The MinBalance Handbook for "Optimum You"

Fast, Slow, and Balanced Oxidation

Oxidation rate measures how fast your cells are able to produce energy. Too fast, like a fire burning too hot, and you will run out of fuel and nutrient resources. Too slow, like a fire not hot enough, you won't get enough energy, and residues of incomplete burning accumulate.

Oxidation rate often explains many of one's concerns. Mind, body, and spirit all often improve on their own when a person is given diet and nutritional supplements personalized to their oxidation rate.

Balanced oxidation is ideal for optimum energy. Too fast won't feel better. Too slow won't feel good either.

Fast oxidizers often experience:

• diarrhea or loose stools, frequent bowel movements
• oily skin and hair
• warm hands and feet
• cravings for fats and red meat
• if not eating enough fats, cravings for sweets too
• higher blood pressure
• increased sweating
• tendency to anxiety, irritability, nervousness, or jitteriness

Slow oxidizers often experience:

• constipation
• dry skin and hair
• cold hands and feet
• cravings for sweets and salt
• preference for easier-to-digest forms of protein like chicken, fish, or vegetarian proteins
• lower blood pressure when younger, then high blood pressure when older
• reduced sweating
• tendency to sluggishness, fatigue, brain fog, despair, confusion, and depression

Dr. Watson discovered the connection between mind and oxidation rate. He assessed oxidation rate by questionnaires, blood tests, and odor recognition tests.

Dr. Eck determined oxidation status from hair mineral analysis, as follows:

• Slow oxidizers have Ca/K>4 and Na/Mg<4.17.
• Fast oxidizers have Ca/K<4 and Na/Mg>4.17.
• If both ratios are either high or low, one is a mixed oxidizer (more on mixed oxidation below).

Dr. Wilson follows Dr. Eck's approach.

Dr. Watts uses a different method:

• Slow metabolizers (parasympathetic types) have Ca/P > 2.6.
• Fast metabolizers (sympathetic types) have Ca/P < 2.6.

In many cases, the results are the same regardless of which method is used. However, in cases of four lows and four highs, we find Dr. Eck's original approach helpful. We continue to apply the approach that Dr. Eck developed and which Dr. Wilson follows.

To simplify Dr. Eck's and Dr. Wilson's approach into a single number that increases for faster oxidation and decreases for slower oxidation, we have developed the MinBalance Oxidation Index, discussed more below.

For more about fast, slow, and balanced oxidation, please see:

• https://arltma.com/newsletters/oxidation-what-is-oxidation/
• https://arltma.com/newsletters/oxidation-types/
• https://www.drlwilson.com/ARTICLES/Oxidation%20Types%201104.htm
• https://minbalance.com/#giants

Mixed Oxidation

If a person has a slow thyroid and fast adrenals, or vice versa, they are a "mixed oxidizer" under the method of Dr. Eck and Dr. Wilson. Mixed oxidation may indicate an unstable, imbalanced, or transition state. Often, mixed oxidizers are transitioning from slow to fast oxidation or from fast to slow oxidation.

Variable Oxidation

Dr. Watson called a "variable oxidizer" the rare person who cycles rapidly back and forth between fast and slow oxidation. This could occur on a day-to-day basis, or even within the course of a day.

Variable oxidizers are particularly sensitive to different kinds of foods. Dr. Watson used odor sniff tests for variable oxidizers to determine what to eat and which nutritional supplements to take on a given day. MinBalance continues to research this method.

For more on variable oxidation, see chapter 2 of Dr. Watson's book "Personality Strength and Psychochemical Energy".

MinBalance Oxidation Index

MinBalance Oxidation Index assesses your cellular oxidation rate, or rate of cellular energy metabolism. We'll personalize your program to balance the oxidation rate.

• MinBalance Oxidation Index equals:
  log₁₀((Na * K) / (Ca * Mg)) .
• Ideal MinBalance Oxidation Index is 0.0. This indicates balanced oxidation.
• A MinBalance Oxidation Index more than 0.0 indicates fast oxidation.
  +1.0 is mild fast oxidation;
  +2.0 is moderate fast oxidation;
  +3.0 is extreme fast oxidation.
• A MinBalance Oxidation Index less than 0.0 indicates slow oxidation.
  -1.0 is mild slow oxidation;
  -2.0 is moderate slow oxidation;
  -3.0 is extreme slow oxidation.

MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index

MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index assesses the relative strength of your adrenals compared with your thyroid, in terms of their effect at a cellular level.

Adrenal dominance indicates your energy often comes in short bursts, whereas thyroid dominance indicates your energy is more stable.

• MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index equals:
  ln((Ca * Na) / (16.67 * Mg * K)) .
• Balanced MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index is 0.0. This indicates balanced thyroid and adrenal activity at the cellular level.
• A positive numbered MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index indicates relatively stronger adrenal activity at the cellular level.
  +1.0 is mildly adrenal dominant;
  +2.0 is moderately adrenal dominant;
  +3.0 is extremely adrenal dominant.
• A negative numbered MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index indicates relatively stronger thyroid activity at the cellular level.
  -1.0 is mildly thyroid dominant;
  -2.0 is moderately thyroid dominant;
  -3.0 is extremely thyroid dominant.

Following Dr. Eck and Dr. Wilson's approach, we often, but not always, supplement slow oxidizers with thyroid support when the thyroid is relatively slower and adrenal support when the adrenals are relatively slower.

Dr. Watts seems to place a similar emphasis on relative strength of thyroid and adrenals in his 8 metabolic subtypes, each of which might benefit from different supplement recommendations.

MinBalance simplifies the assessment of relative adrenal and thyroid strength into one number, the MinBalance Adrenal-to-Thyroid Index.

MinBalance Topography Index

MinBalance Topography Index quantifies the degree of hill or bowl pattern present.

The graph of the first four minerals will look like a hill if the middle two (Mg and Na) are relatively higher. It will look like a bowl if the outer two (Ca and K) are relatively higher.

Hill pattern indicates joy, celebration, and completion. "Like being at the top of a hill, one can now 'spread one’s wings' and move in any direction rather easily. As the saying goes, 'it is all downhill from here'." A hill is a very encouraging pattern! Some may lose magnesium in a hill pattern and need extra magnesium. More: Dr. Wilson.

Bowl pattern "is associated with feeling stuck, mentally and emotionally, as though one has few options. One is 'in the thick of it' right now. This pattern is often related to nutritional imbalances, because when a person follows a development program, the pattern often goes away within 3 to 12 months." Limcomin supplement often helps. More: Dr. Wilson.

• MinBalance Topography Index equals:
  ln((2.67 * Mg * Na) / (Ca * K)) .
• Balanced MinBalance Topography Index is 0.0, which indicates neither a hill nor a bowl.
• A positive numbered MinBalance Topography Index indicates hill pattern.
  +1.0 is mild hilling;
  +2.0 is moderate hilling;
  +3.0 is extreme hilling.
• A negative numbered MinBalance Topography Index indicates bowl pattern.
  -1.0 is mild bowling;
  -2.0 is moderate bowling;
  -3.0 is extreme bowling.

Thyroid Ratio

Your thyroid ratio (Ca/K) indicates thyroid activity at the cellular level, an indicator of energy production capacity.

Ideal value is 4. Higher is slower thyroid activity; lower is faster.

Dr. Eck, Dr. Watts, Dr. Malter, and Dr. Wilson all assess Ca/K as thyroid ratio.

Adrenal Ratio

Your adrenal ratio (Na/Mg) indicates adrenal activity at the cellular level, an indicator of ability to respond with bursts of energy to various changes or increases in stress.

Ideal value is 4.17. Higher is faster adrenal activity; lower is slower.

Dr. Eck, Dr. Watts, Dr. Malter, and Dr. Wilson all assess Na/Mg as adrenal ratio.

Stress and Vitality Ratio

Dr. Eck considered the stress and vitality ratio (Na/K) the most important ratio on the hair mineral analysis. Dr. Watts, Dr. Malter, and Dr. Wilson also emphasize the Na/K ratio.

Ideal value is 2.5. Many people will feel much better from correcting the Na/K with supplements.

High Na/K indicates acute stress, often with excessive "fight or flight" reaction. The stress may be caused by toxins, by stimulating nutrients such as copper, by pushing too hard, by emotional stress, or by many other stressors. Inflammation and pain may be present. Good to mildly high Na/K indicates strong vitality.

Low Na/K indicates an exhausted stress response, adrenal weakness, and likely chronic infections and unresolved traumas.

Na/K ratio can help identify which minerals your body needs. High Na/K ratio usually indicates a need for a relatively higher dosage of zinc supplement. Low Na/K ratio indicates a need for a relatively lower dosage of zinc, balanced with with copper, manganese, vitamins A, C, and B6, and other nutrients in a supplement called Limcomin. These formulas were developed by Dr. Eck.

Dr. Watts and Dr. Malter warn about "pseudo-inversions" of Na/K. These occur when potassium is being lost from the cells. The potassium then shows relatively higher on a hair test, on the way out of the body, but is lower in the cells. Pseudo-inversions of Na/K would occur when the body is overwhelmed with copper or eliminating copper, which causes the cells to eliminate potassium.

Dr. Wilson recognizes a similar phenomenon which he calls "biounavailable potassium" which involves a toxic or unusable form of potassium.

MinBalance watches for indications of possible potassium pseudo-inversions or biounavailable potassium, which may include high copper levels or abrupt changes in potassium levels unaccompanied by the usual features of a low Na/K ratio.

Blood Sugar and Lifestyle Ratio

Ca/Mg is the blood sugar and lifestyle ratio. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Malter have refined Dr. Eck's and Dr. Watts' research about the Ca/Mg ratio.

Ideal is 6.67. According to Dr. Wilson, high Ca/Mg in the range of 9.5 to 13.5 indicates you are likely exceeding your tolerance for carbohydrates. Even higher Ca/Mg, greater than 13.5, indicates there is an important spiritual or lifestyle issue which you must face, and are ready to face. Low Ca/Mg below 4 indicates you may have difficulty maintaining your blood sugar level, and also may have indications of magnesium loss such as anger and confusion.

Dr. Malter notes that in addition to blood sugar issues, imbalanced Ca/Mg ratio indicates tendency toward alcoholism and addictions.

Like the Na/K ratio, the Ca/Mg ratio may show "pseudo-inversions", under the theory of Dr. Watts and Dr. Malter. These occur when magnesium is being lost from the cells. The magnesium then shows relatively higher on a hair test, on the way out of the body, but is lower in the cells.

Magnesium loss from the cells occurs under heightened stress. This helps the body increase the adrenal ratio (Na/Mg) for greater adrenal effect in the cells.

