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When it comes to prevention and treatment, opt for nature power every time. Simple herbs work better and are far safer than conventional medical “solutions”. They can keep you from being laid low by illness, even when people all around you are dropping like flies. If you are generally healthy, yet lead a stressful lifestyle, the occasional cold is simply your body’s way of trying to force you to get some extra rest and clear out toxic waste. However, if you find yourself spending most of winter with your nose in a handkerchief, then you need to take preventative action. Colds and most flu are caused by viruses. There are many natural ways to help protect from them. Viruses cannot replicate themselves without entering your cells and altering their function. Prevent a virus invading your cells, and you will stop cold and flu in their tracks. Giving your immune system a boost for the colds and flu season is the key to doing this. Here’s how: Eat well—plenty of fresh vegetables and some low-glycemic fruit, and cut out all packaged convenience foods. They are worthless when it comes to protecting or enhancing your health. At first sniffle, stop eating cooked food. I often don’t eat anything at all—just take live, fresh organic juices like carrot, spinach, apple, celery, kale—whatever I have in the house or can pick from my organic garden. Animals stop eating when they feel unwell. So do children. Your body needs all its strength to get rid of the invaders. Trust this. Boost your immunity by wrapping yourself in a comforting blanket, watch your favorite film or listen to music you love. Have a glass of fresh raw juice. If you prefer something warm, make yourself a bowl of tonic soup out of organic vegetables. Remember, your body is trying to clear itself of stuff that does not belong in it. Make time to let the clearing take place. Think back to the discoveries of two Nobel Prize winners—back when the Nobel Prize still meant something: Start by taking 3 grams (that’s 3000 milligrams) of vitamin C four times a day. This may sound excessive, but if you are under-the-weather or your immune system needs a boost, your body will soak up vitamin C like blotting paper. It’s worth remembering that we don’t make our own vitamin C like other animals. If we were goats, we would be making 5 grams of vitamin C per day or even more. But we humans can’t make our own, so we need to supply it. Your body will flush out any vitamin C it doesn’t need. If you find your bowel movements are loose, then reduce the amount you are taking a little. You can rest assured that your cells are being adequately flushed with ascorbic acid. If you have a delicate tummy, go for a brand that’s “buffered.” Personally, I take 3 grams of Vitamin C 3 or 4 times a day whenever I feel a cold or flu threatening, until 2 days after all symptoms have disappeared. And how do you live a cold-free, flu-free life from now on? Eliminate cereal-based, grain-based and sugar-based carbs. Eat a large, raw salad for one meal a day. This is the best possible way of enabling your body to rebalance and rebuild itself and restoring metabolism to its peak level. Eat plenty of “high water” foods. Your body is 70% water. For it to cleanse itself properly, you need to make sure at least 50-75% of your daily diet high-water foods—like fresh, low-glycemic fruit and vegetables. Eat most of them raw. Drink plenty of clean water—up to 3 liters a day if ever you feel yourself coming down with a cold. Avoid coffee, milk—which is mucus-forming—and alcohol. Make good use of the delicious herb teas now available. It’s all so simple, yet so powerful to keep yourself healthy. Try it and see. I think you will be delighted!

In the next few minutes, I want to share with you the real cause of most food addictions. First let me tell you, they are not your fault. I’ve spent 7 years mentoring men and women throughout the world to shed excess fat and keep it off permanently. During this period, I made an astounding discovery about the common reason for almost all uncontrollable food cravings, as well as what you can do to end the suffering they can bring. First, a word of warning: What you will learn in the next few minutes may well blow your mind. Addictive eating makes you feel powerless. You’ve been taught to hate yourself for being “weak willed”. You feel at the mercy of some force that seems impossible to resist. So you go on and off slimming regimes, take diet pills, lose weight temporarily only to gain it back soon afterwards. OK. It’s time to lay aside all your guilt, shame and self-criticism, as well as the fear that you have some kind of “emotional eating disorder.” To my amazement, what I have found out is this: an inability to control appetite no matter how hard you try is triggered by monstrous visitors from the underworld who have invaded your body. Food addictions, cravings, hopelessness and self-recrimination are the result of an overgrowth of Candida albicans. These are parasitic yeasts and fungi. These strange and powerful organisms feed on sugar as well as anything you eat that turns into sugar. This includes grains, cereals, fast foods, and convenience foods—all of which they thrive on. The goal of Candida is to control your body so they get their sugar fix. Next time you find yourself craving that piece of cake or reaching for a sugary drink, stop and remember this. It is not YOU who is craving that piece of cake or chocolate. It’s the yeasty beasties who are after sugar in any form for their continued survival in your body. Amazing? It certainly amazed me to learn this fact. Then, I spent two years learning about the behavior of these darkly hidden organisms, whose numbers are legion, and discovering how to help you clear them from your body. More about this in a moment. When Candida invades your body en masse, it distorts brain functions and can produce endless miseries. It screws up your emotions. It can even undermine your sense of personal power, so that you don’t feel you’re in control of your life. The chemical products that Candida pours into your body through the fermentation process by which it lives and spreads contain high levels of ethanol—plain old alcohol. This is why there are many cases on record of people who do not drink alcohol, yet live in a state of drunkenness which alters thought patterns, disturbs consciousness and creates many emotional and physical disorders. When the alcohol produced by Candida begins to break down in your body, this produces acetaldehyde—a chemical six times more toxic to the brain than ethanol itself. Acetaldehyde insidiously interferes