09/02/10 at 1:39 pm

The age­ old controversy about the use of butter or margarine continues, even though studies are now conclusive about the negative effects of margarine. The price you pay for a few grams’ reduction in saturated fats by using margarine could be catastrophic to your health. The following are some sobering facts about butter vs. margarine:

1. Both butter and margarine have the same amount of calories.
2. Butter is slightly higher in fat at 8 grams (saturated fats) per tablespoon compared to 5 grams of fat for margarine (2 grams of saturated fats and 3 grams of trans fat).
3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
4. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
5. Butter has many nutritional benefits, whereas margarine has a few only because they are mechanically added!
6. Margarine is very high in trans ­fatty acids. In the United States alone, about 30,000 people per year die early due to diets high in trans ­fatty acids. Trans fats are worse for your heart than saturated fat, tripling the risk of coronary heart disease.
7. Margarine increases total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the unhealthy cholesterol).
8. Margarine lowers HDL cholesterol (the healthy cholesterol).
9. Margarine increases the risk of cancers up to fivefold.
10. Margarine lowers the quality of breast milk.
11. Margarine decreases immune response.
12. Margarine decreases insulin response, enhancing the possibility of diabetes.

Here are the most disturbing facts: Margarine is only one molecule away from being plastic. The process of hydrogenating vegetable oil to make margarine is the same process used to turn oil into plastic. Plastic is just slightly more hydrogenated than margarine.

Hydrogenated oils slather the arterial walls of your body with a slick sludge. Constant bombardment with hydrogenated oils helps cause arterial blockage.

The process of adding hydrogen to oil turns the oil black. That’s right—margarine is initially black, and then dyed yellow to look like butter. Dyes are toxic and cause an allergic reaction in practically everyone. Many cases of hyperactivity, ADD, and ADHD in children have been directly linked to food coloring and other dyes.

Still not convinced? Try this: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or a shaded area. Within a couple of days, you will see a couple of things. First, no flies—not even those pesky fruit flies—will go near it. That should tell you something immediately. Second, you’ll notice that the margarine does not rot or smell any different. This is because it has no nutritional value. Nothing will grow on it; even those teeny microorganisms will not make their home in margarine because microorganisms cannot grow on something that is nearly plastic.

If you still insist on using margarine, go to a garage sale, buy a boatload of Tupperware, melt it down, and spread some of that on your toast. Sound inviting? Yuk!

Tags: Butter vs. Margarine · Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil · Trans Fat

09/01/10 at 1:47 pm

Bursitis is an inflammation of the cavities around your body’s muscles and tendons. These cavities are filled with a lubricating (synovial) fluid, and are the area where friction is most likely to occur, especially over the bony regions of the body. The inflammation can cause severe and long­ term pain if in an advanced state. Symptoms include:

• Localized pain and muscle ache
• Swelling and redness
• Low range of motion in shoulders, hips, elbows, and other joints
• Complete loss of range of motion in shoulders, hips, elbows and other joints

What Causes Bursitis?

Misalignment of the joints and areas around specific joints can cause bursitis. Other causes include:

• Trauma or physical injury
• Chronic overuse of joints
• Magnesium and vitamin B12 deficiencies
• Allergies
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid and inflammatory arthritis
• Calcium deposits in the joints
• Gout
• Infection
• Environmental toxins

Treatments for Bursitis

Bursitis can be treated with topical applications, hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, and diet changes. Changing your eating habits can improve overall health and maintain optimal joint function, and can include:

• Eating foods high in magnesium, such as dark, leafy green, and yellow vegetables
• Drinking filtered water, apple cider vinegar, and honey first thing in the morning or right before bed
• One tablespoon of cod liver oil one to two hours before meals to aid digestion
• Avoiding foods such as tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant, all vegetables from the nightshade family
• Juice supplements of equal parts carrot, celery, cucumber, and beet juice

Flower essences such as Rescue Remedy cream can be applied to the painful areas a minimum of four times a day. Herbal remedies that are taken as tinctures or as a tea include:

• Meadowsweet
• Horsetail
• Willow bark
• Lobelia and cramp bark rubbed on the affected area
• Aloe vera
• Chamomile tea to relax and soothe the muscles and relieve pain

Homeopathic treatments such as Belladonna, Arnica, Ruta grav., and Silicea also may be helpful

Other Considerations

Vitamin B12 injected intra­muscularly can reduce pain over time. Other healing supplements include vitamin C and bioflavonoids, magnesium, calcium, and proteolytic enzymes taken between meals. Alternative health care therapies such as acupuncture, bodywork, chiropractic therapy, and Traditional Chinese Medicine have been shown to reduce or relieve the symptoms of bursitis.

Tags: Arthritis · Bursitis · Inflammation

09/01/10 at 1:39 pm

The most common form of burn is from simple heat from the sun, fire, or other hot object. The same heat that can cook your food can dry out and burn your skin, causing redness, blistering, tissue damage, and scarring. Burns can also be caused by chemicals, electricity, and radiation.

A first­ degree burn damages only the skin tissue. These can usually be treated at home with natural remedies and normally heal in a few days. Second­ degree burns damage the nerves and tissues under the skin and often result in blistering. These also usually can be treated at home (second­ degree burns in children should be treated at a medical facility). Third ­degree burns cause serious damage to the skin and can remove large portions of skin from the body. These burns should be treated by health care practitioners at a specialized burn unit. But even with third­ degree burns, there are some things you can do to help stop the burning and help the healing process.

Treatments

First ­degree or second­ degree burns can be treated at home, using one or more natural remedies to ease the pain, reduce blistering and scarring, and clean the burned area. Here are the essentials:

1. Immediately run cold water over the burn or soak the burned area in cold water. Continue for as long as necessary until the pain subsides—the longer the better. The cold water also helps keep blisters from forming. A burned area of skin also is a massively dehydrated area. For the best rehydration of the skin, use Willard Water or other carbon activated water (CAW).
2. Apply aloe vera pulp or papaya pulp to the wound. Add a few drops of lavender or calendula oil for their extra healing properties.
3. Keep the wound clean using St. John’s wort oil (a few drops diluted in a cup of water).

Other Considerations

You can apply plantain pulp or extract or potato pulp to the burned area. The starches in these plants cool and soothe as they help add moisture, thus minimizing scarring and blistering. Plantain also helps clean the area. Replace minerals that escape your body through the burn by taking a mineral supplement, bee pollen, or Spirulina. A few drops of oregano oil can help disinfect broken blisters from the burn (remember, a blister is a burn caused by friction).

Tags: Burns · Sunburn

09/01/10 at 1:37 pm

That deep, dry or wet cough associated with inflammation of the bronchial airways might be bronchitis. Even minimal symptoms of bronchitis can lead to chronic bronchitis, and if left untreated, could develop into pneumonia. Acute bronchitis usually results from a cold, flu, sinusitis, or viral infection. Chronic bronchitis (long ­lasting and severe) can develop after a case of acute bronchitis (severe), and can include wheezing or breathlessness. Other symptoms include chills, fever, and excessive production of mucus and phlegm.

What Causes Bronchitis?

Both acute and chronic bronchitis can develop from bacteria, viral infections, food allergies, and environmental toxins. Smoking and regular exposure to secondhand smoke can also contribute to the development of bronchitis. Short and relatively mild bouts of bronchitis can lead to large ­scale infections and pneumonia, if not well treated.

Treatments for Bronchitis

Bronchitis may be prevented with a change in diet, aromatherapy techniques, herbs, improved air quality, and juice therapy. People with recurring bronchitis should be screened for food allergies. Diet improvements and changes before and during a bronchitis episode should include:

• Avoiding sugar, starch, soy, corn, wheat, and soft drinks
• Limiting eggs, dairy, and caffeine
• Eliminating some fruits such as bananas, as they encourage mucus production
• Opening up the air passages with intake of chili peppers, garlic, ginger, and onions; also helpful with the elimination of mucus
• Eating a diet filled with organic, whole foods
• Plenty of pure, fresh water
• Adopting a vegan diet that eliminates meat and dairy completely

Herbs can successfully reduce or treat bronchitis. These are best consumed as a tea or tincture form (tincture works more quickly and with fewer barriers to entering the system):

• Propolis (drop directly into the throat area and breathe in the vapors)
• St. John’s wort
• Echinacea tincture
• Grapefruit seed extract (diluted)
• Anise
• Astragalus
• Coltsfoot
• Garlic
• Ginseng
• Goldenseal
• Peppermint

Other Considerations

Nutritional supplementation is recommended for reversing or preventing recurring bronchitis. Recommended nutrients include vitamin A, vitamin C, beta ­carotene, zinc, and selenium. Other suggestions include colloidal silver, N­acetylcysteine (NAC), thymus gland extract, and bromelain. Alternative therapies may include detoxification therapy, oxygen therapy, and acupuncture.

Tags: Asthma · Bronchitis · Coughs

09/01/10 at 1:31 pm

The antiperspirant industry is worried that people may boycott their products because of the toxic metals they contain, and they should be worried. But how can we continue to smell sweet and fresh unless we use them? Must we cover up our natural odor with highly scented oils or perfumes? Is bad body odor a sign of bad health?

To answer these questions, it’s important to realize that body odor is caused almost entirely by the presence of bacteria on the skin and in the body hair. Areas that are moist and kept inside clothing are, therefore, going to be the worst offenders: the armpits, groin area, and feet.

What Causes Body Odor?

Unless a person is very toxic from alcohol, drugs, heavy metals, or other substances, body odor is not caused by sweat, as it generally does not have much odor by itself. However, sweat and other moisture on the body does increase bacteria growth on the skin and, especially, in the hair. The bacteria actually cause the odor. The sweat located in the underarms, groin, breasts, and anal area is different than the sweat on the rest of your body, such as your forehead or palms. The underarm sweat contains more fats and is, therefore, thicker and more “sticky.” It also tends to be a yellowish color. This sweat, when left in the hair follicles under the arm, can quickly produce body odor, though the particulars of that odor are influenced by weather, personal biology, and diet. Some people’s body odor is not offensive, while others’ can be.

What causes a particular body odor to smell bad? Generally diet, use of medications, smoking, and alcohol consumption cause the bad smells. It is said that animals can smell “meat ­eating” on other animals and humans. No doubt the consumption of meat and animal fat influences your body odor. Likewise, the excessive consumption of fish, garlic, or other spices can show up in a person’s body odor.

If you don’t drink enough water, it’s possible that your internal organs and skin are not properly “rinsed,” and may produce more toxic­ smelling odors when you sweat.

Antiperspirant vs. Deodorant

Pretty much all antiperspirants contain deodorizing agents, but deodorants are not the same as antiperspirants. Deodorants simply mask or cover up the odors associated with underarm sweat. Antiperspirants, on the other hand, contain coating agents that reduce the amount of sweat released by the skin in the area where it is applied. The most common coating agent is ACH (aluminum chlorohydrate). Some sticks and gels may use AZAG (aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex GLY).

Sweating is a natural function of the body; it is the body’s way of cooling itself off. So even if antiperspirant products weren’t loaded with toxic heavy metals, the idea of stopping your body from performing a natural and necessary function is rather misguided. Use natural deodorants and oils to keep yourself smelling fresh, but let your sweat glands do their job by avoiding antiperspirants.

Tags: Body Odor · Bromhidrosis

08/31/10 at 2:45 pm

Low blood pressure is not as common or as potentially serious as high blood pressure and many consider it a healthy condition. But low blood pressure can be problematic in terms of low energy, sensitivity to cold (and cold extremities), dizziness when suddenly sitting or standing, and circulation disorders, such as baldness and skin problems.

What Causes Low Blood Pressure?

Low blood pressure generally is considered to be hereditary, but other factors may be involved, including diet and breathing habits (chronic low or shallow breath).

Treatments

You have several options that can help raise your blood pressure to normal levels, mostly involving lifestyle and diet choices. Here are some things that can help alleviate low blood pressure:

• Pure cocoa (dark chocolate) helps to regulate blood pressure (both high and low).
• Increase your intake of spices like cumin, curry, tumeric, and cayenne.
• Check for thyroid imbalance and treat with kelp, walnuts, and selenium supplements.
• Get plenty of vigorous exercise.

Tags: Blood Pressure (Low) · Energy Enhancement · Hypotension · Thyroid Imbalance

08/31/10 at 2:43 pm

Blood pressure is measured by two types of blood activity: the pressure of the pulses of blood in your veins (systolic) and the pressure between pulses (diastolic). Experts now believe that there is not a single normal blood pressure for everyone, but that “normal” may vary depending on the person. The values considered safe and normal for most people, however, ranges from 90/60 to 139/89. If you are on the high side of this range, it’s time to take notice and keep an eye on your blood pressure health.

Hypertension generally has few symptoms except a tendency of shortness of breath after mild exertion. The causes of hypertension are much more recognized as signs of health issues: nervous stress, excess weight, and bad eating habits. Hypertension can develop into heart and kidney failure, and even brain damage. And as we all know, high blood pressure puts a person at greater risk for heart attack, stroke, and blindness.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure is commonly associated with aging because we normally see the arteries begin to stiffen after around age 60. This causes the lower of the two numbers to go up. But not all sexagenarians show these signs.

Other causes of high blood pressure include high stress levels, smoking, and coffee drinking. Smoking and coffee are both stimulants, which raise blood pressure, and stress increases nervous tension, which can cause hypertension. Excess weight can exacerbate the problem by putting more pressure on the heart. A diet of starchy or sugary foods also increases blood pressure, as do saturated and trans fats. All of these causes are related to the same basic factor: putting more pressure on the heart to beat faster and/or harder to get the same amount of oxygen to the blood.

Treatments

You can do many things to lower your blood pressure. Most of them include lifestyle and diet choices. Here are basic changes that can help lower blood pressure:

• Stop smoking.
• Lower stress and eliminate caffeine.
• Lose weight and exercise more (when beginning an exercise program, start slowly and increase gradually).
• Decrease sodium and increase potassium.
• Eat less sugar and fewer starches (you’ll get thinner too!).
• Eat foods that help regulate blood pressure, including pure cocoa (or dark, bitter­sweet chocolate), raw garlic, and raw onion. Also eat plenty of potassium­rich foods, like bananas, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, asparagus, and prune juice. Include plenty of sesame oil in your diet, as this oil has been found to dramatically lower hypertension.

Other Considerations

Herbal teas and asparagus supplements are excellent natural diuretics and hypotensives (lower blood pressure). Seaweed and kelp also can help reduce high blood pressure, as can hawthorn berries or hawthorn extract. Too little vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, or calcium in your diet can raise your blood pressure, so be sure to take them in supplement form if your diet tends to lack these important vitamins and minerals.

Hot baths and saunas can help reduce stress and induce sweating that can eliminate toxins from the system. Practices such as meditation and yoga are also excellent for reducing stress and blood pressure.

Tags: Blood Pressure (High) · Cardiovascular Health · Cholesterol · Weight (Over)

08/31/10 at 2:36 pm

Wernicke­ Korsakoff Syndrome

Beriberi is a vitamin deficiency condition that can lead to mental, physical, and cardiovascular problems over time. Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and may include:

• Memory loss
• Heart pain
• Poor cold tolerance
• Slow learning and mental confusion
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Poor digestion
• Tachycardia (rapid heart rate)
• Fatigue and irritability
• Whiteheads on the face and upper torso

Extreme cases can lead to heart attack. Cardiovascular beriberi (Wernicke­Korsakoff syndrome) manifests as a marked reduction of blood flow to the head. At this point, B1 injections up to 100 mg two times daily are necessary.

What Causes Beriberi?

Beriberi is caused by a deficiency in thiamine (vitamin B1), which can be a result of parasites, food allergies, severe stress, or gastrointestinal and liver disease. Primary beriberi can be triggered by inadequate supplies of vitamin B1 in the food you eat. Secondary beriberi is caused by underutilization and loss of B1 in the body. This can be a result of:

• Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid)
• Breastfeeding
• Severe fever
• Stress
• Parasites or intestinal damage from toxins, drugs, or alcohol
• Food allergies, including wheat intolerance
• Genetic predisposition

Treatments for Beriberi

Take a good B­ complex supplement, preferably a liquid version (vitamins in liquids enter your blood and cells faster than from capsules). Eating a diet rich in B vitamins is helpful, including foods such as brown rice, whole grains, raw fruits, leafy green vegetables, seeds, nuts, and yogurt. Avoiding raw fish is a good idea, and drinking too much water at meals may flush out needed B vitamins and thiamine.

Sulfur can help reduce the symptoms of beriberi, and flower essences such as Rescue Remedy can reduce emotional discomfort and stress.

Taking a thiamine supplement, along with vitamin B complex, vitamin C, or a multivitamin is a natural way to improve symptoms of beriberi.

A good nutrient­ dense super food can help with this ailment, such as spirulina, bee pollen, maca, and others.

