Mar

Welcome to the Intermediate Nutrition Plan

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

Once you have started to reap the benefits of the beginner’s phase and you have some time and practical experience under your belt, you will want to consider advancing to the intermediate level. This level is designed to move you even further toward optimum health so that you can harvest all of the delights and pleasures that come along with occupying a healthy body.

As covered in “Nutrition Plan: Getting Started,” you need to make sure the following four factors have reached acceptable levels:

Weight
Blood sugar/ insulin level
Cholesterol level
Blood pressure

If these factors haven’t improved, you either need to analyze your success at following the beginner recommendations, or find a trained health professional to help you figure out the piece of the puzzle that’s missing, There are many highly qualified physicians specializing in natural health throughout the U.S. and much of the world. If you are unable to find one you can always consider a consultation at my Natural Health Center.

Congratulations on making it to the intermediate level. My sincere wishes for your success with this intermediate level of my plan. Remember, radiant health is within your reach!

Intermediate Plan: Protein

Lesson 1: Up the ante to organic butter and eggs.

Ideally you should be consuming as many USDA organic food products as possible, however, if you only get one organic food it should be butter. This is because it is a highly concentrated form of milk. It is not uncommon for non organic butter to have up to 20 times the level of pesticides of non organic fruits and vegetables.

Remember eggs?

Now that you’ve reached the intermediate level, it’s time to move up to organic free-range eggs. Compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture contain:

1/3 less cholesterol
1/4 less saturated fat
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene

These dramatically differing nutrient levels are most likely the result of the differences in diet between free-range pastured hens, vs. commercially farmed hens.

Organic eggs don’t have to be certified by law, so if you are fortunate enough to know someone who grows chickens and controls the feed and conditions, those eggs are typically better than organic store-bought eggs.

An interesting fact about eggs: You can increase your egg intake up to two dozen a week, as your cholesterol level won’t increase.

Eggs are one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol, so the way you cook them will influence the level of oxidized cholesterol in your blood. Oxidized cholesterol contributes to hardening of your arteries which increases your risk of heart disease.

High heat will promote this oxidation. Since there is iron in the egg white, when it combines with the egg yolk that will also oxidize the cholesterol. Scrambled eggs or omelets are one of the least healthy to prepare eggs.

Surprisingly, the best way to prepare eggs is to not cook them at all, but to eat them raw. This is an advanced technique, so no need to rush on this one unless you feel especially motivated.

If you are a woman, I realize this will not be very appealing. It seems most women have strong objections to the texture of eggs, but that can be easily modified by whipping them into a meringue or blending them in a protein smoothie.

If you’re worried about contracting salmonella from raw eggs, 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.

Lesson 2: Eliminate all fish from your diet, unless you know they have been tested and are mercury free.

Fish, whether farm-raised or caught from the ocean or freshwater sources, should now be avoided, as almost all fish are contaminated with mercury, PCBs and DDT. The only exceptions to this rule are fish like sardines and anchovies, as they are small enough to have minimal contamination;

Other fish that are less likely to be contaminated with high levels of mercury are

Summer Flounder
Wild Pacific Salmon
Croaker
Sardines
Haddock
Tilapia

Instead of consuming fish, it is now best to obtain the important omega-3 fats with DHA and EPA fatty acids from fish oil or cod liver oil. Reputable fish oil/cod liver oil, like the Carlson brand I offer and highly recommend, is purified of mercury and all other contaminants and tested and certified by independent agents for that high purity.

An even better option, which I would strongly encourage you to use in lieu of fish, is a high quality krill oil. In addition to being very high in omega-3, krill also contains almost 50 times more antioxidants than fish oil, which prevents the highly perishable omega-3 fats from oxidizing before you are able to integrate them into your cellular tissue.

Additionally, the omega-3 in krill is attached to phospholipids that increase its absorption. This means you need less of it, and it will not cause belching or burping like many fish oil products.

Lesson 3: Get valuable omega-3 fats from your meat.

Another way you can receive the necessary omega-3 fats is to eat from free-range cattle and game. Most wild game fit this description, but are not readily available for most us. Grass-fed beef or poultry are reasonable alternatives. Range-fed poultry is available from most health food stores or local organic chicken farmers.

