Welcome to the Advanced Nutrition Plan

http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/advanced.htm

You’ve reached the most challenging level of my nutrition plan, and these recommendations will help you to be the healthiest person you can be. This is the level where you’re most likely to encounter a cynical attitude from friends and relatives. Some may tell you that you’ve gone over the edge!

Most of the people who come to my clinic are on this advanced nutrition plan because they have very serious health challenges. Or perhaps they simply want to maximize their current health.

Two types of people should go to this level of the program:

• Those who are totally committed to their individual health
• Those with advanced health problems

This level may be inappropriate for many and should be undertaken only if you have a serious health challenge or are absolutely committed to achieving the highest level of health possible. These recommendations are the best of what I currently know to improve not only the length of your life, but the quality of your later years.

My best wishes for your success with this last stage of my program.

Advanced Plan: Protein

 

Lesson 1: Refine your use of eggs.

 

This is the final phasewith eggs: it’s time to not cook your yolks at all, and use the entire egg raw. If you’re concerned about salmonella, please understand that this is a concern that is mainly directed at conventionally-raised eggs.

A 2008 survey revealed that organic laying hen farms have a significantly lower level of Salmonella; just 4.4 percent in organic flocks and 6.5 percent in free-range flocks, compared to more than 23 percent of farms with caged hens. So your chances of contracting salmonella when using organic eggs are fairly slim.

If you do get salmonella — a relatively benign, self-limiting illness — it is easily treated in most people with some good bacteria (probiotics). Most people in this level have a good enough immune system to counteract salmonella, so this isn’t likely to be a problem. At this time, please read my extensive  article on using raw eggs.

Lesson 2: Only consume raw dairy.

If you haven’t already read my article on why you want to avoid drinking pasteurized diary — including organic pasteurized dairy — please do so now to understand the reasoning behind this recommendation.

For most people it’s very important to stop all commercial milk products. Not all people need to stop dairy, but most people seem to benefit from cutting it out of their diet. I recommend that you avoid dairy for a few weeks to see if your health symptoms improve. Avoid commercial pasteurized milk products like:

• Acidophilus milk
• Cheese
• Ice cream
• Lactaid milk

Also avoid non-milk products that are problematic for other reasons:

• Skim milk
• Soy milk

Please note that many people can tolerate raw milk (non-pasteurized), and in fact, it is a strong producer of health for many. However  it’s difficult to obtain, and you may need to purchase your raw dairy directly from a dairy farmer as it is illegal to sell commercially in most states. You can locate a raw milk source near you at the Campaign for Real Milk Web site. You can also review this link for raw milk availability and restrictions by state. The Weston Price Foundation  is another amazing resource to help you locate and secure raw milk.

Cheese may be acceptable unless you have a severe dairy allergy. Raw milk cheeses are better and generally available in health food stores as they are legal to purchase.

Lesson 3: Avoid consuming pork products — there are better meat choices.

Pork is actually good meat from a biochemical perspective, but I believe there is more than enough scientific evidence to justify the reservations or outright prohibitions in many cultures against consuming it.

Pigs are scavenger animals and will eat just about anything. Their appetite for less-than-wholesome foods makes pigs a breeding ground for potentially dangerous infections. Even cooking pork for long periods is not enough to kill many of the retroviruses and other parasites that many of them harbor.

Therefore, it would be best to avoid all ham and pork products. For more in-depth information about the many health hazards of pork, please see my article Are There Deadly Superbugs in Your Pork?

Grass-fed beef is an excellent option, and venison and lamb are also good options since they are game animals and generally have few pesticides. Chicken and turkey are also acceptable if they are raised organic and cage free. Locally raised would be even better if you can find them.

Lesson 4: Avoid peanuts and peanut products

Peanuts are especially problematic, as they have no omega-3 and therefore distort your omega 6:3 ratio. They are also frequently contaminated with a carcinogenic mold called aflatoxin, and are one of the most pesticide-contaminated crops.

Advanced Plan: Carbohydrates

 

Lesson 1: Recognize if you are addicted to sugar and modify your diet accordingly.

 

At this advanced level, you need not be obsessive about sugar; if sugar is the fourth or fifth ingredient in your food, that’s acceptable. Many people, however, will need to avoid sugar permanently for optimal health.

Refined sugar has been found to be far more addictive than cocaine– one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently known. Similar to drug or alcohol addiction, if you are addicted to sugar then total abstinence is required.

One tool I find very useful to help curb sugar cravings is EFT. You can use EFT to successfully treat a wide variety of emotional stresses, including the food cravings and emotional responses related to sugar and grains.