Dr. Wilson recognizes a similar phenomenon which he calls "biounavailable magnesium" which involves a high hair magnesium level showing an unusable form of magnesium.

MinBalance watches for indications of magnesium pseudo-inversions or biounavailable magnesium, which may include high magnesium levels above 9mg% (under Dr. Wilson's approach) or high stress ratio (Na/K) greater than 4 or 5, especially if accompanied by low blood sugar ratio (Ca/Mg) less than 4 (under Dr. Malter's approach). When you have biounavailable magnesium or magnesium loss, you may need higher dosages of magnesium even if you show a high Mg level.

High Calcium: Calcium Shell

Calcium shell means a Ca level above 165 mg% for women or 155 mg% for men. Calcium shell indicates psychological withdrawal, buried emotions and traumas, overwhelming stress, or difficulty handling stress. It is like placing oneself behind a wall or inside a shell or bunker, so that one can continue to function without facing the emotions. There is often depression and tiredness underneath. Copper toxicity is likely, even in the absence of a high hair copper level.

As the Ca level comes into balance on your program, watch for a flood of intense feelings, which are ready to be processed.

More: ARL, Dr. Malter, Dr. Wilson.

Low Calcium: Aggressiveness

Calcium level less than 14 mg% often indicates a heightened fight-or-flight response. With a low calcium level, you may experience hyperactivity, irritability, anxiety, muscle tension, and aggressiveness.

Low Magnesium: Belligerence

Magnesium level less than 3 mg% often indicates a tendency toward feistiness, confrontation, and belligerence.

Low magnesium signs may be present too, including irritability, nervousness, certain types of hypoglycemia, muscle twitches or tightness, cramps, insomnia, anxiety, attention deficit, and cardiovascular issues.

Low magnesium level is especially concerning when magnesium is both at a low level and also low relative to calcium (high Ca/Mg ratio). Dr. Malter believes that hair mineral analysis saved him from a likely heart attack in 1980, when he discovered his extreme magnesium deficiency, both absolute and relative to calcium.

High Sodium: Adrenal Stress

High sodium (above 50 mg%) indicates high adrenal stress and hormone levels. You may experience water retention, high blood pressure or blood sugar, hyperactivity, emotional volatility, a short temper, tantrums, anger, or aggression. Adrenal stress may relate to the presence of toxins or to many other possible stressors.

Low Sodium: Adrenal Burnout

Low sodium (below 6 mg%) indicates basic burnout of the adrenal glands. You may experience fatigue, depression, apathy, despair, negative outlook, low blood pressure or blood sugar, low body temperature, muscle weakness, digestive weakness, or achy joints.

More: Dr. Wilson.

Low Potassium: Too Active for Your State of Health

If you are a slow oxidizer with a potassium level less than 5 mg% and/or sodium/potassium ratio above 4, it means you are pushing yourself too hard for your state of health. Dr. Wilson calls this pattern "sympathetic dominance" because the sympathetic, fight-or-flight branch of your nervous system is taking over your lifestyle.

One of the most important aspects of your program is to slow down and rest more, both physically and mentally, as best you can.

Sympathetic dominance often indicates copper toxicity, regardless of whether copper level is elevated.

Phosphorus Level: Vitality and Protein Metabolism

Phosphorus level indicates vitality and protein metabolism, Dr. Wilson has found.

• Good P level (15 or 16 mg%) indicates good vitality.
• Low P level (14 mg% or lower) indicates insufficient protein construction, a catabolic state of tissue breakdown. Sometimes, but not always, eating more animal protein can correct a low P level.
• High P level (17 mg% or higher) may be caused by toxins, or may be a positive sign of rebuilding tissue with higher quality materials.

Zinc Level: Toxins and Deficiency

Zinc is gaining attention now, and is almost universally deficient today, due to depleted soils and to overload of other metals which antagonize zinc.

Dr. Wilson has found that hair zinc level indicates the following:

• High zinc level (above 16 mg%) indicates your body is mobilizing extra zinc to protect from toxins.
• Low zinc level (below 15 mg%) indicates likely zinc deficiency, and you may experience emotional instability.
• Even if showing a normal zinc level (15-16 mg%), most people still need and benefit from extra zinc to replenish long-term zinc stores.

Metal Toxicity

Toxic metals, and toxic forms of nutritional minerals, are a blockade to optimal function. They can serve as inferior substitutes for nutritional minerals in enzymes in the body. When toxins replace deficient nutritional minerals, the body's enzymes may still function, but not as well.

Elevated levels of toxins may indicate ongoing toxicity, or if you are following a MinBalance program, may show the body's elimination of a toxin is underway.

Poor Elimination of Toxins

When levels of toxic minerals, or certain nutritional minerals, are too low, it indicates the body is unable to detoxify and eliminate well. The body's detoxification is not meeting the burden of the ambient background level of toxins today.

Though the toxins are not yet showing, they are accumulating. They can be expected to be revealed later as the body detoxifies, when one is following a MinBalance program.

Patterns showing poor elimination are a more recent discovery by Dr. Wilson. They greatly enhance our ability to see how well your organs of elimination are working.

Specific Metals

For info about the specific effects and personality types of aluminum, arsenic, bromine, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, fluoride, chlorine, copper, iron, and uranium, please see Dr. Wilson's website.

Reference Values

For reference values for ideals, elevated levels, and poor elimination levels, please see Dr. Wilson's website.

Three or Four Highs Pattern

In three or four highs, at least 3 of Ca, Mg, Na, and K are above ideals. A slow oxidizer under stress, launching a secondary alarm reaction. The diet and supplements will help.

Watch for a “crash landing” into a slower pace, at which time we will need to change your supplement program.

More: ARL, Dr. Wilson.

Step Up Pattern

Step up pattern shows as fast oxidation, with a low Ca/Mg and a low Na/K. The graph looks like an upward staircase.

Step up is a pattern of stepping out of life. A danger pattern — "fast and reckless."

May be turned around quickly by a nutritional balancing program! Copper supplementation is crucial to avoid potential serious outcomes.

Note: this pattern isn't very serious if it appears temporarily on a retest.

More: Dr. Wilson.

Step Down Pattern

Step down pattern shows as slow oxidation, with a high Ca/Mg and a high Na/K, and without four lows. The graph looks like a downward staircase.

Stepping into life! Moving ahead steadily and with determination. The wall is behind, and nowhere to go but forward. Following your heart!

Zinc supplementation is crucial.

More: Dr. Wilson.

Dr. Eck's Percent Energy Loss Calculation

For more about Dr. Eck's method of calculating percentage energy loss from the thyroid and adrenal ratios, see his book "Energy," in locations 1519-1610 in the ebook.

Dr. Wilson's Burnout Indicators

For more about Dr. Wilson's method of quantifying indicators of burnout, see Dr. Wilson's website.

Cooked Veggies:

Both fast and slow oxidizers need a huge amount of the specified cooked vegetables. Both groups require 6 to preferably 9 cups per day, cooked volume.

The veggies are cooked for easier digestion. They contain the most efficient way to get Nature's abundance of nutrients in today's world, in the proper balance, despite the depleted soils.

Protein Foods:

Both fast and slow oxidizers require a balanced set of protein foods. These include lamb, beef, chicken, eggs, almond butter, and tahini. Sardines and plain unsweetened goat milk yogurt may be included too.

These protein foods, in the recommended amounts, contain the necessary protein we need to face the stresses of the modern world, but without overburdening our bodies.

They include a balance of certain nutrients found in plants, with other nutrients found in animal foods.

The protein food amounts recommended are the same for fast and slow oxidizers. However, because protein tends to speed the oxidation rate, fast oxidizers should be careful not to exceed the recommended protein amount.

Some slow oxidizers may do better with slightly more protein, and it's fine for slow oxidizers to try adding a bit more. Some slow oxidizers may also benefit from splitting their animal protein into smaller, more frequent meals.

Many people with sensitive digestion or difficulty regulating blood sugar seem to need animal protein three times a day. The extra protein provides slower and more stable release of energy throughout the day and night. If the extra animal protein seems too heavy on the digestion, you may reduce the serving size.

Added Fats:

If you're a fast oxidizer, please add 1 to 2 tablespoons of fat from the options on the MinBalance Food List to EVERY MEAL. Some fast oxidizers may need even more than 2 tablespoons. Good options include butter, heavy cream, tallow, lamb fat, runny soft-boiled egg yolks, and uncooked olive oil. Though you may crave carbohydrates for quick energy, your body will burn carbs too fast and needs the slower-burning fats instead. Please rotate the types of fat.

If you're a slow oxidizer, please add little or no extra fat to your meals, beyond what is contained in the meats, eggs, almond butter, tahini, and blue corn chips. Too much fat will slow your oxidation further. However, many slow oxidizers do benefit from a small amount (1/4 to 1 TEAspoon, or 1/12 to 1/3 of a tablespoon, per day) of extra animal fat (such as tallow, lamb fat, or butter).

If you're a balanced oxidizer, you will need more fat than a slow oxidizer, but less than a fast oxidizer. You may add 1 tablespoon of fat to meals, more or less, to taste, from the options mentioned above.

Starches and Carbohydrates:

If you're a fast oxidizer, it's important to limit carbohydrates to help balance your oxidation index. Please eat no more than the recommended blue corn chips or Okinawa variety purple sweet potato, or a small serving or two per day of any listed substitute carbohydrate food.

Dr. Watson and Dr. Eck believed that slow oxidizers need to eat more carbohydrates than fast oxidizers because carbs tend to increase the oxidation rate. This seems correct at the level of the cellular metabolism.

Today, however, gut biome imbalances and fungal infections have become very widespread. Therefore, carbs may feed critters, trigger a stress response to the critters, and eventually further worsen burnout.

Today, we believe, slow oxidizers need to limit carbohydrates too, at least until a few years of upgrades are complete. For this reason, MinBalance recommends somewhat fewer blue corn chips than Dr. Wilson does — and only for people who tolerate them well. Please eat no more than the recommended blue corn chips or Okinawa variety purple sweet potato, or a small serving or two per day of any listed substitute carbohydrate food.

If your hair test shows four lows mineral pattern, it's especially important to limit carbohydrates, as too many carbs are too stimulating for you now. Extra carbs may block you from leaving four lows pattern. Please limit carbohydrate foods to the recommended amount.

For some people, starch may work better later in the day. If eaten in the morning, it may create cravings for more starch and energy swings all day.

Due to possible gut biome imbalances, many people initially do better with the simple sugars in winter squash or beet than with any starches.

The preferred carbohydrate source on a MinBalance program remains large amounts of cooked vegetables such as carrots and rutabaga, which provide trickle amounts of carbohydrates as the veggies slowly digest.

If one gains weight or isn't losing weight as desired when following a mineral balancing program, and one otherwise is following the diet well, a likely reason is exceeding tolerance for carbohydrates.

