The other day I was in a checkout line at a specialty grocery store with really great savings on health foods. I love looking at what people buy, don't you? You can get a really clear picture of a slice of a stranger's life.

So in front of me I notice three cartons of soy milk. Uh oh, red alert – someone fell for the propaganda. I took a look at the hapless victim and sure enough, she looked terrible. Her skin was dry and desiccated. The word “mummy” came to mind. She wasn't standing tall, didn't look at all happy. She had that sour, pinched look that I often see on people on so-called healthy diets.

People look at me like I'm crazy when I take a small bit of bread and absolutely pile on the butter. I don't care. I tried their way. I went the low-fat, no red meat route, and I got sick. Sure, at first, the benefits were there, the first three months or so were a golden time of good energy and lightness of being, and I highly recommend temporary veggie juice several times a year. But after awhile that good feeling left and I couldn't get it back. I kept following all the rules, my cholesterol was through the roof, and I kept blaming myself even as I ate the lowest imaginable cholesterol, low-fat diet. Well, I refuse to do that any longer.

The body does not lie. If something isn't right for it, it will let you know. If you have deficiencies, it will let you know. For most major diseases with no known cause or cure, you can bet that nutritional deficiencies and congestion are at the heart of it. That's why there's no known cause, the cause isn't a perpetrator, it's the total absence of something or the presence of something that modern medicine doesn't admit is a factor.

And if the body is doing something we've labeled wrong, chances are we simply don't have a full understanding of the body's reasoning. It wasn't so long ago they thought the appendix and tonsils were pointless. We just had this funny idea that we could be smarter than the body in matters of the body. Now people who have lost their “useless” appendix and tonsils are experiencing higher rates of degenerative diseases, including rheumatism.

People argue about diet all the time, and much of it is pretty pointless because they're not basing their arguments on real-world experience. They're merely re-hashing whichever “expert” opinion they happen to agree with. Both the experts and their followers are likely to change their opinions over time as fads come and go or new data is discovered. So be it. Stop arguing and start testing by eating. You'll soon know if it works.

When you eat the perfect meal for your needs, you know it. There's no mistaking it. For one thing, you feel relaxed. You feel like slowing down in a good way – time to smell the roses, release tension, get out of the rat race. Or you feel energized, ready to take on the world.

Over time, as your nervous system repairs and your cells start upgrading, you can get positively high. It's much easier to reach Nirvana after healthy nourishment and good exercise than it is by only meditating with a tired, depleted body, and trying to meditate while malnourished is pretty much a waste of time.

The Basics of Getting Better

Why do we get sick?

90% of degenerative disease is due to weak digestion, poor absorption and asimilation of foods, giving the body too many bad foods to begin with, improperly prepared foods, and constantly exceeding the power of our digestion, metabolism, major organs, and failing to eliminate everything we eat. Add to all of that the many toxins in the environment which we fail to fully cleanse out of ourselves and voila! ill health results.

1st: cleanse the body, bowel first.

All illness takes place in a poisoned body. How can you expect to get better if you're poisoned? You can't! So cleanse, and keep cleansing. Cleanse your digestive system and that will support your efforts to cleanse every organ, tissue and cell. Even if your lab tests are normal, you could have stones blocking bile ducts in your liver, decreasing its overall functionality.

Cleanse the bowels thoroughly first and foremost, and keep it clean as you cleanse the liver, kidneys, lymph, etc.

2nd: change your diet and lifestyle; hope it's both a temporary change and a permanent change.

You don't have to give up everything for the rest of your life. There are some things that you would do better without, but if you really cleanse the body well, guess what? There's a Snicker's bar in your future! Education always pays off. It's time to go back to school - remember all those times you complained that school was boring because it wasn't about real life? Here's your perfect chance to learn about real life in a way that sustains your quality of life.

Hopefully you will learn to do certain things for the rest of your life to maintain vital health, even if just periodically. Some people, however, simply must clean up their diets and not cheat. The trick is knowing which body type you are and being that – or accepting the consequences.

Be prepared to learn some shocking things about health and what you thought to be good habits. For instance, fat is not bad, it's very necessary. Tofu is not great. Overdosing on tofu is outright dangerous, so don't drink that soy milk. Milk is no longer good food once it's been pasteurized (boiled) and homogenized (fat cells denatured). It is one of the leading causes of ear infections, bronchial distress, and acne.

3rd: Address any deficiencies

Poisons, poor food choices, inflammation, all serve to make our bodies starved for the right nutrients. Without the right nutrients, things just don't happen. Deficiencies must be dealt with in balance, preferably with real foods. It's difficult to absorb or take in balance vitamins and minerals from supplements, usually you should take a combination rather than just one

We can be deficient in water (dehydrated) deficient in friendly microbes (systemic candidiasis, acne) even deficient in salt.

Any imbalance means a deficiency of something, as imbalance means something more than the other. Nature is balanced into relationships, in order to have checks and balances for every system - a way to turn things on or off at will. One of the most important balances in the body is the pH balance. Abuse this balance and you will age, painfully. Most disease is due to too much acid by-products from digestion. Switch to an alkaline diet and alkaline eating habits and arthritis will disappear.

You can be deficient in mental energy, persistence, follow-through, peace of mind, forgiveness, joy, love, laughter and sexual responsiveness. For true vital health, these deficiencies must be addressed.

4th: Learn how to shop, prepare and serve tasty, healthy meals – it is a cornerstone of good health!

If you're not willing to cook, you're not committed to living a quality life. The person with the best kitchen skills lives longer and healthier – and cheaper. After major investments in juicers, blenders and food processors, quality pots and pans, knives, a mandolin, USE them. They will provide huge returns on your investment, much more so than any pill you can take.

Finding great stores, alternative ways to buy spices cheap or find a particular herb, even using Ebay, these are all part of the adventure of taking control of your health.

5th: Physical issues often have root causes with mental or emotional issues.

Suppressing one's self in any way long enough will cause physical harm. Constant stress, obsessive behaviors, anger, worry, lack of forgiveness for yourself and others, all will age you.

6th: It always comes down to the power of digestion, especially the liver and bowels. Take care of them and they'll take care of you.

The liver is the body's filter. You wouldn't swim in a swimming pool with a 20 year old filter would you? think your salt water fish would survive a 20 year old filter, or your car run as well on 20 year old oil? But that's what we do to our bodies by never managing our liver's health.

Eating improperly creates toxins. The toxins circulate and clog arteries, joints, organs, glands, skin, everything. Understanding the power of digestion is another cornerstone in healing and maintaining vital health.

7th: do your research.

A fad food, supplement or diet won't necessarily make you better, and plenty of foods thought to be healthy will give you severe deficiencies. One of the best things you can do for your health is learn how to use the Internet to search for both sides of every claim and assumption. Beware of all claims by people who stand to profit or lose money.

Options are power. Know as much as you can about the various options available to you.

8th: There are body types with certain proclivities.

Find out what your body type is (blood type, Ayurvedic Dosha, metabolic type) and that will clear up a lot of the mystery as to why some people are always warm while others are cold, some people can eat anything and not gain weight while others gain weight just by looking at food, etc.

People are all so very different. One person can drink alcohol while another gets sick. The same may be said for sugar, grains, animal products, herbs, NSAIDs, prescription medicine, nightshade vegetables, etc. Respect your body's innate proclivities and you'll be more comfortable.