08/31/10 at 2:29 pm

Bee Sting Hypersensitivity

For most of us, bee stings present only temporary discomfort and a few normal, physical reaction to the sting venom: swelling, redness, and itching around the sting area. Children are often inflicted with bee stings because of their proclivity for playing outdoors and possibly disturbing the bees. Normally, bees and even wasps are not aggressive and you can walk around them without fear of being stung. If they land on you or buzz around you, don’t panic! They will usually fly away again once they have determined that you do not have what they want. They are attracted by bright colors. However, bees may also be attracted to certain hairsprays, perfumes, or foods you carry, although they are not likely to sting you just to check out your perfume.  If you do get stung, you can minimize the discomfort through natural means.

Bee Sting Symptoms

Approximately one person in every thousand has a hypersensitivity to bee sting venom and could be at risk of a serious allergic reaction or even death from stings. Normal reactions to bee stings include swelling, burning, or throbbing pain that lasts for a few hours; redness; and itching around the sting area. More serious reactions that warrant medical attention include swelling of the tongue, difficulty breathing, nausea, and impaired vision.

Repeated stinging or multiple stings may cause fever, joint pain, or swelling of the lymph glands in some people. These symptoms generally appear around eight hours after the stinging. If this happens, seek medical attention.

Other insect bites produce symptoms similar to bee stings, unless they are from very venomous insects. Watch for these signs: dizziness, nausea, fainting, sweating or fever, difficulty breathing, swelling around the neck, and diarrhea. Seek medical attention if any of these symptoms appears.

Treatments for Bee Stings and Insect Bites

• DON’T grab the extruding part of the stinger. Instead, quickly take a knife tip or other object with an edge (a credit card, for example) and flick the stinger out.
• Put ice or ammonia on the wound. Ice slows down the spread of poisons and provides cooling relief.
• Next, apply an alkali paste on the sting wound. Toothpaste works well, as does bentonite clay, meat tenderizer, or a paste made of crushed aspirin and a few drops of water.
• For more pain relief, try taking an antihistamine.

08/31/10 at 2:27 pm

See also GERD

Bad breath, also known as halitosis or oral malodor, is something of a preoccupation for many people. Almost everyone suffers from occasional “temporary” bad breath in the morning (morning breath) or during the day because of certain foods. Americans spend millions of dollars each year on products designed to “cover up” the bad smell in their mouths, to keep from offending friends and colleges. Breath mints, chewing gum, mouth wash, concentrated drops and strips—most of which have very little effect on the actual causes of bad breath. Their good scents are designed to overpower the bad ones. Without better answers, most people believe they’re the best we’ve got.

What Causes Bad Breath?

Temporary bad breath is generally caused by foods or bacteria in the mouth, and is often nothing more than a reminder that it’s time for a little oral hygiene. Brushing and cleansing the mouth generally clears it up. But bad breath can also be caused by stomach acids flaring up from lack of eating, or from lack of normal fluids in the mouth, which allows bacteria to grow and proliferate. Dry mouth can be caused by dehydration or certain prescriptions drugs and poses a threat to your dental health as well as causing bad breath. Chronic bad breath may also be caused by chronic poor oral hygiene.

Breath Treatments

• Drink plenty of pure water to hydrate your body and mouth, eliminating the foul ­smelling bacteria that can form on your tongue.
• For temporary bad breath, such as morning breath, try sucking on a whole clove or piece of cinnamon bark. These both have antibacterial properties and pleasant odors, and they are a healthy substitute for sugary, refined, candy breath mints, which can also cause tooth decay.
• Using your toothbrush, brush your tongue with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda—especially way back near the throat where food particles and bacteria sit undisturbed. Floss with dental tape each night.
• For chronic bad breath caused by dry mouth, it’s important to stimulate the production of saliva. Start by drinking more pure water, so that saliva can be produced. You can also try saliva­ enhancing products (gum, rinses, toothpaste, etc.), such as those produced by Biotene. If this doesn’t help, then you may have to stop whatever it is that is causing the dry mouth syndrome (usually drugs).
• For all other types of chronic bad breath, a change in diet, followed by a cleanse, is recommended. Cleanse the colon, intestines, liver, and kidneys—in that order.

08/31/10 at 2:20 pm

See also Arthritis, Liver & Gallbladder Health, Muscle Cramps

The second leading reason for visits to the doctor in the United States is back pain. Almost 80% of the U.S. population will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Many of them will end up on dangerous and potentially addictive pain medications and will eventually end up having surgery, steroid injections, and other invasive procedures—often continuing for years.

Research shows that most of the 25,000 back surgeries performed each year may not be necessary, and the condition often reappears in four years or less. Holistic medicine offers alternative options for curing back pain. Instead of just masking symptoms that often leads to failed results, chiropractic adjustments and other measures can be taken for successful treatment. Back pain can worsen over time, and prevention and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle are essential building blocks for aligning the body for optimal performance.

What Causes Back Pain?

The back is a complex mechanism. It has bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons; these are all held together by connective tissue called fascia. Soft tissue, nerves, skin, and collagen also play their part in the formation of the back. Imbalance or injury to any of these components can result in back pain. Some causes of back pain include:

• Poor posture
• Lack of exercise or physical activity
• Muscular strain from exercise, excessive body weight, or sleep posture
• Lack of movement and exercise
• Liver disease or liver toxicity (including from drinking alcohol)
• Misalignment of the spine, shoulders, and hips that can lead to a chronic condition
• Inflammation of the fascia, joints or tendons from injury, medications, or deterioration of surrounding ligaments
• Scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and other spinal problems

Treatments for Back Pain

Prevention is the best treatment for back pain—and a solid prevention plan includes staying in good physical condition, eating a healthy diet, and stretching frequently. Paying attention to movement and posture is essential. Be sure you have a firm and spacious sleeping arrangement, and that your back is supported in the car (most car seats are not good for the back) and at work. This is especially important if you are overweight. Also, abusing alcohol or prescription medications (including antihistamines) can cause back pain from liver and kidney toxicity.

For easing back pain, you first need to identify the type of pain. Sharp, pointed lower back pain is often a symptom of muscular imbalance. This can easily be cured with long, slow stretching exercises done on the floor. If stretching and movement make your pain more acute afterward, then your back pain may be related to spinal or tissue damage. Use anti ­inflammatory as described below.

Dull, aching back pain located in the lower and mid back may be related to the kidneys, and may require a cleanse of the kidneys and liver (see appropriate sections in this book). Powerful herbs that may help include milk thistle (liver tonic and detoxifier), Devil’s Claw (back pain relief), boldo, and green tea and extract (diuretic and anti ­inflammatory).

Next, focus on inflammation with the best anti ­inflammatory available in the natural world: fish oil supplements, garlic, cinnamon, and tumeric supplements. Nutritional supplementation helps prevent back pain and improve overall health. Use calcium and magnesium along with vitamin C, vitamin E, evening primrose oil, coenzyme Q10, and Glucosamine.

Other Considerations

Herbs such as lobelia and cramp bark can be rubbed on the affected area to reduce pain, and other useful herbs include cat’s claw, feverfew, rosemary, wild yam, and yucca root. If your back pain is related to kidney toxicity, then massage is not suggested. Instead, use saunas and detoxifying treatments. Other options for treating back pain include:

• Inversion therapy: Now accepted as one of the more successful treatments for certain types of back pain, inversion therapy involves hanging upside­ down (at gradually increasing increments of time) on an inversion table. This helps your back muscles to completely relax and allows your spine to naturally correct itself. The extra blood flow to your head is another benefit of this treatment.
• Acupuncture to increase blood flow to stressed muscles
• Bodywork, including massage and deep tissue work, helps create balance and reconnect tissue.
• Feldenkrais Method to correct posture and improve range of motion
• Chiropractic to detect and correct spinal mis alignments
• Hydrotherapy that applies water, ice, and steam to restore health
• Other alternative methods including oxygen therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Ayurveda.

Prolo-therapy

Prolo-therapy is a semi­ natural treatment that stimulates the body’s production of collagen and consequently the growth of ligaments and other connective tissues. This has been useful in curing some back problems caused by ligament damage. The therapy involves injecting an irritant solution into the desired area. This causes an intense inflammatory response, which triggers a chain reaction of healing events in the body leading to the rebuilding of connective tissues. Some studies show that the new connective tissues are actually stronger than the original tissues. The treatment is generally repeated several times for full regeneration.

08/31/10 at 2:15 pm

See also Immune System Health

Normally, your body’s immune system knows to attack foreign agents and leave your own tissues alone. Sometimes, however, a person’s immune system can no longer differentiate between foreign cells and the body’s own cells; it then and attacks the body it is supposed to protect. This is called autoimmune disorder.

Autoimmune disorders encompass a number of diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjogrens syndrome, vitiligo, polymyalgia rheumatica, pernicious anemia, Addison’s disease, thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, chronic thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease, and sprue. Additionally, some experts suspect that Type 1 diabetes may be an autoimmune disorder. Autoimmune disorder can result in the immune system attacking one of the body’s organs, tissues, or cells, such as red blood cells, endocrine glands, thyroid, pancreas, or muscles. The symptoms and outlooks of these conditions vary according to their severity, but they all stem from the same underlying problem: the immune system failing to distinguish between self and non­self.

What Causes Autoimmune Disorders?

Why the immune system attacks healthy body tissues is not completely understood. Scientists expect a genetic predisposition or subtle change to cells within the body tissues such that the immune system no longer recognizes them as “self.” This may be caused by toxic build­up or subtle viruses.

Treatments

• Eliminate gluten from your diet by switching from wheat ­based cereals to quinoa or rice­ based cereals in the morning, use rice bread as your bread of choice for sandwiches and toast, and switch to gluten ­free pasta.
• Get more omega­3 fatty acids from chia seeds (from the salvia plant) and cold­ water fish such as wild salmon. Other sources include flax seed oil, walnuts, and tofu.
• Take vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements to help improve vitiligo. Additionally, vitamin D (1,000 IU for chronic disease) helps autoimmune disorders by inhibiting immune system over activity, and vitamin C may slow the progression of autoimmune disorders. Vitamin E supplements may also help some people.

08/31/10 at 2:11 pm

See also Infection (Bacteria), Nail Fungus

If you work out, play sports, run, or engage in frequent exercise, you’re liable to know what athlete’s foot (or foot fungus) is like. It’s a common fungal infection that affects millions of people on a frequent basis. It is characterized by fungal growth on the skin of the foot, and sometimes on toenails. Symptoms include itching, burning, stinging, cracking, and scaling of the affected skin. Inflammation of the skin between the toes and soles of the feet are also common.

What Causes Athlete’s Foot?

People with athlete’s feet may be suffering from candidiasis (systemic yeast overgrowth) in their gastrointestinal tract, which can cause natural imbalances throughout the body that can lead to fungal infections. Sometimes correcting this imbalance is all it takes to relieve long­ term athlete’s foot. Other causes can be improper foot hygiene, and general skin infections that spread easily in indoor swimming pools and gym locker rooms.

Treatments for Athlete’s Foot

Natural essential oils can be applied topically to infected areas. These include tea tree, geranium, and patchouli oils. Flower essences such as Rescue Remedy Cream™ and crab apple can also be helpful. Other herbal extracts and combinations include:

• Tea tree oil diluted with calendula or lavender oil, especially for sensitive skin
• Grapefruit seed extract applied topically, or as a supplement taken orally (it’s necessary to dilute this oil)
• Myrrh, garlic, oregano, and pine oils are all antifungal (these should be used topically only)
• A mixture of honey and crushed garlic applied to the area
• Pau D’Arco (a wet tea bag soaked for ten minutes then applied to the area)

Dietary Treatments

Diets rich in raw food, whole grains, and limited dairy products can help reduce the growth of fungus, while yeast­producing foods, such as beer, bread, wine, cheese, and pickled foods can exacerbate the problem. Excess sugar (including honey, fruit, and juice) should be avoided when you are trying to get rid of any fungus.

Add a few important supplements to your dietary routine to help eradicate the fungal infection. Acidophilus; bifidobacteria; vitamins C, E, A, and B complex; and zinc have all proven helpful.

08/30/10 at 3:01 pm

See also Cataracts, Macular Degeneration

Astigmatism is a common condition causing poor vision, and is a distortion of the cornea that leaves the eye oval or football­ shaped, rather than round. Round eyes are normal and are important for good eyesight. In cases of astigmatism, the eye focuses on two points instead of one; this happens because rays of light do not form a single point of focus as they enter the eye. The word astigmatism is derived from the Greek alpha, meaning ‘without’ and stigma meaning ‘point.’

The most common symptoms of astigmatism are:

• Blurred vision
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Eye pain

Straight lines may seem crooked and even distorted. People with astigmatism may complain about blurry or fuzzy lines, and develop severely distorted depth perception over time.

What Causes Astigmatism?

Since astigmatism is a distortion of the cornea, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact cause. Over time, the cornea of the eye can lose its natural roundness. In addition, poor posture, and frequent tilting of the head can lead to astigmatism and problems with perception.

Treatments for Astigmatism

Many treatment options for astigmatism are available, but some have higher risks than others. Surgical procedures developed in recent years include Lasik surgery and photo reactive keratomy (PRK). Both of these are invasive procedures that carry a risk of damage. Side effects may include:

• Feelings of ‘halos’ around lights
• Tears in the retina, and damage to the optic nerve
• Chronic dry eye and a diminished capacity to produce tears
• Free radical damage
• Impaired visual acuity

There are natural remedies available as an alternative to surgery. Ayurvedic theory indicates that vision problems are related to digestive imbalances. As a result, some options include regular eye exercises, consumption of Ayurvedic herbs such as amla, triphala, and licorice, and a diet rich in carrots, spinach, and antioxidant vegetables.

Nutritional supplementation can also be helpful; extra supplements high in Vitamin A, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin E, beta­carotene, flavonoids, N­acetyl­cystine (NAC), riboflavin, selenium, taurine, zeaxthanin, and zinc can significantly improve eye health when taken on a regular basis.

The Bates Method involves re­educating the eye to improve healthy eyesight. This works by taking frequent breaks where the mind and body are in a relaxed state. This can involve a peaceful walk or meditation, closing the eyes but improving receptive awareness, and focusing on detailed but pleasant scenery. Over a period of time, this can help train the eyes, mind, and body to work in harmony.

Eating a balanced and healthy diet also can significantly improve eye health. Diets that are good at reducing eye degeneration include food such as:

• Those high in antioxidants, such as Acai berries, Goji berries, red grapes, cherries, mangos, and citrus fruits. Unsweetened cocoa is also an excellent choice that is rich in antioxidants and natural flavonoids.
• Organic egg yolks for the high carotenoid content
• Green leafy vegetables, including leaf lettuce, chard, kale, collard greens, spinach, and parsley
• Those low in unhealthy hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. This includes avoiding processed and fried foods, refined sugars, alcohol, and simple carbohydrates.

Other Considerations

Eye exercises throughout the day can significantly improve your eye health. Resting your eyes for five minutes every 30 minutes can help relax your gaze and improve your overall energy.

Other exercises to try include:

• Blinking your eyes regularly to reduce eyestrain
• Taking regular breathing breaks and meditative rest periods
• Rapidly switching focus from near to far for 20 to 30 minutes
• Rolling eyes up and down in a full circular motion for five minutes, five times a day

08/30/10 at 2:57 pm

Bronchial Spasms

See also Allergies, Bronchitis

More young people under the age of 17 suffer from asthma than from any other medical condition. In adults, asthma is in the top ten leading causes of disease and hospitalization. Each year more than 5,000 Americans die from asthma related suffocation. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, feelings of suffocation, and tightness in the chest, wheezing, and increased mucus in the lungs. Asthma attacks may also cause heart palpitations. Asthma may be either chronic or acute. Acute asthma causes severely restricted breathing and can appear suddenly, with little or no warning. These acute attacks often last only a few hours. Chronic asthma is often less severe than acute asthma, but it has constant symptoms.

What Causes Asthma?

There are two main reasons why the bronchial passages may spasm and seize up. First, airborne allergens may enter the lungs (generally through the mouth, not the nose), and cause a systematic reaction. In concert with this, a poor immune system or hypersensitivity to certain allergens increases the chances that these allergens will affect the lungs. The specific causes listed below are all variations of these two ideas:

• Exertion: Heavy breathing through the mouth due to exertion can trigger the allergic reactions the cause asthma.
• Poor Nutrition: Without proper nutrition, the immune system cannot defend the body from allergens and other antigens that enter the body—especially through the mouth.
• Cold Air: Especially when breathed through the mouth, cold air can cause constriction of the bronchial passageways.
• Stress: Another enemy of immune system, stress causes hormone imbalances that make us more susceptible to allergens and antigens that enter our bodies.
• Food Allergies: Specific foods can trigger allergic reactions, especially in the mucus membranes of the body.

