Has your doctor recommended that you take Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10 for Parkinson’s) along with your regular medications? Many doctors do. CoQ10 has been found deficient in persons diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Some health care professionals I have interviewed report some  medications can deplete CoQ10 in the body.

CoQ10 is no doubt a key anti-aging nutrient. It prevents free radical damage to the DNA in the mitochondria. It is also usually recommended for persons with heart issues. A 10 year longitudinal study published in the European Journal of Heart Failure reported that taking  CoQ10 improved the survival for patients who confront the constant threat of heart failure.

So it is important to start taking a CoQ10 supplement. But which which brand? There are so many choices on the market today.

I have hesitated to offer a recommendation for Coq10 until I discovered recently the research behind a Co-Q10 product produced by Pharma Nord of Denmark. First, let me explain why so many of the CoQ10 choices eat up your pocket book but offer no benefit whatsoever.

Most Coenzyme Q10 products sold today have negligible absorption rates. We are talking 1% at best. Why is this so? The melting point of CoQ10 is 10 degrees above body temperature. Most of the supplements you buy – even those in oil, have crystallized.

Pharma Nord https://www.pharmanord.com has developed the most studied brand of CoQ10 globally. Their proprietary heat treatment process greatly facilitates absorption. More than 75 studies have now been published that document its superior absorption when compared to other brands.

The price is also reasonable. You can order the Pharma Nord Co-Q10 directly on their website. Their professional staff generously set up a 20% discount for members of my audience. You can claim this discount only if you ship to a USA destination. Enter the coupon code “PRQ10WEB“ to claim a 20% discount (not case sensitive). The 20% discount will soon be available to those of you will live in countries other than the US.

Check out the research for yourself. It is extensive and impressive.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

Skip ahead a minute and and half while I get the control panel organized. This is the replay of our first session today.

Robert

 Step One Simple Explanation

1. Visit a farmers market or other reliable source of organic vegetables and fruits.
2. Purchase the vegetable and fruits that “call out to you” to be eaten.
3. Apply one and only rule: More colors are better.
4. Let your own inner judgment and guidance steer you for the best decisions.
5. Once you are home, either make a smoothie each day with what you have purchased using a mixer that combines all ingredients, cook the veggies in a crock pot or make a soup.
6. Repeat the above 5 steps after 3 or 4 days.
7. Continue the process throughout the following 7 weeks of Giant Leap for Recovery (and beyond as you recognize and acknowledge how much better you feel).

Make Recovery Happen Now

We have all finally arrived at the final step of recovery – Step Fourteen. Your journey down the road to recovery has been successfully launched. Healing is a lifetime process for everyone.

Interested in connecting with others who are also journeying down the road to recovery?  Subscribe to become a Parkinsons Recovery member. The cost is minimal – only $10 a month. We connect with one another on the last Monday of each month. Many other support resources for recovery are updated daily on the 12 Parkinsons Recovery member websites. To learn more visit:

https://www.parkinsonsrecovery.com/parkinsons-recovery-membership

As you reflect back on the steps covered in Giant Leap for Recovery ask yourself …

Did the steps cover therapies that are focused on …

• Suppressing tremors?
• Improving gait?
• Enhancing ease of mobility?
• Preventing falls?
• Or … ?

Of course the answer to all of these questions is no.

Sufficient to say, we discussed some of these topics as they came up in discussions or questions, but the steps do not focus the illness. They focus on how to maintain wellness.

Of course I have addressed and discussed how to quiet symptoms in my books, radio shows, blog and newsletters. These are the type of questions I am asked. So, I answer them. The methods I have identified are undoubtedly very useful and appreciated by many people across the globe.

But, they are all temporary. Medicines only last several hours for most. Surgeries often have to be repeated. Supplements have to be taken every day. What is wrong with finding therapies that help you feel better temporarily?

Obviously – nothing.  But in the end, what really makes a difference for a successful recovery program to sustain itself in the long run? The answer has to do with a shift in focus.

