In Part One I explained how as a teenager I began to develop a pragmatic approach to personal health.  I embraced trial and error, exploring, researching, and refining personal well-being and what works for me.  Often this meant quietly pushing aside peer or societal pressures and medical norms.  Over the decades, I continued seeking out pragmatic health tools that best fit me.

Until the past year, I still looked first for help from the U.S. “sick” care system, which repeatedly failed to help me during Covid and Long-Covid.  I say “sick” care system having realized centralized medicine practices on people who are ailing or sick.  “Sick care” accurately describes the system, also enjoying the double-entendre to imply the system is broken.

The U.S. health care system regularly saves people from dying but does not foster true wellness.  A staggering 40% of Americans suffer from one or more chronic health problems and this number is expected to continue to grow.  The U.S. far outstrips all other countries spending ($12,555 per person) on health care while Switzerland ranked 2^ndin the world spent only $8,049 per person in 2022.  Yet this record-breaking investment of $4.5 billion in U.S. health care yielded a mere 47^th in the world in life expectancy (79.74 years) while Switzerland in 2022 ranked 4^th with a life expectancy of 84.11.  Any rational household (or country?) paying attention to such poor performance would fire their investment manager and insist on dramatic changes.  With no systemic reform insight to U.S. health care is it any wonder each of us needs to take health care into our own hands for ourselves and our families?

My path from Long Covid (malaise, chronic low energy, and brain fog) brought all this into focus and drove me through tough graduate coursework to advance my understanding of the human body and personal health.  On my own getting good rest, improving my diet, forsaking alcohol, and minimizing stress was insufficient for my body to recover.  Before Covid a few days of rest and relaxation I could recover.  Yet, through most of 2020 and 2021 my “low” grade symptoms ebbed and flowed, but were beneath any threshold for the centralized medical system to treat.

A hospitalization for low sodium in December 2021 sparked a personal crisis spurred by an overwhelming fear of dying to seek alternative help.  Indeed, the hospital diagnosed my low sodium and quickly corrected the symptoms through saline IVs, but the cause of my underlying poor health was never discussed nor addressed.  How did I know this could not easily happen again?  It was clear I had to further refine my personal understanding of wellness outside the traditional medical system to find solutions.  Unknowingly I was heading down the path to become a health warrior.

The past year with a return to health, strength, and ambition I could gradually stop freaking out and find peace in the act of eating, breathing and drinking clean with the guidance of Back to Natural Health (BTNH) to increasingly understand how to avoid environmental toxins and still live a life within today’s society.  I was blessed with the time and flexibility to figure this stuff out.  Given how busy most people are and little time and energy they have to sift and dig through all the information I am sharing what I have learned.  The more we understand the more we change and improve our health.  If enough folks embrace true health and wellness then a collective change to the U.S. health care becomes increasingly possible.

The course work as a health warrior meant recognizing the profit driven agenda of U.S. society not only infected the medical (pharmaceutical and “sick” care) system, whether unintended or by design, to the point we are exposed on a daily basis to toxic ideas, environments, chemicals, and contaminants.  At first, this realization had me wanting to blame some veiled cabal or conspiracy, and for a time the anger and frustration provided the motivation to pursue alternative modalities to regain my health.  More recently working past most of the anger and frustration I simply resigned myself to use that energy to pay attention, understand, and better avoid the toxicity around us no matter the cause.

Thanks for staying with me…  So, what does this mean day to day?  Below are the basic details of behaviors I adopted on a daily and weekly basis over the past two years.  As I improved and had more energy I moved into trying additional changes.  If they helped I incorporated them into my new life style.

Consistently, I get outside, get sunshine optically (without sunglasses), and bodily (to expose as much skin as possible) and breathe fresh air.  Connecting with nature seems to be at the core of this often simply by taking a walk.  The sun’s wavelengths matter to our physiology and health.  Electric light and blue screen wavelengths are can affect and gradually become detrimental to our long-term well-being.  For more thinking into this or any topic I recommend clicking on the hyperlinks like this one for Dr. Jack Kruse who has gone from addressing his own obesity in the early-2000s to fringe health theoretician and now health thought leader.

