health

The sense of woman's estrangement not only from her body, but at a deeper level from herself; out of this estrangement develops a sense of powerlessness which leads you to think that what you need to be happy, complete, and fulfilled can only be found outside yourself - by accomplishment in the world, wearing the right clothes, earning a lot of money, winning the love of a man or conforming to some abstract ideal. Yet so long as you are driven by a sense of separateness from your body, whether you succeed or fail in getting what you think you want from the outside world is irrelevant. For neither success or failure brings you any closer to real satisfaction and fulfillment. Only wholeness can do that. the energy of instinct How does a woman reclaim her wholeness? By getting back in touch with the energy of instinct, and giving it as much space in her life as she does reason. For any woman who lives by reason alone is only half alive. Rediscovering the aliveness of the child and the instinctual innocence of bodily freedom can not only help heal wounds of separation between instinct and intellect, it can go a long way towards freeing you to live in the fullness of your being. Being cut off from any part of yourself squanders energy - in anxiety or in depression, in confusion, in unfulfilling relationships, or fatigue or illness. Only when you come to live in wholeness do you have access to your full power. This means rediscovering without fear of self-indulgence - how to celebrate your body. sex or sexuality? Women's magazines are jammed full of articles on sex, and they talk mostly not about the energy of instinct which fuels true sexuality, but about the mechanics of the sex act: "How To Make Oral Sex Work For You"... "A Complete Guide to Sex Toys"...and so on. Like the perfect plastic models on the covers of glossy magazines, such information does little to help a woman reconnect with her body and reclaim the energy of instinct and her deep sexuality. It actually encourages her not to trust herself. It asks instead that she stand back from her body and judge it, or that she put her trust in a lot of abstract "how-to-do-it-better" advice and commercial paraphernalia. The ecstatic, irrational, primordial power of a woman can only be experienced and expressed in the kind of sexuality that enables her to forget the rules and let go of her rational mind, trusting for a time the impulses of her body. Instinctual energy is creation energy - the stuff out of which art is made, as well as sexual ecstasy. So are joy, and the sensual pleasures - taste and smell and sight and touch and sound. As we gradually connect with our instinctual selves and learn to trust them, a kind of alchemical marriage between instinct and intellect begins to take place, and core energy from which we had been cut off becomes accessible. Such a marriage brings in its wake an experience of real personal power - the power with which each of us can create the life we want. When instinct and intellect are reunited your body thrives. It helps protect against early aging, increases vitality, and heightens your capacity for joy. There is only one problem. Like the wild fecundity of a rainforest (which is but another expression of the same life power), the instinctual energy of creation can be scary. It doesn't lend itself to rationalizations or structures. We will never understand it, neither can we comfortably put it into a little box to be dealt with when it is convenient. Yet instinct is a magnificent force. It needs to be honored just as much as the power of reason. Each of us must find her own way to honor it, live it and express it. Otherwise it can turn in on itself and insidiously destroy the very fabric of our lives.

Conventional diets for shedding unwanted depend on self-denial and willpower. They are full of complex methods for dealing with what is commonly known as cheating. Here's an example. Say you go off your diet by eating a piece of chocolate cake. Then you're supposed to tell yourself, "Never mind, tomorrow I'll skip dinner to make up for it." Except that by the time tomorrow arrives, you've developed even more cravings for even more chocolate, carby stuff and sugary drinks. Anybody trying to lose weight this way is doomed to fail. As soon as their diet ends any fat they've shed begins slowly but surely to creep back on. Then they're back where they started. Cura is different Cura is different. Let me tell you how. The secret behind Cura's life-changing success rate is hidden deep within the brain. Yes, really. Here's how it works. On any Cura program, unwanted fat is shed not as the result of strenuous effort or willpower but gently and progressively thanks to Cura's unique ability to restore healthy functioning to the control centers in your brain. Few people—this includes the majority of scientists—even know that the body's fat regulating system is located in an area of the mid-brain called the diencephalon. Probably the most sensitive and complex locus of control in the body, it houses a collection of vital structures including the thalamus, hypothalamus, and pituitary which govern emotions, stress and moods. It oversees the entire autonomic nervous system. The hypothalamus itself links directly to the nervous and endocrine systems via the pituitary. It regulates both hunger and thirst and, with the help of the other members of the diencephalon team, decides whether your body is to lay down fat or shed unwanted fat on your body. Other powerful centers in this area of the brain determine mental functions and emotional balance—even the perceptions we have about ourselves along with heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, electrolyte balance, sexuality and our sleep cycles. Following Cura's specific food protocol and using the Essential Spray—from beginning to end—allows these control centers to function correctly. This is how