem is to take a man-made synthetic medication. Our goal is to never have the medical problem to begin with.

The power of the human immune system is totally overlooked in today’s society. About 85 percent of the immune system is in the gut, and a healthy gut will prevent many diseases.

If you follow these guidelines, your life will be healthier and the body will ward off or minimize the effect of a deadly virus. Some of the advice may seem new or unorthodox at first, but just follow along and reap the good fortune.

Let’s examine the 10 steps:

1. Raw dairy is one of the fastest ways on the planet to help build the human immune system. Yes, unpasteurized milk, cheese, butter and yogurt. When you drink a glass of raw milk, your gut flora becomes saturated with billions of healthy bacteria. This is great news for those with Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel disease. The extremely healthy probiotics in raw dairy could possibly be the only relief you’ll ever need to help with those intestinal problems. Basically, pills can possibly kill healthy gut flora and raw dairy restores it. I know from personal experience and the experience of others these real enzymes Mother Nature put here on earth are for human consumption and wonderful health has been achieved through the consumption of it for thousands of years. Things like higher testosterone levels to excellent thyroid health have occurred in my own body from drinking raw milk. State-by-state you will find different laws for the distribution of raw dairy. Most states allow it to be sold from private farmers (see realmilkfinder.com). For those of you who are concerned about E. coli, you are 18 times more likely to come in contact with it from store-bought spinach. Don’t be afraid to search out good health from a super immune system builder such as raw dairy, so check out my raw kefir (milk) story at rankinsway.com. Raw milk has every vitamin known to mankind and all 21 essential amino acids.

2. Fermented foods such as homemade salt brine kimchi will certainly give your body some extremely healthy probiotics and prebiotics. Just the word kimchi intimidates some Westerners because it’s thought to be some ancient weird hard-to-make Asian food. It is Asian and it’s ancient, but it’s easy to make and should be in your arsenal against disease. I personally consume it daily and enjoy extremely good gut health from it. Kimchi is also well known for its superior weight loss benefits as well as better heart health, less cancer, lower cholesterol and less infections through less inflammation. You will naturally have better overall wellness when you have healthy bacteria and probiotics in your body, basically slowing down the aging process. There’s a reason all of those Asian folks are still walking around at 100 years of age. Salt brine fermentation is simple. Chop up veggies and place them in a quart jar of pure water (no chlorine or fluoride) with 1-1/2 tablespoons of pink Himalayan salt and let it sit on the counter top for three weeks. The end result will be a lifetime of excellent health for you and your loved ones. Watch my how-to video at rankinsway.com to learn more about how easy it is to make this life changing food.

3. Fruits are great for your immune system and have tons of hydration, fiber and healthy polyphenols and flavonols (antioxidants). They are full of healthy nutrients like vitamin C, potassium, manganese, magnesium, zinc, B-vitamins, folate and, of course, fiber. These are all immune system builders and are necessary for the prevention of disease and could assist you to avoid the severe effects of COVID-19. I’m not the biggest fan of juicing simply because most so-called juice experts recommend way too much fruit for one meal. Your body does have a glycemic index and the whole fruit tree is just too much for one sitting. Yes, I’m aware juicing helps with weight loss but it’s the temporary kind of weight loss and not really a good long-term alternative. Most juicing machines strip away and dispose of the insulin-metabolizing, cholesterol-lowering and cancer-fighting fiber. Now just why would you want to do that? Most people don’t consume a sufficient amount of fruit on a daily basis and some are just eating it at the wrong time of day. If an orange gives you energy, then it obviously wouldn’t be something you would eat at bed time. Breakfast seems to be the time to eat oranges, but I like to save citrus for later in the day when sugar cravings start knocking on the door. Breakfast should be loaded with other energy producing fruits such as strawberries, bananas, blueberries and my favorite, grape muscadines. The skin of a muscadine is known by many as having the most antioxidants of any fruit skin in the world. Real organic food can actually be cheaper to purchase than gut-destroying crop-dusted produce.

4. Vegetables are loaded with healthy immune system vitamins and nutrients. They are low in fat and calories but rich in fiber, minerals and vitamins. Vitamin C and potassium are a powerhouse result of fresh garden organic vegetables. If you eat vegetables of all colors in most meals then your body won’t need many supplements. I’m not saying all supplements are bad or unnecessary. Consuming most green leafy vegetables, colored peppers and foods that are orange, yellow, red, green and purple will certainly boost your immune system to fight disease easier and potentially turn you into a very healthy human being. Eating chips, crackers and inflammatory processed snacks will only open a whole world of health problems.

