It Is Not Complicated

IT'S NOT COMPLICATEDEATING HEALTHY, WHAT to EAT. Copyright© 2023 by Cheryl Meyer All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright Law. For permission requests, email the publisher or author at heavenlytreepress@gmail.com or send your request to Heavenly Tree Press 4810 E. Crazy Horse Circle Rimrock, AZ 86335 To contact the publisher, visit heavenlytreepress.com To contact the author, visit cheryl@cherylmhealthmuse.com ISBN-13: 978-x-xxxxxxx-x-x (Custom Universal) ISBN-10: xxxxxxxxxx Printed in the United States of America

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Disclaimer The content of this book is for general informational purposes only. It is not meant to be used, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition or to replace the services of your physician or other healthcare providers. The advice and strategies contained in the book may not be suitable for all readers. Please consult your healthcare provider for any questions that you may have about your own medical situation. Neither the author, publisher, nor any of their employees or representatives guarantee the accuracy of the information in this book or its usefulness to a particular reader, nor are they responsible for any damage or negative consequence that may result from any treatment, action taken, or inaction by any person reading or following the information in this book.

"IT'S NOT COMPLICATED-

EATING HEALTHY, WHAT to EAT" CHAPTER 1

How did we get into this mess in the first place?

"Modern medical care usually never addresses an�oxidants, nutrients, environmental toxins, gut health, and chronic stress. The Mainstream medicine approach is one that is mechanical and not conducive to real healing. They can save lives at �mes, but they help people survive, not thrive.

Just surviving is a struggle. It can mean just ge�ng by where thriving is doing well with even a chronic condi�on." Blanch Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist

You know you don't feel par�cularly good and realize something is wrong, but you are confused by the different approaches to health and ea�ng. You have no idea who to believe.

If you are like me, you wake up with a dozen emails about how to eat healthy or lose weight. And they all suggest different approaches. Many are depriva�on diets. Some want you to count calories. Some want you to count points.

Some are "the answer" you have been looking for. But you have been down that road before and know those usually don't work. So, you have no idea who to believe or what it is that you should do.

You feel like "something isn't right" with what's happening to the health of Americans when the more we spend on healthcare, the worse outcomes we get. You read that 11 of the 12 leading causes of American death are largely caused by food. You ask yourself, "Can I be in jeopardy with what I am ea�ng? What do I do? What do I eat?"

In the beginning, it was also very confusing to me. But frankly, the more I have researched, it's not complicated, and this is what I want to share in this eBook. THEY (Who are they?) want you to be confused, and if you stay confused, their marke�ng works beter, and you con�nue to have health issues, which is good business for all of them.

Who are THEY? THEY are Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Media, Big Healthcare, Big Universi�es, Big Medical. They are all making big money off our confusion and purposely crea�ng gasligh�ng to keep us confused. If we win at health, they lose profits. Our not understanding what to eat is very profitable for them. If we are confused, we con�nue to eat poorly and have unhealthy habits, and they con�nue to make billions off all of us.

I want to explain what I have learned about food and why our government ISN'T protec�ng us, and then I want to share why it's not complicated to eat to be healthy. It's actually very simple. I want to cut through the fog.

70% of the calories we eat as a popula�on currently come from ultra-processed nutrientdepleted products known to damage our brains and bodies.

"Processed foods are foods that have been altered in some way from their natural state. They often contain added preservatives, sweeteners, artificial flavors, and other additives. Many of the ingredients are fake, with no food value. They have been created to look, taste, smell, and sound like real food but are totally contrived by food engineers. Examples of processed foods include packaged snacks, cereals, fast food, and convenience foods.

Studies have shown that consuming a diet high in processed foods can have a negative effect on our health. Here are some ways that processed foods can impact our health: 1. Increased risk of chronic diseases: Processed foods are often high in calories, sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, increasing the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, Type II diabetes, and heart disease.

2. Nutrient deficiencies: Processed foods are often low in nutrients such as fiber, real vitamins, and minerals. Consuming a diet high in processed foods can lead to nutrient deficiencies, which can negatively impact our health and well-being. This impacts how our bodies operate and function, from our cells to our brains to all our organs.

3. Increased inflammation: Many processed foods contain ingredients that can increase inflammation in the body. Sugar, fat, salt, toxic chemicals, synthetic ingredients and vitamins, food colorings, and food additives all cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation has been linked to various health problems, including arthritis, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, liver disease, Type II Diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, and more.

4. Chronic inflammation= dis-ease. Cure the inflammation and heal your body.

5. Disruption of the gut microbiome: Processed foods can disrupt the balance of bacteria in our gut microbiome, which can negatively impact our immune system, digestive health, and overall well-being. Disruption of your gut biome causes inflammation, which again increases Chronic Diseases.

Overall, while processed foods may be convenient and appear affordable, they can negatively affect our health and, ultimately, are very costly to our health and economy.

Eating a diet that is high in whole, unprocessed foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, omega-3 fats, and lean proteins can help promote optimal health and well-being. I will explain this fully in simple steps in Chapter 3.

"Our sick-care system is unsustainable and must eventually change. I think this change – from a reac�onary approach where money is spent on 'band-aid' interven�ons a�er people are sick – to a root-cause approach {real whole food} and habits to build a fundamentally healthy body to prevent/reverse disease, will happen sooner than people think. It will have trillions of dollars in ramifica�ons, in addi�on to unleashing an astounding amount of pent-up human capital that is currently s�fled by chronic illness that now spans the life�me." Calley Means i- Harvard MBA, Big Food insider, ex-lobbyist, whistleblower.

"It is said that the doctor of the future will be the pa�ent. All we need to do is take control of our health ourselves and adopt all the healthy habits." Blanche L. Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist

Over the years, how to eat has simplified my lifestyle rou�ne and my thinking. Now as a health coach, I don't care which dietary approach (vegetarian, vegan, Paleo, Pegan, or a combina�on of them) a client chooses to eat. As long as 70% of what they eat is whole foods of all the colors of the rainbow. I encourage as much of it to be organic as possible. And a client needs to include high-quality protein and omega-3 fats. If a client eats 70% of their food as whole organic plant food, it doesn't mater to me which ea�ng lifestyle my client chooses to follow, with a few rules.

For plant foods, I have educated myself on how many toxins are used in growing plant food. I started with using and avoiding things on the Dirty Dozen list but have learned over �me that that is only a scratch on the surface. I now try to buy everything organic if possible. I also look up all my plant foods on the "What's on My Food?" site, and I explain all of that in an ar�cle in my magazine, Feels Good to Feel Good.

So, the ques�on becomes, why do we all think that how to eat is so complicated?

I think four reasons.

First - As I discuss in my magazine ar�cle, not eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) and how all big business is purposefully gasligh�ng us.

As I men�oned in my opening, when we are sick, we are big money to: Big Food, Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Chemical, Big Healthcare, Big Medical, Big Universi�es, and even Big Media which makes over 50% of its income from all the businesses men�oned above. This has also directly impacted policy and our lawmakers. And it's working. 73% of what America eats is processed, low-nutrient foods. ii The more Big Business gets to confuse us, the more they manipulate us.

Confusing us about what to eat is good for all of them, so they feed the decep�on. They have taken what should be a simple approach and made it as confusing as possible. All the big corps men�oned are in on it and making big money. Marke�ng is just one of their tools for confusion.

And they market the heck out of the standard American diet processed foods to ensure they are front and forward in our minds and our diets.

Second - Our government supports lousy ea�ng and poorquality foods with our tax dollars. "In 1992, the government came out with the Food Pyramid. At the base of the pyramid were carbohydrates, par�cularly refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, and cereals, of which we were told to eat 6 to 11 servings a day! This was obviously detrimental to our health." Dr. Mark Hyman.