Many of us start with energy-making impairments at the cellular level. To make up for energy shortage, we have grown accustomed to eating carbs and other stimulating substances frequently throughout the day. These provide a series of short term energy boosts, but tire out the metabolism more in the long term.

Your MinBalance program is designed to strengthen the ability of the thyroid and adrenals. These glands naturally stimulate the body's cellular energy-making capacity, as needed, on a long-term basis.

If a person is accustomed to eating much more carbohydrate than ideal, as most people are at the start of a mineral balancing program, then there may be adverse reactions to suddenly reducing starches and sugars. These adverse reactions may relate to an effect of carbohydrate removal on unhappy critters in the gut biome and other locations in the body. Especially in these cases, long-term benefits require cutting carbohydrate foods. However, the changes must be made gently and gradually. So please be patient. Slowly transition further into the diet, as you are able, at the pace your body can handle.

Sea Salt:

Eat sea salt, to taste, with every meal. Be sure to add sea salt to your protein foods. Preferred sea salt brands are Hawaiian Bamboo Jade and Hain.

"Sea salt" only please. For proper mineral balance, avoid all regular table salt, avoid Himalayan pink salt, and avoid other salts and seasonings.

Water:

Please drink 3 liters a day, away from meals, of either:

• spring water, or,
• tap water filtered with carbon or sand only.

If drinking spring water, the water must be labeled "spring water." "Purified water" has had its minerals removed, and may be contaminated with a specific type of plastic from reverse osmosis filters, so please avoid it.

If possible, rotate at least 4 brands of spring water for a balanced variety of minerals. Dr. Wilson has found the following recommended brands to work well:

• "European: Evian, Icelandic Glacial, Icelandic Spring, Aqua Panna, Volvic, Evamor and Voss (but not most other European brands).
• American: Simple Truth Artesian Water, Simply Sedona, Mountain Valley, Walmart, Whole Foods (365), Ozarka, Resource, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and Alpine Pure.
• Canadian: Artesian Spring, Mt. Doug Spring, Canadian Springs, Salt Spring Island Water, (B.C). A little Ice Age Glacial Water is okay.
• Asian/Pacific: Hawaiian Springs, Waikea, Ka-Vita, Eternal (from New Zealand)."

Dr. Wilson recommends avoiding Deer Park brand (due to possible contamination) and Arrowhead brand (which comes from many sources, some undesirable, and impossible to tell them apart from the label).

Also, please avoid any spring water from Olancha Peak source, Olancha, CA. It may be labeled as various brands, including brands which are otherwise recommended above. Olancha Peak source water seems widely distibuted in supermarkets in the southwestern United States. It contains fluoride and arsenic. We are aware of several people with adverse reactions to Olancha Peak source water.

Please avoid any brand identified by Consumer Reports to contain arsenic. These include: Starkey, Peñafiel, Crystal Geyser [Olancha, CA source], Volvic, Crystal Creamery, EartH₂O, Aguavida, Badoit, Fiji, and Niagara Bottling Company. Also, the water report for Trader Joe's New Zealand Artesian Water shows arsenic as well, so please avoid it.

If you have questions about whether another brand or local source of spring water would work well for your MinBalance program, please ask us.

More in sections below about why to avoid drinking water with fluoride and arsenic.

Please avoid reverse osmosis water, sometimes labeled "purified water", which seems to be contaminated with a plastic from the filter. Please avoid unfiltered tap water, which often contains various metal and chemical contaminants and additives.

Tap water filtered with carbon only or sand only may be a good alternative if spring water doesn't work for you. For more information, please see Dr. Wilson's article and the shopping tips below. Berkey is a filter that seems to work well; use the regular Berkey and avoid the add-on fluoride removal filter which increases the aluminum in the water.

If you feel that the brands of bottled spring water you're drinking aren't hydrating you well, please seek alternatives. In these cases, carbon-filtered tap water such as with a Berkey filter may be a good option.

It may work well to drink a liter or even more of spring water shortly after waking, and another liter or more in the afternoon.

Other Liquids:

• If digestion is difficult, it's helpful to puree your cooked veggies. Best is with a hand blender (a wand-like device), so that no extra water is needed as with a regular blender.
• Up to 10-12 oz a day of organic carrot juice is good, away from meals, but only if you tolerate it. Otherwise, leave it out.
• One cup of coffee and/or one cup of herbal tea per day is ok, away from meals.
• No other smoothies, juices, or other liquids, please. Though they have benefits, they digest too quickly. These will unbalance the diet and block your progress.

Shopping for Veggies:

Choose organic when possible. Organic plants usually have better nutrition and fewer chemicals. If you can buy directly from an organic farmer who cares well for the soil, that's wonderful. Of course, growing your own veggies in your farm or garden might be the best, even if just a few plants per season.

Two of the same type of vegetable may look identical, but still have vastly different nutrient content, as Dr. William Albrecht found in his study of soil science. Most produce today is grown for appearance and durability, rather than for nutrition. In contrast, older, heirloom varieties are fantastic when you can find them. Even though the price difference may be significant, if you can afford it, please buy organic or even heirloom organic for better mineral content.

However, if you cannot afford or cannot obtain organic vegetables, please follow the diet with non-organic vegetables.

In many locations, it is possible to order fresh organic veggies from a farmer, a community-supported agriculture program, or a grocery delivery service. If available and affordable in your location, delivery may be convenient. Otherwise, buy from a farmers market, natural foods store, or grocery store.

Make sure you can choose which veggies you are buying so you can select the recommended veggies on the MinBalance Food List. Many mixed vegetable packages will include fruits, vegetable-like fruits, and nightshade vegetables which should be avoided.

To eat 9 cups of cooked veggies per day, a rough shopping estimate is to buy 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of raw veggies per person per day, or 35 pounds (16 kg) of raw veggies per person per week.

Scraps from veggies may be composted in your garden, at a farmers market, in some stores, and by some municipalities.

Shopping for Meat, Eggs, and Dairy:

Happy animals make better food. As with plants, natural approaches to animal farming do make a difference.

Please buy meat, eggs, and dairy from pasture-raised, grass-fed animals whenever possible. These animals are more nutritious, because they themselves have had the freedom to graze and select more nutritious food.

If possible, avoid products from grain-fed animals raised in confined farms. These animals have been fed less nutritious plants, often different from their own natural diets.

Do your research to find good sources, possibly including local ranchers and growers. However, please follow the diet anyway, even if higher quality animal products are unavailable at first.

Dairy is an optional food on the diet, and should only be eaten from raw, unpasteurized, natural milk. If using butter as a fat, organic pasteurized butter is okay, preferably grass-fed.

High-quality animal foods now can be ordered online and shipped frozen directly from many farmers or distributors. This choice is sometimes expensive, and one must arrange to receive the delivery promptly. Farmers markets, natural food stores, delivery services, and grocery stores also are good places to shop for animal products. Please don't hesitate to get started by buying meat at your local grocery store, as it may take some time to investigate other options.

For chicken, if buying in parts, please choose dark meat: legs, thighs, and/or wings.

Most lamb is grass-fed, and any cut of lamb is fine. Chops or shoulder chops are tasty and easy to cook.

For beef, it is more important to seek grass-fed beef. Other beef is often poor quality and difficult to digest. Ground beef or a soft cut of steak (e.g. filet, ribeye, T-bone) are good choices.

If you're unable to obtain grass-fed beef, you could buy 100% lean ground regular beef and eat in a 4 oz cooked pattie together with:

• up to 1/2 Tbsp (amount for slow oxidizer)
• 1 to 2 Tbsp (amount for fast oxidizer)
• about 1 Tbsp (amount for balanced oxidizer)

of melted grass-fed beef tallow, such as this one. This will allow you to obtain the benefit of healthy fats that are only in grass-fed animals.

US Wellness Meats is the only source we currently know for ordering plain unflavored grass-fed beef jerky, which may be a convenient occasional snack food. They sell frozen meat and tallow too.

Shopping for Sardines:

Most brands are good. Try to rotate brands from time to time. Vital Choice, Tiny Tots, Vigilante, and Santo Amaro are a few that we like. Sardines can be bought in stores or ordered online.

Look for sardines in olive oil or water. Smoke flavor is added sometimes, which is fine.

If you like, you may eat the olive oil that comes with the sardines, as your added fat. The Vital Choice brand seems to use especially good quality olive oil. As with other oils, fast oxidizers may eat 1-2 Tbsp with each meal, but slow oxidizers please limit the amount to around 0.5 Tbsp or less.

Shopping for Roasted Almond Butter, Tahini, Blue Corn Chips, and Other Plant Foods:

Please choose organic when possible. If organic is unavailable, follow the diet with conventional products.

Roasted almond butter, tahini, and blue corn chips can be bought in stores or ordered online. Try to rotate brands from time to time.

Recommended brands of blue corn chips include Xochitl and Late July Cantina Dippers.

Whether organic or not, please make sure that the roasted almond butter and tahini you buy contain no added sweeteners, emulsifiers, or oils. The only ingredients should be almonds or sesame seeds, and perhaps salt.

Both almond butter and tahini should be the roasted variety, not raw. Both will need to be stirred when you first open the jar. This may be easier if you empty the contents into a bowl and stir, then pour them back into the jar. Both will keep slightly better refrigerated after opening.

Roasted almond butter and tahini both can be eaten plain from the spoon, or as a topping on cooked vegetables.

Some good brands of roasted almond butter include Nuts to You (delicious European unpasteurized almonds), Organic Traditions (also European unpasteurized almonds), Wild Soil (excellent flavor, advertised as "Distinct and Superior to Organic"), and 365 (the most affordable organic option we know).

If you have a grinder, you can grind almond butter yourself from organic roasted almonds. Unpasteurized organic almond butter from Europe may be more nutritious than the American product which is usually pasteurized.

There are many good brands of roasted tahini. A few of them are: Nuts to You (thick texture, very tasty) and Baron's (runny texture, excellent rich flavor).

3 or 4 black botija olives such as those from Essential Living Foods can be a delicious snack.

Shopping for Spring Water or a Carbon Filter:

Certain excellent brands of spring water may be ordered online, sometimes at a better price than in stores. These include Icelandic Glacial, Evian, Acqua Panna, and Mountain Valley. Otherwise, shop at your local grocery store or delivery service for spring water, looking for brands from the list above. Many grocery stores will have significantly cheaper spring water prices than those available online.

Those in fast oxidation or four lows pattern may especially benefit from drinking at least 1 liter per day of hard water (such as Evian, Mountain Valley, and/or Simple Truth), as these are excellent sources for calcium and magnesium that you need.