You still need to be careful when purchasing grass-fed beef at most stores. As of November 15, 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “grass-fed” label can only be used if the animals ate nothing but grass and stored grasses after weaning, and have access to pasture during the growing season, which is defined as from last frost to first frost. However, according to the American Grassfed Association, which represents many raisers of grass-fed animals, the definition of “growing season” means that animals could be confined for long periods, and kept off of pasture even when there is grass growing.

The least expensive way to obtain authentic grass-fed beef is to find a local rancher you can trust, and buy directly from him. This way you save the shipping, and can also receive a reduced rate on the meat. Alternatively, you can now purchase grass-fed beef from organic ranchers online, if you don’t have access to a local source. For more tips on locating a good source, please see this link.

An inexpensive yet effective way to determine if the meat is really from a grass fed animal is to purchase the ground beef. Slowly cook the beef until done, drain and then collect all the fat. Grass-fed beef fat will be relatively thin compared to conventionally-raised ground beef. It will also be a liquid at room temperature as it has very few saturated fats.

However, most of us live in large urban areas and do not have the time for this process. Just as it would be ideal to have an organic garden and grow your own vegetables, most of us elect not to do that due to time or space limitations.

Lesson 4: Avoid soy.

Soy being a “health food” has become one of the largest, and perhaps one of the most dangerous, myths within the health food industry. Truth is, unfermented soy is not a healthy option, and I recommend avoiding all soy products unless they’re fermented or sprouted. Although fermented soy has many beneficial properties, non-fermented soy products contain: Phytoestrogens (isoflavones) genistein and daidzein, which mimic and sometimes block the hormone estrogen
Isoflavones which can impair thyroid function
Phytates, which block your body’s uptake of minerals
Enzyme Inhibitors, which hinder protein digestion
Haemaggluttin, which causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen take-up and growth
High amounts of omega-6 fat, which is pro-inflammatory

You should therefore avoid tofu, soy protein products and soy milk. If you use protein powders, it’s important to avoid soy protein.

Soy baby formula should NEVER be used for infants as soy formula contains the hormonal equivalent of about five birth control pills a day.
Numerous studies have found that non-fermented soy products can:

Increase the risk of breast cancer in women, brain damage and dementia in both sexes, and cause abnormalities in infants
Contribute to thyroid disorders, especially in women
Contribute to early puberty
Promote kidney stones
Weaken your immune system
Cause severe, potentially fatal food allergies

Fermented soy (tempeh, natto and miso) and soybean sprouts don’t have these problems and can be safely consumed. Just make sure they’re not pasteurized, as that is an indication of insufficient fermentation. Please visit my soy information page for more details on why this food should be avoided unless fermented.

Lesson 5: Limit your nut and seed intake.

Except for walnuts, almost all nuts have high levels of omega-6 fats, and if eaten in excess they can unbalance the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in your body. Unless you are already very healthy, it is important for you to limit your use of most seeds and nuts. Sprouting them would help somewhat, but unbalancing the omega 6:3 ratio can have profound negative health consequences for your body. Most all of us already have an excess of omega-6 fats in our diet.

Lesson 6: Avoid pasteurized dairy.

It is clear that most people benefit from avoiding commercial milk that is loaded with hormones, pesticides and antibiotics. However, even if you are able to obtain organic milk that is free of these contaminants, you are still left with a food that is pasteurized and homogenized.

For further information on this topic you can read the article I wrote on why you should avoid drinking pasteurized milk.

Pasteurization is done to protect you from potentially dangerous infections like TB and brucellosis, but it unfortunately changes the structure of the milk proteins, particularly casein, to a far more allergenic food and is a major reason why milk allergies are the number one form of food allergy.

In this level, you need to eliminate milk if you haven’t already done so. You can have cheeses, particularly raw milk cheeses, if your body tolerates them well.

Intermediate Plan: Carbohydrates

Lesson 1: Only eat quality vegetables.

