Perfume Rant

Before I get started, I need to disclose that in general, I have never liked perfumes or the typical air fresheners that try to cover scents by overpowering them. That being said, I can appreciate a nice smell, especially natural ones. But too much makes it awful, especially artificial smells. That's the main reason I hate perfume. It's almost always too much.

When you smell the same thing for a long period of time, you get used to it and don't smell it any more. So here's a tip if you wear perfume. If you can smell it on yourself, you have way too much on.

Perfume is supposed to make you smell good. When you're wearing it, who are you trying to impress? No, seriously, that's something to think about. Because if you wear it to work and your spouse is not there, why? It's supposed to be a subtle scent for when you two get close. You catch a faint whiff of something nice and want to get closer. That's how it's supposed to work.

Why do you wear perfume? I hope it isn't to cover body odor. The reason you wear it is to hopefully have people think well of you by observing that you smell nice. Newsflash: you may be turning more people off than on. The people who can't smell because their nostrils are already chemically burned out may think you smell nice. But the rest of us around you are left gagging, trying to breathe. No, we don't think you smell nice. You stink.

There is perfume in so many products, and most of us don't even give it a second thought. Even stores are using scent to identify their name brand (read this). But this is a problem for those of us who are more chemically sensitive.

There's perfume in soap, household cleaners, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, car wax, fabric softener, new cars (yes, it's perfume), shaving cream, antiperspirant, toothpaste, food, diaper wipes, and urinal cakes. I'd like to breathe at the same time I pee, thank you. Can we please get rid of those awful urinal air fresheners? They already said "no" at work, but I thought I'd just mention it here again.

Did you notice I mentioned there's added fragrance in food? This company has 600 food grade scents available. Really? We can't be happy with the natural delicious smells of food?

Most people who wear perfume are oblivious to the subtle signs that they're wearing, well, not just too much, but way too much. Let me help you out with this list.

If people hesitate to get too close, you may be wearing too much perfume.

If people turn away from you mid-conversation and start walking away, you may be wearing way too much perfume. 

If people avoid any kind of physical contact with you for fear of contamination, you may be wearing way too much perfume.

If I can smell it in the hallway you walked down ten minutes ago, you're wearing way too much perfume.
If I find it hard to breathe when I'm following you, you're wearing way too much perfume.

If I can follow you by smell, you're wearing way too much perfume.

If you have to wear a no smoking sign because your perfume may catch fire, you're wearing way too much perfume.

If you've ever seen a little St. Elmo's fire around your body after getting a static shock, you're wearing way too much perfume.

If the EPA has declared your bathroom a super-fund site, you may be wearing way too much perfume.

Ok, maybe the last three are exaggerations, but seriously, if I can tell where you've been, you're wearing way too much perfume. Speaking of where you've been, have you ever smelled your hands after pushing a cart through Wal-Mart? That's the mixture of the previous shoppers' perfumes. Nasty.

Rant over. Now go try some unscented products for a change. We chemically sensitive types may not think to thank you, but at least we won't curse you for gagging us.

Muscle and Joint Formula

I'm publishing my muscle and joint formula so that you can enjoy its benefits. Since I'm not selling it, it doesn't fall under the censorship of the FDA. That means I can say that in my experience, it relieves pain. I'm exercising my first amendment right to say this.

Get an empty 5 ml roll-on bottle, like this.

Here's the list of oils and how many drops of each to add to the bottle.

basil 10
birch 5
cinnamon 6
cypress 10
eucalyptus 4
geranium 10
helichrysum 2
lavender 4
lemongrass 10
lime 10
marjoram 10
rosemary 10
vetiver 1
white fir 10
wintergreen 5

Some other oils that also may be helpful if you want to make your own formula.
ginger
nutmeg
patchouli

Apply topically to the skin. Gently rub it in. There's no need to massage it in, or work it in.
 
A word of caution when using essential oils. Don't use on numb areas. Don't use on parts that have low circulation, such as feet on a diabetic person.

If you get it on a sensitive area and it starts to have a burning sensation, apply and rub in some coconut oil, or olive oil, (or any cooking oil you have in your pantry) to dilute the essential oils.

Review of Nike Free 5.0 iD Men's Running Shoe

Nike Free 5.0 iD Men's Running Shoe Review
STYLE # / COLOR #: 653713-991
SIZE: 10
COLOR: Multi-Color/Multi-Color
YEAR: 2014

My feet are flat and narrow. If you look at my wet footprint, you see the whole foot. So anything I say about fit only applies to people that have the same weirdness that my foot is. Along with the flat feet, I also pronate.

