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Oct 062012
 
    Tagline: When My Lab Tests are Normal!



An amazingly fantastic naturopathic book about the link of Hashimoto’s to many, many health conditions including Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease. But most importantly this book is an auto-immune disease directive – refer to its data on auto-immune thyroid disorders, and you will understand how “leaky-gut syndromes”, including gluten intolerance and other digestive illness, adrenal fatigue, estrogen fluctuations, insulin resistance are all interconnected leading to auto-immune diseases such as SLE, MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and Diabetes.”
“81% are predisposed to gluten intolerance”, based on research on genetic testing of Americans – because we are of Northern European ancestry. (p. 31)
Hint: Gluten molecule similar in structure to thyroid hormone molecule!!!!

Sep 222012
 

Great article summarizing using Chinese Herbal Medicine for treating viral infections, specifically focused on the H1N1 virus. Chinese Herbal Medicine and the novel H1N1 virus
This article is written for the Chinese Medicine professional, but referred to here to educate the public as to how viral infections such as influenza can be treated with Chinese Herbal Medicine.

Sep 142012
 

(09/12) Drink More Water! Always a good idea (for most of us anyway)…
People who live or travel through San Jose, Ca. are now seeing another way to get this into their thoughts – a “Choose Water Now” campaign. This pubic health campaign advices combatting diabetes via choosing water instead: billboards show the emotionally-charged plea of ‘Our children are drowning in sugar‘, which is so, so very TRUE!!

San Jose, Ca. campaign to ‘Choose Water Now’.

This is similar to or in addition to the “Rethink Your Drink” campaign supported by state grants.

Sep 142012
 

FB Posting: Time article, Flavor Blast, 8/17/12

Here’s the link where you can actually read the article: Drought causes Flavor Blast

Hey, had a great graphic in the paper version of the mag, but it isn’t available online unfortunately. Highlights are:

1) Sweeter: Photosynthesis speeds up during hot weather, which can boost an accumulation of sucrose and other natural sugars.
2) More Pungent: Stacked with sulfur compounds, which condense under intense sunlight (garlic, onions).
3) More Bitter: Chock-full of terpenoids, or aromatic compounds, that become especially concentrated during drought conditions (dill, carrots, fennel).
4) Spicier: Capsaicin levels spike under heat stress, making it easier for them to bond with the spicy receptors on your tongue.

Hey, this is almost the Chinese Medicine Five Element model of flavors or tastes I just realized – only flavor missing is Salt! We need all five flavors or tastes in our diet to balance our organs – each taste nourishes or has an affinity for certain organs…

Aug 062012
 

Hawthorn fruit (or Shan Zha, as it is known in Traditional Chinese Medicine) is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as an heart herb, and is especially used to treat high cholesterol (or hyperlipidemia). It is known to digest fats and this is also why it has been made into a candy called ‘Haw Flakes’ – typically eaten after a meal to aid digestion just like we in the west will eat a mint candy after a meal for digestion.

Hawthorn is now being used in Plant Stem Cell Extracts, or Gemmotherapy. It is called a ‘polycrest’ for the heart, or has the ability to treat any condition related to the heart and without side effects! It has a bipolar, or balancing action, and therefore, can treat both hypo- and hypertension. In the case of hypertension, it acts like a beta-blocker, or in the case of hypotension, it a cardiac tonic. In the case of a heart attack, or Myocardial Infarction (MI), this herb will strengthen and repair the heart muscle. It will help regulate the heart rate in the cases of both tachycardia (fast heart rate) and brachycardia (slow or irregular heart rate). On a related note, this herb is also a ‘polycrest’ for the arteries, treating Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), although another herbal medicinal may be best in certain patients since many Plant Stem Cell Extracts can treat CAD (reference soon). As one doctor quotes in his book on this natural medicine, this herb’s “action is superior to digitalis with a wider scope” and “this product is like gold to the heart”.1

However, as with any herbal medicinal, a professional diagnosis is needed to obtain the best results. Plant Stem Cell Extracts are very strong herbal medicinals and usage without supervision is highly NOT recommended. (For example, this herb could be too strong for an elderly patient with a weak constitution and the proper dosage along with monitoring is needed.)

1Greaves, Marcus, M.D., N.M.D., Gemmotherapy and Oligotherapy Regenerators of Dying Intoxcated Cells, p. 73.

Aug 062012
 

This is a Traditional Chinese Medicine recipe for cough, with or without phlegm: Pear and Rock Sugar Elixir recipe. It tastes great, is very easy to make and you will even think you just had a dessert that is good for you!! It is basically poaching a pear and making yourself a nice, little cough syrup.

It is traditionally made with Apricot Kernels, or Xing Ren, but almonds can make this recipe easily accessible to anyone. And if you want the Chinese medicinal for more effect, Xing Ren is always available in my office at a very reasonable cost.

More ideas for variations to this recipe:
– Apple juice (organic, unfiltered) could be used instead of the sugar and water.
– Cinnamon and/or cloves and/or ginger could be added if one has a ‘cold’ cough (clear, watery, or white phlegm, or other symptoms of cold, such as chills, no sore throat).

Aug 062012
 

Here are recommendations for Cleansing and Detoxifying from Air Pollution (that I wrote back in the summer of 2008 when our area was surrounded by forest fires for weeks).

Forest fires are very common in the summer in our area of the Sierra Nevada foothills, so we are again being exposed to heavy amounts of smoke in the air in August 2012… here’s More Natural Medicine Recommendations for Smoke Exposure.

Also see my Pear and Rock Sugar Elixir recipe for soothing the lungs and taming a cough (with or without phlegm).

Jul 202012
 
    I have many recommendations for digestive and intestinal health – IBS, UC, Crohn’s Disease, diverticulitis and more – info posted soon!