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The Healing Power of Understanding Your Body's Natural Design
Did you know that your body possesses an extraordinary capacity for self-healing that rivals the most sophisticated medical technologies? Barbara O'Neill's "Sustain Me" reveals this remarkable truth while challenging conventional wisdom about disease and healing. This groundbreaking work has become a quiet revolution in the wellness community, with thousands of readers reporting transformative health improvements after applying its principles. Unlike typical health books that simply prescribe remedies, O'Neill's approach delves into the fundamental mechanisms of how our bodies function-or malfunction-based on the conditions we provide them. Her unique blend of ancient wisdom and modern science has attracted attention from integrative medicine practitioners worldwide, including Dr. Andrew Weil, who praised her holistic understanding of the body's interconnected systems. Whether you're battling chronic illness or simply seeking optimal wellness, this book offers a compelling roadmap to reclaiming your health through understanding the body's innate intelligence.
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The Carbon Cycle: Nature's Blueprint for Health and Disease
The human body is an exquisite self-healing organism designed to restore itself when given the right conditions. Unfortunately, most people lack understanding of these conditions, resulting in widespread illness despite billions spent on medical care. We understand how to maintain machines like cars and computers, yet remain astoundingly ignorant about maintaining our own bodies.
This fundamental disconnect begins with our understanding of life's basic cycle. The Bible states "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19), a concept science calls the Carbon Cycle. This process describes how living matter is broken down and returned to dust upon death through the action of microorganisms. When cells become damaged, these microorganisms transform and begin their decomposition work-establishing the fundamental pattern underlying both decay and disease.
The soil teems with microscopic organisms-bacteria, fungi, and yeast-whose purpose is returning matter to dust. A simple compost bin demonstrates this cycle: kitchen scraps and garden waste enter, microorganisms break down the material producing acid by-products, and finished compost emerges with essential nutrients released back to the soil. Though seemingly inhospitable, fungi can thrive in harsh environments, remaining dormant for decades until food becomes available.
This same principle operates throughout nature. Plants depend on microbes for their existence, directing 50 percent of their glucose to feed surrounding microorganisms, which in turn fix nitrogen, recycle minerals, remove toxins, and protect against pathogens. The same microorganisms active in a plant's growth also cause its breakdown-an apple grows by their action, ripens by their action, and if not eaten, rots by their action.
In humans, our bodies contain more microorganisms than cells, with the largest concentration in the gastrointestinal tract. Like soil microbes, they break down nutrients into absorbable forms. Our intestinal villi function like plant roots, with blood vessels absorbing nutrients broken down by these microscopic life forms. When our bodies become damaged through poor lifestyle choices, these same beneficial microorganisms transform into a "clean-up brigade," evolving into forms that break down damaged tissue-the very process we call disease.
Consider "Sick Steve," a 35-year-old smoker with constant cell damage in his lungs from tobacco's chemicals. His microorganisms continuously evolve into "clean-up" bacteria, causing frequent coughing. When exposed to a cold virus, these bacteria multiply rapidly in his damaged respiratory system, while his health-conscious brother remains unaffected because his healthy body offers no food for these microbes. Steve's subsequent antibiotic treatment kills both harmful bacteria and beneficial gut flora, allowing Candida albicans yeast to multiply and create a cascade of health problems-a perfect illustration of how our lifestyle choices directly impact the microbial balance that determines our health.
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The Historical Understanding of Disease as Repair
Great minds throughout history have recognized that disease is often the body's natural repair process rather than a random affliction. Florence Nightingale, who reduced death rates from 50% to just 2% during the Crimean War through improved hygiene and nutrition, described disease as a reparative process-the body's effort to remedy poisoning or decay that may have occurred months or years earlier. She recognized that disease is actually the body's friend attempting repair, but if inhibited by drugs or neglect, this repair process might prove fatal.
French Professor Antoine Bechamp conducted revealing experiments with microscopic life forms in the late 1800s. In one experiment, he sealed a dead cat in an airtight container. Four months later, only dust and bones remained. The microorganisms vital to the cat's life had evolved into a clean-up brigade (bacteria), followed by exterminators (yeast/fungus) and undertakers (mould), successfully bringing matter back to dust. When examined under microscope, the dust teemed with microorganisms that had "devolved" back to their original form after completing their role in the Carbon Cycle.