Limiting sugar is critical to your optimal health. Eating refined sugar weakens your immune system and promotes yeast overgrowth, both of which are contributing factors to the number one killer: cancer. A weak immune system, in and of itself, is guaranteed to impair your health and promote virtually every disease known to man.

High sugar consumption can also lead to adrenal exhaustion, common symptoms of which include feeling mentally and emotionally stressed, sugar and salt cravings, moodiness, and feeling weak and lethargic.

All non-diet (regular) soft drinks have 8 teaspoons of sugar in each can. Most packaged cereals have sugar as their major ingredient. When in doubt about the sugar content of a food, look at the list of ingredients and see how many grams of carbohydrates are listed. Unless the carbohydrates are from aboveground vegetables you should be concerned that they represent sugars that could alter your insulin levels.

Lesson 2: If you really want sugar, stevia is the best substitute.

The safest sweetener to use would be a high quality stevia. It is a natural herb originating from South America that has been used for 1,500 years, and has been shown to be very safe. It is several hundred times sweeter than sugar, so you don’t need much.

Lesson 3: Avoid these natural sweeteners:

Anything sweetened with fruit juice Beet sugar Brown rice syrup Cane sugar Corn sugar Corn syrup Date sugar Dextrose Fructose

Honey Lactose Maltodextrin Maple syrup Molasses Ice milk Succanat Sucrose White grape juice

 

Advanced Plan: Beverages

 

It’s now time to eliminate all beverages except water (breast milk for infants). Water is definitely the only beverage you should have at this level. To achieve this, follow the lessons below.

Lesson 1: Eliminate coffee.

You may know intuitively that coffee is not the best fluid to drink but not really understand why. Here are several reasons to eliminate coffee from your diet:

• Coffee beans are frequently grown outside of this country. Therefore, we have limited controls on the use of pesticides where the beans are grown. Coffee beans are known to be high in pesticides.

• Coffee interferes with your cells’ ability to use water and promotes fluid loss.

• Coffee has been shown to raise cholesterol, worsen your insulin control, contribute to rheumatoid arthritis and stroke, damage your blood vessels, increase risk of heart disease, and contribute to miscarriage.

If you are struggling with food changes, you can leave coffee at the bottom of the list. However, quitting coffee should be one of your goals. Coffee should never be consumed if you are pregnant, or have high blood pressure, insomnia or anxiety.

Here are a few tips to help reduce the chance of harmful effects until you can completely eliminate coffee:

• Use organic coffee.  Coffee is a heavily sprayed crop, so drinking organic coffee might reduce or eliminate the exposure to toxic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. The only drawback is that the countries where coffee is produced probably have less control and monitoring for compliance to organic practices. You will also be helping to protect the health of the people working in the coffee fields, as you will be helping to reduce their toxic exposure as well.

• Try “Swiss Water Process” decaf. If you are going to drink decaffeinated coffee, be sure that it uses a non-chemical based method of decaffeination. The “Swiss Water Process” is a patented method and is the best choice. Most of the major brands are chemically decaffeinated, even if it says “naturally decaffeinated” right on the container. If you are unsure of the methods, contact the manufacturer.

• Avoid sugar and milk. These are actually much worse for you than the coffee itself. Don’t compound the detrimental health effects by adding milk or sugar to your coffee.

• Only use unbleached filters. If you use a “drip” coffee maker, be sure to use non-bleached filters. The bright white ones, which most people use, are chlorine bleached and some of this chlorine will be extracted from the filter during the brewing process.

Lesson 2: Eliminate all forms of alcohol, beer, wine and hard liquor.

While moderate wine consumption — one to two glasses per day — can have certain health benefits, all alcohol use impairs driving performance, and can pose significant health and safety risks. It is well established that alcohol is a neurotoxin, which means it can poison your brain. I don’t normally recommend it for most people.

I believe alcohol should be reserved for people who are at no risk of alcohol addiction, and have already achieved optimal wellness and therefore have their carbohydrates (sugars and grains) under control, as alcohol — even wine — will increase your insulin levels.

Lesson 3: Eliminate fruit juices, sports drinks and energy drinks.

Store-bought fruit juices are frequently contaminated with mold and therefore we should avoid them. They also contain a large amount of refined carbohydrates. Each 12-ounce glass of juice has about the same amount of sugar (8 teaspoons) as a 12-ounce  soda, even if no sugar is added.

Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, must also be avoided as one of their main ingredients is high-fructose corn syrup.