5. Honey is one of Mother Nature’s finest creations when it comes to great health. It is chock-full of natural antiviral and antibacterial properties. It is a very stable food that never goes bad. It has been used for thousands of years throughout ancient times as a healing immune-building source and was even found in King Tut’s tomb. He died in 1325 BC, and the honey was still edible hundreds of years later. Honey will not make you fat and can even be consumed in moderation by many diabetics. Honey is a daily go-to energy food and has been studied for generations with wonderful life-saving results – everything from better heart health to a great alternative to cough syrup. Some studies even suggest using honey results in lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and triglycerides. Always keep in mind just because a food is good for you, it doesn’t mean more is better. Honey is a good example as it can raise triglyceride levels. You would have to eat in excess of six or seven tablespoons of it daily to have that adverse effect. For an absolutely delicious recipe for use of honey, check out my high energy protein bars at rankinsway.com.

6. Spices are one of the most powerful ways to build a healthy immune system. The kinds of spices I’m talking about are not just the American originals that consist of only salt and pepper. One of the changes that has helped supercharge my own immune system is adoption of the Ayurvedic diet to the daily food intake. This diet consists mostly of whole foods and no processed foods and is based on Hindu Indian wellness that dates back for thousands of years. Some of the powerful immune-building spices are ginger, turmeric, pink Himalayan salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, cardamom, fennel, cumin, coriander, mint, fenugreek, garlic, onion and cayenne (or hotter) pepper. Don’t let the list overwhelm you. It’s simple. You don’t need to be a famous chef to use healthy, life-saving herbs and spices without changing your whole menu. Slowly start adding these ingredients into the mix and you will be serving the family a whole new world of delicious flavors, with immune system benefits included. All of these herbs and spices have similar health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory effects, which in turn help prevent disease. Pink Himalayan salt alone is known to be the most alkalizing food in the world. An alkaline body is usually a disease-free body; Dr. Otto Warburg won a Nobel peace prize in 1931 for that finding. Don’t forget to use healthy (no vegetable) oils when cooking with these spices. Start cooking with organic extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, coconut oil, butter and lard.

7. Exercise is also a great immune system builder. Physical activity (especially cardio) is a great way to lower the stress hormone known as cortisol. We just happen to be living in a time in history where there is an abundant amount of stress going around and we all know stress lowers our immune system. This hormone, when left unchecked, will open the door for inflammation and just about any disease. Exercise will boost your energy and help with heart health, arthritis, diabetes, depression and your sex life with your partner. If you are an avid fan of the gym then you know exercise kills stress in its tracks. With most gyms closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, try making and working a garden or taking a hike. If the parks are closed, just hike on a quiet country road. Push-ups, squats, running, walking, curls and even bicycling are exercises you can do at home. If you just sit on the couch, then you will only lower your immunity.

8. Vitamin D3 is one of the best immune builders available, anywhere, period. In reality, D3 is not a vitamin but a hormone. You know how you always feel better after spending a day in the warm sun? There’s a reason. The earth was created as a totally holistic planet with the sun being a hot, fiery star that gives us light. There’s much more to this light than we ever imagined. The sun breathes pure health and energy into our bodies by activating our immune system. More health problems arise in the winter than in summer. There is an explanation: No sun equals more illness. In the winter many areas won’t have enough sunshine to keep our D3 in a healthy range. Most of us have levels at the bottom of the range every winter and aren’t even aware of it. Simply have your blood tested in both summer and winter and your doctor can tell you how much to supplement the D3. My personal preference is organic liquid drops that are fairly easy to find. In addition to a supplement, get as much D3 as possible from organic whole foods. Some of the best sources, besides the sun, are from cod liver oil, home-rendered lard, mushrooms, fish, eggs, sugar free orange juice and raw grass-fed dairy, including cheese. I personally take 10,000 to 15,000 units per day in the winter. Yours may differ and that is the need for a simple blood test.

9. Drink lots of fresh water, preferably spring water. Most people don’t drink enough water and stay dehydrated – and hurt all the time because of it. Adults should be drinking up to three or four quarts a day. There are many good drink choices that curb the sweet tooth while building the immune system (no colas). Be sure to only sweeten with honey or real stevia if needed. Everything listed here is a strong antioxidant that actually help heal your body and helps fight disease.

Green Tea – organic varieties only, and be careful to read the labels, looking for “natural flavors,” which only means hidden sugars.

Some of the following recipes could work their magic on a virus trying to take you down. When you feel a sore throat or a chest infection coming on, take a lot of these warm drinks all day long:

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Tonic Tea

Ingredients

  • 1 gallon water in large kettle
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp cardamon seeds
  • 3 whole allspice
  • 6-8 peppercorns any color
  • 1 inch fresh ginger knob, sliced thin

Instructions

  • Simmer for an hour or more until the color is rich and dark golden.
  • Strain into your tea cup and sweeten with 1 teaspoon honey per cup.

