Blog 104 Staying Healthy in 2020 and 2021

 

This Fall and Winter 2020 as well as most or all 2021 will be especially challenging for many of us, so in this blog, I will share some information that can be used to support physical and mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.  In some cases, your survival may depend on the strength of your physical and emotional health, and especially on the health of your immune system.  It is important to start improving or rebuilding your health now if you are immunocompromised, a senior, or have other comorbidities, such as obesity, diabetes, or other degenerative or autoimmune conditions. 

 

First, stay away from toxic or immune-suppressing substances, such as tobacco, alcohol, white sugar, pesticides, medications or combinations of medications which may injure the lungs or other internal organs or elevate the blood pressure, junk or fast foods, almost all vegetable oils except flax and olive, and many other substances, including processed foods that inflame your body or overwhelm your liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and internal organs and systems. 

 

Nutritional support is essential for improving or rebuilding your health and strength.  Whole foods grown organically or biodynamically, without the use of chemical fertilizers or toxic pesticides will be most beneficial for you.  Different people find that different diets benefit them most.  Some do well on a Mediterranean diet, others on a strict vegetarian or pescatarian diet.  Some people need to avoid gluten or dairy, and others do best eating during only a limited time frame each day, such as from 7 am until 7 pm or even a smaller time frame.  Currently, with the compromised soil and air, almost everyone needs nutritional supplements to support their health.  A high quality multivitamin with herbs, such as that sold by The Synergy Company, Standard Process or Metagenics can be a good baseline on which to build.  A good source of omega-3 fatty acids will also be beneficial.  Wild caught small fish from relatively pristine waters (with microplastics, nothing is completely pristine anymore), high quality fish oil (most are very poor quality, so do your research and be discerning) or organic flax seed oil are  sources of omega-3 fatty acids.  Some people need other, more specific substances to support particular internal organs.  These can be herbs and also protomorphogens or extracts from bovine, porcine or other animal organs such as liver, kidneys, thymus, bone, and more.  Also, make sure to stay hydrated.  Juicing organic juices, especially from leafy greens plus some root vegetables and apples, is another good source of nutrients. 

 

Sufficient sleep is essential for good health.  Some ways to improve the quality of sleep is to keep cell phones and computers out of the bedroom, keep the television turned off at night, eat your last meal several hours before you go to sleep, keep your mind on positive things, such as thankfulness, love and caring that you feel for others and that others feel for you, inspirational literature, gentle harmonious music, and relaxing evening walks or stretches.  Additionally, avoid most alcohol and restrict caffeine intake to before noon.  Regular, relatively vigorous exercise earlier in the day can also help you sleep well at night. 

 

Practicing deep, relaxed abdominal breathing several times a day can help with sleep quality, as well as support your health during your waking hours.  We all need oxygen to support our cells as they undergo repair and growth.  Low oxygen is more conducive to the development of diseases such as autoimmune ailments, cancer, and dementia.   Cultivate strong, healthy posture, avoid wearing extremely tight clothes and become gently more and more aware of your breathing.  Consider learning and practicing a daily simple meditation or some daily progressive relaxation self-hypnosis to support yourself in becoming more relaxed physically and mentally. 

 

Chiropractic adjusting and acupuncture therapy can help you relax physically and mentally as well as support you in learning to breathe abdominally.  In addition, proper nutrition plus chiropractic and/or acupuncture have a synergistic effect in improving your energy level, supporting your immune system, and helping you absorb and assimilate food and supplements. 

 

This blog’s offer: to help stay healthy during this pandemic, contact me with questions about nutritional supplements, self-hypnosis instruction, chiropractic adjusting, acupuncture therapy, Chi Gong instruction, Strong Posture classes and more. 

 

Blog # 103  Rhinoceros, Tiger, Mountain Gorilla, Honeybee, Squirrel…..

 

What do these names have in common?  They are animals or insects, and three are very endangered, nearing extinction.  A fourth, the honeybee, is threatened.  This year, the fifth, squirrels, have become scarce in many parts of Chicago.  Well, let me change that - there have been quite a few dead squirrels spotted in Chicago this year, according to “Squirrel Patrol”, a division of the online Nextdoor, which is looking for squirrels on the north east part of Chicago. 