Day 1: Wednesday, October 22, 2014
When I first put them on, I thought "I would not have bought these at the store, had I tried them on first." It seems that the back of my heel sinks in too far, putting more pressure on the front of my heel. Without tightening the laces much at all, the laces seemed tight. There's a little too much room around my toes. Even the picture of my order below looks like the toe area is a little too roomy.

Computer generated image of Nike Free 5.0 iD, customized on nike.com

I spent the extra money to customize these shoes because I've always liked the way Nikes fit and feel, but I really don't like their color schemes. The super-bright colors, and obnoxious fluorescent highlights draw too much attention to my feet. I don't want to have to say "hey, my face is up here. You can look at me when we're talking, not my shoes".

The colors available on nike.com are still mostly obnoxious, with no earth tones, so I went with a gray/black look.

Here's a picture of the actual product. Since I ordered mine, they have changed the pattern for the base color, so you can't order your shoes to look exactly like these any more. The deep royal blue is actually much darker than it appears online, and without a hint of purple in it.

After wearing them the first few hours, they were still comfortable, and the unevenness I felt in the heel wasn't bothering me even though I could still notice it. I went for a short jog, and they felt good. The sole felt grippy on the concrete. My feet felt stable while jogging in these shoes.

The tongue is surprisingly thin. The top part feels like thin suede leather, but I'm pretty sure it's synthetic. The flywires hold the laces firmly, so you can't get more than the first loop of laces tight by just pulling on the ends.

Taking out the insert, I saw that they added some color for me on the threads that hold the top to the sole. But I had no idea why there was a hole in the center of each heel.

Right shoe, shown with insert removed

Left shoe, shown with insert removed

Day 2: Thursday October 23, 2014
After I put these on this morning, my left heel felt like it was in a hole again. The right heel felt fine. I'm beginning to think there's a manufacturing defect in the left sole. Or my foot is misshapen. (See my disclaimer at the top of this post.)

I had to loosen the laces again, and then they weren't so tight. I'm used to tightening laces when I put shoes on. With these, I need to just tie the laces without tightening them. Most shoes are a little too wide for me. These seem narrow in the laces, and wide in the toes. But they're shaped more like a real foot than any of the other shoes I have ever had.

After all day in these shoes, I feel fine, so I must be related to the princess from "The Princess and the Pea".

Nike Free 5.0 iD country of origin

The sole is very flexible because it's not only soft, it also has deep slices cut into it in a hexagonal pattern. Most shoes have a layer of hard rubber on the bottom of the sole. These have small areas of hard rubber. The dark patches in this photo are the hard rubber areas. If you want to sneak up on someone, these are the shoes for you. They're quiet. I'm wondering how unevenly they're going to wear with my pronation. If they could move the hard rubber from the outside edge to the inside edge of the heel, that would work great for me.

Black areas on the sole are hard rubber

My feet sweat, even when they're cold. So at the end of the day, I pulled the insert out and it was moist. I could see moisture on the top of the sole where the insert was. Judging by how soaked the insert was, and how wet it was underneath the inserts, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to take out the inserts at the end of the day and let them dry out.

The inserts are cloth-on-foam, with an OrthoLife stamp under the arch. The other markings are OD-39, MS10, WS11.5, probably indicating size.

Sole insert, bottom side

Sorry about the lines in the photo. That's an interference pattern between my flashlight's LED flash rate and the phone's CCD scan rate.

Day 3: Friday October 23, 2014
At the end of the day, I think I'm getting used to these shoes. I'm liking them more. I wouldn't recommend a flat-footed person buy them without trying them on though. Maybe the Free 3.0 would be better if you're looking for a thinner, minimal shoe. Or the LunarGlide 6 would be a good choice for stability for flat feet. But for our arched brethren, I think these shoes would be awesomely comfortable.

One thing I really like is how I can take corners running at high speed and the shoe is still stable without having to tighten up the laces. Part of the stability comes from the sole being thin. For an opposite example, think high heels, the paragon of instability. Like a low-to-the-ground sports car, these shoes corner well. I like the light weight. There's just enough shoe there to do everything a running shoe needs to.