Please recycle the plastic bottles from the water, or reuse large refillable jugs. Though the plastic bottles are not ideal, the minerals in the spring water make it worth drinking. The packaging and transport of spring water is needed to provide you the best quality drinking water, and we believe it's worth it to help make "optimum you"!

Many people are finding Berkey-filtered tap water to be working just as well as the spring water, or sometimes better, for hydrating the body. In the long term, the Berkey may be more economical than bottled spring water. The option of using a Berkey, or another carbon- or sand-only filter for tap water, also has the added bonus of not requiring as much plastic purchasing and recycling.

If you buy the Berkey, we recommend against the add-on filter for fluoride. The basis for the add-on filter is passing the water through aluminum oxide. However, the effect of the aluminum concerns us. A small but significant amount of aluminum enters the water from the add-on filter (click on "Extended Description" in previous link and scroll down to find measurements). After 5 cycles, the amount of aluminum is just barely below the FDA acceptable level of 0.2 ppm aluminum. Even at lower amounts after more cycles, we don't think adding aluminum would be a good idea for those on a mineral balancing program.

Though not ideal that the Berkey loses its ability to filter fluoride over time, we think a better solution than the aluminum-based add-on filter would be to replace the main filters more frequently — perhaps every year or 1,000 gallons, or even more frequently. The bottom line about the Berkey is it seems to be working well, and better than spring water for some people.

Pressure-Cooked Veggies

Pressure cookers are a fast, easy way to cook that preserves nutrition. Today's models have a pressure relief valve and are very safe. The Presto stainless steel 4-quart stovetop pressure cooker works well for 1-2 people if veggies are cooked a few times a day. Digital plug-in models such as Instant Pot are great too. Larger pressure cookers are available. For more about pressure cooking, please see Dr. Wilson's article.

Here are the basics for cooking veggies with a stovetop pressure cooker:

• Add 4 oz. spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water to pressure cooker, or a bit more for a larger pressure cooker.
• Chop veggies into bite-sized bits and add them. For harder veggies, such as rutabaga, beet, and cauliflower stems, cut into thin slices and place in the pot first.
• Place lid on pot and seal it.
• Place weight on top of lid, if your pressure cooker has a weight.
• Turn on high heat.
• Set timer for 3 minutes, but don't start it yet. (Note: It may be better with 15 seconds more or less. Start with 3 minutes, and later please experiment to find the right amount of time for your altitude, stove, pot, and veggies. As an alternative timing method, you may wish to try cooking veggies at full pressure for 2.5 minutes, then turning off heat, and waiting 1 additional minute before releasing pressure. The goal is for the veggies to cook until soft and no longer crunchy, so a knife goes in easily, but not so much that they begin to lose their color or flavor or get mushy.)
• When weight begins to rock or your digital pressure cooker reaches full pressure (after 5-15 minutes), start timer.
• Turn down heat so weight continues rocking gently.
• When timer sounds, turn off heat. Release pressure. For stovetop pressure cookers, this is done by tilting the weight with the edge of a mug or small pot. Then place the mug or small pot upside-down over the weight to catch the steam.
• When hissing stops and the pressure seal on the handle drops down (about 1 minute), cooking is done. Don't open the pot until the seal drops down.
• To avoid overcooking, immediately remove the weight and lid, and serve the veggies in another dish. Or place pressure cooker in a larger pot or bowl of cool water to cool.
• Enjoy your veggies! :)

Steamed Veggies

These are ideal if you don't have a pressure cooker, or otherwise prefer to steam.

• Place 1/2" or a bit more spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water in pot.
• No steamer basket is necessary. Water should be below the level of the steamer basket if using one.
• Add chopped veggies. As with pressure cooking, slice the hardest veggies into thinner slices and add them first.
• Cover pot.
• Turn on high heat.
• Once boiling, turn down heat and simmer. Check periodically that the water doesn't run out, and add more as needed.
• Cook until veggies are soft and no longer crunchy, so that a knife goes in easily, but not so much that they begin to lose their color or flavor or get mushy. This may be around 10-30 minutes, depending on the level of the flame, volume of the pot, altitude, how tightly the pot lid seals, and other factors.
• Remove veggies from pot so they don't overcook.
• Enjoy your veggies! :)

Some Veggie Ideas

• When pressure cooking or steaming veggies, save the water used for cooking, which will be rich in nutrients. Drink it separately away from the meal.
• For flavor, add 1/2 to 1 bunch of green onions (scallions) to every batch of veggies.
• Include other onions too, especially leek, shallot, red onion, sweet onion, and small types of onions.
• Carrots, daikon, and rutabaga recommended every batch. When available, choose the carrots and other vegetables sold loose rather than in sealed bags.
• No need to peel organic veggies (except the hard skin of onions and garlic). Instead, wash them well. If possible, scrub them with a sponge or brush.
• For delicious sweet flavor, include a few chunks of sweet potato and/or beet — up to 1/4 cup — but not more than that.
• If desired for flavor, add a whole clove of garlic or two, and/or a small slice of fresh ginger finely chopped.
• Vary the veggies for color, variety, and freshness. Enjoy colorful veggies with every meal!

Soft-Boiled Eggs

This recipe has moved. You can find it here: Soft-Boiled Egg Yolks.

Pressure-Cooked Meat

Meat can be pressure-cooked or braised. Pressure-cooking is a fast, easy way to cook flavorful chicken and lamb. The process is very similar to pressure-cooking veggies.

• Add 4 oz. spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water to pressure cooker or a bit more for a larger pressure cooker.
• [Optional] Only if the meat is grass-fed, it optionally may be cooked together with the veggies, and its healthy fats will flavor the veggies. Add veggies first.
• Add meat. Chop or put cuts in the meat so that parts to be cooked are no thicker than around 1/2". Chicken and lamb may be cooked on the bones, provided the flesh area isn't too thick. A cut or two may be needed in a chicken thigh or leg to help steam penetrate.
• Place lid on pot and seal it.
• Place weight on top of lid, if your pressure cooker has a weight.
• Turn on high heat.
• Set timer for 3 minutes, but don't start it yet. (Note: Start with 3 minutes, and please experiment to find the right amount of time for your altitude, stove, pot, and meat. Cook chicken until done throughout but not overcooked. Cook meat rare at center. Thin lamb chops will need significantly less time.)
• When weight begins to rock or your digital pressure cooker reaches full pressure (after 3-7 minutes), start timer.
• Turn down heat so weight continues rocking gently.
• When timer sounds, turn off heat. Release pressure. For stovetop pressure cookers, this is done by tilting the weight with the edge of a mug or small pot. Then place the mug or small pot upside-down over the weight to catch the steam.
• When hissing stops and the pressure seal on the handle drops down (about 1 minute), cooking is done. Don't open the pot until the seal drops down.
• To avoid overcooking, immediately remove the weight and lid, and remove the meat. A meat scissors may be helpful to cut the meat into pieces so it cools more quickly without overcooking.
• Discard cooking water that was used with meat.
• Always eat meat with sea salt and GB3 supplement.
• Enjoy your meat! :)

Braised Meat

Braising is a surprisingly simple and fast way to cook tasty meat. It cooks meat at lower temperature to avoid toxins that are produced at high heat in the oven, fryer, or grill. Braising is the only recommended way to cook organic and/or grass-fed ground beef patties. It also works for lamb chops, steaks, and chicken cut into strips.

• Boil 1/2" to 1" of water in a saucepan.
• Make 1/2"-3/4" thick patties of chopped meat, use 1/4"-3/4" thick steaks or chops, or cut thin strips of chicken or beef.
• While maintaining a vigorous boil, immerse a patty or piece of meat in the water.
• Leave underwater until fully cooked, perhaps turning once.
• Remove and serve.
• Cooking times: Time varies greatly based on thickness. Very thin strips of beef or chicken may cook in 10 seconds, whereas thicker steaks may take 3 minutes or more. Cook chicken until done throughout but not overcooked. Cook meat rare at center. Dr. Wilson recommends that grass-fed beef patties only (not conventional beef) be cooked only until warm at the center and still very rare, to preserve certain nutrients.
• Discard cooking water that was used with meat.
• Always eat meat with sea salt and GB3 supplement.
• Enjoy your meat! :)

Activator Goo

This recipe has moved. You can find it here: Activator Goo.

Why Nutritional Supplements?

The soils, plants, and animals are depleted of nutrients today, and so are many of us. We also often start mineral balancing inundated with toxins accumulated from the modern world.

We are lucky to be able to add back into our food many of the nutrients that we need. Nutritional supplements allow us to replenish nutrient reserves and help make "optimum you".

How Many Supplements?

Too few supplements won't provide enough nutrients to catch up and get ahead in today's world. Too many supplements, however, or too high dosages, often lead to imbalances of nutrients.

Balanced Supplements

Many multivitamins and nutrient programs add supplements as if nutrition were a checklist, identical for everyone. We find that the checklist approach often worsens individuals' imbalances. The nutrients are interrelated, and needed in balance for each individual.

MinBalance gives you a balanced supplement program personalized for your own mineral balance. The supplements listed in your personalized program, by design, are in balance with each other.

So please don't continue or start taking other supplements outside your personalized MinBalance program. A single additional supplement could, and sometimes does, imbalance the entire set. If you feel you need to change or add something, please talk with us about it.

Balance Supplements with the Diet

The supplement list in your personalized supplement program provides nutrients in balance with your personalized MinBalance diet. Without following the diet, your nutrition no longer will be in balance. For this reason, we recommend a starting dosage of only one set of supplements per day until you are comfortably on the diet. Most people enjoy and can feel the beginning of benefits from just one set.

Once you are comfortably onto the diet, you can increase the supplement dosage to two sets per day, and then to the target amount of three sets per day.

You can also try out the supplements or increased dosages listed in the optional column in your program. These optional supplements are less critical than the others, but sometimes very helpful.

How to Buy Supplements

Most supplements are available from Endomet Labs.

MinBalance chooses Endomet because of the excellent quality of the Endomet supplements. Endomet often seems to work better than other brands, even for the same labeled product.

Endomet supplements were originally designed by Dr. Paul Eck, a pioneer of mineral balancing science. Dr. Eck's family continues to run the Endomet company.

Which Brands of Supplements to Use

The brand often makes a significant difference in quality. Therefore, the program may not work right with other brands besides what we recommend, even if the supplements have the same labeled ingredients.

Please use the following brands for the supplements, if included in your program, unless we discuss otherwise:

• Endomet Labs for all supplements, except those noted below.
• For TMG, please use Jarrow brand.
• For kelp, please use Endomet brand, NOW brand, or any other brand on Dr. Wilson's list.
• For egg yolk lecithin, please use Swanson brand.
• For B12 Infusion, please use Enzymatic Therapy brand.
• For tarragon and lysine, many brands are good, and many are available online.