Focus on the illness and you “feed” the illness. This depletes your energy and life force.

Focus on health and wellness, and you “feed” health and wellness. This focus energizes and supports your life force. This focus is what helps your body heal from the inside out – little by little, day in and day out.

Long term success does not depend on finding ways to suppress symptoms but rather on supporting your body’s own intrinsic ability to heal itself.

• The natural state of the body is to be in balance and healthy.
• The unnatural state is to be out of balance and ill.

So …

What is the bottom line to recovery?

What is the secret to making it happen?

Most people hold near and dear to their heart the beliefs that recovery has to  …

• Take years to unfold
• Requires medications and supplements
• Happens for only a select few
• Involves expensive therapies
• Happens only when you find the right therapist, health care practitioner or doctor who has the “secret” answer to recovery
• Calls for outside interventions of one form or another

I too once believed all of this was true, but not now. I hold a much different belief that recovery is possible for

• Anyone
• Anywhere
• Anytime

Anytime Means Now
Anytime means you notice improvements in how you are feeling every day

Why do I embrace this seemingly outrageous belief?

Many people who experience symptoms of Parkinson’s have told me about unexpected blocks of time (a few minutes, hours, days) when their symptoms disappeared completely.

You have heard people in this class report the same experiences!

Such reports surprisingly involve situations which cannot be explained by taking (or not taking) medications or supplements or turning on or off a DBS battery connection. 

Is this a familiar circumstance for you? Have you celebrated the quieting of symptoms unexpectedly?

If it has ever happened once for you, why I ask you cannot this happen for you all the time?

What usually happens in such situations?  The secret to recovery is …

• Embrace Your Soul’s Longing
• Devote your energy, time and money doing what you have always loved to do since you were a child.
• Follow your “bliss”

And this my friends is Step Fourteen in a nutshell.

Meditation on Finding Your Pathway to Recovery

What gave you the most joy when you were a child?

How did you love to spend your days?

Recall a happy memory when you were a child.  What were you doing that day? Were you with other people when you were the most happy or were you alone?

What did you do in secret because you were afraid you would get in trouble?

As a child did you love to …

• Cook
• Sew
• Do crafts and art work
• Play sports
• Help other people
• Invent
• Create
• Experiment
• Ask questions
• Find answers
• Perform well on tests
• Give your parents grief
• Play with you friends
• Make up new games to play

Do what you are supposed to be doing with your life and symptoms become inconsequential.

The Big Picture

Research shows that the people who live longer, healthier lives eat less. Why is this?

Partly, they fast at least 12-18 hours a day. Fasting encourages the liver to make ketones (approximately 150 grams a day).

Ketones are a “natural” brain food. It requires less energy for the body to produce.

The brain also functions on glucose. The body converts carbs and proteins into sugar/glucose which the brain uses to function.  There is a marvelous way to understand what happens when we eat carbs, proteins and fat using an analogy to the materials that can be used to build a fire (kindling, wood and charcoal).

1. Carbs are like burning kindling – they burn up quickly.
2. Protein is like burning sticks and small logs – they take longer to burn.
3. Fat is like burning charcoal – ketones derived from the fat burn much longer than kindling or logs.

There is an on/off switch at play here. Either the body is using sugar to fuel the brain (from the carbs and proteins) or it is extracting ketones from stores of fat. When sugar is the primary fuel, the body is working on overtime and not getting paid for it! When ketones are the primary fuel, demands on the body are significantly less (which is why life is extended). In short –

• Ketones are easy for the body to process
• Sugar is not.

This is why eating sweets (that have raw sugar) is not a smart idea for persons with neurological challenges.

The Simple Way for Your Body to Make Ketones is  … Fasting.

Fasting is one sure fire way to encourage your body to produce ketones. The easiest way to fast is to eat the last meal of the day in the early evening and then do not eat anything for 12-14 hours until the following morning.

