12 Nutritional Antiinflammtory Foods
Antiinflammatory foods are becoming recognized by the Western dietary community and is a first step in seeing foods as medicines
This list is not complete by any means but gives you an idea how the kitchen becomes your health laboratory and when you begin to become consciously aware of the foods you are choosing to consume
We’ve chosen ten ingredients we like that cool the Pitta energy pattern.
1. Coconut
There are so many ways to use coconut and so many coconut products to enjoy – coconut water, coconut non-dairy milk and the traditional coconut flakes. Be aware that the oil, while it is certainly cooling, is not recommended for Vata and Kapha.
2. Cilantro
Use as a garnish, stir chopped cilantro into a soup or toss with your salad greens.
3. Mint
Mint makes an amazing tea, loved by many. Toss fresh mint into your salad, on fruit or dessert.
4. Fennel
Fennel is wonderfully aromatic with its anise or licorice scent. Saute the seeds in oil to add to your favorite soups or stews. Add the powder to your chai or favorite hot beverage, or sprinkle onto your salad or dinner entree.
5. Rose Water
Add a dash to smoothies, rice puddings or a bowl of fruit. Substitute rose water for vanilla extract in recipes.
6. Pomegranate Molasses
The sugar that condenses when pomegranate juice is cooked forms pomegranate molasses and is quite heavenly. Add to salad dressings, dips and spreads, and use in marinades.
7. Sunflower Oil
This oil is traditionally used externally in Ayurveda as a cooling oil for Pitta. Enjoy sunflower oil as a substitute for vegetable oil. It is mild and light.
8. Maple Syrup
Use this cooling sweetener as you would any sugar. Would also be delicious in salad dressings and marinades.
9. Ghee
Ghee is oily essence of milk. It is beneficial for all three energy patterns (Kaphas should use in moderation). It is delicious and easy to make. Use as you would butter or oil.
10. Turmeric
Turmeric has certainly seen a lot of press the past few years for it’s amazing health benefits. And fortunately it’s not difficult to add to your diet. Rice dishes, or potato or egg salads all taste delicious with some added turmeric. And of course there is curry!
11. Cumin
Commonly used in Spanish and Mexican cuisines this spice is an excellent routine spice to use in all your cooking simply because as ginger and turmeric above it medicates the food
12. Coriander
Cilantro gives us in seed form coriander Used along with cumin and fennel these seeds together pack a 1-2-3 antiinflammatory punch!
Until next week To Health as a Skill Love DB
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3 Ways to Influence Your DNA Through Energy Science Work
It is becoming clear that DNA is not flexible, malleable, and infinitely changing It is not a static group of molecules but a dynamically moving expression of ourselves This is great news for all of us because it ushers us into a new age of health where what we have done in the past is forgiven and what we do in the future for our health counts
Herbs and Gene Expression
Herbs energetically have their effect on you due to the environmental(foods, weather, etc) qualities you choose. If someone chooses to eat hot chilies and he is already a hot angry person, he will be violent by action. And his mind will be critical, judgmental, impatient, and irritable. So does it seem that the mind and your choices dictate your actions?
The matter science research supports the well known concept of genetic plasticity in health and disease states. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 2008, Ornish and Venter et al showed that nutrition and lifestyle modifications impacted DNA expression in men with prostate cancer. 500 genes associated with repression of inflammation were found to turn on after 3 months through a process called methylation
So How Do Foods Influence You?
Foods have their impact by the qualities they give you. The qualities are the energetic messengers delivering messages to your DNA. For example, the herb or food aloe vera imparts the cold quality to counter the hot quality to inflammatory diseases
This is of course an oversimplification but it gives you the idea of how qualities energetically interact with DNA and as a result have far ranging physiologic effects The rule is that foods and their counterparts herbs have both specific targeted organ responses and also are used for their medicinal effects in other areas of the mindbody that do not seem to have any relationship at all to the targeted effect But these effects are mediated at the energy level through qualities or primordial vibrational frequencies
3 Ways to Influence Your DNA
1 Herbs carry mind and alter DNA expression. This is the new paradigm. Unlike molecular crystalline pharmaceuticals herbs have specific qualities to influence DNA and in the long term have the ability to shape lifestyle behaviors.
2 As you have heard before nutrition and its qualities are heard by your DNA and over time they have the capability to alter lifestyle behavior patterns.
3 Physical exercise can change DNA expression.
Until next time To Health as a Skill Dr Bill
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9 Herbs That Aid in Healing Inflammation
There are many herbs that can be adjunctive in healing IC but they should be used in the context of who is the person using them. By now you now know that each of us are unique expressions of VPK and this can change the use of a herb suggested. And even though IC is the common disease label being treated, the person has unique imbalances that may dictate the use of one herb over another.
