[4:10] you will continue to have symptoms, you will continue to get sick.
Chances are you will continue to collect additional auto immune diseases, and if you will never change your way,
statistics show that most likely the final result will be cancer.

[4:34] So, it’s an important step you have to take and,

[4:39] you know, the simple truth is to begin eating real foods.

[4:45] All right, not processed foods, or so many things I like to call food-like substances, right. You know what real food looks like.
And, one of the quotes I always repeat to myself, I love so much, by Michael Pollan.
He says, that basically everything he’s learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words:

[5:12] Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. And I wholeheartedly agree.
The prior episode I’ve done, you may check out, on the subject is episode 3, where I cover Top 10 Superfoods
that you can start introducing into your diet today. I think this is always the best first step to take when you do want to
get away from the processed food. It’s not just say: Okay, I never have a hot dog again, but no, okay, I’m going to start
including nutrient dense foods into my diet so that my body can learn the difference; it can actually get what it craves so much.
And with that remove the cravings for unhealthy foods. The next thing is, again a huge step, I understand,
but so necessary from everything I’ve learned, it is to remove gluten, dairy, and sugar from your diet.
One of the things that I came across that made a huge impression about that subject with me is that I heard that a
functional doctor,

[6:34] so, along the lines of functional medicine, integrative medicine, that people pay out of pocket for in the amount of 10 to $20,000 a year to see,
They will not even work with you,
if you’re still consuming gluten and dairy. That’s how detrimental these things have become to our health. You know, due to the changes that
those things have undergone. You know, dairy with the hormones etc.etc. I mean those things aren’t what they used to be. So, even if maybe for your grandmother
milk was a good thing it just isn’t anymore today.
So, you want to remove gluten, dairy, and sugar, right, the number one inflammation cause in your body. And, helpful with that would be episode 11,
where I shared How to Quit Your Sugar Addiction for Good. So check that out!
Additional items to remove next from your diet will be soy,
more often than not is genetically modified and also is known to be an allergen for many people.
Next are other grains. While you have removed the gluten now, very often

[8:02] non-gluten grains are still cross contaminated with gluten.
So, you think you’re all good and you’re still having digestive issues, gut permeability, and all that, and you don’t understand why, it may be because you’re
eating other contaminated grains. So, you may not be off those for the rest of your life, but in order to make progress
with your arthritis, you do want to remove grains. Also, I think this

[8:36] mostly has become common knowledge, I personally have not consumed nightshades for at least a decade already,
so those are certain vegetables that all contain,
basically a poison, that again can increase inflammation and intestinal permeability. So, we’re talking about tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, etc.
So would your condition you also want to remove that. And last but not least, corn,
which not only is typically genetically modified these days, but
also often contains mold, you know, mold loves to grow on corn, which is another huge issue when it comes to inflammation in your body.

[9:27] Alright. So, so much to the diet then there is supplementation, of course.
And, maybe just like me, you sometimes get overwhelmed by the
deluge of supplements various sources and practitioners recommend that you don’t even know what to take anymore. So, I have condensed it here a little, some of the really important ones to get started with,
especially when it comes to healing your gut, number one and two, digestive enzymes and probiotics.
Now, I have also talked about probiotics on a previous episode, episode 8 where I’ve discussed whether you need probiotics. So, you want to listen to that one.

[10:13] And, a few more supplements, vitamin D is a big one, even if you get exposure to the sun, most of us are
deficient in this important vitamin. Next, glutamine,
and fish oil, especially Omega-3.
There’s often an imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 in our modern diet.
So, that is a very important supplement that has made a huge difference in people’s, and actually various conditions and just overall health,
that I would
highly suggest you looking into. And, while I haven’t done an episode, but I have done a big article on the website about omega-3s and,
you know, where you can find them and what to look for, and also if you’re vegetarian what are some plant-based sources for you.
All right. So now, let’s move into toxins.

[11:14] And this is such a huge topic, and I think the one most of us are least aware of.
It’s really like this best kept secret, and it starts with the air we breathe and the water we consume daily, right. Those two things
we can’t live without whatsoever. If you live in an urban area today, I mean, your air is going to be very polluted, and
not only the outside air from the factories and the cars, but even more so your indoor air
is often worse than even the outdoor air due to
various materials, paints, and whatnot, that has been used in the construction of the building you are in.
So, an indoor air cleaning system, air filtration system, is very important. I don’t have a particular brand in mind for you, actually, I didn’t get a chance to look that up,
but basically, I believe HEPA air filtering is still the the best standard to look for.