Treatments

Asthma treatments take many forms, but they all tend to work in these basic areas:

• Strengthen the immune system: Since asthma is a type of allergy, a healthy immune system helps minimize its hold on the body. Try olive leaf extract, Spirulina, Echinacea, and nutrient­ rich foods.
• Support the adrenal glands: Depleted adrenal glands throw the entire system out of balance—from hormone imbalances to general immune system functions. Supporting the adrenals is a key step in restoring health. Add 150 mg of adrenal tissue with pantothenic acid twice daily.
• Take oxygenating supplements: Herbs and supplements that stimulate the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream help minimize asthma symptoms. Aloe vera gel (non­rind variety) is a great drink, as it contains more oxygen than any other plant. Add dimethyl­glycine (50 mg 3 times a day). B vitamins, vitamin A, beta­ carotene, and Ginkgo biloba all help with circulation and opening tiny blood vessels, allowing oxygen to be carried to all parts of the body. Many have gotten relief by drinking carbon activated water (CAW).
• Avoid irritating foods: Dairy and wheat products are two common food groups that exacerbate allergies, including asthma. The long­standing mainstream medical belief is that dairy products such as cow’s milk worsen asthma by increasing the body’s production of mucus, which then congests the nasal passages.
• Get relief with natural bronchodilators: Herbs, essential oils, and other substances can be used to open up the bronchial passageways, providing relief from asthma symptoms. Add a healthy dose of skullcap herb. Herbal teas containing theophylline­like compounds are potent bronchodilators. Other natural bronchodilators include peppermint, spearmint, and pine essential oils. Chamomile essential oil may also help to relax bronchial spasms.

Other Considerations

Many people have gotten positive results from a white powder from Africa called yamoa, which is taken in honey or in capsule form. It takes about ten days of use to take effect and thousands of sufferers have reported remarkable results with improved breathing and diminished symptoms. It is also beneficial for bronchitis and hay fever.

Other remedies can be added to a regimen already set by your doctor. The combination of vitamin C and B15 (pangamic acid) is purported to increase oxygen in the bloodstream. Play with the dosage. When you get relief with the B15, cut back slightly. Work at improving by using less of the supplements so that your body gets stronger on its own.

Many people report that concentrated breathing techniques can help with asthma. These techniques focus on deep, relaxed breaths and an increased awareness of your breathing. In other words, pay attention to your breathing and use the power of the mind to help relax and breathe easier.

08/30/10 at 2:54 pm

Joint Pain

See also Adrenal Imbalance, Bursitis, Hormonal Imbalance, Infection, and Inflammation

Arthritis can affect anyone. Almost 20% of Americans have some form of the disease, including many children and young people— and almost twice as many women as men. Symptoms can range from mild pain or aching of the joints to severe and disabling joint pain. If you feel stiffness in the joints when you get up in the morning or experience swelling, discomfort, sensitivity to climate changes (a symptom of arthritis, not a cause), or lack of flexibility in the joints, then you may have a mild form of arthritis. More serious forms can lead to total body weakness, severe joint pain, and lack of mobility, fatigue, depression, and even deformed joints.

What Causes Arthritis?

Arthritis has many causes. Here is a quick summary of the current wisdom:

• Immune system dysfunction: A weak immune system can lead to arthritis because bacteria are allowed to flourish in the body, including the types of bacteria that cause some forms of arthritis, such as septic, rheumatoid, and psoriatic arthritis.
• Genetic predisposition: Degenerative joint disease, known as osteoarthritis, is by far the most common type of arthritis. Studies show that it has some genetic preconditions. This type of arthritis is more common in older people.
• Overuse and injury: Although not a common form of arthritis, long ­term joint stress can lead to certain forms of joint cartilage degeneration. This can be caused by repetitive motion, overuse, and injury.
• Hormonal imbalance: Imbalance of hormones, especially excess cortisol—often caused by stress, excess caffeine, and adrenal imbalance—can lead to some forms of arthritis because of the detrimental effect on the immune system.
• Inflammation: Excess inflammation around the joints and tendons is linked to arthritic symptoms.

Treatments for Arthritis

Make sure you’re getting good vitamins and minerals from nutritional foods, but be especially sure that you’re getting enough of the vitamins B6, C, E, and niacin and the minerals magnesium and zinc. Vitamin E, in particular, helps people with arthritis increase mobility and reduces pain, and research suggests that vitamin C not only reduces inflammation, but also actually helps cartilage grow back. Here are some additional keys:

• Remember that arthritis is an autoimmune disease, so supporting the immune system will help you fight it. Try maca root, olive leaf extract, and Spirulina to help support your immune system.
• Add digestive enzymes in higher than suggested use. If you have ulcers, check with your doctor first.
• Bovine and shark cartilage are rich in glucosamine and chondroitin, which help stimulate the production of cartilage in humans, a feat never before thought possible.
• Take glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate supplements. Add S­adenosylmethionine (SAMe), which helps the body absorb glucosamine and sustain its effects longer.
• Green­lipped mussels and high­potency fish oils are powerful assistants for arthritic inflammation and help the body grow cartilage.
• Krill supplements can be helpful in re-growing cartilage.
• Drink as much lignite ­activated water as you want.
• Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), a form of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), is used for various forms of arthritis. It is extremely safe and effective in osteo ­and rheumatoid forms of arthritis and has minimal side effects.

Other Considerations

The connection between arthritis and stress, including mental/emotional imbalances, is gaining more credibility all the time. Stress­ related immune system imbalances can result in the infections that lead to arthritis. This is more evidence to suggest that we implement stress reduction techniques in our lives and limit the use of artificial stimulants.

Many natural health practitioners use oatmeal for fast pain relief. Mix 2 cups of oatmeal and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

08/30/10 at 2:51 pm

Anxiety Disorder / Panic Attack

See also Stress

Everyone feels anxiety from time to time, sometimes caused by specific environments (like speaking in public) and other times coming upon us seemingly for no reason whatever. For some people, however, anxiety is a frequent visitor and can cause physical symptoms such as heart palpitations (racing heart), excessive sweating, nausea, and dizziness. Other symptoms include nervous shaking, paleness of the skin, and disorientation. A full­blown anxiety attack, or panic attack, can be a major disruption, causing mood, sleep, and nervous system disorders. If anxiety becomes chronic enough that it interferes with normal life functions, then it may be diagnosed as anxiety disorder. This can express itself as an inability to concentrate, inability to sit still, paranoia, depression, and even suicidal tendencies.

What Causes Anxiety?

Although anxiety is always associated with some kind of fear or foreboding, quite often there is no external cause for the fear. Anxiety and panic attacks are almost always motivated internally, by stored emotions. Anxiety can also be triggered by stress, psychological or emotional depletion, or even physical depletion.

Treatments to Reduce Anxiety

• The key to treating anxiety is to uncover the underlying emotional patterns causing it. This may be difficult, depending on two major factors: your willingness to delve into emotional issues and the tools you use to do so. Besides treating the causes of the anxiety, you may also require some assistance during an “attack.” Here are some helpful keys:
• Avoid caffeine and stress. Implement a regular stress ­reduction program.
• Reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake while increasing proteins and amino acids. Add one or more super foods to help maintain good nutrition.
• Use calming herbs and foods, such as passionflower and passion fruit, chamomile, and valerian root.
• Keep calming and grounding essential oils with you to help during attacks: lavender oil, myrrh, cedar wood, and spruce oils are helpful.
• Take regular St. John’s wort supplements for their calming and depression ­fighting qualities. Pure cocoa is also a great anti­depressant.
• Consider emotional clearing techniques, such as psychotherapy, Neuro-­emotional Technique (NET), and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Many other techniques are also available.
• Alternative therapies like laughter, breath work, meditation, and yoga (for stress reduction) may also help.
• Exercise can help raise serotonin and dopamine (your brain’s “feel ­good” chemicals), which may help alleviate attacks.
• People who have not had luck with other treatments have gotten results using past life therapy.

08/25/10 at 11:45 am

See also Adrenal Imbalance, Bee Stings & Insect Bites, Candida, Hives, Immune System Health, Liver & Gallbladder Health

Your immune system is designed to fight off potentially dangerous foreign substances that enter your body. In some people, certain substances called allergens cause the immune system to go overboard trying to fight them off, while in other people, the same allergens cause no reaction at all. Allergens can enter the body from the air (inhalant), from contact (hypersensitivity), or from foods (ingestion). Common allergens include the proteins in pollen, animal dander, dust, mold, synthetic chemicals (including household chemicals and food preservatives), and foods (dairy products, wheat, and nuts). As the immune system attacks the allergens, a series of biochemical processes designed to help in the fight begins: secretion of mucus, blood flows to specific areas of the body, inflammation occurs in certain areas of the body, causing teary eyes, itching, sneezing, coughing, and congestion. Serious allergic reactions can include swelling in the mouth, difficulty breathing, and massive inflammation—and can be life threatening.

What Causes Allergies?

Allergies are caused by imbalances or deficiencies in the immune system. These deficiencies can be caused by dietary or nutritional imbalances, or a buildup of toxins in the body.

Treatments

Here are the first steps to controlling allergies:

• Build your immune system with high ­potency foods, such as bee pollen, Spirulina, and alfalfa. Drink plenty of water to hydrate your cells.
• Cleanse your colon and liver and use liver­ supporting foods and herbs.
• Avoid common food allergens, such as dairy and wheat products.
• Avoid toxic chemicals and get off long­ term prescriptions medications, including birth control pills.
• Take Echinacea and goldenseal; vitamins A, C, and E; ginseng; and Astragalus to strengthen your immune system.

For airborne allergies, local, raw bee pollen (which must be kept frozen) has been miraculous for many people. Start with a tablespoon, and then increase the dose as it feels right. To avoid making matters worse, you should also refrain from smoking (including being exposed to secondhand smoke) and reduce your exposure to other forms of air pollution where possible.

Adrenal cortex extract (150 mg twice daily with food) with 1 gram of pantothenic acid and 2 grams of vitamin C in the morning and before bed may help rebuild the adrenal glands, which will help to ameliorate allergies. Skullcap herb also can help ease allergies.

Your liver plays a large role in allergies as well. An unhealthy liver means that blood is not being processed and cleaned well, which leads to allergies. Use milk thistle and apple juice to support your liver, and consider a liver cleanse.

Additionally, some health experts believe that an undiagnosed, underlying allergy to dairy products is the root of upper respiratory allergies such as hay fever and asthma. You may want to try eliminating dairy products such as milk and cheese from your diet for a while to see if it helps.

Other Considerations

To relieve allergy symptoms naturally, use the herb marshmallow root to reduce mucus, burdock root (tea or tincture) and pine oil (essential oil) for congestion, stinging nettle for hay-fever symptoms, and rosemary essential oil and grape seed extract as an anti ­inflammatory.

08/25/10 at 11:31 am

Adrenal Depletion / Adrenal Fatigue / Burnout

See also Chronic Fatigue, Diabetes, Energy Enhancement, Stress, and Thyroid Imbalance

The most common form of adrenal imbalance is overuse of the adrenal glands, resulting in adrenal exhaustion. This condition is often associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and it is implicated in a number of maladies, including hormone imbalances, poor metabolism and digestion, blood sugar imbalances, and heart disease.

Stress, excess use of stimulants (including caffeine), and viruses (including herpes virus 6 and Epstein ­Barr virus) can all cause adrenal exhaustion. When you have to drink more and more caffeine and artificial stimulants to get the same effects, you are on the path toward adrenal exhaustion. At first, you may experience an accelerated energy that is often “speedy” or “wired.” This is a sign of excess cortisol and other hormones activated by the adrenal glands pumping adrenaline into your system. You may lose your appetite and have trouble concentrating. Later, when your adrenal glands are exhausted, cortisol is absent and symptoms may include:

• Constant fatigue, no matter how much sleep you get
• Difficulty mustering energy for normal functions
• Tenderness of the lymph nodes
• Depression
• Drowsiness
• Light­headedness
• Mental cloudiness
• Back pain
• Low blood sugar
• Reduced libido

You may also experience disturbed sleep patterns, mood swings, headache, and loss of appetite.

What Causes Adrenal Imbalances?

Adrenal imbalance is, by definition, a hormone imbalance. The adrenal glands produce several hormones essential to our energy levels and our “fight or flight” reactions in case of emergency. The most important of these is cortisol, the hormone that helps us deal with stress and fear. These hormones affect other chemicals in the body, including blood sugar, sodium, potassium, and magnesium, creating a chain reaction within the body. So what causes this imbalance to begin with?

• Chronic stress
• Excess caffeine and other artificial stimulants
• Excess adrenal cortex supplementation
• Digestive problems
• Food allergies, including wheat and gluten sensitivities
• Lack of proper sleep

Treating Adrenal Imbalance

The most important thing you can do for adrenal exhaustion is to change your lifestyle choices that are causing the condition, and create healthier lifestyle habits. Here are the essential treatment choices:

• Reduce the amount of caffeine you consume through coffee, sodas, and artificial stimulants.

• Reduce stress through relaxation of the mind and body and through lifestyle changes, bodywork, and meditation.
• Take pure organic maca root from a super ­food supplement. Maca is an incredible super ­food from the mountains of Peru, where it’s been used for 10,000 years for adrenal, thyroid and hormonal support.
• Add a DHEA supplement (approximately 200 mg daily).
• See the Stress entry later in this book.
• Avoid saturated fats, trans-­fats and other food toxins. Reduce sugars and carbohydrates. Increase protein consumption.
• Supplement your body chemistry with magnesium; potassium; vitamins B, C and E; and Pantothenic Acid.

08/25/10 at 11:16 am

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) / Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

All children can be rowdy and hyper-­energetic from time to time. And they all have times when it’s difficult for them to sit still and concentrate. But if these behaviors reach chronic levels, or measurably interfere with their ability to learn and cope with their lives, then it’s possible the child has attention deficit disorder (ADD), most recently referred to as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

ADHD starts in childhood and affects approximately 12% of children under 16 ­­and is on the rise. Around 60% of children with ADHD will still have symptoms by the time they reach adulthood. Many sources go on and on about the types of behaviors that are symptomatic of ADHD, but they mostly boil down to the following:

• Hyperactivity (inability to calm down)
• Impulsive behavior (extremely low impulse control)
• Inattention and lack of ability to concentrate
• Learning disabilities (largely due to the above symptoms)
• Defiant or disruptive behavior, angry outbursts

What Causes ADD/ADHD?

ADHD is considered to be a neurological disorder or, more specifically, a neuro-developmental disorder, meaning that it is a problem with brain development. However, scientists and healers are divided on the subject and many natural healers believe that ADD and ADHD is just the pharmaceutical industry’s label for a range of symptoms that largely come from poor nutrition, specifically from the Standard American Diet (SAD). Other natural health practitioners believe that ADHD is a set of symptoms that come from dysfunctional environments (home, school, church, etc.). Following is a summary of the most accepted theories:

• Genetic predisposition
• Brain injury during pregnancy, at birth, or in early childhood
• Environmental toxins during pregnancy and in early childhood
• Lack of nutrition combined with excess of bad foods
• Dysfunction in a child’s key environment
• Mercury toxicity from vaccines

Treatments for ADD/ADHD

Most medical experts say that there is no cure for ADD/ADHD, only treatments that help keep ADD related behaviors in check and improve cognitive functioning. Whether or not that’s true depends on your definition of what, exactly, ADD/ADHD is. Therefore, the best therapy involves a combination of cognitive, nutritional, and psychological treatments, including the following:

• Replace sugary, fatty foods like cheese, candy, sodas, and fried foods with nutrient­ rich, health­ forming foods like green leafy vegetables, Spirulina, kelp, bee pollen, and maca. Studies prove that children with better diets are able to concentrate and relax more, and have higher achievement levels.
• Increase omega fatty acids in the diet and through supplements.
• Add vitamin C and E supplements and start an antioxidant rich diet.
• Avoid food additives and foods known to cause allergies, including wheat, dairy products, and processed meats.
• Reduce stress at home and in school and implement relaxation and calming practices.
• Reduce dysfunction at home through emotional support treatments for the entire family.

Other Considerations

The herb skullcap has been shown to help children with ADHD symptoms, and a daily dose of 500 mg of magnesium relieves symptoms by promoting a calm feeling. If you have trouble getting your child off a sugar ­and junk ­food­ dependent diet, try getting away from the source of the temptation. Take a healthy, good ­foods vacation for the entire family.

08/24/10 at 2:52 pm

Pimples
Though it is often worse in adolescence, and to be somewhat expected due to hormonal changes at that time, acne can happen to anyone at any time, and is a signal the body gives that something is out of balance. Getting embarrassed just adds to stress, which is one of the causes of acne so smile anyway!

Causes of Acne
Acne begins in the follicles in the skin. At puberty, testosterone starts to circulate in the oil glands of the face and other parts of the body (but the face is the greatest concern). More oil (sebum) is produced. Everyone’s pores react differently to this increase in oil. For some, skin cells proliferate at an increased rate near the opening of the oil ducts. This higher production of cells, mixed with the higher production of oil, clogs the pores of the skin.

