Tag: Health

The Oil Pulling Effect

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Oil pulling is an age-old remedy hailing from Ayurvedic medicine. Where one is using natural substances to clean and detoxify gums and teeth. It’s great for overall gum health and a natural teeth whitener. Certain oils combinations can also help fight harmful bacteria in the mouth.

Dr. Bruce Fife, whose written an entire book on oil pulling, says the oil acts as a cleanser.

“When you put it in your mouth and work it around your teeth and gums it “pulls” out bacteria and other debris. As simple as it is, oil pulling has a very powerful detoxifying effect. Our mouths are the home to billions of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites and their toxins. Candida and Streptococcus are common residents in our mouths. It is these types of germs and their toxic waste products that cause gum disease and tooth decay and contribute to many other health problems including arthritis and heart disease. Our immune system is constantly fighting these troublemakers. If our immune system becomes overloaded or burdened by excessive stress, poor diet, environmental toxins and such, these organisms can spread throughout the body causing secondary infections and chronic inflammation, leading to any number of health problems.”

The basic idea is that oil is swished in your mouth for 15 – 20 mins each day helping to improve oral health. The idea is the oil is able to cut through plaque and remove toxins without disturbing the teeth or gums. It was first introduced to the United States in the early 1990s by a medical doctor named Dr. F. Karach, who used it with success in his medical practice.

Most sources do agree that oil pulling is safe but debate how effective it is. I can say I have been oil pulling for about a year, and it has tremendous results. I enjoy how easy it is to do during the day, allowing me to easily multi-task.

Some Good Oil Pulling Recipes are:

1 drop oregano oil substitute for (peppermint, clove, and cinnamon)

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. coconut oil

1 drop oregano oil

1 tblsp. coconut oil

1 drop oregano oil

1 tblsp. sesame oil

Coconut and sesame oils are natural, antibacterial, antimicrobial.

Instructions:

1. Drink 1 cup of water on an empty stomach.

2. Put 1-2 teaspoons of oil into the mouth.

3. Swish around 20 minutes.

Timing is key, you want the oil there long enough to break through plaque, but not long enough that your body starts to re-absorb toxic mix. The oil will become thick and milk as it mixes with saliva and toxins. When you first start 20 minutes may be really hard to do. When I started I worked my way up 5 mins. every week.

4. Spit oil into the trash can. Spitting in the sink and toilet can lead to clogged pipes. Swallowing it would completely defeat the purpose of trying to detox. You would be ingesting all of the toxins.

5. Rinse well with warm water.It’s better to swish the water like you did the oil. This will get any remaining bacteria out of your gums and teeth. If you swish hard enough you may feel like you just drank peroxide. That’s perfectly normal. It may even be better to swish with salt water.

6. Brush your teeth

See More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elyK-UjPXKE

Don’t Lock Your Knees! Are You standing Correctly?

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Are you standing correctly with relaxed knees?

Most people carry tension in their muscles. When you’re constantly contracting your muscles you’re also reducing the blood flow throughout the area and compresses joints, the muscles cross. Compression of the joints can lead to decreased mobility, friction, misuse of the limb, and potentially arthritis. 

One should be able to stand without clenching butt cheeks together or gripping our front thigh quadriceps muscles.Your legs must be straight in order to manage the tension. Just because the leg is straight doesn’t mean it’s locked. Your leg is “locked” when the quad muscles are contracted.

There are people who are able to hyperextend their knees, it looks like this.

There are people who stand with constant knee flexion (bent knees). It looks like this.

If the quads are relaxed, you should be able to contract your quads (notice your knee cap lift up) and return to the relaxed state.  If you can’t tell if your knee caps are lifting, more than likely your quads are already in a contracted state (this means that your patella is compressed against your femur, creating decreased mobility and friction which can lead to arthritis).

It sounds pretty simple to just relax your kneecaps, but if quad tension has become an unconscious habit for you, or if you’ve been unknowingly using your quads to keep yourself from falling over when you stand, relaxing the knees won’t be as easy as it seems.