Energy drinks can contain huge amounts of caffeine — as much as 300 milligrams in a single serving. (For comparison, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits caffeine in food and beverages to 65 mg per serving. Energy drinks, however, are not regulated by the FDA.)

Advanced Plan: Supplements

 

Lesson 1: Make sure you are getting enough vitamin D.

 

Milk is a major source of vitamin D for many people. As you’ve stopped consuming commercial milk and milk products, make sure you are getting enough vitamin D from other sources.

In addition to milk, vitamin D is also found in eggs, fish and fortified orange juice. However, you only get an average of 250 to 300 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day from dietary factors alone, which is rarely enough to maintain optimal levels. Recent research has found that it takes 2,000 to 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day to have a significant impact on cancer risk reduction.

Fortunately, vitamin D is also made in your body after exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun.

One of major functions of vitamin D in your body is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. During the summer months, you will get enough vitamin D from just spending some time outside every day. Your body can produce about 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day with full body exposure, about 5,000 IU with 50 percent of your body exposed, and as much as 1,000 IU with just 10 percent of your body exposed.

In the winter months, though, you will most likely not get enough vitamin D if you live in a place that has low or infrequent amounts of sunshine (such as the southwest U.S.). In that case, I strongly recommend a healthy tanning bed like the Sun Splash.

Please read the section on vitamin D so you will be certain to obtain enough of this essential vitamin.

Lesson 2: Consider adding vitamin E.

Although the vast majority of people seem to benefit from vitamin E, that certainly is not universally true. For most however, it seems a reasonable supplement to take at about 400 units as it  reduces the rate of omega-3 oxidation.

Keep in mind that your body can easily distinguish between natural and synthetic vitamins, and natural vitamin E is between two and three times as bioactive as the same amount of synthetic vitamin E. Natural vitamin E is always listed as the “d-” form (d-alpha-tocopherol, d-beta-tocopherol, etc.). Synthetic vitamin E is listed as ” dl-” forms.

But your optimal source for vitamin E is from your food. A 2002 study suggested that if you consume plenty of vegetables (about one pound of vegetables for every 50 pounds of body weight), the antioxidants in the vegetables may provide as much, or more, protection as vitamin E supplements. 

If you are taking my Whole Food Multi with minerals, vitamin E and  calcium are already included, so there’s no need for an additional supplement.

Lesson 3: Make sure you are getting enough calcium.

If you are off all milk products, then you should consider a calcium supplement. Vegetable juice has plenty of calcium, and if you take it with cod liver oil the vitamin D will help you absorb all the calcium you need. If you are unable to drink  vegetable juice but can tolerate citrus fruits, you can use calcium citrate as your calcium source. If you are a protein nutritional type calcium is an especially important supplement for you, and you may want to consider a regular supplement unless you are consuming raw dairy.

Lesson 4: Learn about lipoic acid.

I am not fond of recommending supplements routinely, but I do believe that antioxidants make sense for many of us.

Lipoic acid is a very potent antioxidant and the only one known to easily get into your brain. Your body produces it in minute quantities, and it helps boosts vitamin C and E.  

Clinically, lipoic acid seems to be a useful supplement in treating hepatitis C. It can also be used for painful nerve conditions in diabetes, and there is suggestion that it might slow down the aging process through its reduction in free radicals.

I wish I had been aware of lipoic acid when I pursued my former and exclusive health passion, exercise. I am sure I caused considerable harm with some of the excessive exercising and running I did in the 70s and early 80s. I did not take antioxidants at that time, and, worse still, I consumed plenty of whole grain bread and steel-cut oatmeal that further raised my insulin levels. I would have considerably more hair left, I suspect, if I had recognized the dual nature of excessive exercise. It can be a potent stimulus to good health, but it can also be overdone and actually accelerate the aging process.

I now routinely take vitamin C and lipoic acid (100 mg) prior to my runs. Since they are primarily water-soluble they should be taken close to the time of exercise. Vitamin E can be taken once a day, or even once a week, as it is fat-soluble.

Advanced Plan: Lifestyle Changes

 

Lesson 1: Practice techniques, such as EFT, to control anxiety and stress, eliminate self-doubt and negativity, and instill self-control and peace of mind.

 

There is no greater enemy to your physical health than a negative self-image or high stress. Many people initially succeed at implementing a diet — whether it is to lose weight, heal a disease, or strengthen their body against sickness — but then fall back into old habits… and therefore, the “old” body. Why? Because the emotional barriers were never overcome in the first place.

To truly succeed at this nutrition plan, I highly recommend you work on overcoming your emotional barriers, whether they’re based on life’s anxiety-factors or emotional traumas.

