Joebass1, thank you so much for sharing your story with us here.  I'm sure many of us who frequent this site would be delighted to learn your recipe/method for your berry drink.

Unlike you, I have not been able to purchase products from Dr Mercola, apart from his Total Health book (which I sadly lost when my old computer blew up last year), mostly because I am in England and very poor, and the costs are prohibitive for me.  I do, however, try to find equivalents here in the UK and also attempt to follow much of the dietary advice, with only mixed success (too addicted to some bad things).  I'm an amateur nutritionist studying to become a qualified one. Like you, I am on no medication and people tell me I look a great deal younger than I am.

I join you in the belief that living this way from an early age may well lead to a much longer lifespan and I'm trying to bring up my daughter accordingly.  She fights me some of the time, resisting many of the fresh veggies I provide, whining for Coke now and then and getting hugely embarrassed by my habit of lecturing her contemporaries on the dangers of, for instance, diet drinks.  However, she also notices how many of her friends suffer allergies, asthma, frequent illness and even frequent injuries while she herself does not. And she notices that this is particularly true of those whose mothers habitually buy many gigantic bottles of fizzy pop bursting with additives (I don't buy any at all), cheap cakes, cookies and snacks containing masses of sugar, preservatives and hydrogenated fats, crisps (chips) and junk ready meals.  

Thanks Uncle Russ!

Russ,  I had no idea that Stevia is a poison as well.  i alway's thought that that was the one sweetner that we could use and it would not be harmful to us.  Can you please provide more information on the dangers of Stevia?  I sure would appreciate it.  I do not consume it myself but have suggested it to other's as a "safe" alternative to aspartame/nutrasweet. I Have been a raw foodist since October of 2007 and when I do use a sweetner to make my cocao nut balls, I use raw organic agave nectar.  

We don't drink diet drinks or sweetened drinks but we do use Splenda as my husband is diabetic.  He has done well on his diet and has a log of  his blood sugar, blood pressure and weight.  He has had triple bypass surgery in 1978 and a rebypass of one artery in 1984 due to his not quitting smoking.  Three years ago he developed diabetes but has done very well...he takes vitamins and Omega 3 oils.

We do not eat a lot of red meat but I try to buy the kind with no hormones, etc...Groceries stores now carry this meat.

If we ate like Dr Mercola suggests, it would cost a fortune and we would have to live in a BUBBLE but we do the best we can; we are both almost 78 yrs. old. I get Traditional Chinese Accupuncture 3 x a week and also go to a Kinesiologist. I have an autoimmune disorder called CIDP...since 1990 and chose my own form of treatment in 1993 after having had high doses of prednisone, the medicine of choice at that time.  I MUST have some red meat now and then.  Nothing is safe in this world it seems, everything is going to kill us or give us a disease.  What a world!!!

Nell McDiffett, Kansas

Hi Lynn M:  Real Stevia, an "herb that is sweeter than sugar," is completely safe and a much better sugar substitute choice than aspartame, sucralose, or the others. Please see below for links to excellent and informative sites on stevia. Russ's comment is against fake and chemically created stevia rather than natural stevia.

www.healthy.net/.../article.asp

http://www.stevia.com/

http://www.stevia.net/

Russ,

I have read your negative comments about Agave Nectar in other posts.  I have attempted to do research on the internet about Agave, but can only find positive information.  Can you please post some sources for all this negative information.  I would really like to research it more for myself, as you have definately put the seed of doubt in my mind.  I sent the Agave good or bad question in to Dr. Mercola about 6 months ago, but never got a reply and I can't find any information on his site, other than the posts that you have made...

I'd really appreciate some sources or links...

Thanks,

Ashlie

Gussie, I am sorry to hear about your CIDP.  Eating healthily does not have to cost a fortune.  Granted, higher quality foods are often more expensive but most people, at least in the UK, somehow have this idea that a whole chicken should cost no more than GBP 2.50 (or around USD 5).  Just cut all the non-essential food items right out; they're bad for you anyway. What you eat is the most important consideration for your health and is more worthy of our hard-earned cash than most other considerations, such as new cars, cushions or clothes.  

Whilst living in a bubble might protect you from environmental toxins, Dr Mercola does not say you shouldn't eat red meat, nor is it true that everything is going to kill you. Investing in his Total Health book (as I did) is a real eye-opener, a tremendous source of recipes and ideas.  It might well help with your condition and it is cheaper than even one single accupuncture treatment or consultation with a kinesiologist, neither of which I could possibly afford.

Once upon a time with the increase inknowledge, there was an increase in life expectancy.  Yes early on grass fed cattle was the norm, whole at the same time life was much shorter.  But in this so called modern age. we have come full circle.  Life once again is begining to get shorter.

Alas the way meat is consumed, prepared and the hormones in the beef, etc, do make it dangerous. In the USA

TO GUSSIE! Stevia is a MUCH safer choice and agave nectar has a low glycemic index.

From Dr. Mercola:

"The Secret Dangers of Splenda (Sucralose), an Artificial Sweetener

As of 2005, only six human trials have been conducted on Splenda (sucralose). Of these six trials, only two of the trials were completed and published before the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. The two published trials had a grand total of 36 total human subjects.