Here’s a summary of the causes:

• Hormonal cycles of not only adolescence, but also of women’s menstrual cycles, can cause acne, as well as stress, poor elimination (constipation), drugs, too much sugar leading to overgrowth of bacteria, and overly acidic blood.
• Blackheads and whiteheads can worsen, not only from the skin not being cleaned often or thoroughly enough, but also because of deficiencies such as magnesium, vitamin A, and B vitamins.
• Poor digestion can cause a buildup of toxins throughout the body, which often comes out through the pores; irritating the skin and leaving it open for acne infection.
• Anything put on the face can clog the pores, especially commercial products that are filled with chemicals that can cause the skin to react.
• Food allergies can manifest as acne.

Treatments for Acne

There are many natural treatments for acne, but not all of them are effective. Here are some of the essentials for clearing up your complexion:

• Cut down on the problem foods: sugar, fried foods, meat, processed food, soft drinks, and dairy products.
• Increase water, raw foods, and eat plenty of watermelon. Add C and B¬ complex vitamins to your supplement list.
• Reduce stress. (See also Stress.)

Internal Work
Whatever the severity, one aspect of controlling acne is to interfere with the retention of the faster forming, extra cells clogged with the extra oil in the pore. First, avoid eating foods that add to the problem. This means staying away from foods high in trans-fatty acids and animal fats, as well as refined carbohydrates. Many experts say that acidic blood is a main cause of acne, and this is a product of ingesting too much fried food, meat, sugary foods, white flour products, and soft drinks (big shocker!). Trans-fatty acids, such as margarine and heated oils prevent you from digesting the vitamins and minerals necessary for smooth skin. Avoid eating foods you are allergic to, the most common being wheat and dairy. And reduce stress and slow down when you eat.

Once you stop consuming foods and beverages that add to the problem, the next step is to fix the acne already on your skin. Here are some suggestions:

• It is important to drink eight 12 ounce glasses of pure water per day. This helps your skin flush out oil, cells, and bacteria. Remember, water is the universal solvent.
• Watermelon juice is another skin healthy beverage.
• Another way to help your body eliminate wastes that help cause acne is by adding a variety of fiber rich foods to your diet. Lightly cooked or, better yet, raw vegetables are a great source of fiber. They make a healthy contribution to any meal and they also make a satisfying and tasty midday snack to ward off hunger. Complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole grain bread, and legumes are also great sources of fiber. These fiber rich foods keep your digestive tract moving and clean, leading to acne free skin and a healthier body overall.
• Take the vitamins and minerals your skin needs to be healthy. Adding vitamin C (35 grams/day), vitamin A (up to 100,000 IU/day for a week to start, then 25,000 IU/day after; beta-carotene is the preferred form of vitamin A) can go a long way toward clearing up your acne. NOTE: Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not take more than 8,000 IU/day of vitamin A. Consult your doctor if you fall into this category.

External Cleansing
In order to beat acne, you also need to fight the buildup of excess oils on your skin from the outside. Wash your skin with a mild soap and rinse with hydrogen peroxide, let dry, then wash with clean water again. Finish your washing regimen by spraying your face generously with lignite activated water (also known as Willard Water). The addition of alpha hydroxy acid (fruit acid) speeds up the removal of dead cells, leaving a smoother complexion. At night, you can cover your face with a bentonite clay mask and let dry, and then wash off pulling out impurities.

You’re Just Making it Worse
The more you touch your acne, the worse it will get. Oils and bacteria from your fingers can infect acne or, at the least, cause it to spread. Resist the temptation to touch your face. If you must squeeze a pimple, be sure to do so under sterile conditions. Wash your hands with an alcohol ¬based antibacterial gel and be sure to have witch hazel ready for cleanup. Better yet, have a professional do it for you. That’s what they are paid for. Avoid shaving if you have serious acne on your face. If you must shave, use an electric razor if possible.

08/18/10 at 3:43 pm

Bruising is often associated with physical activity, sports, or youthful activities. But any substantial bump or fall can generate damage to the blood capillaries, causing blood to spread into surrounding tissues. Minor bruises caused by injuries generally go away in 3 to 10 days, depending on the seriousness of the injury and external factors (diet, for example). Some people are more susceptible to bruising and may benefit from an increase in vitamin C and antioxidants.
Bruising that appears often and without cause should be examined by a health care practitioner. Note that bruising may not reflect an underlying clotting disorder. It is more common in patients on steroids and blood thinners. Also, patients with low blood platelet counts (lack of blood clotting) associated with bone marrow cancers, leukemia and certain chemotherapy protocols frequently

Treatments for Bruising :

Most treatments for bruising involve some kind of topical substance to help reduce or prevent discoloration and pain.
• Eat foods high in vitamin C and antioxidants, such as fresh fruit, berries, and green leafy vegetables.
• Apply propolis tincture or cream to the surface of the wound. Lavender oil, hyssop, and camphor are also used in the same way; they also can be mixed with the propolis cream.
• Foods rich in bioflavonoids, such as fruit, seabuckhorn (or seaberry), and mango, help repair capillaries.
• You can also try putting white or apple cider vinegar on the bruise.

Other Considerations :

Many homeopathic remedies help alleviate bruising. Here are some of the more useful ones:
• Arnica can reduce discoloration and even prevent bruises if applied early. It can also reduce the time a bruise lingers.
• Ledum can be used for dark bruises to help healing and skin discoloration.
• Sulfuric acid homeopathic can be used for dark bruises that are slow to heal.

Homeopathic remedies should be taken every 4 to 6 hours until symptoms recede.

07/21/10 at 10:49 am

07/21/10 at 10:47 am

07/21/10 at 10:45 am

07/21/10 at 10:44 am

07/21/10 at 10:42 am

07/21/10 at 10:40 am

07/21/10 at 10:38 am

07/21/10 at 10:35 am

07/16/10 at 2:41 pm

12/19/09 at 10:07 pm

Thanks to you too, Lynn. I am grateful that you have made Boku available to us all at an affordable price. I take my smoothie breakfast to work every morning and people are always asking me what the heck it is because of the green color. I explain to everyone how I am boosting my immune system and protecting myself from degenerative diseases. And very happy to be doing so. So keep up the good work. It is much appreciated.

Sue H.

NC

12/19/09 at 10:07 pm

Thanks for your wonderful product. Thanks to people like Mike Adams and yourself I have turned my life around 180 degrees. I used to suffer from seasonal depression and was taking three or four antidepressants with minimal success over the last twenty years. With lots of trial and error, I have discovered the power of vitamin D and great products like Boku which have allowed me to get completely off all pills. I have dropped thirty pounds since the beginning of the year and feel like I’m in my twenties physically and mentally. A raw diet with additional supplements and products like Boku have been the answer for me. Keep up the great work!!!!

Carl V.

PA

12/19/09 at 10:07 pm

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for a wonderful product that enriches my life.
Merci Boku.

Jo Anne R.

UT

12/19/09 at 10:07 pm

Hi Lynn, Happy Thanksgiving Day to you! The business is going well because of you and your kind heart. Keep up the good work.

John D.

CA

12/19/09 at 10:07 pm

A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family -from a very happy and thankful Boku customer.

Jon S.

IA

12/16/09 at 1:43 pm

Lynn, what a wonderful email! Thanks for the blessing, I bless you back for the work you do and the healthy products you provide! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as well. It brings family, friends, positive energy, “qi” all together for a day!

Keep all the great healthy products coming! I offer qigong dvds and meditation cds as my contribution to helping people add moving meditation to their lifestyle!

In health and light,
Debi D. PA

11/20/09 at 6:49 pm

08/18/09 at 7:08 pm

05/12/09 at 2:55 pm

Ventura, Calif. – The Swine Flu and the change of seasons has brought the topic of health to the forefront of the news again. Did you ever wonder when a cold or flu is going around why not every member of your family gets it? Why doesn’t the flu strike every person in your office? boku International, LLC, representing the definitive new trend in nutritional products focused on total wellness, optimal health and natural beauty, has the answers.  

“While taking proper safety precautions to prevent the spread of germs is certainly important – such as covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and not touching your mouth and eyes after touching door knobs – there is something just as important.” said boku Master Formulator, Dr. BJ Adrezin. “Consciously keeping your immune system in tip-top shape can make the difference whether you are the one that winds up getting sick!”

“One of the best ways to support a healthy immune system is to eat plenty of nutrient-dense foods, such as colorful fruits and vegetables, and drink plenty of pure water,” continued Adrezin. boku Super Food, with its massive set of phytonutrients, can help give you the edge.

boku Super Food is tested for its levels of Beta Glucans, Chlorophyll, Flavonoids and Anthrocyanins. And it contains the most potent, purest Organic/Kosher/Vegan certified functional foods from around the world. Eat healthy, stay healthy and avoid the flu!

05/15/08 at 11:09 pm

The first and last secret of natural weight loss can be wrapped up in a single word: nutrition.

That’s right, nutrition is the ultimate cure and the ultimate secret to weight management. Nutrition provides the foundation for every living cell, every organ and every metabolic chemical in your body. Nutrition defines what you are made of. Abundant nutrition in your blood supplies your body with the very fuel for existence and provides strength, energy and vitality while empowering you to fight disease and illness.

Most important, it’s the reason we eat in the first place and the lack of nutrition is the bottom line reason why we gain weight. Hunger is more than just a craving to consume food. Hunger is really your body communicating its desire and basic need for vital nutrition! When you eat natural, nutrient-dense foods, you satisfy your body’s need for fuel.

What are the most nutrient-rich health forming foods on the planet? Here’s a short list with some of the best choices:

• Kale, spinach, beet tops and all dark green leafy vegetables
• Spirulina and chlorella
• Herbs like dandelion leaf, nettle and parsley
• Bee pollen and royal jelly
• Dark red and purple fruits and berries
• Kelp and sea plants
• Taro root, orange tomatoes, carrots, and orange vegetables

How to Get Super Nutrition

The health industry’s dirty little secret is that most vitamins and supplement products don’t actually work effectively in your body. The body cannot break down and assimilate many supplement products and ends up passing them through your system virtually untouched! The best way to get healthy, assimilable nutrition is through food. Plants, vegetables, fruits and herbs…these are nature’s gifts for the human body and they work.

The problem is, most of us don’t get enough of these in our daily food intake. What’s worse is that many of our industrial food farms add harmful chemicals to our fruits and vegetables to preserve them throughout the long process of getting from the farm to the supermarket to your table. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, many people got into “juicing” as a way to get concentrated nutrition from plants…and that was a great solution at the time.

Today, we have an even better solution..one that gives you all the plant fiber as well as the nutrients and food value. It’s the green superfood powder drink mix. Green superfood powder contains pure, dried and concentrated plants in raw, powdered form. A tablespoon of this powder is equivalent to a huge amount of fruits and vegetables. It’s like getting all of your nutrition in a single tablespoon.

Boku Super Food’s Super Formula

Some of the super nutrient-dense plants used in Boku Super Food green drink mix include:

• Spirulina and Chlorella (super nutrient-rich sea vegetables)
• Maca Root (appetite supressent and source of energy and nutrition)
• Stinging Nettle
• Horsetail Herb
• Flax Seed Meal (source of Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber)
• Wheat, Barley and Oat Grasses (nutrient-rich grasses)
• Alfalfa, Broccoli, Spinach, Kale and Dandelion Leaf Juices (help suppress appetite and provide gluten-free sources of nutrients)
• Organic fruits like Apple, Raspberry, Black Currant, Grape, and Açai (anti-oxidants)
• Kelp and other Seaweed (minerals and nutrition from the sea)
• Enzymes and Probiotic Cultures (friendly flora that help with digestion and elimination)

This formulation was designed to provide high levels of nutrition that the body can absorb and assimilate. The probiotic cultures help to balance your intestinal flora, reduce yeast infection, and help with digestion and elimination. If you don’t take a probiotic supplement or eat plenty of live cultures, then getting this in a green drink, like Boku Super Food, is a good strategy. Try it now.

Tags: Weight Loss

01/14/08 at 2:56 pm

11/15/07 at 5:10 pm

As you might imagine, diet plays a large role in digestion. A healthy diet equals healthy digestion, while an unhealthy diet equals poor digestion. For good digestion, avoid eating fatty foods such as butter, fried food, and cheese. Instead, choose high-fiber foods such as whole grains, rice, and raw or lightly cooked vegetables. Excellent foods for digestion include apples, avocados, and oranges. Here are some other ideas:

• Don’t drink water with your meals, as this dilutes your stomach acids right when you need them most. Also, chew your food thoroughly to help your digestion.
• Avoid greasy, oily foods.
• Don’t mix coffee or alcohol with food. Wait at least 30 minutes after eating before drinking these things.
• Be careful with food combinations. Avoid eating fruit with carbohydrates or animal proteins. Also avoid mixing hot and cold foods.
• Avoid foods or drinks containing chocolate, soft drinks and tomato sauces.

Aloe vera juice aids digestion. Chewing licorice or fennel seeds after a meal is an East Indian tradition that freshens garlic and onion breath and lowers the incidence of flatulence. Fennel, ginger, and catnip all contain oils that absorb intestinal gas, calm your stomach, stop diarrhea, prevent constipation, aid digestion, and stop heartburn. You can also try a cup of hot green tea or yerba mate to help digestion after eating greasy food.

There are a host of digestive enzymes. Look for papain, bromelain, and protease. Pepsin is also helpful. These will help improve your digestion while eradicating your pain. Take a double dose of enzymes for a week if you want an easy way to cleanse five to ten pounds away quickly. Probiotics work well, too. They contain Bifidobacteria longum, Bifidobacteria bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Stomach acid destroys acidophilus taken alone, so take this combination.

Ginger enhances digestion and circulation as well as promotes healthy lungs. A glass of pure apple juice during your evening meal will often prevent the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Tags: Diet

11/15/07 at 4:59 pm

See also Colon & Intestinal Health, Digestion

If you’re suffering from diarrhea, the first question is, what’s causing it? Sometimes diarrhea is a symptom of a larger problem. In most cases, diarrhea passes through the system in a few days at most, or is related to specific illnesses, such as flu or food allergy. If diarrhea continues for more than ten days, or if there is severe weight loss accompanying the symptoms, you should probably seek medical attention.

Causes of Diarrhea

Diarrhea occurs when the colon cannot function properly, due to inflammation, irritation, infection, or other ailment. Here are some details:

• Food Reaction: Reactions or allergies to certain foods may cause diarrhea. Some people cannot drink beer, for example, while others cannot eat spicy foods. This type of diarrhea is the body ridding itself of toxic or unwanted substances. The message is: don’t eat or drink these things anymore.
• Dairy products: An allergy to milk and other dairy products, for example, often manifests as diarrhea rather than hives or other common allergy symptoms. If you’re suffering from chronic diarrhea, try eliminating all dairy products from your diet for a few weeks. If the diarrhea doesn’t stop, a dairy allergy is not to blame.
• Viral Infection: Many types of viral infections can cause diarrhea, including both mild and serious infections.
• Parasites: Parasites from traveling, undercooked meats, or contact with animals or their stool can cause severe diarrhea that requires medical attention. If antibiotics are prescribed, be sure to take probiotics when your treatment is over.
• Vitamin C: Too much vitamin C results in diarrhea in most people. If you are mega-dosing vitamin C, cut back when you start getting diarrhea. Too much magnesium will also cause diarrhea.
• Illness: Diarrhea is a symptom of some serious illnesses, including dysentery, food poisoning (botulism), AIDS, Crohn’s disease, and radiation sickness. All of these require medical attention.

Treatments For Diarrhea

Diarrhea should be treated according to it’s cause.  But you should do some things no matter what the cause.  Here are some suggestions:

• Avoid dairy, caffeine, processed foods, alcohol, and fermented foods & beverages.
• Take antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral herbs, such as green tea extract, garlic extract, oregano extract, barberry root and St. John’s wort.
• Take probiotic cultures, which are helpful even if your diarrhea is not caused by fungal infection.
• Take a nutrient-rich food supplement to restore the vitamins and minerals your body has lost from the diarrhea.Other considerations :
  If an infection is causing your diarrhea, colloidal silver (a solution) can help kill the bad bacteria in the colon. It may even kill Cryptosporidium parasites, which cause only minor diarrhea in people with healthy immune systems, but can cause severe life-threatening diarrhea in people with compromised immune systems, such as people with AIDS.
  If you don’t have colloidal silver, barberry root is effective for treating diarrhea, especially when caused by virus. It has been shown to inhibit the E. coli virus’s ability to flourish within the cells. Some herbalists suggest that grapefruit seed extract and goldenseal are also good diarrhea remedies.
  If diarrhea is severe, watch out for dehydration. Drink plenty of pure water. You can also drink green tea, which has antibacterial qualities.
  Diarrhea in children should not last more than one or two days. To help it go away quickly, try a diet of bananas, fiber in the form of wheat germ or bran, and plain yogurt (no sugar or flavoring, except for the bananas). Add a teaspoon of bee pollen to restore lost vitamins and minerals.

