When I moved to the UP, the first thing I noticed was how CLEAN the air was.  There are no industries where I am to add any kind of obvious pollutants into the air or the water.  Having come from the Detroit area I knew nothing else, but once I was removed from those conditions, I started to feel better.

The next was the drinking water.  It was from my own 90 foot well, unfiltered, unprocessed, and unfluoridated.

Then there were the sights and sounds.  No longer was I listening to the constant drum of traffic.  No longer could I walk from one end of the house to the other without a flashlight because there was so much ambient light from outside 24 hours a day.  In the woods when it gets dark it gets REALLY dark and the sounds are of the leaves rustling.

I was amazed at how I felt and looked after a year of living in the woods.  Then I started doing some research.  What I have found out about the pollutants our government allows into our lives is staggering.  And what’s worse, is most of it we are unaware of, or unaware of the consequences.

Take for instance our dental fillings.  Everyone has them, right? Silver amalgam is probably the most widely known filling material. Amalgam is made up of a mixture of silver, tin, zinc, copper, and mercury, with mercury being nearly 50% of the mixture.  MERCURY, one of the most toxic materials we can be exposed to.  Remember the mercury fish scare? We were told not to eat fish from certain areas because they were so heavily contaminated.  And now mercury is widely used in vaccines to ‘stabilize’ the material, even though it’s known to be toxic, but also might be the cause in the upswing in cases of autism in our children.  This material in our fillings seeps into our blood and tissue over time.  What damage is it doing?  When I found this out, I had ALL of my fillings replaced with composite.  Plus I started using only baking soda to brush my teeth, eliminating fluorides completely.  It didn’t take long when I felt like my brain was clearing and I was thinking clearer.  Of course my dentist says fluoride is good and mercury isn’t harmful.

How about our deodorant? The first ingredient listed on every commercial antiperspirant I checked is aluminum.  ALUMINUM has been linked to Alzheimer’s and certain cancers, and we are willingly putting it on our skin, our largest organ, to be absorbed.  I now use a deodorant stone.  I’ve also gone to locally produced natural lotions for my skin, like goat’s milk and honey, instead of the creams that have a petroleum base.

Other brain fog inducing chemicals are Aspartame and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).  My favorite mixed drink is a rum and cola, but because of the calories I would drink diet cola.  Double whammy!  Now I drink spiced rum and club soda (no calories, no sweeteners) and I avoid anything with either of these as an ingredient.

Now let me mention food. Fast food is by far the worse thing we can ingest, with the fats and questionable ingredients. There are so many chemical in our foods it’s scary.  Many are to enhance the flavor, or make the food more shelf stable, or add color.  Most of the foods on the shelves these days aren’t food at all, just chemicals packed to resemble food.  No wonder we have a society of sick and over-weight people who can’t think.  Even fresh fruit and vegetables are sprayed with toxins to preserve their freshness or brighten their appeal.  My solution has been to grow my own, and to prevent the next contamination with GMO’s, I grow only heirloom or heritage plants.  I also have my own chickens for eggs and my sons hunt deer for my meat.  If I can’t be confident of the naturalness, I do without.

With all the changes I’ve made in my diet and my life, I feel healthier than ever.  Why did I do all this, instead of going with the flow?  Because I want to give myself the best possible chance to survive what is coming.