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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:

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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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.

 

We have heard a lot lately about probiotics and the wonderful good health that is associated with them. Everywhere we look–from health food stores to gas stations–we see little bottles of pills and drinks that are called probiotics.  Our doctors, friends and magazine articles are touting the health benefits. Everyone you meet is excited about them, knowing they are good for you.  But do you really know what they are or what they do for your health?  Unfortunately, most people don’t.  They just take them because it’s the newest and most talked about thing in the marketplace.

Probiotics are microorganisms (live bacteria) that basically heal almost any disease the human body has.  How this works should be fairly simple, but in America, it seems that we just aren’t getting it right.  The usual answer:  gut bacteria.  Because of the great amount of antibiotics and processed refined foods that Americans eat, it’s a wonder that we are living as long as we are. In recent studies, it has been proven that the small intestine is 85% of your immune system. To put it bluntly most Americans have less than 15% of their immune system working in their bodies.  And we wonder why everyone is getting a disease.

A healthy gut controls everything from your brain cells to your thyroid.  When you drink a glass of raw unpasteurized kefir, your gut flora becomes saturated with billions of more healthy bacteria than when you just have pasteurized yogurt or milk.  This is great news for the folks who suffer daily from things like Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel disease.  Raw kefir is probably the only thing you’ll ever need again to heal those intestinal problems.

And with Kefir coming into the marketplace of America, please be sure and don’t be fooled by the brands sold in the marketplace.  It’s just not the same–sugared and processed kefir does not heal anything.

Isn’t it ironic how doctors just keep treating these diseases with medications that kill your gut bacteria and prevent you from healing in the first place?  I know from personal experience and those of dear friends that these real enzymes that mother nature put here on earth for us will actually heal our bodies.  I have experienced wonderful health from drinking it–everything from skyrocketing testosterone levels to excellent thyroid health has occurred in my body.

State-by-state you will find different laws for the distribution of raw unpasteurized dairy.  Most states allow it to be sold from private farmers (see rawmilkfinder.com).  And for all of those who are concerned about E. coli, you are 18 times more likely to get it from store-bought spinach!

To all of those who follow me, I wish to tell you that the things I do and the stories I give you have healed my body and given me the blood levels and body fat of a teenager.

I sincerely care about you and the health of your family.

Get healthy America!

When you go grocery shopping do you usually stand in your grocery store’s egg aisle with your head spinning wondering which eggs to buy?  Most of us do because there usually are several prices to choose from, not to mention the labeling that gives the eggs a title anywhere from free range, caged, cage free, grass fed or even vitamin infused.

My first reaction would be to say never buy store-bought eggs again!

When I question people about the eggs they purchase and why they purchase that particular brand, they usually tell me because it’s supposed to be a really good egg and they can’t tell me why other than they remember seeing them on a television advertisement. AHH! Marketing!

I have news for you folks:  great marketing does not equal great healthy food. Actually it’s usually just the opposite. Well we certainly all know that we do not want eggs that come from caged chickens that sit in tiny 10″ boxes their whole life in a dark building eating antibiotics and growth hormones added to their diet of genetically modified corn and soybean meal.  But if you think you can just skip buying the eggs from those chickens and move on to the cage-free chickens, you’re not doing much better.

The 10,000 so called cage free chickens in the picture shown are laying anything but healthy eggs.  So then you might decide to pay the extra two dollars and buy the free-range eggs.   The egg producers have us believing these eggs come from chickens that are outside and eating what mother nature produces. Guess what– wrong again.

Federal regulations allow the producers to label their eggs free-range in the picture I show here with the 10,000 chickens.  They allow this label to be used when a man-sized door is left open at the end of the half-mile long chicken house. These chickens have had their wings and beaks clipped and would not go out the door if they were pushed out. They are crammed into buildings like sardines in a can, also eating pellets made from genetically modified corn and soybean meal with antibiotics and growth hormones. They are addicted to these high starch foods like mice in a cocaine study. The only vitamin D or any other vitamins they receive are from an unhealthy synthetic liver killing source. Most chickens that are fed this kind of diet end up with a good dose of liver disease.

So if you prefer to eat genetically modified starchy foods and antibiotics with synthetic vitamins, then store-bought eggs are definitely for you.

A healthy egg is an extremely great source of high quality protein–7 grams in each, loaded with natural vitamins such as lutein (which helps with age-related macular degeneration) and choline (which helps with brain development  and memory), being an especially great choice for pregnant women.