natural, progressive, effective fat burning takes place without willpower or manipulation. Cura's celebrated success is both as simple and as profound as this. not your fault What few of us realize is that unwanted fat, insulin resistance and the blood sugar issues that come with them are not their fault. Nor are they some accident of fate. These things occur as a result of vital control centers of the brain not functioning as they are meant to in a healthy body. And what messes up the functioning of these control centers? This is important: For more than 70 years we have been misinformed and let astray by governments, pharmaceutical companies and multinational food corporations. We've been told that the way to stay lean and healthy is by following a low-fat high carb diet. We have eaten artificially made foods promoted by the media, multinational food manufacturers and governments. We've told to buy and eat convenience foods, chockablock with carbohydrates, sugars and chemicals. increase in degenerative diseases Doing this has resulted in the rampant increase in degenerative diseases and the widespread dependence on dangerous pharmaceuticals, used only to suppress symptoms but unable to bring true healing to the body. High carb low-fat eating is a major cause of worldwide obesity, addictions and food cravings, as well as the struggles so many experience trying to lose weight. This includes feelings of hopelessness, confusion, self-blame and fear that they will never be able to shed excess fat from our bodies, keep it off, and restore high-level health. Back in the mid-1940s, there were very few poisons sprayed on the foods we bought. They were organically grown on small farms. Today agriculture is big business in control of gigantic corporations whose only goal is fattening their bottom line. In animal farming, drugs such as antibiotics and hormones are injected to boost an animal's growth and cut down on feed requirements virtually all over the world. Residues of these drugs are as hazardous to your own health as they are to the animals that receive them. They undermine your vitality and make those of us with a tendency to gain weight get fat. The level of harm from exposure to pesticides, animal antibiotics and hormones is dose related. This means the more you consume, the greater your potential risk not only of illnesses and long-term degenerative conditions from Heart Disease and Cancer, to serious hormone disorders, depression, Alzheimer’s and distortions in the brain—in many cases from the time of birth to death. Meanwhile all this continues to increase exponentially. convenience foods The convenience foods that line the shelves of supermarkets everywhere are filled with pesticides, chemical additives and GMO. Corporations are intent on selling products that can themselves be destructive to life long term, rather than helping the public learn about the power of natural healing that is carried in the body itself. Eating these foods are responsible for insulin resistance, blood sugar issues and dangerous levels of obesity. If you want to shed excess fat from your body and restore high-level health we need to stop eating them and feeding them to our families. The goals of Cura online programs are two fold: First to guide you progressively through the natural process of shedding unwanted fat from your body. Second they show you how to build whole new ways of living and eating to set you free for to experience long term leanness and radiant health. To my knowledge, no other online program has ever been able to accomplish all this at such a scale. Do join one of our online programs and experience all this for yourself.

How much do you know about astaxanthin? It is one of the most important nutritional supplements ever created. This fat-soluble antioxidant has been much studied. One of 700 different carotinoids it may well be the most powerful antioxidant in existence. It is 65 times more powerful than Vitamin C. It brings effective support to the brain, helping to protect it from abnormal functioning. It helps protect from cellular damage to the eyes and the skin as a result of exposure to excess UV sunlight. It may even slow the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Astaxanthin is a super anti-inflammatory as well. Athletes—from weekend enthusiasts to endurance runners and pro boxers—sing its praises for the stamina it brings them. Astaxanthin is derived from part of Haematoccous pluviallis, the algae which gives flamingos and wild salmon their orangy-pink color. It helps the algae survive when they dry out in the baking sun by creating a protective energy field. Evidence emerging from clinical studies indicates that astaxanthin may even go a long ways to help protect us from nuclear radiation. Finally, it’s an effective internal supplement helping to keep skin strong and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. I take it daily and have for several years—2 capsules of Nutrex BioAstin Hawaiian Antaxanthin 4mg each day. I order it from my favorite supplier of nutritional supplements in the world: www.iherb.com. Nutrex BioAstin Hawaiian Antaxanthin BioAstin, nature's strongest antioxidant, has shown a variety of benefits in human clinical studies: Supports joint and tendon health Supports skin health during UV and sun exposure Supports eye health Supports anti-aging through cellular health Supports healthy immune function Supports cardiovascular health Supports the body in recovery from exercise Order Nutrex BioAstin Hawaiian Antaxanthin from iherb ORDERING FROM IHERB.COM: If you decide to order any products from Iherb.com, you will automatically receive $5 or $10 off your first order. Their products are the cheapest and best in the world…I use them for everything no matter where I am. Get it sent to you via DHL. It will be with you in three to four working days… iHerb.com ship all over the world very cheaply.