Day 365: October 21, 2015
After about a year of daily use, these shoes are about worn out. The insoles got holes in them, so I replaced them about a month ago. The soles are wearing down. I put them through the washing machine a couple times during the year. The mesh has one hole in it. But no seams are separating, and the glue is still holding them together. If they fit you and are comfortable, I'd recommend them. Personally, I'll try something different next time that fits my oddly shaped feet better.

Truth Censored

If natural medicines are so safe and effective, why don’t we already know about them and use them?

Because of the rule of the game. Here is the rule of western medicine:

A product cannot be sold with any claims to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease without FDA approval, even if there are scientific studies supporting such claims. Any such claim makes the product an illegal (unapproved) drug, such as cherries sold with a reference to a scientific study showing they reduce inflammation. Because of the obvious stupidity of this law, the FDA has granted that certain products may use certain approved phrases, such as “heart healthy”. Here’s an example from their website:

Labeling that links a specific food to a statement such as "Heart Healthy" contains both the substance element (reference to a specific food) and the disease-condition element (implied reduction in risk of heart disease) of a health claim. Health claims may be used on the label or labeling of a food only if claims about the nutrient-disease relationship involved have been authorized by FDA in a regulation.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm053455.htm

Why don’t supplement manufacturers get their products approved by the FDA to make such claims? 

Because it costs about a billion dollars to get a drug approved with the FDA. Then anyone can sell the supplement with the claim because natural substances are not patentable. Why would a company waste a billion dollars so their competition could benefit?

Actually, I think the question we should ask is why is western medicine so anti-natural medicine? Part of the answer may be greed. I think the industry leaders would rather create a solution that requires a lifetime of dependency than heal a patient and lose a customer. 

Because of rule #1 in the above list, the FDA is actively involved in suppressing knowledge of natural cures. 

Drugs heal. Poisons harm. Right?

Consider the difference between using nutrition to heal, and drugs. I did some research to find out how most drugs work. Most drugs work by inhibiting a certain enzyme reaction in the body. The dose is set to regulate how much of the reaction to inhibit. Compare the mechanism of how drugs work to how poisons work. I also researched how poisons work. They work by inhibiting a certain enzyme reaction in the body. Did you catch the difference between how drugs and poisons work? Drugs use a set dosage to limit how much of the enzyme reaction is inhibited. Inhibiting all of the enzyme reaction may result in death, depending on what enzyme it is. 

Now, healing by nutrition takes a different approach. While drugs interfere with the body's chemistry, nutrition supports it. When someone is deficient in a nutrient, just getting that nutrient can heal them. Yes, even in America, we have people that are nutritionally deficient. It's not because of a lack of calories. There are plenty of calories in the standard American diet. But there is a definite lack of nutrients in the standard American diet. 

I like to use the analogy of nutrition to building a house. You can give the workers a dumpster full of scrap (junk food) and they will work with what they have, but the house isn't going to be what you call a quality build. You can give them MDF (an analogy to processed food), or real wood. A variety of building materials are needed.

Aren't patent medicines safe and more effective than natural remedies because they have been studied with clinical trials that prove their safety and effectiveness?

Because of the enormous cost to get a drug approved, it limits the kind of drugs investigated for marketing to artificial (man-made) substances. Natural substances are studied, but only with the goal to isolate an effective compound that can be made synthetically. The studies of natural substances by pharmaceutical corporations are generally not published. The failed clinical trial results are also generally not published. 

The so-called safety of a drug has a broad definition. Running across a freeway can be safe if you wait for a break in the cars. The side-effect list is necessary to read because these are the symptoms that happened to people during clinical trials. They may try to play games with the statistics, but I wonder why my son gets every side-effect listed on a drug. I don't think the side-effects are as rare as they claim. 

Then there's the concept of active placebo. This basically invalidates every study in which one was used. An active placebo is designed to create side-effects. I think that invalidates the definition of placebo. I encourage you to research this topic.

Effectiveness is also stretched. If you can show a statistical improvement, compared to placebo, then the drug is considered effective. The problem with this approach is that you can design an experiment where you roll dice ten times with your left hand vs. ten times with your right hand. The hand that has a higher average is considered more effective. If you run enough trials, you are bound to get the results you want. That's why recent studies have shown than anti-depressants are no more effective than a placebo, except in cases of very severe depression. The most effective treatment for depression doesn't make money because it's not a patented formula or a trade secret, so it's not prescribed. It's exercise and proper nutrition. 