At the intermediate level, I recommend that all of your vegetables be organic, and preferably locally-grown. Organic vegetable varieties will decrease your exposure to dangerous pesticides, and increase your nutrient intake as organics have been scientifically proven to contain as much as much as two to five times more essential nutrients compared to non-organic vegetables. Most people agree that they also taste much better. It is important to remember though that nearly any non-organic vegetable is better than no vegetable at all.

Lesson 2: Avoid all grains.

I believe that most people’s health is improved by avoiding all grains. This also includes durham flour and semolina from which most pasta is made. You can obtain most of your fiber from vegetables, which is a far healthier choice. Additional foods to eliminate at this level are:

Corn: It is best to avoid all corn products, including popcorn and corn chips. Corn is not a vegetable but a grain! Corn and corn products are often difficult to digest and can contain mold toxins. One in three people are allergic to mold, and even small amounts of exposure to these mycotoxins (fungal toxins) can cause a range of health problems, including cancer, heart disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Please avoid all foods with corn listed in the first five ingredients.

Potatoes: Potatoes will raise insulin levels beyond what would be considered ideal in most people. If you do not have problems with weight, high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol, they can be used with a protein meal. Try to avoid commercially prepared French-fries entirely. They are an extremely toxic food, as they contain 100 percent trans-fatty acids.

Wheat: You should avoided or at least limited all gluten and wheat products in the beginning phase of this program. If you finished that phase and seem to tolerate wheat and do not suffer with high insulin challenges, and are not a protein nutritional type, then you may reintroduce organic whole wheat products into your diet.

Lesson 3: Start using Nutritional Typing.

The purpose of the intermediate plan is to normalize your metabolic biochemistry, and that involves addressing your specific nutritional needs in a unique and comprehensive way. You’ll correct your imbalances with the small number of regulatory mechanisms that manage the vast number of biochemical reactions taking place in your body.

Nutritional typing is a dynamic process that does far more than simply assign you to a broad, fixed category that roughly approximates your nutritional needs. It is a much more precise yet flexible system, consisting of a series of simple self-tests that enable you to tailor your diet with accuracy; that is, you’ll know what foods are good for yournutritional type — you won’t have to guess and see!

Since Nutritional Typing is not a static system, the process allows you to adjust your diet if your metabolism shifts. It is important to realize that your nutritional type isn’t carved in stone.

Lesson 4: Retrain your body’s response to sweets.

If you are overweight, you have likely trained your hormone system to respond very aggressively to sweets. As soon as anything sweet hits your mouth your body will instantly release insulin. This occurs even when it does not need it, such as when you are using low calorie sweeteners. Pavlov proved this principle over 100 years ago.

He began to feed his dogs in association with the ringing of a bell. After a certain time the dogs were shown to salivate profusely in association with the ringing bell even when the actual sight or smell of food was not present. Pavlov regarded this salivation as being a conditioned reflex and designated the process by which the dogs had picked up this reflex classical conditioning.

You have also experienced this conditioning. You’ve developed a link between your taste buds and your brain that will cause your body to produce insulin the moment you eat anything sweet, even if it is not grains or sugar. This will sabotage your efforts to lose weight successfully, as you will keep on having cravings for sugar and grains.

Refined sugar can also cause a physical addiction, as it has been found to be far more addictive than cocaine — one of the most addictive and harmful substances currently known. Researchers speculate that the sweet receptors (two protein receptors located on your tongue), which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to modern times’ high-sugar consumption.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by a sugar-rich diet generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, and thus lead to a very real addiction.

So what can you do?

It’s a matter of re-educating your taste buds, and breaking the cycle of addiction. To do this, it is essential to AVOID ALL sweets for a few weeks.Once you clean your palate of sugar and simple carbs, foods will taste better than ever. You can use this as an opportunity to explore the use of spices and organic foods, as they typically taste much better after you modify your body’s response to sugar.

Energy psychology tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be enormously helpful in kicking the sugar habit if you find your cravings are hard to resist. 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

Intermediate Plan: Fats

Since you’ve made many of the essential changes for fat consumption in the beginner phase, the intermediate phase instructions are quite simple:

As I’ve said in the carbohydrate section for this level, never eat commercially prepared French-fries. They are one of the most toxic foods you could eat. Most contain 100 percent trans fatty acids.