How to Take Supplements

Unless otherwise noted, take supplements together with a meal.

Some people are sensitive to the materials used to make capsules, and prefer to empty the powder contents of the capsules. The powders can be mixed with a small amount of spring water, carbon-only filtered tap water, or veggie cooking water, and eaten as a paste, or in Activator Goo. Or they can be sprinkled over veggies.

Tablets can be chewed or swallowed, whichever you prefer.

When starting the supplements with one set per day, some individuals do better with supplements in the morning, and others in the lunchtime or evening. Feel free to take with whichever meal works best for you.

If you have any questions about taking the supplements, please ask us.

Cautions about Supplements

At times, your body will use its increased energy to do a clean-up or upgrade, and you may encounter strange and temporary effects and feeling. Often they are reminiscent of times in your past.

These are "retracings." They will usually pass in a few hours to a few days, or occasionally longer. And they are a positive indicator of progress!

However, there are occasional instances when your mineral chemistry changed and your program needs to be updated accordingly. If you don't feel good for more than a short time, please pause taking your supplements and let us know. We will gladly check on your program.

Certain medical conditions may require modification of the nutritional supplement suggestions. Please let us know if you have Grave's disease, diabetes, or cancer. We cannot treat these medical conditions, and you must see your doctor. However, we want to make sure the nutritional supplements work well with your doctor's medical treatment.

Some women experience PMS tendencies and benefit from a modification to their supplements for a few days before, during, or just after their period. This relates to hormonal levels temporarily affecting the Na/K ratio. Please let us know if you experience discomfort around your period, so we can suggest appropriate temporary changes in your supplements.

Occasionally, constipation or diarrhea occur when taking nutritional supplements. If experiencing constipation, please try adding 1-2 Magnesium per day. Magnesium usually helps, but if not, please let us know right away so we can make additional suggestions.

Similarly, if experiencing diarrhea, or any other type of sensitive reactions, please pause taking supplements and let us know. We may need to update your program. And please let us know if you have any other questions.

How Long to Take Your Personalized Supplements

Your supplement program is personalized to you for the next 3 months. People's mineral balance changes from time to time. Especially big changes often happen when starting on a mineral balancing program. For this reason, we recommend a hair mineral analysis retest in 3 months.

Why Rest?

You can do more when you rest more.

"Optimum you" requires plenty of rest for routine maintenance and repairs, as well as long-term improvements.

Think of a well-maintained car, boat, or machine. Its owner is careful to do plenty of routine maintenance and repairs, in addition to long-term improvement projects.

We are lucky our bodies have remarkable self-maintaining abilities! But they need lots of rest to focus on the best quality maintenance and upgrades.

An analogy: think of a playful dog, who runs vigorously, but alternates with periods of quiet napping.

Amount of Rest

Please rest around 10 hours a day.

Ideally, at least 8-9 of those hours should be sleeping, if you are able.

This may seem like a lot, but you need it, especially while working on optimizing your body. It is one of the most important aspects of the MinBalance program!

Many people don't know how good resting feels after a lifetime of pushing too hard.

Timing of Rest

Some people do best staying in bed around 10 hours overnight, even if one is unable to sleep for the whole time. Others prefer one or more rest breaks during the day.

Some do better with biphasic sleep — that is, two periods of sleep, each of around four hours. It may help to get up, go to the bathroom, drink water, or do a foot rub in the middle of the night.

Please go to bed as early as you can. 8 to 9 p.m. is ideal. This allows plenty of time to get good rest, even if you are awake a while in the night. And the time before midnight is very valuable for quality of sleep.

Try to eat dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime, so your food has plenty of time to digest before you sleep.

Of course, you will have to schedule rest based on your commitments to work and personal life. However, please find a way to take 10 hours out of every 24-hour day, so you can do optimal maintenance and upgrades, and also achieve much more in the remaining time.

Effect of Light

Naturally, our sleep is sensitive to blue wavelengths of light. We are accustomed to lots of blue light from daylight during the day, and little to no blue light overnight.

Many people will sleep better with appropriate blue light. Here are a few ideas which may help:

• Get 20-30 minutes of sunshine (or daylight if cloudy) every day.
• Install light-blocking curtains in your sleeping area.
• Buy or make an eye mask to cover your eyes overnight. Blue light can enter even with your eyelids closed.
• Avoid looking at electronic screens (TV, computer, phone, etc.) for 1-3 hours before bedtime. If you do use the screens, install software to reduce blue light.
• Avoid regular light bulbs for 1-3 hours before bed. To use at night, get a few orange- or red- colored light bulbs (the bulbs themselves must be colored, rather than white bulbs sold with a colored layer in front of them). A red-colored LED flashlight or headlamp may be helpful for overnight.
• Infrared heat lamps or sauna before bed may activate the calming parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, giving you better relaxation and sleep. Please see the Procedures section below for more info about near infrared light.

Quality of Rest

Please make your sleeping area comfortable. A harder sleeping surface is sometimes more comfortable. Make sure there is sufficient air circulation — a small 4" fan may be enough to help a lot. Make sure you are warm enough when you sleep.

If you're not sleeping well, please try to figure out why. Feel free to ask us if you have questions.

Procedures to Aid Rest

Some of the procedures mentioned below may help with better rest and sleep.

In particular, near infrared lamps, foot rubs, and spinal twists at bedtime all can support relaxing sleep. These also can be done if awake in the night.

If You Can't Sleep

Please rest anyway. Rest is worth a lot, even if you're not sleeping.

If you can't fall or stay asleep that long, try taking an extra Paramin or magnesium with dinner, at bedtime, or overnight. If the extra Paramin or magnesium doesn't help, please ask us for other ideas.

Mental and Spiritual Rest

Rest isn't just physical. It involves mind and spirit too.

Many of us will be inclined to keep our minds racing, even when laying in bed. However, we need mental rest too.

Please truly take time out, as best you can, so that you can rest. The rest will benefit not just body, but mind and spirit too.

Meditation is not necessarily a form of rest, but it can precede or follow rest, or enhance your ability to rest your mind and spirit.

Rest from Devices

Please refrain from using electronic devices during your rest time. They are too stimulating, and often interfere with the mental aspect of rest.

Ideally, keep phones, computers, and other electronic devices far away from your bed, or in airplane mode, when resting. The electromagnetic fields from the devices may interfere with quality of sleep for some people.

"I Need to Rest Now."

Please gently insist on resting when you need rest.

Routines may help you get adequate rest. When things seem too frenetic, you need rest, NOT more things to do.

Friends and family may be surprisingly supportive when you tell them what you need, such as rest.

You need that rest to reach "optimum you." Please insist on it.

What is Stress?

Stress, or strain, is the body's generalized response to any stressor or stimulus. The stressor may be of many different types: a nutritional imbalance, heat, bright light, noise, any kind of infection, toxins, drugs, conflict, overwork, or exertion of any type.

Stress response, however, is the same regardless of which stressor triggers it. Regardless of the triggering stressor, the adrenals, thymus, spleen, liver, digestive tract, skin, and other organs respond with the same characteristic stress reaction.

Some stressors are good - they are the challenges to which we want to direct our life's energy, such as love, meaningful work, and spiritual pursuits. However, most of us are overwhelmed with stressors today.

For more about stress and the discovery of the generalized stress response common to all trigger stimuli, please see the discussion of Dr. Hans Selye on the MinBalance website.

Why Reduce Stress?

All the little stressors add up. They block your becoming “optimum you”.

You can become "optimum you" and accomplish more if you reduce your stress response level by eliminating unnecessary stressors. Stress reduction is one of the major goals of your MinBalance program. The reduction in stress response will free your energies to pursue what you want to do and live a better life.

Choose Your Stressors Wisely!

As Dr. Selye encouraged, we must choose our stressors wisely to achieve our potential in life. MinBalance helps you navigate the stressors of the modern world. The suggestions below will help you avoid unnecessary stressors so you can become stronger and do more.

Start with the Diet and Rest

A reminder about priorities in doing your MinBalance program: the most overwhelming and significant stressors in the modern world include nutrient deficiencies, imbalances, and toxins, plus the lack of sufficient mental and physical rest.

Therefore, please start your MinBalance program with the diet and rest. These are the most important ways to make big reductions in your body's stress response. These are so important that Diet and Rest each have their own chapters above.

Don't forget to focus on the diet and rest first!

An Ambitious Approach to Stress for Outstanding Results

The lifestyle suggestions below are suggested personally, for you, when following a MinBalance program.

They are personalized because you are choosing to become "optimum you." Therefore, as Dr. Selye found in his research and in his own life, it is necessary to avoid unproductive stressors wholeheartedly and very ambitiously, and to focus intensively on the good and meaningful stressors.

A Conservative Approach to Stress Based on Historical Perspective

Paradigms change. What was considered cutting edge last century may seem barbaric today. The same process will repeat in the future — but perhaps we can't predict in which ways.

Therefore, while promoting the best aspects of today's science, we also recommend taking it with a grain of (sea) salt. That means accepting that there is more than what we know — more than meets the eye — much yet to be understood — still much mystery in how things work in our universe.

Where there is anecdotal evidence that certain widely accepted aspects of our culture cause harm to certain individuals, we guess that those aspects, at the least, are significant stressors. And we will recommend that you consider avoiding them.

We avoid significant stressors now to protect against the possibility that they are causing major harm to our bodies, which may be discovered later, or too late, by popular culture. This is an approach that maximizes safety by protecting against changes in the mainstream paradigms.

Not for Everyone

These suggestions are personalized because you are doing the MinBalance diet and rest. Once you have addressed the diet and rest through your MinBalance program, some of the additional stressors below may become important or even critical for your continued progress.

Maximum stress reduction builds upon the major pillars of diet and rest. Without the diet and rest, some of the other stress reduction suggestions below may seem unnecessary, pointless, or even inappropriate to those not on a personalized MinBalance program.

Some stressors that we ask you to avoid may be needed, for now, by others who are facing mineral imbalances and lack of rest. The nutrition and rest stressors are so predominant that these other stressors might not seem to contribute that much.

So we try to avoid making blanket statements about anything being "toxic," "unhealthy," "poisonous," "evil," or even "bad."

We are suggesting only that you, as a special person who is becoming "optimum you", vigorously reduce stress in your life:

Love and Forgive

As discussed in the Spirit section below, please decide to forgive everyone for everything, while taking steps as needed to prevent the same things from happening again.

Grudges and resentments are major stressors! So is negative thinking! Therefore, it benefits you to forgive and let go of grudges and resentments, as these may be very significant stressors.

So if you feel resentment or anger about any of the stressors below which may be a part of your life, please try your best to forgive whoever it may be who brought that stressor into your life — which may be yourself, your family members, or others. Also, please try to forgive all those who take a point of view opposite to yours.