What's better?

There are studies on using natural substances and nutrition for healing. They are not marketed because there's no money to be made. You need to do your own research to find them. Using food as medicine sounds ineffective to the lay person. Is this attitude because of marketing tactics? I contend that simply using proper nutrition is much more safe and effective (in the vast majority of cases) than drugs. But no drug can approach the safety of using food as medicine. I wonder if people knew the truth about modern medicine, would they consider that a drug is a poison? Would they choose poisons as their first method of treatment, rather than looking for what nutrient is missing in their diet? Rather than suppressing symptoms with poisons, consider healing the cause with nutrition.

About Cake

Here's more of the secret to lasting weight loss.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

What I mean by that is that you need to make a permanent change in what you eat so that you have permanent weight loss. You can't have everything you want. If you could, you may just self-destruct. (See Hollywood.)

I just read a story about a couple that has been struggling with weight loss for many years. The husband was up to 500 pounds. How did he get that heavy? He ate out for all his meals. That was his biggest mistake. You can't be healthy on a restaurant and fast food diet. There is MSG everywhere in the fast food and restaurant industry. MSG causes obesity. The food also has too many calories for the amount of nutrition. When you're starved for nutrition, It's going to be pretty difficult to control your hunger. 

So, this guy lost weight, then gained it back, up and down for years because he was using the wrong method. He counted calories. His wife got a gastric bypass. I'd never recommend getting that done. The ones that are successful long term are the ones that permanently change their diet. If you're trying to justify a gastric bypass as the motivation, or a boost, or a reason to switch to a healthy diet, you're doing it for the wrong reason because a gastric bypass doesn't make you eat healthy foods. Gastric surgery isn't a magic bullet. 

Health and proper weight is not about portion control or the number of calories consumed per day. Although this gentleman is a great example of losing weight this way. But he also showed that this diet takes much more work than choosing healthy foods. In fact, the healthier you eat, the more volume it takes to get the calories you need. Now this isn't a rule, but more of a trend because vegetables in general are very low in calorie density. But remember that you need more than just vegetables.

Physical health is like spiritual health. You can't just choose one commandment to obey that will gain your salvation. You have to obey all of them, or at least try to. Nobody's perfect. But there's definitely a difference between those that try to do their best, and those who just seek for pleasure.

Avoid Harmful Substances

 
Before I create a post about what you should eat, let me start out with some things to avoid. If I happen to list something you don't agree with, please do your own research. I'm not saying you'll definitely come to the same conclusion. You may even find material to back up your claim. But remember that many people consider these substances dangerous. Even so, some people still like to live dangerously.

Avoid harmful substances such as:

 

Tobacco

This one shouldn't need any explanation as to why it is harmful. The tobacco manufacturers deliberately add chemicals to make cigarettes more addictive. If you need help quitting, then consider the 14 and out program. Basically, you switch to organic tobacco (no added chemicals to enhance addiction) and that makes it much easier to quit in 14 days.

Drugs

There isn't much difference between a drug and a poison. Poisons work by inhibiting certain necessary enzyme reactions in the body. Drugs work by inhibiting certain targeted enzyme reactions in the body. The main difference is the dose, and which enzyme reaction is targeted. They both work by interfering with the body's natural processes. 

 

If you are taking drugs daily, consider that you are not addressing the cause of the symptoms, and that you will not be healed by a substance that is designed to work against your body.

Coffee and Tea

Before you come to their defence and cite a scientific study like the one that says people who drink more coffee have a lower risk of diabetes, you need to realize that studies like these are advertising campaigns designed to distract from the other harmful effects. For example, a hypothetical study says you get a certain health benefit from, say, raspberry tea. Wouldn't you then be able to conclude that you would get better health benefits from eating whole, raw raspberries?

If you wanted to avoid or treat diabetes, is drinking coffee the way? Obviously not. You avoid diabetes by a healthy diet. You can cure diabetes with a ridiculously strict diet. Did you know you can cure diabetes in 30 days? The diabetes industry doesn't want you to know that. They may lose customers.

 

Bleached Flour 

Alloxan is a chemical by-product from the bleaching process that causes type 1 diabetes. Why would you bleach your food? Isn't white flour white enough already? Do we really need bleach-white bread? As if stripping the bran and germ wasn't nutritionally dumb enough, now we bleach what's left? This is one of the dumbest things we do to our food. 