Notes

This is a great tonic for any kind of respiratory ailment.  It’s also reputed to wipe out a really bad flu in less than a day. Keep reserved amounts in glass quart jars in the refrigerator and heat it up in a saucepan as needed.  Add the honey just at time of serving.
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Simple Ginger Tea

Ingredients

  • 1 knob fresh ginger

Instructions

  • Grate 1 inch knob of fresh ginger.
  • Pour 2 cups very hot water over.  Steep for a few minutes.
  • Strain into a tea cup and sweeten with honey.

Notes

This is reputed to burn anything out of your chest.
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Medicine Tea "Emergency Formula"

Ingredients

  • 1 inch piece grated ginger
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (with the "mother")
  • juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
  • pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions

  • Fill a teacup with very hot water, add ingredients.
  • Strain and serve with honey to taste.
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Golden Milk

Ingredients

  • 2 c raw milk
  • 1 tsp tumeric powder or slices of fresh
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder or 2 small sticks
  • pinch black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger or 1/2" fresh ginger sliced thin
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • honey to taste

Instructions

  • Warm all in small saucepan over low heat. (Do not boil, as this kills the probiotics in the milk.)
  • Strain and serve warm.
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Hot Chocolate or Chocolate Milk

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 2 tbsp raw organic honey
  • 1/2 c water

Instructions

  • Simmer on low until well dissolved.  
  • Add 2-4 cups raw milk until desired richness.  Do not allow to simmer; stop heating just when warm enough to enjoy, saving the enzymes and probiotics. 

Notes

Drink warm whenever you’re craving chocolate.  Put leftover in a glass bottle and refrigerate.  Drink as a snack for a huge antioxidant boost during the day.

Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice
Have a little every afternoon.

10. Sleep deprivation is definitely an immune system killer. There are dozens of reasons most people don’t sleep well and most of us are clueless as to why. Unfortunately most doctors, sleep clinics and scientific studies can’t fix your sleep problems. I personally had a fairly serious sleep deprivation problem for most of my life, 56 years and 8 months to be exact. I fixed it myself. Sleepless nights can wreak havoc on our health. More often than not insomnia is an underlying health issue related to either diet, stress (cortisol) and/or physical or mental issues. Besides making you irritable, sleeplessness can cause extremely bad health effects to your body, including almost everything from decreased cognitive skills to heart disease. The same foods that make you fat and sick are the foods that are keeping you from sleeping well. The first step on your route to correct this is to remove processed sugar from your diet. Second, eliminate monosodium glutamate (MSG). You may think these products are not in your food, but the label listings are written to confuse when they are hidden in processed foods. The word “processed” should be a clue the item is not healthy. When you have inflamed knuckles or swollen legs, it becomes impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Companies have made billions of dollars selling, for example, gut destroying medications for restless leg syndrome. Now a growing number of people believe it is simply inflammation from eating the wrong foods. If you are eating boxed, bagged or canned products, it is most likely you are being misled. Several university studies agree processed sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine and MSG is an excitotoxin and a neurotoxin. Both may be dangerous, cause inflammation and keep you awake at night. Try a sugar-free protein bar and free chocolate recipe at the site rankinsway.com. It will help you steer away from the foods causing your insomnia and lowering your immune system. A healthy immune system will help keep viruses away.

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Print

John's Morning Smoothie

Total Time 2 minutes
Servings 1 person

Ingredients

  • 6-8 oz raw kefir, milk or organic whole milk (If you don’t have raw milk start looking for it. A good source is realmilkfinder.com)
  • 2 tbsp organic raw peanut or almond butter
  • 2 tbsp local only raw honey
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed (Use Bob’s old mill organic brown and grind it yourself in a cheap coffee grinder (about 3 days worth) and keep it in a dark seal tight jar in the refrigerator)
  • 1/2 c organic frozen blueberries or local grapes
  • 1/2 c organic frozen strawberries
  • 1" piece of pineapple core
  • 1" long tumeric and ginger root
  • 1 whole banana
  • 2 tbsp cacao nibs
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients in blender in order that they are listed, they mix better that way without clogging the mixer, blend until totally blended.

SANITIZERS MAY CAUSE MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS THAN CORONA VIRUS ITSELF!

The word on the street these days seems to be you might get very sick and even die if you don’t immediately double-scrub yourself with chemical sanitizers every time you touch something.

The extremists advocate a regimen of doing the same to your house, car, mailbox – everything you might touch.

