Monday, April 25, 2011

Aging Against Oxygen

The process of oxygen inhalation is being hailed as a therapy that has been successful in the treatment of degenerative symptoms of advancing age, such as lung disease, stroke, arthritis, senility, and even wrinkles, declared Dr. Vincent Saurino of Florida, USA.

Aging is a process where gradually, for various reasons, not enough oxygen gets to the brain cells and they begin to starve. When we periodically resupply oxygen to these cells, it is astonishing how quickly they revive.

Food For Thought. Royal jelly from the queen bee contains more pantothenic acid (a B-vitamin, considered an enzyme-releasing energy from carbohydrates) than any other known natural substance--up to 6 times more than brewer's yeast. The queen bee will lay approximately 3,000,000 eggs in her lifetime (about 7 years).

Speaking of pantothenic acid, research findings have shown that falling hair and premature aging are often due to lack of this B-vitamin which is found in liver, egg yolk, yeast, milk, oats, dates and strawberries.

And here's a hair-growing secret from Japan: The enviable hair of Japanese geisha girls may be traced to a centuries-old secret. It is said that Japanese girls mix several tablespoons of honey with alcohol (about 80% proof), stirring them together. They then massage this remedy into the scalp, letting it remain for two hours, then shampoo out thoroughly. Regular use of this honey-alcohol mixture stimulates the hair follicles to grow into luxuriant tresses and keeping the hair healthy.

Vitamin C Kicks The Habit. Massive dosages of Vitamin C are helping dope addicts kick the habit. The vitamin blunts their heroin, eases their withdrawal pains and flushes the body of drug residue. Patients take 25 to 75 grams of Vitamin C a day, equivalent to 300 tablets.

When the patient shoots heroin into his veins, the high dosage of Vitamin C detoxifies his reaction. He gets no 'high' feeling. Dosage of the vitamin is gradually reduced as the addict gets off heroin completely. The high dosage creates diarrhea which flushes the narcotic out of the body.

Gastric Infection Protection. A mother who breast-feeds her child inoculates the baby with beneficial microorganisms, at first from her skin and then through her milk. The organism, called Lactobacillus bafidus (B. infantis), lives in the infant's intestines and helps regulate it against gastric infections.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Your Colon and Your Health, Part 2

Why Cleanse? The way most of us eat these days, toxins do accumulate in our bodies that start in the digestive tract and colon. They build up over the years, stretching the colon out of shape and position in the body. Even if you think you're in good health, if you're an adult, your digestive tract and colon undoubtedly have been abused and will profit from cleansing.

If you have a health problem, your digestive tract unquestionably is in poor condition. A cleansing program is essential to healing and restoring your body ecology. If you eat properly but don't cleanse the colon, you will slow down the healing process significantly. The two must go hand in hand.

We recognize the importance of cleaning our houses or taking our cars in for regular maintenance to prolong their effectiveness--so why not take care of our bodies as well? The results will be even more rewarding: a long, vital life and excellent health.

The colon is the most important place to start our "body house-cleaning"--if we may use the term. By cleansing the colon, the other organs then automatically begin to eliminate their waste into the colon as our body was designed to do. In this manner, the waste and toxins the body has stored--sometimes for years--can exit naturally.

Cleansing is an essential life goal. It is the secret to a long life and staying disease-free. Faithful attention to cleansing will prevent disease that we often assume come naturally with old age. These diseases present the accumulation of a lifetime of toxins and impurities that the body has never cleansed out.

Remember, babies are born with clean digestive tracts. They build a strong immune system with friendly bacteria promoted by mother's milk. When they eat properly (food combining, lots of vegetables), they do not store toxins in their digestive tracts and quickly eliminate waste matter. If we could maintain our digestive tracts and colon as that of a healthy year-old child, our life expectancy would be higher than it is now, and we would be disease-free in our old age.

Colonics. Colonic irrigation (also called colon hydrotherapy) offers a pleasant and convenient way to cleanse. It bathes the entire length of the colon (over five feet), whereas an enema bathes only the lower part. When administered properly, colonics are safe, painless, and clean.

The goal of colonics is to cleanse and open the colon so it works properly and naturally. It is essential to use purified water (water without chlorine or other matter) since chlorine kills friendly bacteria. Even with the use of pure water, colonics do wash out friendly bacteria with the toxins. But toxic colon doesn't have that much friendly bacteria anyway, so the elimination of the yeast is more important than preserving friendly bacteria. After the health of the colon is restored, the friendly bacteria can be replaced by taking probiotics orally, by colonic implants and by eating raw cultured vegetables.

Benefits of a Healthy Colon. Reestablishing the vitality of your colon should be a key part of one's quest to stay healthy. It is just as important as eating the right foods. Once this is done, here are the results you can expect: enhanced ability to sleep well; less craving for sweet foods; slowed aging process; gray hair and wrinkles are slower to appear.

Relief from the following are also some benefits of a healthy colon: poor eyesight; asthma; colds; allergies; constipation; diabetes; backache; respiratory disorders; thyroid deficiency; hemorrhoids; intestinal parasites; skin disease; weight problems, and other ailments.

