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 tired and worn out?

Do you have sore muscles, fatigue, and brain fog?

If so, you might have metabolic burnout!

Imagine if you could find a way to tune up your metabolism, increase your energy levels, think clearly, and feel less achy.

Imagine if you could prevent diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia.

Imagine if you could heal fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Imagine if you could get to the roots of aging, slow the whole process, and eliminate most age-related diseases.

These aren’t just fantasies.

All these things are possible—if you give yourself a metabolic tune up.

You might have heard of the rats fed high doses of resveratrol, the plant compound found in red wine. But did you know that those rats lived 30 percent longer than their peers – the equivalent of an additional 120 human years -- even though they ate a bad diet.

In fact, they became fitter and lost weight even while eating a poor-quality, standard American diet.

How could they eat high amounts of bad food and not exercise, yet still become fitter, AND live 30 percent longer than the average rat?

One word: MITOCHONDRIA -- the source of your energy.

The resveratrol protected and improved the function of the mitochondria through its effects on special master-aging genes.

So what are mitochondria and what do they have to do with having more energy, losing weight, and living to be 120 years old without any disease?

Today you will learn the answer to that question. And I will provide you with 8 tips you can start using today to give yourself a metabolic tune-up and boost your energy metabolism.

The key to more energy lies in providing your mitochondria the right environment to thrive. When you do, you can boost your energy metabolism. Doing this is the 6th of the 7 keys to UltraWellness, and it is absolutely essential if you want to obtain optimal health.

So let’s look at what mitochondria are and what they do.

Your body may be a toxic waste dump.

Worried?

You should be ...

We are exposed to 6 million pounds of mercury and the 2.5 billion pounds other toxic chemicals each year.

80,000 toxic chemicals have been released into our environment since the dawn of the industrial revolution, and very few have been tested for their long-term impact on human health. And let me tell you, the results aren’t pretty for those that have been tested ...

How can we not be affected by this massive amount of poison?

According to the nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group , the average newborn baby has 287 known toxins in his or her umbilical cord blood.

If a newborn is exposed to that many toxins, imagine how many you have been exposed to in your life ...

Do you think this may be why so many of us are sick and fat today?

The simple truth is that we are living in a sea of toxins and it is destroying our bodies and brains.

The two most important things you need to know to cure disease, create health, and lose weight are:

1. The role of nutrition in health and disease.
2. The role of toxins and the importance of detoxification in health and disease.

Unfortunately, you probably aren’t going to learn much about them from your doctor. Most physicians today are still hopelessly ignorant in these areas. They were simply never taught about nutrition and detoxification in medical school.

However, there are many things you can do to reduce your toxic exposures and enhance your detoxification. Today I want to share some information your doctor probably won’t focus on in your next visit, even though it is at the very root of your health. I am going to outline a simple 10-step plan you can use to enhance your detoxification.

Enhancing detoxification is the 5th key of the 7 keys to UltraWellness. If you want to lose weight and get healthy, you need to clean up the toxic waste in your body. Today you will learn how.

There might be something wrong with your inner tube, and it could be making you sick and fat.

You may not even realize you have a problem ... but if you have health concerns of any kind or you are overweight, your inner tube could be the root cause.

Of course, I’m not talking about a beach toy. I mean the inner tube of life -- your digestive system!

It is likely that you suffer from (or have suffered from) some type of digestive disorder -- irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, reflux, gas, and other things too gross to mention in print.

And you are not alone. More than 100 million Americans have digestive problems.

Two of the top five selling drugs in America are for digestive problems, and they cost us billions and billions of dollars.

There are more than 200 over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for digestive disorders, many of which can create additional digestive problems.

Visits for intestinal disorders are among the most common reasons for trips to primary care physicians.

And that’s not even the worst news.

Most of us (including most doctors) do not recognize or know that digestive problems wreak havoc in the entire body, leading to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer, and more.

So having a healthy gut means more than simply being free of annoyances like bloating or heartburn! It is absolutely central to your health. It is connected to EVERYTHING that happens in your body.

That’s why I almost always start helping people treat chronic health problems by fixing their gut, which is what I want to help you do today.

Today , you will learn how you can find out if you have a problem with your gut (though many of you won’t need me to tell you -- your gut will speak for itself!), and I will give you 7 simple steps you can take today to heal your inner tube of life.

Fixing your digestion is the 4th key of the 7 Keys to UltraWellness or functional medicine, and it is absolutely essential that you heal this critical system in your body if you want to achieve optimum health.

Why your gut is so important? Let me explain ...

Could something as simple as a quick and easy blood test save your life?

Absolutely.

It is called a C-reactive protein test, and it measures the degree of HIDDEN inflammation in your body.

Finding out whether or not you are suffering from hidden inflammation is critical, because almost every modern disease is caused or affected by it.

If your immune system and its ability to quell inflammation in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging.

Fortunately, addressing the causes of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can dramatically improve your health.

Today, I am going to review what the primary causes of inflammation are and give you a simple, 7-step approach that will help you cool the fires raging out of control in your body.

Cooling off Inflammation is Key #3 to UltraWellness and in this blog -- the third in this 7-part series on the 7 keys to UltraWellness -- I am going to teach you how to do just that.

The first step is to understand what inflammation is and why it can become so dangerous.