Shhhh….She’s Eating
It's difficult to feel if we are engaged in mental activity. Yet the way we get in touch with what our health is like is by feeling.
So when we are actively engaged in conversation with ourselves or with others it makes it difficult to feel what is happening when eating. How does the food taste? What are the textures? What are the aromas? Am I chewing the food completely? Am I full and satisfied? Do I need more food?
These are just examples of the eating process. It asks, "Am I paying attention?"
There is good information to suggest that the more attentive we are to the eating process, the more engaged we are, the better our digestion of the food.
Makes sense doesn't it? If your friend is talking with you and you are fully engaged with her, you will digest the ideas that she has. You have paid attention, really paid attention.
So my friends, shhhh implies every once in a while pay attention to eating. DrBill
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Chronic Prostatitis: An Energy Science Perspective
Chronic prostatitis is a nonbacterial inflammatory condition of the male pelvis and can be considered male intersitial cystitis It is a member of the IC bladder pain syndrome(interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, irritable bowel syndrome, GERD, and fibromyalgia) because the cause is the same as its other members Imbalances of qualities in the bowel caused by primarily the foods consumed and lifestyle choices that provoke the energy physiology lead to dissemination to the peripheral tissues Like IC itself invariably the pelvic nerves become involved with the qualities of light mobile dry rough and hot leading to observed symptoms
The presence of fever is a key differentiating feature between acute and chronic prostatitis This is very important because the treatment of acute prostatitis is completely different If a man has chills and fever of 100.5F or greater with symptoms of acute prostatitis then he should be on antibiotics and in severe cases hospitalized because the cause is bacterial
Acute Flares of IC and Chronic Prostatitis
Chronic prostatitis is not associated with fever and similar to interstitial cystitis occurs acutely as flares lasting 2-3 weeks Urological workups including cultures, xrays, and endoscopy are negative In uncommon situations cystoscopy may show bladder mucosal lesions that biopsy negative and are typically not characteristic of Hunner's ulcers(which are unusual even in IC) Prostatic calculi may produce a chronic bacterial prostatitis but this is unusual There is no association between chronic prostatitis and prostate cancer epidemiologically in the allopathic literature
There is no agreed upon best treatment from the molecular or allopathic model of healing but it is typically treated with antibiotics initially These courses usually last for 3-4weeks or more based on the resolution of symptoms and/or recurrence of symptoms This is often the case since the cause is nonbacterial As the chronicity develops in the clinical course men are often kept on antiinflammatories or even short courses of steroids have been used
Anatomically the prostate lives at the base of the bladder and as you can see by the accompanying picture the urethral tube passes from the bladder to the outside through the penis So the symptoms of prostatitis mirror those seen in women with interstitial cystitis Suprapubic pain, urinary frequency, urgency, small volumes of urine passed, and a feeling of incomplete emptying predominate when the man is having an acute flare
Due to the hot quality inflammation like IC produces the symptoms of burning on urination and because the prostate is innervated by the same use nerves affecting bladder function there can be pain with ejaculation This latter symptom may also be caused by the prostate itself becoming involved by the hot quality Sometimes the prostate becomes so inflamed that blood may be seen at the tip of the penis at the end of urination
An Energy Science Approach To Chronic Prostatitis
As in IC there should be a division in treatment based on whether one is treating an acute flare or trying to do maintenance therapy This has been covered in a previous blog post Here are some basic foundational things to do
1 As always use a nutritional format appropriate for one's energy pattern and avoid incompatible food combinations
2 Use of antiinflammatories OTC can be helpful
3 Herbal formulas can be helpful even in the acute stage or flare and gokshuradhi guggulu can be effective in reducing congestion if the gland is involved
4 Basti therapy in both the acute and chronic phases can be very helpful in treating the pelvic imblances
5 Lidocaine as in interstitial cystitis transrectally can be helpful in reducing the acute symptoms of chronic prostatitis
Like the IC bladder pain syndrome chronic prostatitis can be healed from an energy science perspective but it requires a disciplined approach and based on how long symptoms have been present determines the length of time of recovery
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Detoxification and Lifestyle Behavior Patterns
When we discuss the energetic management of a disease process, a different world of healing is entered We leave behind our thinking about the body as a collection of molecules that can be manipulated by surgery and Pharma and begin seeing our mindbodies as energy fields This has great value since all disease begins in the energy field way before it becomes manifest in the world of molecules
The energy science of Ayurveda not only gives us a vocabulary(Vata, Pitta, Kapha, agni etc) by which we can talk about our mindbodies as energy fields but it also gives us lots of ways to take care of our energy mindbodies When's the best time to get up in the morning or to go to bed, what's the best time to eat our biggest meal....all based on the concept that we are energetic expressions of Nature Herself The icdiet and the VPK nutritional formats are based on this energetic concept
5 Fundamental Energy Daily Practices
These practices could be called "healthy" lifestyle behavior patterns because they induce detoxification of the energy mindbody
1 Get up with Nature and go to bed with Nature This means we should be getting up early(between 5 and 7a) and go to bed between 930 and 11p
2 Biggest meal at noon Nature's most active time of the day is at noon and this is when our digestion is the strongest(even if it's lousy it will the least lousy at noon time) and so we should take advantage of this simple concept
3 Improve your digestion Using foods that are energetically suitable for us; avoid snacking(fruit is an exception); avoid incompatible food combinations; only consuming what you can hold in your 2 hands at any one meal; using CCF tea and other spices routinely Also using that aid in detoxification such as tapioca and arrowroot
4 Have a morning routine Splash cold water into the eyes(wakes up the nervous system) do a sesame oil swish(draws Kapha energy in the form of mucous from the nasal passages), use of a neti pot to draw Kapha energy, brush the teeth, and every 2 weeks place garlic oil in the ear canals to prevent wax accumulation Then number 5.....