There are a host of techniques to instill positive emotions and thoughts and create a sense of inner-peace, and the best rule is to find the one that works for you, whether it is considered traditional or “alternative,” and keep on using it.

In my clinical practice, I have tried a variety of methods, and have been exposed to many more (both traditional and alternative) through my medical background, but none have come close to the success rate I have experienced with the “Emotional Freedom Technique,” or EFT.

I highly recommend you at least give EFT a try. EFT is a form of psychological acupressure that, while it appears a bit unusual to some at first, can almost seem miraculous in its ability to erase negative emotions and instill positive ones.

With EFT, while mentally focusing on the psychological/emotional issues in a positive manner through the use of affirmations, pressure is applied to the same energy points used for thousands of years in acupuncture (these energy points are finally even being recognized as legitimate by the pharmacy- and surgery-addicted American medical establishment.)

These energy points are only tapped, though, not punctured as in acupuncture, as it has been shown that pressure on these points is all that is necessary to activate your body’s bioenergy. This combination of positive mental focus on the issue(s) and physical stimulus to your body’s biochemistry is amazingly effective at eliminating the issue — be it stress, cravings, trauma, etc. — quickly.

I routinely use EFT in my practice and I highly recommend it for optimal your emotional health. Although it is still often overlooked, emotional health is absolutely essential to your physical health and healing - no matter how devoted you are to the proper diet and lifestyle, you will not achieve your body’s ideal healing and preventative powers if emotional barriers stand in your way.

EFT is very easy to learn, and will help you:

• Remove negative emotions
• Reduce food cravings
• Reduce or eliminate pain
• Implement positive goals

You can learn how to start using EFT on yourself and those close to you right now with my free online EFT Manual.

NOTE: This is the only lesson that will be repeated in each phase of my nutrition program, as it is crucial to long-term success.

For more information on how your emotions can aid or hinder your physical healing, please review the following articles:

• Scientific Proof that Your Childhood Traumas are a MAJOR Factor in Your All Your Illnesses
• Why Traumas Can Haunt and Sabotage Your Health for Years
• Child Emotional Care Influences Genetic Expression
• Did You Know Healing Could be So Simple?
• How Your Thoughts Can Cause or Cure Cancer
• You Will Never Guess the Surprising Cause of Most Heart Attacks

Lesson 2: Find a biological dentist.

Please identify a biological dentist who understands that mercury is a potent poison, and should never be placed in your mouth in the form of amalgam fillings. A biological dentist  will likely be able to SAFELY remove any amalgams you have and replace them with safer materials.

Additionally, you will want to integrate these principles into your dental health program:

• Root canals: Be cautious of root canals as they can have many adverse consequences for your health..

• Crowns: Avoid ceramic and porcelain crowns as they have metal in them. Request composites.

• Sealants: Avoid dental sealants for children, as they contain potent cancer-causing xenoestrogens. Many also contain high levels of fluoride.

• Avoid fluoride. It should not be used in your toothpaste, water, as a supplement, or in your dental office. Fluoride is a metabolic poison and will actually damage your teeth. There is enough fluoride in a tube of toothpaste to kill a small child. That is why there is a warning label on the back of your tube of toothpaste!

Lesson 3: Eat the right salt (and the right amount!).

In reality, most people are harmed by low-salt diets. Salt is actually essential for life — you cannot live without it. However, you don’t want to use your current table salt. Instead, obtain real natural salt.

The difference between conventional and natural salt is that conventional salt is dried at over 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. This amount of heat changes the chemical structure of the salt. Also, conventional processing adds harmful additives and chemicals.

When your body attempts to eliminate this excessively processed salt, water is taken from your cells, which tends to compromise the fluid balance in your cells. You may be surprised to learn that for every gram of sodium chloride (table salt) that your body cannot get rid of, your body uses 23 times the amount of water to neutralize the salt.

You can use natural salt liberally on your greens, such as kale, to decrease any bitter taste. I would strongly advise using Himalayan salt, which has tested better than any sea salts we have measured.

Lesson 4: It’s finally time to stop smoking.

You aren’t consuming sugar, and your diet is very healthy overall. Now is the time to quit smoking. I highly recommend you read my free online EFT manual to discover how this remarkable psychological acupressure technique is ideal for eliminating addictions — particularly cigarette addiction, which has been shown to be associated with depression.

In severe cases you might not be able to perform EFT satisfactorily on yourself, in which case I would highly recommend you seek out a trained professional. Dr. Patricia Carrington provides a list of certified EFT practitioners across the world, plus helpful advice on how to choose a practitioner that is right for you.

