Bone Health

95% of all Americans over the age of 65 have some form of arthritis or joint inflammation.. Osteoporosis is also an epidemic for the over 65. The most important factor in treating arthritis, rheumatism, bursitis, weak bones, or other inflammatory bone and joint conditions is eating well. Diet is the real cure for bone and joint conditions. This includes tooth and gum disease, and other bone conditions. Diet is everything. The ideal diet is based on whole grains, beans, most green and yellow vegetables, local fruits, soups, salads, and seafood (if you're not a vegetarian). Americans eat twice the calories they need, eight times the fat they need, twice the protein they need, and half the fiber they need. We are overfed and undernourished. They also eat 160 pounds of sugars, and only 1% whole grains. This is the main cause of joint inflammation. The second most important factor is staying away from medical doctors and their Miracle Drugs. Most people resort to a prescription drug for their problem. Every year a new Miracle Drug is trotted out with new empty promises. Every time this fails to live up to the hype, and a new Miracle Drug is trotted out. You end up worse by taking these unnatural, toxic, synthetic poisons. You cannot poison your way to health. You can never get well by trying to cover up the symptoms and ignore the causes. Read my book Macrobiotics for Everyone to learn more.

All of us have unknown food allergies. Read the article Food Allergies. Food allergy is a major cause of all inflammation, not just joint inflammation. "Leaky gut syndrome" is the best explanation of food allergy. Currently there are no means of accurately diagnosing food allergies, no matter what you have heard. All the blood tests are inaccurate, and your author has tried them personally. All the allergy testing equipment is equally worthless. Muscle testing (kinesiology), for example, is a joke. Read Good Digestion. 90% of our immunity comes from our digestive system. Take a good brand of refrigerated acidophilus with 6 billion units once or twice daily. Take 750-1,500 mg of FOS (fructooligosaccharides) to feed your good intestinal bacteria. Take a 1-2 g of glutamine in the morning, and another 1-2 g in the evening for stronger intestines. Strong digestion is the cure for food allergies. Read the article Colon Health as well

Whole grains are very rarely allergenic, despite the lunacy about "corn and wheat allergies". Read Wheat Baloney and Gluten Free Insanity articles. Beans are very rarely allergenic, and that includes soybeans. Most all green and yellow non-tropical vegetables are not allergenic. You should, however, avoid 1) nightshade vegetables (which contain toxic solanine) including potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, and 2) oxylate vegetables such as Swiss chard and spinach. Many people have gotten dramatic relief from arthritis by simply removing nightshades from their diet (American Medical News, January 25, 1999). Fruit of all kinds may be allergenic due to their high sugar content. Read Fruit Has Almost No Nutrition. Allergy to all simple sugars is usually due to the epidemic of Candida yeast syndrome which feeds on these sugars. Sugar is sugar is sugar. Read the article Sugar is Sugar. Fruit juice has as much sugar as a Coke or Pepsi. Americans now eat an amazing 160 pounds of various sweeteners a year. Artificial sugars like Sucralose are far worse than natural ones. Tropical foods and tropical fruits, such as all citrus, mangos, bananas, and avocados, can be very allergenic for European people, especially in temperate climates. Red meat is generally not allergenic, but is full of saturated fat and cholesterol with no fiber whatsoever. A few people are allergic to fish and seafood, but should know this by their reaction to it. Seafood should be limited to 10% of your diet if you include it. Poultry and eggs are two of the top ten allergenic foods known, and should be avoided. Milk and dairy products are THE most allergenic food known, due to the lactose and casein con-tent. All adults of all races are lactose intolerant, as they lack the enzyme lactase. Non-dairy milk and meltable cheeses are readily available at chain super-markets now. The idea of "organic" dairy products is laughable.