with brain functions, causing damage to neurological structures. Let me share with you just a few of the symptoms experts have connected with an overgrowth of Candida albicans: Weight gain Chronic fatigue from impaired metabolism Brain and nervous system dysfunction Self-blame, shame, guilt and fear Headaches Poor memory, fuzzy thinking, inebriation Heart problems—rapid pulse rate, palpitations Vaginitis and lack of bladder control—which can lead to frequent urination, itchy rashes and vaginal thrush Stomach troubles: diarrhea, bloating and gas, gastritis, gastric ulcers, constipation Allergic reactions of many kinds Until the past decade, few doctors believed that Candida could invade the body’s tissues. Now we know it can do this with ease. Like every primitive microorganism, Candida has a powerful will to survive. It can breach normal defence systems to enter through skin and digestive tract, decrease the level of protective white blood cells, and invade the deep tissues of the body including the bloodstream. Medical tests for Candida are notoriously unreliable, and medical diagnosis of chronic Candidiasis is virtually impossible to make. Few physicians as yet even understand it. It is the body’s biological terrain that has to be restored to health for you to eliminate Candida from your system. This is what an effective anti-Candida program must do for you. Once this happens, all the addictive eating for which you have wrongly blamed yourself for causing is gone. The feeling of freedom and renewed self-esteem that this brings can be nothing less than life-changing. With the help of men and women whom I worked with on fat loss, I tested out dozens of anti-Candida supplements. In the process I found only one which I can recommend for everyone. It is low in cost and non-aggressive but highly effective. Now here is the catch. It takes time. Candida is so persistent that you must take 2 capsules of this nutritional supplement at lunch and two at dinner each and every day without fail, over a period of 3 to 6 months, to clear it from your system. During this period you must also stay away from convenience foods, breads, cereals and grains, all of which turn into sugar when you eat them. You need to increase the green vegetables that you eat and you must stay away from sugary fruits, fruit drinks, and sugar itself in any form. It can be a challenge. The good news is that, as Candida clears from your body, the increase in energy, wellbeing, self-confidence and loss of excess fat people experience brings with it an unparalleled experience of freedom and self-respect that is even hard to describe. To learn more about the monstrous and mysterious Candida, click on the links below here. 1. Are You Addicted To Food 2. End Food Cravings - Part 2 3. Radiant Health Restored - Part 3 In the meantime, let me share with you what I find to be the most gentle, effective and inexpensive natural nutritional supplement for clearing a Candida infestation. One last word: Patience. Remember, it can take three or more months, taking 2 capsules of this supplement at lunch and at dinner each and every day without fail. The transformation this kind of clearing can bring about is well worth the effort. Candida Support As a dietary supplement, take 2 capsules twice daily with food. Consider taking these other NOW products: Oregano Oil Softgels, Virgin Coconut Oil and Probiotic Defense. Order Candida Support from iherb

Want to control your weight? The key to this may be simpler than you think: get more sleep. A brand new study of 1800 sets of twins reveals that the twins who slept nine plus hours a night had a drastically increased ability to combat genetically-predisposed weight gain compared to the twins who slept less than seven hours. What this means is that when you do get enough sleep, your genes become less critical in determining how much weight your body lays down. But you need no longer be at the mercy of your DNA. If at the same time you make good lifestyle choices like eating a healthy diet and getting some regular, enjoyable exercise, this can set the stage for living a long, slim, healthy life. If you’ve long struggled with weight control, this is great news. A few extra hours of sleep a night could throw the ball of weight control right back in your own court. The word leptin means “thin” in Greek. Leptin is an important hormone that helps regulate your metabolism. It tells your brain when you have had enough to eat—an experience known as satiety. A number of early studies have shown that when you are sleep deprived, the body’s levels of this hormone drop and you develop what is known as leptin resistance—a condition that interferes with fat burning. Meanwhile, levels of another important hormone ghrelin (leptin’s hunger-signaling counterpart) rise. This results in you experiencing increased appetite and food cravings—especially for carbohydrates like grains, cereals, sugars, and junk food—all the stuff that makes us fat and destroys our health. John Keats, in his Sonnet to Sleep, called sleep the “soft embalmer,” praising its “careful fingers” and “lulling charities.” How right he was. The benefits that sleep bestows on us extend far beyond weight control. Sleep heals our body and our mind, enabling us to integrate new information with ease. But when we are sleep deprived, our bodies can come under powerful biological stress. They begin to respond in negative ways in an attempt to protect us: Muscles get tense. Heart rate and blood pressure go up. Digestion is disturbed and the stress hormone corticosterone floods your system. Then your body lays down yet more fat deposits while refusing to let go of the ones already there. But here’s the rub about sleep deprivation. In case you think you can “catch up” after prolonged periods of too little sleep, you can’t. For sleep to become an ally in your fat-fighting armory, you need to get plenty night after night. The new twins research shows that some of us need nine or more hours sleep a night to receive weight control benefits. But there are no hard-and-fast rules. So instead of trying to adhere to a strict eight or nine-hour-a-night regime, listen to your own unique body. When you do, it will tell you how much sleep you should be getting. Life factors such as age, stress or illness, occupation, sex, diet, and pregnancy mean that some people will need more sleep and others less. Check this out: Are you often tired upon waking? Do you get sleepy throughout the day? Experiment. See how you feel after different amounts of sleep and find what works for you. Your entire being—not least of all your slimmer waistline—will thank you for it.