Even most nutri�onists will try incorpora�ng processed empty calories into your ea�ng plan. They were taught and adopted flawed food pyramid guidelines from 1977 and, even worse, from 1992. These guidelines limit healthy omega-3 fats, encourage refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, and cereals, and recommend ea�ng 6 to 11 servings of refined carbohydrates daily. There is litle or no fiber in these foods. There is no conversa�on in any of these guidelines about ea�ng organic. In what universe does it make sense to eat poison?

These guidelines were based on flawed, skewed studies paid for by the sugar industry, Big Food, or Big Ag at large universi�es. (Who are largely funded by the same big corps.) These carbohydrates break down into sugar and get stored in your body as fat. As a result, as a popula�on in the U.S., we eat 152 pounds of sugar a year each and get another 1465 pounds of flour that also breaks down into sugar.

These refined carbs create inflamma�on. Inflamma�on equals chronic disease that I listed above and obesity, demen�a, and depression. Big industry jumped on these flawed guidelines and made products around them, marketed in favor of them, and lobbied for them to become part of our policy. Most health professionals touted them because the studies appeared to be valid. As a result, the American public accepted them as true. Everyone eats this way. Why wouldn't our government protect us? We believe that this way of ea�ng must be correct, and we joined all our friends in ea�ng all this processed, empty, unhealthy food.

Part of the logic of this theory was that these foods had fewer calories than fat.

"The standard American diet has triggered pandemics of non-communicable disease by overloading us with excess calories and causing chronic inflammation, dysbiosis, glycemic overload, and multiple micro-and phytonutrient depletion. This is the key reason to ditch the processed food diet and incorporate a whole food diet." Blanche L Scharf, Functional Nutritionist In addition, according to Dr. Mark Hyman, "Processed foods are not only high in calories, but they are also high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats…If you eat fast food, grains, desserts, packaged snacks, potato chips, muffins, or conven�onally raised meat, or buy almost anything cooked in oil at a cafeteria, diner, or restaurant, then you're almost certainly consuming lots of vegetable or seed oils rich in omega-6 faty acids and GMO toxins without even knowing it. This includes vegetable oils, corn oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, cotonseed, and safflower oil. This stuff is toxic and inflammatory and loaded with gene�cally modified organisms, which means they are also loaded with toxins. Stay Away" This was made worse in the 2010 recommenda�on for the new "My Plate," which replaced the food pyramid but s�ll weighted heavily toward high carbohydrates as the founda�on of the food-ea�ng plan. It was s�ll making us sick and unhealthy and obese.

To further exasperate the food pyramid recommenda�ons, the 2023 food pyramid came out with the statement that Lucky Charms are healthier than steak. In what alterna�ve universe? An MD who is fully on the payroll of the manufacturer of Lucky Charms stands by her finding and says she was not influenced by her paycheck at all. Sure thing. I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

To be clear, when discussing ea�ng the rainbow, I am talking about ea�ng real whole foods. I am NOT talking about ea�ng Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms are loaded with sugar, GMO omega-6 oils, and salt.

This cereal also has synthetic ingredients, artificial food dyes that are harmful to the human body, artificial flavors, and synthetic minerals and vitamins that most likely cannot be utilized by the human body.

This is an example of industry gaslighting. The study was sponsored by the NHI (National Health Institute). Unfortunately, it also encourages children to drink orange juice which is also loaded with sugar. (Another 30 grams of sugar, which is another 8 teaspoons of sugar per 8 ounces. iii One of my doctors described orange juice to me as rocket fuel when I became diabetic and recommended that I avoid it at all costs.)

From Calley Means Newsletter (the Harvard MBA and former industry insider now whistleblower on the tactics to gaslight the population into eating unhealthy, poor quality foods that I quoted above.)

"I want to speak facts. And the facts are that this prominent nutrition researcher made the following points to me in our conversation on a recent podcast. (Cheryl's comment- Understand that the researcher's point of view is all bull.) Calley said: 1. "Lucky Charms and Cheerios are highly nutritious - and it is correct to rate these highly processed grains at the same level as whole grains like quinoa.

2. "Orange juice (24-30g of sugar per 8oz serving) should be encouraged daily for children.

(Another 6-8 teaspoons of sugar per serving.)

3. "It was classist to expect low-income people to eat whole food. That the best we could do is 'expect people to eat processed food that is healthier. ' (I address this in my article about children in my magazine. Please read that article as well.)

4. "Despite the study receiving funding from processed food companies, these financial conflicts did not impact the results. Chocolate almond milk (which Danone, a chief funder of the study, makes) is the highest-rated dairy product (above Greek yogurt). He also said that the fact that he receives significant personal payments from food and pharmaceutical companies, does not slant his research. He said food companies did not expect anything in return for the millions of dollars they've given to his research."

This guy might believe what he is saying, but what a pack of crock. And you wonder why you are confused? This is just one example of the pack of lies you have been fed about food throughout your lifetime.

Hospitals serve it, and restaurants buy it in baggies and reheat it. The American popula�on buys it in boxes and or frozen. They also pick it up in takeout counters in their grocers. It's fast and convenient and takes litle thought to prepare this food or to go out and eat. It tastes good even though it is not real and has litle nutri�onal value, and it has been manipulated by food engineers to taste good. It has also been engineered to "sound" good. Since, as a society, we are all so busy "doing," this is an easy way to eat quickly and con�nue "doing" whatever it is we are "doing" in our lives.

And even beter, it's cheap (or is it?) As a country, we spend less on food than other industrialized countries. And we all seem to think ea�ng the SAD is a huge benefit.

The ques�on needs to be not why healthy food is so expensive but why processed and fast foods are so cheap.

And then the million-dollar ques�on is, is it truly cheap? What are the real costs, and what are the long-term costs of ea�ng this diet? As I con�nued to research, I discovered all this fake food is highly subsidized with taxpayer dollars, so it is not cheap. Instead, it just appears to be cheap at the point of purchase, and even worse, down the line, the horrific impact on our health makes the costs unbearable.

Third - All of us who are trying to avoid processed foods are figh�ng over the correct way to eat.

This has exasperated the confusion.

The Vegetarians, Vegans, Paleo, Pegans, and Keto followers all think their way is the only way, so we compete to convince the rest that our way is the only way.

All of those ea�ng approaches have much more in common than in conflict, so if we could all get together to convince Americans to eat real whole organic foods of all the colors of the rainbow, at least some of the confusion would clear.

Fourth - We are an overweight popula�on. Obesity is big business. A 2019 study determined that 93% of American adults are unhealthy. In other words, "A recent report (2022 study) claimed that only 6.8% of American adults have op�mal metabolic health." iv This study was based on U.S. cardiometabolic health. v "It's worth no�ng that this data precedes the COVID-19 pandemic, which has contributed to an increase in obesity, and presumably other measures, as well." vi They are winning this game.

There are con�nually new weight loss programs and New York Times bestsellers coming out on the market to help us all lose weight. None of them seem to work long-term, but we keep buying them, implemen�ng them with a short-term mindset, and failing and ge�ng fater. Each one is touted as the end-all solu�on. Each has a different approach which has confused the heck out of us, and yet, botom line, none of them are permanent solu�ons. All these diets feed the dream (I had a dream to become thin), but they know it is not atainable using their methods. In fact, at some level, each of us knows that since we do not start any of these diets with a long-term mindset. We begin them with a short-term solu�on mindset. In fact, it is built right into their program. And all of this is also feeding big business and making enormous profits. None of them want us to win. They would lose money if we won at weight loss and eventually go out of business.

(And all of this is feeding Big Pharma, who keeps crea�ng pills for all our ills so that we find it necessary to pop all these pills since our health as a na�on is rapidly declining.)

