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A Day: In Supplements

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Diet and Health

"Let your medicine be your food and your food, medicine" - Hippocrates.

A common quote, I'm sure you've heard it, but what's the deal? Foods aren't drugs, though recently most of our food has been pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics and other drugs. What did Hippocrates mean when he said it, way before GMOs and Monsanto?

In herbal medicine a prolific theme is that the 'macrocosm mirrors the microcosm and vice versa'. So everything that is outside of our bodies is reflected on the inside, and everything inside is reflected outwards. Some good examples of this are our internal reactions to environmental pollutants, such as asthma and respiratory disease. Or how acne on the skin can be a sign of and imbalance in the Liver. Really, this is just a fancy way of saying 'you are what you eat'.

Herbalists place strict emphasis on the diet being an underlying cause and cure for all ailments. If the food you're eating isn't healthy, the body your feeding won't be either. Some guidelines:

Eat foods in their most natural forms. If a lemon grows on a healthy tree and is white (they are) not yellow, eat is white, don't dye it with chemical colorants. Lemons have an incredible complex of minerals and enzymes to assist digestion. But when over heated these enzymes die-off. Raw lemons, not cooked have the most health benefits

Organic, no-chemicals, unrefined. Whole foods that haven't been messed with were designed to hold the nutrients our body needs. After all they're apart of the microcosm that we (the macrocosm) live in. What they have, we should have, just as it is.

Locally grown, free-range, humane. The idea of our interior and exterior being linked is very specific. The closer our food is to our environment, the closer we are to our environment. This balance creates an outlet to prevent allergies, bacterias, fungus, etc. The ultimate goal of balance is Freedom. If we provide freedom to our food sources, away from wastes, bacterias, and unkindness we'll be putting clean, "happy" food into our bodies. This means a clean and happy self.

There is not one "right" diet. Each individual requires a different nutritional profile based on constitution, body type, ancestory, metabolism, environment, and temporary or long term disease.

Just like our bodies and our climate, our food has energetic properties too. Some food create acidic or alkaline environments through the digestion process. Every food has an energetic quality, whether it's heating, cooling, drying, dampening, building or eliminating. These energies need to be considered along with the current energy of our bodies, so we can bring balance to our macrocosm.For instance: if you're battling a head cold with lots of clear slimy mucus you probably have a cold, damp virus. Eating cold food, like fruits, would aggravate this and feed the virus. However, a tea of warming herbs and spices like ginger and cayenne would warm the body and take away the virus' ability to survive. Back to balance.

This brings us to the end - digestion and elimination:

Our stomach thrives at a certain temperature. It hates cold, and can release digestive fluids and enzymes in a nice warm environment. So what if you have an iced tea with lunch. Your body has to work twice as hard to digest your food because it FIRST has to warm back up. Save the iced tea for an hour before or 2 hours after your meal.

If our digestive system is imbalanced we won't be eliminating properly. Yes, I mean pooping. When wastes slow down they sit in our intestines and begin to clog things up. These wastes then begin to cycle through our bodies again and this creates toxicity.Not only are you backed up, bloated, and gassy, but your liver is overworking trying to clear out this accumulation of poisons. A tired liver means hormonal imbalances, fatigue, and full circle to poor digestion, among so many other problems.Your liver isn't alone here, your spleen works harder to help digestion, your kidneys are trying to support you through extreme fatigue. It's all connected, you're a mess, and it's all because you're not pooping!

There are so many ways we can keep the smooth flow of digestive energy. First a diet of high fiber foods (duh, you know that), pairing foods that don't interfere with the digestion of each other, not over eating, even adding herbs with eliminating energies to gently keep everything in the right direction.

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Shingles - Herpes Zoster

It's a slow day at work, so I'm going to take the opportunity to highlight a customer I helped today choose some natural remedies for Shingles.

So here's the deal; There are tons of strands of the herpes virus and Shingles is one of them called Herpes Zoster (NOT sexually transmitted, NOT going to lead to genital herpes). The virus stays in our system after we've had a bout of chicken pox and can express itself years later, usually in our late-middle age. Shingles is not contagious itself, but if you're around someone with Shingles, and have never had chicken pox - watch out, this is a dangerous as a kindergarten class for you.

Shingles tends to express itself through certain triggers. Some of these triggers can be allergies (food or seasonal), food additives/preservative, chlorine, body toxicity (adrenal/liver exhaustion, constipation). Very often, with our busy lifestyles stress is the trigger. The customer and I discussed the onset of symptoms and narrowed down the onset due to stress. So the very first thing we did was find a fitting herb to help balance the stress hormones - cortisol, norepinephrine, adrenaline, etc. We chose Rhodiola, a calming adaptogen herb that helps with nerves, anxiety, and mental clarity.

Next we targeted the physical symptoms of the outbreak. The Shingles virus lives in our nerve endings, and when it expresses itself the inflammation leads to very painful blisters. Usually these blisters are limited to one side of the body or the other depending on the nerve location. We chose an antihistamine herb, Stinging Nettle. If encountered in nature these irritating seed pods cling to our shoe laces and pant legs, but when taken internally the plant soothes the same kind of irritation. Other options for pain relief could be a poultice of Cayenne Pepper applied topically. The heat of the pepper disperses the surface swelling and pain, however some people are more sensitive than others, so it's always a good idea to test a small area with treatments like this.

Now that we took care of the cause of the problem, and the acute symptoms we looked at giving the body the nutrients it needs to heal the virus. The amino acid L-Lysine is a known supplement to help prevent cold-sores, also a strand of the herpes virus. In addition, the mineral Selenium is used by the body to fight of viruses.

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/shingles/article_em.htm

http://www.everygreenherb.com/shingles.html

The Way of Chinese Herbs - Michael Tierra

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Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 ESV)

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Medicines have limitations; the divine creative life force has none.

Swami Sri Yukteswar (via sunnyohio)

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Welcome to my journey

Good morning tumblrs,

I've recently begun studies in herbal medicine. I am so enthralled by these practices that I wish to share my growing knowledge with as many as are interested. The glorious and terrifying practice of technology allow me this opportunity, and I am willing to use it as beneficially as possible.

As a brief explanation the areas I am studying are Indian Ayurvedic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the culmination of these that has become Western Herbology. My hope is to bring a greater understanding of the ancient studies and use them to improve modern use of herbs. I wish to bring our customs back to the original intent and use of healing and away from the western practices that too often mirror modern pharmacology.

I am integrating not only the medicinal aspects of my studies into my own life, but also the balance of spiritual harmony that these traditions are strongly based off. I am shifting my lifestyle habits and choices to better fit my growing beliefs, and learning through the struggles this presents.

This is a learning experience for me, and I plan to bring the best of my knowledge to my followers. I welcome the opinions of others and well-meant corrections and criticisms. The basis of my journey is an open mind and has so far been my greatest tool.

Namaste