5 Exercise daily This improves our digestive strength and enhances the upward and downward energy of the mindbody Kapalabhati is a specific energy breathing technique that is very powerful 10 pushups(improves upward moving energy) and 10 situps improves downward moving energy
The Biological Energy Science: Changing the Way You Think
So there is a deeply rooted understanding of our relationship with Nature and this then helps direct our choices This is what is fundamentally missing with our current matter science discipline of healing.....a lack of philosophy...that is, a way of thinking The energy science of Ayurveda is part of a greater system of thinking which is a philosophy of life
It defines our relationship with that which is around us, that is, our world According to this way of thinking we are part of Nature Herself and Nature is discussed in terms of energy patterns of VPK Then we understand that everything is defined in the visible and invisible world as VPK(that is, there are VPK times of day, VPK seasons, and VPK institutions and companies.....because they are nothing but collections of VPK)
This makes the energy science system of healing different than today's way of healing
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IC and the Flow of Prana
What is matter is energy and what is energy is matter A molecule is both a particle(matter) and a wave(energy) And so biologically we simultaneously coexist as both a matter/molecular field and an energy field We know this from E=mc2 and the energy science of Ayurveda gives us a vocabulary by which we can talk about our mindbody as an energy field
Quite simply whenever we become sick there is an improper flow of energy to parts of the body caused by qualities that interfere with the flow of energy through those tissues This is what happens in any disease where the free flow of energy becomes disrupted in the tissue
The Flow of Biologic Energy and Spontaneous Remission From Cancer
When we hear the words prana, chi, qi, ru,and ruha they are expressing the biologic energy field Numerous healing traditions over the past 1000's of years have understood this of the human biology
You may have heard of people having spontaneous remissions from cancer There is actually an international registry of such cases where there is good documentation of a diagnosed cancer going away spontaneously without any therapy There is no molecular explanation but from an energy science view the reason is clear
For some reason and there are many the flow of biologic prana becomes established again And because the matter/molecular model cannot explain the phenomenon, the word miracle is used But energetically the flow of prana is reestablished
5 Ways to Reestablish Pranic Flow
All of the energy science tools that I have mentioned through the years are to help reestablish the flow of biologic physiologic energy At times the biologic energy is particularly stuck or stubborn in the process of movement but by and by it moves and the reestablishment of pranic flow occurs Whether it's CCF tea, yoga asana, breath exercises called pranayama, herbs, basti, or meditation the tools help reestablish pranic flow
Here are some basic things to begin fixing pranic flow
1 Eat according to your nutritional energy pattern
2 Avoid incompatible food combinations
3 Improve your agni
4 Utilize pranayama breath exercises
5 Fit your daily schedule into the rhythms of Nature
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Taking Advantage of Your Best Time for Digestion
Have you ever noticed that you feel better when you eat your biggest meal of the day early, say around 12 noon and 2pm?
The energy science nutrition of healing has an answer for why that occurs. The digestive fire which is a collective term for all the enzyme systems from the mouth to the lower colon is hottest between 10am and 2pm. This is to say that our mindbody's transformative energy is strongest at this time. Our digestion is optimal.
Previous human experience would bear this out. Before the industrial revolution and the information age there is evidence that people observed this lifestyle pattern of behavior. But as with habits we can pick up bad ones and this has become one of them due to our aggravated societal Vata energy.
Even though digestive fire is transformative it is part of the Pitta energy, but not Pitta itself. It's like container(Pitta) and contained(digestive fire).
From a matter science nutritional view we don't have a concept of digestive fire. We mechanically look at the GI tract as a tube that can be viewed with a scope looking for obvious dis-ease.
It is precisely this kind of information that is deviod in the healing of today. And why should it be there anyway, since there is no double blind study devoted to demonstrate this simple concept? And how easy would it be to prove? Yet energetically it is tantamount to good health. And provides a solid foundation for good nutrition.