Artificial Sweeteners, Artificial Flavors, Artificial Colors

Artificial means man-made. I may have a skewed attitude towards this, but I don't think any man-made chemicals come close to the safety and nutrition of natural grown food. To me, artificial means "it's not food".

 

Artificial sweeteners have been proven dangerous many times. Yet we keep coming up with new ones. It's only a matter of time before we get enough evidence to label them as dangerous. If you need to add sweeteners, then you're missing out on the entire subtle medley of taste the way God created it. 

Artificial flavors is an interesting topic to research. If I see this on an ingredients label, what it says to me is this. This food tastes like garbage by itself, so we added chemicals to make it taste better.

Artificial colors are made from coal tar. Most coal tar colors have been banned, but the FDA still allows several varieties. Some of the remaining "safe" colors have been proven to cause behavioral problems in children.

 

MSG 

This includes anything hydrolyzed or autolyzed. It's also labeled as yeast extract, natural flavor, or any protein isolate. MSG is present in anything that also contains disodium inosinate and/or disodium guanylate because these two chemicals' only purpose is to enhance the flavor action of MSG. 

 

MSG works by stimulating the nerves on your tongue. It turns up the volume, so to speak, because this amino acid is a part of the chemical process of nerve stimulation. It's not the monosodium part that's the problem. It's the glutamate part. 

 

Glutamine is an amino acid that does not occur isolated in nature. It is always part of a larger protein structure. When broken down to an individual amino acid, it is absorbed into the body much quicker. Blood levels of glutamine can go 20x higher than normal. With this much concentration, nerves all over the body can be stimulated, sometimes over-stimulated to death. 

 

MSG can cause migraines, digestive issues, and heart problems. For me, MSG makes my heart slow down, beat unusually hard, and skip beats. It's especially noticeable when I'm trying to rest. I found what MSG does to me only because I avoided it for a while and then had some food with it and had a reaction. Being the scientifically curious person that I am, I repeated the test two more times and had the MSG reaction two more times again. So now I avoid anything with MSG. I read somewhere that ibuprofen is the antidote to MSG.

 

Another major problem with MSG is that it stimulates the appetite and causes obesity. Researchers know this, and when they want to study obesity in rats, first they have to find a way to make them huge. This doesn't happen in nature. But they found a way to make rats fat. They're called MSG treated rats. 

 

If you look, you'll find MSG (or hidden names for it) in many processed foods that aren't sweet. To me, it's no wonder there's an obesity epidemic. Aspartame and MSG are almost everywhere in processed foods. (The side-effects of aspartame and MSG are almost identical.)

Mercury, Fluoride, Lead, Arsenic

Many harmful substances are accumulative toxins. So-called safe levels of exposure may not be safe in the long term. Safe levels only take into account the effect of that single substance, and ignore the effects of multiple toxins present at the same time. So it's best to avoid any and all toxic substances.

 

Avoid mercury dental fillings. They are called silver amalgam to distract you from the fact that they contain about 50% mercury. The mercury keeps leeching out as long as it is in your mouth. 

 

Avoid living with five miles of a coal-fired powerplant. Most mercury pollution is from these powerplants. The mercury compounds rain down mostly within five miles of the source. 

 

Fluoride is not a nutrient. It is an enzyme inhibitor. It accumulates in the bones, making them brittle. Fluoridated water has been advertised as good for teeth, but the evidence is not convincing. Studies have shown that fluoride in water does much more harm than good. Fluoridated water even lowers IQ. It was used to control prisoners in concentration camps because it pacifies them.

The fluoride added to the water supply is actually industrial waste from smokestack scrubbers. This is often laced with other pollutants such as arsenic and lead. Naturally occurring fluoride in water is calcium fluoride. Calcium is the antidote to fluoride poisoning. But the fluoride compound most commonly added to water is hexafluorosilicic acid. The logical leap to go from CaF to SF6 makes about as much sense as saying food has carbon and nitrogen, so let's add cyanide and call it food. 

Preservatives

I've often heard the joke people tell that they won't need to be enbalmed because they are so full of preservatives already. I've never thought that was very funny. It's kind of sad, actually. If preservatives were re-named to what they really were, I'm guessing they wouldn't sell as many. Mold killer, antibiotics, and fungicide don't sound like appetizing things to put in food, but they are preservatives too. 