There are, of course, myriad other methods to help you quit smoking, and if EFT does not appeal to you toward this end, I recommend you do your research and try what you believe will work for you. Fact is, at this stage in the nutrition program, not only will your body be craving this final and very important “fix,” but the great increase in your energy and focus will make the battle to quit smoking much less of a battle!

However, please do not make the mistake of resorting to pharmaceutical “quit-smoking drugs” like Chantix, Zyban, Wellbutrin and others. Like all drugs, they come with a wide variety of side effect that are harmful to your health, but these types of drugs in particular also carry much higher risks of depression, violence and suicide.

Lesson 5: Get rid of your microwave.

Microwaves seriously deplete the nutrients in your food. This is no surprise as all heating methods have a similar effect. However, microwave heating appears to produce the greatest losses.

Microwaves are high frequency electromagnetic waves that alternate in positive and negative directions, causing vibration of  molecules up to 2.5 billion times per second. This creates friction and heat that can destroy the fragile structure of vitamins and enzymes.

Consuming microwaved foods may also cause pathological changes in your body. Once a food’s structure is altered, it cannot perform the desired function in your body. Clinical studies show that microwave heating of milk or cooking of vegetables is associated with a decline in hemoglobin levels. These reductions may contribute to anemia, rheumatism, fever, and thyroid deficiency. To learn more, read The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking.

Lesson 6: Avoid using antiperspirants.

If you currently use antiperspirants, notice if you have stains in your armpit area of your shirts. This is not due to your sweat but  from the aluminum in the antiperspirant. I don’t recommend using conventional antiperspirants as they are full of aluminum, which is a toxic substance. You can wash your armpits daily with soap and a washcloth as an alternative.

Normally, washing is sufficient to remove all traces of odor. If you still find odor to be a problem, store a small box of baking soda in your bathroom medicine box. Before each shower, pour a teaspoon of powder in your hand, close your hand with the baking soda and step into the shower. After you step into the shower, briefly let the shower water seep into your closed hand then apply the moistened baking soda to each armpit. You can then rinse the armpits and begin your regular shower routine.

Usually, when you shift your diet the types of bacteria growing in your armpits will change and  the odor will naturally decrease.

Lesson 7: Get the best night’s  sleep possible.

Getting a good night’s sleep was covered in the Basic level of the nutrition plan, but, because it is so important to sleep in complete darkness, here are some further suggestions to implement now, if you haven’t already done so:

• Put up window coverings that block all light.

• Do not turn on any lights during the night, even if you have to go to the bathroom. The smallest amount of light exposure during the night will impair your melatonin production.

• Avoid grains because they raise your blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later during the night, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep. Go to bed before 10 p.m. in order to normalize your adrenal cortisol levels.
   
• Sublingual melatonin can also be a very effective approach.

For more information on a sleeping well, see my Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep.

Lesson 8: Let the sun into your life.

With the invention of new technology, we are all spending more time indoors and out of the sun. Everyone should strive to have one hour of sunshine exposure a day. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the sun is the strongest. This is the time you should try to get outside in the winter. In the summer, you should be careful of your time outdoors in order to avoid sunburn. Noontime sun (for people in climates that are not tropical or subtropical) is the best. You just need to exercise caution with your exposure.

Sunburn, not sun exposure, can cause skin cancer. However, your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio may be the real key to preventing skin cancer development, according to a comprehensive review by the National Academy of Sciences, published in 2001.

Sunlight into your retina is also a very important nutrient. You will get the full benefits if you do not obstruct the light with glasses or contacts.
Make sure you understand the risks of skin cancer versus your sunlight needs.

Studies have confirmed that the benefits of moderate sun exposure FAR outweigh its risks. For example, people who live in sunnier, southern latitudes and have higher vitamin D levels as a result of their increased sun exposure, are less likely to die from any type of cancer than people in northern latitudes. More than one million people die every year from lack of sun exposure and subsequent vitamin D deficiency, so you really need to overcome your fear of the sun if you want to stay optimally healthy.

Of course you should not get burned or look directly into the sun, but small amounts of daily sunshine on your skin and in your eyes is essential for good health! You can combine sun exposure with a brisk walk to satisfy your exercise requirements.

If you have problems that worsen in the winter, consider installing full spectrum lighting in your bathroom, kitchen, eating area and work environment. This will compensate for the loss of sun on your skin during the winter. You can also use a healthy tanning bed like the Sun Splash   during months when available sunlight is low.