Many years before Ayurvedic medicine arrived in the West, I made a journey to hospitals throughout India to learn all I could about this ancient healing tradition. I was bowled over by all the marvelous things I did discovered. When I arrived at the Ayurvedic Hospital in Kerala—land of the coconuts, I found thousands of acres, interspersed with twisting waterways lined with organic coconut trees. Doctor’s there taught me how inexpensive organic coconut oil can heal your whole body using a technique which is called “oil pulling.” I am excited about sharing this with you. Oil Pulling There are literally thousands of types of bacteria in your mouth, including Streptococcus mutans—an acid-producing bacterium that is a major cause of tooth decay. During oil pulling, coconut oil produces acids which breakdown these toxic pathogens. When you take coconut oil into your body through oil pulling, your system converts one important ingredient, lauric acid, into monolaurin, which has antibacterial, antiviral and antiprotozoal properties. In truth, coconut oil contains the largest amount of lauric acid of any fruit or vegetable on the planet. Monolaurin is a monoglyceride with the ability to destroy negative invaders in the body that have a lipid coating. The lipid-coated viruses and bacteria that it attacks include the HIV virus and the influenza virus as well as a number of other pathogenic bacteria and protozoa. Another ingredient in coconut oil, capric acid, also boasts antimicrobial properties. Finally, coconut oil is about 66% medium chain triglycerides or MCTs. These offer a huge variety of health benefits, including sating your appetite. Powerful Detoxifier The oil pulling technique has been used for some 5000 years, not only because it reduces plaque in the mouth, but as a means of healing conditions throughout the whole body—from inflammation, pain in the joints, chronic fatigue, sinusitis, back pain and diabetes, to migraine, PMS, and chronic skin problems. Oil pulling is powerfully detoxifying to the body as a whole. The mouth is home to billions of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites and other toxins which undermine health and can trigger disease. It is these beasties and their toxic waste products that create gum disease and tooth decay. They are then passed on to the rest of the body. The immune system is constantly fighting off these pathogens. When we become overloaded from excessive stress, poor diet, or environmental toxins, they leak into the whole system and can create secondary infections, as well as a wide variety of other health issues. Pathogenic oral bacteria, and the toxins that they produce, harm far more than just your mouth. They circulate through the bloodstream and are carried all over the body. reduce plaque by at least 50% Coconut oil is highly responsive to temperature changes. In a cool room it goes solid. But set it in the sunlight or immerse a jar of it in hot water for a few minutes and it will turn into a crystal clear liquid oil. Oil pulling is believed to reduce plaque by at least 50%. It involves rinsing your mouth with coconut oil, much the way you would use a mouthwash. Even in its solid form the coconut oil will quickly change into a white liquid as it responds to the heat of the mouth. So how do you do oil pilling? You’ll need a container of organic raw coconut oil that is natural and has not had any fragrance taken out of it. Put a teaspoon to a tablespoon of oil in your mouth. It will probably be in its solid state. But it will melt as soon as you get it in your mouth. Swish the oil around in your mouth for around 10 to 15 minutes. Then spit it out completely. Finally, brush your teeth. This is best done twice a day after which you brush your teeth. You must never swallow the oil. You see, by the time you’ve done your oil pulling exercise each time, the oil will have become loaded with bacteria, toxins and mucus. You must then spit it out. I did oil pulling for eight months, after which my teeth were whiter, my breath was fresh and my tongue and gums had a healthy pink color to them. I was so pleased that I figured “I probably don’t need to do oil pulling any more”. So I stopped. After about three months, I realized that I was getting some slight swelling in my mouth. So I resumed oil pulling and have continued ever since. I actually enjoy it. So will you I predict.

