Posts Tagged ‘Health’

The Price of Health

April 7th, 2010

price-of-health As you probably know by now I am a big advocate of people taking charge of their own health. I was actually thinking about promoting a product “Healing Kitchen” that I absolutely believe in as a cornerstone of good health but it is a bit pricey. With that statement I found myself asking ‘what price is health?‘ and ‘What does it cost to be sick?“  As some of you may know we do a lot of pro-bono work because we believe in making our services accessible to everyone. And it comes to a point where we do so much pro bone work we have to stop and actually earn some money… anyway – so I am thinking about how we ‘cost‘ our health on the basis of what things cost and then I get this email:

It’s Time to Declare Your Health Independence

If the current health care debate has anything to teach us, it’s that it’s going to be more expensive in the future to get sick. Much more. On the other hand, it will pay you handsomely to keep yourself and your family well. Insurance premiums are already rising. They’ve doubled since 2000 — and one California provider is preparing customers for an immediate 39% premium hike. One US city now bills $300 for a 911 call (expect this idea to spread).

Just in case you need extra motivation to start taking better care of yourself and your family, here are some scary statistics on the high price of illness these days

  • 62.1% of bankruptcies in the US are medically-related
  • 50% of all home foreclosure are caused by medical problems
  • 37% of Americans pay more than $2,000 for medical bills out of pocket each year
  • 30% of workers lose two or more weeks of work because of illness annually
  • 46.6 million Americans have no health insurance
  • 14,000 workers are losing insurance coverage every day because of unemployment

Meanwhile, Type 2 diabetes is an epidemic (with nearly 30 million Americans already diagnosed and perhaps 10 million walking around not knowing they have it). Cancer is now the nation’s leading killer, striking 1-out-of-2 sometime in our lives. And heart attacks still claim 500,000 of us every year. These are not good survival odds.

These are some seriously scary stats…

Here are 7 Simple Ways to Keep Out of Medical Debt (why not call it – ways to save your life and some money to enjoy it with???)

Numerous studies show that the majority of the health problems that send us to the doctor and the hospital are almost entirely preventable by making a few simple lifestyle changes…

» Read more: The Price of Health

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Review – Original Shakti Mat

March 12th, 2010

shakti-discs The Shakti Mat is a portable bed of nails used to relieve pain, promote relaxation and help with a range of health problems including insomnia, pain relief and recovery from injury. It is very popular in Sweden where it is used by an estimated 10% of the population. So we thought it was worth trying – we were so impressed we now use it in clinic. Why? Because we have seen this simple self help option make a difference to many common problems that western medicine does not offer sustainable solutions to. It helps us help ourselves – with no harmful side effects.

What is it?

Originally, a bed of nails was constructed out of wood and metal nails. Today the mat is available in a portable user friendly design. The metal nails have been replaced with plastic spiked discs and instead of a wooden base there is a comfy Styrofoam padded insert within a 100% cotton material ‘pillowcase’. Each mat has 230 plastic discs and each disc has 27 points. This results in potentially 6000 points of contact with your skin which surpasses traditional models.

How the mat works:

“From a physical viewpoint the points on the discs stimulate the body to release endorphins – a family of neuropeptides concentrated in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus involved with pain relief. These endorphins are the body’s response to stress and help determine mood. Membrane receptors for endorphins are found in large quantities in the pain pathways of the nervous system. The release of endorphins triggers a self-healing mechanism in the body and blocks pain. The result is a sense of deep relaxation and well-being, even high levels of happiness.” Use of the Shakti mat also prompts the body to release a range of other calming hormones and it increases the circulation of blood and lymph. This too has a detoxifying, stimulating and healing effect.

