Clean by Alejandro Junger Book Summary

​Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself

“Commonplace complaints such as headaches, bowel irregularities, allergies, weight problems, depression, anxiety, and pain are largely caused by failing detox systems.

Looking older, feeling more tired, and losing the radiant luster of health are also directly related to this overburdened state. Yet all of this can be reversed and, frequently, healed when we pay attention to detoxification.” ~ Dr. Alejandro Junger

Did you know that our bodies have the ability to keep us healthy?

Yes, it does… Let’s dig deeper…

1. It’s all about body and mind detox…

2. “At the most basic, obvious, and literal level, we are what we eat. Food provides the materials for the construction of our body’s architecture. Food becomes us.”

3. “The human body has an amazing natural ability to defend, repair, heal, and even rejuvenate itself.”

4. “To kill the symptoms without changing the conditions that caused them is insulting to the body’s intelligence.”

5. “The stress of modern life is as much a toxin as the chemicals in our food, water, and air.”

“Commonplace complaints such as headaches, bowel irregularities, allergies, weight problems, depression, anxiety, and pain are largely caused by failing detox systems. Looking older, feeling more tired, and losing the radiant luster of health are also directly related to this overburdened state. Yet all of this can be reversed and, frequently, healed when we pay attention to detoxification.”

Did you know that our bodies have the ability to keep us healthy?

Yes, it does…

But too much stress, bad food, not enough rest and sleep - and the list goes on- all these things affect our detox system – which should protect our bodies – and make it fail to do its job… And that of course leads to breakdowns that show up in the form the different illnesses, such as headaches and depression to heart disease and diabetes.

The key here is to turn our detox system on again… Let’s dive deeper in some big ideas…

The real problem is that when dealing with those types of illnesses - headaches and depression to heart disease and diabetes and so on- modern medicine is concerned with treating the symptoms without looking for the real causes behind them…

Dr. Alejandro describes it as: “When the leaves of a plant start looking sick, wise gardeners will dig out the root to take a look. Even though it is buried in soil, hidden from view, gardeners know they must go to the root to find where most plant diseases begin.

It does not surprise them that it was far away from the root, on the leaves, that the first symptoms appeared.

They know that for the leaves to be healthy, they must receive nutrients from the roots, where they are absorbed from the soil. I learned this as a kid, watching the gardeners in my own backyard.”

Amazing explanation…

He also tells us: “The reason many of these problems persist and get worse with time is that modern medicine tends to focus on making a diagnosis, instead of looking at what is behind it.”

So, remember that “To kill the symptoms without changing the conditions that caused them is insulting to the body’s intelligence.”

“We became the only mammals that drink milk after we stop nursing from our mother’s breast. And we go even further—we steal the milk from different species.

It’s like putting jet fuel in a motorcycle; it damages the engine. Worse, now that milk is full of hormones and antibiotics, a questionable argument becomes undeniable. Milk is poisoning us.”

Milk is meant to be the food for infants during the early days of their lives.

For humans, that milk-nourishment helps us go from a birth weight of around 8 pounds to a weight of around 20 pounds in a year.

For a cow, on the other hand, that milk-nourishment helps the calf go from a birth weight of around 80 pounds to over 1,100 pounds in a year!

Can you see the difference!!

That’s why Dr. Junger says that drinking milk is “like putting jet fuel in a motorcycle.”

How’s that? Let’s think about it for a second.

So, milk should be cut out of our diet as it’s not designed for our bodies…

“The Atkins diet works; it is guaranteed to make you fit in your bathing suit by beach time. What it doesn’t guarantee is that you will be alive to enjoy it...

High animal-protein content in our diet is acidifying, contributing to inflammation in general and to cardiovascular disease, cancer, renal insufficiency, gout, and osteoporosis in particular.

... Whenever people ask me what they should eat, I first ask them, “What are you eating for?” If you are eating to get lean, fast, Atkins is your best choice, but your worst choice if what you want is radiant health and longevity.”

So, if you’re on Atkins, stop it right now!

“Toxicity is not limited to the realm of food and chemicals. There is another kind of toxicity that is just as pervasive and influential on modern health—even though it’s harder to measure and isolate.

Toxic thoughts, toxic relationships, the undercurrent of anxiety that is almost an automatic by-product of making it in the modern American world—all these things are pollutants in that they disturb the peace and normal body functioning we were born to have.

Although it doesn’t come up on the EPA’s list of worst environmental dangers and is still not fully recognized by many busy doctors in hospitals (as the lack of adequate therapies in them reveals), the stress of modern life is as much a toxin as the chemicals in our food, water, and air.”

Did you know that being a pessimist or an optimist directly affects our health?

Yes, it does…

As Martin Seligman puts it in his great book, Flourish: “We estimate that being in the upper quartile of optimism seems to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk roughly equivalent to not smoking two packs of cigarettes daily.”

Optimism is the key here... It is the detox for your mind!!