Tags: Diarrhea · Parasites · stomach

11/15/07 at 4:05 pm

Diabetes is all too common in the United States. The American diet is high in sugars, carbohydrates, and fats that cause or contribute to high blood sugar. Excess caffeine can, indirectly by way of the thyroid, contribute to hormonal imbalances that cause diabetes. Some of the symptoms include:

• Frequent urination

• Thirst

• Blurred vision

• Weight loss accompanied by increased appetite

• Fatigue

• Erectile dysfunction

• Headaches

What Causes Diabetes?
Simply put, diabetes is caused by high blood sugar, or “too much glucose in the blood.” This is a problem with insulin, whose job is to carry blood sugar into the cells of the body. A lack of insulin or faulty insulin response by the cells results in too much glucose in the blood. Another cause of diabetes is simply too much sugar intake— especially fructose. Here is a summary of the causes of diabetes:

• Diet: Too much sugar. Too much fat. Too much caffeine.

• Obesity: Often resulting from dietary problems, obesity can cause a loop of insulin and hormonal problems that can cause or worsen diabetes.

• Thyroid imbalance: Hormonal imbalances from thyroid and adrenal problems can affect insulin response and cause or contribute to diabetes.

• Poor liver health: If the liver cannot cleanse the blood and process excess blood sugar, the result is diabetes.

• Chronic use of steroids: These drugs can change your body chemistry and cause or worsen diabetes.

Treatments:

A new set of dietary habits is the first line of defense against diabetes. Here is a summary of these dietary strategies, along with some other natural treatments:

• Avoid sugars: Sugars come in the form of sucrose (cane sugar and maple syrup), lactose (dairy products), fructose (fruit and corn syrup), corn starch, dextrose, glucose (usually glucose is converted by the body from other sugars), sorbitol, and malt.
• Reduce carbohydrates and starches: The body converts starches from carbohydrates into glucose. Avoid simple carbs, which include fruit, fruit juice, dairy products, honey, and sugars. Also avoid peanut butter, soybean oil, cheese, and processed meat. Keep complex carbohydrate consumption under control, including breads, pasta, beans, grains and fibrous vegetables (squash and eggplant, for example). Remember that whole wheat products are better than refined products. Better yet, replace wheat with other grains, such as oats, bran, rye, and barley.
• Eat more low-glycemic food: Healthy foods for maintaining good blood sugar levels include green leafy vegetables, potatoes, yams, whole grain breads, nuts, legumes, chicken, and fish. Raw foods have a lower glycemic level than cooked foods.
• Take herbs to help control blood sugar: Herbs that help include fenugreek, garlic, bilberry, ginseng, and olive leaves (or extract). Other helpful supplements for diabetes include chromium, vanadium, cinnamon, and bitter melon.
• Strengthen your immune system: If you have diabetes, you should definitely take a multivitamin. Concentrate especially on getting enough antioxidants, as they help prevent free radical damage that causes many common diabetes complications (blindness and the necessity of limb amputation). Spirulina provides vitamins and minerals, while helping to balance blood sugar.
• Cleanse: If you crave sweets, you may be suffering from a lack of protein or you might have parasites in your system. Cleansing your liver and colon cannot only help with these cravings, but can help reduce your blood sugar levels by providing better nutrient absorption.

For 1,000 years, Japanese culture has used flour made from a plant called konjac-mannan (glucomannan). An extract of konjac-mannan helps provide protection from diabetes by lowering blood sugar.

Lipoic acid, known as LA, or alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) are both excellent antioxidants and blood purifiers. What’s more, LA enhances your body’s insulin sensitivity and the glucose response to insulin. This is good news for diabetes patients. You can get LA supplements without prescription and should take them on an empty stomach. Food sources of LA include spinach, broccoli, tomatoes and Brussels sprouts.

Gymnema sylvestre (gurmar leaf) is called the poor mans insulin in India, and if chewed, will block the receptors on your taste buds that register sweetness on your tongue. Sweets will taste like cardboard and this will take away your desire for sweets. When Gymnema sylvestre is taken orally for six weeks, the desire for sweets will be eliminated.

Aloe vera juice (get the pure filet of aloe, not products that use the whole spike because the outer skin of the aloe vera plant has a toxin in it) controls blood sugar. Aloe has more oxygen in it than any other plant. Colloidal silver is also beneficial for diabetes.

Other Considerations

• Diabetics are prone to heart conditions, so either have a lot of garlic in your diet or take garlic supplements, as garlic provides many cardiovascular health benefits.
• Use sesame oil to reduce hypertension and B-complex vitamins to help prevent both heart conditions and diabetic neuropathy, which is a precursor to limb amputation.
• Diabetics are also prone to yeast infection, so include a healthy dose of vitamin E in your supplement regimen.
• Add Boku Super Food into your diet www.bokusuperfood.com

Tags: Aloe Vera Juice · Carbohydrates · Garlic · Herbs · Hypertension · Multivitamins · Starches · Sugar

09/17/07 at 3:44 pm

Since coughs have so many possible and divergent causes, it’s difficult to offer a few, simple keys to prevent them. Nevertheless, here are some possibilities to help with cough symptoms, whatever the cause:

• Use essential oils of eucalyptus, myrrh, peppermint, chamomile, pine, or rosemary in steam diffusions or room diffusers.
• Avoid foods that cause mucus, including dairy products, wheat, sugar, and starchy foods.
• Eat more nutrient-rich, health-forming foods, including Spirulina, bee pollen, spinach, dandelion greens, kale, and other super foods. This will help your immune system fight off pathogens that are causing the cough.
• Reduce mucus with ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, tumeric, and clove. Use as a gargle or take these spices in capsule form or combine them with honey to soothe the throat.
• For coughs associated with cold or allergy, gargle with sea salt water as hot as you can stand.

Other Considerations

Combine ground perilla seed, ground apricot seed, slippery elm, and licorice and take orally. Take vitamin A (100,000 IU) until the cough dissipates (pregnant women should not take this much vitamin A). A research study published in 2000 demonstrated that 12.8 mg of zinc reduces the length of time you suffer from a cough by 50%.

Tags: Sugar · Vitamin Supplements · Wheat

09/17/07 at 3:39 pm

In people without medical problems, the main treatment for constipation is to increase your intake of fluids (preferably pure water) and dietary fiber. A good herbal laxative is psyllium seed. You can also try folic acid and vitamin C supplements. Avoiding animal products and consuming more fresh organic vegetables and fruit is vital. Healthy dietary changes will go further in getting your colon back on track than anything.

If you are suffering from constipation or lazy bowels, avoid using over-the-counter laxatives that contain such poisons as strychnine, belladonna, and aloin.

Many effective natural supplements can relieve constipation. Perhaps topping the list is cascara sagrada, a bark from a tree in the Amazon, which is gentle but powerful for restoring regularity. You should stop taking cascara sagrada once regularity is restored. Other good natural products include curacao and cape aloe leaf, barberry root bark, senna leaves and pods, ginger rhizomes, and habeero pepper.

Colonics are amazingly effective for helping to clean the colon and restoring normal bowel function. Natural products great for removing toxins from the colon include pharmaceutical-grade bentonite clay (absorbs and draws poisons from the walls of the colon and intestines), slippery elm bark, marshmallow root, psyllium seed, and peppermint leaf. More information on colon cleanse can be found under Colon & Intestinal Health. Check with your healthcare professional for a qualified referral.

Other Considerations

Regardless of how little your problem may seem to relate to the colon, cleansing the bowel first is often a good bet. The best way to restore and maintain health is to detoxify the body and remove accumulated waste. In order to detox properly, the colon must be clear and operating smoothly. When you detox to purge accumulated waste and toxins, all this waste is finally processed through the colon. If the colon is constipated and not functioning properly, all of the poisons and toxins that were being flushed from your body will not be efficiently eliminated and could even be reabsorbed. This is why many people feel so ill during a detoxification program and often quit shortly after starting. By cleaning your colon first, the program will work much better and you will actually feel great throughout the process.

Tags: Bowel · Colon · Constipation

09/17/07 at 3:34 pm

Since the causes of poor colon health are fairly straightforward (mostly stemming from dietary habits), the cures are also fairly straightforward. The key is to eliminate or greatly reduce unhealthy foods from the diet, including: saturated fats, dairy products, excess starches and sugars, and red meat. Here are some of the keys to getting your colon back into shape:

• Enemas and Colonics: Colons are like massive honeycombs, with pockets that can harbor years-old waste. In fact, several pounds of bacteria-laden fecal matter can become attached to the walls of the colon, causing chronic fatigue, flatulence, bloating, skin disorders, breathing difficulties, arthritis, and constipation. Colonic cleanses help remove this waste and restore the youth to your intestines and bowels. Colonics can help eliminate some intestinal parasites, too. Flatulence often can be cured by hydro colon therapy and a good diet.
• Probiotics: The opposite of antibiotics, probiotics work to restore the healthy bacteria in your body, including your intestinal flora. Two of the most common probiotic flora are acidophilus and bifidophilus. It is essential to take probiotics after taking antibiotics, doing a colon cleanse, or chemotherapy, so as to regenerate the friendly fauna and flora that live in your colon and intestines and help you digest and absorb your food. Remember, antibiotic means anti (against) bio (life). Antibiotics kill everything in the bacterial realm, including the good bacteria in your body. Candida yeast infections are caused by a lack of healthy body flora.
• Fiber and raw foods: It is widely known that fiber from raw foods helps clean your intestines, especially raw or lightly cooked broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage (all in the cabbage family). Fiber from grains and seeds is also beneficial.
• The cholesterol connection: Too much cholesterol in the diet forms gallstones in the liver and gallbladder, leading to poor digestion and processing of fats and proteins. These poorly digested fats and proteins end up in the intestines and colon, mucking up the works.

One of the most widely used agents for enemas or colonics is coffee. Coffee stimulates the lining of the colon and causes it to excrete more proficiently. It also cleans up the bile ducts between the colon and the liver / gallbladder. Coffee gets the deep peristalsis (the natural movement through your entire digestive tract) going again.

After your enema or colonic cleansing is complete, you can reintroduce liquid chlorophyll, which is very healing, energizing, and soothing, back into your colon. Chlorophyll is molecularly the closest substance to the hemoglobin in your red blood cells, so you can imagine the regenerative and healing benefits it has.

Colon cleanse supplement programs are also widely available. Most of these are multi-day programs that use herbs and supplements to help remove waste from the intestines. Some key ingredients used in these programs include: ground black walnut shell / husk, garlic extract, psyllium husk, bentonite clay (or liquid), pau d’arco, wormwood, yellow dock, citric acid from lemon or grapefruit, cayenne pepper, and slippery elm.

09/17/07 at 3:30 pm

The best way to prevent a cold is to boost the immune system with vitamin C, Spirulina, or olive leaf extract, and antioxidants from fruit and vegetable sources. During cold seasons, or when others around you have colds, you may also want to take extra vitamin C, Echinacea with goldenseal, and Lomatium. It’s not always possible to know when cold viruses and bacteria are making the rounds, however, so it’s important to have a cold-killing throat spray on hand. When you feel the first signs of itching or irritation in the throat, use the following ingredients together in an antiviral, antibacterial contact spray:

• Liquid St. John’s wort (50 ml)
• Liquid Echinacea (50 ml)
• Tea tree oil or propolis (a few drops)
• Grapefruit seed extract (a few drops)

Mix these together and spray the solution onto your throat at the first sign of irritation. If you don’t have a spray tincture bottle, use an eye dropper. Besides the above tinctures and extracts, pomegranate extract is a good topical antiviral for the throat. Some experts prefer to apply a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide into each ear upon first signs of a cold. You can apply drops two or three times per day until the symptoms disappear.

Treatments if you Already Have a Cold

If a cold is viral, accompanied by fever, vitamin C is very helpful, starting with 3 grams, then 1 gram every hour until the fever breaks. (Seasoned vitamin C veterans can increase the dosage but newcomers to high dosages of vitamin C may experience diarrhea.)

For a bacterial cold (the snotty kind), add 100,000 IU of vitamin A (beta-carotene) and 50 mg of picolinated zinc with a little food. (Do not take this amount of vitamin A if you are pregnant or may become pregnant.) Zinc is a potent remedy against the common cold because it boosts your immune system’s T cells to help them kill the cold bacteria or virus quickly and efficiently. Though research on zinc and colds is inconclusive, a 2000 study found that taking 12.8 mg of zinc reduced the duration of cold symptoms in general by 50%, with cough reduced by 50% and mucus discharge reduced by 30%.

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners prescribe ginger for the common cold, and many Western alternative health practitioners today attest to its effectiveness. At the first sign of a cold, steep three to four pieces of ginger in hot water to make a tea. Then add some honey to taste. If you have chills and a fever, add some basil to the ginger tea.

Add three to four garlic capsules to speed up the results. Echinacea herb capsules (with goldenseal if possible), along with thymus glandular (builds T cells) will help. Olive leaf extract is a powerful antioxidant and boosts energy while decreasing recovery time from viral, bacterial, and fungal infestation.

If your cold has flu symptoms such as sore, achy muscles, mix one tablespoon of horseradish in one cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil for instant relief for aching muscles.

If you’re suffering from coughing bouts, licorice lozenges act as a natural cough suppressant and expectorant, so you’ll cough less and cough up more mucus when you do. Cayenne pepper in 3 to 4 capsules spread through the day helps break up congestion.

09/17/07 at 3:27 pm

Chills can be reduced or regulated in a variety of ways. For permanent increased body heat, try the following essential treatments:

• Substantially increase protein intake.
• Substantially increase exercise.
• Take liquid B-complex and C vitamins.
• Get plenty of amino acids.
• Add spices to your meals. Spices like cayenne, tumeric, curry and red pepper increase your heart rate and warm your body.

Herbs such as chamomile, ginger, boneset, and yarrow can help relieve chills. Adding cayenne pepper to food can boost the digestive fire and improve circulation. See Blood Pressure (Low) for more information about enhancing circulation.

09/17/07 at 11:00 am

Diet is extremely important in preventing and reversing liver disease, and cirrhosis can be helped with detoxification and a steady, pure foods diet. Detoxification helps to reduce the symptoms of cirrhosis and cleanse the body’s natural systems. Complete a colon and intestinal cleanse in your plans before you start a liver and other body cleanses.

Diets should be comprised of whole and organic foods that include seeds, nuts, whole grains, beans, nuts, green leafy vegetables, and goat, soy, or rice milk. Avoid alcohol and processed or saturated fats, including margarine and hydrogenated oils. Substitute with cold-processed oils such as olive oil and flaxseed oil.

Foods high in amino acids and potassium are helpful. These include nuts, seeds, bananas, raisins, rice, wheat bran, kelp, dulse, molasses, and brewer’s yeast. Avoid animal protein, as well as raw or undercooked fish. Juice therapy can help eliminate toxins, especially apple juice. Also try beet and carrot juices and green drinks that contain Spirulina, Chlorella, and other green elements.

Herbs such as milk thistle can help treat and regulate liver cells, and help with cell regeneration. Other herbs, such as Picrorhiza kurroa, has a similar effect, and licorice root is often helpful. The Chinese herb bupleururn is another one to try.

Helpful nutritional supplements include vitamin C, vitamin E, lipoic acid, and raw liver tablets. Take regular doses of vitamin B complex, selenium, folic acid, digestive enzymes with hydrochloric acid, and the amino acides L-carnitine, L-cysteine, L-glutathione, and L-arginine.

Other Considerations

Other alternative therapies include acupuncture, detoxification therapy, natural hormone replacement therapy, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

09/17/07 at 10:56 am

The most important thing you can do for chronic fatigue caused by adrenal exhaustion is to support your adrenal glands (see Adrenal Imbalance). If your condition is caused by a virus, then use antiviral herbs and food therapies:

• Maca root
• St. John’s wort
• Garlic extract
• Green tea and green tea extract
• Una de Gato, or Cat’s Claw, from the Amazon (scientific name, Uncaria tomentosa).
• Refer to Infection (Viral) for more information.

To augment and balance low blood pressure:

• Take an iron supplement.
• Eat Spirulina to aid in the body’s absorption of minerals and help balance blood sugar levels.
• Eat foods rich in bioflavonoids, such as red grapes, green tea, bilberry, hawthorn root, and gotu kola.
• Eat antioxidant-rich foods.
• Refer to Blood Pressure (Low) for more details about treating low blood pressure.

Other Considerations

Some experts believe that Chronic Fatigue is as much a neuro-emotional-based problem as it is a physical or biochemical-based problem. When all the other possible explanations have been ruled out, and symptoms remain, then you are diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue, In other words, Chronic Fatigue is the medical establishment saying, “We don’t know what’s wrong with you.” At this point, it would be wise to look into possible causes not associated with typical solutions, including (or maybe especially) emotional and psychological causes. Losing the will to continue, chronic hopelessness, depression, and shock or trauma can all cause the symptoms associated with CFS.

Chronic fatigue is often mistaken for Lyme disease; be sure you are tested for this if you are experiencing CFS symptoms.