[12:29] And then there’s water. Oh my! If you look up the levels of of toxins in your

[12:39] local drinking water, which there is the website for it, and I apologize again, I don’t have it top of my mind, but you can look it up. I mean, you’ll be scared! So don’t ever, ever, ever,
drink tap water anymore, okay. Those, those times have long passed, if they ever truly existed, maybe that was just a story they told us. So good
water filtering is very important and that also includes good fluoride filtration.

[13:09] So, here I do have a recommendation for you, looking into various models and what other,
you know, health- educated people and practitioners are using, the Berkey water filters are definitely my favorite, and I highly recommend those to you.
Next, when it comes to toxins, we have
GMOs, glyphosate, and pesticides. So, GMOs are the genetically modified organisms.
I discussed earlier soy and corn, for example, are some of those created by scientists and they were
created to withstand glyphosate and pesticides in general, glyphosate being the active ingredient in Roundup,
while everything else around them dies. The problem with that is, of course, if you consume them
they are full of those pesticides because that’s what they are being heavily sprayed with, and if you consume all those toxins,
it is poisonous. It does horrible things, and in the end it basically mutates our body our cells, the way they should function.

[14:27] And, you want to stay away from them, which means

[14:31] eat organic. I mean if you have to scrape together your last cents, do
buy organic, please, please, please, do! In episode 13 I’ve shared Why Organic Living is Important, and an episode 7 I also give you information on How you can Eat Clean on a Budget,
cuz I know it is slightly more expensive, but not as much as you may think, and I tell you your body, your health,
your family, will thank you it. Choose organic. And, the same applies basically when it comes to your cosmetics and
cleaning products. Now we are not really used to looking at the ingredients, right, what’s in there and again,
they are horrific, they are toxic, they are hormone-disrupting, terrible products, that don’t belong anywhere near our lungs or our skin.
In episode 4 I share more about How to Boost Your Skin Health and Choose Your Cosmetics Wisely. So, slowly going through the process of exchanging products you are used to in the past
with organic products for your cosmetics and cleaning products is super important.

[15:56] And along those lines you’re probably already aware of plastics that you shouldn’t, you know,
cook / microwave in plastics and not even drink your water out of plastics because of the BPA, which again, disrupts our hormones. So, choose,

[16:14] what is it, glass water bottles,
to consume your drinking water from. And then another subject under, you know, I put it on the toxins, if you will, that
I mean even I was pretty much unaware of up until, you know, the last year, which are electromagnetic fields and electromagnetic
radiation, which is from our power lines to our electric meters, to our Wi-Fi routers, to cell phone towers, our cellular signals,
even Bluetooth signals, our blue light computer screens, iPad screen, television screens, you name it, all falls under the EMF/ EMR
category. And, we can argue all day long is it harmful for the human, blah, blah, blah. I just say,
it didn’t used to be there and now our bodies are bombarded
by hundreds of singles going in and out all day every day and often all night every night and somebody thinks, oh,
that wouldn’t make any difference, that would have no effect on the human body, or their health, or their sleep, or anything.

[17:36] I mean, that’s pretty naive to think that, right.
So, do try to limit your exposure and just continue your education on that subject. That’s just the direction I do want to lead you in.
You know, I’m still working on it, but there are simple things that you can do to improve.
Sometimes as simple as moving your bed a couple of inches over, so you’re not right on the opposite side of your refrigerator running in the kitchen.

[18:08] And then there are additional toxins that have found their comfy little home in our bodies, that I actually haven’t discussed in prior episodes. Mold,
heavy metals, and parasites.
I did want to at least mention them here. If you received my newsletter last Friday, you know that mold is kind of what
kick-started my journey into non-health, un-health, whatever it is, disease. It’s, it’s a big one and this week there is a summit, what is it called? There is a Summit,
right this week, which you may want to check out, called just The Toxic Mold Summit. I think it’s an important subject. I cannot tell you I have a,
well actually I have through mold, I have developed chemical sensitivities, and
I smell everything about people, and I cannot tell you how many people I meet, especially here in the Bay Area, it is more moist,
through the ocean and everything, how many people I meet that smell like mold. All right, other people live in a moldy environment without being aware of it, but it is such a
dangerous thing, and it’s really becoming the majority of people in this country that are being exposed to mold.

