Heidi, Just wanted to thank you for your quick and very helpful answer to my rash problem. Reading what you wrote made so much sense and calmed me down. I've had a lot of stress in my life recently and even though I brisk walk 2 miles 4 to 5 times a week, I guess the exercise couldn't keep up with the stress

I decided against the antihistimines and have been making a conscious effort to decrease what stress I have control over. The rash has started to gradually fade and be less itchy - yea! I'm also trying to improve on getting organic food as much as possible and keep drinking that water. THANKS AGAIN for all your help and caring! mfn

Hey! Thank YOU for confirming that what I said rang true for you. This medium of exchange is necessarily incomplete, as I can't see you or hear your voice or ... "smell" you, if you know what I mean. So I'm flying on past history, combing through everything I remember you saying about your life, and letting this info percolate in my gut & produce a psychic image of your true situation. Explaining what I think will help usually involves lengthy and multiple paragraphs of hectoring, "if-then's" and redux, and you plowed through it all & picked up what applied. Job well done, dear! :-)

A note about exercise, since I see you're well committed to your regimen: Work it, girl. Keep raising the crossbar. Do a smooth jog for as much of one of those miles as you can do, every day. A "swimming" motion helps: meaning, swim through the air straight from the waist with your arms, as if you're pulling yourself forward with them (shoulders DOWN and head still), and keep your leg motions smoothly forward and effortless. Long-distance running is best undertaken with the help of a sharp-eyed coach, but the swimmy thing is a great way to gentle into the heart-pounding jog. Pause to do some pushups or situps until you're exhausted, then rise up and briskwalk the way home. When a type O has done enough exercise to release the stress chemicals, there is a feeling of euphoria, a mild "everything's fine" softness about the world. The light looks a little different. I know a guy who quit a four-pack-a-day habit cold turkey with only exercise as his aid. It's a powerhouse of medicine that costs nothing more than the time one takes to do it -- along with new athletic shoes when the old ones poop out, I hasten to say.

People's health is pretty simple, when all's said & done. Food and water. Activity that makes you feel really good. Social exchange, to the extent and of the nature that suits you. Peter's done a foundational and earth-rocking service in establishing which foods and which activities WILL punch the button for you. We weren't designed in a chemist's lab, thank God, so we can be assured that the chemists are there only to fill in what we are unwilling or unable to provide for ourselves from Nature's magical provisions, or to reverse the effects of perversions the chemists have foisted upon Nature (temporarily, friends -- only temporarily!).

I think you've got a firm vision of how to move forward, MFN, and it's a joy to see. Thanks for writing -- please continue! Early and often! :-D

Dear Heidi, I wrote you a few days ago about my homeopath and her take about my potential intolerance to Heallix. Please don't publish it; I don't want to discourage others from taking it. Heallix has been so wonderful that I hate to give it up but may start taking it like a protocoal -four weeks on and four weeks off - just to be sure. Heallix has taken care of so much for us, including parasites, infection and even lectin scrubbing! I love the way it makes me feel and don't to give it up! I'll write to Leo for guidance. Thanks, Karen

Hallo, hon! I've been waiting on publishing your Q cuz I'm waiting for a reply from Leo that I sent to him that day. Never fear, we're not playing patty-cake here. Our mission is to ferret out the truth, no matter what it is, so -- although I can't imagine what part of Heallix your homeopath thinks may trigger intolerance, since fulvic acid is absorbed where needed OR excreted, and ionized silver is bound to its targets then excreted -- if any possible intolerance COULD occur then everyone should know about it ASAP.

And if anyone out there has experienced any ill effects from Heallix (aside from the expected detox in some cases), by Harry I want to hear about it!! Speak up, lads & lasses!! :-)

We'll figger it out, Karen, and we'll be yakking very distinctly about it! Thanks so much for your kindness! :-D

Dear Heidi, Hmmmn...just read your reply to my query on mercury detoxing. I did not do the gallbladder flush before starting the chlorella/cilantro, etc. detox, so guess I should wait til I finish (which could be a looooong time). Hopefully, I have not done myself any harm in NOT doing it before I started!

I don't have a problem keeping my bowels moving, and if I do, I take more Trifala (I generally take only one capsule daily, whereas the bottle says to take 2 with each meal). Fortunately, the wonderful fresh figs are still in good supply, and I eat 2 heaping tablespoons of ground, soaked flax seeds as well.

I did read about the flush, however, as well as all your comments on it in various columns, and have a couple of questions for future reference. One, are the various pre-flush supplements (bitters? etc.) necessary as I would have to have them shipped to France. Two, I don't have a juicer and do not intend to buy one, and cannot find fresh juices here. Are the (not fresh) juices in health food stores okay to use? And, I think you recently said that a type O nonnie can use apple juice (exceptionally, of course!) for the fast??? As always, merci mille fois for your column! a bientot, Abby

Bonjour, Abby! No harm in not doing the flush before you started. Rather, it aids the process IF you do it before starting the metal detox.