09/17/07 at 10:52 am

Much is known about controlling cholesterol. The key is to form new eating and lifestyle habits and disciplines. Here is a summary of the foods, nutritional supplements, plants, herbal extracts, and lifestyle treatments that will do the trick:

• To keep LDL cholesterol under control, and thereby keep arterial walls clear, be sure to have a lot of garlic, soy, and lutein-rich vegetables in your diet. These include carrots, corn, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, mustard greens, red peppers, dill, parsley, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and red, blue, and purple fruits.
• Research shows that the mushroom Cordyceps (tincture or pill form) reduces LDL and raises HDL cholesterol, while inhibiting the formation of plaque in cell walls and raising energy.
• Take potent lipotropics (to promote the utilization of fats) such as methionine, choline, and inositol.
• Also add vitamin B6, non-flush niacin, omega-3 fatty acids, chromium picolinate, pantothenic acid, red yeast, and tocotrienol vitamin E. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in flaxseed oil, rapeseed oil, and some fish. You can also get omega-3 in chia seeds and salba seeds from the salvia plant.
• Reduce intake of saturated fats and omega-6 fatty acids. Sources of omega-6 include vegetable oils (canola, soybean, walnut, safflower, and sunflower oils).
• Drink a glass of red wine each night. Red wine contains powerful polyphenols that inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Red wine also has many antioxidants and bioflavonoids.

If you are on a blood-thinning drug such as Coumadin (warfarin sodium), consult your health care provider before taking garlic supplements because garlic also thins the blood.

Other Considerations

Soybean oil and walnut oil are rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, with a leaning toward omega-6. Since our diets already tend to give us an excess of omega-6 and a shortage of omega-3, you should probably avoid these oils along with other omega-6 sources.

As you’ve probably already heard, eating foods high in fiber, like oatmeal, also helps lower the LDL cholesterol level, the cholesterol that free radicals oxidize and turn into plaque that sticks on arterial walls. Plus, eating whole grains (rather than refined grains) is better for your whole body, playing a role in the prevention of diabetes and obesity.

09/17/07 at 10:48 am

Stop putting petroleum-based products on your lips. They feel slick but actually dry your lips, which is why you need to keep applying them—which is a good way for the manufacturer to get more of your money. Instead, use lip balms or gloss made from shea butter, beeswax, and vegetable or nut oils. Also use vitamin A, D, and E oils or ointments (preferably the concentrated 32,000 IU/ounce variety of vitamin E). Use a generous amount and your damaged lips will heal in nearly an instant. Also, B vitamins can help prevent chapping.

Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial that can be an effective treatment against angular chelitis. It can be used in combination with vitamin E.

09/17/07 at 10:42 am

The process of eliminating cellulite is becoming less and less of a mystery. Today, we know much more about diet and the biochemical processes that result from our food choices. Here are the essentials:

• Rebalance your diet to include more proteins and amino acids and fewer fats, carbohydrates, and sugars.
• Exercise daily. Make sure your exercise is burning fat. You should be sweating and breathing hard at the peak of your exercise. Water-based exercise programs are not effective for fat burning. The best exercises are aerobic workouts, running, and bicycle riding.
• This is critical: Eat before you exercise, not after. Eating before stimulates the catabolic process of the body (to burn fat), while eating after stimulates the anabolic process (tissue building).
• Include vigorous massage or skin stimulation in your health program to physically break down cellulite structures.
• Increase your intake of bioflavonoids and vitamin C for healthy connective tissues. Mangoes, seahawthorn, and citrus fruit are good sources of bioflavonoids.
• Drink plenty of water for cell health.

08/23/07 at 3:02 pm

See also Autoimmune Disorders, Infection (Bacterial), Infection (Viral), Stress

In a strict medical sense, the immune system is not actually one of the body’s systems, like the cardiovascular system or the nervous system. The immune system is a set of byproducts produced by the proper and balanced functioning of the organs and body systems—perhaps even the proper functioning of the whole person: mentally, emotionally, and physically.

There is a lot we don’t know about the immune system, but we do know that it is the body’s principal line of defense against viruses, parasites, bacteria, fungi, and toxins that cause decay and damage to the body. It is the body’s major defense mechanism against cancer formation. It is as if the organs and body systems joined together to create a defense system to protect themselves.

In many ways, good health boils down to a healthy immune system. Just about all of the body’s defenses against illness are now seen to be part of its great interconnected network of chemical processes. And while the components of the immune system are intricate and complicated, the pathways to a healthy immune system are easy to understand and follow.

What are the Symptoms of a Weak Immune System?

Since the immune system is linked to our overall health, it has at least some responsibility for just about every ailment that can afflict us. Still, there are a few signs you can watch for that point to an immune system in need of support:

• Recurring infections
• Chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, never feeling rested
• Chronic diarrhea
• Slow healing
• Allergies, especially the onset of several new allergies
• Inflammation
• Frequent colds or flu (more than 3 times per year or one that never seems to go away)

What Causes Damage to the Immune System?

The immune system is amazingly versatile and flexible. It responds to foreign substances, viruses, and other threats with speed and intelligence. Nevertheless, certain antigens may prove too strong for the immune system to fight off completely, and some may even damage the immune system. We often add to the problem by increasing our exposure to toxic substances—from our environment, our foods, and through our behaviors. We may also neglect to fortify our immune systems with proper diet, supplements, and lifestyle habits. In short, damage to the immune system falls into two simple categories: damage from toxins and damage from neglect.

Tags: Recovery · Virus

08/20/07 at 11:47 am

Ten years of vitamin C intake of 500 mg a day before the age of 60 helps reduce cataracts by 57%. Antioxidants such as Pycnogenol (pine bark extract) and beta-carotene also can be of help. Keep your eyes washed with carbon-activated water by spraying it into your eyes every morning. Don’t worry about the overspray on your face: All it will do is preserve your skin and slow down wrinkle formation. Also, drink plenty of water for overall body hydration.

Don’t forget to fill up your plate with lutein-rich vegetables: carrots, corn, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, collard, mustard greens, red peppers, dill, parsley, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes, as well as red, blue, and purple fruits. Lutein and its associated carotenoid zeaxanthin help protect delicate eye tissues from free radical damage. In fact, according to a Harvard-based study, women with diets high in lutein reduce their risk of developing cataracts by 22%; men reduce their risk by 19%.

Besides lutein, other antioxidants are helpful for your eyes and overall health: bilberry, grape seed extract, Pycnogenol (pine bark extract), olive leaf extract, and dark red and purple fruits.

Exercise your eyes. Spend five minutes a day rolling your eyes in wide circles or focusing between near and far objects. Also, rest your eyes during the day for a couple of minutes—especially if you work in front of a computer or perform other tasks that create eye strain. Simply close your eyes for two or three minutes to give them a rest.

08/16/07 at 1:30 pm

So how do we get more energy? What are the safest and most effective ways to increase energy and get more of life’s sweet nectar? Well, let’s start with a few basic principals. Here are the essential concepts for increasing body energy:

• Improve the quality of your fuel: Find the optimal mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats for your body, so it can more effectively convert these elements into fuel. The optimal mixture is not the same for everyone.
• Reduce the quantity of your fuel intake: Generally, eating less food results in more energy efficiency. Oxidation from overeating causes the body to slow down, as does the excess stored fat that overeating causes.
• Clean your engine: Clean out your liver and purify your blood for increased energy. This will support the chemical processes that carry glucose into the cells, where it is used as energy. It also wouldn’t hurt to clean your intestines, as this is where sugars get extracted from foods and passed to the bloodstream.
• Streamline your body: Losing excess fat and increasing muscle mass will give you more energy and improve energy conversion from the food you eat.
• Attend to “other” energies: Steer clear of high frequency wires, unnecessary x-rays, and other foreign energies. Keep your emotional archives clean, your heart light, and your self-image positive.

Other Considerations

Glucose is the most important and most used source of energy for our tissues and muscles. Most of this glucose should come from complex carbohydrates (grains, vegetables, beans) for best energy conversion. People with higher metabolisms or those on a muscle-building program can increase their intake of carbohydrates. Sucrose (sugar) is a combination of glucose and fructose; the glucose is quickly and easily converted into energy by our liver and muscle tissues. Note that energy from fructose (fruit and corn syrup) is converted into energy only by the liver, and any excess will be converted into fat and stored as body tissue. It’s best to stay away from excess fructose, especially high-fructose corn syrup, commonly added to juices. For long-term energy, it also helps to boost your protein levels.

Pure cocoa is an excellent antioxidant and helps normalize your circulation, not to mention improve your mood. Eat dark, bittersweet chocolate for a hit of cocoa and sucrose, but keep this in check as you can easily consume too much sucrose. Energy without caffeine is built by taking a regimen of Co-Q10, ginseng, suma (South American root sometimes called Brazilian ginseng), maca (Peruvian root called Amazon ginseng), and organic minerals from seaweeds. Spirulina is an excellent energy source for its vitamin, mineral, and protein content, not to mention the chlorophyll.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Schizandra berry is a well-known adaptogenic herb. Due to its ability to increase strength and balance body systems, Chinese herbalists recommend the dried berry for relief from exhaustion and fatigue, and they believe that it can increase both your energy level and your life expectancy.

08/14/07 at 4:07 pm

Treatment will depend on the cause in of each particular case. If repetitive movement caused your condition, for example, then you need to avoid the activity, or at least limit it if avoidance is not possible, until the symptoms subside. Here are some ideas to help reduce the effects of CTS:

• Give your hands and wrists a break. Stop repeating the same motion or change positions when performing them.
• Take frequent breaks from the stressful motion to stretch and shake out your hands and wrists. Give yourself a quick wrist massage. Do not underestimate what this type of stimulation can do to combat CTS.
• Take B vitamins for a healthy nervous system.
• Increase the anti-inflammatories in your diet, including tumeric, cayenne, curry, green tea, and vitamins C and E.
• Try acupuncture and yoga exercises.

Other Considerations

Since CTS is an irritation or inflammation of the tendons in the carpal tunnel, a regimen of anti-inflammatory herbs may relieve the symptoms. Some excellent anti-inflammatories include:

• Vitamins C and E
• Curry, cumin, tumeric, cinnamon
• White willow bark (precursor to aspirin)
• Skullcap
• Yarrow Root
• Aloe vera

08/14/07 at 4:04 pm

A healthy cardiovascular system starts and ends with good dietary choices. Whether you are taking preventative measures or treating cardiovascular problems, there are a few keys you should take to heart (no pun intended):

• Eat right, including plenty of antioxidant-rich foods and cholesterol-reducing foods like garlic, soy, fish oils, and raw cocoa.
• Switch from coffee to green tea or take a green tea extract.
• Take Co-Q10, B-complex, C and E vitamins, and minerals like zinc, calcium, and magnesium.
• Stop smoking, drinking, and prolonged drug use.
• Get omega-3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil or fish oils.

Garlic and garlic oil help promote healthy cholesterol and healthy blood pressure by decreasing levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, increasing levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, and decreasing the risk of blood clots. Check with your health care provider before taking garlic supplements if you are on a blood-thinning drug such as Coumadin (warfarin sodium) because garlic also thins the blood.

Other Considerations

Red wine consumption for a healthier heart and to make blood platelets less sticky is not a hoax. Red wine contains powerful polyphenols that inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Red wine also has many antioxidants and bioflavonoids.

More helpful natural supplements include: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), ribose, beta-carotene; vitamins B3 (niacin), B6, B12, C, and E; folic acid; the minerals calcium, chromium, magnesium, potassium, and selenium; the amino acids L-arginine, L-taurine, and L-carnitine; Pycnogenol (pine bark extract); and curcumin, Bioperine (piperine, an extract of pepper), and hawthorn berry extract.

Get plenty of exercise, reduce or stop smoking, and engage in stress-reducing practices such as saunas, massage, and yoga.

08/14/07 at 3:59 pm

Two keys are needed to eradicate candidiasis. First, reduce the yeast in your diet (or exposure to yeast externally, if your yeast infection is topical). This means no more fermented foods like wine, beer, soy sauce, cheese, and pickled foods. Stop drinking and eating sugars and simple carbs like bread, since these cause blood sugar levels to rise, creating exactly the environment that yeast thrives in.

Second, increase your healthy body flora by taking probiotic cultures and eating yogurt with live cultures, kefir, or dahi. A variety of these foods is best. Your probiotic supplements should be taken 2 to 3 times per day for at least 30 days. For vaginal yeast infection, insert a probiotic capsule inter-vaginally once or twice per week in addition to the above daily oral doses. For intestinal yeast infection, causing diarrhea and food sensitivities, use a probiotic capsule as an enema once or twice per week in addition to the oral dosages.

For yeast infection on the hands or other external regions, apply garlic oil or oregano oil to the infected area 2 to 3 times per day. Dilute these oils 1:4 parts with mineral oil or sweet almond oil. Application of these oils should sting at first—that’s just the antifungal oil doing its job.

Other Considerations

Additionally, taking colloidal silver orally can help cure yeast infections; it is an extremely powerful antibacterial that is effective even against Candida. The oral use of colloidal silver is somewhat controversial, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been trying to suppress and even ban its medicinal use since the 1940s, but many natural health experts agree that colloidal silver is perfectly safe if reputable brands are used in the appropriate dosages for the appropriate length of time.

08/14/07 at 3:33 pm

Here’s a summary of some of the natural treatments for the prevention and control of cancer:

• Avoid exposure to carcinogens and toxic chemicals, including industrial chemicals, hormone treatments and steroids, food additives, artificial sweeteners, and tobacco smoke.
• Reduce alcohol consumption.
• If you are overweight, increase amino acids, proteins, and enzymes in your diet, and reduce saturated fats, red meat, sugars, starches, and processed foods.
• Eat more quality foods known to fight cancer, including carrots, tomatoes, oranges, broccoli, kale, romaine lettuce, watercress, and spinach, all of which are high in lutein, an antioxidant known to lower the risk of breast and other cancers. Soy and soy products such as tofu are effective against colon cancer, as well as hormone-based cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. Studies suggest that it may even directly block malignant cell growth. Also, garlic, onions, broccoli and Astragalus are rich in methylselenocysteine, a cancer preventative.
• Add a regimen of healing herbs and dietary supplements using the information below as a guide.

Herbs & Supplements

For starters, large amounts of antioxidants from red and purple berries, green tea extract, grape seed extract, vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene are essential for a healthy immune system, and for reducing the effects of toxicity in the body that can lead to cancer. Vitamin E is known to cut the risk of prostate cancer in half. Skullcap herb, olive leaf extract, and mistletoe extract are other great additions.

Several plants and herbal extracts can be used alone or with chemotherapy to improve remission rates. These include: mushroom extracts (maitake, shiitake, reishi), mistletoe extract, cats claw, pau d’arco, paw-paw, Poly-MVA (contains palladium, alpha-lipoic acid, trace minerals, amino acids, and vitamins B1, B2, and B12), Carnivora (an extract from the Venus flytrap plant), Essiac tea, mangosteen, and transfer factor.

The alga Spirulina seems to be an extremely potent cancer fighter. Experts believe that it boosts the immune system’s natural killer (NK) cells to help them more efficiently defeat cancer cells that naturally form in everyone’s body. The alga Chlorella helps fight cancer by increasing the immune systems effectiveness and increasing blood alkaline levels; but it also packs an extra powerful punch against cancer by increasing levels of the antioxidant albumin in the blood.

Research suggests that supplements of the adrenal hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) can help prevent and treat cancer in the colon, breast, and lung, and when applied topically, prevent skin cancer.

Other Considerations

Some experts say that cancer cannot grow in a systemic pH above 7. Here’s a jingle: Keep your pH around 7.5 and cancer can’t survive. This is only partially true in the case of certain cancers. Blood cancers have a hard time in alkaline blood. If there’s one theme everyone should apply to all aspects of life, it is balance. Check your pH. If it’s below 7, stop eating the Standard American Diet of fatty meats, processed carbohydrates, and sugars and start eating lean protein first thing in the morning with pure water. The Green Powders are a good source of alkalinization. They usually contain wheat grass, rye, barley, and blue-green algae. Also, alkaline water is now available to help raise pH.

Risk of colon cancer can be reduced by coffee enemas. Find a good colon therapist and get flushed.

Bottled-up emotions are not healthy, so get current with your emotions and tend to your emotional/psychological health as much as you do your physical health.