Eliminate margarines, as they are another source of trans fatty acids.

You should regularly be consuming krill oil regularly by now, as it is one of the few and best sources of omega-3 fatty acids that most people are sorely lacking in their diet but are essential to optimal health.

Olive oil is not only acceptable but highly recommended as it has a fat in it called squalene. This is a potent antioxidant and will protect the fish oil from going rancid (becoming oxidized) once it is in your body.

Avocados, walnuts, egg yolks, coconut oil and butter are additional sources of acceptable fats.

Please Note: If you are a “Carbohydrate Nutritional Type,” you will need about 15 percent of your diet as fat. If you are a “Protein Nutritional Type,” you may need up to 50 percent of your diet as fat. This is why it will be important to understand what metabolic type you are.

If you have not been nutritionally typed then I highly recommend you start the process as soon as possible.

Here is a very general guideline to follow in the meantime, though: the more you enjoy steak and feel good with it, the greater the percentage of fat you will need in your diet. If you feel wonderful as a vegetarian and comfortable with very little meat, then you will likely need much closer to only 15 percent of fat in your diet.

Intermediate Plan: Beverages

Lesson 1: It’s time to move up to a reverse osmosis water filtration system!

Unlike most carbon filter systems, reverse osmosis will actually remove the fluoride that most U.S. municipalities add to their water. Reverse osmosis will remove virtually all contaminants from the water, including fluoride, especially when combined with a pre- and post-carbon filtration system.

We have been working on a recommendation for a water filter for nearly five years now and hope to offer one in the fall of 2008.

Try not to purchase the one-gallon cloudy plastic (PVC) containers from your grocery store as they transfer far too many chemicals into the water. The five-gallon containers and the clear bottles (polyethylene) are a much better plastic and will not give your water that awful plastic taste.

Lesson 2: Limit chemical exposure from your shower water.

Most people do not recognize that their shower is a significant source of chlorine exposure, but contaminants in your shower water get absorbed through your skin. This is just as hazardous to your health as ingesting through your skin. This is just as hazardous to your health as ingesting them, and sometimes even worse. It is best to put a filter on your showerhead. If you take a bath, fill it up from the shower. A filter is probably not necessary if you obtain your water from a well. Remember, you should have a reverse osmosis system for your drinking water if you have a water softener.

Lesson 3: Avoid flouride.

Did you know that nearly all of Europe used to add fluoride to their water supply, but after studying the issue more carefully, most of them decided to remove it?

Fluoridating drinking water for dental health is a swindle of massive proportions. Starting it off with a simple truth: that a natural form of fluoride (organic calcium phosphate) is part of the composition of your teeth, they were able to convince everyone that drinking toxic chemical fluoride compounds - the waste materials from fluoride-polluting industries - would be good for your teeth.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Fluoride is in fact a systemic POISON that:

inactivates 62 different enzymes
increases lead absorption
increases the aging process
increases the incidence of cancer and tumor growth
disrupts your immune system
lowers thyroid function
causes genetic damage
interrupts DNA repair-enzyme activity
increases arthritis
reduces IQ, and impairs learning and memory processes

Other sources of fluoride that you want to limit or eliminate to reduce your exposure include:

Fluorophenyl-containing pharmaceutical drugs
Toothpaste and mouthwash
Food and beverages processed with fluoridated water
Mechanically de-boned meat
Pesticide residue on food
Soy baby formulas
Instant tea

Lesson 4: Begin to eliminate all beverages but pure water.

In terms of beverages other than water, I recommend starting to cut down and eliminate them. You should already have eliminated all types of soft drinks in the beginning phase, but if you were not completely successful, please make an effort to eliminate them at this point. In the advanced phase, the only recommended beverages is water, and breast milk for infants. To make it easier, choose one beverage to eliminate and focus on that for a month before proceeding to the next.

Further Reading:

Intermediate Plan: Supplements

Lesson 1: Increase the good bacteria in your diet.