The most common herald of menopause is the appearance of hot flashes. These are virtually synonymous in the experience of many women. An adjunct to hot flashes are night sweats where you awaken drenched in sweat, so much so sometimes that you not only need to change your night clothes but the sheets on your bed as well. Both night sweats and hot flashes can be disconcerting if you are frightened of them. Don’t be. A lot can be said about hot flashes, but there are only two facts that you need to know: First, they are completely harmless. Second, hot flashes are the only symptoms among a long list of stuff usually attributed to menopause that genuinely belong to it. Women of all ages get hot flashes especially strongly when their ovaries are removed surgically. During pre-menopause, thinner women often experience more drastic alterations in their estrogen levels and are therefore more likely than their bigger sisters to get stronger hot flashes. In most women, hot flashes are at their most intense during the last year or so before the end of menstruation and during the first year afterwards. Estrogen levels tend to be lower in pre-menopausal women with hot flashes than those without hot flashes. Yet it is quite clear that low estrogen, although it continues to get the blame for hot flashes, it is by no means all that is involved in their production. It is the sudden drop of estrogen in your body that is the real issue. And once your body becomes accustomed to lower levels of estrogen, most hot flashes gradually diminish. Often low estrogen is not involved in hot flashes at all. Hot flashes happen to women if they have been taking supplementary estrogen in HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for a time and then stop. . There are certain foods and habits known to contribute greatly to the incidence of hot flashes. Stop cigarette smoking, drinking, caffeine, and eating hot spicy food. An overactive thyroid can cause hot flashes too, as can insulin resistance, the use of all sorts of potentially dangerous drugs from Big Pharma, and diabetes. Hot flashes are often the result of allergic reactions to foods and the chemicals in the environment. The high levels of steroid hormones used in pharmaceutical hormone replacement suppress important functions in your body, such as those that are connected with allergies and with your body's attempt to detoxify itself. When estrogen decreases rapidly in a menopausal woman who has been taking artificial hormones, then the underlying allergy or toxicity that was being masked by the hormones comes to the surface. Foods can give you reactions such as migraine, headaches and rises in blood pressure as well as hot flashes. It is time to look at your diet, since when offending foods like milk and all cows’ milk products, including yoghurt and cheeses, wheat, chocolate, or oranges are removed from the diet, hot flashes will diminish and may even cease altogether. By the way, extra estrogen does not “cure” hot flashes. It only masks them for a while. Actually, there is nothing to “cure,” because hot flashes are not a symptom of disease. They are a normal bodily change associated with the transition between the menstrual years and menopause. The standard medical treatment for hot flashes is estrogen. If you decide to go on estrogen for a few years “to get you through the rough patch,” what you are not told is that when you come off it, your hot flashes are likely to return in force—three years down the road or twenty. Women who have been filled full of fear of menopause—particularly professional women—sometimes sit in trepidation lest a hot flash come over them while in a business meeting to betray that they are menopausal. Women always think they are more evident to the outside world than they are. But even if they were, so what? Why should any woman agree, even tacitly, to buy into the general nonsense that menopause—or perhaps a swollen belly during pregnancy—is something disgraceful to be hidden? If you have been experiencing hot flashes, change your diet. Also use some powerful and benign herbs. Here are my favorites. They work beautifully: Sage: Make an infusion of 1 teaspoon of the dried leaves in a cup of water, allow it to steep for 10 minutes, then drink 1 tablespoon of the tea 1 to 4 times a day. Or you can use 10 to 25 drops of tincture of sage every day. Motherwort: It does not make a great tasting tea, so I prefer to take it as a tincture. Take 10 to 25 drops of tincture every 2 to 6 hours. Chastetree: Take 1 capsule of powdered berries 3 to 4 times a day, or 15 drops to 1 teaspoon of the tincture 1 to 3 times a day. Dong Quai: Make an infusion of a teaspoon of the dried root in a cup of boiling water and drink once a day. Or take 15 to 30 drops of tincture 1 to 3 times a day. Remember this: The long traditions of natural medicine view hot flashes as the body’s way of detoxifying itself and enhancing immunity. And recent research shows that even a slight raise in temperature in the body can be instrumental in doing both. Eclectic Institute, Organic Motherwort Fresh, organic motherwort (leonurus cardiaca) flower tops. organic grain-free alcohol content: 40-50%. filtered water. Fresh herb strength: 1:2.(500 mg/ml). Order Eclectic Institute, Organic Motherwort from iherb Eclectic Institute, Chaste Tree Dried organic chaste tree (vitex agnus castus) berry, Organic grain-free alcohol content: 70-80%, filtered water. Dry herb strength 1:4. (250 mg/ml). Order Eclectic Institute, Chaste Tree from iherb Eclectic Institute, Dong Quai Dried cured dong quai (angelica sinensis) root, organic grain-free alcohol content: 25-35%, filtered water. Fresh herb strength: 1:4 (250 mg/ml). Order Eclectic Institute, Dong Quai from iherb Herb Pharm, Whole Leaf Sage Certified organic cane alcohol (71-81%) & distilled water. Gluten-free. Dry herb / menstruum ratio: 1 : 5 Order Herb Pharm, Whole Leaf Sage from iherb

Many years ago, impeccable research in reputable scientific journals confirmed that every one of us benefits from taking the right kind of vitamin supplements. One excellent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who take over-the-counter multivitamins in the first months of pregnancy dramatically reduce their risk of giving birth to a neurologically damaged child. Neural tube defects are amongst the most horrible and most common birth defects. They cause everything from death to paralysis in the child, and they affect between 1 and 2 babies in every 1000 births. The study was carried out under the direction of Aubrey Milunsky, director of Boston University's prestigious Center for Human Genetics. It involved 23,000 women, half of whom took multivitamin pills containing folic acid—a B-group vitamin in particularly high demand during pregnancy. The results were astonishing. The incidence of neural tube defects in babies born to the women who took the supplements was less than a quarter of what it was amongst those women who took no supplements. So remarkable were these results that they shook to the core FDA officials, who had insisted for generations that taking nutritional supplements is not only unnecessary but, can cause damage our health. Nevertheless, the FDA and CODEX continue to propagandize the ridiculous idea that “nutrition has no significance for health”. The notion that if vitamins and minerals are allowed on the market, they should only be permitted in ultra-low doses. As a result, month-by-month, clinically effective nutrients are being treated as “toxins”. The levels of nutrients they contain are being reduced. Many are being removed from public access in one country after another. There’s a wonderful way around all this which I strongly urge you to explore. Shun chemically made vitamins—which over 90% on the market are—and take food-state nutrients instead. Most vitamins you buy in shops or online are made from synthetic chemicals. They’ve been manufactured in a laboratory in a futile effort to match the molecular structure of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals found in our foods. As a result, they are chock full of chemically-made nutrients. Your body has been designed to absorb vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. Manmade synthetics can never match natural molecular structures. In no way are they the same. Our bodies do not handle synthetics well. You can be taking a high-potency, man-made synthetic that somebody’s recommended, yet not effectively absorbing the vitamins and minerals it contains. This is a major reason why I am passionate about whole-food natural vitamins and minerals. Good manufacturers of whole-food vitamins usually grow most botanicals themselves that go into their food-state formulas. Using state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, they test, validate and document the potencies of the raw materials that make up their products with high performance liquid chromatography for testing potency. They are careful in the way they handle other plant extracts which they add to their supplements. They use a specific system of drying which transfers heat gently and efficiently, removing moisture from delicate foods and botanicals in order to prevent oxidation of raw materials. This protects the integrity of the ingredients against any degradation of their nutrient content, and helps maintain the color and the flavor. Since food-state vitamins are biologically natural, you’ll often find that the recommended daily serving of some of these products can sometimes be as high as six to eight capsules a day for you to get the full benefit of what they have to offer. In addition to the common vitamins, such as vitamin A, C, D3, E, K2, folate, and so forth, many food- state multis offer a broad spectrum of bioavailable minerals—calcium, iodine, magnesium, selenium, chromium, molybdenum, manganese; as well as extracts taken from plants also beneficial to your body—extract of barley grass, for example; green papaya; Ayurvedic herbs such as astragalus, foti and kudzu root; and those used in Chinese medicine like reishi and shitake mushrooms. These are often the kind of supplements you may well benefit most from using. Read labels when looking for a good food-state supplement, and choose carefully. But beware. There are many vitamins on the market that claim to be food-state or “whole-food vitamins” that are not top quality. Always make sure that whatever vitamin/mineral complex you choose, it is free of corn, soy, yeast, wheat and dairy products, and that it has been formulated without the use of preservatives, artificial flavors or coloring. See below for some food state products I have personally tested and recommend. Dr. Mercola, Premium Supplements, Whole Food Multivitamin Plus As a dietary supplement, adults take 4 tablets two times daily with food or as directed by your healthcare professional. This product is best taken once in the morning and once at night. Order Whole Food Multivitamin Plus from iherb MegaFood, One Daily, 180 Tablets MegaFood cares about doing things the right way - we refuse to take shortcuts, and we never compromise on quality or the things that matter. Order MegaFood, One Daily from iherb MegaFood, Men Over 55 Since 1973, we have been going out of our way to source fresh and local foods from trusted farmers. We then make our wholesome supplements using our one-of-a-kind process to deliver the most authentic nutrition - much more than vitamins alone. Order MegaFood, Men Over 55 from iherb MegaFood, Women Over 40 One Daily FoodState Nutrients are made with fresh and local foods. Crafted with our Slo-Food Process, they deliver the most authentic nourishment available, which we believe the body recognizes as 100% whole food. Order MegaFood, Women Over 40 One Daily from iherb

The finest black chocolate is not only good for your body, mind and spirit. It can help protect you from degenerative conditions—from cancer and heart disease to Alzheimer’s. Yes, really! But it has to be the right kind of chocolate, and in the right quantity. Next time you’re feeling anxious, reach for a piece of dark, dark chocolate and you can feel good about it. The emerging chocolate story is a fascinating one that is just beginning to break. Casanova claims for Chocolate Casanova claimed chocolate was the perfect tool for seduction. Recent research explains why. Scientists in California recently isolated a substance in chocolate which links into our brain receptor sites and, like cannabis, brings sensations of pleasure and relaxation. This is just one of the ways mysterious chocolate heightens your passion for this seductive food while enhances your health and calming your nerves. Dark Chocolate Eating one an a half ounces dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduces your levels of stress hormones, but it has to be very, very dark chocolate—between 75 and 85% cocoa solids. Some of the health benefits from chocolate are due to the antioxidants present in cocoa itself, such as flavonols. These are a sub-class of flavonoids, and are natural plant chemicals (phytochemicals) found in fruits and vegetables. There are several thousand compounds belonging to the antioxidant-rich polyphenol family, also called phytochemicals, which are very good for us. Avoid Milk Chocolate A study published a couple of years back discovered that between 6 and 7 grams of dark chocolate per day, which is a little less than half a bar a week, is probably an ideal amount for protecting us against inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Any more than this appears to cancel out the benefits. But it must be milk-free. You see there is a huge difference between the minimally processed dark chocolate and the milk chocolate found in most candy bars. Raw, unsweetened cocoa powder which is high in antioxidant flavonols and contains no sugar is very different from the common cocoa drinks that are loaded with sugar. They offer no antioxidant support whatsoever. The total antioxidant content of chocolate products is directly associated with the amount of raw cocoa that the chocolate contains. A published in the ‘Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry’ showed that in terms of healthy antioxidant content, cocoa powder rated first, followed by unsweetened baking chocolate, and black chocolate.Perhaps even more surprisingly, dark unprocessed chocolate has been exonerated in a number of studies as exerting positive effects on your health. One example, believe it or not, is that it improves glucose metabolism. It also improves blood pressure levels and your cardiovascular system. Let me say again: you must choose very dark chocolate and forsake milk chocolate forever if you value your health. Milk chocolate has very few of these antioxidants. This is partly because it’s heavily processed. In fact, the typical commercial chocolate has less than half of the flavonoids remaining after processing. As well as that, milk chocolate contains milk, which tends to cancel out cocoa’s antioxidant effects. This was discovered in a study published in the journal ‘Nature’. The reason this happens is that proteins in the milk bind with the antioxidants, making them less easily absorbed by your body. Another thing about processed chocolate is that it ican be high in sugar, chemical additives and other junk including, believe it or not, lead. Many researchers contend that milk in processed chocolate is also often contaminated by other heavy metals, but no one is quite sure why how this happens. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should be swallowing chocolate every minute or two. The ideal amount of top quality organic dark chocolate that you should eat is very little.A study published a couple of years back discovered that between 6 and 7 grams of dark chocolate per day, which is a little less than half a bar a week, is probably the ideal amount for protecting us against inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Any more than this appears to cancel out the benefits. Sacred Foods This is not surprising because chocolate, like real organic coffee, has throughout history been considered one of the sacred foods and the sacred foods need to be honored. Such foods have powerful energies. We thrive when we take them only in small quantities. This is the only way we can take advantage of all they have to offer us on every level.

