The Wholesome Diet. Fresh, wholesome ingredients prepared simply With minimizing stress and moderate exercise: form the Wholesome Lifestyle.

Gadolinium toxicity. My journey with Gadolinium Toxicity started with focus on optimal removal of Gd from the body. But starting with one thing, with careful attention, ends up with another.

Heavy Metal toxicity. The next, the ongoing pursuit of dealing with all heavy metals. DTPA chelation, as we do it, is also the optimal treatment for lead (Pb)... but other heavy metals may require other/ additional approaches. Work ongoing.

But dealing with removal of heavy metal, for comprehensive care physical activity needs to be addressed.

Physical activity. Optimal health beneficial physical activity is of moderate strenuousness, and critically, performed regularly. Stretching is also good. Doing things you like has the greatest likelihood of doing regularly. Daily walking for 1 hour out in the fresh air (if there is any fresh air where you live). Jogging, cycling, swimming all very good. Tai chi, yoga very good..

Sauna and Hybaric Oxygen are two physical therapies that may benefit many conditions. Massage is often helpful. Physical therapy. Acupuncture has been shown beneficial for a number of conditions.

Social contact. Communities around the world where people live to 100 commonly, a critical element is they maintain social contact. I think the critical aspect is social contact with people you like and is pleasant. This may be difficult to come by. A dog is good. Maybe, good and bad, the future may be an AI robot. But it should be programmed for positivity.

Diet: It is impossible to consider dealing with any disease without recognizing the importance of diet. Over the last decade focus has been made on how diet, and our digestive system, has a very important impact on brain, skin, immune system.... in other words everything. Regarding basically every disease, current literature describing treatment, a primary focus has been on the importance of a healthy diet. In contrast, it is also interesting that for many diseases, drugs which once were considered important, more recently now may be considered bad, or at best neutral; and less commonly sometimes the opposite. There is no better example than COVID, for this flip-flopping.

The core principle that experts of all diseases: Covid, cancer, auto-immune disease.... everything..... is to eat a healthy diet. There are an incredible number of diets, with an incredible number of scientists/ physicians/ nutritionists coming up with them, and their names: Mediterranean, South Beach, Adkins, Paleo.... and most recent name Atlantic (red meat very good, now).

I had a discussion with a colleague who I have worked with for decades and who is now president of an Agrarian Cooperative in the Roman Campagna looking to restore traditional agrarian foods in Italy. Talking about foods, I told him that I heavily espouse the Mediterranean Diet. His response was ok, but the focus should be on locally produced natural foods. IK said exactly what I mean by a Mediterranean diet- natural healthy foods emphasizing, but not restricted to, vegetables and fruits.

I also borrow the concept of a number of famous chefs prepared simply that they focus on native fresh foods. This is all introduction to:

The Wholesome Diet:, The focus on eating (as often as possible) fresh foods with minimal chemical manipulation (pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc) prepared with minimal chemical manipulation. Fresh ingredients prepared simply. All food categories are ok, but in Goldilocks balance: vegan, vegetarian, meat. Minimize sugar. If allergic/ intolerant minimize dairy and gluten, but maybe reasonable anyways. I read and listen to what experts describe as healthy, and if the recommendation seems odd to look for affirmation from additional sources.

If you can't get fresh, do the best you can: fresh-frozen ok.. A critical aspect is to minimize stress in thinking about eating healthy: avoid orthorexia eating disorder. Weird name for intense stress because you are so focused on eating healthy. Unsweetened black tea and green tea are inexpensive, and I recommend as substitutes for other forms of cold beverages.

A standard healthy diet works for approximately 95%. 5% need modification. The most straightforward approach is to test various foods over a 1 week period. Example: if you are unsure if your heartburn is from too much gastric acid production (most often) or too little gastric acid production, a reasonable way to test noninvasively if too little acid is the problem, take a shot glass of apple cider vinegar before the largest meal of your day (all meals may be better) for 1 week, and then for the next week, don't take apple cider vinegar. If you feel better with taking apple cider vinegar , then you may have decreased gastric acid production, and keep taking it. Longer stretches may be more informative, a month for example. I would use this approach for any food where you think you may be allergic/ intolerant to. Wheat, deep-fried food, tomatoes (eg: solanine alkaloid intolerance), etc. You are the steward of your own health.

Restoring the Microbiome. This really is the starting point or part of the starting point of the Wholesome diet. This especially is critical for those who have grossly altered their microbiome with repeated consumption of antibiotics. I recommend taking a spectrum of healthy prebiotics, probiotics, and biotics. A starting point is Greek yogurt and reputable microbiome supplements.

Supplements: I think some supplements may be of value to many people, especially for those with toxicities like GDD. Overall I prefer the strategy of focusing on eating healthy food. I do like Quercitin/tumeric combo capsule; chlorella/spirulina; an affordable quality multivitamin with minerals pill; and I am starting to be fond of modified citrus pectin (but start with mandarin oranges, peaches, and apricots).

Medications: I am a formally trained physician so I believe in medications, but I also have gained in wisdom with years, so I prefer a rational, minimalist approach. The drug to start for many immunity mediated inflammatory diseases (which includes GDD) is Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). But I also recommend this sparingly.

This then introduces the last component:

Minimize stress. This includes stress of all kinds based on all things. This also includes minimizing anger. Unfortunately anger is unavoidable, and may at times be important. Anger is often a better emotion regarding health than depression. In my situation as the Protector Publicus. ... the physician focused on protecting people, I am forced to deal with sycophants, hypocrites, liars (and also people depressed about their health condition, who contact me constantly). To survive, I, and I recommend you, learn compartmentalization and resilience.

What started with the best method to get Gd out of your body, ended up with the Wholesome Lifestyle.. So the Wholesome Diet as part of the Wholesome Lifestyle.

The easiest approach is to start simple: pay attention to eating healthy food and walk often, and when you can, get fresh air and sunshine. Overall show wisdom-sense. It turns out this approach works for all that ails you.

Richard Semelka, MD