Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics
Welcome to our look into the world health.
Archive for April, 2009
MELDING MIND AND BODY: ARE YOU A STRESS SEEKER?
Author: admin
Many people are unknowingly stress seekers. Take this quick quiz to see if you have stress-seeking tendencies. Check off the items that apply. Do you . . .
( ) Speak rapidly, rushing your speech?
( ) Interrupt other people when they speak?
( ) Wolf down your meals?
( ) Detest “wasting time”?
( ) Become impatient if others are too slow?
( ) Schedule more things than you have time for?
( ) Drive too fast, even if you’re not late?
( ) Shun intimate relationships because they take time from your career, or because they seem like a waste of time and energy?
( ) Always want to win, even playing with your child?
( ) Leave very little time for rest, relaxation and enjoyment?
The more items you checked, the more likely it is that you’re a stress seeker. Even checking only one item can suggest trouble. Your mind is probably filled with “hurry” and “more” and “better” and “harder” and “out of my way” and “can’t you speed up?” and “why are you holding me back?” Your biochemical assembly lines are working overtime to manufacture enough of the high-voltage chemicals required to keep your mind and body racing at full speed. And your heart, thymus, adrenal glands and other parts of your body may be already suffering the consequences.
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read comments (0)SOME GOOD ADVICES FOR HEALTHY DIET
Author: admin
How Much?
How much should you consume at each meal? It’s best to eat small portions of a variety of foods. Eat slowly; when you eat rapidly your stomach fills up before your brain gets the signal to turn off your appetite. Eat until you feel almost full, then stop. A short time later your brain will get the message, and you’ll feel comfortable. Never eat until you feel stuffed. The Super Food diet is more concerned with your “doctor within” and your immune system than with weight loss. If you wish to lose weight, eat more vegetables and less grains and beans.
Give It Time
The Super Food diet is based on something that many of us are unfamiliar with—the natural taste of food. We’re so accustomed to fat, sugar and artificial flavors and textures we often turn up our noses at real, unadulterated food. I remember how hard it was, many years ago, to persuade my young children that apple juice was really brown in color, not yellowish.
Give your taste buds a little time to get used to food’s natural flavors. At first you may miss the salt, gravies, sugar, sauces, oils and butter that we habitually pour all over our food. But soon you’ll realize just how good fresh foods taste all by themselves.
Healthy Lunches at Work
Relatively few people consistently eat lunch at home. “How can I eat a decent lunch at the office?” many patients ask. Good, healthy lunches can be brought from home. Many of my patients who are executives, bankers, accountants and businesspeople, carry their vegetables and other foods right in their briefcases. Bringing food to work is also less expensive than eating out all the time. Healthy and economical—what a deal! But if you must eat out, order lightly steamed vegetables, served without rich sauces or other foods prepared in the ways I have described.
Having mastered the Immune For life philosophy of eating, and its daily applications, it’s time to turn to the exercises that will benefit your “doctor within.” In the next chapter you’ll learn how brisk walking, as well as other exercises, help to make your “doctor within” as strong as it can be.
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“I know what red peppers are, but what are beet greens, collards and kale?” That’s the typical reaction to my suggestion that people start eating these overlooked Super Foods. You’ll find beet greens, collards and kale in the vegetable section of your market. They’re the foods you walk right by, hardly noticing, as you head for the more familiar spinach and lettuce.
In addition to large amounts of beta carotene and potassium, beet greens, collards and kale contain good supplies of vitamin C. Sweet red peppers are great sources of vitamin C and beta carotene.
There is no doubt that the immune systems suffers if it doesn’t get enough vitamin C. Patients with low levels of vitamin C in their blood (hypoascorbemia) not only suffer from retarded wound healing, they are able to mount only weak defenses against invading microbes. The ability of the immune system to fight back depends on sufficient amounts of this important vitamin.
I like to dice up these Super Foods, rich in beta carotene and vitamin C, and add them to my daily salad.
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“Big” diseases such as AIDS are grabbing the headlines. But as a physician, an internist and a cardiologist, I can tell you that the diseases you read about, terrible though they may be, are only the tip of the iceberg. The number-one killer in this country is heart disease: 50 percent °f us will fall prey to heart conditions. Cancer will claim another 20 percent. About 36 million of us are suffering from arthritis; another 10 million have diabetes, which is the leading cause of new cases of blindness, about five thousand per year. An additional 20 thousand people a year have toes, feet or legs amputated because of diabetes. Add to that the innumerable colds and flus, the general aches and pains, the fatigue and weariness, the listleness and unhappiness I see so much of.
Martha R. is a 42-year-old mother of three who came to my office and announced, “I haven’t been healthy in ten years. They ought to make a TV show about me, ‘What’s My Disease?’ On the average I have four colds a year, the flu twice, six to eight asthma attacks, migraines twice a month. I have to drag myself out of bed every morning, my life is boring and nothing makes me laugh. Oh, and my last doctor said I also have hypoglycemia.”
