The Great American Health Hoax: The Surprising Truth About How Modern Medicine Keeps You Sick—How to Choose a Healthier, Happier, and Disease-Free Life

by Raymond Francis

Many people ask if eating organic foods really makes a difference. A 2003 study in Environmental Health Perspectives provides the answer. One group of children was fed a diet that was 75 percent organic foods, while another group was fed 75 percent conventional foods. The children’s urine was then measured for pesticides. The children eating conventional foods measured four times the official safety limit. Yet after only a few days, the children in the organic group measured only one-sixth as much as the conventional group and within the safety limit. Eating organic does make a difference—a big difference.

Eating just one serving of processed meat per day, such as a hot dog, sausage, or a few pieces of bacon, can increase your risk of premature death by over 20 percent.

No amount of processed meat is safe, and no one should eat processed meats.

Choosing what you eat is vital for your health, and choosing how you cook is also important. Glass, Corningware, ceramics, and stainless are your best options. Aluminum, iron, copper, and nonstick cookware are your worst options. Aluminum easily leeches into cooked foods, and the toxic effects of small amounts are cumulative and highly toxic. Iron and copper cookware both leach metals into the food that can accumulate to toxic levels. Nonstick coatings are made with perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which give off toxic fumes when heated. PFCs are also found in food wrappers, other consumer products, and seafood. They accumulate in the body and compromise the immune system.

are extremely toxic and almost always unnecessary. William Osler, M.D., once said, “The person who takes medicine must recover twice. Once from the disease and once from the medicine.”

Fortunately, drugs are unnecessary. It is difficult to think of a drug for which there is not a safer, less expensive, and more effective alternative.

Toothpaste is something most people use daily without realizing it is a dangerous source of toxins. Read the warning label on the box: if you swallow more than a little, you should seek medical assistance. Toothpaste contains a deadly mixture of toxins, such as fluoride; artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners; and synthetic detergents like sodium lauryl sulfate. All of these can pass through the mucous membranes and bioaccumulate in the body, leading to toxic overload and disease. The mucous membranes in your mouth are very permeable, so if you expose yourself to toxic toothpaste daily, you are bioaccumulating a lot of toxins. Like other personal care products, there are safe brands of toothpaste, such as the Weleda brand.

Handle cash register receipts carefully and wash your hands after touching them. Do not drink or eat products packaged in cans. Do not use plastic water bottles. Limit use of canned foods and beverages. Use only safe, natural brands of cosmetics, personal care products, perfumes, and cleaning products.

Do not microwave food; even healthy foods come out altered in ways that are toxic.

Avoid medical x-rays and opt out of the airport scanners.

The power of the mind to heal or make you sick is almost limitless. Your nervous system is the master computer that checks, balances, and controls all the other systems in your body. Every thought and emotion trigger the release of chemical messengers throughout the body. In other words,

there is no such thing as “just a thought.” Every thought has a physical consequence, for better or for worse.

Just as you are what you eat, you are what you think. Just as you can choose what you eat, you can choose what you think. If you are sick and want to get well, you must change both what you eat and what you think.

In 1908 Dr. Eli Jones, in his book Cancer: Its Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment, said that stress is the number-one cause of cancer. Modern studies support his thinking. Patrick Quillin, Ph.D., in his book Beating Cancer with Nutrition, said, “In my years of experience, about 90% of the cancer patients I deal with have encountered a major traumatic event 1–2 years prior to the onset of cancer.” The mind and the immune system are so intertwined that negative thinking depresses the activity of the immune system. When a person gives up and feels that life is no longer worth living, the immune system gives up as well.