Archive for: February 2009

Internal Cleansing for Romance?

Categories: Cleansing, Emotions/Spirituality
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If you think that is a weird idea… think about this…

Esther (of the Bible story- who saved the Jews from certain slaughter) cleansed with essential oils for  a FULL YEAR prior to her marriage to the King of Persia.

Lent is traditionally a time of fasting or cleansing in readiness for Easter – an assencion -  a renewal of life and closeness to God.

Ancient far Eastern tradition has it that Anger is stored in the Liver and Grief in the lungs.  Modern science has shown that metabolic and environmental wastes can lodge themselves in various bodily tissues- question is why do they lodge in different places for different people? 

There is a theory that we develop health issues that are intended to wake us up to the negative emotions (and thier associated toxins) we are harboring.  Debbie Ford’s “Dark Side of the Light Chasers” indicates that while we refuse to acknowledge and heal those negative areas, we will continue to experience the ailment and we will continue to experience people and situations that will push our buttons.  Colin Tipping’s “Radical Forgivness” provides iseas and methods to release the negativity.

There are many book sources for answers and solutions to these toxin issues… A good new one is “The Ultimate Balance-Infusing Essential Oils to Energize Chakras, Meridians, Organs and Emotions”  by Dr. Leanna Deardeorf DC.  This will help you work on specific organs with oil, tapping and several other modalities to eliminate the negativity that may be holding you back in health, life and love.  Available from Essential Science Publishing. 

The following is an article by my friend, Marilee Tolen R.N., aka The Home Spa Lady.

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Home Spa: Ready for Romance – By Marilee Tolen, Home Spa Lady
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Readying for romance can be healthy and fun…

and it doesn’t have to cost big bucks and long hours at a day or destination spa.

Here are some quick tips and techniques you can do at home to get ready for Valentines Day. (Note- We have past this date but the process is a great pre-nuptual practice- or for anyone who has kept negativity inside.)

To start with, the two big secrets to being prepared are:
 –Feeling good from the inside out
 –Charging your energy field

When you come from that awareness and follow these tips you will create an irresistible ‘glow’!

First start with your thinking process.

Some key words to hold in your mind:
. . . softness, centered, receptive, grounded, cleansed, moisture, compassion, gratitude,
      love, heart.

      These words will vibrate in your energy field and “set the stage” for you to create those ‘states of  being’

Internal cleansing can help your skin and aura glow.

 A few ways you can internally cleanse:
 –Foods – veggies, fruits, juices
 –Fasting – juices only or the Master Cleanse prep
 –Essential oils / herbal preps
 –Colonics

Taking a steam shower will purify, cleanse, and hydrate

–Run a hot shower and sprinkle your favorite essential oil into the running water and steam (precautions: don’t burn yourself with the hot water – and don’t slip  if there is a fatty base oil in your essential oil!)

Do a body scrub

Scrubbing with sugar is a great way to get sweetness without taking sugar internally (which is a big no-no)

 Sugar topically is great for the skin because the sugar cane produces glycolic acid which is a great exfoliant.   (see recipe in essential oil tip below).

Adequate hydration make skin and tissues soft and plump 

Do you notice on some days you have more wrinkles  compared to other days?

 This can have alot to do with how much water you drink.

 Drink more water than you normally do.

 You may think you drink enough water but chances are  you are not. Even if you think you drink enough try  increasing your water intake by 50% and notice your skin
 changes (and your clarity of mind!)

 The standard rule is eight eight-ounce glasses a day. Another popular water intake rule is your weight in  ounces plus 20 ounces more. 

Of course if you have a medical condition that warrants water restriction you wouldn’t do this. (that topic is for another article!).

Supplements. . . Essential Fatty Acids / Vitamins A & D, Cod  Liver Oil

Fish oils and flax are great for your skin (along with their many other benefits).  Taking adequate amounts of  these oils can help make your skin more supple, soft, and shiny.

Essential Oils

 For skin:

 There are wonderful essential oils and essential oil products for skin.  My favorite essential oil product  line, Young Living, has a great wrinkle cream made with Boswellia (that is Frankincense!) called Boswellia  Wrinkle Cream.

 For your energy field:

 The frequency or vibration of YL essential oils are  unmatched.  This is the special part of the oil that  has the life force.  The life force of these oils can enhance your life force – which charges your energy  field.

 For scent:
 Therapeutic grade essential oils are not perfume grade oils.  There is a world of difference between the two.   There are no fixatives and fillers and chemicals in therapeutic grade oils, so consequently the scent won’t linger for hours like a perfume or perfume grade oil.
 But I would still recommend using a therapeutic oil because the transforming qualities will last ongoing - even way beyond the time where the oil evaporates and the scent dissipates. (Essential oils are volatile – they evaporate).

Back to the mindset – one more time:

Be open to receiving. Soft receptivity. Realize that this may require a lot of effort if you tend to be a  controlling person ;)

 

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2. Essential Oil Tip: Body Scrub with Sugar
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This is effective for your whole body.
If your facial skin is sensitive don’t scrub as hard as you would your feet, or maybe skip your face.