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OTHER FORMS OF FOOD ALLERGY: LECTINS
Author: admin
Whereas the lectin found in raw or badly cooked kidney beans is damaging to almost everyone, other lectins are more selective – indeed, the word lectin comes from a Latin word meaning ‘choosing’. Each of us is slightly different in our chemical make-up, and one important way in which people vary is in the short carbohydrate molecules that sit on the surface of our body cells. It is mainly these carbohydrates to which the lectins bind, and they are highly specific for the individual sugars that make up the carbohydrate. Each type of lectin is specific for a particular sugar. (There is also a short carbohydrate chain in every antibody molecule, and it may well be that lectins trigger mast cells by binding to the carbohydrate component of IgE.)
It seems likely that individual differences in the carbohydrate chains (either on the cell surface, or in IgE molecules) could make some people susceptible to a particular lectin which has no adverse effect on the majority of the population. There is some evidence for this in coeliac disease. But if susceptibility to particular lectins causes false food allergy why is this
problem so rare? The answer must be that natural selection has weeded it out, because it would have been a serious disadvantage among our distant ancestors if an important element in the diet could not be eaten. Any individual who suffered such an affliction would probably have died early, without leaving any offspring. In this way, the genes that could make a person susceptible to false food allergy would have remained very rare. But even such damaging genes can survive if they are capable of being masked by other ‘healthy’ genes – this means that some people can carry the gene, without suffering any ill-effects, and pass it on to their children.
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The following story confirms the efficacy of an old natural remedy. A French-Swiss woman tried to lift a heavy pot of boiling water from the fire and, in doing so, slipped. She sustained scalds and second- and third-degree burns over a considerable area of her body, including the neck and chest. According to the doctor, her life was in danger. Fortunately, her husband remembered his mother’s treatment for burns and scalds. She always used raw chicken fat. So, as fast as he could, he got some fresh chicken fat and proceeded to spread it liberally over the parts of the body that had been scalded. Before long, the burning pain was relieved and his wife calmed down, being able to sleep that same night. Within a few days the pain had completely gone and new skin was beginning to form over the scalded areas.
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The handsome papaya plant resembles a small palm and has big leaves similar to those of a fig tree. It grows mostly in the Western hemisphere and is found in Central America, Guatemala and San Salvador, the islands of the Caribbean, in Brazil, even in the jungle, as well as in Florida. If you could visit the sites in the Brazilian jungle where trees are cut for timber or the area is cleared for other purposes, you would be able to make a very interesting observation that almost borders on the miraculous. In the dense forests there are no papayas to be seen anywhere, but shortly after the trees have been felled, papaya plants begin to sprout here and there. I met some Swiss settlers in the area who told me of their surprise at finding papayas growing where not one single plant could be seen in an area of 100—200 square kilometres (about 40—80 square miles) before it was cleared.
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It is common knowledge that not all mineral waters have the same effect and it would be foolish to ignore the fact that the mineral content of a certain water may be beneficial in the case of one particular illness but may not be so for some other physical disorder. Similarly, not everyone is helped by the same thing. For example, strong people are more resistant, whereas those who are sensitive and weak always have to remember that although a mild stimulation can be good, anything stronger may be harmful. Hence, be careful. Volcanic areas with strongly radioactive springs can do much harm to sensitive people, and may even have a paralysing effect and endanger their glandular functions. If you become aware of an adverse reaction when staying in such places or taking the waters, it will be better to avoid them. On the other hand, do not forget that people of a stronger disposition and nature may benefit from a stay in volcanic areas. What may harm a weak person can possibly cure a stronger one. The simple rule is ‘Know your own limitations and weaknesses.’
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Celery (leaf-stalks) and celeriac (the turnip-like root) are good vegetables for people suffering from rheumatism and gout, and for those who want to do something about preventing these two diseases. If you use the roots, stalks and leaves to season your food on a regular basis, it is most unlikely that you will ever suffer from renal gravel or stones. Celery is also a notable remedy for dropsy.
This herb originally came from North Africa, where it is still valued as a mild but reliable nerve tonic. Marjoram increases the amount of water eliminated by the body and is therefore used to ease bladder trouble. It also stimulates the bowel movement, helping to regulate it.
Thyme is very popular because of its fine aroma and flavour. What is more, it has an antiseptic property and is able to regenerate mouth bacteria.
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A raw barberry conserve, made from well-ripened berries, is rich in vitamin Ñ (ascorbic acid) and other vitamins. However, if copper vessels or utensils are used to cook and strain the conserve, the copper acts as a catalytic agent and destroys most of the vitamin C.
Since the vitamin content is mostly lost in cooking, the barberries should be processed raw in order to obtain a nutritious and remedial conserve that keeps well. Thorough tests have shown that the best way to produce barberry conserve is as follows. Put the freshly picked and fully ripe barberries through the mincer. Then squeeze the pulp through a sieve. The pips and skins will remain in the sieve and you will have the clean puree and juice. Add 100 g (3 oz) of raw cane sugar to 500 g (lib) of barberry puree and stir well. When the sugar has dissolved, add 200 g (7 oz) of honey and finally 200-250 g (7-8 oz) of thick grape sugar syrup. Stir the mixture until well blended. If the mixture is too thin, add a little more raw cane sugar. Then, pour into glass jars as you would with jam.
On a commercial scale, this conserve is made by condensing grape sugar under a vacuum and then slowly adding the raw puree. Experimental research has established the excellence of this natural remedy in the treatment of bad nerves. It also has a wonderful effect on the kidneys and on any scorbutic tendency, such as bleeding gums.
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