 

Basically, many preservatives are poisons, and some have been shown to cause cancer. Specifically, sodium nitrate (or nitrite) turns into nitrosamine compounds, which cause cancer. Nitrosamines are very useful in studying cancer in lab rats. You can get different nitrosamine compounds that cause cancer in the target organ. For example, if the researcher wants to study lung cancer in lab rats, he injects the rat with the proper nitrosamine compound, and the rat gets lung cancer. Most processed meats contain sodium nitrite (or nitrate). But since the food industry found that they can reduce the amount that converts to nitrosamines by adding vitamin C, the FDA still allows this preservative to be used.

This was only a partial list. There are other things to avoid. But the principle is to avoid anything harmful. It's difficult to avoid harmful substances if you don't know they are harmful. That's why I'm trying to spread the word.

The secret to easy, lasting weight loss (and I'm giving it away for free)

Before I tell you the secret to weight loss, be aware that you may just ignore it. I can tell you what works and you may just blow it off. It's like how to live happily: Live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not that big a secret. You know you should, but some people would rather indulge in pleasure. And, like the gospel, you need to try living it to see any benefits and learn for yourself if it works.

The secret to weight loss isn't really a secret, but it's not advertised because you can't make money off it. I can give you a list of what to do, but you won't do it unless you understand why. For example, I can tell you to avoid MSG, but you won't if you don't understand how it works. Then if you really don't want to put the effort into getting healthy, and just want a quick fix, you'll be inclined to accept the food industry's disinformation campaign telling you that MSG is safe. 

 

So I'll present some concepts here and encourage you to do your own research on them to understand more. Research tip: try entering something like "health effects of artificial colors" in the search bar at google.com. After what you read, you'll probably wonder why they're still used.

While you're researching, remember that real health solutions are often ridiculed and suppressed by those who stand to profit from your ignorance. 

 

What I'll present is what helped me go from border-line obese to a healthy weight. Around ten years ago, I was kind of shocked when I saw a height-weight chart that said 185 lbs and 5' 9.5" tall was over-weight. It wasn't just borderline; it was smack in the middle of over-weight. I was not a muscular build, so I couldn't make that excuse. 

 

Through a series of fortunate events, I was able to get some really good information that allowed me to lose weight without getting hungry and almost without trying to lose weight. The effort was in learning how to eat healthy. Although I did go down to 140 lbs, I was at 145 for a few years. Then I decided that I wasn't going to watch the scale and I've been steadily pretty close to 150 lbs for the past six years or so. I check my weight and blood pressure monthly at work for their health incentive program. But I don't worry about checking my weight daily on the bathroom scale. 

 

I've found that I feel pretty good all the time. I keep getting offered junk food here and there, and it's become so easy to politely decline because I know that the junk food will make me feel bad for a much longer time than the short time pleasure from eating it. I get sick much less often. I no longer get a cold every couple months. 

Myth

Fat stored or burned is as simple as calories in - calories out

Reality

Not all calories are created equal. In a properly nourished body, hunger regulates the proper amount of calorie consumption, so you don't need to count calories.

 

Weight loss can't be successful long-term if treated only as a calorie problem, or an exercise problem. The approach needs to be holistic. You need to do everything for health. 

 

Calorie counting won't work because:

• It takes too much effort.
• You don't know exactly what you need in calories every day.
• It neglects all the other nutrients. 

To illustrate the point, here's an extreme example. If you lived on 2500 calories a day, but the source of those calories was sugar water, you would soon die a very miserable death because of malnutrition. Then if you added in all the necessary fats, minerals, and proteins, and you will still die because of the lack of vitamins.

Get the nutrients you need.

So how do I know if I'm getting all the nutrients I need? There is a very useful and free tool at http://nutritiondata.self.com/. You can enter in everything you typically eat in a day, and analyze the nutrient content. You can see if you're getting enough vitamins, minerals, essential fats, and proteins. Then search for the foods that are highest in the nutrient you are missing. But remember that it's incomplete data.

Whole, raw plant food is the best source of nutrition. (Not food for plants! That's dirt. I'm talking about eating plants as food). Cooking food destroys nutrients, including enzymes that help in digestion. But use some common sense here. Some food should not be eaten raw, like chicken. 

 

We're not done yet. 

My next few posts will continue revealing the secrets of easy, permanent weight loss. It's a permanent lifestyle change. You won't be able to return to your "eat for pleasure" diet and maintain a healthy weight. There's a big difference between eating to live, and living to eat.