There is no greater enemy to your physical health than a negative self-image or high stress. Many people initially succeed at implementing a diet -- whether it is to lose weight, heal a disease, or strengthen their body against sickness -- but then fall back into old habits... and therefore, the "old" body. Why? Because the emotional barriers were never overcome in the first place.

To truly succeed at this nutrition plan, I highly recommend you work on overcoming your emotional barriers, whether they’re based on life’s anxiety-factors or emotional traumas.

There are a host of techniques to instill positive emotions and thoughts and create a sense of inner-peace, and the best rule is to find the one that works for you, whether it is considered traditional or "alternative," and keep on using it.

In my clinical practice, I have tried a variety of methods, and have been exposed to many more (both traditional and alternative) through my medical background, but none have come close to the success rate I have experienced with the "Emotional Freedom Technique," or EFT.

I highly recommend you at least give EFT a try. EFT is a form of psychological acupressure that, while it appears a bit unusual to some at first, can almost seem miraculous in its ability to erase negative emotions and instill positive ones.

With EFT, while mentally focusing on the psychological/emotional issues in a positive manner through the use of affirmations, pressure is applied to the same energy points used for thousands of years in acupuncture (these energy points are finally even being recognized as legitimate by the pharmacy- and surgery-addicted American medical establishment.)

These energy points are only tapped, though, not punctured as in acupuncture, as it has been shown that pressure on these points is all that is necessary to activate your body’s bioenergy. This combination of positive mental focus on the issue(s) and physical stimulus to your body’s biochemistry is amazingly effective at eliminating the issue -- be it stress, cravings, trauma, etc. -- quickly.

EFT is routinely used in my practice and I highly recommend it for your optimal emotional health. Although it is still often overlooked, emotional health is absolutely essential to your physical health and healing - no matter how devoted you are to the proper diet and lifestyle, you will not achieve your body's ideal healing and preventative powers if emotional barriers stand in your way.

EFT is very easy to learn, and will help you:

• Remove negative emotions
• Reduce food cravings
• Reduce or eliminate pain
• Implement positive goals

You can learn how to start using EFT on yourself and those close to you right now with my free online EFT Manual.

NOTE: This is the only lesson that will be repeated in each phase of my nutrition program, as it is crucial to long-term success.

For more information on how your emotions can aid or hinder your physical healing, please review the following articles:

• Scientific Proof that Your Childhood Traumas are a MAJOR Factor in Your All Your Illnesses
• Why Traumas Can Haunt and Sabotage Your Health for Years
• Child Emotional Care Influences Genetic Expression
• Did You Know Healing Could be So Simple?
• How Your Thoughts Can Cause or Cure Cancer
• You Will Never Guess the Surprising Cause of Most Heart Attacks

It's very important to chew your food properly. Try to chew your food to a liquid form and then swallow it. This will predigest your food with the enzymes in your saliva. It will also provide neurological stimulation of your stomach and pancreas to increase their acid and digestive enzyme production.

Avoid chewing gum for this same reason. Chewing gum will fool your body to secrete valuable digestive juices unnecessarily. This will worsen your digestion and your health. It's also helpful not to talk while you are chewing your food as this interferes with optimal digestion.

Lesson 3: Avoid drinking too much water during your meals.

Avoid drinking fluids with your meals if possible, as this will dilute the gastric digestive contents and make the food more difficult to digest. A few sips of water during the meal is fine.

Lesson 4: Keep your kitchen clean -- the non-toxic way.

A food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has worked out the recipe for a healthy sanitizing solution. All you need is three percent hydrogen peroxide, the same strength available at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds, plain white or apple cider vinegar, and a pair of brand new spray bottles like the kind you use to dampen laundry before ironing.  

You will want to review my article on the six most contaminated surfaces in your home and consider using this solution on those surfaces

• Clean your veggies: If you're cleaning vegetables or fruit, spritz them well with both the vinegar and the hydrogen peroxide, then rinse them off under running water. It doesn't matter which you use first -- you can spray with the vinegar then the hydrogen peroxide, or with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar. You won't get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, and neither is toxic to you if a small amount remains on the produce. Rinsing with HOT water has been shown to be far more effective at removing pesticides compared to cold water.

• Get rid of e.coli bacteria: The paired sprays work exceptionally well for sanitizing counters and other food preparation surfaces including wood cutting boards. In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all salmonella, shigella, and e. coli bacteria on heavily-contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion. This spray combination is more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.

• Clean your kitchen on a regular basis: Be sure to regularly clean your kitchen countertops, sink drains, refrigerator handles and faucet handles. This should also be done immediately after you handle any raw meat.

• Clean your sponges and dishcloths: Your kitchen sponge is likely one of the most contaminated objects in your kitchen.  Fortunately it turns out that placing that sponge in the microwave for two minutes is likely enough to kill 99 percent of the bacteria hidden in the sponge.

Zapping sponges in the microwave every other day will decontaminate them better than putting them in the dishwasher, which is the strategy I had been previously using. I've moved into a new home where the previous owners had installed a built in microwave. I had planned on removing it but have kept it now that I found a suitable use for it.

If you do use your microwave for this purpose PLEASE be careful to make sure the sponge is wet. If you put it dry into the microwave you might cause a fire and smoke up your house. Additionally the oven works by causing the water in the sponge to turn to hot steam which is what kills the bacteria.

Lesson 5: Learn about the health dangers of cell phones, wireless internet and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that the dangers of cell phones, wireless internet and other sources of electromagnetic fields (EMF) are real, and the chances that we’re looking at a major public health problem are overwhelming. 

To date, several countries including France, Germany and India have issued recommendations to limit your exposure to electromagnetic fields. Toronto’s Department of Public Health is also advising teenagers and young children to limit their use of cell phones to avoid potential health risks. 

There are many simple precautions that you can take to reduce your exposure to information-carrying radio waves and the electromagnetic radiation emitted from your cell phone – both of which are hazardous to your health. I highly recommend you review the Further Reading links below to educate yourself on this very important topic, but here are just a few recommendations you should consider implementing in this intermediate level:

• Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On: Instead of carrying your phone on your hip or in a pocket, keep it in your purse or briefcase. Also do not keep or let your cell phone charge on your night stand. When using your cell phone, use the speaker function rather than holding the phone to your ear.

• Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone OFF more often. As long as your cell phone is on, it emits intermittent radiation, regardless of whether a call is being made or not. Try to reserve your cell phone for emergencies, and use a land line for most calls at home and at work. Also try to use your cell phone only where reception is good, because the weaker the reception, the more radiation your phone emits.

• Reduce Your Use of Other Wireless Devices: You would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you really need to use them every single time. If you must use a portable home phone, use an older version that operates at 900 MHz. They are no safer during calls, but at least they do not broadcast constantly, even when no call is being made. 

• Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will certainly allow you to keep the cell phone farther away from your body. However, unless a wired headset is well-shielded -- and most of them are not -- the wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient information carrying radio waves, and transmitting radiation directly to your brain.
  
  The safest kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the information to your head as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all the way up to your head.

Further Reading:

• Increasing Danger From Cell Phones
• Cancer Institute Warns of Cell Phone Risks
• Why Brain Surgeons Are Avoiding Cell Phones
• Are You Allergic to Wireless Internet?
• Are Cell Phones More Dangerous Than Smoking?
• How Cellphone Radiation Affects Your Cells
• Report Links Power Lines to Cancer