Given I was so run down I embraced multiple changes at once to recover and repair my health and saw dramatic results even as a late 50s-something.  The human body is amazing at recovery and repair as long as it receives the right raw materials and a healthy environment rejuvenation occurs.  So, my battle as a health warrior was to create a lifestyle to take on the Spiral Ups and deflect as many Spiral Down behaviors as possible:

My list of Spiral “Ups” (in relative order of importance)

• Fresh Air – it is cleansing to get as much as possible, I even avoid air conditioning except when it is so hot I can’t get a good night’s sleep. Year round I usually keep a bedroom window at least cracked open even in the winter, especially at night .  In fact after the 1918 Influenza pandemic heating systems were purposely designed for open windows to incorporate fresh air to sanitize and get fresh air in homes and apartments in northern climates.
• Spring Water – I now exclusively drink spring water and recommend com to find (most of which are free) a natural spring or have spring water delivered to your home and office. Recently after drinking spring water exclusively for two weeks I felt a noticeable improvement in my energy and greater vibrancy. (Interestingly I am getting my Spring Water from the same spring that provided water for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.)
  • Structured Water is H₃O₂ which is a hexagonal molecular structure which is naturally occurring in glacier melt, natural springs, mountain streams and more easily absorbed by human cells. Gerald H. Pollack is the often cited expert on structured water.
  • Alternatively, filter your water with a pitcher at home and work. Recommend Aquasauna filters and pitchers for home and work use to remove chlorine, most heavy metals, and other contaminants in municipal water systems.
  • Install A Shower or Whole House Water Filter – recommend Aquasauna filters consistently the highest or highly rated filters on the market to remove chlorine and other contaminants. Currently I use an Aquasauna shower filter which was easy to install and replace the cartridge every 6-months.
  • Fluoride is problematic – recommend checking out the thoughtful and well researched explanation on Fluoride from Aquasauna’s website.
• A Good Night’s Sleep – consistently go to bed earlier and don’t eat or drink alcohol 3 hours before bedtime to aid good sleep. I shoot for 9:30pm but often get to bed at 10 or 10:30pm.  Fortunate the past decade to rarely use an alarm, I wake up when I wake up.  Two years ago, for several months I used a sleep tracking device (Oura Ring) that helped adopt new behaviors for better sleep.  I stopped using it as the data and gamification fueled my anxiety so I now use my gut instinct to judge the quality of my sleep and once in a while check it with the Oura ring.
• Eat Fresh, Clean Food – prepare most meals at home to ensure healthy proteins, fruits, and vegetables and cook with whole, raw ingredients that don’t come wrapped in a package. Ideally eat only organic, non-GMO and vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian diet.  In October 2015, a specialist institution of the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed more than 800 studies and, “classified red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ (Group 2A) and processed meat as ‘carcinogenic to humans’ (Group 1)”.  If you do eat meat, eliminate processed meats and lean into organic and grass-fed meat, wild caught fish or wild game.
  • Take Daily Supplements – to compensate for the nutrient depleted soil and resulting lower nutrition in U.S. agricultural produce your body is missing.  Don’t hamstring your body’s natural ability to recover and heal.
  • Try Intermittent Fasting – work up to 16 hours or more per day of fasting. It took me 4-6 months to consistently fast for 15-to-16 or more hours each day.  This has allowed me to gradually lose some weight and lower my body fat percentage.
  • Eat less – after getting into Intermittent Fasting I soon found two meals a day was often sufficient. Listening to my body I didn’t need nearly the amount of food I thought or used to eating in the past.
  • Fast for a Day – several times a year? Once a month? I still have not done this, yet I want to a couple times later this year.
• Walk Barefoot/Grounding – ideally once a day for just 3-minutes standing or waling bare foot on sand, grass, or soil to get electrically conductive contact with the earth. This enhances health and provides feelings of well-being and can reduce inflammation and improve healing and it is believed grounding enables free electrons from the earth’s surface to spread over and into the body to offer antioxidant effects.