Please give credit to the good intentions of those who brought the stressors into your life, as well as those who disagree with you. Most likely, they were and are acting:

• with love,
• based upon what they believe to be true,
• in the interest of your safety and well-being,
• in light of their own challenges,
• and with the limitations of perspective that all of us have.

So, in the interest of reducing stress, it may be more important to love and forgive than it is to address any of the particular stressors below.

Stay Safe

Whenever possible, make choices to maximize your own personal safety. You need to be safe to get the benefits of the excellent care you are now taking of yourself!

Simplify

The more you can simplify your life, the better. Too many things, expenses, or commitments can prevent you from getting the healthy food and rest that you need.

Simplification will flow easier, too, as you gain more energy from doing your MinBalance program. With more energy, you will likely get ideas for ways to do things more efficiently, which in turn will free up more energy.

So please focus on doing the diet and resting. And look for opportunities to simplify as they arise.

Live a Quiet, Peaceful Life

The MinBalance diet and resting will seem boring to many people you know, or they may think you are crazy. This is difficult but ok. Please allow others to think you are boring, while inside, you're making rapid progress toward optimal mind, body, and spirit. Enjoy a quiet, peaceful life, while giving others space to have their own beliefs.

First Optimize Yourself

As you increase in energy, you will have more to give in service to others. So please be selfish and stand up for yourself by taking outstanding care of yourself now. Diet and rest are your top priorities. Your MinBalance program is an investment in your abilities to help, serve, and love others.

Focus on What's Important

Which 80% of the things you're doing are the most important? Could you do them in 20% of the time? What else is really important, which you've been putting off?

Invest your increases in energy back into doing more of the MinBalance personalized program, and into doing more of the things that are most important to "optimum you"!

Exercise: Not Too Much!

All the work you're doing in your MinBalance program is actually a good bit of exercise for the body. With the benefit of a mineral-balanced diet and plenty of rest, your body has plenty to keep it busy with maintenance and upgrades.

If you use a near-infrared lamp or sauna, discussed in the procedures section below, the lamp or sauna will increase circulation similarly to physical activity, but with lower stress.

For exercise, please do up to, but not more than, 30 minutes a day of gentle walking, hiking, or cycling in a safe place.

Please avoid vigorous exercise while you are doing a MinBalance program, as it will take too much of your body's resources. Though exercise has many benefits, Dr. Paul Eck found that mineral balancing works best with a lower amount and intensity of exercise than many people might think they need.

Sunshine

Aside from helping your body make vitamin D, sunshine has many other biochemical benefits, known and unknown. These may include benefits to mood, circadian rhythm, and function of certain enzymes. It seems, to a degree, people are like plants, needing sun to thrive.

Please get 10-30 minutes a day of sunshine, without sunscreen, without sunglasses, and with as much of your body exposed as possible. The amount of time may depend on the time of day, the time of year, and how strong the sun is. You may benefit from a bit longer than 30 minutes if the sun is dim at your time and location, or if you get sunlight through clouds or other barriers.

Nature

Connect with nature frequently when you have the opportunity, even if just appreciating a nearby cactus, bird, or tree.

The MinBalance diet is a form of connection with nature. The food we eat, water we drink, and air we breathe, in many ways, is our most intimate connection with Nature.

Unlike the other items in this section, there is no need to limit your connection with Nature. We recommend at least 20-30 minutes a day in an outdoor place that gives you a sense of contact with Nature. This amount may give the most efficient benefit in stress reduction, though additional exposure to Nature would have added benefit, when you can.

Sexual Restraint

Many men and women find they can increase their energy level faster by limiting sexual fluid release to no more than once a week.

Dr. Wilson recommends an alternative spiritual form of sex which he calls "Down Sex".

Restraint from Electronic Devices

Of course, we want the benefits of modern technology. But we need a break too, if we are to rest well.

We recommend turning off WiFi at night and minimizing exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). More about EMFs below.

Please consider taking a break from using electronic devices overnight, for a while before bed, and for a while after you awaken in the morning. Keep your devices in airplane mode whenever possible. Checking your phone and/or email twice a day, or even less, may be enough.

For many people, using devices wisely, and less often, is a key to calming down, remaining focused, and increasing energy.

Stressful People, Places, and Situations

If a person, place, or situation tends to make you feel stressed out afterwards, please try to avoid them, as best you can, for now. If it's unavoidable to be around them, look for ways to reduce the impact of the stress. Trust your intuition and common sense.

Stressful Media: Negative Messaging

It is difficult to watch the news without receiving negative messaging. This is regardless of the political orientation of the particular news you're watching or reading.

Negative emotions sell more news. We pay attention to sensational and disturbing content. But the continuous stream of bad news upsets the mind and emotions, interfering with optimal function. The news is a stressor, a drain on our resources. We want you to avoid the negative emotions and be happier!

Some people more than others need a more complete media blackout to feel better. Please try to limit your time with the news, and consider eliminating it entirely for a while. If something important is happening, someone will tell you about it.

Instead of negative-biased news, focus on positive things in your own life and the world which are important to you. These may include meaningful work, loved ones, learning, and doing the diet and rest recommended in your MinBalance program.

Stressful Medical Treatments

Many of us have felt stressed when at the doctor's office. Please look for a doctor whose office is peaceful, who seems patient and caring, who takes a cautious approach, who works together with your body to heal and reduce stress, and who is supportive of your desire to achieve "optimum you" with lifestyle and nutrition.

• Unnecessary Medications

  Medications are mainly manmade substances. They are stimuli to the body, which therefore produce the characteristic stress response. They often produce desired changes in symptoms, but also may produce side effects, which may be related to the body's stress response to them.

  NEVER stop a medication without consulting your doctor. It may be dangerous to do so. However, you may wish to tell your doctor that when apppropriate in his/her judgment, you prefer a "wait-and-see" or a more cautious approach to medications. Many doctors are quite open to a more cautious approach if you tell them that is your preference.

• Unnecessary Antibiotics

  Antibiotics are powerful drugs! Humans have been estimated to have 68 trillion cells. Of those, more than half, 38 trillion, may be symbiotic good organisms living together with us, including many good bacteria in the gut who help with digestion. The gut has been called the "second brain" due to the nervous system effects of the digestion and bacterial activity there.

  Antibiotics are like a forest fire for the gut. They wipe out life, all the good and bad bacteria, and require a process of ecological succession to rebuild.

  We discussed above how all medications are stressors, like any other exteral stimuli. Antibiotics may contribute to the stress response even more than some other medications. The destruction of gut bacteria is a significant change and a significant stressor. The altered gut biome may continue as a stressor long after the infection's contribution to the stress response is over.

  Infections are serious and require immediate attention! When your body is getting stronger, sometimes a chronic, hidden infection may emerge from hiding, as your body is now strong enough to face it and defeat it. Watch for these retracings, but always take action quickly when you suspect an infection.

  Please read Dr. Wilson's article on antibiotics, as well as his suggestions for natural antibacterial substances. It may be helpful to have a few of them on hand, such as vitamin A, Limcomin, colloidal silver, bee propolis, colostrum, garlic, and/or manuka honey.

  Please see a doctor if you require medical treatment. Antibiotics, if truly needed, may save your life, but often they are not needed. Again, NEVER stop medications without consulting your doctor.

  Many doctors agree that antibiotic overuse is dangerous because it causes development of stronger antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in your body and everywhere. Please ask your doctor to take a cautious approach to antibiotics, to practice a "wait-and-see" approach when appropriate in his/her judgment, and to try natural substances first when safe to do so in his/her judgment.

• Unnecessary Vaccines

  Please read about both sides of the vaccine safety and effectiveness controversy. Whatever some may say about both the benefits and risks of vaccines, we think vaccines might be a major stressor on one's body.

  As of 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends babies be given around 25 vaccine dosages in the first 15 months of life.

  The CDC recommended total now reaches over 50 vaccine dosages by age 18 years.

  Vaccine proponents say:

  • Vaccines protect us from diseases and have helped to wipe out some diseases.
  • Vaccines are statistically proven totally safe and unrelated to autism, and there is no controversy.
  • Existing research studies are enough to conclude it safe to inject our children and ourselves.

  Vaccine critics say:

  • The improvements in public health have much more to do with other factors such as sanitation.
  • Some mothers report vaccines triggering autism spectrum disorders, abrupt personality changes, or even sudden death in their children.
  • Some doctors report terrible declines in their patients' health after receiving vaccines and advise against vaccines.
  • Dr. Wilson reports that nutritionally balanced offspring who aren't given vaccines may become superbabies and superchildren.
  • Short-term testing of single vaccines reveals only short-term effects. We lack testing of compound long-term effects of many vaccines together. We also lack long-term performance testing of whether vaccines permit optimal function.
  • Children are getting double or triple as many vaccines now as a generation ago, and at a younger age, without any knowledge about long term safety, and despite indications of declining mental function in children.

  The excessive stressors of many types in today's world may leave many of us tolerating vaccines poorly. Many of us on a MinBalance program who are comprehensively reducing stress may choose to forego further vaccines.

  We do believe vaccines are stressors on the body, perhaps very major ones. The weakened disease vector or similar agent in the vaccine, designed to trigger a vigorous immune response, would also trigger a stress response. Additionally, added chemicals and preservatives, like all other stimuli, trigger the characteristic stress response. Plus the experience of vaccination itself is often stressful, both physically and emotionally.

  We might look at it this way. Set aside the bioindividual effect of injecting aluminum, sometimes mercury, and other chemicals during brain development. Vaccines, by design, induce an immune response to a weakened disease vector or similar agent. With 25 vaccine dosages, aren't we giving our babies quite a rough first 15 months of life?

  The young child given 50 doses of vaccine has undertaken an immune response to 50 mild illnesses, half of them while still a baby, not even a toddler. Wouldn't those 50 bouts of mild illness and recovery be stressful? Wouldn't it be stressful even to catch the common cold 50 times?

  You will have to make up your own mind based on what you believe.

  Please consider the following before injecting a vaccine:

  • Consider avoiding the stressors of flu shots and other optional vaccines.
  • As to each vaccine, is it for a disease which is likely to affect a person following the diet and lifestyle which you are, in your time and location? If so, how serious would the stress and other effects of the disease likely be for a person like you, i.e. do you expect to die from it? For example, do you know anyone in your community with measles or chickenpox now? If you follow a healthful diet and lifestyle, do you think measles or chickenpox would likely kill you?
  • In your locality, do you have the right or option to politely decline a vaccine, for yourself or your child? If so, how? If you have children, would you need to home school your children to avoid injecting them with vaccines?
  • Do you have the option to delay vaccinations until later? Perhaps until after a baby or child is further along in brain development?
  • Please insist on READING THE INGREDIENTS before a vaccine injection. Do this also for anything you eat or apply to your skin — but especially for anything you inject which bypasses the detoxification defenses of the gut, liver, and skin. Take the time you need to research the ingredients. If there is one or more ingredients you don't want injected, please speak up and insist that a better product be located.
  • Please remind your doctor that you prefer to take a cautious approach, and that you are taking comprehensive measures to eliminate stressors in your life and reduce your stress response. Please select a doctor who is understanding and supportive of your preferences.