[19:38] Yet another subject I’d love for you to look into heavy metals, well,

[19:43] again, besides the ones we get from non-organic foods, etc, Mercury, which I,
happen to have a mouth full of mercury, is often the culprit. So that’s something you want to look at. And parasites, that’s a funny and
at the same time disgusting topic, and it appears that while we all want to be so aloof that, not me, parasites, you know, I’ve never even been out of the country, most of us are hosts,
hosts to parasites as well. So getting those out of your body may also be important, which leads me right
to the topic of detoxification, right. That’s basically
what we have to do to get all of those toxins that have already entered our bodies and actually continue to enter our body everyday,
out again. So it’s really, it’s a regular thing to do to detoxify. And, for small daily things you can do,
I shared right in episode 1 my 7 Secrets to Detoxing Naturally.
You definitely want to check it out, because that is just too simple to ignore.

[21:01] Alright. There are then also various protocols and supplements that support detoxification.
One of the ways, one of the protocols is for example, starting with an Elimination Diet, which I shared all about in episode 6,

[21:20] What You Need to Know and Why You Should Care about the Elimination Diet.
Another way is fasting, which you hear of a lot these days.
Now, I don’t think most of us have the luxury to go to a nice little retreat and do a 3-week fast, so therefore, personally, I’m a big proponent of intermittent fasting.
And last, but by no means least, when it comes to detoxification, I keep hearing over and over and over again, the
astounding benefits of infrared sauna.
And that’s again, that’s not a hardship to go sit in an infrared sauna, and there are some portable models that are very affordable, but you do want to look into
the EMF/EMR radiation they may have. So, you may want to upgrade and spend a little more to be protected from that.

[22:20] That’s what I would highly recommend. I have to be honest, I don’t have one yet, but it’s so on my wish / dream list, I’ve always loved the sauna and I can’t wait to get one of those.

[22:34] That brings us to main topic number four, addressing stress and past traumas.
Now, the first thing in that category that needs to be addressed, kind of ties into what I opened with in the beginning of this episode about our
mindset and our belief, okay. You are not
going to get better, much less reverse your arthritis, if you don’t believe it can be done.
You have to stay positive, you have to be willing to do what it takes,
and you have to have a growth mindset. Just as I did, you have to continuously learn
more about what you can do, and, and take baby steps. If you take just one little step every single day,
and don’t expect to have taken care of all these things in the next three months. All right, this is a journey.

[23:42] And, it’s so worth it. It so beats
the other journey that the doctors have suggested to you, okay. So do keep believing.
And. it’s not always easy on your own and sometimes impossible on your own, so seek support.
Seek support in like-minded groups,
find allies on your health journey. They don’t necessarily have to have arthritis, maybe your neighbor just wants to lose some weight,
but together you can try out some new recipes, right, that’s wonderful. And, if you’re truly dealing with past traumas, that also can be a big
obstacle to your success in, in creating health in your life, you may also want to seek the help of a therapist. Next,
stress is actually a major cause for arthritis and autoimmune disease, more than you may believe,
so managing stress is
super important. I have shared some Self-care and Stress Management Practices in episode 9, which you may want to review. I’ve also extensively talked and written about mindfulness,
meditation, gratitude, and journaling.

[25:05] And last but not least for your health and stress management and healing there’s nothing more important but
good restful sleep.

[25:18] You know, they always say 7 – 8 hours minimum. I don’t know about you, but that does not cut it for me. I’ve always slept long, 8 to 9 hours is for me, is like minimum.
Okay, that is when your body does all the repair work, all the healing.
Right, that’s when it gets a chance to do so. So it is super, super important that you work on your sleep, that you work on your habits around sleep,
that you remove
distractions from sleep. Here again, that ties in with, you know, not sitting in front of the screen up until you go to bed,
not eating right before you go to bed, but have two to three hours before, and any other calming rituals you can think of,
from dimming the lights to maybe drinking a nice, you know, cup of sleep inducing tea, herbal tea.

[26:22] Take care of your sleep habits. And last, exercise and movement, and yes,
I know, it is hard. I’ve shared with you that my mom and my grandmother both suffered from osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatism, you name it,
and didn’t matter how much someone said to my mom, you have to keep moving, have to keep walking, you know, with all the pain,
she was unwilling to, it was too hard, but it will make things better.

