The most important tool you have to heal yourself is your fork. Food is the most essential medicine. When used intelligently and deliberately, it is powerful enough to heal most chronic illnesses. Yet for some, even the healthiest diet may not be enough to overcome certain nutritional deficiencies.

The whole organic foods nutrition recommendations and supplements in this program are designed to work together to heal most chronic illnesses. However for those whose score indicates they are deficient in omega-3 fats, vitamin D, or magnesium, more of the foods noted below should be included.

Magnesium Deficiency

If you scored over 3 on the Magnesium Quiz, focus on eating the following foods.

• Dark Green leafy vegetables
• Legumes-beans of all varieties
• Nuts, especially almonds

Also, add one (not both) of the following:

• 300 mg of magnesium citrate twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• 240 mg of magnesium glycinate twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Use magnesium citrate if you tend toward constipation (reduce the dose if you get loose bowels). Use magnesium glycinate if you have normal bowels or tend toward loose stools or diarrhea.

Vitamin D Deficiency

If you scored over 3 on the Vitamin D Quiz, eat more of the following:

• Mackerel, herring
• Porcini or shiitake mushrooms

Besides taking a supplement of vitamin D3, the best way to ensure adequate blood levels is to get 15 minutes of full-body sun exposure between 10 am and 2 pm daily, without sunscreen (although I would recommend sunscreen on your face). This works only in the summer, so I recommend you take additional vitamin D to optimize your level. Most people require an additional 2,000 to 5,000 units of vitamin D3 a day.

Omega-3 Fat Deficiency

If you scored over 4 on the Essential Omega-3 Fats Quiz, make sure to include plenty of the following foods in your diet every day:

• Sardines, herring, wild salmon, mackerel
• Flaxseeds, walnuts

In addition to my recommendations in the basic or advanced supplement plan, add the following:

An extra 1,000 mg of EPA/DHA twice a day. I use a high-concentrate form containing 720 mg of EPA/DHA per 1,000 mg of fish oil capsule. Most fish oils contain only 300 mg of EPA/DHA per capsule. This means fewer pills, more benefit.

Regulating your hormones have a lot to do with mind body connection however what goes in your body in the form of food and supplements are equally important. Here we will focus on balancing the thyroid and sex hormones, critical for optimal weight and blood sugar balance.

Enhance Your Thyroid

Self-Care Plan
Low thyroid function affects 1 in 10 men and 1 in 5 women, half of whom are not diagnosed. To make matters worse, many clients on thyroid hormone replacement are not adequately treated. If your thyroid is low, you can’t adequately balance you blood sugar and your cholesterol or lose weight. That is why using a whole-food diet, nutritional supplements and optimizing thyroid hormone replacement is critical in resolving chronic illness.

If you scored over 3 on the Thyroid Quiz, boost your thyroid with the following foods:

• Seaweed or sea vegetable (for iodine)
• Fish, especially sardines and salmon, for iodine, omega-3 fats, and vitamin D
• Dandelion greens for vitamin A
• Smelt, herring, scallops, and Brazil nuts for selenium

Certain foods can potentially interfere with thyroid function. Gluten, for instance, can cause autoimmune thyroid disease. Luckily, this has already been eliminated as part of the Elimination Program.

Soy foods have been linked to problems in thyroid function. Studies show that when eaten in the traditional form (tofu, tempeh, miso, edamame) and amounts, they have no effect on thyroid function. The real problem is with what I call FrankenSoy—a by-product of soybean oil extraction—which is made into soy hot dogs, protein bars, and other assorted junk food. Soy in this form has been shown to disrupt thyroid function. Avoid these foods.

I would also avoid fluoride because it competes with iodine during the production of thyroid hormones, leading to potential difficulties in thyroid production. Buy toothpaste that isn’t fluoridated and filter your water.