I continue to be horrified by guidelines issued by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, which speak of giving statin drugs to healthy people. Meanwhile, draft recommendations from the US Preventive Task Force have issued new directives claiming that healthy people should be taking statin drugs as a “preventative against possible future illness.” Their main plan is to see one third of all adults in the United States are put on statin drugs—44% of all men and 22% of all women—even if none of these people have ever had a previous heart attack or stroke. Statins are the most widely prescribed drugs on the market. One in four Americans over 45 are already on statins, despite more than 900 studies reporting dangerous side effects from these drugs. These range from heightened risks of cancer and diabetes to sexual problems, neuropathy, and liver dysfunction, as well as immune system suppression, and even a higher risk of cataracts. In Britain too, statins are the most commonly prescribed drugs, costing the NMS £450 million a year. Now 40% of adults (175 million people) are being advised to take the drug. If the new directives are put into practice by the UK medical establishment—as they are likely to be—the numbers of men and women being prescribed statins could well become legion. What are statins anyway? Statins are a group of drugs prescribed to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver. Statins have many different names, such as Lipitor, Lescol, Mevacor, Altocor, and Zocor. These drugs are prescribed on the assumption that they will lower the risks of cardiovascular events and strokes. The new directives assert that, if given to healthy people, they could help protect the population from heart attacks and strokes at some time in the future. Happily, a growing number of cardiologists are strongly opposed to the new directives. What’s the problem with statins? Plenty: They deplete your body of CoQ10, which is essential for every cell in your body, and ubiquinol. Both CoQ10 and ubiquinol keep the so-called bad cholesterol from doing harm to your body. However, very few mainstream doctors are ever aware of these dangers. One exception is cardiologist Steven Sinatra, founder of the New England Heart Center. Sinatra recommends that anyone taking statins should take between 100 and 200 mg of CoQ10 or ubiquinol each day as protection. Statins lower Vitamin K2 in the body. This puts you at risk of deficiency of this vitamin, which contributes to chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, cancer, and brain disease. Long-term statin use—10 years or so—has been shown to increase your risk of diabetes, neurogenerative diseases, musculoskeletal problems, and even cataracts. Dr. Eric Topol, highly respected cardiologist and Professor of Genomics at Scripps Research Institute in California, wrote an excellent article for The New York Times Opinion Page in which he warns: “We’re overdosing on cholesterol-lowering statins.” Topol is especially concerned about the sharp increase in the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes that is occurring in people using them. He writes: “Statins have been available since the 1980s but their risk of inducing diabetes did not surface for nearly 20 years. When all the data available from multiple studies was pooled in 2010 for more than 91,000 patients randomly assigned to be treated with a statin or a sugar pill (placebo), the risk of developing diabetes with any statin was one in every 255 patients treated. But this figure is misleading since it includes weaker statins like Pravachol and Mevacor—which were introduced earlier and do not carry any clear-cut risk. It is only with the more potent statins—Zocor (now known as simvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), and Crestor (rosuvastatin)—particularly at higher doses—that the risk of diabetes shows up. The cause and effect was unequivocal because the multiple large trials of the more potent statins had a consistent excess of diabetes.” Meanwhile, a recent study by Jean A. McDougall and her colleagues in the Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention reveals that long-term use of statins increases the risk of both lobular and ductal breast cancer in women between 55 and 74. I am no doctor, but what I have learned during my more than forty years of writing and broadcasting on health is this: When a body is restored to healthy functioning naturally, the need for medication is either dramatically reduced or, more often than not, eliminated altogether. Statins, like most pharmaceuticals, only mask symptoms—they do not heal. Only nature can heal from within. My advice to anyone thinking of accepting the new directives is this: Before you agree to take statins, research the implications of doing so. Learn as much as you can about statin drugs. There are excellent natural alternatives, such as inexpensive dietary changes. So, if your doctor wants to prescribe statins for you, you can be sure you have done your homework. Then you’ll know yourself if these drugs are appropriate for you. Chances are they are not. Here are a few recommendations for where to start your research: U-T San Diego “Doctors assail new guidelines for statins: 18 November, 2013 Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Published Online First July 5, 2013; doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0414 http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/statin-drugs. This is an excellent compilation of dangers from statin drugs, with links to abstracts. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24052188 Association of statin use with cataracts: a propensity score-matched analysis. This is a good source of information on the use of statins for the elderly. A. Sultan and N. Hynes, "The Ugly Side of Statins. Systemic Appraisal of the Contemporary Un-Known Unknowns," Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Vol. 3 No. 3, 2013, pp. 179-185. doi: 10.4236/ojemd.2013.33025.