For more information on this essential topic, please read my new book, Dark Deception, which offers a comprehensive review of the benefits and dangers of sun exposure.

Note: Do not use neodymum bulbs, as they are color-corrected and therefore don’t qualify as full spectrum lighting.

Lesson 9: Avoid information-carrying radiowaves and electromagnetic fields when possible.

The body of all organisms has a Direct Current (DC) field, and electric currents produced in and all over your body are involved in controlling growth and regeneration. The evidence is overwhelming that electro-dynamical fields and currents are involved in intercommunication within your body. (These fields and currents are connected to and correlated with the EEG and ECG that are a routine part of conventional biomedicine.) Hence, externally applied electromagnetic fields and radio waves can affect and influence your biological processes. 

In the intermediate level you began limiting your exposure to information-carrying radio waves from cell phones, wireless internet and other wireless devices. At this advanced level, please also pay attention to and avoid low frequency (60 hertz) pulsating electromagnetic fields such as those emitted by electric blankets and waterbed heaters. Also, avoid electric razors and close exposure to any AC/DC transformer for appliances you plug into a wall, and do not carry car door openers in your pocket as they too emit radio waves.

Additionally, wearing metal on your body is something you generally want to avoid. If you are a woman who is wearing underwire bras, please consider switching to a wireless style bra, which are available in most brands, and for various levels of support.. The wire can form an antenna attracting EMF fields and can actually increase your risk of breast cancer.

Anything else that you use on your body, such as hair rollers, pins and clips, should also be switched to plastic.

Juicing: Your Key to Radiant Health

 

Congratulations! You have made some great changes to your life. The last step will be to implement a juicing plan. I am firmly convinced that juicing is the final key to giving you a radiant, energetic life, and truly optimal health.

I’ve said this in the other levels of this nutrition plan, but it’s so important I’ll say it again - valuable and sensitive micronutrients become damaged when you heat foods.

Cooking and processing food destroys these micronutrients by altering their shape and chemical composition. In this advanced nutritional level, you avoid all processed foods and eat only organic vegetables and fruits, unless not otherwise possible.

Nutritional Typing and Juicing

According to Nutritional Typing principles, if you are a carb type, vegetable juicing is STRONGLY recommended. With patients in our clinic, we strongly encourage it if they expect to regain their health. If you are a mixed type, it is certainly useful to juice. However, protein types need to follow some specific guidelines to make it work for them.

Protein Types and Juicing

If you are a protein type, juicing needs to be done cautiously. The only vegetables that should be juiced are your prime protein type vegetables, which are celery, spinach, asparagus, string beans and cauliflower (including the base).

It is important to keep your serving size of juice to no more than 6 oz., but don’t be surprised if you find that as little as 3-4 oz. of juice feels like the right serving size for you. For a protein type, 3-4 oz. of juice is a significant amount.

Also, to make drinking vegetable juice compatible with protein type metabolism (which needs high amounts of fat), it is important to blend a source of raw fat into the juice. Raw cream, raw butter, raw eggs, avocado, coconut butter, or freshly ground flax seed are the sources of raw fat that we most recommend.

In addition to adding a source of raw fat to your juice, you may also find that adding some, or even all, of the vegetable pulp into your juice helps to make drinking the juiced vegetables more satisfying.

Reasons to Juice

There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:

• 1. Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body’s ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to “pre-digest” them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
• 2. Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
• 3. You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.

If you are new to juicing, I recommend a mid-priced juicer. The cheap centrifugal juicers (like the Juiceman) break easily, produce low quality juice, and are very loud, which may contribute to hearing loss.

Many people initially think that juicing will be a real chore, but the majority are pleasantly surprised to find that it is much easier than they thought it would be.

This is partly because you should only start by juicing vegetables that you enjoy eating non-juiced. The juice should taste pleasant — not make you feel nauseous.

It is very important to listen to your body when juicing. Your stomach should feel good all morning long. If it is churning or growling or generally making its presence known, you probably juiced something you should not be eating. Personally, I’ve noticed that I can’t juice large amounts of cabbage, but if I spread it out, I do fine.

Here are a few simple lessons to get you up and juicing quickly:

Lesson 1: Drink vegetable juice for breakfast.

Vegetable juice makes a great breakfast when balanced with some essential oils and a bit of chlorella.

Please remember that vegetable juice and fruit juices are two completely different substances in terms of nutrition. Ideally, you should avoid fruit juices due to their high sugar content. Although vegetable juice is processed, it doesn’t raise insulin levels like fruit juice. The only exceptions would be carrot and beet juice (and most vegetables that grow underground), which function similarly to fruit juice.