Yet we don't talk about this in contemporary nutritional circles because there is no matter science proof and it's not high tech. Digestive fire-what a silly concept to use in high tech medicine. Right?
So that's where we are right now. Do we have to be here?
No, I believe we as consumers can create a different direction with respect to our lifestyle behavioral choices. It begins with us.
Hang what the nutritional "experts" say. Find out for yourself!
To good health Love DrBill
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Inflammation and the Disease Process
Recently I saw a man with bloody urine that eventually resolved. His testing showed reddened lesions in the bladder and the biopsy showed cancer in the specimen.
So I suggested we get more information and under anesthesia the lesions were gone. What happened? Does cancer disappear. Actually the areas were inflammatory and the bleeding had come from a nonbacterial inflammatory conditon of the bladder which produced the observed bleeding.
All cancers in the mindbody are associated with inflammation or the imbalance of the Pitta energy pattern.
And inflammation can produce all forms of conditions that we hear about. Acid indigestion or heartburn, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and elevated PSA. As a matter of fact, any -itis in the mindbody is an imbalance of this energy pattern called Pitta.
So why is this important? Anytime that we find ourselves with a condition of inflammation, we should look at adding an energy nutritional approach to improve the existing condition.
This is an energy science view, not a matter science view to nutrition. The latter has no concept of an antiinflammatory diet. It can't because the model from which the nutritional format comes doesn't have the ability to describe foods as inflammatory. If it tries the nutritional format misses foods that are energetically inflammatory.
Today a concerned mother told the story of her son with an early diagnosis of lymphoma. With the rest of his therarpies he should be on a nutritional approach appropriate for his mindbody energy constitution that would address the nutritional imbalances that brought about the tumor.
Now is this going to cure his cancer. No that would be ridiculous to say. But it will augment the other therapies that he is undergoing and if he makes this a lifestyle behavior change, it can potentially help with his overall health.
This is the value of the energy science approach to nutrition.
To health as a skill DrBill
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5 Ways To Make Lifestyle Changes Happen
Anything that we want to achieve in life....getting in better physical condition, losing weight, improving people's lives by working in a business or profession, changing a lifestyle pattern of behavior like smoking etc....requires that some form of structure be put into place so that a pattern of behavior is done over a period of time Hopefully the change is the pattern of behavior causes the desired change
So for example in the case of chronic disease in order to cause a physiologic shift toward balance and improvement in your symptoms, you undertake certain things that you think will make a shift
Life and Its Distractions To Healing
But let's face it even with good intentions life goes on and requires our participation and so distractions arise The deadline at work, finishing work projects, the upcoming holidays, getting the right Halloween costume...these sometimes get in the way of our healing intentions
In other words life's distractions affect how we heal They directly impact our ability to follow through with our intentions to heal
I believe that this is the major problem in healing chronic disease Healing any disease is doable with varying levels of difficulty based on length of disease and number of energy patterns involved but it requires time to do the things necessary In the energy science discipline it's not just one thing that promotes healing but rather a multiplicity of things that bring about physiologic change
This multimodality energy science approach begins with lifestyle measures focused on nutritional formats as discussed in the past but there are other things that can be done to support this approach
5 Ways to Create Structure
1 Overcoming inertia is the biggest challenge and keeping up with it is the next biggest hurdle
2 Use a calendar (here's a downloadable calender you can use on your computer) and mark down what's needed to create the change that you want to see happen....then check it every day
2 Expect it to be awkward at first...kind of like finding your groove You may forget and that's what the calendar is for
3 Daily do that activity at specific times of the day marking your items on the calendar
4 The more things you do to effect the change the better the chances of getting the desired result of healing
5 Make it a set of activities A morning routine has a set of things to do and these all work together to set the tone for the day as well as each activity supporting each other
It takes about 6-8 weeks for the change to be made Then you can move on to add more new activities to advance your healing journey
And sometimes it means deleting behaviors that don't serve us well.....for example going to bed earlier sets up the morning times to do some activities
Having a coach to support and help produce structure is valuable in these efforts You can make an appointment for a free consultation to get started
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Detoxification and Monodiet: 5 Steps for a Bowel Vacation
From an energy point of view all disease begins in the GI tract Foods introduce to the body vibrational frequencies that are called qualities or gunas in the energy science of Ayurveda When these qualities become too much in quantity (eg too much hot quality from too much hot sauce then symptoms such as heartburn or hyperacidity syndrome occurs and you take an antacid) then disease occurs It's like this for all disease
But another way we can get sick and by the way the most insidious is by having a poor digestive fire or agni When this happens we don't digest well and the end result is toxic load that can spread to parts of the body susceptible in taking this toxic load on So you can see that having a good digestive fire is very important to good health and prevention of disease
The Bowel Vacation
Wouldn't you think it unusual for someone not to ever take some time off? To maintain mental strength and creativity we all need breaks from work and a little R and R
So if it's true for our lifestyle choices shouldn't it be true for parts of us as well? However the idea of giving the bowel some time off doesn't seem to be part of the equation Trigger words such as water or juice fasting come up for many and cause people to cringe at the thought of going without food
But a bowel vacation means that the heavy foods normally consumed(pizza, rich cream sauces, lots of meat, heavy dairy. ice cream as examples) are removed from the nutritional meals for 3 or 4 days and a more simple diet is taken
You see the enzyme systems(the chemical fire if you will) need to be replenished and if you're continually asking our agni or digestive power to be used over and over again it becomes overtaxed These above wet logs as I call then place a heavy strain on your campfire(agni) and at times it is not up to par leading to toxic accumulation In essence increase of toxic load is what is behind the whole idea of detoxification
How To Go On a Bowel Vacation: 5 Things to Do
1 Make something simple to digest Kitchari is a time honored energy science nutritional tool to give your bowel enzyme systems a break from their work You can find it here at this link Do this for 5 days and notice how your bowel symptoms begin melting away!