This pleomorphic understanding of microbes-their ability to change forms within the human body-challenges Louis Pasteur's monomorphism theory that has dominated modern medicine. Multiple scientists have documented this phenomenon over decades. Florence Seibert isolated bacteria from every tumor and leukemia specimen she examined, noting their remarkable ability to change shape depending on growth conditions. Dr. Virginia Livingston and Dr. Eleanor Alexander Jackson declared that a single cancer microorganism exists but changes form, making it difficult to classify.
By 1980, bacteriologists Sorin Sonea and Maurice Parisset confirmed bacterial pleomorphism as scientific fact. Dr. Robert Young later identified a pleomorphic cycle where microforms become bacteria, then yeast, fungus, and finally mold-all producing acids that poison the human body. This process mirrors the Carbon Cycle described in Genesis, where microorganisms facilitate decomposition in nature, serving as "undertakers" that break down organic matter. Without these organisms, Earth would be covered in rubbish.
This historical understanding suggests that many diseases represent the body's attempt to repair damage caused by poor lifestyle choices, environmental toxins, and nutritional deficiencies-a perspective that radically changes how we might approach treatment and prevention.
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The Fungal Connection to Modern Disease
Fungus is neither plant nor animal but a living microorganism requiring food. With an estimated 1.5 million different fungi species, they share similar dietary preferences that fuel their growth. Sugar in all forms is fungi's favorite food, with pure crystallized sugar being particularly potent in stimulating fungal multiplication. When denied refined sugar, fungi will accept honey, maple syrup, and fruit sugars. Foods that encourage fungal growth include alcoholic beverages (containing mycotoxins), yeast bread, peanuts, cooked rice, brewer's yeast, yeast extracts, mushrooms, and any moldy foods including aged cheeses.
Unhealthy lifestyle habits cause cell damage, triggering the body's microorganisms to evolve into a bacterial clean-up brigade. With continued poor habits, these bacteria evolve into yeast and fungus. Most modern foods contain added sugar-fungi's favorite food-allowing unhindered multiplication. The waste from these microforms is toxic and disease-causing.
Mycotoxins-the "urine and feces" of fungi-are designed to kill anything competing for the fungi's food source. They number potentially in the millions and cause disease in plants, animals, and humans. Economic losses from mycotoxins in food and feed were estimated at $932 million annually in the US alone (2003). Modern large-scale food storage creates ideal conditions for mould growth, particularly in corn, wheat, and peanuts.
The most toxic fungal species include Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium, which produce disease-causing mycotoxins like Aflatoxin-considered the most carcinogenic substance ever tested and linked to liver cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and other serious conditions. Aflatoxin has been detected in liver tissue of children with Kwashiorkor, and research shows it interacts with hepatitis B as a risk factor for liver cancer.
Over the past century, numerous researchers have established compelling connections between fungus and disease, particularly cancer. Professor A.V. Constantine, former head of the WHO's Department of Mycology, documented in his Fungal Bionic Series how fungi and mycotoxins cause major degenerative and cancerous diseases. Doug Kaufmann's books, particularly "The Germ That Causes Cancer," reveal that this link has been known for over a hundred years.
In 2007, Dr. Tullio Simoncini published "Cancer is a Fungus," concluding that "Candida is truly the cancer" and demonstrating remarkable results treating cancer with sodium bicarbonate-an inexpensive substance that creates an alkaline environment where cancer cannot survive. Unlike traditional antifungals to which fungi develop resistance, sodium bicarbonate's simple structure makes it difficult for fungi to adapt to its effects.
This fungal connection suggests a revolutionary approach to preventing and treating modern diseases by focusing on creating internal conditions where fungi cannot thrive-primarily through dietary changes, alkalizing the body, and supporting the body's natural defenses.