Calley Means con�nues, "When I consulted for food companies early in my career, we funded nutrition researchers for the sole purpose of creating more studies that would confuse Americans. I am sure the researchers are well-inten�oned and dedicated, but each new nutri�on study serves the purpose of further confusion."

This has now also extended to our children, who are now overweight and obese.

"For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-2020: vii • "The prevalence of obesity was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents.

• "Obesity prevalence was 12.7% among 2- to 5year-olds, 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds. Childhood

•

•

obesity is also more common among certain populations.

"Obesity prevalence was 26.2% among Hispanic children, 24.8% among non-Hispanic Black children, 16.6% among non-Hispanic White children, and 9.0% among nonHispanic Asian children.

"Obesity-related conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type II Diabetes, breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea, and joint problems." viii

Why are so many kids overweight? Mind you, the statistics above are for obese children. The % of overweight children in the U.S. is estimated at 33%. ix "Causes of obesity in children include unhealthy food choices, lack of physical activity, and family eating habits. This rise in the number of overweight children is disturbing because it causes health problems and can lead to social problems." x Obesity in children causes ADHD, learning disabilities, poor strategic thinking, low energy, behavioral problems, mood swings, and many other undesirable attitudes and behaviors. One of the most frightening results of all of that is impacting our children's LEARNING ability, so we are dumbing down our workforce of the future and not giving our children a fair break for their future. In addition, 54% of our children have a chronic illness—54%.

Obesity is a lifestyle disease. If you have an overweight child, read my ar�cle on children's health in my Magazine Feels Good to Feel Good- May 2023. And read my chapters in this book and in my magazine about what not to eat, and then what to eat, yourself, which gives a long explana�on and cuts through all the confusion.

The botom line is that you, the adult and parent, must follow the guidelines to eat real whole foods of all the rainbow colors. Children are litle pitchers. They will duplicate what they learn and observe from you.

healthy child.

A child with one obese parent has a 50 percent chance of being obese. When both parents are obese, their children have an 80 percent chance of obesity. xi And as depressing as these sta�s�cs are, remember that the opposite is true. If you, the parent, lead a healthy lifestyle, shop, cook, and eat meals with your child, encourage healthy habits, and discuss why they are so important: if you only have healthy food available to the child in the home, you have a greater chance of raising a

The result of all this gaslighting is that chronic disease will account for over 50 million deaths and cost the global economy $47 trillion by 2030. xii That's why we must change our perspective on food. And we need to do this starting today. If we don't change, the cost to our society is staggering.

"The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease es�mates that by 2030, 83 million people in the U.S. will have three or more chronic health condi�ons, up from 31 million in 2015." xiii We also have a growing issue with depression and suicide in our youth. Suicide is now the #2 cause of death amongst our youth. I did a series of podcasts on depression that I recommend you all listen to. xiv One key solu�on to depression is also food related. If we feed our children real food and less sugar and eliminate the toxins in the food, they will have more balanced hormones, fewer insulin issues, and happier moods. There is an en�rely new field called Nutri�onal Psychiatry in the Func�onal World. It is not medica�on-based but food treatment based.

There must be a beter way, and there is. Func�onal nutri�onists and Func�onal prac��oners know differently. They know that the key is real whole organic foods. And as a health coach who has returned to wellness from Chronic autoimmune disease/ fibromyalgia, I am a living example of a beter way and the solu�on.

"Most diseases are reversible with healthy nutri�on," Dr. Michael Gregor, author of How Not to Die. He con�nues, "Most doctors eat the same food that is killing all the rest of us today. " M.D. s get less than ½ a day of nutri�on in medical school, if any. And even if they find studies that support the theory that real food heals, it is mucked up with tons of false studies paid for by big business to big universi�es that depend on big industry funding by doctors who are on the payroll of the companies who are doing the studies that are concluding differently. The chief source of new informa�on shared with M.D.s is from their pharmaceu�cal rep, who also knows nothing about nutri�on.

Some studies show that ea�ng the organic rainbow and ge�ng a diverse group of all the phytonutrients available in these plant foods have healing proper�es. S�ll, these studies are buried in the mass of studies done in the industry that are contrived to confuse us.

From Dr. Michael Gregor-"Just like with cigaretes, studies had shown years before it became commonly accepted that cigaretes caused cancer. " xv 16 million people died before society caught up with science. xvi The number overea�ng poor quality food will massively exceed that. 82% of our popula�on is currently metabolically unfit, according to two studies published in 2022, xvii so we can't wait for society to catch up with science. We need to take a hard look at what we are ea�ng now. And by doing this, we can reverse many of the diseases we are currently living with.

FINALLY, I THINK WE HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO HAVE THE WRONG MINDSET ABOUT FOOD. We are barraged that thin is beau�ful and that we must be at a perfect weight.

Certainly, it IS important to be at a healthy weight, but our mindset is all wrong. We must focus on ea�ng for our health today and in the future. We should not be limi�ng calories to "lose weight" as the end all of all end all's. Coun�ng calories to stay within certain perimeters misses the point. We should be eating for nutrition, to fuel our cells with optimal nutrition, and to rebuild our cells, which happens continually. We should eat in a way that supports our body because food is information. It's our code for health.

When we focus on what is actually important about what we eat, it limits our possibilities away from empty calories. It limits our desire to eat processed foods. It focuses on buying and eating foods of all the colors of the rainbow from a farm as close to us as possible so that this food offers us the maximum nutrients available to our bodies. Within a very short period of time, we choose foods that feed our bodies code to function optimally. This becomes non-negotiable.

We don't even have any desire to walk down the inner aisles of the grocer or buy items with massive amounts of synthetic ingredients. All of those chemicals become a turnoff. And we begin to choose to cook so that we CAN control what we feed our bodies to be high-quality, nutritious foods.

Once we have a non-negotiable mindset, we also find solutions to our food dilemmas. For example, it is no longer difficult to vet a restaurant that makes quality food we would choose to put into our bodies. Likewise, we come up with solutions when we are eating out with others so that we don't dictate what they eat but don't allow them to dictate to us.

We need to develop non-negotiable solutions for lower-income families so that they, too, can benefit from all of the wondrous things that real chemicalfree food offers to their bodies and their children without compromising health. We find ways to begin urban gardens in which the entire community can participate. We begin to grow food in all the available spaces, like the land that runs along sidewalks and curbs. We still have food stamps, but we educate and use those dollars for healthy food and stop subsidizing those dollars to buy soda pop, which is refined sugar, gut rot, and processed foods of empty chemicals.

We find solutions for the sugar bomb parties our children are invited to, as I discussed in my magazine article on children and their health.

We form communities with like-minded other parents and support our children with healthier food from the larger village. (It takes a village to raise a child, and we need to seek our community out and foster it.)

What we subsidize for school food programs also becomes non-negotiable. We fund school gardens so that children grow the foods they eat in school lunch programs. It becomes nonnegotiable that we fund healthy food for healthy children and take power away from the lobbyists that want our children to be sick and on pills for the rest of their lives. We would not consider accepting processed food studies that insist this needs to be in our school lunch programs and that these foods are optimal for our children's health. And we toss out the notion that children don't want to eat healthy food, as I heard one legislator say on the news. They have to be "carefully taught".

We involve our children in how, what, and why we eat what we do so that they grow up with a healthy mindset about food and healthy food habits. As a parent, you want YOUR healthy habits to take up rent-free space in your child's mind.

When we have a non-negotiable mindset about healthy food, everything changes, and we live outside the mainstream but are happier and healthier than our compatriots. We stand firm until the rest of society moves towards us, not the other way around. We don't dictate to other parents but stand firm in what we want for our children and their future health.