Maintaining a healthy gut flora and following sound dietary principles are the best ways, I’ve found, to promote optimal health. The reason for this is because 80 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, and a robust, well-functioning immune system is your number one defense system against all disease.

Probiotics are good bacteria; the essential inhabitants of your gut that help to control the yeast and bad bacteria that also coexist in your gut. They’re also crucial for proper digestion of food and absorption of nutrients.

Active cultures are alive, and are therefore best kept refrigerated. There are literally dozens of different types of probiotics on the market and many of them simply do not work. I recommend Flora Source in my own office since it is a very effective, highly potent, multi-strain product.

It’s best to take your probiotics ONCE per day after drinking 1 glass of FILTERED water, or with some food. This reduces the acidity of your stomach and allows the powder to be more effective.

Lesson 2: You can use supplements to help relieve irregular bowel movements.

Bowel movements aren’t necessarily the most pleasant things to think about, but it’s healthy to have two to three bowel movements a day. Ideally, they should be effortless, odorless and not sink to the bottom of yourtoilet bowl.

Flaxseeds: My first choice would be organic psyllium. You can alsouse freshly ground organic flaxseeds. You can take one to six tablespoons per day. Psyllium and flax have water-soluble fibers ), which are very effective at relieving constipation. Additionally, flax is a food and a source of beneficial omega-3 fats.
Magnesium: This can be helpful to temporarily restore a healthy frequency of bowel movements. Start your dose at one 500 mg tablet or capsule twice a day. Malate is the preferred form, but glycinate and citrate also work quite nicely. You can increase this to four tablets twice a day (two grams) if necessary. You can go up to eight per day in divided doses for severe cases. Diarrhea is the only side effect of magnesium, and you can easily reduce the dose if this occurs.

It’s important not to use magnesium on a long-term basis, as it will cause imbalances in the calcium/magnesium ratio in your body. If the magnesium does not work, you can use Aloe Vera capsules instead.

Lesson 3: Use vitamin E to maximize the benefits of fish oil and vitamin C to help with stress or the effects of heavy exercise.

You may want to consider taking vitamin E (400 units a day) as this will help protect the omega-3 oils from being oxidized once you consume them. You might want to also consider vitamin C, especially around times of heavy exercise or stress.

Please beware that not all vitamin E is equal. Many do not know that the term “vitamin E” actually refers to a family of at least eight fat-soluble antioxidant compounds, divided into two groups of molecules: tocopherols (which are considered the “true” vitamin E) and tocotrienols. Each of the tocopherol and tocotrienol subfamilies contains four different forms: Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma-, and Delta-. Each one of these subgroups has its own unique biological effects.

Ideally, vitamin E should be consumed in the broader family of mixed natural tocopherols and tocotrienols, (also referred to as full-spectrum vitamin E) to get the maximum benefits. Unfortunately, the vitamin E most often referred to and sold in most stores is a synthetic form of the vitamin, which really should NOT be used if you want to reap any of its health benefits.

You can tell what you’re buying by carefully reading the label. 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.

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.

If you are consuming one pound of vegetables for every 50 pounds of body weight, you will receive a large variety of antioxidants from the vegetables so it’s not as important to take a vitamin E supplement. If you are already taking our Whole Foods with minerals supplement, vitamin E is already included so there is no need to take an additional supplement.

You might want to also consider vitamin C, especially around times of heavy exercise or stress. When using vitamin C, it is important to remember that it is a water-soluble vitamin and ideally should be taken at least three times a day. If you are highly sensitive to vitamin C you may experience diarrhea. If that happens, simply lower your dosage.

Intermediate Plan: Lifestyle Changes

Lesson 1: Practice techniques, such as prayer, meditation or 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.

EFT is routinely used in my practice and I highly recommend it for your optimal 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:

Lesson 2: Take your time and chew your food.

It’s very important to chew your food properly. Try to chew your food to a liquid form and then swallow it. This will predigest your food with the enzymes in your saliva. It will also provide neurological stimulation of your stomach and pancreas to increase their acid and digestive enzyme production.