Lesson 2: Get ready to juice!

Step 1: Now that you’re ready for the benefits of vegetable juice, you need to know what to juice. I recommend starting out with these vegetables, as they are the easiest to digest:

• Celery
• Fennel (anise)
• Cucumbers

These three aren’t as nutrient dense as the dark green vegetables, which should be avoided if you are a protein type (except for spinach). Once you get used to the 3 vegetables listed above, you can start adding the more nutritionally valuable, but less palatable, vegetables into your juice.

Vegetables to avoid include carrots and beets. Most people who juice usually use carrots. The reason they taste so good is that they are full of sugar. I would definitely avoid all vegetables that grow underground to avoid an increase in your insulin levels.

If you are healthy, you can add about one pound of carrots or beets per week. I do believe that the deep, intense colors of these foods provide additional benefits for many that are just not available in the green vegetables listed above.

Step 2: When you’ve acclimatized yourself to juicing, you can start adding these vegetables:

• Red leaf lettuce
• Green Leaf lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Endive
• Escarole
• Spinach

Step 3: After you’re used to these, then go to the next step:

• Cabbage
• Chinese Cabbage
• Bok Choy

An interesting side note: Cabbage juice is one of the most healing nutrients for ulcer repair as it is a huge source of vitamin U.

Step 4: When you’re ready, move on to adding herbs to your juicing. Herbs also make wonderful combinations, and here are two that work exceptionally well:

• Parsley
• Cilantro

You need to be cautious with cilantro, as many cannot tolerate it well. If you are new to juicing, hold off on the cilantro. These are more challenging  to consume, but they are highly beneficial.

Step 5: The last step: Only use one or two of these leaves, as they are very bitter:

• Kale
• Collard Greens
• Dandelion Greens
• Mustard Greens (bitter)

When purchasing collard greens, find a store that sells the leaves still attached to the main stalk. If they are cut off, the vegetable rapidly loses many of its valuable nutrients.

One important note: I prefer to juice my vegetables at room temperature. I leave my vegetables out overnight, or for at least one hour in the morning, as I do not enjoy drinking cold fluids, especially when it is cold outside.

Lesson 3: Make your juice a balanced meal.

Balance your juice with protein and fat. Vegetable juice does not have much protein or fat, so it’s very important for you to include these fat and protein sources with your meal.

Use eggs. Eggs will add a significant amount of beneficial fats and protein to your meal. An egg has about 8 grams of protein, so you can add two to four eggs per meal. I suggest that you blend the raw whole eggs, into the vegetable juice. The reason I advocate this is because once you heat the eggs, many of their nutrients become damaged. If you are concerned about salmonella, purchase organic eggs; it’s unlikely you’ll have any problems.

There is a potential problem with using the entire raw egg if you are pregnant. Biotin deficiency, a common concern in pregnancy, could be worsened by consuming whole raw eggs.

Please read my recent article, Raw Eggs for Your Health — Major Update, for further information on consuming raw eggs.

For increased satiety, blend in some seeds. If you get hungry easily after juicing, put your juice and seeds in the blender to make a higher fat drink. Seeds are full of protein and essential fatty acids that bring a juice into balance beautifully. I recommend pumpkin and flax seeds. If you use flax seeds, use a coffee grinder to grind them first and drink immediately after blending into the juice.

Use chlorella. Chlorella is an incredibly powerful nutrient from the sea and is a form of algae. I use it quite a bit for mercury detoxification. It binds very strongly to mercury, eliminating it from your body. It also contains peptides that bind to lead, arsenic, plutonium and uranium. However, it does not bind to zinc, magnesium or copper — the essential minerals you need — so it’s an intelligent algae.

The normal dose is one teaspoon in the juice. However, about 30 percent of people cannot tolerate chlorella, so if it makes you nauseous you should definitely avoid it. The advantages of chlorella are:

• Provides a high source of chlorophyll.
• Adds magnesium and protein.
• Binds to heavy metals and pesticides.

If you have high iron or vitamin D levels, you will want to avoid chlorella, as it is loaded with both of these nutrients.

Add spirulina. Spirulina is another algae that has many similar benefits and is a good balance to chlorella. However, it does not bind to heavy metals like chlorella.

Consider a protein powder. I personally prefer to drink raw eggs for my breakfast protein. Fresh juice mixed with a protein powder is also a very convenient meal. In my opinion, whey protein is the best type of powder because it is the most complete protein, and the easiest to digest. Although whey protein is from milk and many people have lactose intolerance or an allergy to dairy, the major protein in milk that causes an allergy is casein. Fortunately, whey protein does not contain casein, so most people digest whey protein quite well. Please avoid soy protein powders, which are the most popular protein powders, but  I cannot recommend due to the negative effects unfermented soy has on your body.