Most people treat aphrodisiacs as folk fantasy. Don’t be deceived. When libido flags in women, there are many herbs that can help revive it. The biochemistry of plants like ginseng, dong quai, fennel, shilajit—even a few essential oils can bring powerful sexual regeneration to your body and intensify your libido. It’s your own individual response to specific herbs that holds the key to which aphrodisiacs are best for you. Loss of your libido can have many different causes. So when turning to herbs for help in the sexual arena, you will need to experiment a bit to find which plants work best for you. But watch out. It can not only be easy to create an experience of intense desire; it can be just as easy for a woman to end up fertilized by the results of it. Shatavari—Asparagus racemosus This Ayurvedic female rejuvenation tonic is also an excellent aphrodisiac as well. It’s been used for thousands of years as a female tonic to correct menstrual and menopausal imbalances as well. Traditionally known as “She who has 1,000 husbands”, it was long believed to give a woman the strength and passion to handle 1,000 lovers. Organic shatavari root extract contains a full spectrum of active and synergistic constituents, including saponins containing shatavarin. Use only this herb which is naturally grown or ethically wild crafted so it contains no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Wild Yam—Dioscorea villosa Often restores a woman’s libido so successfully that I wouldn’t advise you to use it unless you have a sexual partner. You can take it as a tincture—½ to1 teaspoon in water twice a day—or as a dried herb in capsules, 4-6 capsules a day. I have known women who take as many as 10 capsules a day, but less than this works very well for most. American Ginseng—Panax ginseng Is as good a raiser of libido in women as it is in men, despite the assumption that it is a male plant. It is particularly useful for post-menopausal women. Drink it as a tea three or four times a day. Be patient it takes time to do its work. Shilajit—known by many names in many countries Has been used as an aphrodisiac and female fertility treatment for centuries. One of the most powerful “herbal” substances known, it has been used for thousands of years all over the world. It comes in a thick, tar-like form containing over 80 minerals from Himalayan rocks. It is anti-inflammatory, anti-stress and anti-anxiety, as well as anti-aging. Be sure to buy only the highest grade of Shilajit, wild crafted and gathered from the Himalayas, since only the finest will bring you your desired goal. Fennel—Foeniculum vulgare Is replete with plant steroids. In animal experiments it has been shown to raise the libido of both males and females. You can take it as a tea. Bruise a teaspoon of organic fennel seeds and pour 2 cups of boiling water over them. Steep for 5 minutes, strain and drink. Caution: Do not use fennel oil on your body when you are pregnant, as it has been known to cause miscarriage. Other simple herbs which you can add to your foods with a good reputation for enhancing libido are parsley, fenugreek—great to sprout and eat in salads—ginger, and anis. Even coca, from which chocolate is made, is a mild aphrodisiac. You can also use certain essential oils to enhance libido on the night. Massage your body and your partner’s with a carrier oil such as sweet almond oil or apricot oil to which you have added one of the aphrodisiac essences: Clary sage, ylang ylang, rose, or jasmine. Of course, this is for external use only. It’s powerful stuff—you need only 1 drop of an essential oil to each teaspoon of carrier oil. A capsule of vitamin E squeezed into the oil when you mix it helps keep it fresh longer. Next week on our Sacred Truth Podcast, we’ll be looking at some of the best aphrodisiacs for men, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out the links below for the best products you can find. Paradise Herbs, Organics, Shatavari, 60 Veggie Caps Paradise Organic Shatavari ultimate ayurvedic extract is the highest quality nature has to offer. Using a 100% natural extraction method the true essence and breath of the whole herbs is captured therefore retaining all of its active and synergistic constituents in the balanced ratio nature intended. Order Paradise Herbs, Organics, Shatavar from iherb Herb Pharm, Wild Yam We prepare our Wild Yam Extract from the rhizome of Dioscorea villosa vines which are Certified Organically Grown especially for us in their native forest habitat in eastern Kentucky. Order Herb Pharm, Wild Yam from iherb Nature's Way, Wild Yam, Root Capsules Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) was historically offered as "colic root" and used in herbal remedies for gastrointestinal irritations. In recent years it has become popular for women's health. Order Nature's Way, Wild Yam from iherb Triple Leaf Tea, American Ginseng American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) has long been a popular herb. Modern research confirms both American and Asian ginsengs contain ginsenosides and supports their long history of use. Order Triple Leaf Tea, American Ginseng from iherb Dragon Herbs, High Mountain Shilajit Shilajit is one of the premier "herbal" substances known to humankind. Shilajit has been used for thousands of years throughout much of the world as a tonic. Order Dragon Herbs, High Mountain Shilajit from iherb Organic Whole Fennel Seed A graceful plant, fennel is an aromatic, hardy, perennial with golden yellow flowers and feathery leaves. Also known as garden fennel, this plant's botanical name, Foeniculum vulgare, comes from the Latin for "fragrant hay" Order Organic Whole Fennel Seed from iherb

For decades, we’ve been warning men and women not to take calcium supplements—whether in pill form or by drinking and eating many cows’ milk products. By now, excellent scientific studies confirm that our advice is right. Thanks to the milk marketing people and pharmaceutical companies, we have for two generations been bombarded with misinformation about calcium. It’s time to share with you a few simple truths. Supplementing your diet with calcium can not only be toxic to your body. It could even shorten your life. Death by Calcium Thomas E Levy, M.D. is one of the world’s leading experts in vitamin C and antioxidants used to treat and protect against degenerative diseases. Levy has written an excellent book, Death by Calcium. If you care about your health and want to know the truth, I urge you to read it. Meanwhile, here is a quick list of some of the secrets you need to know about supplementing calcium. encourages the development of cancers What few people know is that all degenerative diseases, from heart disease to cancer, show increased levels of calcium inside your cells and arteries where they do not belong. And, as calcium deposits increase, so does your chance of malignancies—for this encourages the development of cancers. