The Herb Woman

“Looking inside” the arteries of students eating a variety of foods, researcher’s visualized exactly what happens inside the body when the wrong foods for a healthy heart are eaten. They found that foods with a high glycemic index distended brachial arteries for several hours.

It’s been said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes, but in this modern world we can add a third sure thing we’re all likely to experience-stress. Stress is just a fact of life in modern society and it has a very negative impact on our health.

While we have all experienced stress, we may not be aware of what stress is from a biological standpoint, or what we can do to prevent it from damaging one’s health.

The body is programmed to survive. When something threatens a person’s survival there is a series of reactions in the body which prepare the body to cope with the threat. Dr. Hans Selye (1936), was the first researcher to document the effects of stress on health. He conducted experiments in laboratory animals and found that stress, coupled with nutritional deficiency, plays a role in the development of every disease.

As a result of the work of Dr. Selye and other researchers, we now have a very clear picture of what happens in the body when survival is threatened. When the mind perceives danger, a series of chemical reactions, sometimes called the fight or flight response, is triggered. The brain signals the hypothalamus to secrete the adrenocorticotrophic hormone releasing factor which travels to the pituitary where it stimulates the production of the adrenocorticotrophic stimulating hormone (ACTH). ACTH travels to the adrenals causing the increased production of epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol.

Epinephrine is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter in the sympathetic nervous system. It heightens physical alertness and activity. Cortisol is an anti-inflammatory hormone that suppresses the immune response. There are other changes in body biochemistry as well, including alterations in enzyme systems and prostaglandin production.

The net effect of all of these changes is to prepare the body for action. The body is “tweaked” physically to be able to fight the dangerous situation or escape from it. On the following page, you’ll find a list of some of the changes that take place in the body as a result of the release of these chemical messengers.

Following are some of the physical changes that take place in the body under stress, you can sew how this coping mechanism could help the body when the danger is real and physical, such as facing a bear or a mountain lion, or charging an enemy in battle. The body is operating at peak efficiency to defend itself or flee the situation.

Stop taking vitamin C and E if you exercise? I do not believe that headline from the first link and I hope you will learn enough from the attachment below to discredit such flimsy research.

There is extensive valid research for many years finding benefits and now this inadequate study gets headlines everywhere. The media has to sell their stuff and this will get read because it makes readers believe that continuing their supplements may be putting them at
some risk. That makes this nonsense sell papers.

Obviously those on any of the supplement programs I recommend are never receiving JUST C and E. Anyone looking for even a few seconds will see things like MSM, Resveratrol, Essential Fatty acids like Omega 3 and Primrose and Amino Acids and herbs like garlic and chelators like EDTA.

I have attached an important link to help you refute this poor study if it comes up with your patients or colleagues. Dr Alex Schauss is a long-term friend and imminently qualified to rebut this attack on Vitamin E and C on a strictly scientific basis alone.

There seems to be more funding for research attacking nutritional supplements than any support for studies seeking to find positive benefits.

#1 http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Vitamin-exercise-study-questioned

Link #2 provides another useful reference on Vitamin C. It provides further information regarding the effects of exercise role of Vitamin C, which they find is contradictory in the published research.

I prefer to consider how to optimize human performance with a total nutritional support program where any potential issues raised about vitamin C supplementation alone are overcome by the benefits from the other ingredients from Selenium and Lipoic Acid to Garlic and EDTA.

#2 http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Antioxidants/VitaminC.html

To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally. On the other hand, if you eat man-made, heavily processed, chemically altered fats (damaged fats) that are found in most processed foods, your cellular function will be impaired as these damaged fats become part of your cell membranes, the body will have to work harder to operate correctly, and degenerative diseases can develop.

In addition, healthy dietary fats are necessary for optimal hormone production and balance within the body and are therefore essential for the muscle building and fat burning processes. Other important functions that dietary fats play in a healthy body are aiding vitamin and mineral utilization, enzyme regulation, energy, etc.

There is, of course, no question that some children and adults have less ability to focus than others, are more active than others, and may need a different environment in which to thrive. I know scores of adults who say “I was that way as a child.” Indeed, I have often said that. I had wonderful teachers who assigned me extra work and tasks. The idea that every child who does not sit quietly for 6+ hours a day has a “disease” and needs one or more drugs is one of the current Popular Delusions fed greedily by the PharmacoMafia. In my own experience with many such children and a few adults who still have difficulty with focus of attention, a little lithium orotate and the Shealy RelaxMate II have worked far better and safer. Actually, virtually every person will function better and at the same time protect the brain with a little lithium orotate. It is a safe essential trace mineral, essential for stabilizing serotonin production. Far more tedious, but still effective and safe, without drugs, is EEG biofeedback.