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Rethinking Cancer Treatment Through the Fungal Lens
Modern cancer treatments face serious criticism from medical professionals when viewed through the fungal understanding of disease. Professor Gianfranco Valse Pantellini describes chemotherapy as having "a devastating action on the whole organism" based on the paradoxical premise that "that which causes cancer cures it." Dr. Simoncini argues that chemotherapy destroys everything indiscriminately, exhausting bone marrow and blood cells while irreversibly damaging the liver and nervous system.
In 2006, three Australian oncologists published a groundbreaking study in Clinical Oncology analyzing all randomized controlled trials in Australia and the US. Despite deliberately overestimating chemotherapy's benefits where data were uncertain, they concluded that chemotherapy contributes just over 2 percent to improved survival rates in cancer patients-a finding that received attention in Australia but was met with silence internationally.
Radiotherapy attempts to burn out cancer cells but struggles to destroy cancer without damaging surrounding tissues and organs. Damaged tissues become targets for opportunistic fungus. Rather than addressing the cause, radiotherapy may initially regress cancer growth but ultimately creates an environment where cancer can flourish.
Surgery creates damage, providing a fruitful environment for fungal increase. Dr. Simoncini found some benefit when extremely large tumors can be safely removed and the area washed with sodium bicarbonate. However, the body is designed to heal itself, and if a tumor hasn't blocked major body functions, it may be reduced and eliminated given the right conditions.
These toxic treatments fail to address cancer's root causes and involve significant risks. Common sense suggests treatments that burn, poison and slash the human body contradict the body's inbuilt healing mechanisms. We have a moral and ethical obligation to investigate alternatives working with the body's inherent healing powers.
If cancer is indeed related to fungal overgrowth, then creating an internal environment hostile to fungi-through alkalizing foods, antifungal herbs, proper nutrition, and lifestyle changes-might offer a more effective approach without the devastating side effects of conventional treatments. Future generations may look back on current cancer treatments as barbarically as we now view bloodletting.
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The Genetic Component: Beyond Determinism
Inside every human cell nucleus lies an enormous library of genetic information-three billion genetic letters forming the human genome. This information, stored in DNA's double strand, contains codes for developing everything from tiny cellular mitochondria to major organs. Not just anatomy and physiology, but talents and predispositions are encoded in our genes, with RNA carrying out DNA's instructions for cell reproduction.
However, contrary to popular belief, we are not in bondage to our genetic code. Most DNA mutations result from mineral deficiencies that cause faulty messages from DNA to RNA, explaining why diseased cells continue reproducing. Oxygen deprivation makes DNA susceptible to breakage. Dr. Linus Pauling discovered cancer resulted from broken genes caused by cellular oxygen deficiency. Oxygen levels drop from breathing poor air, lack of exercise, chemical and heavy metal poisoning, gastric dysfunction, and deficiencies in vitamin B12, iron and copper.
DNA's outer structure consists of polysaccharides found in complex carbohydrates like whole grains, root vegetables and fruits. The connecting rungs are made from amino acids (nucleotides) found in legumes, nuts and seeds. These rungs attach to the structure via minerals, most abundantly found in dark green leafy vegetables.
Australian soil has been mineral deficient for about 50 years due to overtaxing, lack of crop rotation and inadequate soil replenishment. Superphosphate fertilizers produce quick growth but kill soil microbes that deliver minerals to plants. The resulting high phosphorus levels decrease calcium and magnesium. Chemical treatments further compromise nutrient content while adding toxins.
The human genome contains millions of mineral references, illustrating their critical importance to genetic function. Aluminum appears 23 million times (though excess is toxic), cobalt 19 million (holding DNA strands together), B12 18.8 million (preventing DNA breakages), sodium 18 million, lithium 17 million, silica 17 million, boron 15.2 million, potassium 15 million, sulphur 12 million, chlorine 11 million, magnesium 11 million (major mineral in tumor-suppressing genes), phosphorus 8 million, and selenium 2 million (essential for stabilizing tumor-suppressing genes).
The good news is that the human body can heal itself when given proper conditions, especially the right nutrition. Certain "super foods" possess exceptional healing properties due to their high mineral content. Stinging nettle pulls more minerals from soil than any other plant. Aloe vera contains numerous vitamins and minerals including iridium and rhodium, which may help restore damaged DNA. Just as important are "super emotions" like love, joy, and compassion, which promote cellular healing.