Food is not the only element for great health. I have 20 pillars together listed in my magazine.

But eating real whole organic foods of all the colors of the rainbow is the foundation of long-term health, and it needs to become a non-negotiable for every family in America.

and in factory processed food.

As each of us becomes an army of one xviiiand then joins together with others, we start to influence where our tax dollars are spent so that it is non-negotiable that they are spent on healthy food and not unhealthy foods or on unhealthy programs, both factory farmed

Education and easier availability of healthy foods create a healthier future.

MY MISSION, AND MY PURPOSE FOR WRITING THIS EBOOK AND MAKING IT AVAILABLE FOR FREE, IS THAT I WANT TO CHANGE THE WAY AMERICA EATS.

It's time for YOU to take back your power. Shop and buy organic whole foods of all the colors of the rainbow. Cook and control what you feed your body (and your children's). Learn to eat for your future health.

Time to move your well-being to the front and center spotlight.

What to eat is not complicated.

So, let's get into the specifics of what I am talking about. I want to start with what NOT to eat and then go more into depth about what TO EAT, all in the simplest of terms. And the more I eat this way and research and grow, looking for my own puzzle pieces, the clearer and simpler this has all become, so I now want to simplify it for you.

Calley Means is a Stanford grad, Harvard MBA that worked for Big Food and for Big Lobbying corpora�ons who became a whistleblower once he got a big inside view of how we are being manipulated. What changed for Calley?

Three things. His mother died of pancrea�c cancer. He became a father and wants a beter life for his son, and his sister, who was a conven�onal allopathic MD came to the same conclusion at the same �me and now prac�ces Func�onal Medicine, which is root cause medicine. He is a very outspoken contributor to the conversa�on on American health, with an insider’s eye. ii htps://foodtank.com/news/2022/11/database-indicates-u-s-food-supply-is-73-percent-ultra-processed/ iii htps://www.heartandstroke.ca/ar�cles/the-truth-about-juice iv Trends and Dispari�es in Cardiometabolic Health Among U.S. Adults, 1999-2018 - PubMed (nih.gov) v htps://revitalizemetabolichealth.com/93-of-american-adults-are-unhealthy-a-deeper-dive/ vi htps://revitalizemetabolichealth.com/93-of-american-adults-are-unhealthy-a-deeper-dive/ vii htps://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html viii htps://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html ix htps://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-preven�on-source/obesity-trends-original/global-obesity-trends-inchildren/ x htps://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9467-obesity-in-children xi htps://www.ucs�enioffchildrens.org/condi�ons/obesity xii Dr. Mark Hyman Facebook Post 10/23/22 xiii htps://www.statnews.com/2018/05/31/chronic-diseases-taxing-health-care-economy/ xiii htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijJiQwsLJVo&list=PLzwokelf3LSZP7ufLKwl-gMZuhDf-knfE&index=4 There are 4 all together and they discuss different things important to the topic i

htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YOe_--O4jk htps://nutri�onfacts.org/2019/04/04/the-disconnect-between-science-and-policy/ xvii htps://www.unc.edu/posts/2018/11/28/only-12-percent-of-american-adults-are-metabolically-healthycarolina-study-finds/ htps://www.ksl.com/ar�cle/50332891/88-of-americans-are-metabolically-unhealthy-says-utah-scien�st-hereswhat-to-do-about-it xviii Howard Lyman coined the phrase. He was a rancher who spoke out against factory farming. His phrase indicated that we have to stand firm in our own convic�ons and then find others to join us for change. xv

xvi

"IT'S NOT COMPLICATED-

EATING HEALTHY, WHAT to EAT"

CHAPTER 2- WHAT NOT to EAT-

The system needs to change, or you need to take control of what you and your family are eating.

"One of the reasons for our ultra-processed foods is to embrace food chemistry to make cheaper products with the ability to withstand �me. If it was up to them the shelf life would keep food from going bad forever. So, in other words, we will be inges�ng a slew of chemicals, which have the ability to poison us slowly." Blanch L. Scharf, Functional Nutritionist "A key feature of ultra-processed foods is that they contain food substances that are never, or just about never, used in kitchens. This means that they are almost exclusively made by chemical processes. They now amount to at least half of the total foods consumed in highly

developed market economies, and their sales in less developed market economies are increasing rapidly. They are a public health menace because they are the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. The end game is to use market strategies to build and consolidate their power to atain profits. We are the end users, so keep that in mind when you go food shopping." Blanch L. Scharf, Functional Nutritionist "The harms of ultra-processed foods kill over 11 million people a year (the #1 global killer)". Dr. Mark Hyman, Functional MD, and bestselling author CHARACTERISTICS OF POOR-QUALITY FOOD

Fast food, junk food, and processed food are all food-like substances. Limit sugar and refined carbohydrates in your child's diet and your own. Sugar is addic�ve, so limit what they get to eat.

Sugar impacts every organ in the body nega�vely, so stay away as much as possible. Refined carbohydrates turn to sugar and therefore are not healthy. Michael Gregor, MD author of the best-selling book, How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scien�fically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease More than 75% of all healthcare costs are due to chronic conditions.

Https://nationalhealthcouncil.org An estimated 133 million Americans- nearly ½ the population, suffer from at least one chronic illness, such as hypertension, heart disease, autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, cancer, and diabetes. That figure is 15 million higher than just one decade ago, and by 2030 this number is

expected to reach 170 million people. i The new estimate is 60%. ii https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm

The standard American diet consists of processed boxed foods, prepared foods at the grocer, frozen foods, and fast foods. In addi�on, restaurant foods are now o�en purchased already prepared.

Very few of these foods are real whole foods. Instead, they are fake foods, made to look, taste, sound, feel, and smell like real food but are totally contrived by food engineers. They are highly processed, have litle or no fiber, and are loaded with poor-quality seed oils, sugar, salt, and fake ingredients that are deficient in real vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

To learn more about what Big Food has done by hiring food engineers to create fake ingredients that make them greater profits than they could ever make from real ingredients, I have done videos and writen blogs about it that you can find here: How Big Food Hijacked our Food and our Health - Cheryl M Health Muse How to finally win with food and take back your Food Freedom Part 2 of how Big Food Hooked you on Chemicals - Cheryl M Health Muse

Big Food Corpora�ons were owned by Phillip Morris/Altria and used the cigarete playbook to get us addicted to their food. It includes all diet companies- Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and the huge monopoly on processed foods.

This food is fast and convenient in the short run but does nothing to promote health in our bodies. On the contrary, this has led to adverse health.

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Highly processed foods: These have been heavily altered from their original state and typically contain added sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, preservatives, food coloring, and food additives. Examples include sugary snacks, candy, and fast food.

Sugary drinks: Beverages such as soda, sports drinks, and fruit juice often contain high amounts of added sugars, contributing to weight gain and other health problems. And their heavily lobbied wins have included soda pop in SNAP (food stamps) programs and school programs, all of which have severely exasperated the issue of obesity.

Trans fats: Trans fats are a type of unhealthy fat that can be found in many processed foods, including baked goods, fried foods, and some kinds of margarine.

Excessive amounts of factory-farmed red meat: While grass-fed grass-finished beef can be a healthy source of protein, excessive amounts of factory-farmed red meat have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and other health problems.

Refined grains: Refined grains, such as white bread, pasta, and rice, have been processed to remove the bran and germ, which also removes many nutrients. The processed process also eliminates the fiber which our bodies need. Fiber is important for a variety of reasons. They give a ride from the liver out of the body through excrement, serve as prebio�cs to feed our good gut bacteria and make us feel fuller, so we eat less. In addi�on, fiber is important to maintain a healthy weight. Choosing whole grain op�ons instead can provide more nutrients and fiber. (See

my descrip�on of all the benefits of fiber in my What TO eat chapter next.)