This is an extract from our Cura Romana Journey Program. An important part of reconnecting with the core, and coming to live your life from your essential being, is a willingness to leave behind the notion that what you need or long for can only come from outside yourself. In truth, everything we need for our own freedom and fulfillment we already have inside. It simply needs to be discovered, called forth, and set free. As Edward in Canada, who shed 32.7 pounds on the program, discovered: “For the first time ever, I feel that the next phase of my life will be really exciting and full of growth and more new experiences. Now I know I have the power to make it that way.” When I personally came to terms with just how profound the emotional and spiritual changes are for many men and women on Cura Romana, I started gathering together tools, techniques and information which I – and others I have worked with – find helpful in reconnecting with our core. I began to show them to those I am mentoring as a way of supporting spiritual processes which they told me had been initiated and/or intensified by the Cura Romana Journey. Here in the Cura Romana Sanctuary, I will be sharing some of these simple processes with you. They are interesting, consciousness expanding and fun. Try them out. Use those that appeal to you and forget the rest. You might be surprised what a powerful role practicing some of them regularly can play in rebuilding and strengthening that bridge between your inner and your outer life.

All artificial sweeteners increase your insulin resistance, impair your memory and disrupt your neurological functioning. Do not use them! It is hard to believe the extent to which they have taken over the world. The artificial sweetener market worldwide is measured in many billions, and keeps growing. Here is a breakdown: aspartame is responsible for 27.9% of the market, sucralose, claims another 27.9%, while cyclamate holds a 13.1% share, acesulfame-K gets 5.2% and neotame 1.4%. I continue to be flummoxed by it all. How can billions of people be persuaded into putting this kind of junk into their bodies, adding these products to their coffee and their foods, as well as swallowing sodas and other drinks that are riddled with them? If you value your body, your mind and your health, please STOP USING THEM! THE STUDIES One study, carried out over 14 years, showed that eating and drinking sugar-sweetened and artificially-sweetened drinks makes you prone to a higher risk of type II diabetes. Another, lasting over seven years, found that drinking artificially-sweetened drinks is associated with an almost 50% greater change in BMI. Researchers reported that a likely reason for this is that artificial sweeteners increase food intake, as well as a greater desire for sweetness, so you eat more food. Obese subjects given the artificial sweetener sucralose showed increased insulin levels and insulin resistance. In both human and animal studies, the artificial sweeteners sucralose, saccharine, and aspartame also exerted a substantial negative effect on gut bacteria which increases glucose intolerance. In relation to aspartame, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public interest (CSPI) Michael F Jacobson states, "Aspartame has been found to cause cancer—leukaemia, lymphoma and other tumors—in laboratory animals. It shouldn't be in the food supply.” PROTECT YOUR BRAIN Dana Small, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, has been doing excellent work examining the effects that artificial sweeteners exert on behavior and brain in humans and animals. She discovered that appetite comes from the hippocampus as well as the hypothalamus. When mice were fed on the artificial sweetener acesulfame-K, they developed impaired memory as a result of neurological dysfunctions in the hippocampus. A learned association takes place between the flavor of a food you eat and the ability of a food to alter your blood glucose. Your body is smart. You cannot feed it on rubbish like artificial sweeteners. When you do, it hunts for real food to satisfy its needs. By now, we have a huge volume of evidence showing that artificial sweeteners foster weight gain. PLEASE HEAR THIS Artificial sweeteners of any kind can be much worse for you than sugar. There is a lot of evidence to back this up. Even natural sweeteners such as honey and agave, which most people look upon as “healthy choices”, are not great. Agave is highly processed, even when it says “organic” on the label. It has a higher fructose content than any other commercial sweetener. In truth, it is little more than an over-hyped, laboratory generated, highly-condensed fruit syrup without nutritional value. In small quantities and in its raw form, honey has much to offer, provided it is real, pure, raw honey. But most honey these days is of very poor quality and adulterated. Even real raw honey, which is almost impossible to come by, consists of 53% fructose—which you don’t want to take in very much of. What about the sugar alcohols? These are easy to spot as their names end in “ol” like xylitol, malitol, glycerol, lacitiol, mannitol, sorbitol, glucitol. They are less sweet than sugar, but they are by no means calorie-free. You see, these sugar alcohols are not absorbed completely in your body. Eating them can create diarrhoea as well as abdominal gas. Some of them used