This understanding of genetics offers hope-we can influence our genetic expression through proper nutrition, particularly mineral-rich foods grown in healthy soil, and positive emotional states that support healing at the cellular level.
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Nutritional Foundations for Self-Healing
The human body is a self-healing organism that will repair itself when given the right conditions-particularly the right fuel. As Hippocrates said, "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food." Our food becomes microscopic particles that reach every cell, determining our health at the cellular level.
Fiber, found abundantly in vegetables, forms the essential catalysts for every chemical reaction in the body. It stimulates peristalsis and sweeps the gastrointestinal tract clean. Importantly, refining grains to remove fiber can eliminate up to 80 percent of their vitamins.
Protein provides the amino acids necessary for DNA repair in every cell nucleus. Without protein, healing cannot occur, and energy cycles falter since each cellular chemical reaction requires specific amino acids. Every cell membrane consists of 50 percent protein and 50 percent fat. Vegetarian protein comes primarily from seeds-the reproductive part of plants containing all essential amino acids. These include grains (wheat, rye, spelt, barley, oats, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth), legumes (lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, soybeans), nuts (almonds, brazil, pecans, macadamia, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts), and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flaxseed, sesame, chia).
Fat plays crucial roles in the body. Every cell is surrounded by a lipid membrane composed of 50 percent fat and 50 percent protein. Joints need lubrication, and sex hormones and stress hormones are made from cholesterol. Fat phobia has led many to consume excessive carbohydrates, resulting in 62 percent of Australians being overweight despite following low-fat diets.
Healing fats include polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs), which only plants can create. These are vital for cell membrane construction and brain function. The omega-3 family includes EPA and DHA (found in cold-water fish that eat red algae) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) from flaxseed, chia, hemp, walnut and soybean. DHA constitutes 25% of the brain, 40% of cortical gray matter, and 90% of retinal fatty acid.
The human body consists of 45% saturated fat, 50% monounsaturated fat, and only 5% polyunsaturated fat, indicating our bodies need over ten times more saturated and monounsaturated fats than polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fat provides energy, enables vitamin and mineral absorption, and supports tissue growth, repair and maintenance.
Modern humans consume unprecedented amounts of carbohydrates, with severe consequences: 280 new diabetes diagnoses daily due to pancreatic strain, 62% of Australians overweight from excess glucose storage as fat, and increased cancer rates since cancer cells thrive on glucose. Carbohydrates should be the negotiable part of meals, with consumption adjusted based on individual factors like size, activity level, and health status.
Up to 70% of Australians are gluten sensitive, intolerant, or celiac due to gluten-heavy diets, hybridized wheat with more complex gluten structures, premature introduction of grains to infants, and mineral-deficient soil that compromises proper gluten digestion.
Given these factors, it's wise to prioritize fiber, adequate protein, sufficient fat, and add carbohydrates (preferably gluten-free) based on individual needs-a nutritional approach that supports the body's natural healing mechanisms rather than feeding disease processes.
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The Three-Pronged Approach to Conquering Fungal Infections
To effectively combat fungal infections, a three-pronged approach is necessary: starve the fungus, kill the fungus, and restore balance. This comprehensive strategy addresses the root causes of fungal overgrowth while supporting the body's natural defenses.
First, starve the fungus by eliminating its preferred foods. All sugars must be removed from the diet, including cane sugar, beet sugar, honey, and most fruits and fruit juices (with exceptions for lower-sugar, antifungal Granny Smith apples and grapefruit). All yeast-containing foods must be avoided, including yeasted bread (though sourdough is acceptable), alcoholic beverages, yeast spreads, brewer's yeast, mushrooms, and soy sauce. Additionally, eliminate old food (particularly cooked food over two days old), corn and wheat (vulnerable to fungal growth during storage), peanuts (notorious for fungal infestation), meat and dairy (animals often consume moldy grains, and casein encourages fungal growth).