Medical Care Plan
Doctors do not always do complete testing for thyroid function. They check something called TSH but not other numbers such as free T3, free T4, and antithyroid antibodies. This means, they may miss subtle thyroid imbalances. And to treat imbalances, they use only the inactive thyroid hormone (T4) found in Synthroid or Levoxyl. Most people respond better to a combination of active (T3) and inactive (T4) hormone called ERFA. It is the original formulation of Armour thyroid before it was reformulated in 2011 with binders like gluten that create negative reaction in many people. Guidelines for effective thyroid testing and natural thyroid hormone replacement are provided in “How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need” by Mark Hyman MD.

Regulate Your Sex Hormones

Self-Care Plan
If you scored over 9, if you are a woman, and over 40 if you are a man on the Sex Hormones Imbalance Quiz, the following foods can help get the hormones back in balance for both men and women:

• Whole traditional soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, miso, natto, and edamame, which contain isoflavones
• Ground Flaxseeds, 2 tablespoons a day, which contain lignans.

In addition to the basic supplement plan, women should take the following:

• Evening primrose oil. This is an essential anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat (GLA, or gamma-linoleic acid). Take 1,000 mg twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• Chasteberry fruit extract (Vites agnus-castus). This may help balance the hormones released by the pituitary gland and can help regulate menstrual cycles and relieve PMS (premenstrual syndrome). Take 100 mg twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• Saw palmetto. This is most often used for prostate health; however, it is also important for blocking an enzyme that causes increased testosterone. It can reduce facial hair and acne in women. Take 320 mg twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Men should take the following in addition to the basic supplement plan:

• Arginine & L-Citrulline. These are amino acids that, like Viagra, create nitric oxide, without the headaches and blue visual spots. Take 700 mg L-Arginine & 750 mg L-Citrulline twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• Tribulus fruit. This Ayurveda herb helps boost sexual function. Take 1,000 mg twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

• Ginseng. This Chinese herb also helps boost sexual function. Take 200 mg of an extract standardized to 8% (16mg) ginsenosides twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Medical Care Plan
Sometimes bioidentical hormone treatment is necessary. Many Functional Medical Practitioners often recommend topical testosterone cream or gel for men with low testosterone levels. It helps them build up muscle, lose weight, improve insulin sensitivity, have more energy and better sex drive, and better erections. In advanced diabetes and obesity, nerve or blood vessel damage can occur and medication such as Viagra can be helpful. Women also may benefit from additional support such as hormone replacement therapy. Guidelines for sex hormone testing and natural bioidentical hormone replacements are provided in “How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need”.

The two biggest causes of inflammation that lead to diabesity are, first, our high-sugar, processed food, inflammatory diet, and sedentary lifestyle, and the second, hidden food sensitivities or allergens, most commonly gluten and dairy. Remember the domino effect of sugar – It causes insulin to spike, which leads to the storage of belly fat. Those belly fat cells produce tons of inflammatory molecules that inflame your whole system, leading to more insulin resistance and weight gain. Environmental toxins and microbes and stress also trigger inflammation.

The Detoxification/Elimination Program is designed to be a powerful anti-inflammatory program. A whole-foods, low-sugar, high-omega-3 fat, phytonutrient-rich diet, exercise, multivitamins, fish oil, vitamin D, and stress reduction are all powerful natural anti-inflammatories.

But for some, inflammation will persist, and that means you need to hunt for the cause, either by yourself or with your doctor. The most common and obvious causes are diet and lack of exercise. But there are many factors, and at times specialized testing and treatment are needed to find hidden causes such as a virus, parasite, or bacteria that might not cause immediately obvious symptoms; mold in your surrounds (hidden in walls, in damp basements, or in moldy bathrooms); a medication you are taking, such as the birth control pill; or toxins such as the heavy metal mercury or pesticides.