Stressful Dental Treatments

Many of us have experienced stress at the dentist's office. Dental treatments are often intrusive, though sometimes needed to avoid greater stressors of diseased teeth and gums. Please select a dentist who is patient and cautious in approach, and considerate of your preferences. This is the most important factor. Next most important is a dentist who is trained in using natural and non-intrusive methods and materials. Avoid dentists who leave you feeling stressed after a visit to their office. Also, please be aware of the following potential dental stressors, which seem to be overwhelming hidden stressors for some people:

• Silver-Mercury Amalgam Fillings

  Though sometimes called "silver fillings" or "amalgam fillings," these metal fillings are in significant part made of the highly toxic metal mercury. The mercury off-gasses into one's body for years, when eating, brushing teeth, and throughout the day and night. Even if the amounts of mercury off-gassing are tiny, some people anecdotally report extreme improvements in body, mind, and spirit when they remove metal fillings and replace them with white composite fillings.

  Some dentists claim metal fillings are conclusively proven totally safe, although those dentists still are required to treat the metal fillings as toxic material when handling them and after any metal fillings are removed. Biological dentists sometimes advise removing the metal fillings immediately. Dr. Wilson suggests removing them, except waiting in active cases of cancer, when the small bit of mercury released during removal might help the cancer win. We believe mercury in one's mouth is at least a stressor on the body, and possibly a major one for those on a MinBalance program.

  Please choose composite (white) fillings instead of silver-mercury amalgam (metal) fillings. If you already have fillings with mercury, we believe it is important that you address the toxins which have been implanted in you, such as metal fillings. This is a critical step to taking control of your life, vastly improving your function, and reaching "optimum you."

  Please consider removing metal fillings within a few months after you're following the diet and rest recommendations of your MinBalance program. Often they can be replaced with composite fillings. Sometimes larger fillings may need to be replaced with ceramic inlays or onlays. If you have many fillings, they often can be replaced in four dental visits, one for each quadrant of the mouth.

  Please choose a considerate dentist to replace the metal fillings. It need not be an official biological dentist. Please ask for lots of suction, and for a barrier to be placed to catch any chips of metal filling that are dislodged.

• Root Canal Operations

  Please read about both sides of the root canal safety and effectiveness controversy. Whatever some may say about both the benefits and risks of root canal operations, we think root-canal-operated dead teeth remaining in the mouth might be a major stressor on one's body.

  The tooth has its own form of circulatory system, dentin tubules, to carry nutrients to the tooth and remove toxins from the tooth. When a tooth is too rotten with infection to be filled, many dentists recommend a "root canal operation." This involves drilling out the central nerve of the tooth, thereby killing the tooth, and filling in the tubules of the tooth's circulatory system with a form of putty.

  Root canal operation proponents say:

  • The root canal operation "saves the tooth."
  • The tooth is completely sterilized before being filled with putty.
  • Root canal operations have been proven in studies to be totally safe.
  • Root canal operated teeth have no harmful effect on the remainder of the body.

  Root canal operation critics say:

  • We lack long-term performance testing of whether root canal operations permit long-term optimal systemic function of mind, body, and spirit.
  • The microtubules in the tooth's circulatory system are too small for the root canal putty to reach.
  • Bacteria grow in these microtubules after a root canal operation.
  • The lack of oxygen turns these infections anaerobic, which makes them far more toxic than infections prior to the root canal operation.
  • Those trapped, very toxic bacteria spew out toxins for the rest of the life of the person with the root-canal-operated tooth.
  • The toxins from the root-canal-operated tooth enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the entire body, causing systemic immune disruption.
  • Infections persist in all, or nearly all, root-canal-operated teeth.
  • Root-canal-operated teeth are a common factor in cancer patients, some critics say. Supposedly incurable cancer patients have healed in alternative clinics after their root-canal-operated dead teeth were extracted.
  • Anecdotally, some people report tremendous improvements in mind, body, and spirit after removing teeth that had previous root canal operations. You can find firsthand stories in Amazon reviews of books such as Dr. Meinig's "Root Canal Coverup" and Drs. Kulacz and Levy's "The Toxic Tooth". Many people seem to think that their root canal operation was the start of a much larger problem, rather than the end of a problem.

  The excessive stressors of many types in today's world may leave many of us tolerating root-canal-operated teeth poorly. Many of us on a MinBalance program who are comprehensively reducing stress may choose to forego further root canal operation and to extract any previous root-canal-operated teeth.

  We do believe root-canal-operated teeth are stressors on the body, perhaps very major ones. After a root canal operation, the tooth is dead, like a carcass. Proponents may say the dead tooth carcass has been totally sterilized, while critics may say the dead tooth carcass is infected and rotting.

  Either way, we believe that a dead tooth filled with putty, sitting in one's mouth, remains a major stimulus to the body — a continuous stressor. The mechanisms by which it affects the body may remain partly unknown, but regardless of specifics, the dead tooth will trigger the generalized stress response. This would be even more true if it turns out the carcass is rotting. Plus the experience of the root canal operation itself is often stressful, both physically and emotionally.

  You will have to make up your own mind based on what you believe.

  Please consider the following before choosing a root canal operation:

  • Are you following the MinBalance Diet and Rest recommendations? Sometimes bones and teeth may get stronger when a person improves their mineral balance. Ramiel Nagel, in his book "Cure Tooth Decay", suggests that secondary dentin may form to protect against further decay of deeply damaged teeth, once one has improved nutritional status. Even if you are told you have a current or future dental "emergency," in many cases, if mineral balance improves, people report those emergencies never actually happening. Instead, the tooth may fortify itself against further decay.
  • Have you tried the Procedures above? Dr. Wilson notes that shining a near infrared heat lamp or foot reflexology may help those who have been told they need a root canal operation.
  • How is your balance of the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, and K2? If you are following a MinBalance personalized program, these will be included in your supplements, in balance with each other. Vitamin K2 is little-known, but extremely important to bones, teeth, and heart.
  • Have you obtained a second opinion from a specialist who helps avoid root canal operations, such as an expert in the use of non-invasive technologies and/or natural approaches? Dr. Idelle Brand, a New York City dentist, recommends: "If any dentist says you need a root canal, ALWAYS get a second opinion. I have seen many patients who were told they needed root canal, but we were able to completely avoid it by careful excavation, laser implementation and pulp capping."
  • Do you have religious or philosophical objections to an operation which intentionally kills a body part and leaves it implanted in the body?
  • Is it bearable to take a "wait-and-see" approach? Even if your dentist would prefer that you do a root canal operation now, is he/she willing to continue monitoring your teeth every few months? Most dentists would be glad to check whether the decay is worsening, and might share in your joy if your nutritional or natural alternatives stop the tooth from further decay.
  • If the tooth is unbearable, would extraction be the best option? Dr. Wilson recommends a bridge rather than an implant to replace an extracted tooth. Biological dentist Dr. William Glaros suggests partial removable dentures as a possible gentle alternative to a bridge or implant: "Fortunately, there are other options for replacing teeth. One that we – and our patients – especially like is the Valplast partial. These extremely lightweight, flexible, metal-free and aesthetically superb devices fit snugly in the mouth, gently clasping onto strong, healthy teeth. After just a few days’ wear, you hardly feel them. They effectively become like natural teeth."
  • If you already have one or more root-canal-operated dead teeth in your mouth, might they be blocking your further progress toward "optimum you"? Are you ready to remove those remains of dead tooth in your mouth? If so, please see the bullet point above about options to replace extracted teeth. For many, extraction of root-canal-operated teeth marks a critical step to taking control of your life, vastly improving your function, and reaching "optimum you."
  • Please remind your dentist that you prefer to take a cautious and natural approach, and that you are taking comprehensive measures to eliminate stressors in your life and reduce your stress response. Please select a dentist who is understanding and supportive of your preferences.

• Braces and Other Dental Metals

  Most metal braces contain the toxic metal nickel. Dr. Wilson reports the nickel from braces shows on hair tests, and causes depression, suicidal feelings, anger, and rage in children. Nickel and other metals in the mouth are stimuli which are always in contact with you. Therefore, they may be significant stressors for you! Please avoid braces and other dental metals.

• Fluoride in Toothpastes, Drinking Water, and Dental Treatments

  Widespread mineral imbalances weaken the structure of people's teeth. When people noticed that fluoride poisoning caused teeth to get very hard, they began administering fluoride in smaller, but significant, amounts to harden teeth — in toothpastes, dental treatments, and added to the tap water in some places.

  Proponents say that fluoride has been proven totally safe and prevents tooth decay. Again, we do not believe they have investigated whether fluoride supports or even permits optimal human function.

  Critics say that fluoride is a poison, that tooth decay has declined everywhere independent of fluoride, and that fluoride in the amount added to many municipal tap waters has been proven to lower the IQ of children.

  Anecdotally, some people report great improvements in energy, sharpness and clarity of mind, and especially brightness of spirit, when they stop using and drinking fluoride, and when they begin to replenish iodine.

  Fluoride may displace other halogens, such as the vital nutrient mineral iodine, and thereby block their critical functions. Fluoride also has been hypothesized by Fred Davis to scavenge and deplete the mineral lithium, and thereby impair brain and nervous system function and block methylation-type biochemical reactions.

  Do we really want to risk the possible anecdotally reported effects of lower IQ, brain fog, nervous system damage, and spiritual disconnect, just to harden unhealthy teeth?

  We believe that fluoride is a significant stressor on the body. And the potential IQ decrease and potential spiritual blocking are unsuitable for "optimum you."

  We think that mineral balance doesn't require fluoride when you are following the recommendations here in your personalized MinBalance program. Your MinBalance program includes non-fluoridated drinking water and supplements containing iodine from kelp.

  Please avoid all fluoride toothpastes, fluoride treatments, and fluoridated drinking water. Non-fluoride toothpastes are available (such as the one in the purple package at Trader Joe's), you may try brushing with water only (as one dentist once suggested to me), or you may find a good recipe for homemade toothpaste from natural ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide, coconut oil, and/or baking soda.

Stress from OTC Products

All manmade substances you ingest are stimuli / stressors. Over-the-counter products and non-prescription medications are sometimes potent stressors. Please avoid all over-the-counter products whenever possible, except those nutritional supplements mentioned in your MinBalance program.