These foods have been contrived to "hook us" and addict us to wanting more.

What do these foods have in common?

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They have lots of added sugar.

They contain ingredients you don't know what they are or can't pronounce.

They are loaded with excessive hormones and other unhealthy chemicals.

They are loaded with food additives, food colorings, and fake ingredients.

Most of these come in a box and have tons of ingredients on the label. You only want to buy foods that have real food ingredients. And you want to be able to pronounce all the ingredients, and you want to know what it is. If you don't know what an ingredient is, your body likely doesn't know what it is either, and can't use it.

• Synthetic vitamins are not utilized well by the body. It is worth noting that some studies suggest that natural vitamins from whole foods may be more beneficial to overall health than synthetic vitamins. This is because whole foods contain a variety of nutrients and compounds that work together synergistically, and these interactions may not be fully replicated in synthetic vitamins.

Additionally, some synthetic vitamins may not be as readily absorbed or used by the body as natural vitamins and may even be harmful in high doses. Therefore, getting your nutrients from a balanced diet that includes a variety of whole foods is generally recommended rather than relying solely on supplements. iii •

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Excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, which are seed oils used in processed foods, especially in the absence of adequate omega-3 fatty acids, can contribute to chronic inflammation and various health problems.

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Unfortunately, the typical Western diet tends to be high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3 fatty acids, which can lead to an imbalance in the body's fatty acid ratio.

Therefore, to promote optimal health, it is generally recommended to consume a balanced diet of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, emphasizing whole foods and minimally processed foods.

Seed oils are also GMO oils, meaning they either have BT toxin in them or have been engineered to be "Roundup Ready." They are drenched with Roundup. This gives the grower a larger yield because it places the plant into shock and adds a proven carcinogen to your food because none of this herbicide gets washed off in the processing.

Bt-toxin produced in GMO corn can create the same type of holes in human cells when applied in large concentra�ons in a laboratory. In addi�on, Bt crops fed to lab animals caused damage to the intes�nal walls. Further, research on the natural toxin produced by soil bacteria elicits immune and allergic responses in humans and rodents.

Anything people from a hundred years ago or more wouldn't recognize as food.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT Calley Means writes: "The science is clear: if we want to keep people healthy and improve our human capital in America – we need to do three things: 1. "Limit sugar 2. "Limit omega-6 fats (seed oils) 3. "Limit processed grains "We don't need to consider bans or taxes. We can start by repealing two of the most destructive crony capitalism policies in America: 1. "The fact that these items are subsidized costs us tens of billions of dollars 2. "The fact that these items can be bought with SNAP benefits, a government nutrition program that 15% of the country relies on. As my TrueMed co-founder, Justin Mares points out, revenue from taxpayer-funded SNAP made up close to 20% of Coke's annual US revenue that year. This is evil." Calley Means Newsletter 2/23/23 "One of the biggest food lies of all time is that all calories are created equal." Dr. Mark Hyman, Functional MD and best-selling author of 14 books on health.

"Food is more than just calories. It's information that our cells need to function, information that our metabolism can use to run efficiently or sluggishly trudge along.

"When you eat a piece of sugar, fruit juice or refined carbohydrates, it goes right to your liver, where it starts manufacturing fat, triggering more insulin-resistance and causing chronically elevated blood insulin levels, driving your body to store everything you eat as even more belly fat.

"Broccoli, on the other hand, is rich in fiber and low in carbohydrates and sugar. You'd have to eat a huge amount of Broccoli to reach the same amount of calories that just one small bag of candy could provide, and thanks to fiber, you'd be full long before that could ever happen.

"Eating well should not be all about watching QUANTITY. You need to be paying attention to QUALITY. "Real foods like colorful vegetables, low-glycemic fruits, healthy fats (like nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, etc.), gluten-free whole grains, legumes, and responsibly-sourced animal proteins and seafood—the foods I recommend in my Pegan diet—are going to give your cells the information they need to function at their very best.

"So, choose kale over candy and focus on quality more than quantity; it will change your relationship to food, and your health will thank you." Mark Hyman, MD 2/2023 Facebook post "If you're worried about nuts being fatening, know this: Not all calories are created equal.

Two hundred calories from nuts and seeds are en�rely different from 200 calories from a box of cookies." Mark Hyman, MD 5/18/21 Facebook post

TO SUM UP, WHAT FOOD TO AVOID:

1. Skip the labels. Whenever possible, do not buy foods with labels. Avoid foods in a box, package, or can.

2. Avoid restaurants that are not farm-to-table.

Unfortunately, they, too, are now serving processed food.

3. Keep it simple. If the food has a label, it should have fewer than 5 ingredients or at least it should only have real ingredients. Also, beware of food with "health claims" on the label. As an example, Cola is "fat-free," which is true, but that in no way makes it a healthy food.

4. Recognize your ingredients. Throw out any food with ingredients you don't recognize or can't pronounce. If you don't know what they are, your

body doesn't either.

5. Steer clear of all the white menaces. Avoid white sugar and white flour, which act like sugar in your body. Learn the numerous disguises for sugar and get rid of any food that contains them.

6. Dump the lethal sugar. Throw out any food with high fructose corn syrup on the label. You already know that this is NOT good for you. ("High fructose corn syrup has been found to be used by breast cancer cells. The increased u�liza�on influences the development of breast cancer. Data shows that fructose can be used by breast cancer cells and suggests that it could accelerate the progress of breast cancer.

Exposure to fructose is one component of the diet that's modifiable. However, that would mean giving up most processed foods as they now are the major source of high fructose corn syrup." Blanche Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist.)

7. Avoid this bad fat. Eliminate any food with the word hydrogenated on the label. This translates into trans fats.

8. S�ck to healthy omega-3 fats. Throw out any highly refined cooking oils such as vegetable, corn, canola, and soy. Choose olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and ghee instead. You could also choose pastured organic buter.

9. Watch for these red flags. First, toss foods with preserva�ves, addi�ves, coloring, dyes, or "natural flavorings," o�en MSG. If you really want to eat a food product with "natural flavorings," call the company and have them iden�fy what that ingredient is. MSG is now sold under 39 different names, and it is a neurotoxin, so if that's what is iden�fied as "natural flavorings" and it o�en is, don't eat that item.

10. Ditch the ar�ficial sweeteners. I am not talking about stevia or monk fruit. I am talking about the pink, blue, and yellow packets with chemicals that harm the body. The pink and blue packets are neurotoxins. The yellow packet destroys your good gut bacteria.

11. Eliminate all soda. It is loaded with sugar and chemicals or ar�ficial sweeteners and chemicals; you don't need to use that stuff or put it into your body.

12. Avoid drinking most fruit juice. Instead, only drink unsweetened fruit juices. Fruit juice can have as much sugar in it as colas and pop. It is pure "rocket fuel".

13. Buy your nuts raw and dry roast your own. Most nuts are roasted in harmful omega-6 oils.

14. Buy organic whenever possible. You don't need an unhealthy dose of chemicals and toxins with every bite.

15. Start with the Dirty Dozen list and only buy organic items. Then, as you progress, u�lize What's On My Food and decide what to buy organic and what not to buy organic for your family and your health.

16. Avoid all of the foods on the GMO list unless you are buying organic.

17. If you are ea�ng dairy, make it organic full-fat dairy. You don't need the hormones, puss, or chemicals found in dairy products. Instead, make it European or organic whole milk cheese if you s�ll eat cheese.