Use a plastic container to mix – glass may break in the bathroom.
For storage, use glass.

Combine:

–1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
–1 cup of sugar
–Few drops of your essential oil

Do this in the bathroom.
Use small amounts at a time and massage gently on the skin.
You can leave it on for a minute or two for a tightening effect.
Rinse.

Here is a video that shows the same recipe but for a hand scrub.  This is good for skin all over your body!
http://snipurl.com/org_hand_scrub_video
(video: 1 min 23 sec)

 For more info or to order any of these Young Living products see your Young Living Distributor or go to www.YoungLiving.org/tjohnson

Gut Health

Categories: Uncategorized
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Those of you who know me, know that I often talk about the health of the digestive system as being the foundation for good health….  Here is a great article by an expert about the issue: 

This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs which offers alternative health solutions for mind, body and soul. 

Gut Health — THE Health Topic of the Coming Decade

James LaValle, R.Ph, ND, CCN

For the last several years I have been emphasizing the importance of reducing belly fat, but just as important is getting one’s gut into shape on the inside.  What I’m talking about is intestinal health. 

Antibiotics and probiotics are two key players here.  Antibiotics wipe out friendly flora in our intestines. This was clearly demonstrated in a study of patients taking the popular broad spectrum antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, commonly known as “Cipro”, which wiped out about 30% of the patients’ good bacteria population.  After treatment, it took up to four weeks to re-establish the original level of healthy bacteria, but some strains took up to six months or longer to re-establish.1

While antibiotics are sometimes necessary to kill dangerous bacteria such as Strep and E. coli, they have historically been over prescribed.  Many of us are all too familiar with the pink bubble-gum flavored medicine we took as children.  As adults we may have begged our doctors for a magic fix in the midst of a bad cold, hoping to ward off a sinus infection.  Little did we know the consequences.

In children, frequent use of antibiotics is especially dangerous when it begins at an early age.  For instance, children who had been on antibiotics their first year of life had a significantly higher risk of developing asthma by the age of 7 and this risk increased with each additional round of antibiotics.2 The overuse of antibiotics has also destroyed people’s intestinal and immune health and led to the creation of “superbugs” like MRSA.

And if doesn’t stop there. Without good bacteria to protect the gut, other bad bacteria such as those that cause foodborne illnesses are more able to take hold in the gut.

The importance of probiotics and their positive effects on the immune system cannot be over-emphasized. I wrote about this topic in my book Cracking the Metabolic Code, and for 20 years I lectured on, wrote about, discussed, and cajoled both patients and health professionals alike on this topic. Unfortunately, many of them looked at me like I had two heads.

We are now experiencing the many negative effects of our health care system’s failure to pay attention to this area of health — untold problems with opportunistic infections in hospitals, increased problems with autoimmunity, asthma, allergies, and increased gastrointestinal diseases and conditions. Even cancer risk increases when we don’t pay attention to our gastrointestinal health and the balance of gut flora.

But there is good news. Over the last decade there has been a groundswell of research in this area, and so finally, conventional medicine is starting to recognize the role that beneficial flora plays in our health. Scientists are now looking to replace antibiotics with probiotics to both prevent and cure certain diseases.3   

Here are some examples of how probiotics have been shown to be helpful in the treatment of serious medical conditions:

  • In the treatment of diarrhea, probiotics help crowd out diarrhea-causing bacteria like E. coli and Clostridium difficile.  
  • Probiotics increase the secretion of IgA, an intestinal immunoglobulin that helps fight infections and prevent allergies.4 
  • Probiotics have been shown to both prevent4 and improve symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.5,6
  • Probiotics help lower the risk of getting cancer in several ways.7,8 

A big lesson has finally been learned, and it has been such an important one that medicine is about to be changed forever.  That’s why I predict this health issue — gut microflora preservation and balance — is set to become the biggest topic of the coming decade.  In fact you will probably hear so much about it, you will get sick of it.  But in all honesty, it is a very good thing, because it should lead to many positive changes.

So for most people, the inclusion of a probiotic in their supplement regimen is a really good idea.  Be sure to choose one that is non-dairy cultured and guarantees the number of live active cultures at any point — in other words not just at the time of production.
 
Fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, and tempeh can also be helpful.  See Laura’s article for more on how fermented foods can improve intestinal health.

References

  1. Dethlefsen L, et al. PLoS Biol 6(11): e280. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060280 
  2. Kozyrskyjm, AL. CHEST.  2007;131(6):1753-1759.
  3. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060610225845.htm
  4. Corthesy, B. et al. J. Nutr. 137:781S-790S, March 2007
  5. Shaughnessy, A.F., American Family Physician, 5/15/2005.
  6. Child M. and McFarlane G. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/584833.
  7. Kilkkinen A, et al. Int. J. Cancer, 2008;123(9):2152-5.
  8. Rafter J et al. AJCN, Feb 2007. 85(2): 488-496.

[Ed. Note: James LaValle is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country.  Dr. LaValle is the author of The Metabolic Code Diet: Unleashing the Power of Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss and Vitality and the Executive Editor of THB's The Healing Prescription.  To learn more, click here.]

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