Keeping those bowels at peak efficiency is a must through your ditch-the-metal process, and I'm very happy to hear all's well in that area for you.

The bitters, gold coin grass, etc. are not at all necessary for the flush unless you have good reason to suspect years-old large stones in the gallbladder. If you've had scans showing big muthahs in there, the flush will be far more pleasant and anxiety-free if the full protocol including herbs (as outlined by Julia at www.sensiblehealth.com) is followed. This is of more moment for folks over 60 years of age whose diets have offended them.

I would only do this flush if I had a juicer on hand. I'd never attempt it with storebought apple juice, for instance, "organic" or not. No enzymes! They Daid! They been PASTEURized away! ;-) I wouldn't go forward with olive oil and some such pasteurized canned or bottled grapefruit or lemon juice (granted, the citrus guys are easily relieved of their juices with a fork & a squeeze, so a citrus juicer or plain fork answers the need there).

On lots of thought (non-medically-educated as it is), and with the several successful experiences I and other O-NSs have had with apple juice in the flushes, I would venture to opine that apple juice for that day or two is an OK O-Nonnie thing for this therapeutic application. It does have a stone-softening effect, and it is quite the colon-cleanser in its innocent-looking little way. Mind you, when I say "apple," I mean very tart, low-sugar, green Granny Smiths. Not your head-poundingly sweet Fujis, Deliciouses, Romes or even MacIntoshes. Instead of GSs, if you can get Northern Spys, or one of the other sour, heritage pie apples, all the better.

I have one last impression to share with you: don't tempt me to send my old friend Chris to your door with a juicer in hand. I don't want him falling in love with yet another woman. He has too many to juggle already. And I'm sure you wouldn't want such a disturbance in your household, either. he's endowed with far more charm than any one being should be entrusted with...

so........ ? :-D

Ooops, Sorry to hog up all your time, Heidi, but I just remembered a question I have that is kinda urgent..... My step-daughter and her hubby will be here next weekend (Sept 5) and we are going to take them out to a couple of restaurants with delicious avoids.....

I have been 100% compliant on the O nonnie diet with the exception of my 1/2 bottle of red wine daily with dinner, and indulging with my husband on margaritas maybe 3 times since I went "nonnie" last December. I have even quit my tasty Essene bread, and since there are fresh figs now, have not even been eating rice cakes with my almond butter for breakfast.

Soooo, Friday night we will go to an Italian restaurant on the sea that serves these thin, crusty pizza bread things that one douses with olive oil as an "amuse bouche." How much harm would eating this wheat do on a one-time-only basis???

I don't have any Deflect, but I do have some NAC and (can't remember the word.....some seaweed/kelp stuff in Deflect which is good for thyroid...). Would this help, or should I just be brave and turn down the appetiser???

Also, we will go to an Indian place on Monday night. I can skip the naan, but would the papadums (garbanzo flour, I think) be too terrible??? If you remember, my doctor thought I may have a celiac problem, so that is why I quit the Essene bread in June- not the lectin thing.

Before finding out I was a nonnie, I used to cheat with occasional wheat items without any noticable effect..... So, what do you think????? merci, Abby

You again!! (LOL!! ~~:-D just kidding! :-D)

I think... you're just trying to torture me with longings for those foods I loved so much. That's what I think. :-D

OK: from the foccacia, the harm you'll notice is that you'll feel foggy, moody, achy and deep-down-uncomfortable. You may be running to the chambre aux dames (tee hee, Franglais at work) at inconvenient moments. GOOP that bread up with olive oil! and yes, take the n-acetyl glucosamine, early and often. You can't over do it. Coat your innards with it before, during (if possible) and after. And drink prodigious amounts of salted and/or lemon'ed water (away from the meals part).

If 'twere me, I'd subtly not eat that particular "amuse gueule" in favor of some fresh whole sardines (or any tiny whole fish they have on hand) fried in oil. They're a regional Italian specialty, and many exported chefs have wept at the difficulty in convincing non-Italians of their magnficence. Make a lifelong friend of the chef (and discover a tasty new favorite) by requesting them. ;-)

As to the Indian joint, I honestly can't say what chickpea flour will do to you on this one occasion. Perhaps that "Indian Spice" (the closest translation I've managed to extract from waiters) incorporated in the crisps are somewhat protective -- or not. :-( That's not the only, or the worst, challenge you'll face when contemplating an Indian restaurant menu. Heaven knows I've run that gauntlet, and come up very envious of type As and Bs. ;-) Golly, dear, I can only wish ya luck there!

HEY! What the heck's wrong with doing a high-end bistro and a quayside fish restaurant instead of these two (SEDUCTIVE) Italian/Indian deals? just my two centîmes for your consideration. ;->

I certainly think you'll all have a marvelous time, and please do write and tell me how it worked out, Abby! Be well, and keep that soul-sword sharp & shiny! :-D