The chemicals in the products many are using include bleach and alcohol and many more ingredients not made for humans.

I have witnessed people rubbing down the entire body with these dangerous chemicals, as though a skunk just sprayed them.

I get it: Folks are scared and don’t know who or what science to believe. However, most in the medical field are not teaching preventative or holistic medicine. Personally, I believe there are no synthetic chemicals that should be introduced to a healthy red-blooded human.

Which is more dangerous, the virus or the chemicals we believe will protect us from it? Did some succeed in avoiding the virus by using sanitizing chemicals? Probably, but are people setting themselves up for serious prolonged damage to their entire endocrine system from chemical poisoning?

Some very important bodily functions are controlled by the endocrine system, including blood pressure, metabolism, hormones, heart rate, appetite, sleep, and sexual reproduction. The human body is a totally holistic life form. Most of the chemicals we are using are not holistic and our bodies were never meant to be scrubbed with them.

Among the possible results of overusing these sanitizers is serious antibacterial resistance, similar to heavy exposure to antibiotics. Most sanitizers act as an antimicrobial that kills bacteria. The problem is that it also kills our healthy bacteria, the bacteria that keep us alive.

Should you engage in a panic period of scrubbing your body down with disinfectant, you end up killing the good bacteria that normally helps protect you from the bad. It appears a wiser move is to wash your body with water or soap and water. Farmer’s markets and health food stores sell homemade soaps made only with all-natural ingredients. These are the only cleaners I believe I should use. A majority of commercial soaps are a shower full of chemicals.

There are mechanisms to boost the good, invisible, protectors of the body. I dig in the dirt without gloves while gardening, exposing my skin to healthy microorganisms. These good bacteria help the immune system to a healthy level. Yes, just play in the dirt like you did when you were a kid – it’s healthy.

Our current bacteria-fighting spree could have an adverse effect most have not considered. Even in normal times, the poison control centers reported more than 20,000 cases a year of overexposure to chemicals, sanitizers being a large portion of these numbers. Far too many poison emergencies involve small children ingesting it. Now, this will become an even more severe problem most of us never saw coming. Additionally, teenagers are regularly hospitalized from drinking alcohol sanitizer for the high it gives them. They seem oblivious to the possible effects: diarrhea, blindness, memory loss, and damage to the internal organs.

The human body was built to be exposed to germs and bacteria. All bacteria are not dangerous. In fact, there are more healthy bacteria surrounding us than the unhealthy kind. Those bacteria create a healthy immune system and protect us from the disease.

A sanitizing ingredient that seems to be very overused during this pandemic is bleach. Most folks are under the impression if bleach is sold in grocery stores, it is relatively safe to use. Bleach, like battery acid, is a corrosive chemical and can cause some serious eye, skin, and lung problems.

Many of the sanitizing chemicals can be harmful to you and your family when overused or wrongly used. Be smart and don’t send your child to the emergency room because you left a bottle cap loose. Lock up household chemicals and use them only on surfaces and laundry, not on the human body. Keep everyone safe during this time of pandemic.

This is the reality: Most Americans are walking around with less than ideal immunity due to an unhealthy gut system. You can remedy that, naturally, before this virus mounts another round this fall.

Read my “10 Things To Better Health Amid Covid-19” and my book, “Healed by Farm,” to read what I have learned about healthy immune systems. Bonus items include an extremely healthy 30-day Meal Plan, featuring tasty, greasy, cheesy, fat-burning real food.

Yours in health, John Rankin

COVID-19 AND THE CASE FOR GROWING YOUR OWN GARDEN

I invite you to think back a few decades and recall a wonderful time and place in history I loved so much. It was a time when I was a child without a care in the world. Most children I knew were extremely healthy, with no fear of anything.

Our refrigerators were full of everything we needed.

A big portion of our food was grown locally by our neighborly trusted farmers. We stuffed ourselves with organically grown cantaloupe and watermelon all summer long, year after year, without fear of the COVID-19 virus, E-coli, salmonella, or any other life-threatening pathogen.

I am a big supporter of local farmers and I have spent years teaching the importance of eating locally grown well-balanced whole foods. I have also enjoyed excellent health while practicing what I preach. Fortunately, I have convinced many open-minded folks to follow the same route and enjoy the same good health as I have enjoyed.

What did you do when the coronavirus came to town? Did you immediately panic and shove your way through hundreds of others desperate to stock up on food and supplies, rubbing shoulders and breathing in each other’s face? When the panic first started, no one knew the rules of physical distancing. At the start of the Great Depression of the 1930s, no one knew what was best to do, either. The more money folks withdrew from the banks, the bigger the collapse.