Self-Care Plan

If your Inflammation Quiz score was over 6, take the following additional steps:

• Continue to follow this comprehensive elimination/reintroduction diet after the six weeks are over. In addition to gluten and dairy, continue to eliminate eggs, yeast, corn, peanuts, citrus, and soy, the other common foods that trigger sensitivities and inflammation.
• Add herbs such as turmeric, rosemary, and ginger to your cooking.
• Take an anti-inflammatory herbal supplement. Curcumin, the yellow spice found in curry, is the best anti-inflammatory. You can purchase anti-inflammatory herbal supplements in combinations such as turmeric, ginger, and rosemary. Take 200 mg twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Medical Care Plan

If you qualified for medical care on your quiz, refer to “How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need”, for further testing and treatment options for inflammation, allergies, hidden infections, and toxins.

One of the most surprising discoveries of the last decade is the link between gut problems, obesity, diabetes and many other inflammatory diseases including autoimmune. It seems odd, but scientists have found that two major problems in the gut drive weight gain and diabetes: a leaky gut and bad bugs. When the lining of the intestine is injured by medication, poor diet, food allergens, irritating food proteins such as gluten and dairy, and imbalances in the gut ecosystem, then undigested food particles and proteins are absorbed and trigger inflammation, which then cause weight gain and insulin resistance.

Fixing the digestive system is something that many people can do on their own with a few simple steps. Not only can this help you lose excess body fat and reverse disorders such as diabetes, but it can also help you fix many other chronic health problems, including fatigue, mood disorders, headaches, arthritis and autoimmune diseases, and more.

If your gut is healthy, you can keep bad bacteria out and prevent allergens from leaking through your intestinal barrier. This will lower inflammation, help control your appetite, and prevent bad bugs from extracting more calories from your food. That means that you end up with more food on your lips and less on your hips!

Here are some things you can try. But for those of you who have very bad bacterial overgrowth or weird bugs such as parasites, worms, or yeast, medical testing and treatment will be necessary to kill the bugs. I would advise those people to seek out a medical doctor or naturopathic doctor that is aware of Functional Medicine procedures. Just visit www.functionalmedicine.org and click on “Find a Practitioner” at the top of the home page, put in your zip code and all certifying practitioners in your area will be listed. Before you schedule, call and ask about their participation in Functional Medicine.

Self-Care Plan
If you scored about 8 on the Digestion Quiz, here’s what you can do:

• For six weeks, eliminate foods from your diet that ferment and produce gas in your gut (beans, grains, and all sugars, including all artificial sweeteners, especially sugar alcohols). This will starve the bad bugs.
• Eat slowly, chew your food, and sit down when you eat. These all help support healthy digestion.
• Take digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid supplements to help break down your food and prevent allergies and fermentation of starches.
• Take probiotics (healthy bacteria) to put good bugs back in your gut and reduce inflammation.
• If your symptoms are not better and you continue to score high on the Digestion Quiz after six weeks on the self-care plan, follow the medical care plan outlined in How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need (sayyestobetterhealth.com)

Gut-Healing Supplements

Here is what I suggest:
Enzymes

• Take 2 capsules of a broad-spectrum, plant-based digestive enzyme 3 times a day, once with each meal. The product should contain enzymes that break down proteins, fats, and carbohydrates

Hydrochloric Acid Support
Too much stomach acid can cause reflux and other symptoms, but too little can cause bloating, an inability to break down food or activate digestive enzymes, which creates an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria.

If you are taking an acid-blocking medication, this may, in fact, be part of the problem. If diet changes and other recommendations in this program help your reflux, then work with your doctor to get off that medication.

I usually recommend that betaine hydrochloric acid supplements be used carefully, under the supervision of a health care practitioner. However, if you follow the guidelines below, they can be very helpful while your gut is healing.

• Start with taking 1 capsule or tablet with a glass of water ten minutes before each meal. Increase the dose by 1 capsule per meal until you have a warm feeling in your stomach. Then drop back down to the dose just before the warm feeling occurred. Stay on it for 1 – 2 months then stop and see how your feel.