36 people sure doesn't sound like many, but wait, it gets worse, only 23 total were actually given sucralose for testing...: the longest trial at this time had lasted only four days and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance...Following FDA approval a human toxicity trial was conducted, but lasted only three months, hardly the length of time most Splenda users plan to consume sucralose.

There is no question that sucralose starts off as a sugar molecule, it is what goes on in the factory that is concerning. Sucralose is a synthetic chemical that was originally cooked up in a laboratory. In the five step patented process of making sucralose, three chlorine molecules are added to a sucrose or sugar molecule. A sucrose molecule is a disaccharide that contains two single sugars bound together; glucose and fructose.

The chemical process to make sucralose alters the chemical composition of the sugar so much that it is somehow converted to a fructo-galactose molecule. This type of sugar molecule does not occur in nature and therefore your body does not possess the ability to properly metabolize it. As a result of this "unique" biochemical make-up, McNeil Nutritionals makes it's claim that Splenda is not digested or metabolized by the body, making it have zero calories.

If you look at the research (which is primarily extrapolated form animal studies) you will see that in fact 15% of sucralose is absorbed into your digestive system and ultimately is stored in your body.

Dr. Fox, I had a reply here that got deleted when I was banned. Now that I'm reinstated, I'll try to recapture what I said earlier.

Factory farms operate for pork just as they do for broilers. Hogs are stressed due to overcrowding, fed grain and antibiotics, and even sometimes forced to drink their own urine. I avoid supermarket pork because I have alternatives. People in rural areas like mine raise pastured hogs. I don't know how the city folks find us, but a lot of us raise a summer pig for the family and another one or two or three for friends. They thrive on people food and garden produce. They are among the cleanest animals in the world.

I did this for years, and even bred a small herd of sows for a while. I cured and smoked my own hams and bacon, rendered my own lard, made my own sausage etc. Still do. Lard from grass-fed pigs is higher in Vitamin D than anything  except cod liver oil. I don't know how you find us, but we're out here. Try your farmers market for starters....

The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 doesn't matter much when it comes to red meat. It's easy to write about a ratio of 50:1 when you're talking about something in very little amount compared to something in extremely tiny amounts. 100g of beef fat with a 50:1 ratio is still very little omega 6. This is completely different from the crappy vegetable oil with their fragile polyunsaturated fat.

So forget the grass-fed propaganda and east your corn-fed beef. It might not be as healthy, but it's still extremely healthy.

It's the hamburger bread and the soda drink that comes with the red meat that cause the problem.

Go on a steak diet and see how your sense of well-being improve after a while.

My father died at age 56 during the 1960's.  While he didn't drink diet sodas, he ate a lot of red meat --we all did living in Colorado during that period of time.  While my father died of a brain tumor the size of an ostrich egg in his brain, he also had several heart attacks during his earlier years.  While he walked (often to get away from my mother's nagging), he smoked like a chimney.  It seemed that everyone did during that period of our lives.

On the other hand, my mother who ate small portions of red meat when she ate any at all, plus usually more servings of poultry and lots of vegetables until the last 6 years of her life (because she was always watching her weight), died last year at the age of 90 of dementia.  

My mother was active doing volunteer work, but rarely exercised during her younger years. She walked very fast when she walked, but I never saw her exercise, per se. She smoked during her younger years, but most cigarettes burned out in the ashtray.

I grew up on red meat, poultry, and rarely fish; ate lots of fruit and veggies. And was active: working out and swimming competitively; hiking and climbing mountains; snow skiing and climbing for snow, and cycling in Vail to work and back. That was during my early years. At the time, I was under-weight and strong.

All changed after my husband and I moved to Louisiana, and friends with whom I grew up, would never recognize me today.  Injuries have made such exercise impossible, and my weight is a problem. But, losing weight is far easier eating vegetarian than eating meat, and I feel better and have more energy as a result of dietary changes.

Yes, foxtrotter, I have to agree with islander....I pig that is humaely treated and allowed to romp in the sunshine produces a lot of vitD in the fat tissue..especially in the back(fatback)....northern italians have always used the fat of a good pig(fatback) rendered down to cook with...I assume it helped with the vit D problem of being so high north...they do have similar digestion to us...veg scraps and corn and roots and good legumes makes a healthy pig pretty free from parasites....I get mine from a nice Amish farmer 2.5 hours away...bacon and everything..smoked but NO NITRATES....for cheaper than the store.....:)

Truth be told we as parents need to step up and say no and mean it.  Not just to our children, but to these big companies who are doing nothing more than marketing death.

This is the reason we need to destroy the idea of a career politician.  The "Dollar Chasers" in Congress, and the Senate have brought us to this low.

Is anyone really listening?

You wrote,"why do we allow the people to sell us crap"  

HONEY, I have asked that question several times.  

Well, I don't know, I guess a lot of people just DON'T KNOW and those who do, some of them think that as long as it's small amount, it's ok. I just had this type of conversation with one of my colleagues who DOES know what's in coke but he will still drink it. He was just going to drink this can of coke and I asked, how can you possibly drink that while you know what's in it?

There are all kinds of people and they will buy these products, even as they are harmful.