Your four quadriceps muscles are designed to activate equally and at the same time when you straighten your lower leg, but in our culture, we’ve acquired alignment faults that leave the femur bone internally rotated and our pelvis misaligned. This changes the ability of the quadriceps to activate properly.

When your pelvis is not aligned, it changes your uses of the appropriate muscles for walking and standing, so your quads pick up the slack.

The quadriceps can get so used to staying on and being recruited for extra work that it becomes difficult to figure out how to turn them off, even when your brain is asking them too! This is where people may get a lot of spasms. 

Common Causes of Asthma and Holistic Options

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Asthma is a typical condition that prompts breathing trouble, hacking, and wheezing. It is created by a mix of inflammation and spasms of the small airways of the lungs, both of which disable the capacity of the lungs to exchange air.

Natural treatments for asthma are wrapped around key principals: reducing allergies is the main one. 

Aggravations that trigger signs of allergies (allergens) can also trigger signs and manifestations of asthma. Asthma triggers are not quite the same from individual to individual and can incorporate;

  • Physical Exercising (work out prompted asthma)
  • Chilled Air
  • Respiratory infections, such as the head cold
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease, an ailment that pushes stomach acid back up into the throat. 
  • Salt acids and preservatives added to types of foods and beverages
  • Stress
  • Air irritants and carcinogens 
  • Airborne substances, such as dust mites, pollen, pet dander, mold spores, or  cockroach waste
  • Beta Blocker medications (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen (Aleve)

Nutrients in Natural Asthma Treatment

Nutrients that are important in the treatment of asthma include vitamins C, B6, and B12, and the minerals selenium and molybdenum. There have been 11 clinical studies since 1973 which have studied the use of vitamin C in the treatment of asthma, seven of which showed significant improvement. Vitamin B12 and molybdenum both act to reduce sensitivity to sulfites, a common ingredient in restaurant foods which aggravates asthma in an estimated 5-10% of people with asthma. Urine testing is available in our office to determine if someone has sulfite sensitivity that may be contributing to their asthma.

GreenMountainHealth

Broccoli, broccoli sprouts, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables:

These contain many antioxidants and a key compound called sulforaphane. Researchers from UCLA state, “A major advantage of sulforaphane is that it appears to increase a broad array of antioxidant enzymes, which may help the compound’s effectiveness in blocking the harmful effects of air pollution. We found a two-to-three-fold increase in antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway cells of study participants who had eaten a preparation of broccoli sprouts. This strategy may offer protection against inflammatory processes and could lead to potential treatments for a variety of respiratory conditions.”

Draxe.com

black cumin seeds (nigella sativa)  from GreenMedInfo

The potent black seed known as nigella Sativa never disappoints. This small seed proves that food can be a powerful asthma medication alternative. In the past, it has been known as the remedy for everything “Except death” lol 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Ginger Health Benefits 

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Here are the top ginger health benefits that have been proven by the medical community

 

 

1. Indigestion and Nausea

Ginger has been used for thousands of years as an effective digestive aid and natural remedy for nausea. Recently, Taiwanese researchers discovered that three capsules (1.2 grams total) of ginger can actually help the stomach release its contents into the small intestines in people with dyspepsia — a condition in which 40 percent of patients suffer from abnormally delayed gastric emptying.

This is one reason why ginger helps people who are bloated, constipated and have other gastrointestinal disorders. It relaxes the smooth muscle in your gut lining and helps food move along throughout the system.

 

Key takeaway: Eating whole ginger, drinking fresh ginger juice and inhaling diffused ginger essential oil are all highly effective ways to curb stomach disorders.

 

 

2. Compromised Immunity and Respiratory Function

Ayurvedic medicine has praised ginger’s ability to boost the immune system before recorded history. It believes that because ginger is so effective at warming the body, it can help break down the accumulation of toxins in your organs. It’s also known to cleanse the lymphatic system, our body’s sewage system.

 

Dr. Oz says, “By opening up these lymphatic channels and keeping things clean, ginger prevents the accumulation of the toxins that make you susceptible to infections, especially in the respiratory system.” Combining ginger oil and eucalyptus oil is an effective remedy to boost immunity and improve breathing.