 

Now, what does this have to do with our health?  Plenty.  You see, when an animal, insect or plant is disappearing without obvious explanation, it is important to find out why their numbers are decreasing.  Sometimes, a fairly obvious cause can be found, such as hunting rhinoceros for their horns or mountain gorillas for their feet and other body parts.  Sometimes loss of habitat is also a main factor, such in the case of tigers.  And sometimes many factors contribute to a more toxic and less supportive environment, which makes creatures, such as honeybees, increasingly vulnerable to parasites and disease.  Cut and paste the link below to your browser to learn more about the decreasing bee population. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct

 

When the environment is no longer supportive or even destructive for plants, insects and non-human animals, what are the odds that humans will also be impacted?  Since our life cycles are longer than most insects and many animals, and since, unlike plants, we can move away from some dangers, such as fires and floods, the impact on human life is not initially so obvious.  But sometimes the negative effects on human lives are very obvious.  Although viruses are manipulated in labs, there are plenty that we humans acquire from animals like bats and monkeys upon whose habitats we have encroached.  A combination of irresponsible extraction of Earth’s resources and using water, air, and earth as garbage and toxic waste dumping grounds is pushing our planet quickly toward problematic climate change, in particular, global warming.  Some signs of these changes are increasing numbers of storms, hurricanes and tornados.  Wildfires are also becoming much more plentiful and severe, starting earlier and lasting longer than in the past.  Their impact (homes destroyed, lives lost) is felt by humans especially dramatically when we chose to live close to wilderness areas, thus encroaching on homes of animals and plants and threatening their health and even their very existence.  This trespassing eventually results in threats to human health, and sometimes, to human homes and lives.  And so the cycle continues, gaining momentum. 

 

I’ve thought about the reason for the precipitous decrease in squirrel population in some areas of Chicago (some people have also reported a decrease in skunk, racoon and opossum populations) and I have concluded that several factors are involved.  The current pandemic of coronavirus has resulted in many people staying at home, either due to job loss or having to work from home.  Because of this, people are eating at home and disposing of more trash than usual in their residential neighborhoods.  This increased residential trash has resulted in an explosion of the local rat populations, which many people address with rat poison.  Since people are not out and about to feed squirrels this year, the squirrels seek food elsewhere, and some, maybe many, encounter and partake of rat poisoned bait that may be placed in dumpsters, crawlspaces or other places where rats and mice travel and dine. Squirrels too, may be poisoned.  Which may explain, at least in part, the many dead squirrels people have seen this summer and early fall.  This may also be an explanation for the missing skunks, opossums and racoons in some parts of Chicago.  These three types of animals sometimes eat rats and mice, and it’s possible that they are being poisoned by some of the dead rats they consume.  Raptors, too may partake of poisoned animals and consequently suffer neurological damage, which generally will prevent their survival.  The link below will connect you to a site that has some interesting, usually non-toxic suggestions for catching rats and mice.  The Uhlik Repeater trap is no kill, and may be one of the best to use.  And let’s not forget cats as an excellent type of rodent control.  Hopefully they will not be damaged or killed by consuming poisoned rats and mice. 

 

youtube mouse trap Monday

 

This blog’s offer:  call or email me for more information on the above scenario, or for any other reason, including getting a good, health supportive chiropractic and/or acupuncture treatment that will help you resist infection, including the current viral threat we face worldwide.  Take care and stay safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          Blog #105 Balance and Thankfulness Despite It All

 

This has been quite a month.  The pandemic has increased in intensity, election results are revealing the best and the worst in people, emotionally-charged holidays are on the horizon, and some people are falling into deep despair.  Because my urge to solve problems and make things more harmonious is frequent and strong, when I see someone fail who could have benefitted from holistic health modalities but did not use them, it is difficult.  So today’s blog is about some of the ways holistic health care can be beneficial, even (or especially) when conventional western medicine has no solution, or the health establishment does not want to pay attention to the issue when other problems, such as a pandemic, occupy most of the attention. 

 

Female hormonal problems such as PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome), miscarriage, irregular periods and infertility all respond especially well to Acupuncture therapy.  A skilled acupuncturist can direct qi (energy) in beneficial directions to relax muscles, slow or stop bleeding, wake up internal organs that have become dormant, and help direct the body to utilize nutrients or detoxify more effectively.  Often, when a person feels depressed, it is not only situational or chemical.  They also can be suffering from low energy due to blood loss, overwork, poor nutrition or detrimental coordination of internal organ systems.  For instance, when a woman miscarries, even when the bleeding stops and even though she is eating healthfully, a dysfunctional pattern is often established in the body that allows qi to flow downward and out of the body.  Sometimes, menstrual bleeding will be heavier than usual.  This dysfunctional energy flow will result in fatigue, which can lead to depression if the faulty energy flow continues for several months.  If depression becomes serious enough, the person may even become suicidal.  Herbs will usually not be enough to stop this energy loss, since qi needs to be redirected in a beneficial way by needling specific combinations of points and angling the needles in the proper directions.  The body needs to re-learn and then maintain that redirection.  This correction can take several months, but sometimes can be accomplished in just a few treatments a few days apart.  Acupuncture, herbal and nutritional therapy can also help balance hormones and support malfunctioning organs, which may have contributed to the miscarriage.  Of course, over time, the body may rebalance from the challenge on its own, but this takes time, and sometimes the person does not have enough reserves to recover fully, or at all.  Acupuncture will speed up the healing dramatically. 