Dr. Junger also says: “If some of the biggest obstacles to radiant well-being are the quantum toxins of stress and endless thinking, then one of the most important acts any of us can do to achieve better health is to engage in quantum detoxofication: clearing the debris and toxic waste that fills up the mind on a daily basis, and recapturing some of that lost attention that drains out of our brains in random, repetitive thinking.”

So, all we need is to get rid of the garbage toxic thoughts that hold us back.

The question now is how can we do that?

Well, Dr. Junger recommends a simple meditation practice for as little as five minutes a day. Check out the book for more information about this practice.

“Stop complaining... Any complaint is really the expression of a negative emotion or state. It gives the complainer a sense of immediate relief, even pleasure. This is perhaps the reason why it is such a common practice worldwide.”

Another popular toxin other than your food and environment… Complaining! Stop it!!

Dr. Junger describes his meeting with a guy named Hugo Cory who told him that a key to Self-Mastery lies in our ability to get ourselves to stop complaining.

There is actually a great book, A Complaint Free World, written by Will Bowen.. Where Bowen puts a challenge for us to stop complaining, criticizing or gossiping for 21 days… I recommend you check it out…

Bowen tells us in his book: “Doctors estimate that 67 percent of illnesses are a result of “thinking sick.” Our thoughts create our world and our words indicate our thoughts. Complaining about an illness will neither shorten its duration nor lessen its severity.”

To stop complaining Bowen advises us: “You can best get what you desire by expressing what you want rather than complaining about the way things are.”

Detoxify your thoughts by detoxifying your words… Stop complaining 😊

“If your instinct is pushing you toward a detoxification program but you need motivation, just look around at the people on the street, or in the mall, or in the airport. How healthy and happy does the average person look?

Read some of the health Web sites that are talking honestly about the real state of health in America today. Too many people are sick. Too many people are taking medications, going to the doctor, or suffering with some kind of symptom.

Half of Americans will have heart disease or cancer in their lives. The other half will likely develop other kinds of conditions and diseases that will continue to make the pharmaceutical industry one of the most profitable industries of all time.

So as you consider whether you can successfully do the Clean program, it can be helpful to ask yourself, do you want to be a number in the American bad-health statistics? If you do what most Americans do and you eat what most Americans eat, how can you expect a different outcome?”

Shocking… Isn’t it?!

“If we do what most Americans do, we’re going to experience what most Americans experience.”

That’s right… so choose wisely!

It’s important to know that: “In an era when heart disease, an almost entirely avoidable condition, is the number-one killer in our country; when a staggering portion of the American GNP is used to pay for drugs and treatments for the so-called diseases of civilization;

when the percentage of men and women who use prescription drugs daily is sky high and growing, especially among those in midlife and older; one kind of future is laid out before you, one of ever-worsening health and a diminishing sense of well-being.

Why not choose a different future, by digging the well now, when you have the strength to dig deep—before you have been further weakened?”

“Some old ideas have been turned on their heads. For example, one accepted belief is that bacteria and viruses attack you and make you toxic and ill.

This is like saying the mice and roaches make the trash can full—a crude analogy, but an apt one.

The real reason roaches and mice hang out in the trash can is because garbage is there attracting them. Likewise, bacteria and viruses will land and thrive in bodies that are already toxic.”

Dr. Alejandro Junger tells us that bacteria and viruses don't just randomly attack everyone and make them ill!!

They actually need a good host to take over and destroy his / her health - just like how mice and roaches are attracted to the trash can!!

So, the question is “How does your inside look?”…

“If you constructed a fantastic new building, it would be foolish not to maintain it. If you invested in a new car, you’d maintain it just as the user’s manual instructs, to keep it running well over the months and years to come.

For some reason, we’re more resistant to this idea when it comes to our health.

It’s easier and more convenient to let things go a little and then look for the next fix-it solution when systems and organs start to degenerate.

The “magic bullet” approach is rampant in American culture today. Ignore these things until they get intolerable, and then hunt out that diet, supplement, surgery, or natural therapy that promises to reverse it all tomorrow.

Magazines, movies, and TV shows support this approach overwhelmingly. Magazine covers feature pictures of celebrities with headlines about what they did to look ten years younger—which becomes the next fad of the moment.

But what if we saw that celebrity a few months or years later? Often they’ve backslid from that high state of health back to where they were before, or worse. Usually lack of maintenance is the cause. They did the kick-start without any follow-up.”

Quick fixes don’t work with our health… Start your clean detox journey and stay with it… 😊

"When given a chance, even the most fatigued body wants to find its way back to balance.” …

So, do it right now before it’s too late…

 This song literally changed my life someday! I hope you enjoy it too...

REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED...

That was my Clean summary, a very quick look at this great book. This book is for everyone wanna have a healthy life style... I really recommend it.. If you haven’t read it yet and you’re interested in it, get a copy. This book is packed with life-changing tips! and we’ve only touched on a tiny bit of it. 

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