Having said that there is a uniqueness to the prescribing of herbs that are commonly used herbs in IC. I have heard people talk about allergy to certain herbs and while I don’t discount those experiences, I would say that allergies are very uncommon. Often times the “allergy” is a result of other products being taken and not the herb in question but this must be sorted out an individual basis.
Aloe vera(Kumari, Aloe barbadensis) This herb is an excellent choice for inflammatory conditions of all kinds and can be used by all mixes of VPK. As mentioned earlier certain herbs can be rejuvenative and aloe is one of them. This enhances its tonifying quality to tissues. It specifically balances the hot quality due to its cold quality.
Aloe can be used with pomegranate juice which augments its anti-inflammatory characteristic. Diarrhea can occur if too much is dosed and reducing the dose after the diarrhea has subsided will be usually sufficient. Dosing is 1 T three times per day.
Aloe vera is best used as a gel due to its slow release in the GI tract such that it lavages the gut mucosa in the upper intestinal tract, ie the stomach and small intestine. The natural thickener carrageenan is used to make juice thicker hence making it a gel. At times there has been consumer concern that carrageenan could be carcinogenic or that it would irritate IC. Although it is a seafood plant which energetically would be salty and hence aggravate IC, in the amounts that it is used it is likely safe.
Ginger(Ardrakam, Zingiber officinale) Called the universal medicine ginger as a herb can be used dry or fresh. When used dry it has a hot quality and therefore would not be beneficial in IC. Since it promotes digestive fire it is a digestant in cooking in its fresh form is medicinal to GI tract function.
Ginger can be used as an appetite(indicator of digestive fire) stimulant by using a 0.25 inch disc of sliced ginger soaked in lime juice with a pinch of rock or sea salt. Again given the clinical situations there are many different combinations with other herbs in which ginger can be used.
Turmeric(Curcuma longa Haridra) This rhizome that is similar to ginger in physical appearance imparts the yellow color to the food when using it. It is an incredible spice for inflammation particularly for skin conditions. The spice is very safe to use and you can use literally grams of it at one time without deleterious side effects.
As a herb as noted above it promotes digestive fire without overheating the system which is a particularly valuable property in IC patients. Turmeric helps in the digestion of protein and strengthens and balance all metabolic functions. It helps stretch the ligaments and is therefore helpful in the practice of yoga.
Triphala is a mixture of 3 different herbs, haritaki, amalaki, and biblitaki each respectively pacifying the energy patterns of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Each herb can bring balance to function of the energy patterns in the colon, small bowel, and stomach respectively. Each is a rejuvenative until itself which makes this mixture or formula highly effective and prescribed commonly.
There are many different ways to use these herbs separately or in combination based on the clinical situation. Dosing is 0.5t steeped in hot water 30 minutes before bed.
Cumin Coriander Fennel The use of these three herbs in the management of IC underscores how cooking spices are herbs which the medicinal extension of foods themselves. All three of these herbs are medicinal to the urinary tract and because they are cooling digestants they provide the cold quality to the hot urinary tract of IC patients.
Each seed is placed in equal amounts in a Ziploc bag and from that 1T of the mixture is used for one cup of water to make a tea. A larger volume can be made and placing in a thermos to sip on all day is a nice way to lavage the urinary tract mucosa throughout the day.
Castor oil(Ricinus communis) This herb is interesting in that its application externally is cooling and when used internally it is hot. The energy science takes advantage of this by using external packs in the pelvic region for relief of symptoms. Of course the internal effect of castor is increasing bowel motility due to the hot quality leading to diarrhea, making it an effective laxative.
Chamomile(Anthemis nobilis) Like the CCF mixture above, chamomile as a tea is a Pitta pacifying beverage and has been used successfully for staving off IC symptoms. It is balancing to the emotions making particularly effective for PV patients who are having trouble coping with the waves of flare. It has an effect of sedating nerve pain.
A little fresh ginger prepared with it makes chamomile a completely balanced beverage and counters any emetic effect it might have. Externally it can be used as a poultice for nerve pains. For most medicinal purposes its action is mild and serves as a harmonizing adjunct.