Eggs also have a very high source of selenium.  For healthy thyroid they have vitamin A, B 12, B2, phosphorus, B5 and folate. If you want to consume a wonderful natural source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins, then I strongly recommend that you find a local farmer who sells real free-range eggs. There’s more of these guys around than you might think.  If you don’t know of any, head to your local farmers market and ask.  It is my recommendation that you start doing most of your  shopping with your local farmers, and don’t trust the mega fake food outlets.  And don’t forget to always take your children so they can learn young and stay healthy.  You will receive a great source of good health from all-natural eggs that come from chickens that eat what Mother Nature provides for them!

I sincerely care about you and the health of your family!

Get Healthy America!

The one question my friends and acquaintances ask me the most is if I have a cheat day per week in my diet.  This question is one that could be  very confusing to them.  Most so-called nutritional experts–dietitians and doctors–will tell you it’s okay to have at least one cheat day per week.  And there is a reason that the good folks following their examples are not getting good health results or losing weight!

Several major university studies indicate that processed sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine. So if you were to tell a cocaine addict or an alcoholic they could have one cheat day every Saturday, just what do you think would happen when Sunday morning rolls around?  That’s right–the addiction will be back.  And don’t think for one second if processed sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine then you can just easily quit after that one cheat day.

Why would you want to spend six days eating healthy–getting inflammation and disease out of your body–just to put it back in for the weekend?  You want to be bloated and swollen up on Monday morning?   Cheat days do not work, anyone who tells you they do–regardless if they are a doctor or not–is only telling you this out of total ignorance or to pacify you. An addiction is an addiction and you cannot go back to it every Saturday of your life.

Let’s take a look at what most of us have for an afternoon snack vs. the John Rankin Way afternoon snack. My example  will show you how important it is not to eat inflammatory disease-causing foods, as well as what foods we should be eating on a daily basis. I call these late afternoon snacks my energy snacks.

Most of us cannot even make it home from work without stopping at a convenience store (what I call poison center!)  This is usually the case for most of you who do not eat a well-balanced healthy lunch.  If this is the case then by afternoon your liver and pancreas are screaming for the same processed sugar you had a few hours earlier.  It just so happens that we see more and more doughnut stores opening almost daily all over America. And why not–there is a huge demand (addiction) for them.

If you are having a late afternoon donut-type snack, then you are eating disease-causing pure white bleached flour, loads of processed sugar and high fructose corn syrup, inflammatory sodium, MSG, and ugly chemicals like emulsifiers, thickeners, dyes and trans fats. The chemicals found in commercial doughnuts have been found to raise bad LDL cholesterol levels and lower the healthy HDL cholesterol level.  The soft drink that you have with your afternoon junk food is loaded with high fructose corn syrup, carbonation, phosphoric acid and usually high amounts of caffeine. Folks, this kind of snack translates to diabetes or a heart attack coming your way soon.

One of my favorite afternoon snacks includes 100% pure cranberry juice, unrefined garlic kimchi fermented in unrefined salt, all-natural organic kalamata olives from Greece, fermented root vegetable kimchi, and raw unpasteurized goat cheese. The garlic has vitamin B1, iron, phosphorus, copper, calcium, and is very good for colds, blood pressure and lowering total and LDL bad cholesterol and also great for infectious diseases and helping to prevent Alzheimer’s. The root vegetable kimchi Is loaded with the same only much more energy boosting anti-inflammatory and natural blood thinning effects. The olives in my snack are a super antioxidant, stopping oxidation in the bloodstream and consequently stopping plaque and preventing blood clots.  They are a healthy saturated fat that will aid in raising you vital good HDL cholesterol. As for the goat cheese, like any grass-fed raw cheese it helps tremendously with allergies and adds healthy probiotic gut bacteria that helps with the digestion of food (Meaning no more bad gut issues.)  It also has vitamins D, B, C and is loaded with natural calcium, K2  and thyroid building iodine.

What all this means is that the sick-making snack will do just that. It will cause massive inflammation in your body which will create every disease known to mankind. The John Rankin’s Way snack will tremendously decrease disease-causing inflammation in our bodies while giving us awesome amounts of energy, good cholesterol and heart healthy thyroid building fats.

It all boils down to who and what you want to be folks:  the sick pill- popping fat person lying on the couch eating doughnuts–or the lean healthy person doing cartwheels.  Diet is just like everything else in life–it’s a choice and we have to make it.  We can make a good choice or a bad choice–it’s that easy.  And oh yeah, what most people think is my too-expensive snack actually cost less than the disease causing junk food snack.

I sincerely care about you and the health of your family.

GET HEALTHY AMERICA!