If necessary, wean off of OTC products gradually. Hopefully, within a few weeks of starting your MinBalance program, you will be stronger and no longer need any OTC products.

Stress from Chemicals

Please avoid all manmade chemicals, in all products, in your home and garden, and everywhere, as best you can. We are exposed to and absorb many manmade chemicals today. There is no way of knowing which will turn out to be toxic. Time and again, manmade substances are declared safe, or are used without testing, and then later are declared toxic. At the least, manmade chemicals are a stressor, often a major one.

Dr. Wilson has some good recommendations about cosmetics here. And here are a few of those products which I've found helpful:

• Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, unscented variety, liquid soap diluted in a reused foaming dispenser for hand-washing and dishes. May work for laundry too if your water is soft.
• Dr. Bronner's Sal-Suds, for laundry
• Grandpa's Original Pine Tar Soap, for showering
• J.R. Liggett's Bar Shampoo Original Formula, for shampoo and shaving cream
• Bon Ami Powder Cleanser, for kitchen scouring
• White Vinegar, for cleaning surfaces

When in doubt, it may help to check products or ingredients in the EWG Skin Deep database, although we don't recommend using many other beauty or cleaning products. Most seem to have too many chemicals.

Look for paint without volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Select household items and furniture with as few chemicals, and as little smell as possible. Sometimes it helps to leave new items outdoors in the sun for a few days to offgas, before you start to use them.

Stressful Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)

Our electricity and electronic devices bring miracles to our lives every day. However, they also produce electromagnetic fields (EMF), which seem to be a hidden stressor (stimulus) to the body. It is possible to identify EMF sources and use one's electric devices in a way that dramatically reduces EMF exposure.

Proponents of new, powerful, and rapidly expanding technologies say the EMF levels are totally safe. Again, we are unaware that they have tested whether EMF supports or even permits optimal human function.

Critics say EMF at the levels we're experiencing today has been proven harmful, often exceeds established guidelines, and hasn't been tested for long-term effects.

Anecdotally, some people report that they have connected their EMF exposure, as measured with an EMF meter, with their observations of fatigue, anxiety, depression, headaches, insomnia, and brain fog. In contrast, they find that reducing their EMF exposure brings dramatic improvements for mind, body, and spirit.

We believe EMF is at least a stressor, and possibly a very major one.

Please consider buying an EMF meter to help you detect and reduce exposures:

• A basic EMF meter like the Meterk 2019 version meter will measure magnetic fields (from motors, fans, appliances, wiring, and power lines) as well as electric fields (from power lines, lights, wall outlets, switches, electronic devices, and appliances).
• A more advanced EMF meter like the Trifield TF2 will measure both those types, and also measure radio frequency EMF (from wireless home phones, cell phones, cell towers, wifi, microwaves, etc.).

I personally have found these EMF meters extremely helpful. I discovered that my mysterious fatigue while chopping veggies at the kitchen counter arose from standing too close to the magnetic field EMF of the refrigerator, and went away when chopping veggies in a different spot further from the refrigerator. Also, I learned I could much reduce my EMF from my laptop by keeping it at a distance of about four feet, with an external wired keyboard and mouse, instead of in my lap or on a table right in front of me. With the Trifield, I have observed and measured pulses of EMF from being near a connected cell phone, even when the phone isn't in active use.

New 5G cell connection is coming soon, and already has been installed and activated in some cities. 5G will involve small cell towers located at close intervals on every block in major cities. 5G may dramatically increase the EMF stressor in cities which adopt 5G. This is a significant concern to those trying to comprehensively reduce stressors in their lives.

Here are a few suggestions about EMF:

• Whenever possible, please avoid being near cell towers, high voltage power lines, power transistor stations, large electric appliances, and smart electric meters.
• Please deactivate WiFi and/or cell signal whenever you're not using them, and definitely overnight. Use airplane mode or power off when you don't need to be connected.
• Whenever possible, please use a headset and keep devices away from you when they are connected to wifi or cell signal. Here's a low EMF headset that I use whenever talking on the cell phone.
• Corded landline phones and wired internet are preferable to wireless versions.
• If you type your writing such as notes, journals, or articles, you may like the Alphasmart Neo word processor. It allows you to type on a low-EMF device away from the computer, then beam your writing up to your computer at a later time.
• Avoid microwave ovens and X-rays, and especially CT scans, whenever you can. Dental X-rays aren't as much radiation as other X-rays, so may be safer.
• When you can, check your sleeping area and home with an EMF meter, such as the Meterk or Trifield mentioned above. Look for ways to reduce exposure.
• Read and learn more about EMF. I've learned a lot from Christian Thomas's articles on the EMF Academy website. More info about EMF also is available from Dr. Wilson's website.
• Do the best you can, and don't expect perfection. EMF reduction is doable, but it's a big project, so break it into steps. Address larger exposures first. Look for opportunities to reduce EMF exposure, as those opportunities arise.

Stress from Nickel in Jewelry, Dental Braces, Eyeglasses, and Other Metals You Touch

The toxic metal nickel may be found in some jewelry, dental braces, keys, metal eyeglass frames, nail clippers, and metal objects around the house such as door latches.

Nickel causes allergies for some people when in contact with the skin. It may also cause brain fog and mood changes.

Regardless of allergies or observed brain effects, the toxic metal nickel in contact with skin might be a significant stressor for you. Please consider an inexpensive nickel test kit for metal surfaces that you touch. You may find several good options by searching ebay for "nickel test kit."

At the least, please select nickel-free options for jewelry and eyeglasses, or otherwise apply a protective coating. Whenever possible, avoid placing metals in contact with your body, because your body may absorb them.

Stress from Arsenic in Drinking Water

Please avoid any spring water, well water, or unfiltered tap water which contains detectable arsenic. Arsenic is one of the most toxic metals, and a common natural contaminant in groundwater in certain areas.

Arsenic appears directly below phosphorus and nitrogen on the periodic table, all in group 5A. Arsenic might make a lot of trouble substituting for phosphorus and nitrogen in the body!

Arsenic has been reported to increase rates of cancer, lower IQ, and cause brain fog. We believe, at the least, that it is a definite stressor on the body.

Though the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permits arsenic in water up to 10 ppb (or 0.010 ppm), this is far too much for "optimum you".

Consumer Reports recommends reducing the allowable limit from 10 ppb to 3 ppb, and notes adverse health effects starting at 2 ppb. For "optimum you", even less than 2 ppb is probably better, ideally 0 ppb.

Environmental Working Group recommends following the California state Public Health Goal for arsenic in drinking water to reduce cancer, which is 0.004 ppb (or 0.000004 ppm) – or 2500 times less than the EPA permitted level.

Since arsenic below 2 ppb often is not reported (below the detection limit), we definitely recommend avoiding any drinking water with any detected arsenic at all. More info about recommended spring water brands appears above.

Stress from Alcohol, Drugs, and Smoking

All these substances produce a stress response. The response may feel good, but will weaken the body in the long term, thus blocking the way to "optimum you."

Dr. Paul Eck believed that cadmium in cigarettes and marijuana was a main reason why people smoke. The cadmium gives an adrenal kick by raising the hair mineral sodium level, but, in the long term, acts as a toxin and stressor, and weakens the person's energy, and indeed the whole body.

As Dr. Eck noted, leaving stimulating substances may be difficult initially because you will feel terrible when you stop them. This is due to the underlying lower energy level, which led you to those substances in the first place.

"Optimum you" will have stronger energy and won't need alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or other drugs. Please avoid these entirely, starting now.

Get help if you need it to quit. Some people will not be able to stop right away, but as they get healthier and stronger, will reach a point when they feel ready and can quit.

And please let us know if you are having difficulties. We may be able to adjust your supplement program to help.

Stress from Casual Sex

Dr. Wilson believes that hidden sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) may cause chronic, low-level infections which affect brain and body function. Many people assume that all STDs are rare, known, and/or treatable. However, if Dr. Wilson is correct, hidden chronic STDs could be a potential significant long-term stressor, as could other aspects of casual sexual experiences.

Stress from Swimming Pools, Hot Tubs, and Polluted Lakes and Streams

Germs and chemicals are significant potential stressors in swimming pools, hot tubs, and polluted lakes and streams. Please avoid swimming in them. Instead, you may enjoy swimming in the ocean, or in clean lakes, rivers, or hot springs.

Stressful Air Pollution

Please look for clean air, at home and at work. There are also some ways you might consider to improve indoor air quality.

Dr. Wilson recommends an ozonator-ionizer such as the Atlas 300A to help enrich the air with ozone and positive ions. I call this machine the "thunderstorm machine," because lightning produces ozone and rainfall produces positive ions in the air. Therefore, perhaps the thunderstorm machine replicates the positive feeling one gets going outside right after a rainstorm.

The ozone may be a mild respiratory stressor for some people, but Dr. Wilson says it helps clear respiratory infections. It does produce some noise from the fan, which is a mild stressor too. For this reason, we would stick with the 300A or something similar, rather than larger models.

Other options which may help you if you have sensitive breathing are a humidifier or dehumidifier, or even a HEPA filter.

Stressful Temperatures

Please make sure you are warm enough, especially at night. Dress warmly. Being even a little cold at night may be a major stressor for some people.

Stressful Noise

Dr. Hans Selye emphasized that loud noise is a form of stressor. Some people enjoy loud music for exactly the same reason as they might enjoy smoking or drugs: it's a stimulating stressor. But it depletes you in the long term.

For "optimum you", please avoid loud noise whenever possible.

If the loud noise is unavoidable, please wear earplugs. Indeed, the stressor can be eliminated if your body cannot perceive it.

Stress from Unbalanced Programs and Systems

Please don't try to combine your MinBalance program with other diet and lifestyle programs. MinBalance is an exact recipe. The imbalance of other programs, systems, or methods will be a stressor on your body.

Loving Relationships

Seeking truth together. Connection and deep honesty. Supporting each other toward "optimum you".

Peaceful Living Place

Quiet enough for good rest. Perhaps close to nature. Preferably with low EMF. With people and perhaps pets that you care about.

Meaningful Work

Something you enjoy doing. With people you enjoy being around. Enough to provide the time and money you need to live on and to do your MinBalance program. Not necessarily a 4-hour workweek, but at least not overworking you.

Learning

Learn something new every day. With new energy, you may find new interests. Consider online courses or home-schooling children.

Spiritual Endeavors

Connection with God / Creator / Universe / Nature / any higher forces you might believe in or wonder about. Prayer, gratitude, forgiveness, humor, love. More about Spirit below.

Your MinBalance Program

This MinBalance program is here to help you create a better life. When you get more energy, you may wish to invest some of your increased energy back into doing more of your MinBalance program. This is an investment in further improvements in mind, body, and spirit.