Have a great week To Health as a Skill Love DrBill
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5 Ways to Go Beyond Getting By and Getting Health
Many who have a disease accept that once the disease is gone that it's enough
Many look at health like this as well
"It's enough" means to marginalize To get by But to sometimes skirt issues
You see I believe that a state of health is a process of evolution Health is more than the absence of disease That each day I can be healthier than I was yesterday
The energy science helps us a glimpse a that greater reality of health Not to just get by
Good Deal! The Disease is Gone
There is a growing current mindset that there is more to health than being able to get up in the am, go to work, enjoy the weekends We are seeing that health is really more than being able to do the day well with reserve energy
But as you do the work with the nutritional format and avoid certain food combinations among other things outlined at this blog reduction in your disease will occur
The matter science medical model creates for us a disease oriented health system and we become fixated on clearing disease This is totally understandable and to just clear the disease is an important milestone
Roadblocks
The end result of this fixation is that you settle for second best That is, clearance of the disease becomes the order of the day Thank you very much
But just the awareness that there is more to health than disease is a big beginning in going beyond getting by You see the energy science can help you reduce the symptoms to tolerable levels But it has so much more to offer
Real healing takes time The matter science has taught us and shown us that healing is swift and can change the body quickly Just shift some molecules around, take some molecules, or remove some and health is yours You're feeling immediately better after the appendectomy
But from an energy science view disease begins in imbalances in the energy field an percolate up to manifest as disease in the matter field that are labeled as IC, GERD, IBS, chronic prostatitis, or fibromyalgia To heal these chronic diseases takes more than the molecular approach of the matter science model of healing
The energy science approach to chronic disease requires change in lifestyle behavior patterns that produced the imbalance in the first place
The 5 Ways to Go Beyond Getting By
1 Awareness of these facts is a major hurdle to overcome the mindset and start viewing your health differently The key is to live that awareness, to talk about it with yourself and others so that it becomes real for you
2 Use the energy science guidance that can help you develop lifestyle behavior patterns around nutrition that will bring about greater health
3 Realize that real healing takes time That health is not something that you get but that which you obtain through your own discipline That for every year of an imbalance it takes two months to reverse that imbalance
4 The energy science of Ayurveda says that a day in balance promotes health This is a simple but significant step in going beyond
5 Understand that IC is the gift that starts you on your path to progressively better health each day
Until next week To health as a Skill Love DB
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What’s the Required Healing Time Using an Energy Science Approach
Obviously this is a common question posed by those doing energy science work for clearance of any disease complex whether it be IBS, GERD, or fibromyalgia
As a child you may have asked, “Are we there yet?” and "Now are we there yet?" So when will I see payoff for changing lifestyle behavior patterns?
The short answer is, “It’s over when it’s over.” But to be more specific, in general it takes 2 months of release for every year of imbalance So if you have had symptoms of IC for 10 years it will take 20 months of work to clear the energy qualities that have accumulated
This would make sense wouldn't it? The longer the imbalance the more work is required to get resolution This doesn't mean that there will not be improvement of symptoms The flare intensity get less as the months go by and then the frequency lessens But real healing takes time!
Are You Particle(Molecule) or Wave?
The body is simultaneously a matter field and an energy field. The former expresses itself as molecules or particles and the latter as waves of energy So this is how the energy field expresses dis-ease In waves
Sound familiar? The waves are symptom complexes that occur in the body And they continue to express themselves until you do something about it Until you decide to intervene Otherwise the expression of the excess qualities will continue to occur
Because the matter field is a gross expression of the more subtle energy field, you now can see why disease begins with qualities that then eventually become manifest as particles or molecules in the matter field The matter field is the last to show that there is energetic disruption or imbalance in the body The matter field is like the tip of an iceberg
This is why I can say with certainty that the matter science will never be able to heal chronic diseases with its molecular approach to dis-ease
The Concept of Release
In many diseases(possibly all) there is an inflammatory component with the energy patterns of Vata and Pitta The symptoms of Vata presence begin episodic expression of light, cold, rough, dry, and mobile which lead to changes in the body's tissues Pitta’s presence of inflammation lead to burning in the stomach, burning pain in the pelvis, muscles, or generally in the abdominal area due to the sharp, hot, liquid and spreading qualitiesbit.ly/bfjQvi
For example these qualities can lodge in the urinary tract and express as energy or wave So the intermittent flares that occur in the body are waves of energetic expression
But what happens when you decide to do things to differently? You begin paying attention to your day and how you live it Energy science nutrition becomes important and you start seeing food as medicine You choose certain herbs that can help with IC and use them regularly
When you no longer support the overexpression of these qualities in the body by the foods that you eat, the body naturally begins letting go of these excess qualities of light, cold, rough, dry, mobile, sharp, hot, liquid and spreading This takes time but by and by there is lessening of the symptoms that the qualities brought and healing begins to occur
What you see is gradual regression of the symptoms They don't stop all at once There is a receding of the complex of symptoms much like the outgoing tide on the beach
Until next week To health as a Skill Love DB
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