Probiotics
These essential ingredients support intestinal health. Our poor-quality diet, overuse of medication, and stress all alter our normal, healthy intestinal flora or bacteria. Abnormal flora can trigger toxin release into the body and generate local inflammation and weight gain, both of which trigger systemic inflammation. I believe that given all the stresses on our gut, probiotics are needed for the vast majority of people for long-term health.

Preparations include freeze-dried bacteria packed in powder, tablet, or capsule form. It is important to take a combination product with multiple species of organisms. If you are dairy-sensitive, seek out dairy-free brands.

• Take at least 10-30 billion organisms of a broad-spectrum probiotic twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Gut-Repairing Nutrients

Zinc, omega-3 fats, vitamin A, and other gut-healing nutrients are part of the basic plan, but a few other things can be very helpful.

L-glutamine, a nonessential amino acid, is the food for the cells that line your intestine. It generally comes in powder form and is often combined with other compounds that facilitate gut repair. Quercetin is a potent anti-inflammatory that is helpful in restoring balance in the gut.

• Take 2,500 mg of L-glutamine twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• Take 500mg of Quercetin twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Medical Care Plan

Testing for gut problems and fixing them in one of the most powerful things I do in my practice. Unfortunately most conventionally trained physicians do not know how to diagnose common problems such as a leaky gut or food sensitivities, or do the right tests to identify bacterial or yeast overgrowth, parasites, or worms. In How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need (www.sayyestobetterhealth.com), the testing and treatment for gut problems is explained. There are safe and effective medications for bacterial overgrowth, parasites, and yeast that can help people get better faster. If you scored over 13 on the Digestion Quiz or feel you might have a problem (even though you don’t have digestive symptoms), seek out a functional medicine practitioner.

Toxins are often invisible. They are in our air and water, and in the food we eat. Slowly, daily, inevitably, our bodies accumulate more and more toxins. A high body burden of toxins can prevent you from losing weight, or worse, damage your metabolism and lead to a weight loss plateau.

Living clean and green is a cornerstone of creating health, losing weight, and preventing chronic illness. You have learned how to do that through the information in this program. However, some people have accumulated such a high body burden of persistent organic pollutants (pesticides, PCBs, Phthalates, flame retardants, etc.) and heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic, etc.) that they need additional support for detoxification using detox-boosting foods, supplements, herbs, saunas, and sometimes chelating medication to get rid of heavy metals (to be done under a doctor’s supervision). If you qualified for self-care or medical care on the Detoxification Quiz then you should add these next steps to your program.

Self-Care Plan

Our bodies have a natural intelligence and are designed to help us mobilize and transform toxins. Given today’s toxic environment, it is important that you learn how to boost your body’s own detoxification system, it’s not that difficult.
If you scored over 6 on the Toxicity Quiz:

• Eat more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, etc.), garlic, green tea, turmeric, and (whole eggs-after elimination program). They contain phytonutrient detox-boosting compounds. Add them to your diet daily. Other great detox foods are cilantro, celery, parsley, dandelion greens, citrus peels,pomegranate, and rosemary.
• Take glutathione-boosting and detox-boosting supplements NAC, milk thistle, and vitamin C.
• Sweat regularly using saunas

Detoxification-Boosting Supplements

You can take all three of these supplements, or just take NAC, which I think is the most important.

N-acetyl-cysteine or NAC. This amino acid dramatically increases glutathione. It is even used in the emergency room to treat liver failure from Tylenol overdose. Take 600 mg twice a day, one with breakfast and once with dinner.

Milk thistle. This herb has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels. Take 175 mg of a standardized extract twice a day, one with breakfast and once with dinner.

Buffered ascorbic acid (vitamin C). This vitamin is especially useful during periods of increased detoxification. Take 1,000 mg twice a day, one with breakfast and once with dinner. Too much vitamin C may cause diarrhea. If this happens for you, simply reduce the dose.