18. Avoid processed meats. My only excep�on is to eat Applegate organic meats.

19. Stop ea�ng when you are 70% full. Your body will catch up with you and feel completely full within 20 minutes.

i

htps://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm

ii iii

https://www. cbi,nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876976/

htps://nutrigold.com/blogs/ar�cles/10-reasons-to-steer-clear-of-synthe�c-isolates

"IT'S NOT COMPLICATED-

EATING HEALTHY, WHAT to EAT"

CHAPTER 3: WHAT to EAT

Characteristics of good-quality food Learning to eat for today and for your future health.

"Focusing on staying healthy pays big dividends in both the quality and length of our lives as we age, and it is never too late to start." "You are the Medicine." Mark Hymen, Functional MD, Facebook post "The nutrients within our food act as informa�on to our cells. When we give our bodies the right informa�on, they will func�on at their highest level of performance…we feel more energe�c, our minds are clearer, we look more vibrant…the list of benefits goes on and on." Dr. Mark Hyman, Func�onal MD "Many people think it is expensive to eat healthier. Ea�ng healthy. In reality, costs less, and there is a reason for that. The way to look at it is what I will eliminate that is a waste of money as it not only provides no nutrients that will serve my body but causes consump�on of excess calories that deplete what my body needs.

And if you are like the 50% of the popula�on who are obese, you are going to shed pounds while saving money. (Cheryl note: I lost 65 pounds this way by concentra�ng on ea�ng for my future health, not concentra�ng on losing weight.) You will be ea�ng less junk and less calories.

"There is no excuse for not cu�ng out Mountain Dew, Pepsi Cola, diet sodas, pop tarts and sugary cereals, frozen treats, cake, cookies, chips, fast food, and lots of white flour products.

Adding whole foods is so much cheaper. You will need to do some cooking, adding beans, len�ls, sweet potato, vegetables, and fruits (organic if possible.) And por�ons can be smaller, and you don't need to snack 24/7. This is just basic common sense." Blanche Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist Cheryl's comment: This doesn't mean I never eat a cookie or a cake, but I make my own to control that I only use quality ingredients. And they are only ever occasional treats. Also, I never drink pop; it is pure gut rot.

It shouldn't take studies to show how a whole food diet is healthier than a processed food diet. It is common sense to eat real food and to "Eat the Rainbow". This becomes a way of life where you eat every day to "feed" your future health and your future body. The mindset is different, and your body celebrates.

Calley Means 4/1/23, "So o�en, food or lifestyle interven�ons are put into a niche 'preventa�ve health' box - both in how policy is made and how we think. 'Serious' medical interven�ons occur a�er we are sick and diet-related advice is for nutri�onists and community groups. This view is factually wrong.

"Food is the most effective way to reverse (not just prevent) almost every chronic condition from diabetes and heart disease (which should be obvious) to dementia and PCOS." As a health coach, I always get ques�ons about "I have this symptom or that symptom. What should I do?"

The conclusion Calley Means comments on is also what I finally came to.

This is Blanch Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onists comment: "Restoring your entire body to health is the way to heal most health challenges. No matter what the health condition is, it needs the same basic improvements. The gut bacteria, the liver, the thyroid, adrenals, lymph system, pancreas, kidneys, and brain all need the same things no matter what the health condition. Inflammation must be addressed no matter what the problem is. Many times, when working with a group made up of diabetics, cancer patients, cardiovascular and autoimmune conditions, the script wasn't that different. Even when dealing with viral conditions, there were many similar recommendations. Healing means healing the whole body."

I always start with seeing if the person is willing to change their diet to a whole foods rainbow diet and an organic diet. I successfully run a Ditch the Diet and Stop Ea�ng CRAP course. An amazing thing happens when someone starts this course with me. At first, they called me every day from the grocer, with "Can I eat this?" or "Can I eat that?" I have them send me a picture of the label, and most likely, if they are asking, they already know that they should not eat it under the rules of engagement of the course. However, they are angry that they can't.

But by the end of the four-week course, they no�ce that their arthri�s isn't bothering them as much, they are no longer ge�ng con�nual headaches, their stomach isn't always upset anymore, or they just aren't feeling lousy all the �me. Once we get that far, holding the new ea�ng patern is easier because their body begins to support their efforts.

If they "fall off the wagon" the next �me I teach the course again, they can take it again for free. The pushback is different in round two, and the results are generally quicker. By the end, when they change their mindset about why they are ea�ng this way and what the wins are, it's much easier for them to maintain their new healthy ea�ng habits.

I s�ll get phone calls, but they are different. Now clients are calling to share how sensa�onal an organic cucumber tastes or how delicious the organic tomato they bought at the farmers market is. Their taste buds have shi�ed and are no longer dulled; as a result, real food starts to taste good. Now it's much harder to give up their new ea�ng lifestyle, and it is beginning to be a way of life.

"When a doctor or another healthcare provider names a condi�on you have, they are only looking at one piece of you. For true healing, you need to look at the whole, not a piece. That is why for many chronic condi�ons such as heart disease, liver problems, diabetes, autoimmune, and even cancer, the same rules work for each one of them. When you get treated for any of the condi�ons with pharmaceu�cals, chemo, or radia�on, it is a whole-body invasion. Even if you need to use one of these modali�es, you need to protect every system and organ from collateral damage. The way to do that is to focus on ge�ng everything stronger and working beter. You do this by feeding the mind, body, and spirit with what strengthens them. (Cheryl's comment: What strengthens them is ea�ng an organic, whole foods diet of the rainbow and the rest of the pillars of health.) I worked with many condi�ons and collaborated with func�onal

doctors, energy healers, chiropractors, and Chinese herbalists, and it always came down to the same basics no mater what the condi�on." Blanche Scharf, Func�onal Nutri�onist So now that you know what kinds of food to avoid from Chapter Two, what should you look for to find nutritious, quality foods instead?

Eat real whole foods. Though in our current state of confusion, this is much easier said than done. So, try this: Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. i 1. Look for whole, real food and not food-like

substances. The less processed it is, the better. And choose organic whenever possible. You do NOT need poison with every bite.

2. Eat the rainbow from a farm as close to you as possible, and eat as much organic as possible.

3. Cook at home: Cooking at home allows you to control the ingredients and portions in your meals, which can help promote healthier eating habits.

Always use quality ingredients. Use organic as much as possible. Try to prepare meals that include a variety of nutrient-dense ingredients. Use quality omega-3 fats: avocado, coconut, ghee, pastured organic butter, and olive oil. Utilize olive oil that is extra virgin first press mostly for salads as it has a low burn point.

4. Every ingredient you eat should be something you recognize as real food. ii 5. "Eat less" is the most unwelcome advice of all, but the scien�fic case for ea�ng a lot less than we currently do is compelling. To make the "eat less" message a bit more palatable, consider that quality may have a bearing on quan�ty: I don't know about you, but the beter the quality of the food I eat, the less of it I need to feel sa�sfied." iii Michael Pollen] Famous Chef and healthy food advocate.

Pay aten�on to por�on sizes: Ea�ng too much of any food can lead to weight gain and other health problems. Use por�on control strategies such as using smaller plates, measuring servings, and listening to your body's hunger and fullness cues. Stop ea�ng when you are 70% full and wait for your body to catch up with you. (Approx 20 minutes.)

Once you break the addiction to sugar and chemicals in processed food, your hunger hormones ghrelin and leptin are no longer dampened down. These hormones no�fy you when you are full, and you desire less food to be sa�sfied. As a result, you automa�cally begin to "eat less."

6. Eat quality protein

What qualifies as high-quality protein?

Whatever the protein source is, be it animal or vegetable, it needs to be high quality, and it needs to be real food.

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• My mantra has become "Food Quality Maters."