Second, kill the fungus using several herbs and foods with antifungal properties. Powerful antifungal herbs include garlic (which may cause a "die-off" reaction as toxins are released), olive leaf extract (rich in oleuropein), oregano oil (containing potent antifungal phytochemicals), Pau D'Arco (containing the fungicide lapachol), Horopito (a New Zealand herb available as Kolorex capsules), grapefruit seed extract (one of the strongest fungus killers), and iodine (particularly Lugol's solution). Alkalizing the body also helps kill fungus, which thrives in acidic environments. Foods with antifungal properties include coconut (40% antifungal due to caprylic acid), legumes (particularly soy), and most raw nuts and seeds (which contain natural antifungal properties to survive storage).
Third, restore balance by addressing gut flora imbalance. The gastrointestinal tract contains the body's largest concentration of microorganisms, including beneficial yeasts and bacteria that must exist in proper balance. When drugs, antibiotics, alcohol, refined sugar, stress and unhealthy lifestyle habits destroy healthy bacteria, opportunistic Candida multiplies out of control. Restoring balance requires encouraging the presence of beneficial bacteria through cultured foods like sourdough bread, sauerkraut, miso, tofu, tempeh and soy yoghurt, along with probiotic supplements.
The Antifungal Food Program consists of two stages: stage one should be followed for at least one month before implementing stage two. For those battling long-term yeast/fungal problems, stage one delivers an initial blow to these organisms, while stage two serves as an effective maintenance program.
For cancer patients, a more intensive Cancer-Conquering Diet enables the body to eliminate cancer by creating conditions where cancer cells self-destruct. Since cancer cells run at up to 15 times the rate of normal cells and depend heavily on glucose, this six-week diet radically reduces glucose intake while providing plant protein, essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and just enough carbohydrates to support healing.
This three-pronged approach recognizes that each person must fine-tune the program based on their individual circumstances including age, fitness, environment, and health status-but the fundamental principles remain consistent for addressing fungal-related health problems.
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Creating an Alkaline Environment for Optimal Health
Fungus thrives in acidic environments, making pH balance crucial for health. The pH scale measures potential hydrogen, with even slight deviations from normal potentially causing dangerous imbalances. While blood pH is constantly balanced by lungs and kidneys (death occurs at 7.22 from acidosis or at 8.0 from alkalosis), cellular pH can vary and be tested through urine and saliva.
Microorganisms like bacteria, yeasts and fungi create highly acidic conditions through their waste products. These organisms not only produce acid but thrive and multiply rapidly in acidic environments, creating a dangerous cycle. Maintaining proper pH is therefore crucial for eliminating fungal infections and cancer.
Green vegetables and grasses are excellent sources of alkaline salts that combat fungus-the greener, the better. Green juice extracted from plants powerfully alkalizes while cleansing blood and tissues. Chlorophyll, the pigment making plants green, has a molecular structure nearly identical to human blood and can build hemoglobin. Its therapeutic benefits include rich antioxidant content that clears radiation and toxins, limits harmful microorganism growth, stimulates cell repair, and protects against toxic chemicals.
Inside our cells' mitochondria, glucose molecules are burned for energy, leaving behind ash-a chemical and metallic residue that combines with body fluids to create either acidic or alkaline conditions. Whether foods leave acidic or alkaline ash depends primarily on their mineral composition. Alkaline-forming elements include calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium and iron, while acid-forming elements include sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine and iodine. For optimal health, our diet should contain 80% alkaline-forming foods and 20% acid-forming foods.
Lifestyle habits significantly impact acid/alkaline balance. Oxygen vitalizes cells and prevents anaerobic conditions where fungus and cancer thrive. To increase cellular oxygen: practice proper nose breathing using abdominal muscles, maintain good posture, exercise regularly, and breathe fresh air. Sunshine helps alkalize the body, with just an hour of daily exposure providing significant benefits. Sunlight converts cholesterol under the skin to vitamin D, which inhibits cancer cell growth and aids calcium metabolism.
Temperance means avoiding harmful substances and moderating beneficial ones. Alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, tobacco, drugs, chemicals, and heavy metals all create acidic conditions. Both excessive and insufficient sleep create acidic conditions, with cells regenerating twice as fast during sleep. Exercise increases oxygen availability to cells, creating an alkaline environment where cancer cannot survive. Twenty minutes of aerobic exercise activates human growth hormone (HGH), which improves protein utilization and shifts metabolism from burning glucose to burning fat.