 

 

3.  Diabetes

Gingerols are widely known to naturally improve diabetes and enhance insulin sensitivity. Building off this knowledge, a 2006 study out of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry discovered that they could also suppress sorbitol accumulation in human blood cells and sugar-fed rats. Simply put, ginger not only helps prevent and reverse diabetes itself — it protects against and improves diabetic complications like diabetic retinopathy!

 

4. Bacterial Infections

The Journal of Microbiology and Antimicrobials published a study in 2011 that tested just how effective ginger is in enhancing immune function. Comparing the ability of ginger to kill Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes with conventional antibiotics, Nigerian researchers discovered that the natural solution won every time!

The drugs — chloramphenicol, ampicillin and tetracycline — just couldn’t stand up to the antibacterial prowess of the ginger extract. This is important because these two bacteria are extremely common in hospitals and oftentimes cause complications to an already immune-compromised patient.

 

Key takeaway: If you ever need to go to the hospital for surgery or to visit a friend, make sure you bring some ginger essential oil with you and add a couple drops to your water. You’re less likely to get a dangerous staph infection, and it can help speed the healing process! Other healing remedies that are effective against infections include oregano oil, clove oil and melaleuca oil

5. Malabsorption

Proper food transport (and nutrient absorption) from the mouth out through your colon is the mainstay to health. If food gets stuck somewhere in between, it can ferment, rot or (even worse) cause obstruction, which is a life-threatening emergency.

 

Improper digestion can also cause improper assimilation of the nutrients in your food. Either way, both cause malabsorption, and your body suffers from nutrient deficiencies. This is why ginger is so important. Like we’ve seen above, it helps promote regular digestion and metabolism of your food and is largely responsible for promoting a strong immune system.

 

 

6. Stroke and Heart Disease

Two of the biggest killers on the planet may be kept at bay with regular ginger use, especially when eaten with other key superfoods. Garlic, ginger and onions all have an anti-blood-clotting ability, yet when they’re eaten together they’re a powerful mainstay against heart attacks and stroke!

7. Ulcers and GERD

Since the 1980s, researchers have known that ginger can cure stomach ulcers. More recently, Indian scientists have been able to more closely quantify this medicinal effect. In a study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, they discovered the ginger was six to eight times more potent than Prevacid, the drug of choice to treat GERD!

 

 

8. Fungal Infections

One of the trickier issues to control because they’re increasingly resistant to conventional medicine, fungal infections don’t stand a chance against ginger. Of the 29 plant species evaluated in a Carleton University study, ginger won the prize for having the extract most effective at killing fungus.

 

Key takeaway: For a powerful anti-fungal punch, mix several drops of pure ginger essential oil with tea tree oil with one teaspoon of coconut oil, and apply up to three times a day.

 

9. Pain

Ginger is known for its anti-pain property. Very similar to how capsaicin works to relieve pain, gingerol acts on vanilloid receptors, which are located on sensory nerve endings. Similar to the initial intense burning feel you get when you consume spicy pepper, ginger’s burn only lasts but a second, and researchers discovered that it “affects the pain pathways directly but also relieves the inflammation, which in itself causes pain.”

 

 

10. Cancer

Working with mice without immune systems, University of Minnesota scientists discovered that three weekly feedings of [6]-gingerol delayed the growth of colorectal cancer cells. University of Michigan researchers confirmed these results with ovarian cancer. In fact, they found that “Ginger treatment of cultured ovarian cancer cells induced profound growth inhibition in all cell lines tested.”

 

Key takeaway: The executive director of the Herbal Medicine Research and Education Centre, Basil Roufogalis, advised that, “The most likely way to administer ginger as a painkiller would be in the form of a tea taken several times a day, but more work needs to be done on the amount of ginger powder needed per dose to take effect, and the time required between doses.” For most people, taking 1,000 milligrams of powdered ginger root is effective — or two drops two times daily of ginger essential oil.

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