After my last blog, I'm sure many of you are depressed and discouraged about mercury and its toxic effects. The bad news is today I am going to review more of mercury’s toxic effects and expand on what I learned at the medical conference on mercury I mentioned in my last blog ...

But the good news is I will provide you with a clear, 3-step plan to help your body detoxify from mercury and recover your health. I have used this same plan successfully and safely with hundreds and hundreds of patients over the last 10 years -- and it’s the same process I used myself to overcome mercury toxicity!

But first, let's review the rest of the data presented at "The Impact of Mercury on Human Health and the Environment" conference that I began discussing last week.

If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don't mean heavy with fat ...

I mean heavy with heavy metals -- like mercury!

Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.

There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome --which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.

I became toxic because I polluted myself by growing up on tuna fish sandwiches, eating sushi, living in Beijing, which heats all its homes with coal -- the major source of environmental mercury load -- and having a mouthful of amalgam -- a.k.a. mercury -- fillings.

All of these exposures, combined with genes that prevent me from effectively detoxifying metals in my body, led to a slow and significant poisoning of my cells and mitochondria. And the effects were obvious ...

I felt weak, tired, and couldn't think, I had muscle pain and twitches, insomnia, digestive problems, food allergies, depression, and anxiety. And it was only by discovering high levels of mercury in my hair and urine -- and slowly detoxifying myself -- that I was able to get better.

I have seen this over and over in my patients, too. From chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, to depression, anxiety, obesity, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, heart failure, and heart disease, the message is clear ...

We are being poisoned!

This is such an important public health and personal issue for so many people that I'm going to use this blog and next week’s blog to fully explain the extent of mercury issues and give you a comprehensive plan for reducing your exposure and healing from mercury toxicity. I'll show you the science behind mercury toxicity, share some stories about my patients who have suffered, and talk about the way we need to deal with this major health problem.

First, I'd like to share with you what I learned at one of the most important international conferences on mercury yet to be held. It was called "The Impact of Mercury on Human Health and the Environment" and was presented at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

There, a unique international group of policymakers, environmental scientists, toxicologists, biochemists, journalists, academic physicians, practicing pediatricians, neurologists, and dentists gathered.

We were there to make sense of the environmental impact, toxicology, basic science, public policy and health implications of one the least studied and perhaps greatest potential threats to our long-term health -- mercury. And I want to share some of what I learned at that conference with you.

When it comes to your health, there is one factor that is more important than almost any other ...

If it is missing from your life, it causes or worsens 95 percent of all illness. It has been associated with dramatic reductions in disease and increased longevity.

And it is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, or any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life. But it doesn’t come in a pill, and it can’t be found in a hospital or in your doctor’s office.

What is this critical factor that determines so much about how healthy or how sick you are?

Your attitude, your social networks, your community, and your spiritual beliefs.

Put another way, the health of your mind and spirit and your sense of connection to your community has an immense impact on the health of your body. In fact, aside from eating breakfast, biggest predictor of longevity is psychological resiliency -- being able to roll with the punches that life throws at us.

We’ve known about this in medicine for a long time. I was recently browsing through my library and found an old book that I read in college called Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, written by a friend and leader in the field of mind/body medicine, Kenneth Pelletier. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the medical schools of the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Arizona.

His book was published in 1977. I wish I could say that a lot has changed since that book was published. Sure, we have filled in the gaps and learned more about the mechanisms through which the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body, but the basic truths remain the same.

There is a dramatic and powerful connection between your mind and body, and between your body and your mind. In fact, it really should not be called a connection because it is just ONE bidirectional system.

Unfortunately, few doctors accept or understand this fundamental reality about biology. So, in most doctors’ offices, you aren’t going to learn about the connection between your body and brain or how to use that connection to help you heal.

However, in this blog I am going to give you the tools to do that. I am going to explain how the body and mind are intimately connected and give you 10 tips you can use to calm your mind and heal your body.

Calming your mind is the last of the 7 keys to UltraWellness; today you are going to learn how you can relax your way to vibrant health and optimal weight.

Are you one of the 100 million, or one-in-three, Americans struggling through life with a “broken brain?”

It doesn’t have to be that way. Today, I’m going to share with you the key to good mental and emotional health -- to an “UltraMind” … one that’s calm, confident, and happy.

But first, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you fear losing your job because you’re tired, unfocused, and inattentive, and your memory is failing, so you can’t properly perform your tasks at work?

• Do you feel depressed, hopeless, disconnected, and disengaged from your life?

• Do you see your relationships breaking down because you are mentally and emotionally absent or numb?

• Do you forget to meet friends or go to appointments, and then can’t figure out how in the world you forgot?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above, you are not alone.

Right now in America, there is a rising tide of “broken brains.” And conventional medicine cannot cure it.

In last week's blog, I reviewed UltraWellness Key #6 how important energy is for life and for UltraWellness.

You learned why we lose it and how to make it.

But in this final week of our journey, I'd like to talk about an equally important factor in health - UltraWellness Key #7.

It's one that causes or worsens some 95 percent of all illnesses.

And it's something that, once you get it under control, is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life.

What is this crucial factor?

It is your attitude, social network, community, and spiritual beliefs.

In fact, one of the biggest predictors of longevity is psychological resiliency -- being able to roll with the punches life throws at you.