In addition to avoiding or limiting your exposure to toxins, you need to focus on eating a healthy diet, preferably based on your personal nutritional needs to reap maximum overall health benefits.

•     Eat foods that are natural, unprocessed, and organic- contain no sugar except for the occasional bit of honey or maple syrup.
•     Eat foods that grow in your native environment. In other words, eat locally grown, seasonal foods.
•     Eat unpasteurized dairy products (such as raw milk) and fermented foods.
•     Eat at least one-third of your food raw.
•     Make sure you eat enough healthy fats, including those from animal sources like omega-3 fat, and reduce your intake of omega-6 from vegetable oils.

Based on Weston A. Price Diet guidelines

Additionally, it’s important to understand that if you’re deficient in essential metals, your body will actually use toxic heavy metals as “stand-ins” instead.

One day soon you may be able to go to the mall and, instead of leaving with a new pair of shoes or a DVD, pick up a bottle of various prescription drugs, all without ever seeing a physician.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently held public hearings on this very topic, and is considering the introduction of “patient kiosks” where you could fill out online questionnaires and, based on your responses to a few questions, self-diagnose a condition and get medications that currently require a prescription.

This means drugs for conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma and migraines may soon be easily available over-the-counter or, more aptly, from veritable vending machines, ready to purchase like a bag of chips or a candy bar.

Prescription Drugs from Vending Machines?

The idea is that people would be able to access the drugs via patient kiosks in malls or drug stores without having to make a visit to their doctor’s offices. Thereby saving patients (and insurance companies) time and money by reducing overall health care costs. Proponents of the idea say it would be a good way to get patients that are not currently being treated for these conditions, treated.

Since 1976, 106 ingredients or medications have been switched from prescription to over-the-counter (OTC) status, and this is a trend many Americans appear to support. A survey sponsored by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) revealed that 80 percent of U.S. consumers had used an OTC medicine in the last year and 86 percent believe OTC drugs help them lower health care costs.

Further, 89 percent said OTC medications are an “important part of their overall family health care,” while 81 percent use them as a “first response” to minor ailments.

But opponents argue that consumers might have trouble understanding the medical information the kiosks would dispense along with the drugs. Not to mention, the majority of Americans are already taking too many drugs, and easier access makes it likely that people will take even more — even though many chronic conditions, like elevated cholesterol, are best treated without drugs, and

As Activist Post details:

” … the vending machine could massively increase pharmaceutical drug use, which kills more individuals per year than traffic fatalities. Pharmaceutical painkillers in specific are responsible for more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. Instead of distributing even more pharmaceuticals to consumers, perhaps the FDA should focus on solutions that do not require risky pharmaceuticals that on average contain 70 side effects.”

Reference: www.mercola.com

10 Things You Need To Know About Vitamin D
1. A study has linked vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk for cancer and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis MS, and lupus.
2. One billion people do not get enough vitamin D worldwide and 70 percent of children and adults in the US are vitamin D deficient. The cause of deficiency is a combination of not enough sun exposure, and a diet low in vitamin D.
3. Hydroxychloroquine, or Plaquenil, and corticosteroids, which both can be prescribed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, are among these. Even if you are taking one of these drugs, your doctor can adjust your vitamin D dose to correct the malabsorption.
4. You can ask your doctor for a simple blood test called, 25-hydroxy vitamin D test.
5. To increase your level of vitamin D through food, you should include more oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel and tuna. Egg yolks and mushrooms also provide vitamin D as well.
6. 15 minutes of sun exposure gives you 20,000 IU of Vitamin D. However, this is without sunblock in the summer, and it is not recommended to expose your skin to the sun without sunblock for long amounts of time. This can cause skin damage and increase your risk of skin cancer.
7. There is no one-size fits all solution for taking vitamin D, how much you need depends on how deficient you are, which medical condition you have, etc. It is usually recommended that you supplement by adding 1-2,000 IU of vitamin D per day.
8. Liquid Vitamin D supplements are better. This is because the liquid form has better absorption rates and are therefore recommended above vitamin D tablets. You can find liquid form in most health food stores.
9. Not only does vitamin D play a crucial role in the absorption of calcium, but it staves off osteoporosis, which can be a risk for people with RA. It also protects those susceptible to seasonal affective disorder from becoming depressed.
10. Vitamin D plays a role in managing musculoskeletal pain from rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. It’s common for people who live with chronic pain to have a vitamin D deficiency, and for doctors to routinely check their patients and offer Vitamin D supplements as part of the treatment plan.