08/14/07 at 3:30 pm

Bursitis can be treated with topical applications, hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, and diet changes. Changing your eating habits can improve overall health and maintain optimal joint function, and can include:

• Eating foods high in magnesium, such as dark, leafy green, and yellow vegetables
• Drinking filtered water, apple cider vinegar, and honey first thing in the morning or right before bed
• One tablespoon of cod liver oil one to two hours before meals to aid digestion
• Avoiding foods such as tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant, all vegetables from the nightshade family
• Juice supplements of equal parts carrot, celery, cucumber, and beet juice

Flower essences such as Rescue Remedy cream can be applied to the painful areas a minimum of four times a day. Herbal remedies that are taken as tinctures or as a tea include:

• Meadowsweet
• Horsetail
• Willow bark
• Lobelia and cramp bark rubbed on the affected area
• Aloe vera
• Chamomile tea to relax and soothe the muscles and relieve pain

Homeopathic treatments such as Belladonna, Arnica, Ruta grav., and Silicea also may be helpful

08/14/07 at 3:26 pm

First-degree or second-degree burns can be treated at home, using one or more natural remedies to ease the pain, reduce blistering and scarring, and clean the burned area. Here are the essentials:

1. Immediately run cold water over the burn or soak the burned area in cold water. Continue for as long as necessary until the pain subsides—the longer the better. The cold water also helps keep blisters from forming. A burned area of skin also is a massively dehydrated area. For the best rehydration of the skin, use Willard Water or other carbon-activated water (CAW).
2. Apply aloe vera pulp or papaya pulp to the wound. Add a few drops of lavender or calendula oil for their extra healing properties.
3. Keep the wound clean using St. John’s wort oil (a few drops diluted in a cup of water).

Other Considerations

You can apply plantain pulp or extract or potato pulp to the burned area. The starches in these plants cool and soothe as they help add moisture, thus minimizing scarring and blistering. Plantain also helps clean the area. Replace minerals that escape your body through the burn by taking a mineral supplement, bee pollen, or Spirulina. A few drops of oregano oil can help disinfect broken blisters from the burn (remember, a blister is a burn caused by friction).

08/08/07 at 4:57 pm

Most treatments for bruising involve some kind of topical substance to help reduce or prevent discoloration and pain.

• Eat foods high in vitamin C and antioxidants, such as fresh fruit, berries, and green leafy vegetables.
• Apply propolis tincture or cream to the surface of the wound. Lavender oil, hyssop, and camphor are also used in the same way; they also can be mixed with the propolis cream.
• Foods rich in bioflavonoids, such as fruit, seabuckhorn (or seaberry), and mango, help repair capillaries.
• You can also try putting white or apple cider vinegar on the bruise.

Other Considerations

Many homeopathic remedies help alleviate bruising. Here are some of the more useful ones:

• Arnica can reduce discoloration and even prevent bruises if applied early. It can also reduce the time a bruise lingers.
• Ledum can be used for dark bruises to help healing and skin discoloration.
• Sulfuric acid homeopathic can be used for dark bruises that are slow to heal.

Homeopathic remedies should be taken every 4 to 6 hours until symptoms recede.

08/08/07 at 4:49 pm

Bronchitis may be prevented with a change in diet, aromatherapy techniques, herbs, improved air quality, and juice therapy. People with recurring bronchitis should be screened for food allergies. Diet improvements and changes before and during a bronchitis episode should include:

• Avoiding sugar, starch, soy, corn, wheat, and soft drinks
• Limiting eggs, dairy, and caffeine
• Eliminating some fruits such as bananas, as they encourage mucus production
• Opening up the air passages with intake of chili peppers, garlic, ginger, and onions; also helpful with the elimination of mucus
• Eating a diet filled with organic, whole foods
• Plenty of pure, fresh water
• Adopting a vegan diet that eliminates meat and dairy completely

Herbs can successfully reduce or treat bronchitis. These are best consumed as a tea or tincture form (tincture works more quickly and with fewer barriers to entering the system):

• Propolis (drop directly into the throat area and breathe in the vapors)
  St. John’s wort
• Echinacea tincture
• Grapefruit seed extract (diluted)
• Anise
• Astragalus
• Coltsfoot
• Garlic
• Ginseng
• Goldenseal
• Peppermint

Other Considerations

Nutritional supplementation is recommended for reversing or preventing recurring bronchitis. Recommended nutrients include vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc, and selenium. Other suggestions include colloidal silver, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), thymus gland extract, and bromelain. Alternative therapies may include detoxification therapy, oxygen therapy, and acupuncture.

08/08/07 at 4:45 pm

Many things can be done do to prevent cancer, including breast cancer. Cancer rates have increased in step with the increase of artificial foods and additives in the American diet. Naturally, preventative treatments that focus on removing harmful toxins and adding supportive supplements can be helpful. Here are some of the essentials:

• Stop using chemical antiperspirant products and switch to natural deodorants.
• Stop drinking milk, which is loaded with artificial hormones and pus from factory-farmed cattle.
• Get plenty of vitamins B and E from food and supplements.
• Get extra vitamin D by taking short walks in the sun without sunscreen. In fact, studies show that women who live in sunny climates have a 30% to 40% decreased risk of developing breast cancer.
• Take cayenne pepper in gel caps and eat plenty of chili pepper in your foods.
• Eat plenty of nutrient-rich whole foods for overall immune system health.

Soy products are natural phytoestrogens and are useful in both prevention and an adjuvant therapy in active breast cancer. Also, a number of supplements may help prevent not just breast cancer, but cancer in general. These include antioxidants, selenium, adrenal hormone, the algae Chlorella and Spirulina, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplements.

Maitake mushroom extract is high in enzymes and beta-glucans, known to fight fungus, virus, and bacteria in the body, as well as cancer. And antioxidants, such as Pycnogenol and green tea helps build the NK and T cells in the immune system that fight cancer.

Other Considerations

If you’re worried about breast cancer, you’re probably already getting a mammogram done regularly. This is a controversial topic in alternative health circles, as some experts believe that mammograms increase your risk of developing breast cancer. In fact, one Canadian study found that women who receive annual mammograms have a 52% increased risk of ultimately dying from breast cancer. On the flip side, however, the American Cancer Society still loudly advocates regular mammogram screening. The choice is yours, but keep in mind that mammograms do expose your body to radiation, a cause of cancer. An effective alternative is a thermogram, a noninvasive, nonradiation exposure test that relies on detecting the greater infrared radiation from malignant breast lesions.

08/08/07 at 4:42 pm

• Reduce your consumption of meat and saturated fats. Drink lots of water, to help your body sweat more daily to release toxins from your skin and pores.
• Diluted lavender oil under the arms helps, or you can add the oil to your moisturizing cream.
• Other helpful plant essential oils include bergamot, cypress, eucalyptus, patchouli, and rosemary, which are all excellent for killing bacteria while adding a pleasant scent.
• Bifidobacterium, (such as Bifidophilus) and digestive enzymes will help kill body odor caused by poor digestion. Make sure to take these for 30 days if you’ve taken a course of antibiotics. Take these regularly if you tend to eat a lot of fermented foods (beer, wine, cheese, vinegar, dairy).
• Clean your shoes and you’ll improve your foot odor.

08/08/07 at 4:39 pm

You have several options that can help raise your blood pressure to normal levels, mostly involving lifestyle and diet choices. Here are some things that can help alleviate low blood pressure:

• Pure cocoa (dark chocolate) helps to regulate blood pressure (both high and low).
• Other herbs that increase blood flow and pressure include cat’s claw, guarana, and garra do diabo.
• Increase your intake of spices like cumin, curry, tumeric, and cayenne.
• Check for thyroid imbalance and treat with kelp, walnuts, and selenium supplements.
• Get plenty of vigorous exercise.

08/08/07 at 4:35 pm

You can do many things to lower your blood pressure. Most of them include lifestyle and diet choices. Here are basic changes that can help lower blood pressure:

• Stop smoking.
• Lower stress and eliminate caffeine.
• Lose weight and exercise more (when beginning an exercise program, start slowly and increase gradually).
• Decrease sodium and increase potassium.
• Eat less sugar and fewer starches (you’ll get thinner too!).

Eat foods that help regulate blood pressure, including pure cocoa (or dark, bitter-sweet chocolate), raw garlic, and raw onion. Also eat plenty of potassium-rich foods, like bananas, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, asparagus, and prune juice. Include plenty of sesame oil in your diet, as this oil has been found to dramatically lower hypertension.

Other Considerations

Herbal teas and asparagus supplements are excellent natural diuretics and hypotensives (lower blood pressure). Seaweed and kelp also can help reduce high blood pressure, as can hawthorn berries or hawthorn extract. Too little vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, or calcium in your diet can raise your blood pressure, so be sure to take them in supplement form if your diet tends to lack these important vitamins and minerals.

Hot baths and saunas can help reduce stress and induce sweating that can eliminate toxins from the system. Practices such as meditation and yoga are also excellent for reducing stress and blood pressure.

08/08/07 at 4:33 pm

As with any influenza virus, the key to prevention is loading up on antiviral nutrients and increasing alkaline levels of the blood, thereby creating a hostile environment (healthy blood) for the virus. Here are some nutrients that can help do just that:

• Nutrient-rich, immune-boosting foods, including dark green leafy vegetables and dark red and purple berries
• Olive leaf extract
• Indian Echinacea extract (from the Indian and Asian shrub Andrographis; this herb was the single nutrient credited with reversing the spread of the worldwide influenza pandemic when it hit India in 1919)
• Skullcap herb (interferes with and, in some cases, inhibits the growth and replication of the virus)
• Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian ginseng) a natural adaptogen
• Raw garlic or garlic oil (Garlic is a natural germicide, capable of killing nearly any microbe; bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi all wilt under its powers. It was even found capable of killing notoriously difficult-to-eradicate skin fungi, such as those that cause athletes foot)
• Picolinated zinc, thymus glandular (zinc and thymus build T cells; when zinc is low, the population of killer T cells necessary to fight infection plummets), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), lysine, colloidal silver, vitamin C (mega doses up to 5 grams daily or until diarrhea results), and Citricidal grapefruit seed extract
• Oregano oil (In a recent study, oregano oil has killed 91% of the Bird Flu virus in a Petri dish within 20 minutes.)

Other Considerations

For better immune system health, don’t smoke, drink, take excess caffeine or drugs, or eat dairy products (dairy creates excessive mucus, making your body a Petri dish for breeding more viruses).

Remember, with any virus, washing your hands is critically important in stopping the spread of this flu. Keep in mind that the bird flu is a virus, not a bacterial infection, so antibiotics will not help in preventing this or other forms of the flu.

08/08/07 at 4:29 pm

Take a good B-complex supplement, preferably a liquid version (vitamins in liquids enter your blood and cells faster than from capsules). Eating a diet rich in B vitamins is helpful, including foods such as brown rice, whole grains, raw fruits, leafy green vegetables, seeds, nuts, and yogurt. Avoiding raw fish is a good idea, and drinking too much water at meals may flush out needed B vitamins and thiamine.

Sulfur can help reduce the symptoms of beriberi, and flower essences such as Rescue Remedy can reduce emotional discomfort and stress.

Taking a thiamine supplement, along with vitamin B complex, vitamin C, or a multivitamin is a natural way to improve symptoms of beriberi.

A good nutrient-dense super food can help with this ailment, such as spirulina, bee pollen, maca, and others.

08/08/07 at 12:27 pm

1. DON’T grab the extruding part of the stinger. Instead, quickly take a knife tip or other object with an edge (a credit card, for example) and flick the stinger out.
2. Put ice or ammonia on the wound. Ice slows down the spread of poisons and provides cooling relief.
3. Next, apply an alkali paste on the sting wound. Toothpaste works well, as does bentonite clay, meat tenderizer, or a paste made of crushed aspirin and a few drops of water.
4. For more pain relief, try taking an antihistamine.

08/08/07 at 12:24 pm

Drink plenty of pure water to hydrate your body and mouth, eliminating the foul-smelling bacteria that can form on your tongue.

For temporary bad breath, such as morning breath, try sucking on a whole clove or piece of cinnamon bark. These both have antibacterial properties and pleasant odors, and they are a healthy substitute for sugary, refined, candy breath mints, which can also cause tooth decay.

Using your toothbrush, brush your tongue with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda—especially way back near the throat where food particles and bacteria sit undisturbed. Floss with dental tape each night.

For chronic bad breath caused by dry mouth, it’s important to stimulate the production of saliva. Start by drinking more pure water, so that saliva can be produced. You can also try saliva-enhancing products (gum, rinses, toothpaste, etc.), such as those produced by Biotene. If this doesn’t help, then you may have to stop whatever it is that is causing the dry mouth syndrome (usually drugs).

For all other types of chronic bad breath, a change in diet, followed by a cleanse, is recommended. Cleanse the colon, intestines, liver, and kidneys—in that order.

08/08/07 at 12:21 pm

Prevention is the best treatment for back pain—and a solid prevention plan includes staying in good physical condition, eating a healthy diet, and stretching frequently. Paying attention to movement and posture is essential. Be sure you have a firm and spacious sleeping arrangement, and that your back is supported in the car (most car seats are not good for the back) and at work. This is especially important if you are overweight. Also, abusing alcohol or prescription medications (including antihistamines) can cause back pain from liver and kidney toxicity.

For easing back pain, you first need to identify the type of pain. Sharp, pointed lower back pain is often a symptom of muscular imbalance. This can easily be cured with long, slow stretching exercises done on the floor. If stretching and movement make your pain more acute afterward, then your back pain may be related to spinal or tissue damage. Use anti-inflammatories as described below.

Dull, aching back pain located in the lower and mid back may be related to the kidneys, and may require a cleanse of the kidneys and liver (see appropriate sections in this book). Powerful herbs that may help include milk thistle (liver tonic and detoxifier), Devil’s Claw (back pain relief), boldo, and green tea and extract (diuretic and anti-inflammatory).

Next, focus on inflammation with the best anti-inflammatories available in the natural world: fish oil supplements, garlic, cinnamon, and tumeric supplements. Nutritional supplementation helps prevent back pain and improve overall health. Use calcium and magnesium along with vitamin C, vitamin E, evening primrose oil, coenzyme Q10, and Glucosamine.

Other Considerations

Herbs such as lobelia and cramp bark can be rubbed on the affected area to reduce pain, and other useful herbs include cat’s claw, feverfew, rosemary, wild yam, and yucca root. If your back pain is related to kidney toxicity, then massage is not suggested. Instead, use saunas and detoxifying treatments. Other options for treating back pain include:

• Inversion therapy: Now accepted as one of the more successful treatments for certain types of back pain, inversion therapy involves hanging upside-down (at gradually increasing increments of time) on an inversion table. This helps your back muscles to completely relax and allows your spine to naturally correct itself. The extra blood flow to your head is another benefit of this treatment.
• Acupuncture to increase blood flow to stressed muscles
• Bodywork, including massage and deep tissue work, helps create balance and reconnect tissue.
• Feldenkrais Method to correct posture and improve range of motion
• Chiropractic to detect and correct spinal misalignments
• Hydrotherapy that applies water, ice, and steam to restore health
• Other alternative methods including oxygen therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Ayurveda.

08/08/07 at 12:18 pm

Eliminate gluten from your diet by switching from wheat-based cereals to quinoa or rice-based cereals in the morning, use rice bread as your bread of choice for sandwiches and toast, and switch to gluten-free pasta.

Get more omega-3 fatty acids from chia seeds (from the salvia plant) and cold-water fish such as wild salmon. Other sources include flaxseed oil, walnuts, and tofu.

Take vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements to help improve vitiligo. Additionally, vitamin D (1,000 IU for chronic disease) helps autoimmune disorders by inhibiting immune system overactivity, and vitamin C may slow the progression of autoimmune disorders. Vitamin E supplements may also help some people.

08/08/07 at 12:16 pm

Natural essential oils can be applied topically to infected areas. These include tea tree, geranium, and patchouli oils. Flower essences such as Rescue Remedy Cream™ and crab apple can also be helpful. Other herbal extracts and combinations include:

• Tea tree oil diluted with calendula or lavender oil, especially for sensitive skin
• Grapefruit seed extract applied topically, or as a supplement taken orally (it’s necessary to dilute this oil)
• Myrrh, garlic, oregano, and pine oils are all antifungal (these should be used topically only)
• A mixture of honey and crushed garlic applied to the area
• Pau D’Arco (a wet tea bag soaked for ten minutes then applied to the area)

Dietary Treatments

Diets rich in raw food, whole grains, and limited dairy products can help reduce the growth of fungus, while yeast-producing foods, such as beer, bread, wine, cheese, and pickled foods can exacerbate the problem. Excess sugar (including honey, fruit, and juice) should be avoided when you are trying to get rid of any fungus.

Add a few important supplements to your dietary routine to help eradicate the fungal infection. Acidophilus; bifidobacteria; vitamins C, E, A, and B complex; and zinc have all proven helpful.

08/08/07 at 12:13 pm

Many treatment options for astigmatism are available, but some have higher risks than others. Surgical procedures developed in recent years include Lasik surgery and photo reactive keratomy (PRK). Both of these are invasive procedures that carry a risk of damage. Side effects may include:

• Feelings of ‘halos’ around lights
• Tears in the retina, and damage to the optic nerve
• Chronic dry eye, and a diminished capacity to produce tears
• Free radical damage
• Impaired visual acuity

There are natural remedies and cures available as an alternative to surgery. Ayurvedic theory indicates that vision problems are related to digestive imbalances. As a result, some options include regular eye exercises, consumption of Ayurvedic herbs such as amla, triphala, and licorice, and a diet rich in carrots, spinach, and antioxidant vegetables.

