I ate an orange today, including some of the skin. It has been very hot lately, so I've been drinking a lot of water flavoured with some lemons and limes. Now and then, I'll eat one of the slices. It is refreshing.
Some years ago, during a guest lecture in sports medicine, an emeritus professor in cardiovascular medicine pointed out the obvious: what is beneficial, nutritionally, for the prevention of heart disease is equally beneficial for preventing cancer, arthritis and digestive disorders. I'll extend this to most autoimmune diseases as well.
During my trip to Belgium to contest the UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships, I met a young man who was struggling with melanoma cancer that had spread to his liver. His treatment consisted of a super drug called Keytruda which costs about $150,000 per year. While it is unlikely to cure him, it is more than likely extending his life by a number of years. Other than the drug, there was no plan. He was just to take the drug and wait and see. He was uneasy about this. He wanted to do more to help himself, to put the odds more in his favour.
I offered to help him develop a self-help plan to ensure that the medical treatment has the best chance of working for him.
What I did was combine four foods (citrus peel, garlic, ginger and turmeric) that have the most robust evidence for health benefits, including having potent anticancer properties to make a nourishing health tonic.
He is drinking this tonic three times a day and I can report that he is loving it and he is feeling better, especially there is less discomfort where his liver resides in his right upper abdomen. Whether it ends up helping him to beat the cancer is almost irrelevant, although the scientific evidence is convincing that it must be doing something good for him. In the end, the main thing is that he is now actively participating in his struggle with a disease that is almost always fatal. He feels more in control of his destiny than before.
Here's your recipe for good health:
One whole organic, spray-free lemon (we want the skin, so ensure it is free of sprays such as antifungals). You can add any other kind of whole citrus as well, such as an orange, lime or mandarin (If having grapefruit be aware that it can interfere with some medications. If you are on meds, check that grapefruit is okay to take). The compounds in these skins are all beneficial for you.
2-4 garlic cloves (organic, spray-free).
A modest chunk of ginger about the size of your thumb.
A small teaspoon of turmeric powder, or fresh turmeric.
4 teaspoons of NZ Fulvic - NUCELL (FORMERLY NZ FULVIC) 500ML (fulvic acid vastly improves the absorption of nutrients as well as nourishing the gut microbiome). Please read the "About" information on the product pages to understand why I want you to add fulvic to the recipe.
If you can't stand garlic, for example, then add less to the recipe, leave it out or have it as a capsule.
Add to the blender with about 4 or 5 cups of water and blend to a liquid.
How often and for how long?
Have this once or twice twice a day on an empty tum with the last about half an hour before bed if you like. Wash these down with an additional glass of water. One lot will last two to three days then make up a fresh lot. Store it in the fridge to keep it fresh.
Do this for several days in a row then report to me about how you are feeling in terms of health, energy-wise, sore joints, bladder flow, blood pressure, angina, digestion etc - whatever is relevant to you. I appreciate your feedback because it helps me to do a better job.
After the initial twice a day loading, ease off to once a day and have a week-long break every now and then. As with all nutrition and supplementation programmes, it is the long term benefits that we are seeking as the months become years and longer.
This is not a "detoxifier", it is a combination of potent food substances that have numerous documented health benefits, that are especially potent when combined. "Detoxification", in the broadest sense, could be considered as being one of the benefits.
Protect your tooth enamel from acidic erosion
Citrus foods have many health benefits but it might erode tooth enamel. My brother, Gordon - the dentist - has asked me to write about this. He knows a thing or two about teeth.
When drinking this tonic please do the following:
Toss it down the throat and do not sip.
Follow immediately with a glass of water and swill the water about the mouth and even gargle.
Eat a piece of cheese or have a little milk afterwards. The calcium in these dairy foods will neutralise any remaining acidity and the calcium helps to remineralise the tooth enamel. I might give the teeth a quick and superficial brush with a calcium-containing toothpaste (non-fluoridated - of course!).
This advice applies to all acidic drinks and foods such as apple cider vinegar and rhubarb.
What to have over the long term once your gut is working well
Once you have had two or three lots of this tonic, this is what to do:
Keep a jug of water in the fridge.
Add half a sliced lemon to the water.
I like to add a couple of dandelion and milk thistle herbal teabags as well. These herbs assist liver detoxification processes. Healtheries make a "detox" teabag that has dandelion and milk thistle in it.
Add a dash of NZ Fulvic to the jug of water.
Drink this whenever you feel the need. I add it to my drink bottle when exercising. It is refreshing to guzzle down when hot and thirsty.
Eat a slice or two of the lemon now and then. (Soaking the slices for a day or two removes some of the bitterness).
Research your areas of interest
Please take some time to do an internet search using the following keywords:
lemon peel health benefits
garlic health benefits
ginger health benefits
turmeric health benefits
The health benefits of these are so numerous to the point of being almost overwhelming. You can narrow your search to include your health interests/condition such as:
lemon peel prostate cancer
garlic atherosclerosis
ginger inflammation
turmeric rheumatoid arthritis
Google has been accused of censoring searches about "natural health" while giving preferential treatment to pharmaceuticals, so I do not recommend that you use it for your searches. The search engine that I recommend is https://duckduckgo.com/
The most comprehensive collation of Pubmed natural health research studies is found at Greenmed.info
Here is an informative article from the good people of Greenmed:
This is the link to Greenmed's research database on lemon:
The real potency in these foods is through the combining of them and including the mix in your daily intake of a wide range of fresh, nutrient-rich foods.
You can't poison or smash a person into good health
The trend over recent decades has been to seek the "Magic Bullet" - the single big hit, one-size-fits-all solution to chronic health issues that can be patented so that it makes a lot of money for a few, although it may actually be of little or no benefit for the patient. The burgeoning burden of chronic ill-health is evidence enough that this reductionist and profit-driven approach to health and nutrition is an abject failure. Excellent health, including the resolution of chronic and sometimes "incurable" health issues comes from a holistic approach to health, nutrition and lifestyle.
The current obsession with reductionist singular solutions, usually reliant on the Big Hit pharmaceutical drug or invasive surgery, is proving to be an abject failure.
You can customise this recipe to your specific needs by completing or updating the Interclinical Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis which shows us your actual nutrient status, including the presence or otherwise of toxic elements.