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, if you eat a healthy diet based on organic fresh fruits, vegetables and protein foods, you automatically supplies all the calcium your body will ever need—so long as you are getting plenty of sunlight or taking a good quality vitamin D3 plus Vitamin K2 daily. By the way, women with the highest calcium consumption have a death rate two and a half times higher than those with a lower consumption of calcium, according to a huge research project involving 61,433 women followed over 19 years. And, for a long time, we have been urged to supplement our diet with calcium to avoid osteoporosis. A man or woman unwittingly following such advice is far more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than from a bone fracture. osteoporosis and calcium You see, if you have osteoporosis you do not have an overall deficiency of calcium in the body. You will have a deficiency of calcium in your bones while you have an excess of calcium in the rest of your body. And while calcium supplementation may increase calcium density in your bones, this does not decrease your chances of bone fracture. What it does do is lay down potentially dangerous deposits of excess calcium outside your bones. Excess calcium circulating in your blood is far more dangerous than high cholesterol when it comes to causing a stroke or heart disease. The proofs for all these things are overwhelming. Get your calcium from fresh, organic vegetables and a healthy diet of real fresh food. Stay away from packaged convenience foods, sugars, grains and cereals, and you’ll never need to swallow milk or pop another calcium pill to stay strong and well. It is all so simple. Meanwhile, if you want to learn more, read Levy’s book Death by Calcium. It’s a great read—clear, honest and vital for your health. Death By Calcium In this book, Death by Calcium, board-certified cardiologist, Thomas E. Levy, offers scientific proof that the regular intake of dairy and calcium supplementation promotes all known chronic degenerative diseases and significantly shortens life. Order Death By Calcium from iherb Vitamin D3 and K2 Vitamin D3 promotes calcium absorption and calcium transport to bones. Vitamin K2, likewise has been shown to be critical for bone cardiovascular health through its role in the support of proper calcium metabolism in bone and vascular structures. Vitamin K2 is the most biologically active form of Vitamin K. Order Vitamin D-3 & K-2 from iherb

In the next 5 minutes, I want to share with you essential truths about hormone replacement therapy—HRT. This stuff that vitally important for you to know. But first, let me ask this: Do you feel or have you fever been afraid, confused or frustrated about your own menstrual, peri-menopausal or menopausal issues? I know I once did. Intense hormonal changes can make you feel like you’re going crazy, so you’re not even sure who you are any more. And these symptoms can start as early as 10 years before menopause arrives. Natural hormonal shifts are natural transformations in every woman’s life. And, believe it or not, they can even be profoundly beneficial. But you need to learn how best o handle them. We women are constantly told that we have to take drug-based artificial hormone drugs known as HRT to do this. I’m here to tell you this is most certainly not the way to go. Why? Because medically based HRT— using synthetic drugs can produce massive side effects. It is also incapable of delivering genuine healing. It cannot treat fundamental causes. It can only mask symptoms. In the process, synthetic HRT hormones can poison your body long-term. Drug-based synthetic estrogens, progestins and progestogens commonly prescribed as HRT are fundamentally dangerous. Used long-term, they may even be life-threatening. We women need to band together and challenge the “wisdom” of conventional medical practices. It’s time for us to turn away from the widespread propaganda that accompanies the promotion of HRT as the solution to all our problems. Indiscriminate doling out of potent drug-based hormones can undermine a woman’s fertility as well as trigger the development of her menstrual agonies—from PMS and endometriosis to cancer of the breast and womb. The current attempt to make every woman a “patient” for the rest of her life by subjecting her body to long-term HRT is also a way of diminishing her personal power and undermining her control over her own body. Conventional HRT is most certainly not the answer. I believe passionately that it’s time for a radical overhaul in how we handle women’s issues. There are safer, better, more effective ways. As celebrated expert in the natural treatment of peri-menopause and menopause, Dr Jonathan Wright, Medical Director of Tahoma Clinic in Washington—a long-time advocate of bio-identical, that is natural hormones—says, “Replacing estrogen that your body is no longer producing with the synthetic versions found in conventional HRT is like replacing parts designed for a Chevy with those made for a Mercedes.” More about these alternatives in a moment. Meanwhile, let me share with you a couple of scientific studies carried out in the last 15 years which show just how potentially dangerous and ineffective conventionally prescribed HRT can be: In 2002, researchers called a halt to a huge government- run study involving 16,000 women on HRT under the Women’s Health Initiative. Researchers found that long-term use of synthetic estrogen and progestin significantly increased women’s danger of stroke, blood clots, heart attack, invasive breast cancer and stroke. Then the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published another study, showing that women who take a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin are also at high risk of getting a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. Other studies have revealed that HRT can increase your risk of Alzheimer’s, dementia and asthma. More new research indicates that combined synthetic estrogen-progestin HRT increases your risk of severe forms of breast cancer as well as your chances of dying, from the disease as well as other causes. This is but a small sample of the volume of research that has surfaced since the turn of the millennium, exposing potentially serious consequences of buying into the ongoing hype of HRT and allowing such synthetic chemicals into our bodies. Let’s look at the alternatives. There are many. Bio-identical hormones—commonly known as “natural” hormones—do a far safer, more effective job of helping most women handle the challenges they face. This is a truth now well supported by scientific research. Your hormonal system, with all its ebbs and flows, parallel those of the earth’s tides and the moon itself—acting as an interface between your emotional life and your body. Mess with your hormones and you may even undermine your ability to grow spiritually. I will soon be shooting some more new videos about Bio-identical Hormone Replacement, what it is, how it works, how it differs from synthetic HRT, as well as other natural ways of treating menstrual and menopausal challenges. So keep an eye open for them. In the meantime, go to lesliekenton.com where you can learn more right now about the remarkable things natural hormones and other natural approaches from herbs and changes in diet can do to support your own challenges right now. See you soon. Here are the links to additional information about HRT and Bio-identical hormones: 5 steps to natural menopause: http://lesliekenton.com/health/into-the-bliss/5-steps-ideal-menopause-part-2/ Beware of HRT: http://lesliekenton.com/health/into-the-bliss/beware-hrt/