Animal protein needs to be from animals that eat their own specific diet. In other words, cows were designed to eat grass with two stomachs and must be finished on grass, not on GMO corn feed. I now understand what it means to be GMO, and I don't want those poisons in my or my client's bodies. iv Lambs eat grass naturally.

Pigs will eat anything, but I learned that I felt best when the pork was heirloom and the pigs were pastured.

Bison are designed to eat grasses.

Chickens must also be pastured and evolved to eat grasses, berries, and bugs. And when they get their natural diet, they taste beter. And they are happier and less stressed, so their stress hormones are not in their meat or eggs.

Eat wild fish. Wild fish eat natural food in streams, lakes, and oceans without chemicals, an�bio�cs, and hormones. (We do eat some farmed fish, but we also have found a fish monger whose family has been in the business for over 40 years, and she knows which fish farms are just roped off ocean and no hormones or chemicals are added to the fish's environment, and I trust her).

All animal protein needs to be high quality and toxin-free, and the animals must be treated respec�ully. Otherwise, we are ea�ng their stress hormones, and trust me on this, we have plenty of our own. This is true whether we are discussing cows, pigs, or poultry. It's even true when we are discussing eggs.

"The truth about meat is more nuanced than whether it is good or bad. While factoryfarmed red meat is an environmental and climate catastrophe, is inhumane, and may have adverse health consequences, this is not true of meat from regenera�vely raised animals. The real ques�on we should be asking is, is meat healthy or harmful?" Mark Hyman, Func�onal MD and author of 14 bestselling books, including "The Pegan Diet: 21 Prac�cal Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutri�onally Confusing World."

8. If the protein is vegetable, it also needs to be quality protein. It needs to be non-GMO. It

needs to be organic if possible. And then there is some food combining that needs to happen so that complete amino acids fuel the body. So nuts, beans, soy, and seeds can all be excellent protein sources if they are high-quality, toxin-free, and combined correctly. And in the case of the new plant-based "meats," they can't be GMO or highly processed.

9. Eat animal protein as a condiment. Animal protein won't kill you, though it's beter approached as a side dish than as a main. I try to keep my animal protein to the size of the palm of my hand, with 70% of my plate being plant food. My husband feels beter when he eats more animal protein.

10. Drink ½ your body weight in filtered water. Stop drinking pop, both with sugar and ar�ficial sweeteners. They are both gut rot. Instead, only drink unsweetened fruit juice and pay aten�on to the amount of sugar per 8 ounces. I only drink cranberry, pomegranate, and unsweetened apple juice. The others can have as many as 12-20 teaspoons of sugar per 8 ounces.

11. Avoid high glycemic foods. White flour, processed flours. white sugar. Use almond flour instead of processed flours, and for sweeteners, I use monk fruit, stevia, or when I bake coconut sugar, maple syrup, or local honey, all of which have trace elements of goodness. Avoid agave. It is very difficult for the liver to process. Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that do harm to the body (and make you fat). The blue and pink packets are neurotoxins. The yellow packet kills good gut bacteria.

12. Buy and carry your own snack foods, and make them nutri�ous foods, like nuts, seeds, 70% organic chocolate, whole fruits like apples and pears, etc. I have a lengthy list of approved snack foods that I hand out in my Ditch the SAD class for my clients to use.

13. Avoid food products that come bearing health claims. They're apt to be heavily processed, and the claims are o�en dubious at best. v 14. Gravitate toward foods that are free from excessive chemicals and hormones. Read food labels; if there are ingredients you can't pronounce, it's probably not high-quality food. If you don't know what the ingredient is, again, it's probably not high-quality food, and most likely, It's fake food.

15. When purchasing organic foods, start with the EWG's Dirty Dozen list, which can help as a place to start. Remember: just because a food is labeled organic doesn't guarantee a healthy op�on. We are looking for real whole foods that your great great great grandmother would recognize as such.

16. Even if it is NOT on the Dirty Dozen list, it doesn't mean that it hasn't been sprayed with tons of herbicides or pes�cides. My next stop is "What's On My Food?" and it has convinced me to buy organic whenever possible. This is an example of the informa�on available on the What's On My Food Site https://whatsonmyfood.org/

17. Avoid GMO foods- as discussed previously, they either have BT Toxin in them or are Round-

up Ready, and either are laden with toxins (poison). (See charts for Dirty Dozen and GMO foods in Chapter 1) 18. Try to buy food in season. That's when the plant has the most nutrition for your body. vi Produce that is harvested in its proper season matures longer on the plant, which makes it more nutrient-dense when compared to being picked before its prime. It tastes better when harvested in season because it is picked at the peak of flavor. Buying seasonal produce can help the environment as it reduces water and land use, pollution, and soil degradation. vii Another new study shows that eating plant foods in season provides specific phytochemicals for our metabolic needs during that season. viii Also, since the food is abundant, the laws of supply and demand pertain, so it is also when the fruit or vegetable is at its best price. Eating plant foods in season provides specific phytochemicals for our metabolic needs during that season.

19. Diversity is important. Eat all the colors (even different colors of the same vegetable)

Eat each color in all the diversity you can find (red tomato, red radish, red bell pepper, etc.)

Eat from a farm as close to you as possible. The closer to harvest, the more and stronger the phytonutrients. (Eating from the Wild, Jo Robinson). Eat all the colors close together.

Something magical happens in the body when all those phytonutrients come together and create health. Together they nourish every cell in your body, and the synergy of being together is the most effective they can be. Dr. Michael Gregor (How Not to Die) discusses the importance of diversity in a passage about cancer. Whereas one plant food shoots darts at breast cancer, another kills prostate cancer and does nothing against breast cancer. Radishes

are completely unable to stop pancreatic cancer cell growth. However, they were 100% effective at halting the growth of stomach cancer cells. Orange bell peppers were useless against stomach cancer but were able to suppress prostate cancer cell growth by more than 75%.

In other words, eat a wide variety of all the plant foods. Try new vegetables and fruits.

Phytonutrients are cutting-edge research; they are just learning about all the glorious gifts they offer the human body. After all, nature created them for the plant, and they just happen to have amazing gifts for us as well. So, by eating them in season, you offer your body the greatest gifts that plant foods offer.

Stop eating processed dead grey food and seek out luscious colors in real, whole foods. Your body will thank you.

If you can't get them close to the farm, or buy a pepper in red, orange, and yellow, or buy it right when it is in season, it still has enormous gifts for your body. Buy and eat it anyway. Get the best you can where you are from the plant kingdom and feed your body health.

20. If possible, grow your own vegetables or fruit. You can start a pot garden, a backyard

garden, or, if impossible, a tower garden. ix There is an initial investment in the tower system, but continual fresh food to pick can grow for months and years to come, so it amortizes itself quickly. Understand that tower gardens grow hydroponically, so you are missing essential nutrients from the earth. The closer you eat your produce to the harvest from the land, the more nutrients that plant food has for you.

21. You could join a community project and volunteer in the community garden. The produce is shared on a coop basis.

22. Buy local. Visit your local farmer's market, or shop at a local farm. Sign up for a weekly CSA box. Or join a COOP if you have one in your area. Not only will you be getting fresh, local, and minimally processed foods, but you'll be supporting your community at the same time.

Again, it's important to eat as close to the harvest as possible.

23. Some services deliver freshly picked produce to your home. Check out your possibilities by

Googling. I do have some others available to me in Los Angeles. If Misfits delivers to a state, they deliver anywhere in that state.

I also have a service called Farm Fresh to You and another service that I often use called Avocado.

Again, this list is not meant to be exhaustive or ironclad. But it can help you narrow down those foods that will benefit your health span, not shorten it.

24. The key is to buy real whole foods. I prefer clients to buy as much organic as possible. Still,

if they cannot afford organic or if it is not available in their area for an item, it is important to buy as fresh as possible from available sources.