Hyperthermic Therapy or Heat Therapy

People all over the world have used sauna and heat therapies for hundreds of years to purify mind and body. Recently the Environmental Protection Agency found sauna therapy helpful for supporting excretion of heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and fat-soluble chemicals such as PCBs, PBBs, and HCBs). It also improves quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes. It helps lower blood pressure, lower weight, and reduce stress. I think of it as the lazy man’s way to exercise.

Follow these guidelines for safe detoxification. More intensive detoxification protocols should be used only in conjunction with a physician or health care practitioner.

• If you are on multiple medications or have a chronic illness, check with your doctor before starting heat therapy, and start slowly.
• Drink at least 16 ounces of purified water before entering the sauna or steam bath.
• Drink another 16 ounces after the sauna or steam.
• Begin with 3 and build up to 5 to 7 saunas per week.
• Start with 10 minutes during your first treatment and increase by 5 minutes during each subsequent treatment until you reach a maximum of 40 to 45 minutes. You should take cold dips or rinses in a shower every 10 minutes. Keep the sauna or steam temperature under 150 degrees.
• For more intensive detoxification, use heat therapy daily for six weeks; use once a week as maintenance therapy afterward.
• If you take saunas or steam baths more than 3 to 4 times a week, I recommend an additional multimineral supplement to replace what you sweat out. This contains not vitamins but extra minerals such as zinc, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and calcium, which you lose during sweating.
• Infrared saunas work at lower temperatures. They can be more effective and better tolerated than regular saunas.
• Get the toxins off your skin after the sauna or steam. Use a hot shower with soap and even a skin brush.
• Some people have symptoms from the release of toxins, including skin rashes, headaches, fatigue, nausea, irritable bowel, confusion, or memory problems. If you experience any of these side effects, take buffered vitamin C or get the help of a functional medicine or integrative practitioner.

Medical Care Plan
If your score suggest that you should seek medical care, your practitioner may test you for heavy metals such as mercury and lead, and recommend additional detoxification strategies, including supplements, intravenous nutrients, and chelation.

I have found that over 80 percent of the clients coming to my practice (who admittedly are sicker than average) have elevated levels of mercury, and 40 percent have very elevated levels. But the body hides these metals in organs and tissues, and so regular blood tests aren’t accurate. I recommend a special test called a chelation challenge with medication such as DMSA or DMPS, which pulls out hidden stored mercury and other metals and gives a better picture of your total body burden. If you have elevated levels, there are medical treatments to help clear metals from your body. In How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need, the tests that can assess your body’s own detoxification system and levels of persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals are explained. It also explains the treatment options. This is often a critical step in helping people lose weight and correct diabetes and obesity.

By following the basic detoxification/elimination program, you will already be doing things to enhance your metabolism – eating a plant-based antioxidant-rich diet, exercising, reducing toxic exposure, and lowering inflammation. By supplementing with mitochondrial-protective and antioxidant compounds, we can preserve and restore our energy metabolism to optimal function. If you scored above 6 on the Energy Metabolism Quiz, follow the steps below.

Supplements to Boost Energy and Reduce Oxidative Stress

Most people with diabetes, obesity and other chronic illnesses have poorly functioning mitochondria and need help burning calories and fat. A number of special nutrients become essential under conditions of stress, toxicity, and again. Taken as supplements, they can dramatically improve energy production and mitochondrial function, as well as protect the mitochondria from damage. Alpha Lipoic Acid has been well studied and is the most important mitochondrial nutrient for weight loss, blood sugar control, and diabetic neuropathy. That is why I included it in the basic plan of supplements, but higher doses are often needed for more advanced chronic conditions. Here is what you should add to your regimen.

