Our 6 Week Ultra-Wellness Plan

Daily Needs:
6-8 glasses of filtered water
1,000-2,000 mg buffered pure ascorbic acid (Vitamin C)
2 T ground flaxseed
Multi-vitamin and other supplements as necessary

Do’s and Don’ts of Eating:
No white flour or sugar products
If it has a label, don’t eat it
Include protein for breakfast
Organic if possible
No Dairy or Gluten

The Day after Easter

We spent a wonderful ten days of spring break visiting family in Canada and spending time at our Worldmark Condominium in West Yellowstone. I enjoyed my sugar cereal, my favorite Canadian candy bars (Big Turks, especially), my Costco double chocolate muffins, my Tim Horton timbits and more, each with the thought that in a few days these things would not be on the menu. We returned home Sunday evening, unpacked and stayed up until 4 AM helping my 9th grader finish off a project for his Science class. We barely woke up the next morning with no food in the house. No eggs, no fresh produce. Pretty much nothing, but we did have candy from the Easter baskets. This was not a good way to start out the “program”. My husband skipped breakfast. I ate some Rice Crackers. He called me at lunch and said, “What can I eat?” I told him to go buy a salad. I ate more rice crackers and some ham. This clearly wasn’t working. We had decided to skip the preparation week as most of it seemed designed to slowly wean people off of alcohol and caffeine, neither of which was something we had in our diet already, however it was time to figure out what our plan was.

Varying Opinions ... what’s yours?

While at my in-laws house during spring break, I was looking at some of their books and found one called Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To Know About by Kevin Trudeau I spent some of our free time going through it as I was interested in what the book had to say about heartburn and ulcers. Much of the book was dedicated to a great conspiracy theory regarding Pharmaceutical companies, Food Companies, and the Government. Not much ready to buy into that, it did give me some things to think about though, after my experience with the Prevacid.

The drug companies were certainly getting a lot of money out of me, to cure heartburn, with the knowledge that I would probably have to use more than the thirty in my bottle. The book gives some basic lists of things a person can do naturally. The book is still at my in-laws, but I took the time to write down the lists. His basic take on life is

Clean out Toxins
Stop Putting Toxins in
Fix Nutritional Deficiencies
Avoid Electromagnetic Chaos
Reduce Stress

Now, the interesting thing is, since I have returned home, I googled Kevin Trudeau. I was not familiar with him and I wanted to know if the internet would give me clues as to the truthfulness of his conspiracy theories. I guess I don’t watch enough infomercials. Apparently he has done quite a few in his lifetime and people either love him or hate him. The reviews on Amazon for his book were all good or all bad, no in between. It was weird to me that people have such opposing opinions, however, when I mentioned that to my husband he mentioned politics and how the same people here the same speech and both come out with different takes on it. So, yes, I guess that makes sense. Outside of Amazon there are many reviews of Trudeau’s books that are more reviews of the man, rather than his book. If someone has taken the time to review him, it seems like he or she doesn’t like him very much.

I actually found that much of what was in his basic lists agreed with the basics of the book by Dr. Hyman. I then went to Amazon and read the reviews for the The Ultra Mind Solution. Interestingly enough, it was the same way, very positive or very negative. I have found, though, that outside reviewers have all been very positive about the information found in Dr. Hyman’s book.

When!?!

My husband and I looked at the calendar and decided we would begin the program following our Spring Break trip. We have a good six week period without many interferences. We would start the Monday after Easter. Now, the program recommends a one week preparation period where you eliminate sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats or trans fats, junk food, alcohol, and caffeine. Following the preparation week we were then to remove all gluten and dairy from our diet. Dr. Hyman says these are the two major food allergens that lead to health problems.

Making a Commitment

I finished the book and determined that I wanted to try out what the book calls “the Six-Week Basic Brain-Boosting Program”. Which consists of the following:
1. A healthy eating plan designed to help you heal and optimize your brain.
2. Basic supplements you need to take to balance and enhance your brain chemistry.
3. Lifestyle changes including exercise, relaxation, sleep, and “brain” or mental exercises.
4. Living clean and green to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins and support a sustainable future for us all. (See pg 289, The Ultra Mind Solution, Mark Hyman, M.D.)

Back to the Book

So, while all of this is going on with my heartburn and my tingly fingers I am reading the UltraMind Solution. In the book, Dr. Hyman has a whole section entitled, “The Dangers of Acid-Blocking Drugs”. He mentions Prevacid by name. He discusses the potential of these drugs to prevent proper food digestion, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and irritable bowel syndrome. He specifically mentions vitamin B-12 deficiencies. At the same time I did a google search on Vitamin B and found that Vitamin B deficiencies can lead to neurological problems, such as tingly hands and feet. It was all coming together and I didn’t like what I was seeing. I immediately quit taking the Prevacid. I have been off the Prevacid for 3 weeks and the tingly feelings in my hands and arms have nearly gone away.

Prescription Drugs

A few weeks prior to this I had gone to the doctor with an extreme pain just below my sternum. It had come on one evening and the next day had not gone away and was very painful to the touch. The doctor diagnosed me with GERD and gave me a prescription for Prevacid. This is a stomach acid blocker. By taking it I would relieve the pain, it also seemed if I continued to take it that it would close up an ulcer if by chance I had one. I was also told that if I continued to have problems I should probably go and get a scope put down my throat to check out the level of damage. Wow, this miracle drug turned out to be $75.00. I hoped it was a good investment. Soon after I started taking it, I noticed that as I worked on the computer my fingers would start to tingle and my hand and lower arm would fall asleep. This had never happened before, but continued on. I was concerned that something was wrong, but wasn’t sure how to go about getting it looked at or taken care of.