In the last twenty five years, there has been a resurrection in the definition of medicine, a resurrection that amplifies the significance of our eating habits and our lifestyle. Medicine is not only defined as a treatment for illness and disease, it is now understood to be for the prevention of illness and disease. That would mean, for example, laughter is a medicine because research found it to boost the immune system. Exercise is good medicine for its cardio-vascular stimulation, muscle toning and flexibility and expelling toxins and for giving you a feeling of well-being, all immune boosters. To express a positive attitude towards life is not only good medicine for you, it is good medicine for those in contact with you. But the most important medicine, especially for the prevention of illness and disease, is our diet. It only needs our cooperation in supplying proper hydration and the needed nutrients to effectively maintain a state of well-being.

Research has revealed that more than two thirds of all deaths in the United States are diet related. More than 50% of all deaths are caused from coronary occlusion, blockage of the blood flow to the heart and/or the brain. These are all preventable deaths according to the Journal of American Medical Association which published in 1961 that, “All coronary occlusion can be eliminated by 97% through a vegetarian diet.” Fourteen hundred American’s are dying of cancer every day. In the prestigious Advances in Cancer Research, they concluded, “At present, we have overwhelming evidence… (that) none of the risk factors for cancer is… more significant than diet and nutrition.”

Because the question of what might be the optimum diet can, at times, be emotionally charged for many people, having had a significant emotional commitment in believing they know what’s best, I would like to suspend the issues of diet and introduce you to a “super” food that all would agree on. It is known as the Chia Seed. Once valued so much that it was used as currency, this unique little seed has exceptional nutritive and structural benefits.

Adjusting your diet and improving your nutritional intake are two of the most important ways to help yourself. Researchers have known for some time that fats play a most important role in MS nutrition and so doing something about your fat intake is one of the most significant steps you can take. Shifting from a highly saturated fat to a highly polyunsaturated fat diet is undoubtedly the most important component of the self-help programme in MS.

This is not only because saturated fats (such as animal fats) are believed to let toxins in the blood seep through into the brain but also because levels of the good essential fatty acids (EFA’s) are not normal in people with MS, and EFA’s are only found in polyunsaturated fats (PUFA’s). PUFA’s play a vital role in MS nutrition and in the mending of nerves and nerve tissue as well as blood health and brain activity.

Essential fatty acids come in two types. One type known as omega 3 fatty acids is found in the sunflower, chia, and safflower seeds and can be taken as a food supplement with the better known one being evening primrose oil. The other type is omega 6 fatty acids and you can get them from oily fish such as herrings, mackerel and tuna as well as in dark green leafy vegetables. It too can be taken as a supplement usually as fish or marine oils and are very important in MS nutrition. For more information on chia seeds go to MiracleSeeds.com

Colds are the most prevalent infectious disease in the United States. In traditional Chinese Medicine, colds are classified by the season, the weather system that produces them, and the symptoms. Since colds appear quite suddenly—and are accompanied by chills, sensitivity to cold and wind, clear watery discharge, lack of perspiration and aches that are better in the presence of heat—they are usually classified as a wind illness.
As such, traditional herbal treatments for a cold include warm pungent herbs that induce sweating. If the cold has a different presentation, it will have a different classification and different therapeutic strategy. In Western medicine, on the other hand, we are most often prescribed the same medications or given the same recommendations regardless of the variability in symptoms and presentation. The actual causes of a cold are also viewed differently.
The three most common symptoms of a cold are nasal stuffiness, sneezing, and a runny nose. Adults and older children generally have minimal or no fever. Infants and toddlers often run a fever in the 100 to 102 degree range.

Your thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland in your throat area that contains thyroglobulin protein, which binds to iodine to form hormones, which in turn influence essentially every organ, tissue and cell in your body.

A thyroid condition occurs when too much or too little thyroglobulin protein in your thyroid binds to iodine, hence producing too many or too few hormones. Two key hormones produced by your thyroid are triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). These hormones help oxygen get into cells, and make your thyroid the master gland of metabolism.

There are a number of different problems that can go wrong with your thyroid, but one of the most common is hypothyroidism; a condition where your thyroid is producing too few hormones. Hypothyroidism affects some 80 percent of people with thyroid disease.

Another common problem is nodules on your thyroid, or you may develop the opposite of hypothyroidism, known as hyperthyroidism, where your thyroid is overactive.

Thyroid disease, if left untreated, can lead to heart disease, infertility, muscle weakness, osteoporosis and, in extreme cases, coma or death — yet it’s estimated that half of the cases in the United States, about 15 million people, remain undiagnosed. So if you present certain symptoms, there’s a good possibility — especially if you are a woman – that you might be one of these individuals.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which your body starts destroying itself. It can be a devastating disease that can certainly destroy your health.

Of course, the U.S. “health” care system has evolved to one that focuses on using drugs and surgery as its primary treatment tool. This works exceptionally well for some diseases–like acute trauma–but for other diseases, especially autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, it is an abysmal failure.
Most authorities believe that remissions rarely occur. Some experts feel that the term “remission-inducing” should not be used to describe ANY current rheumatoid arthritis treatment. A review of contemporary treatment methods shows that medical science has not been able to significantly improve the long-term outcome of this disease.