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about how to naturally handle unnatural mind and body states—even, god forbid, hangovers. The most obvious way to avoid a hangover is not to drink. If you do drink, then choose only the best—be it wine, whiskey, or whatever—but never overdo it. You don’t need alcohol to be able to dance on tables and celebrate! The best alcohols to drink are those with the fewest unpleasant chemicals—known as congeners—which upset your whole system. King of all the alcohols when it comes to purity and low levels of congeners is tequila. It’s a drink I suggest you make good use of over the holidays. But here’s the gen: If you decide to make yourself a margarita, make it from real tequila. So much of the stuff they sell as tequila is filled with a lot of insidious chemicals which you don’t want to put into your body. Agave, which just about everyone thinks of as cactus, is in truth a succulent belonging to the lily family. The finest blue agave comes from the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. It has to be harvested at the peak of its sweetness. My brother, whom I adoringly call Toto, is a connoisseur of tequilas. He insists—and I have checked out his recommendations and trust them implicitly—that the finest tequila is made by Patrón. Patrón Ultra Premium Tequila is the world’s highest quality tequila. It has been handcrafted from 100% Weber Blue Agave. And it’s superb—as fine as the finest of malt whiskey, which I look upon as an art form. Anejo Patrón is Toto’s favorite tequila. Silver Patrón is my own favorite. Aaron, my son, has created a fabulous recipe for Margaritas using Patrón. It’s very simple: To a handful of ice in our Vita Mix he adds four jiggers of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, 4 jiggers of Silver or Anejo Patrón, 2 jiggers of Cointreau or Grand Marnier, a couple of jiggers of water and—the crème de la crème—a dropper or two of the most delicious stevia in the world: English Toffee Sweet Leaf Liquid stevia from iherb.com (so much more delicious than the usual sugar or syrup, which is really rather revolting). He turns on the Vita Mix for 30 seconds while he rubs the rim of each glass with one of the lemon or lime skins, then plunges it into a saucer of Himalayan salt to coat the rim. This makes Margaritas for 4 people. It’s a perfect hangover-free treat to share with friends over Christmas. Great stuff for dancing on tables if you’re so inclined, too! Now let’s get back to hangovers that come from drinking stuff which is not so pure, or just far too much of anything. Drinking lots of pure water before you go out for the evening, then continuing to get plenty of clean water along with alcohol later, helps to prevent the dehydration and ghastly headaches that come with an over-indulgent evening. And there are a couple of important things you can do the next morning to help restore your equilibrium. First thing on waking, make yourself a cup of ginger or peppermint tea. Put 2 teaspoons of the dried leaves (or 4 teaspoons of fresh leaves) into a tea pot and pour a cup of boiling water over it. Steep for 5-10 minutes and sip it gently. The peppermint or ginger will settle your stomach. Breathing in the steam from your tea can also help to ease a headache. Once your stomach is settled enough to handle more, take two to three grams of vitamin C—2000-3000mg—and two to three grams of evening primrose oil, or starflower or borage oil. Vitamin C’s antioxidant properties help the liver clear the toxic wastes from too much alcohol. The GLA in the oils is turned into prostaglandin E1—an important regulator of your mood which alcohol has undermined. When mood is low, you can feel depressed and very tired. Don’t forget St Mary’s Thistle. Also known as milk thistle, it’s a wonderful liver cleanser and supporter. Take 2 capsules or 1 teaspoon of tincture in a little water every 3-4 hours until you are feeling human again. If you can, in your current state, remember where you last saw it, reach for some dried borage. Open the jar, or put it in a paper bag, hold your nose over the bag and take a deep breath. No one has ever been able to explain to me how borage works this magic, but doing this can clear your head wonderfully. I’ve heard that taking ginkgo before you go out for an evening can also help to prevent hangovers by enhancing your body’s ability to metabolize alcohol swiftly. However, I’ve never learned how much you should take, or how long before drinking alcohol you should take it. But if you are taking ginkgo for other reasons, pay attention to how you feel after a glass or two of wine and see if this makes a difference. Good luck.

We are poised at a moment in history where one age is dying and the next is about to be born. Each of us is being faced with a choice. As we sense the foundations of our world shaking, do we withdraw in anxiety and try to hang on to what we once believed to be “the way things should be?” Do we become paralyzed, and attempt to cover our fear with apathy? Or do we embrace the courage being offered to us by a Universe in flux, and, step-by-step, commit ourselves to discovering who in essence we are at the deepest levels of our being and decide to live our lives from there? How do you feel about this? Can you to honor your instincts? Will you choose to face the challenge of entering into the realms of your innate creative power and forging a new life for yourself in the midst of all the chaos, confusion, and deception with which this crazy world surrounds us? I believe we can. The choice we are being asked to make is either joining the “sheep” and conforming to established belief systems, even though they no longer offer a sense of safety that we once believed could be counted on, or taking a chance on discovering our own truth. Of course this means leaping into the unknown for which there is no precedent. What are the rewards of choosing the second possibility? They are immense. This makes it possible for each of us to tap into the immense joy and power of our own creativity and begin to live our lives from it—for our own the benefit, and the benefit of those we love as well as the world we live in. Authenticity—being true to yourself at the deepest level of your being—is the greatest gift you’ll ever experience. It’s all about discovering how unique you really are. This brings the greatest joy and satisfaction possible. After all, we can only collect so many BMWs, university degrees, and new lovers. All of these things are great, but none of them lead to a sense of self-worth, simple joy, and genuine freedom. I believe that freedom is the birthright of every human being. Realizing you deserve it is the first step in claiming it as your own. For some people this can seem the most difficult step to take, because it means coming to respect and honor yourself enough that you allow your unique truths to arise from deep within. In the past seven years I have personally worked with men and women all over the world. When many begin their Cura protocol, more often than not their minds are filled with the false notion that changing their weight and expanding their health and their lives with joy could never be more than a pipe dream. They soon learn otherwise. When they follow their protocol to the letter, they discover for themselves how exciting it can be to live one’s life in wholeness. The program brings body, mind, and spirit together in a harmonious way, and they experience a natural clearing away of limiting beliefs and false notions that they may have carried for years. This process clarifies and expands their experience of the world around them. This is because every blinkered view of reality blocks freedom, entraps our creativity, limits bliss, and