Most of the diet books are ridiculous, and a guaranteed road to bad health and early death. The few exceptions include, Susan Powter, Terry Shintani, Michio Kushi, Dean Ornish, George Ohsawa, and Robert Pritikin. Please read Macrobiotics for Everyone. Your basic food should be whole grains such as brown rice, whole grain breads and pastas, oatmeal, barley, buckwheat, corn, wheat, and others. Beans and legumes of all kinds are a tasty and nuritious staple. Green and yellow vegetables, (except for nightshades, and ones high in oxalic acid) are good. Local (not tropical) fruits can be eaten in moderation (i.e. 10%) by most people. Never eat refined foods, chemicalized foods, preserved foods, or anything with hydrogenated oils. Your fat intake should only be 10% to 20% of your caloric intake, and from vegetable sources basically. No more than 20% fat. Isn't it ironic that poor people, in Third World countries, have far less arthritis and bone disease than the people in the richest top ten countries?  When these people come to affluent countries, and adopt the Western diet, they suffer from the same rates of disease we do. We have the most sophisticated medical care in the world, yet the highest rates of most all diseases. That's because we cover up the symptoms, and ignore the causes. Yes, poor people in Third World countries actually have less bone and joint disease than we do.

Our obesity epidemic is a critical factor here in America- the fattest country in the world. You are never going to be free from disease, pain, and suffering until you normalize your weight. You can do this by MAKING BETTER FOOD CHOICES, yet still eating all you want. You simply cannot go hungry, as the hunger instinct is stronger than our sexual desires by far. Eat whole natural foods, and you can eat all you want and stay slim and healthy all your life. The most powerful healing method known is fasting. You should fast one day a week from dinner to dinner on water, by simply skipping breakfast and lunch on a given day. You can join us for our international monthly Young Again two day fast. See Fast With Us? in the library. Giving your body a regular rest allows the natural healing power to work, and toxins to be expelled. You can also eat fewer calories by just making better food choices, rather than trying to go hungry. You don't have to eat less food, just better food. Calorie restriction is the most effective and proven way known to science for extending life. Read Roy Walford's The 120 Year Diet and Maximum Lifespan.

What supplements can you take? Read the supplements chapter in Macrobiotics for Everyone. Read my booklet The Supplements You Need. Read the article Serious Supplement Program. Supplements are very powerful if you are eating healthy foods, but they will never compensate for a poor diet. There are 18 proven, endogenous, permanent supplements for people over 40. There are only 8 supplements for people under 40 (read Supplements for Younger People article.) Flax oil is a great way to deal with inflammation. Read Flax Oil is Amazing. Flax oil is the best source of omega-3s in the world, and better than fish oil for many reasons. Buy and keep it refrigerated. Take 1-2 g daily. Glucosamine 500 to 1,000 mg a day is vital of course. Vitamins are proven effective in reducing inflammation. Take All Your Vitamins® along with an extra 200 units of natural mixed vitamin E, and not the cheap single tocopherol. Take an extra 400-800 IU of vitamin D3, unless you are out in the sun a lot. Vitamin D is simply not found in food in meaningful amounts. Vitamin D deficiency is pandemic. Read Vitamin D is Amazing.

We are all mineral deficient. Minerals are critical here. The only real mineral formula in the world is All Your Minerals® with 17 elements in the amount you need. That's right- the only one in the world. All minerals work together as a team in concert, and you need all of them together to get the real benefits. Your bones and joints MUST get the minerals they need in the biological amounts required to be strong and healthy. Bone and joint health depends on minerals. We are all mineral deficient. Minerals are vital to bone and joint health. Read my booklet The Minerals You Need.

Do not take chondroitin. That's right- chondroitin is useless, no matter how much advertising you've seen. Chondroitin cannot be absorbed by the intestines. You would have  to inject pharmaceutical grade chondroitin into the joints. Chondroitin is worthless, despite the paid advertisements in medical journals that pass as "clinical studies". Oral S.O.D. is useless and, again, no doctors understand how to inject pharmaceutical S.O.D.  What else doesn't work? MSM  (methysulfonylmethane) has been around over a decade now, but there still isn't one single human study of any value. All the anecdotal stories have no meaning. CMO, or cetylmyristoleate, has been around even longer, but still has no science behind it either. Collagen is inexpensive and useful if you want to use it.