Add some garlic. I like to add one clove of garlic in my juice, as it incorporates the incredible healing potential of fresh garlic. I strongly advise you to do this regularly to balance out your bowel flora. The ideal dose is just below the social threshold where people start to notice that you have eaten garlic. One large clove, two medium cloves, or three small cloves is the recommended dose.

Add oil. But not just any oil! I highly recommend cod liver oil in the winter months and fish oil in the summer. If you live in a primarily sunny climate, however, I wouldn’t advise taking cod liver oil as cod liver oil has a level of vitamin D that can prove toxic to those in very sunny climates. The dose for cod liver oil or fish oil is one teaspoon for every 25 to 40 pounds of body weight. Please note that cod liver oil can raise your vitamin D levels to unhealthy ranges, so ideally you should have your doctor monitor your vitamin D levels with a blood test while taking cod liver oil. Please be sure to read my comprehensive explanation on sunlight and vitamin D testing, and please review my updates on vitamin D information.

The reason why adding oil (fat) to your vegetable juice may be helpful, is that fat can help you better absorb the vitamin K - which is a fat soluble vitamin – from your  juice. Vitamin K is very important for adhering calcium into your bone matrix to help you build stronger bones. Additionally, new research suggests that vitamin K significantly reduces calcification in your arteries. Adding raw egg yolks, as described above, will also help you  absorb all the vitamin K from the juice. You could also use flax as a source of omega-3 fat, but many people have problems digesting it.

Lesson 4: Make your juice taste great.

If you would like to make your juice taste a bit more palatable, especially in the beginning, you can add these elements:

• Coconut: This is one of my favorites! You can purchase the whole coconut or use unsweetened shredded coconut. It adds a delightful flavor and is an excellent source of fat to balance your meal. Coconut has medium chain triglycerides, which have many health benefits. Lauric acid — the major fatty acid from the fat of the coconut — has been recognized for its unique properties related to its antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal functions. Coconut also contains capric acid, which has antimicrobial components. Natural coconut fat in your diet helps normalize your body lipids, protects against alcohol damage to your liver, and improves your immune system’s anti-inflammatory response.
• Cranberries: You can also add some cranberries if you enjoy them. Researchers have discovered that cranberries have five times the antioxidant content of broccoli, which means they may protect against cancer, stroke and heart disease. In addition, they are chock-full of phytonutrients, and can help women avoid urinary tract infections. Limit the cranberries to about 4 ounces per pint of juice.
• Lemons: You can also add half a lemon (leaving much of the white rind on). If you are a Protein Nutritional Type, you will not want to use lemons as they will push your pH in the wrong direction.
• Fresh ginger: This is an excellent addition if you can tolerate it. It gives your juice a little “kick”! And, as an added boon, researchers have found that ginger can have dramatic effects on cardiovascular health, including preventing atherosclerosis, lowering cholesterol levels, and preventing the oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL).

Lesson 5: Drink your vegetable juice right away, or store it very carefully.

Juicing is a time-consuming process, so you’ll probably be thinking to yourself, “I wonder if I can juice first thing in the morning, and then drink it later?” This is not a good idea. Vegetable juice is very perishable so it’s best to drink all of your juice immediately. However, if you’re careful, you can store it for up to 24 hours with only moderate nutritional decline. To store your juice:

• Put your juice in a glass jar with an airtight lid and fill it to the very top. There should be a minimum amount of air in the jar as the oxygen in air (air is about 20 percent oxygen) will “oxidize” and damage the juice.
• Wrap the jar with aluminum foil to block out all light. Light damages the juice.
• Store it in the refrigerator until about 30 minutes prior to drinking, as vegetable juice is best consumed at room temperature.

Most people juice in the morning, but if that does not work out well for your schedule, please feel  free to choose whatever meal works  best for your lifestyle.

Lesson 6: Clean your juicer properly.

We all know that if a juicer takes longer than 10 minutes to clean, we’ll find excuses not to juice at all. I find that using an old toothbrush works well to clean any metal grater. If you buy a high-quality juicer, the whole process should only take about 5 minutes. Whatever you do, you need to clean your juicer immediately after you juice to prevent any remnants from contaminating the juicer with mold growth.

Warning: Avoid following the juicing recommendations that come with the juicer, as they most often emphasize carrot and fruit combinations.