[27:00] And it’s the only way you will be able to keep moving. If you stop moving now because there’s some pain,
you will be unable to move later when there may be even more pain. So, walking as one of my favorite things to start out with. I had a whole
episode on Walking for Fitness and also have some free resources, which I shared an episode 12.
Number two, the one thing my mom actually loved to do, we got her to do, were Aqua exercises in the water.
Anything that is gentle, the things I personally am looking forward to learning more about Qi Gong
and Tai Chi. Now, I heard Qi Gong is easier to learn, so you may want to start there.
And then, of course, yoga is another wonderful gentle, very beneficial practice
that will keep you moving and keep your body flexible, especially, you know, the tendons around the joints, it will all help
keep you mobile, which will be so important on your journey to reversing arthritis.

[28:15] All right, and last on the subject I want to share with you, a few of my favorite
books I have enjoyed over the last year, for your continuing education, and I’m linking to those in the resources section of the podcast description for this episode,
number one Doctor Tom O’Bryan who wrote The Autoimmune
Fix. I really love that man I have seen him on many of his presentations on various summits.
I highly recommend him. Dr. Amy Myers,
who wrote The Autoimmune Solution, and has lots of little programs and resources to share with you. Among some of my favorites are recipes that she shares freely. So, you may want to check those out.
And last,

[29:08] I heard about doctor Mao Shing Ni also on one of the summit’s I attended over the last year, and
I was just floored by his history of being the, I believe, if I get that number right, the 37th generation Chinese
medicine practitioner in his family.
I mean, is that impressive? Have you ever met anybody in their profession being the 37th generation in his family? I haven’t. And he has a wonderful, very comprehensive,
still not a huge, book on arthritis called Arthritis Secrets of Natural Healing.
This one may even get my highest recommendation, because there are so
many little things he shares, you can use right, you can use by tomorrow. You can make his wonderful cereal,
you know, do some of his exercises he describes, have a little herbal tea with certain herbs in it. You could start that tomorrow.
So, I highly recommend you check out that book as well. All right.

[30:25] So, that concludes my big round up about arthritis, and it ends up being the longest episode I have done this far,
which means that I may not be quite caught up with the whole transcript for the episode. There may be an extra day or two delay before I can add this to the show notes, but it will definitely be there for your reference,
and overall, I hope this information will be helpful in your journey. And now,
let me share the important and exciting announcement I told you about in the beginning. And yes, I’m excited. I’m also a little sad, and I hope you won’t be too sad.

[31:13] You see, I am currently learning an advanced coaching process,
that will allow me to help more people transform their personal and professional lives, whether their goal is to improve their health, their happiness, their relationships, career,
business, or even their leadership skills, so that they can live a truly extraordinary life.
And, I feel that this skill will allow me to make an even greater impact in the world and in my students’ lives, and because of this broader focus,
clearly the title The Arthritis Coach is no longer appropriate and I will need to re-brand.
Now I have re-branded a few times in my life, and I actually love the process, however, by the time you complete a full
brand, it’s about 6 months,

[32:13] so I have decided this is it. I know I don’t want to do all this work again, and I will simply refer to my name the Biggi Fraley brand. So, this podcast you’re listening to right now,
it will remain in place, it’s all there, but it will simply be called The Biggi Fraley Podcast going forward, and also any emails and newsletters will come from my biggifraley.com domain.
Also, all previous resources and podcast episodes have been transferred to biggifraley.com already, and continue to be available to you.
And don’t worry if you end up going to the arthritiscoach.com through some previous link, you will be seamlessly transferred over to biggifraley.com, so you will definitely find what you need and what you’re looking for.

[33:07] Now, here’s a quick rundown of some of the topics I’m planning to cover in my podcast moving forward, which you will notice overall is not that much different, as living your best life
is really only possible with good health. So, these subjects are still under the umbrella of mindfulness,
where the things I mentioned today, we’ll go over stress, sleep, self-care,
meditation, spirituality, trauma, happiness, gratitude. Right, all sounds familiar? And a little more heavy going into personal development. That is motivation,

goals, habits, overcoming challenges and obstacles, right, you see that connection here, success,
and peak performance, right, living your best life. And the area of health, of course, I’m going to continue to cover because,
it is truly my life and has been for over three decades, my focus on health, fitness, and nutrition. And,

[34:22] as I age, you know, focus more on longevity as well. So, we’ll continue to talk about whole food, gut health,
brain health, so that will be kind of new, but you probably by now know how important, how interconnected that is, and toxins and movement.

[34:43] I really, really hope that you will continue to tune in, as I’ve so enjoyed talking to you in the past couple of months. So, please remember to join me in 2 weeks for the latest episode of The
Biggi Fraley Podcast, available Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. Pacific on your favorite podcast channel.
Thank you so much. Take care, and bye-bye.