This is why the paleo diet stipulates you eat only 2 meals a day, not three.  This allows for the opportunity for your body to manufacture ketones naturally. This reduces the strain and effort that must be exerted by the body to keep your brain functioning at peak capacity.

• Ketones are energy efficient.
• Glucose is energy inefficient.

Step Nine Summary:

Fast for 12-14 hours at least every other day if not every day.

Step Eight

Do not watch the news this week. Why? Seeing the images and hearing the stories re-traumatizes you.

Why might this little step reduce stress?

Answer: Much of the news is plastered with scenes and stories of mayhem, torture, murder and negativity. You not only learn about what horrible events have happened.

1. You see them.
2. You hear them.
3. You are assaulted with world- wide suffering.
4. You take on the suffering and pain (unconsciously) and there is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing to be gained and everything to lose.

The stimuli from the news alone sustains ongoing stress.

Taking Step Eight seriously does not mean you become uninformed! The idea here is to reduce ongoing stress.

Recall – the most important secret to recovery is to be in control of your recovery. When you watch the news on TV – guess what …

• You are not in control.
• You are being manipulated by subliminal messages.

Check out the research. Do a search on subliminal messages in the media. Broadcasters use a tried and true technology called NLP to manipulate your reactions to what they are communicating.

OK – you are now thinking …

BUT … I have always watched the news every night. It is my habit and routine.

I say to you – change the habit.

Instead – during the time you waste watching the news – listen to one of my 240 interviews on Parkinsons Recovery Radio. Replays are free to access.

This is a divine way to get marvelous suggestions from the experts – people who have a solid idea of what helps facilitate recovery.

The choice is thus between:

1. Watch the nightly news. Get stressed and depressed
2. Listen to interviews on Parkinsons Recovery Radio. Get inspired, energized and motivated to take the actions needed to help your body heal.

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/parkinsons-recovery

OR – Instead of watching the news, listen to some of the fascinating interviews on National Public Radio like Fresh Air:

https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/archive

Negative thoughts drag us down into the depths of the sewer. Once we have wriggled our way in we see no sunshine and no exit.

Restorative statements open up a window that allows sunshine to enter and a stairway to exit from the bubbling sewer of our negative thoughts.

Adopting someone else’s affirmations offers little value. What lifts you out of the sewer gutter is a clear statement of intention that restores your life force – not someone else’s. The restorative statement becomes yours and yours alone. It will speak to you in ways you never imagined.

How to Write a Restorative Statement

The process is actually simple. You have now written (or recorded) in Step 2 a list of thoughts that are clearly not in your best and highest good. Retrieve this list now. It will be the source of information needed to craft a restorative statement.

1. Mark a line down the middle of a clean sheet of paper.
2. Title the left column – “Negative Words from My List”
3. Title the right column – “antonyms” (or a word which is the opposite of what is listed in the first column).

You can find suggestions for opposites by visiting:
http://www.antonymswords.com/

Some Examples (life draining versus life giving): 

apathy versus passion
anxiety versus peace
weakness versus wholeness
failure versus success
empty versus creative
Sad versus joyful
unstable versus balance
freezing versus fiery
And so forth and so on.

You will begin to identify repetitions and patterns in the statements.

Some power phrases that can be used in restorative statements:

Owning my power
Knowing my truth
Allowing myself to be loved
Loving myself

Now – construct your personalized restorative statement using the following template:

“I thank [the universe or God or the divine – whatever term calls out to you] for (insert your first name here e.g. Robert’s) knowing and experiencing …

Make the statement short – only 2 to 4 sentences.

An example is below. This example  offers a snapshot of what a final restorative statement looks like. It is simple. Brief. Short. Best of all it will support, sustain and energize your recovery when you read it out loud every day.

“I thank the universe for Robert’s knowing and experiencing his divine ability to embrace life to the fullest. His body is in perfect working order with all systems in balance. He always speaks his truth, fully receives the love of others and is nurtured by  exciting, joyful and fascinating encounters with a community of remarkable people.”.