2 If hungry snack on a piece of fruit but not in the meal
3 Consider an occasional juice day
4 Use cooling spices(cumin coriander fennel vanila turmeric cardamom) and avoid hot ones (eg garlic oregano sage rosemary thyme etc)
5 Use 2 handfuls as a guideline as to how much to eat at any one time
These simple things done based on your energy constitutional makeup will go a long ways toward improving your digestive power and enhancing your health
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Seasons and Nutrition.
Have you ever heard of a racial riot in the winter? Beaches packed in December in the Northwest?(or are they ever packed?) People packing the parks during January? The seasons change our internal climate as well.
The hot and cold qualities or primordial vibrational frequencies produce such lifestyle behavior patterns as they do when we are eating our diets.
The seasons have an impact on our digestion. During the winter the hot qualities of foods can be tolerated by people who might not tolerate them during the summer. And likewise the cold qualities for people who wouldn't tolerate them during the winter would find them somewhat permissible during the summer.
For example a predominantly Pitta individual might not tolerate hot chillis during the summer months but in the cold winter months, this hot quality and pungent tastes would not be so imbalancing.
Predominant Kapha would not do well with dairy due to its congestive nature in the cold winter months but during the hot summer could use it occasionally.
The energetic nutritional concept is that our biologic energy fields are affected by the environmental energy field. Recently I reviewed a matter science article about the effect of the season on digestion and questioned how this observation could be true. An observation by a matter field model that cannot explain it.
If we are to come to an understanding of nutrition and its role in health it will have to come from an energy science approach
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Fresh Water Prawns
A patient of mine told me about freshwater prawns that are farmed here locally. “What a great idea!”, I said. All of us could benefit from this novel animal food since freshwater fish can be used by everyone regardless of their energy pattern. Freshwater fish will pacify everyone’s physiology and promote energetic balance Salt water seafood is potentially Pitta provoking so having a freshwater alternative sounded like a great alternative
Then I began thinking of possible problems. They’ll probably have a weird taste. “No”, my patient explained, “they taste even better than the saltwater prawns.” They’re probably hard to find, I thought. “And they are locally available just off Lake street.” My mindbody began searching for other possible reasons but having no more objections, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try them.
The next day I found myself ambitiously getting ready for my sojourn to the store to try this new found possible taste thrill. “Maybe I won’t have enough time,” I thought to myself. Nonsense, just go get them and if I don’t like them, my daughter will eat them.
So I get the prawns and they’re delicious! And now I noticed the same process that my mindbody goes through when confronted with something new. There is hesitancy about what might happen if I do something out of the ordinary. Something that’s not in my realm of comfort. I’ll have the saltwater prawns, thanks very much.
What gives? Why do I get so resistant to trying something new? I think the simple answer is the fear of the unknown. The uncertainty of predicting what lies ahead prevents us from moving off center and doing something different. For some the acceptance of change may be easy, for others it may be more difficult. And for all of us, there will be guaranteed issues that we balk at and say to ourselves, not today.
Freshwater prawns may be easy but perhaps changing our whole nutritional pattern may be something else. But the key to any change is realizing the fear and stepping through it. Everyone has their pet ways of resisting change. Predominant Vata people run away from fear, Pitta criticizes and becomes judgmental, justifying their resistance by talking themselves out of whatever they’re fearing to change. And Kapha simply resists by inertia-just not going to do it. A sense of complacency becomes overwhelming.
Knowing this resistance to the uncertainty and realizing that we will always express our resistance is unique ways allows us to watch ourselves in the midst of our resistance and perhaps walk through it. But if not, it’s OK. There will always be another day
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