Nutritional supplementation can also be helpful; extra supplements high in Vitamin A, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin E, beta-carotene, flavonoids, N-acetyl-cystine (NAC), riboflavin, selenium, taurine, zeaxthanin, and zinc can significantly improve eye health when taken on a regular basis.

The Bates Method involves re-educating the eye to improve healthy eyesight. This works by taking frequent breaks where the mind and body are in a relaxed state. This can involve a peaceful walk or meditation, closing the eyes but improving receptive awareness, and focusing on detailed but pleasant scenery. Over a period of time, this can help train the eyes, mind, and body to work in harmony.

Eating a balanced and healthy diet also can significantly improve eye health. Diets that are good at reducing eye degeneration include food such as:

• Those high in antioxidants, such as Acai berries, Goji berries, red grapes, cherries, mangos, and citrus fruits. Unsweetened cocoa is also an excellent choice that is rich in antioxidants and natural flavonoids.
• Organic egg yolks for the high carotenoid content
• Green leafy vegetables, including leaf lettuce, chard, kale, collard greens, spinach, and parsley
• Those low in unhealthy hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. This includes avoiding processed and fried foods, refined sugars, alcohol, and simple carbohydrates.

Other Considerations

Eye exercises throughout the day can significantly improve your eye health. Resting your eyes for five minutes every 30 minutes can help relax your gaze and improve your overall energy.

Other exercises to try include:

• Blinking your eyes regularly to reduce eyestrain
• Taking regular breathing breaks and meditative rest periods
• Rapidly switching focus from near to far for 20 to 30 minutes
• Rolling eyes up and down in a full circular motion for five minutes, five times a day

08/08/07 at 12:10 pm

Asthma treatments take many forms, but they all tend to work in these basic areas:

• Strengthen the immune system: Since asthma is a type of allergy, a healthy immune system helps minimize its hold on the body. Try olive leaf extract, Spirulina, Echinacea, and nutrient-rich foods.
• Support the adrenal glands: Depleted adrenal glands throw the entire system out of balance—from hormone imbalances to general immune system functions. Supporting the adrenals is a key step in restoring health. Add 150 mg of adrenal tissue with pantothenic acid twice daily.
• Take oxygenating supplements: Herbs and supplements that stimulate the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream help minimize asthma symptoms. Aloe vera gel (non-rind variety) is a great drink, as it contains more oxygen than any other plant. Add dimethyl-glycine (50 mg 3 times a day). B vitamins, vitamin A, beta-carotene, and Ginkgo biloba all help with circulation and opening tiny blood vessels, allowing oxygen to be carried to all parts of the body. Many have gotten relief by drinking carbon activated water (CAW).
• Avoid irritating foods: Dairy and wheat products are two common food groups that exacerbate allergies, including asthma. The long-standing mainstream medical belief is that dairy products such as cow’s milk worsen asthma by increasing the body’s production of mucus, which then congests the nasal passages.
• Get relief with natural bronchodilators: Herbs, essential oils, and other substances can be used to open up the bronchial passageways, providing relief from asthma symptoms. Add a healthy dose of skullcap herb. Herbal teas containing theophylline-like compounds are potent bronchodilators. Other natural bronchodilators include peppermint, spearmint, and pine essential oils. Chamomile essential oil may also help to relax bronchial spasms.

Other Considerations

Many people have gotten positive results from a white powder from Africa called yamoa, which is taken in honey or in capsule form. It takes about ten days of use to take effect and thousands of sufferers have reported remarkable results with improved breathing and diminished symptoms. It is also beneficial for bronchitis and hay fever.

Other remedies can be added to a regimen already set by your doctor. The combination of vitamin C and B15 (pangamic acid) is purported to increase oxygen in the bloodstream. Play with the dosage. When you get relief with the B15, cut back slightly. Work at improving by using less of the supplements so that your body gets stronger on its own.

Many people report that concentrated breathing techniques can help with asthma. These techniques focus on deep, relaxed breaths and an increased awareness of your breathing. In other words, pay attention to your breathing and use the power of the mind to help relax and breathe easier.

08/08/07 at 12:06 pm

Make sure you’re getting good vitamins and minerals from nutritional foods, but be especially sure that you’re getting enough of the vitamins B6, C, E, and niacin and the minerals magnesium and zinc. Vitamin E, in particular, helps people with arthritis increase mobility and reduces pain, and research suggests that vitamin C not only reduces inflammation, but also actually helps cartilage grow back. Here are some additional keys:

• Remember that arthritis is an autoimmune disease, so supporting the immune system will help you fight it. Try maca root, olive leaf extract, and Spirulina to help support your immune system.
• Add digestive enzymes in higher than suggested use. If you have ulcers, check with your doctor first.
• Bovine and shark cartilage are rich in glucosamine and chondroitin, which help stimulate the production of cartilage in humans, a feat never before thought possible.
• Take glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate supplements. Add S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), which helps the body absorb glucosamine and sustain its effects longer.
• Green-lipped mussels and high-potency fish oils are powerful assistants for arthritic inflammation and help the body grow cartilage.
• Krill supplements can be helpful in regrowing cartilage.
• Drink as much lignite-activated water as you want.
• Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), a form of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), is used for various forms of arthritis. It is extremely safe and effective in osteo- and rheumatoid forms of arthritis and has minimal side effects.

08/07/07 at 12:30 pm

The key to treating anxiety is to uncover the underlying emotional patterns causing it. This may be difficult, depending on two major factors: your willingness to delve into emotional issues and the tools you use to do so. Besides treating the causes of the anxiety, you may also require some assistance during an “attack.” Here are some helpful keys:

• Avoid caffeine and stress. Implement a regular stress-reduction program.
• Reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake while increasing proteins and amino acids. Add one or more super foods to help maintain good nutrition.
• Use calming herbs and foods, such as passionflower and passion fruit, chamomile, and valerian root.
• Keep calming and grounding essential oils with you to help during attacks: lavender oil, myrrh, cedarwood, and spruce oils are helpful.
• Take regular St. John’s wort supplements for their calming and depression-fighting qualities. Pure cocoa is also a great anti-depressant.
• Consider emotional clearing techniques, such as psychotherapy, Neuro-emotional Technique (NET), and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Many other techniques are also available.
• Alternative therapies like laughter, breath work, meditation, and yoga (for stress reduction) may also help.
• Exercise can help raise serotonin and dopamine (your brain’s “feel-good” chemicals), which may help alleviate attacks.
• People who have not had luck with other treatments have gotten results using past life therapy.

08/07/07 at 12:28 pm

Although there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s, there are plenty of preventative measures to take now that weren’t known ten years ago. If someone in your family had or has Alzheimer’s, the chances that you might have it are higher and you would be wise to implement preventive measures.

• Take anti-inflammatory supplements, including vitamins C and E, and spices such as tumeric, cumin, curry, and cayenne.
• Eat a high-protein diet with plenty of amino acids and antioxidants for good brain function. Consider adding an antioxidant juice supplement to your daily regimen.
• Eat plenty of chelating herbs and foods, including garlic, cilantro, Spirulina, alfalfa, and spinach. Consider supplements of lipoic acid and EDTA for their chelating powers.
• Reduce stress, using exercise, yoga, saunas, and other stress-busting techniques.
• Exercise the brain with challenging activities. Studies show that speaking a second language past the age of 60 reduces risk of dementia by 50%.
• Exercise the body to increase healthy blood flow.

Other Considerations

Some experts link the onset of Alzheimer’s to the age-related decline of the essential fatty acid phosphatidylserine, which can also be taken as a supplement. Also, consider taking acetylcholine, glutamine powder (which is an acetylcholine precursor), B12 (methylcobalamine B12 is best because it has a higher absorption rate than normal cyanocobalamine B12). Research shows that supplementation with the amino acid acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) can also do wonders in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Another way to improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and delay its progression is by increasing the brain’s energy and maintaining nourishing, oxygen-rich blood. Coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10) does both. Similarly, a 1995 study showed that herbal extracts from the Chinese Ginkgo biloba tree increased memory and attention span in Alzheimer’s patients.

08/07/07 at 12:23 pm

Here are the first steps to controlling allergies:

• Build you immune system with high-potency foods, such as bee pollen, Spirulina, and alfalfa. Drink plenty of water to hydrate your cells.
• Cleanse your colon and liver and use liver-supporting foods and herbs.
• Avoid common food allergens, such as dairy and wheat products.
• Avoid toxic chemicals and get off long-term prescriptions medications, including birth control pills.
• Take Echinacea and goldenseal; vitamins A, C, and E; ginseng; and Astragalus to strengthen your immune system.

For airborne allergies, local, raw bee pollen (which must be kept frozen) has been miraculous for many people. Start with a tablespoon, then increase the dose as it feels right. To avoid making matters worse, you should also refrain from smoking (including being exposed to secondhand smoke) and reduce your exposure to other forms of air pollution where possible.

Adrenal cortex extract (150 mg twice daily with food) with 1 gram of pantothenic acid and 2 grams of vitamin C in the morning and before bed may help rebuild the adrenal glands, which will help to ameliorate allergies. Skullcap herb also can help ease allergies.

Your liver plays a large role in allergies as well. An unhealthy liver means that blood is not being processed and cleaned well, which leads to allergies. Use milk thistle and apple juice to support your liver, and consider a liver cleanse.

Additionally, some health experts believe that an undiagnosed, underlying allergy to dairy products is the root of upper respiratory allergies such as hay fever and asthma. You may want to try eliminating dairy products such as milk and cheese from your diet for a while to see if it helps.

Other Considerations

To relieve allergy symptoms naturally, use the herb marshmallow root to reduce mucus, burdock root (tea or tincture) and pine oil (essential oil) for congestion, stinging nettle for hayfever symptoms, and rosemary essential oil and grape seed extract as anti-inflammatories.

08/07/07 at 12:00 pm

The most important thing you can do for adrenal exhaustion is to change your lifestyle choices that are causing the condition, and create healthier lifestyle habits. Here are the essential treatment choices:

• Reduce the amount of caffeine you consume through coffee, sodas, and artificial stimulants.
• Reduce stress through relaxation of the mind and body and through lifestyle changes, bodywork, and meditation.
• Take pure organic maca root from a super-food supplement. Maca is an incredible super-food from the mountains of Peru, where it’s been used for 10,000 years for adrenal, thyroid and hormonal support.
• Add a DHEA supplement (approximately 200 mg daily).
• See the Stress entry later in this book.
• Avoid saturated fats, trans-fats and other food toxins. Reduce sugars and carbohydrates. Increase protein consumption.
• Supplement your body chemistry with magnesium; potassium; vitamins B, C and E; and Pantothenic Acid.

08/07/07 at 11:56 am

Most medical experts say that there is no cure for ADD/ADHD, only treatments that help keep ADD-related behaviors in check and improve cognitive functioning. Whether or not that’s true depends on your definition of what, exactly, ADD/ADHD is. There’s a good chance that one or more of these natural cures will help or even cure the problem. Therefore, the best therapy involves a combination of cognitive, nutritional, and psychological treatments, including the following:

• Replace sugary, fatty foods like cheese, candy, sodas, and fried foods with nutrient-rich, health-forming foods like green leafy vegetables, Spirulina, kelp, bee pollen, and maca. Studies prove that children with better diets are able to concentrate and relax more, and have higher achievement levels.
• Increase omega fatty acids in the diet and through supplements.
• Add vitamin C and E supplements and start an antioxidant-rich diet.
• Avoid food additives and foods known to cause allergies, including wheat, dairy products, and processed meats.
• Reduce stress at home and in school and implement relaxation and calming practices.
• Reduce dysfunction at home through emotional support treatments for the entire family.

Other Considerations

The herb skullcap has been shown to help children with ADHD symptoms, and a daily dose of 500 mg of magnesium relieves symptoms by promoting a calm feeling. If you have trouble getting your child off a sugar- and junk-food-dependent diet, try getting away from the source of the temptation. Take a healthy, good-foods vacation for the entire family.

08/07/07 at 11:50 am

There are many natural treatments for acne, but not all of them are effective. Here are some of the essentials for clearing up your complexion:

• Cut down on the problem foods: sugar, fried foods, meat, processed food, soft drinks, and dairy products.
• Increase water, raw foods, and eat plenty of watermelon. Add C and B-complex vitamins to your supplement list.
• Reduce stress. (See also Stress.)

Internal Work

Whatever the severity, one aspect of controlling acne is to interfere with the retention of the faster-forming, extra cells clogged with the extra oil in the pore. First, avoid eating foods that add to the problem. This means staying away from foods high in trans-fatty acids and animal fats, as well as refined carbohydrates. Many experts say that acidic blood is a main cause of acne, and this is a product of ingesting too much fried food, meat, sugary foods, white flour products, and soft drinks (big shocker!). Trans-fatty acids, such as margarine and heated oils prevent you from digesting the vitamins and minerals necessary for smooth skin. Avoid eating foods you are allergic to, the most common being wheat and dairy. And reduce stress and slow down when you eat.

Once you stop consuming foods and beverages that add to the problem, the next step is to fix the acne already on your skin. Here are some suggestions:

• It is important to drink eight 12-ounce glasses of pure water per day. This helps your skin flush out oil, cells, and bacteria. Remember, water is the universal solvent.
• Watermelon juice is another skin-healthy beverage.

Another way to help your body eliminate wastes that help cause acne is by adding a variety of fiber-rich foods to your diet. Lightly cooked or, better yet, raw vegetables are a great source of fiber. They make a healthy contribution to any meal and they also make a satisfying and tasty midday snack to ward off hunger. Complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole-grain bread, and legumes are also great sources of fiber. These fiber-rich foods keep your digestive tract moving and clean, leading to acne-free skin and a healthier body overall.

Take the vitamins and minerals your skin needs to be healthy. Adding vitamin C (35 grams/day), vitamin A (up to 100,000 IU/day for a week to start, then 25,000 IU/day after; beta-carotene is the preferred form of vitamin A) can go a long way toward clearing up your acne. NOTE: Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not take more than 8,000 IU/day of vitamin A. Consult your doctor if you fall into this category.

External Cleansing

In order to beat acne, you also need to fight the buildup of excess oils on your skin from the outside. Wash your skin with a mild soap and rinse with hydrogen peroxide, let dry, then wash with clean water again. Finish your washing regimen by spraying your face generously with lignite-activated water (also known as Willard Water). The addition of alpha hydroxy acid (fruit acid) speeds up the removal of dead cells, leaving a smoother complexion. At night, you can cover your face with a bentonite clay mask and let dry, and then wash off — pulling out impurities.

08/03/07 at 2:07 pm

Here are the keys to treating depression naturally:

• Foods: Dark chocolate or pure cocoa contains nutrients (theabroma, a methyl-xanthine) that are beneficial for depression, and the less sweetened darks have nice antioxidizing properties as a bonus. Consume plenty of fruit (it’s difficult to be depressed while eating an apple or mango), as these supply the body with antioxidants and vitamins. Foods to avoid include dairy products, starchy foods, excessive sugar and fructose, and processed foods. Also minimize alcohol (stay off the booze, bye-bye blues). Research suggests that alcohol robs the brain of precious omega-3 fatty acids.
• Vitamins & Supplements: You likely won’t need pharmaceutical antidepressants if you take this simple nutritional formula for depression: dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), phosphatidylserine, choline, inositol, St. Johns wort, glutamic acid (or glutamine powder), phenylalanine, theanine, S-adenosyl-methionine (SAMe), 5HTP and tyrosine. Play with the combinations of these supplements for best results. Many people feel incredible in days.
• Herbs & Essential Oils: Some good antidepressant herbs include bergamot, mint, rose, geranium, pine, and rosemary oils. You can also use geranium and rosemary oils on your body (diluted with a splash of water or with almond oil).
• Lifestyle: Exercise! Body movement helps stimulate circulation and the lymphatic system, which reduce depression. It also helps the brain produce more serotonin and endorphins, two “feel-good” brain chemicals. Treat yourself to relaxing saunas or baths with healing herbs and aromas. Use those listed above, or other essential oil scents that make you feel more energized and happy.

Other Considerations

DHEA, an omega-3 fatty acid, may be one of the most important supplements to relieve your depression. DHEA determines the fluidity of brain cell membranes, making it extremely important for both thought processes and mood control. Studies show that omega-3 fatty acid supplements improve depression and may even stabilize mood fluctuations associated with bipolar disorder, making DHEA much like lithium, but without the side effects. Try taking 1,000 mg of omega-3 in supplement form per day with breakfast.

Caution: If you are taking or have taken an antidepressant MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), DO NOT take nutritional supplement formulas until six weeks after you stop taking the MAOI. It takes that long for the drug to get out of your system. Additionally, certain foods and drinks contain tyramine, an amino acid that reacts adversely with MAOI drugs. Do not eat or drink any of the following if you are on an MAOI drug: Chianti and vermouth (other red wines, white wines, and port wines may be tolerated at an amount less than 120 ml), beer and ale, whiskey and liqueurs, nonalcoholic beers and wines (may contain tyramine, so it’s best to avoid them), bananas and their peels.