 

Although it does not take the place of addressing physical imbalances, a thankful attitude is an excellent way to support and improve health and vitality.  Finding things for which to give thanks and doing this on a regular basis can help relax muscles, lower blood pressure, improve sleep quality, support the immune system, and even help quiet the mind, thus making contact with deep intuition more likely.  When contact with true inner intuition occurs, a person is likely to make beneficial choices in their life and also act in ways that benefit others.  Making a list of several things for which you are truly grateful, and feeling that gratitude while thinking or speaking of these things/people/situations prior to bedtime and/or first thing in the morning  will have an increasingly beneficial effect.  The list may change, just as things do in life.  Sometimes it seems hard to find things to really appreciate, but there are so many.  For example:  A roof over one’s head.  Clothing to wear.  The ability of see or hear or walk.  A sense of humor.  Caring relationships.  Reasonably good health.  The ability to read this blog, articles, books.  Interests and hobbies.  Work - voluntary or paid.  Music.  Art.  A beautiful sunrise.  A lake, ocean or other body of water.  Mountains.  Trees, flowers and other plants.  Animal companions.  A majestic raptor in flight.  Spiritual or religious faith.  Love of humanity.  Inner peace.  Hope for the future.  And much more. 

 

I hope this blog has been both informative and inspirational.  Have a happy, healthy Thanksgiving holiday season.

 

This blog’s offer:  please contact me with questions about how holistic medicine can help during these challenging times, and every day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                    Blog 106: Some New Ways to Support Your Immune Health

 

Happy Chanukah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, and any other holiday you may celebrate.  Today, my Season’s gift to you, my readers, are several new ways that you can keep yourself stronger this winter and into the coming year.  Previously, I have shared that eating well, getting regular exercise, and sleeping well will all help keep you strong and healthy.  I’ve also mentioned several nutritional supplements and herbs, such as high quality Vitamin D, zinc, high quality Vitamin C and Elderberry.  Chiropractic adjusting, massage or acupuncture will  very effectively support your vitality and immune system during these challenging times.  And here are some additional ideas that you can use to support your health and also your courage this coming year. 

 

Stay well hydrated - that means drink lots of pure water, as well as high quality coffee, herbal teas (preferably organic), vegetable broths, and juices (fruit juices only in moderation).  Additionally, it is important to keep your home and workplace sufficiently humid to support the health and integrity of your skin, but not so damp that mold growth occurs.  A humidifier or vaporizer will help with this.  Plants will also help keep a space humidified.  The bathroom is usually sufficiently humid, as is the kitchen, as long as stovetop cooking with water is done on a regular basis or if water is distilled.  Making teas and coffees can also help humidify the air. 

 

Aromatic oils can help kill bacteria, viruses and molds and also can help clear the sinuses, balance various internal organs, calm the nervous system, clear the mind and support sound sleep.  It is important to use high purity oils, preferably organic, when you diffuse, consume them or apply them topically.   If you are going to diffuse oils, it is best to use a cold air diffuser, since hot air compromises the composition of oils.  Some oils that have strong anti-infectious actions and also support the body’s vitality include basil, chamomile, cinnamon bark, clove, eucalyptus, frankincense, grapefruit, hyssop, lavender, lemon, lime, tea tree, lemon balm, myrrh, oregano, pine, rosewood, spearmint, tarragon, and thyme, to name a few.  When inhaling oils, you will optimize the effects by diffusing only a short period of time, say, 15 minutes, and then taking a break.  It is important to do research on aromatic oils and also to determine if you have any sensitivities by applying specific properly diluted oil to your arm or leg and watching for any inflammatory response. 

 

Organic black seed oil, taken orally is a supplement that can support your immune system as well as your general vitality.  Since it is strong-tasting, some people advise that it be taken with a small amount of honey and then followed by water.  It is also recommended that it be taken with food.  One teaspoonful a day is usually more than enough.  Preferably get this oil in a glass container.  Like most supplements, black seed oil will be most beneficial if taken for several days or weeks and then taking a short break.  Black seed oil is also known for its ability to help support those with type 2 diabetes.  However, if you are pregnant or nursing, have either kidney or liver disease or if you take beta blockers or anticoagulants, do not take this oil.  If you experience abdominal upset when using black seed oil, it would be best to discontinue. 

 

And there are many other ways to help support your health and immune system.  For instance, Perelandra, a farm located in Virginia, makes nature essences geared to strengthening people during flu season and also during a pandemic.  Some of these essences may also help minimize negative reactions to vaccines.  You can easily find Perelandra with a web search.  Some people have found them very helpful.

 

This blog’s offer: contact me with any questions regarding the suggestions in this blog or if you have difficulty finding sources for some of the oils or other remedies mentioned above.  As always, feel free to contact me for acupuncture or chiropractic therapy, as well as any of the other modalities I offer or teach.