• Meditate – though I fail to do this daily (which many people swear by) I took a couple courses on meditation over a decade ago and enjoy meditation as a great tool to go to when I am spun up, anxious, or “out of sorts”. Bad mood or highly fluctuating emotions and feelings or when I struggle for peace of mind and clarity meditating even for as little as 5-10 minutes is hugely helpful.  While in crisis in December 2021 through March of 2022 I was meditating at least two to three times a week and it usually eased my anxiety.
• Try Therapy – the mind-body-spirit is a powerful (much more powerful than I used to think). Thoughts and feelings can dramatically affect the physiology of our body and physical health.  Working through my own issues and past traumas the past two years has paralleled improving my health by regularly talking with someone to improve my physical health, break through, and reframe previously perceived problems and unhelpful behaviors.  These paradigm shifts in thinking and self-perceptions opened new and better possibilities in my life, life style, and more positive health and energy.
• Sauna, especially Infrared – I do as many as 3-4 per week and early on it was part of my BTNH therapy in their sauna. I became enough of a believer to purchase an infrared sauna (one-person sauna cost approx. $5k) for my home.  Infrared saunas operate at lower temperatures (120-130°), penetrate the skin, and give the kidneys a rest during a good 15 minute sweat at the tail end of a 30-40 minute sauna session.  After several months I was able to regularly last in the sauna for 30 minutes or more.
  • Facial Massage – the past 6-months while in the sauna the last 5-10 minutes I incorporate a facial massage using coconut oil. (I keep a jar of it in the sauna, which prewarms it to liquid form).  A facial massage encourages the drainage of the facial lymphatic system.  After one self-massage I noticed my nasal passages were more open, I breathed better, and interruption of my sleep at night diminished significantly.  Here’s my favorite YouTube instructions on overall lymphatic massage video and physiology explanation and lymphatic massage on head and neck.
• Use an Exercise Ball – as an alternative to a desk chair at home and at work. Sitting on an exercise ball improves posture and core strength to better support my lower back.  I had injured my lower back (two bulging discs) years ago and sitting on an exercise ball, though it took about a month to build up to sitting on an exercise ball exclusively, made a huge difference in helping my lower back health.
• Stretching and Yoga – granted everyone is different, but ideally I try to do yoga once a week (although I need to be more consistent on this). My return to yoga two years ago re-started with several Yin Yoga classes (Awesome).  It was easy, greatly opened up my hips, core, torso, and lower back and felt great afterward.  After a few weeks I was able to move on to more active poses and a regular vinyasa or ashtanga class.  I also incorporate stretches into my day-to-day life.  Below are a few examples:
  • Sitting Figure-4 Stretch while putting on socks. Placing one ankle over the opposite knee.  Press down on the knee/leg that is crossed over the opposite knee to stretch hip and gluts.
  • Hamstring Stretch while tying shoes I bend over straighten my legs (or almost straight) to stretch hamstrings while tying my shoes.
  • A second Hamstring Stretch after a shower when squeegeeing the inside of the glass shower door, bending left and right to further stretch my lower back and hamstrings.
• Exercise 3-5 days a week – a good start is 10K steps a day. Anecdotally, a cycling friend has a rule of riding 2-days a week to maintain fitness and 3-days a week to build strength and endurance.  Note his ride was typically 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours long to maintain an already solid fitness base, but it’s a good basic guide to developing most any fitness level.
• Avoid Wearing Sunglasses – Dr. Robert from BTNH encouraged me to stop wearing sunglasses and frankly the only time I really feel the need to wear them when driving into the sun near sunset. Otherwise I have found I am quite comfortable and seem to see better without sunglasses, not to mention the many benefits to circadian rhythms and downsides of wearing them.  Again, give a listen to a Jack Kruse podcast.
• Naked (genital) Sunbathing – it sounds crazy and interestingly it is really good for us as humans. Naked sunbathing is liberating and feeling of boldness and freedom of going au naturale is good for the soul.  Especially try it between Noon and 2pm.  Btw love Kim Anami and her ideas and concepts.
• Walk Barefoot/Grounding – ideally once a day for just 3-minutes standing or waling bare foot on sand, grass, or soil to get electrically conductive contact with the earth. This enhances health and provides feelings of well-being and can reduce inflammation and improve healing and it is believed grounding enables free electrons from the earth’s surface to spread over and into the body to offer antioxidant effects.