disconnects us—not only from our essential beauty but also from the Universe as a whole, in all its wonderment and the power it can bring for growth and transformation for our own lives and for the world. Connecting with who you really are, accessing authentic power, and living your freedom require that you expand your consciousness in a major way. As human beings, we have a natural capacity to move beyond our limited experience of five-sensory three-dimensional reality. We can learn to enter expanded realms of consciousness. This new expanding worldview is called holism. It looks upon the Universe as holographic. Holism was named after the work of scientists who demonstrated that living organisms are integrated energetic systems within an integrated whole. Even your brain and body are holographic. Each small part of us, like each part of the Universe, is not only connected to the rest, it but actually embodies the nature of the whole within it. The tension between the new holism and the old mechanism—which depended on a belief in a separation of Spirit from matter, form, and substance—must be urgently resolved if we are to break out of the self-imposed prisons that have been forced upon us by restrictive rules and conventions. I believe that every one of us is now being called upon to let go of our preconceived notions about what’s real, in order to explore the further reaches of a wider, more exciting, and transformative reality. For reasons I still don’t fully understand, Cura’s Inner Circle has been an ideal opportunity for most people to discover this. To experience real freedom you only need to welcome more and more of your essential soul nature into your everyday experience of life—through dance, through ritual, through prayer, through your work, your relationships, and in your interactions with the world around you—in ever more direct and fearless ways. I have long loved a saying that I first heard when I was twelve years old. It goes like this: “Tell the truth and shame the devil.” In regard to how it relates here, what I’ve been describing is nothing more or less that discovering your own truth and choosing to live your life from it at every level, whether or not it fits with what you have been taught you are “supposed” to do. The more you dare to do this not only brings you an immense sense of joy and natural confidence; it becomes easier and easier to trust yourself. There is nothing more fun than being who you truly are. Dance your unique truth, and the Universe dances with you. The rewards of living this way can be virtually infinite.

Let we share with you my very favorite plant for soothing, healing and helping when you need it most. It is Motherwort—Leonurus cardiaca. In the Chinese pharmacopeia it’s known as Yi Mu Cao, meaning “Lion's Tail.” A herb of the heart, this humble plant grows in waste lands. Motherwort is the most comforting herb I have ever found anywhere. It brings a sense of inner security and calm strength unequalled by anything, except perhaps a love affair of the deepest order—maybe not even that.   This wonderful herb has gained its name from the ancient practice of using it to reduce anxiety during pregnancy. The plant has good sedative properties— well validated by scientific experiment. It is able to calm the nervous system while at the same time acting as a tonic to the while body. Culpepper, who believed that motherwort belonged to the goddess Venus and to the astrological sign of Leo, wrote "There is no better herb to drive melancholy vapors from the heart, to strengthen it and make the mind cheerful, blithe and merry." I think this sums up the virtues of my beloved motherwort superbly.   Its leaves are full of mind-altering natural chemicals. Studies in China have shown that these decrease the levels of blood lipids and exert a regulating action on muscles like the womb and the heart, bringing peace in their wake. This is one of the reasons why, in addition to being used by women to ease hot flushes, banish insomnia, and restore elasticity to the walls of the vagina, it is an excellent herb for the treatment of many heart conditions in men. No wonder it’s the most physically and psychologically healing plant I know. This magical plant is also rich in alkaloids. It’s bitter as an infusion. So it can be easier to take as a tincture or make into a herbal vinegar. Take 10 to 25 drops of the tincture made from the fresh plant, or 1 to 2 teaspoons of the herb vinegar as desired. A herb for all seasons, here are just a few of the gifts it can bestow upon you: Motherwort reduces fevers and is often used to treat illnesses with delirium. It is often used to treat lung issues like bronchitis and asthma, and is sometimes taken in conjunction with mullein. It calms nerves. In fact there is something so calming and balancing about motherwort that it is hard to describe if you have never experienced it. Used frequently it can relieve anxiety, uplift the nervous system, and relax tensions, while raising vitality. I often turn to it when I know I need to confront a situation that I believe is likely to be stressful. Motherwort can also minimize hot flushes and reduce their intensity, length, and frequency while helping to calm the dizziness or faintness that sometimes comes with them.  This is probably thanks to its ability to oxygenate the blood in both men and women, tonify the thyroid, liver, and heart, and invigorate circulation all round. For best results use it regularly for 12 weeks or longer. Although sometimes, 10 to 15 drops or so of the tincture in a little spring water can ease a hot flush while it’s happening. If you want to sleep peacefully and undisturbed, motherwort can be a good friend. It’s also useful if you awaken in the night with sweats and have trouble dropping off again. Take 10 to 20 drops of the tincture kept at the side of your bed with a glass of spring water and swallow some each time you wake up. It’s a natural diuretic as well. A little motherwort every few hours can reduce water retention. This is especially useful after a flight if your legs and feet have become swollen. As for clearing menstrual and uterine cramps if your menstrual flow is absent or light to moderate, I’ve never found anything more effective. Use 5 to 10 drops of the tincture in a little water every few minutes until they have gone then repeat as necessary. Prolonged use strengthens the muscles of the womb, and even makes it resistant to cramping in the future. Finally, in my own experience, this magical plant even seems to enhance women’s self esteem, would you believe? Ten to twenty drops of tincture of motherwort works wonders whenever you are feeling unsettled. Alternatively you can take 5 to 15 drops of the tincture every day for a month or two to stabilize emotions long term. It also strengthens the heart and helps you feel courageous even when the chips are down. There are a couple of important cautions in regard to using motherwort that you should know about. If you are taking blood-thinning drugs—and I sincerely hope you are not—then don’t use motherwort. Finally, if your menstrual flow is very heavy, motherwort could well make it heavier, so avoid it in this case. Meanwhile, I leave you with a wonderful Chinese belief from ancient times when there were many stories of both men and women whose water source was a stream flowing through the banks of motherwort: these people were believed to have lived 130 years or even longer.