If only they had known.

Wouldn’t it have been refreshing if you could have just waited several weeks before you gave going to the grocery store a second thought? What would it have taken for you to be able to make extremely healthy meals consistently during these crazy times? This is just one reason we need to garden.

Many small farmers in the 1930s scarcely saw a change in their lifestyle after the collapse of the financial markets, except what little cash income they had dried up. For the most part, with the exception of those in the Dust Bowl, the small farmers continued to live on what their farm produced.

Some suggest this will be the only way to survive in the future. It may be a very smart or even a life-saving choice to learn to depend more on yourself instead of on the grocery store.

A second case for the absolute need to grow your own food is food quality. During this panic, most of us have come to the conclusion food from unspecified far-away lands just may not be as healthy as we once believed.

Word on the street is COVID-19 will be coming back around for round 2, and the U.S. Surgeon General even says that may happen. Will you be ready?

There are several ways to be prepared, but only one way to be prepared and healthy at the same time. The best way is to become self-sufficient with a garden. If you can’t do that, look around for a small farmer selling produce. Stock up this summer for food that will carry you through the fall and winter.

For some staples such as beans, turn to the small markets. When the shelves of the big stores are empty, the stock in the small store may remain intact.

Next, begin to adjust your lifestyle. I’m seeing some very unhealthy lifestyles posted on social media during the prolonged period of staying in the house. While some folks are cooking, perhaps for the first time, most of what I’m seeing them cook is not so good. I see constant posts of enormous amounts of fast food, cakes, cookies, ice cream, alcohol, and other inflammatory foods being prepared and served. Many of the favorites are the ones that will keep you fat and sick.

The most troublesome statistic is that alcohol sales have increased 38 percent during the stay at home order. Social media is blanketed with pictures of homebound folks posing with their glass in the air.

I personally predict an alcoholism problem on the horizon. Did we turn a whole new generation into alcoholics? Or even worse, did we bring recovering alcoholics and drug addicts out of the closet? Do you think the good folks who drank all this alcohol will have a healthy immune system when the second round of COVID-19 comes around? Or even worse, what if there is a new virus next year?

Away back before the Y-2K scare when some were cashing-in life savings to hoard gold and ammunition, a 5-gallon bucket of garden seeds would have been a better guarantee for the future. Most folks ignored me when I expressed that thought, but now it has gone full circle. While many were in panic-mode raiding the grocer’s shelves, I was at home eating delicious homegrown canned, pickled and fermented foods, grown with my “garden seeds.”

When illness strikes, we become protective of our health and go to great lengths to ensure our well-being. Then we let our guard down when we feel the coast is clear. Don’t make that mistake. It’s time for you to move back to raising your own home-grown food. That food did not cause disease but worked to strengthen the body’s defenses.

Many readers have never grown a garden, deciding they don’t know how or think they don’t have time. A garden doesn’t need much of your time as it grows while you’re sleeping, without you.

Years ago, when I was lacking the farmyard experience I thought I needed, I simply visited “farmyards.” I went to the local farmer’s market and added to my knowledge at lightning speed. I learned everything I could.

Most farmers and gardeners are generous in sharing knowledge. Farmers didn’t become farmers to be rich. They do it because they are passionate about being healthy and helping you become healthy too. The produce guy at your local supermarket probably won’t have this kind of life-saving information. Gardeners and farmers aren’t afraid to give out their secrets. They know when you start following what they teach you, you’ll be so excited you will send them new customers.

Spring is here and now is the perfect time to start growing your own food. Your locally grown organic food will build your immune system to a healthy new high. Just start small with a few plants in your backyard. You’ll be surprised how fast they grow and the best part is walking out your door and picking your own dinner.

Canning may seem to be too much work for you as it can be a tedious messy job. That’s why I like to pickle, dry, and ferment loads of delicious gut-healthy foods. It’s easy and I will show you how. The best part is you can make one jar at a time or even more without pulling out all the canning equipment and cooking all day.

Another great source of gardening and food preservation information is supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s extension services. The information is customized, mainly by a university in your state. Often you can locate an Extension Service office in your town. You should be able to locate your state’s information on the Internet by entering your state and “cooperative extension service.” A tip: An especially good resource will be the Master Gardener program.

You may also watch my videos and read my book “Healed by Farm” to learn all you need to know about building an extremely healthy immune system. Then you won’t have to mingle with the toilet paper snatchers when the next virus comes to town.

Some of the things I teach may seem unorthodox or even old fashioned. When it comes to food and nutrition, old fashioned wins every time. Eat like the good old days, which is what I teach in John Rankin’s Way Back.