Water alkalizes the body, and many experience acidic conditions due to dehydration. The average human body loses two to three liters of water daily with no reserve tank, requiring equivalent pure water intake as replacement. Sodium, the third most vital element for life, should be consumed as found in nature. Celtic and Himalayan unrefined sea salts contain approximately 82 minerals, while common table salt contains only sodium and chloride.
Mental health also impacts pH balance. Laughter creates a merry heart and releases healing hormones. Faith creates an alkaline environment, while fear produces acidity. Negative emotions like grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, and distrust break down life forces and invite decay and death. Faith, hope, power, love, and a sound mind promote healing.
By addressing both dietary and lifestyle factors that influence pH balance, we can create an internal environment where health flourishes and disease cannot thrive-a fundamental principle for preventing and reversing fungal-related conditions.
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The Body's Digestive Intelligence: Keys to Optimal Function
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is one of the body's most powerful self-healing weapons, acting as a potent fungicide. Produced in the liver and released into the stomach during eating, optimal HCl levels allow some to be absorbed into the bloodstream where it destroys blood-borne fungus. Research shows most people lose 10% of their digestive enzymes per decade after age 20. Food needs to swim in 3200-4000mg of HCl per meal for proper digestion. Contrary to common belief, most "acid stomach" issues stem from insufficient HCl, causing food to ferment in the stomach and produce the acid condition and bloating.
Hydrochloric acid converts pepsinogen to pepsin (the enzyme that breaks down protein), opens interior bonds of protein structure for pepsin access, releases nutrients from food compounds, and acts as a bactericide and fungicide that kills harmful organisms in food. In ideal conditions, residues of this enzyme can enter the bloodstream to destroy yeast and fungus.
To optimize HCl production: drink 2 liters of water daily between meals (stopping 30 minutes before eating and resuming two hours after); consume lemon juice before or with meals; include protein in the first few bites; chew food thoroughly to maximize enzyme effectiveness; allow 5-hour gaps between meals for proper digestion and enzyme recovery; consume bitter herbs like cayenne pepper, dandelion, fennel, garlic, gentian, ginger, golden seal, green drinks, and St. Mary's Thistle; maintain a relaxed, cheerful atmosphere while eating; drink one-third cup of hot water before meals to bring blood to the stomach; consider Betaine Hydrochloride supplements from beetroot; and use proteolytic enzymes like papain (from papaya) or bromelain (from pineapple) if needed.
The liver functions as the body's project manager and master chemist, essential for maintaining wellness and fighting disease. This largest internal organ processes everything entering the body, with all blood passing through it every 14 minutes. Uniquely capable of self-healing and regeneration when nutritionally supported, the liver determines what happens to every substance entering the body.
The liver manufactures bile salts for fat emulsification and absorption, produces anticoagulants like heparin and plasma proteins, stores glycogen, copper, iron, and vitamins A, D, E and K. It processes everything we eat, converting food to glucose and determining whether it should be used as immediate fuel, stored as glycogen for quick energy, or converted to fat for long-term storage. The liver detoxifies excess estrogen and transforms toxic substances to make them less harmful and easier to excrete.
The liver's detoxification process occurs in three phases. In phase one, it breaks down fat-soluble toxins into metabolites, creating a highly reactive stage that produces free radicals. To manage this volatile process, the liver requires powerful antioxidants, B vitamin complex, minerals including magnesium and zinc, liver-stimulating herbs, and essential fatty acids. Phase two involves conjugating the metabolites with amino acids to create a water-soluble state for safe excretion, requiring sulphur-bearing amino acids from vegetarian proteins, vegetables from the brassica family, turmeric, and St Mary's Thistle. Phase three, the anti-porter system, eliminates water-soluble toxins while simultaneously pulling in new toxins for processing, primarily needing essential fatty acids omega 3 and 6 to maintain cell fluidity and integrity.
Understanding and supporting these digestive processes through proper nutrition and lifestyle practices forms another cornerstone of the body's self-healing capabilities-enabling it to properly process nutrients while effectively eliminating toxins that could otherwise contribute to disease.