regularly can even spike blood sugar as much as a baked potato or dinner roll can. Xylitol is probably the best if you are going to use any of them, but it must be used only in small quantities and not regularly. And you must read labels carefully. Personally, I choose to leave all of them alone. SAFE ALTERNATIVES Stevia is far and away the best natural sweetener in the world. But make sure you buy a good quality whole plant stevia (see my recommendations below.) Stay away from Truvia, Purevia and one or two other so-called stevia products which have extracted the sweetest component of the stevia plant—Rebaudioside A—out of the plant, grossly distorting the integrity of the plant as a whole. It’s the synergistic effect of all the natural ingredients in the plant that produce its overall health-giving qualities, which include "built-in protection" against potentially damaging effects. Working with people on our Cura programs, I find that artificial sweeteners disagree with many. Stay away from them. For my money, the two best stevias, which you can purchase from iHerb.com as well as from Amazon.co.uk, are these: Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia, which comes in a dropper bottle with all natural flavors and is convenient and easy to use. Add it to coffee, milk, sparkling water, protein shakes, plain yogurt or anything else you can imagine. It comes in many delicious flavors but English Toffee is the best by far. Take a look at it here: Order Natural Wisdom Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia from iherb Spoonable Stevia by Stevita Spoonable Stevia by Stevita, which uses only stevia extract with at least 95% pure glycosides (extremely sweet tasting ingredients of the Stevia herb leaves), and a little erythritol—a crystal granulated naturally produced filler found in fruits, vegetables and grains. This brand of stevia is best for baking and sprinkling on yogurt and anything else you are making. Take a look at it here: Order Spoonable Stevia by Stevita from iherb I use stevia a lot and love it. You will too. It should be your number one choice for your own wellbeing and that of your family. Go for it and leave the junk behind.

A complaint I often hear from men and women who have been on long term medication for low thyroid is this: “I’ve taken the pills for years but I only gain more weight. Why?” Having worked with scores of men and women all over the world, I am continually surprised by the number of people who, having been prescribed thyroid hormones, struggle long term with mounting weight that they cannot seem to lose no matter what they do— people who, nevertheless, shed weight consistently and keep it off permanently on Cura Romana. Let’s look at some of the common assumptions about the relationship between thyroid function, weight gain and weight loss, then maybe explore why Cura Romana is so successful for them… INACCURATE SCIENCE Thyroid hormones have long been used as a weight loss tool with little success. Only small amounts of weight tend to be lost. Once thyroid hormones are stopped, weight lost is usually regained. Often it is regained even when thyroid medication is continued. Sadly, there can be significant negative consequences from the use of thyroid hormone to help with weight loss—for instance, the loss of muscle tissue. And when the dose of thyroid hormone is increased, it can create other problems such as disrupting hormone balance. For good health, the endocrine system—which functions as a whole—needs to become balanced. HOLISTIC REBALANCE All the glands in our bodies depend upon one another to function properly. The thyroid gland, for example, depends upon the pituitary gland to help control the production of thyroid hormones. The pituitary gland produces thyroid stimulating hormone (or TSH). This hormone promotes thyroid hormone production, and releases the hormones into the blood stream. When the thyroid hormone level is low, the pituitary gland senses this and releases TSH, which in turn tells the thyroid gland to make and release thyroid hormone into the bloodstream. This process is often compared to the working of a furnace: a thermostat senses cold air, tells the furnace to turn on and produce heat, and when the air is warm enough, the thermostat tells the furnace to shut off. Any hormone introduced into the body, whether drug or nature-identical, can disrupt not only the functioning of the gland it has been targeted to treat, but the balance of many other hormones as well. OUTDATED NOTIONS It was almost a hundred years ago that scientists discovered the thyroid gland controls metabolism—in other words, the rate at which your body consumes its fuel. Doctors way back then came to believe that giving thyroid gland itself, or prescribing thyroid hormones to overweight people, would make them lose weight. Such notions have proved to be deeply disappointing. You see, the abnormal fat deposits we want to shed don’t get involved in the turnover of energy. This is one reason why weight loss diets don’t get rid of excess fat from so-called difficult areas, like bellies in men and waists and thighs in women. Nonetheless, many still prescribe thyroid medication to people who complain they cannot shed weight. Simeons, who created Cura Romana, understood that giving thyroid medication to an overweight man or woman just forces the body to consume its normal fat