Let's talk about hormones. Read the Balance Your Hormones article. Your endocrine balance is vital to every aspect of your health. Doctors, naturopaths, holistic, and even endocrinologists know almost nothing about natural hormone balance. You can test the levels of most your hormones at home with inexpensive saliva testing kits for $35 each. You can also get blood tests on the Internet without a doctor. First, test your DHEA and testosterone (yes, women, too). If they are low raise them to a youthful level. If they are too high, only diet and lifestyle will lower them. Men should read The Natural Prostate Cure, and women should read Natural Health for Women for more information. Also read my book Testosterone Is Your Friend. Melatonin falls from the time we are teenagers, and almost disappears by the age of 70. Anyone over 40 can use this- 3 mg for men and 1.5 mg for women. Pregnenolone is the most important brain, cognition, and memory hormone, yet is almost ignored by science. If over 40, men can take 50 mg and women 25 mg. Saliva kits for melatonin can be found in 2018 if you want. You can get pregnenolone blood tests from Internet labs without a doctor. Testing melatonin and pregnenolone over the age of 40 is optional. Women should test their estradiol, estrone and estriol. Both men and women should use transdermal progesterone. You do not need to test this. Cortisol does not need to be tested. Your fasting blood sugar must be under 85. Insulin should be 4-5. You can also get an inexpensive and accurate GTT (glucose tolerance test) to see if you have insulin resistance. You want to be 20 points lower than the medically accepted level. Cholesterol about 150 and triglycerides under 100. We sell the ZRT blood spot kit for free T3 and T4. Or you can use an online lab like www.healthlabs.com. Do not be satisfied with low normal levels- you want midrange levels. Growth hormone (GH) costs $1,800 a year, and is very overrated. NONE of the oral, over the counter GH products work, despite their numerous claims.

Magnetism has been found effective with inflammation. The (cold) south pole of a magnet applied to the inflamed area for 8-12 hours a day may help you here. If you use the (hot) north pole. you will worsen your condition. Do not use this more than 12 hours a day. Do not use non-polar magnetism here. There are some very interesting books on magnetic healing and clinical studies to verify the value if done correctly. Read the Magnetic Healing article. In 2022 you can use LASER THERAPY for a variety of bone and joint conditions. You must find a 10-15W laser with 1064nm and a knowledgeable therapist to use it. Laser therapy is the future of medicine for a lot of reasons.

There is a Catch-22 with regard to exercise. You must do low impact exercise like walking or swimming so as not to injure your joints. Low impact exercise is very important here. Heat can help some people and hurt others. Cold packs can help some and hurt others. See which works for you.

DIET IS EVERYTHING. Diet and lifestyle is the real cure for arthritis or any other condition.  Read the article Seven Steps to Natural Health. Do not take any prescription drugs, or you will just get worse. You cannot take drugs while using natural means to cure your-self. These will prevent your healing, and only make you worse in the end. They are all synthetic poisons with serious side effects. You cannot poison your way to health. "Complimentary medicine" is a fraud.

95% of Americans over the age of 65 have some form of arthritis or joint inflammation problems. This is crazy! Third World countries do not have this high rate. Arthritis, rheumatism, osteoporosis, and other bone and joint conditions can take a long time to heal. It usually takes decades to develop these problems, so this can't be undone in a year or two. Also, the bone and cartilage is very slow to re-grow. Elderly people often have such advanced conditions and such poor health that they will, at best, simply stop the further progression of the deterioration. This is the longest article in the Young Again  library for good reason. Read the article Seven Steps and do all seven faithfully. Natural health is about diet and lifestyle.