» Read more: Review – Original Shakti Mat

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Swine Flu & You

November 30th, 2009

probiotic4 It’s no secret I am a homoeopath and no that’s not me in the photo…but I would really like some of whatever it is she is taking… I love homoeopathy and I love being able to work with people to develop their own health and wellness goals/strategies. One of our strategies for achieving that is to construct our world with as few chemicals as possible. While I am not anti 21st century or anti doctor in any way I do believe in – and enjoy the positive effects of – eliminating harsh chemicals – especially for our children. Their systems are SO sensitive and we need to protect/support them for as long as possible – they will bombard themselves into toxic overload when they are adolescents…To see the amazing effects of eliminating chemicals for yourself, take a look at the outcomes being achieved in areas like the treatment of autism and autism spectrum disorders. Once harmful chemicals are removed from kids DIETS and environments, those same kids (and their families) transform’ as if by magic. Anyway – I digress.

As the northern hemisphere head into (swine) flu season and with that whole issue of  the Ukraine strain lurking – an article on (swine) flu prevention and treatment seemed timely. I have written what I think of as key interventions/strategies depending on the client and their sitiation.

» Read more: Swine Flu & You

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Posted in Health, Homeopathy, Natural Medicine

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Colon Cleansing To Rev Up Your Detox

September 16th, 2009

colon2 So how have you all been going with the idea of detoxing? Have you planned or better still, started one?  It’s a good thing to do, I just did a mini fast – great. As we said in the previous article, detoxing allows your body to clear out the results of past ‘indiscretions’. Detoxing gives your system the opportunity to rest in order to help ‘clear out the stuck bits’. In our first article “Why Detox” we did not discuss any strategies to help your detox and move the ‘stuck bits’.

So now that we opened up the discussion of detoxing, we might as well develop it a bit further. There are a number of methods that can enhance a detox and or be used as stand alone strategies to maintain digestive health on a regular basis – we are referring to colon cleansing.  There are two main ways to colon cleanse: using herbal medicines or supplements or the more ‘physical’ method of colon hydrotherapy.  Before we discuss either method I want to start with a reminder - food is medicine.  Eat well and you will successfully avoid the majority of lifestyle related health problems.  And it is never too late, in fact a change of diet will often help heal chronic health problems.

There are a variety of adjunct therapies that can assist with detoxing and in my opinion the method that gives the most immediate results is colon hydrotherapy or irrigation.  I will mention the other methods for your reference.  One more thing, my assumption is that quite a few readers will be dealing with constipation or stools that are difficult to evacuate/pass.  Chronic diarrhea is an indicator of a range of problems too including parasites or highly impacted feces.  Pay as much attention to loose stools as constipation.

Did you know current research is finally supporting what natural healers have known ‘forever‘? Gut function and digestive health play a fundamental role in all kinds of health problems from autism to arthritis to colon cancer, rectal cancer to auto immune diseases and allergies.  It pays to pay your gut and colon some attention.

» Read more: Colon Cleansing To Rev Up Your Detox

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Why Detox?

July 3rd, 2009

detox_cleansing If your home, car or any other thing precious to you needed cleaning or de-cluttering you would do it right? After all you love that precious thing and want to keep it in optimal working order right? The same principle applies to your most precious ‘possession‘, your body.  So while we all accept that the outside of our body needs regular cleaning (though try telling our 10 year old boy that…) few of us recognise the need for regular internal cleaning. A regular internal cleanse aka detoxification, detox or detoxing, helps keep the body working optimally.

Why consider a Detox ? Our bodies are regularly exposed to a barrage of toxins – for example the body naturally creates toxins as a by product of metabolism. Add to this the toxins created by stress, the effects of overeating, the sluggishness of our systems due to poor exercise habits, our continued exposure to environmental pollutants and daily exposure to any of the 14,000 food chemicals within processed foods and medications!. That is without mentioning smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and drugs. And spare a thought for your liver. The liver, the organ of detoxification, has to work harder now than at any other time in history – so to speak – because of all these contaminants.  We also absorb toxins through our skin and we come into contact with many hundreds of chemicals on a daily basis – it’s no wonder our bodies are stressed and we regularly exhibit signs of toxicity. OK – I hear you say – we are always exposed to toxins – it’s all about our level of exposure – right?

» Read more: Why Detox?

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Posted in Health, Natural Medicine, Weight Loss

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