*Note: The best analysis found in a Google search of toxins in U.S. meat was a 1983 New York Times article, which gives one pause more information is readily available or the issue not been studied and reported more extensively since then.

How many behaviors can you stack up and add in YOUR favor to promote positive health?

My list of Spiral “Downs” – Don’ts

• Say NO to Unhelpful/Unhealthy Foods –“Decoding Food Labels” from the FLCCC Alliance offers good guidance on this topic.
  • Shun Packaged Foods
  • Avoid Sugars, Syrups, Sweeteners and “oses” (like Dextrose, Galactose Glucose, Fructose, Maltose, and other see article above)
  • Say No to Added flavors, preservatives, colors and emulsifiers
• Quit Drinking Alcohol – target none as even one or two drinks per week can have a negative impact on your body, energy, and health. Drink less, live longer.
• Quit Sugar – by avoiding refined sugars like fruit punch, soda, sports drinks, and other sugary drinks, candy or desserts.
• Quit Using Aluminum Antiperspirant – instead I often use nothing and wash as needed or use a natural deodorant. We are already exposed to enough Aluminum in the environment as noted in the first link.  While there has not been extensive study and a few studies say there is no problem with aluminum-based antiperspirants, my hair samples over the past two years show my body shedding aluminum, so I figure less exposure is better.
• Wean Off /Quit Pornography – for men in particular, it is harmful. Porn is habit forming, desensitizes a person, relationships suffer, can fuel mental health issues, and ED — not to mention encouraging societally nonconsensual sex or sex trafficking.  Men challenge yourself to separate orgasm from ejaculation – be like Sting?
• Minimize Blue Screen Light – exposure to room light in the evening suppresses natural production of melatonin and messes up our circadian rhythms, but melatonin has a bigger role. Melatonin is all over the body and acts as a super anti-oxidant integral to proper mitochondria function.  Remember the mitochondria provides our energy for life.  Thus, suppressing melatonin can potentially open a variety of deeper health implications.  “Melatonin has been shown to retard aging and inhibit neurodegenerative disorders, ischemia/reperfusion, septic shock, diabetes, cancer, and other complications related to oxidative stress.”¹  Again take a listen to a Jack Kruse podcast interview.
  • Bed Time – as much as possible especially two-hours before bedtime try reading a good book instead of using a blue screen.
  • Use Red Light – change your cell phone and tablet to red light setting after sunset. This can be changed back and forth via a triple press on the side button of an iPhone.
• Leave Social Media Behind – It is a time suck and the messaging is counterproductive, combative, and often hurtful (my teenage girl-like self-image can’t take it anymore). Unless highly regulated (say 20 min./day or less) I feel it is a waste of time.  Instead try visiting or calling friends to catch up in real time.
• Stop Swimming in Chlorinated Pools – salt water pools are better, but realize they still contain chlorine (albeit at lower levels). Swimming in the ocean is best or healthy inland lakes, ponds, and rivers.
• Cook without Microwave Ovens – although I could find no conclusive evidence this process strips nutrients from food there seem to be enough potential downsides that for the last several years I stopped using microwaves. Chalk it up to, “if it is too good to be true it probably is”, so there’s probably a hidden downside for us.

How many behaviors can you knock down in YOUR favor

to promote positive health?

In Part 3, I will further discuss my mental shift to embrace these new behaviors and the detoxification experience which continues to improve my overall health.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2024 at 11:46 am and is filed under Coronavirus, COVID-19, Dr. Kruse, fitness, Health, Health Warrior, holistic practices, Long-Covid, Milwaukee, Patrick McBriarty, Positive Health, Recovery, Sick care, transformation, Treatment, Uncategorized, Wisconsin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.