reserves—which are already depleted and which no one should lose—and then to break down structurally essential fat without touching the abnormal deposits. A DOCTOR SPEAKS “In this way,” Simeons said, “a patient may be brought to the brink of starvation in spite of having a hundred pounds of fat to spare.” In the thirty years he spent studying the cause and cure for obesity, and in all his successful clinical treatments, Simeons found that the majority of overweight people have a perfectly normal thyroid gland. Some, he discovered, even have an overactive thyroid. Only occasionally did he come upon an obese person with a real thyroid deficiency. He says, “Much misunderstanding about the supposed role of the thyroid gland in obesity is still met with, and it is now really high time that thyroid preparations be once and for all struck off the list of remedies for obesity. This is particularly so because giving thyroid gland to an obese patient whose thyroid is either normal or overactive, besides being useless, is often decidedly dangerous.” CONSOLIDATION BLESSINGS I often ask myself why so many people who have been on thyroid medication seem to thrive on ESSENTIAL SPRAY+FOOD PLAN and then make their weight loss permanent through the CONSOLIDATION process. In truth, I do not know the answer to this question. But it is a wonderful thing to witness taking place. And frequently, with the help of their doctor, they decide to reduce the hormones they have been taking, or to stop taking any thyroid medication whatsoever. I strongly suspect that it is the remarkable balancing that Cura Romana brings, not only to the fat control centers in the brain, but indirectly often to the endocrine system as a whole. For I also see women frequently able to eliminate the use of both drug and nature-identical hormones that they may have been using for years. “I just don’t need them any more” they tell me. The hot flushes are gone, the PMS has dramatically reduced or been eliminated altogether. As one participant said to me last week, “I feel like I’ve been released from a drug-built prison and it’s great.”

I want to share with you something I find pretty surprising which so many seem to experience on Cura Romana. To be fully alive you must be who you in essence are. For who you truly are is far more interesting, vital and exciting than anything or anyone you might aspire to be. Sadly, this fact is one most of us forget. Thanks to the diencephalic changes taking place via the autonomic nervous system to body, brain and hormones, the CURA ROMANA JOURNEY is a time in which we seem to be offered the finest opportunity I have ever come across to connect with the true nature of our own being, if, of course, we choose to take it. On a physiological level alone the changes in the appetite and fat control center in the brain seem to invite this kind of transformation. Let me tell you a little bit about this center in the brain. In Simeons’ words: “Buried deep down in the massive human brain there is a part which we have in common with all vertebrate animals, the so-called diencephalon. It is a very primitive part of the brain and has in man been almost smothered by the huge masses of nervous tissue with which we think, reason and voluntarily move our body. The diencephalon is the part from which the central nervous system controls all the automatic animal functions of the body, such as breathing, the heart beat, digestion, sleep, sex, the urinary system, the autonomous or vegetative nervous system and via the pituitary the whole interplay of the endocrine glands.” The Cura Romana transformations no doubt begin as physiological and functional alterations in diencephalic functioning. Yet why they happen so much more easily on the Cura Romana we use now than they did on the original one, I don’t yet understand. Has it to do with the vibrational nature of the Essential Spray which, together with the dietary protocol, may be affecting not only the physicality of the body but also its energetic aspects? These are a few of the questions I keep asking myself. In another of Simeons’ books Man’s Presumptuous Brain, he explores interesting conflicts which often take place in civilized man between the primitive, instinctual diencephalon area of the brain and our highly developed cerebral cortex from which we do our rational thinking. These are conflicts, Simeons points out, which often result in illness. I suspect that Cura Romana helps create a finer balance between our cool, rational conscious mind and our rich, primitive and instinctual animal nature, thereby creating greater harmony between body and mind. For we live in a cerebral, intellectual culture which pays too little attention to the importance of connecting with our essential being—our soul, if you like. Then so many of our potentials for expanded consciousness, tapping higher levels of insight, joy and bliss, too often remain dormant. Whatever is going on with people on their Cura Romana Journeys, it is pretty amazing for many. This is how Mirjana in England describes it. She shed 19.8 pounds on her program: “‘Cura Romana has completely transformed my life.” She says. “I wake up every morning energized and blissful. I am more aware of everything and everyone around me and, most important of all, I am more aware of my own needs and of myself.” It all remains a mystery…but a beautiful one.