(Our thanks to Dr. Omar Arabia II who owns and operates the Paracelsus Integrative Medical Clinic: Center for Preventive and Environmental Medicine, located in Quezon City, Philippines)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Your Colon and Your Health, Part 1

Dr. Omar Arabia II, a Filipino doctor who specializes in Alternative Medicine and Integrative Oncology, shares his thoughts on the importance of keeping our colon clean:

"For many people, talking about the colon (large intestine) may be embarrassing, and your first inclination might be to avoid the topic altogether. But colon care and cleansing are critical to healing and keeping the body healthy.

"When we say that it's essential to have a clean colon, we mean one free of toxins, waste materials and unhealthy microorganisms that accumulate on the walls, preventing the food you eat from being properly absorbed by your body. Most people have seven to 10 pounds of old fecal matter in their colons, even if they have a bowel movement everyday. When this accumulation is removed by various colon cleansing procedures, the body is free to absorb the essential vitamins and minerals of the food one eats, and healing begins.

"Disease originates in the colon. When waste cannot be properly eliminated, it accumulates in the colon and backs up into the rest of the digestive tract, then the liver and kidneys. This causes unpleasant symptoms elsewhere in the body such as constipation, headaches, weight gain, skin problems, muscle and joint pain and other more serious illnesses.

"The digestive system (which includes the colon) is similar to the root system of a tree. A tree takes its nourishment and water through its root system, feeding it along the branches and out to the leaves. We take ours through the digestive tract where the nutrients from food are carried into the blood stream, then passed along to the various organs and absorbed into the cells of our body. In either system, if there is a blockage, or if poor-quality nutrients are taken in and distributed, the entire tree--or body--is thrown out of balance, and its very life is in danger."

What the Colon Does. The colon is not merely a long tube used for waste elimination. It absorbs water, electrolytes, and the final products of digestion. But if the walls are blocked, those nutrients never reach their destination, and toxins are absorbed into the body. Gray hair comes from improper mineral absorption. If adults had colon as pure and clean as an infant's, their hair would have rich, beautiful color!

The accumulation of waste on the walls of the colon provides the perfect breeding ground for parasites, yeast, and viruses. Many of us harbor viruses that only emerge when our immunity is low, and then we get the flu or cold symptoms. The accumulation of toxins physically impairs elimination of feces and also can prevent friendly bacteria from colonizing and doing their work. It can become just like an oil spill: the environment is so polluted that even healthy animals and birds cannot survive.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Are You Ready For A Stress Test?

That's where your heart rate is monitored by a physician while you walk on a treadmill.

The Executive's Personal Health Advisor cautions that if three or more of the following 10 characteristics hit close to home, you're probably pushing yourself beyond your acceptable stress threshold:

1. Overplanning. You budget your time so tightly that you can barely finish one task before rushing off to the next. Your schedule is unrealistic since it is impossible to produce quality work in the time allotted. As a result, you become frustrated because you can't meet the high standards you've set for yourself.

2. Multiple Thinking. You've many thoughts racing through your mind because you had bitten off more than what you can chew. While you work on one task, your thoughts dwell on the next decision. You therefore lose your concentration and inhibit sound thought and logic.

3. Insistence on Winning. You need to be in first place since being second is synonymous with failure. So you don't allow yourself to do something simply for the experience or fun of it.

4. Excessive Need for Recognition. You don't take pride in a job well-done or feel a sense of accomplishment unless your efforts are praised. Recognition is what motivates you, and without it, you often end up blatantly bragging.

5. "Guilt Trips" Instead of Relaxation. You have difficulty relaxing and distinguishing the line where your business life ends and leisure begins. Social contacts tend to be clients rather than friends, and business dominates your thoughts at social events. Even when you do "get away from it all," you feel guilty.

6. Uncontrollable Impatience. You can't watch someone do something without advising the individual or actually doing the work yourself. If you can't take charge, you become frustrated and exasperated. Also, you get upset with yourself when things don't go exactly as planned, or when someone else performs a task better than you. You rush yourself and with this accelerated pace, you never enjoy your accomplishments because you're too busy moving toward the next goal.

7. A Need for Deadline. If you don't have a deadline, you'll create one, thinking it will increase your efficiency. Actually, all it does is increase pressure. You try to do too many things at once and try to stagger deadlines to get everything done. In fact, you never have enough time to devote full attention to any one thing.

8. Preoccupation with Time. The clock rules you. While working on one project, you are figuring when it will be done so you can start on the next. You become stressed as you check the time and realize that you're falling behind schedule.

9. Intense Competitiveness. You're constantly in competition with everyone on your business and personal life. If you stop for a moment, you fear you'll be surpassed. You like to recite your latest achievements and will only challenge others when you know you can win.

10. Obsession with Work. Everything but work is excluded from your life. You're the first to arrive and last to leave the office--and even then, you take work home.

If these symptoms sound all too familiar, you are stressed. Better, get off the daily grind so you'll have a more comfortable existence. Or, indulge in a relaxing hobby, like listening to soft music, reading your favorite book, and walking in the open air--enjoying nature.