Free Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself by Alejandro Junger

quality; it resonates with and attracts dense, toxic thoughts and emotions. The reverse is also true, that dense thoughts and emotions promote mucus production in the tissues.
    Instead, by enhancing the elimination of mucus during Clean, you will stop craving the foods that perpetuate it. As you provide the nutrients that your cells are desperately waiting for, your natural ability to regenerate and heal is reactivated and your adrenal strength is restored. Instead of dense, “dead,” processed foods you will acquire a taste for live foods, which still carry the energy of life. These were exactly what Andres was craving by the end of his third week on Clean.
    Diet in America: From FAD to SAD
    Anywhere I go, as soon as people find out what I do, they always ask, “Doctor, what should I eat?” Americans are obsessed with finding the right diet formula. Since 1990, the year I moved to New York, I have witnessed many theories and fads that swept the country, reshaped the industry, and left more casualties than all of the wars ever fought by the United States added together!
    First was the war on fat. America’s full frontal attack on fat redefined life in America. With doctors and the media in agreement, the population was convinced that fat was a hidden weapon of mass destruction, so it was eliminated from every single product in the supermarket. The food industry was having a party. The supermarkets were inundated with everything fat-free, you name it. Even the impossible, fat-free butter, endorsed by cardiologists! The caloric void that fats left was filled with carbs. “Lean” was the buzzword, but not the result. Instead, Americans became the fattest people in the world.
    At Lenox Hill Hospital, during my fellowship, the casualties of this war kept our cardiac catheterization lab open 24/7 reopening coronary arteries with balloons and stents to abort or avoid a heart attack. During one of those long nights, walking alongside a gurney on the way from the emergency room to the angioplasty room, I heard my patient laughing so hard, his oxygen mask flew off his face. Before putting his mask back on, I asked him what was so funny. He said, “I just changed my favorite phrase from ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ to ‘I wish it had been butter’!” Finding humor in tragedy sometimes carried me through those long nights on call. It also reminded me how believing in the latest product invented can be dangerous, even if it’s approved by the FDA and endorsed by cardiologists.
    Before the wave of heart attacks slowed down, America found a new enemy, carbohydrates. It was war all over again, just as vicious and supported by most authorities. Getting leaner was not about eating lean foods, as we once thought; it was about eating “sugar-free.” The calories missing after eliminating carbs were replaced with extra protein, not exactly by accident. High-protein, low-carbohydrate diets had been in use in America for a long time. Bodybuilders figured out early on that if you eat mostly protein, your muscles will grow faster and bigger. Bodybuilders are the leanest people not by birth, but by choice, great effort, and tons of protein. So to imitate them off went America on a rampage of consuming fish, chicken, steak, eggs, and cottage cheese (low-fat).
    Years back, when I started my search to overcome depression, I knew only one thing for sure: being in shape helps. Before moving to New York, as a tae kwon do competitor I was in tiptop shape. I remembered clearly that everything was better in that state. I decided to force myself to run, and after a month I was running one hour every day. I avoided desserts and candy and drank more water than ever in my life. I got skinny fast, but except in my legs, my muscles were gone and my skin was saggy. I wanted to get toned and ripped. I wanted a six-pack, so I hired a personal trainer who had one. He had the knowledge of the bodybuilders. He turned me on to many books,