• 300-600 mg of alpha lipoic acid twice a day, once before breakfast and once before dinner.
• 300-500 mg of L-carnitine twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner. L-carnitine helps fat burning in the mitochondria. It can also help diabetic neuropathy.
• 100 mg of CoQ10 or Ubiquinol once a day with breakfast. Coenzyme Q10 helps lower fasting insulin and glucose levels, and improves blood pressure and antioxidant status.
• 400 mg of resveratrol twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner. Resveratrol, found in dark purple grapes, improves insulin function through its effect on sirtuins, the master metabolism-control genes. It is also being studied as a compound that may slow aging.
• New research has found the “branched chain amino acids” can be helpful in improving mitochondrial function, creating new mitochondria, and improving insulin sensitivity. They also help improve muscle size, physical endurance, and motor coordination and even extend lifespan in animal studies. The research is based on a product I use that comes from Germany. The doses used are one packet (5.5 grams) twice a day dissolved in water.

Medical Care Plan
A functional medicine doctor can check your mitochondrial function and oxidative stress through a urine test that measures organic acids. He or she may recommend additional supplements such as D-ribose, creatine,glutathione, and arginine. To learn more about testing and treatment for your mitochondria, see “How to Work with Your Doctor to Get What You Need.”

Stress finds you. You don’t have to look for it. It is an unavoidable part of life. But deep and profound relaxation and calming of the nervous system do not happen automatically. We are not taught the antidote for our chronic stress. We try to look for it-we drink alcohol, numb our emotions with sugar and junk food, zone out in front of the television or computer screen. But these are maladaptive behaviors. They actually make the problem worse. We have no idea where to find or how to push our pause buttons. But this is key to health.

We have unabated, unremitting stress. Our cortisol levels stay elevated. That’s bad news because high cortisol makes you gain belly fat and lose muscle, makes you hungry and crave sugar, and causes diabetes.

Everybody has a different pause button. Seek out yours. There are many wonderful resources and programs available to help you achieve this goal. This is key to long-term metabolic health. We have to make it part of our daily lives

If you scored over 7 on the Stress and Adrenal Dysfunction Quiz, the following steps may help you find balance again.

Self-Care Plan

• If you haven’t created or joined a group to support you, do it now. It can be an online group, but ideally it is with people you share your life with.
• Identify and reduce the causes of social, psychological, and physical stressors in your own life.
• Try life coaching. It is a way of making your life more integrated and overcoming obstacles to thriving. I recommend the Handel Group to help you turn information into transformation.
• Incorporate one or two additional ways to push the pause button besides belly breathing, guided visualization, restorative yoga, or stretching, such as Mineral Baths or saunas. You can also use guided relaxation CDs for guided breathing exercises, imagery, and more.
• Try stress-balancing herbs such as cordyceps, rhodiola root extract, and Asian ginseng root extract.

I have found many ways to hit my pause button, and have used many with my clients. You have to find what works for you. But please, find something and do it!

Stress-Reducing Supplements and Herbs

Stress can deplete the nutrients needed for deep relaxation of the nervous system, including magnesium, the B vitamins, and vitamin C. When you follow the basic supplement plan, you will make sure to have enough on board.

Certain plant compounds known as adaptogens help modulate and balance the stress response, correcting some of the negative effects of chronic stress. I most often recommend a combination supplement of cordycepts, rhodiola root extract, and Asian ginseng root extract. When taken with meals, ginseng can lower blood sugar and improve insulin function.

You can add the following stress-reducing supplements to your regimen if you are imbalanced in this area:

• 400 mg of cordyceps (containing cordycepic acid and adenosine) twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• 50 mg of rhodiola root extract (standardized to 1% [0.5 mg] salidroside) twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.
• 200 mg of Asian ginseng root extract (standardized to 8% [16 mg] gensenosides) twice a day, once with breakfast and once with dinner.

Some of my clients need more support for handling chronic stress. They may need therapy, coaching, or even medication as a short-term bridge to get through the toughest parts of life. I refer them to a good psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or life coach.