Avoid chewing gum for this same reason. Chewing gum will fool your body to secrete valuable digestive juices unnecessarily. This will worsen your digestion and your health. It’s also helpful not to talk while you are chewing your food as this interferes with optimal digestion.

Lesson 3: Avoid drinking too much water during your meals.

Avoid drinking fluids with your meals if possible, as this will dilute the gastric digestive contents and make the food more difficult to digest. A few sips of water during the meal is fine.

Lesson 4: Keep your kitchen clean — the non-toxic way.

A food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has worked out the recipe for a healthy sanitizing solution. All you need is three percent hydrogen peroxide, the same strength available at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds, plain white or apple cider vinegar, and a pair of brand new spray bottles like the kind you use to dampen laundry before ironing.

You will want to review my article on the six most contaminated surfaces in your home and consider using this solution on those surfaces

Clean your veggies: If you’re cleaning vegetables or fruit, spritz them well with both the vinegar and the hydrogen peroxide, then rinse them off under running water. It doesn’t matter which you use first — you can spray with the vinegar then the hydrogen peroxide, or with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar. You won’t get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, and neither is toxic to you if a small amount remains on the produce. Rinsing with HOT water has been shown to be far more effective at removing pesticides compared to cold water.
Get rid of e.coli bacteria: The paired sprays work exceptionally well for sanitizing counters and other food preparation surfaces including wood cutting boards. In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all salmonella, shigella, and e. coli bacteria on heavily-contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion. This spray combination is more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.
Clean your kitchen on a regular basis: Be sure to regularly clean your kitchen countertops, sink drains, refrigerator handles and faucet handles. This should also be done immediately after you handle any raw meat.
Clean your sponges and dishcloths: Your kitchen sponge is likely one of the most contaminated objects in your kitchen. Fortunately it turns out that placing that sponge in the microwave for two minutes is likely enough to kill 99 percent of the bacteria hidden in the sponge.

Zapping sponges in the microwave every other day will decontaminate them better than putting them in the dishwasher, which is the strategy I had been previously using. I’ve moved into a new home where the previous owners had installed a built in microwave. I had planned on removing it but have kept it now that I found a suitable use for it.

If you do use your microwave for this purpose PLEASE be careful to make sure the sponge is wet. If you put it dry into the microwave you might cause a fire and smoke up your house. Additionally the oven works by causing the water in the sponge to turn to hot steam which is what kills the bacteria.

Lesson 5: Learn about the health dangers of cell phones, wireless internet and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that the dangers of cell phones, wireless internet and other sources of electromagnetic fields (EMF) are real, and the chances that we’re looking at a major public health problem are overwhelming.

To date, several countries including France, Germany and India have issued recommendations to limit your exposure to electromagnetic fields. Toronto’s Department of Public Health is also advising teenagers and young children to limit their use of cell phones to avoid potential health risks.

There are many simple precautions that you can take to reduce your exposure to information-carrying radio waves and the electromagnetic radiation emitted from your cell phone - both of which are hazardous to your health. I highly recommend you review the Further Reading links below to educate yourself on this very important topic, but here are just a few recommendations you should consider implementing in this intermediate level:

Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On: Instead of carrying your phone on your hip or in a pocket, keep it in your purse or briefcase. Also do not keep or let your cell phone charge on your night stand. When using your cell phone, use the speaker function rather than holding the phone to your ear.
Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone OFF more often. As long as your cell phone is on, it emits intermittent radiation, regardless of whether a call is being made or not. Try to reserve your cell phone for emergencies, and use a land line for most calls at home and at work. Also try to use your cell phone only where reception is good, because the weaker the reception, the more radiation your phone emits.
Reduce Your Use of Other Wireless Devices: You would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you really need to use them every single time. If you must use a portable home phone, use an older version that operates at 900 MHz. They are no safer during calls, but at least they do not broadcast constantly, even when no call is being made.
Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will certainly allow you to keep the cell phone farther away from your body. However, unless a wired headset is well-shielded — and most of them are not — the wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient information carrying radio waves, and transmitting radiation directly to your brain.
The safest kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the information to your head as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all the way up to your head.

Further Reading:

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