This Hierarchy chart is something I put together for my Food Quality Matters class to put buying whole foods into perspective. The key is to eat real food and choose the highest quality of real food you can afford.

25. If you are eating rice, it should be Lundberg rice because it is grown cleaner. Or it should be

rice from California with less arsenic than rice grown in Texas or the South.

Follow this cooking method to get what arsenic remains in the rice:

26. Think of growing in your ability to recognize and consume quality, healthy foods as a gradual progression. Perfection is not the goal—growth is. And instead of the mindset of eliminating all the "bad" foods you enjoy, understand that you can treat yourself to them occasionally and still be a healthy person. Have the mindset of eating nutrient-dense food for your future health.

Your body will reward you with "feeling great," so over time, you desire the diet in Chapter Two less and less. Over time it becomes non-negotiable to stay away from processed foods.

27. Eat lots of fiber- Processed foods have removed most of the fiber from the food, and fiber is

very important to our health. The key is to eat over 40 grams of fiber per day. x

95% of Americans don't get enough fiber xi."Fiber is essential for our metabolism, which processed foods often have removed. In fact, processing grains means removing the fiber shell.

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• Studies show that elements in fiber help regulate our energy production through several mechanisms, including slowing glucose absorption and contributing to the microbiome's production of pro-metabolic chemicals.

• Fiber also slows inflammation by feeding gut bacteria. Fiber is often from prebiotic foods that feed our healthy gut bacteria. Fiber maintains the gut's mucus layer (a physical barrier that keeps pathogens out). Fiber is an important food source for the beneficial bacteria in our gut microbiome. Consuming a fiber diet can help promote a healthy gut microbiome, which can have numerous health benefits. Fiber is an essential part of a healthy diet.

Fiber promotes digestive health: Fiber helps to promote healthy digestion by keeping our digestive system running smoothly. It helps to move food through our digestive tract, preventing constipation and other digestive problems.

Fiber helps control blood sugar levels: Fiber slows down the absorption of sugar in the bloodstream, which can help to prevent blood sugar spikes and dips. This can be particularly beneficial for people with diabetes or those at risk of developing diabetes.

Fiber-heavy foods include chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts, avocados, certain beans, lentils, broccoli, cauliflower, apples and pears, whole fruits, potatoes, and mushrooms. Leafy greens and berries. Asparagus, artichokes, and acorn squash are all great fiber foods.

Oats, barley, and quinoa. You get very little fiber, if any, from processed foods.

Fiber promotes satiety: Foods that are high in fiber tend to be more filling, which can prevent overeating. This can be helpful for weight management and maintaining healthy body weight.

Fiber reduces cholesterol levels: Soluble fiber, which is found in foods such as oats, beans, and fruits, has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels. This can benefit heart health and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Fiber gives a ride to toxins from the liver out of the body through the colon. Therefore, it is a crucial component in removing toxins from the body.

"Gut flora digest fiber and use it to make short-chain fatty acids, which have a number of health-promoting effects, such as inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria, increasing absorption of minerals (specifically, calcium), improving insulin sensitivity, and lowering colon cancer risk." xii This is brand new research on fiber, "Most of the healthy polyphenol phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables appear to be bound to the fiber and are only liberated for absorption by the friendly flora in your gut." xiii Overall, fiber is an important nutrient that is essential for our overall health and wellbeing. The recommended daily intake of fiber is around 40 grams per day for adults, but this can vary depending on age, gender, and other individual factors. Consuming a

variety of high-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds can help ensure that you get enough fiber in your diet. In addition, fiber can play an important role in supporting liver health. The liver is responsible for filtering toxins and waste products from the blood, and consuming a fiber diet can help support this process.

Now you can understand the additional danger of eating ultra-processed food as the central food in your diet. If it is fiber deficient, many important body processes cannot occur.

Food is far more than just calories or energy to fuel our bodies. It is information and instructions that regulate every function of our bodies in real time.

Food is not only a source of energy, joy, connection, and pleasure; it can also rejuvenate us and even reverse disease. When we think of food, we think of protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

But the most important parts of food may be the tens of thousands of medicinal compounds embedded in plants and even animal foods that regulate, modulate, and influence nearly all the 37 billion chemical reactions that occur in our bodies every second. Our bodies use chemicals found in food to influence each of our biological systems beneficially.

We have borrowed the molecular magic embedded in foods through evolution to optimize and supercharge our biology. So, for example, we can't synthesize vitamin C or omega-3 fats; we must get these from nature.

And it's not just the obvious essential fatty acids, amino acids, and vitamins and minerals we get from our food; we also get important molecules called phytochemicals. The phytochemicals are listed by the color family above. They are responsible for the term "eat from the farmacy" because these phytochemicals can heal the body from the inside out.

"There are 100,000-plus phytochemicals in the plant kingdom identified to date xiv, and they've only recently been deemed critical for health. Surprisingly they are also found in animals, such as grass-fed cows, who consume a wide array of nutrient-dense plant foods. While deficiency of these phytochemicals may not result in an acute disease like scurvy or rickets or protein malnutrition, it can lead to long-latency deficiency diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, dementia, depression, and more. " Dr. Mark Hyman, Facebook Post.

The only way to take advantage of these disease-fighting compounds is to focus on our food quality. Deeply colorful plant foods, organic and grass-fed meats, and wild fatty fish are abundant in compounds that protect our cells and fight off invaders. So, every time you take a bite of food, consider that you are programming your biology for health or disease.

Eating healthy means consuming a balanced and varied diet that provides all the necessary nutrients for optimal health and wellbeing. It involves choosing foods that are high in nutrients and low in unhealthy fats, sugars, sodium, chemicals, and toxins.

It Feels Good to Feel Good.

htps://www.ny�mes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutri�onism.t.html htps://www.ny�mes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutri�onism.t.html iii htps://www.ny�mes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutri�onism.t.html iv GMO means one of two things. It is either grown with BT Toxin right in the plant. BT toxin is a poison that blows up the insect when he bites into the plant. Unfortunately, it also blows up your good gut bacteria, and it causes sensi�vi�es and allergies. The other type of GMO are plants that are made “Round-up Ready” which means they can handle massive amounts of Round-up with is Glyphosate. A lawsuit two years ago got documenta�on in discovery that Monsanto, now Bayer, knew that this herbicide caused cancer 20 years ago. Since then, Bayer who purchased Monsanto, has paid out over 20 billion in compensa�on to people who got the same kind of lymphnoma as the man who sued them. This does not include any other kinds of cancer now as they have not won lawsuits. It is s�ll being used to spray on our crops. And s�ll being sprayed on our lawns some�mes. Avoid it at all cost. The worst is wheat, which is drenched in this poison to increase yield, and doesn’t get washed off. It is in all of our processed flour products, breads, cookies, cakes, crackers etc in massive dossages. v htps://www.ny�mes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutri�onism.t.html vi Dr. Deanna Minich, PhD. Func�onal Nutri�onist vii htps://diet.mayoclinic.org/us/blog/2022/picked-at-their-peak-the-benefits-of-choosing-and-ea�ng-seasonalproduce/ viii htps://diet.mayoclinic.org/us/blog/2022/picked-at-their-peak-the-benefits-of-choosing-and-ea�ng-seasonalproduce/ ix htps://www.towergarden.com/shop x Calley Means Newsleter xi Calley Means Newsleter xii Michael Gregor, MD Nutri�onfacts.org Author of How Not to Die xiii Michael Gregor, MD Nutri�onfacts.org Author of How Not to Die xiv Dr. Joesph Pizzorno, Func�onal Doctor and one of the founding fathers of Func�onal Medicine at a lecture in Santa Monica. i

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