Archive | October, 2014

A Most Powerful Ally: The Tomato

This time of year anytime I feel any symptoms of a cold or flu coming on, one of the first foods I reach for are Tomatoes.

I will crave Tomato juice.

There is a reason why!

This simple food is packed with healthy nutrients.

Tomatoes are a heart healthy food being high in potassium, vitamin B-6, and folic acid.

Tomatoes have 0 grams of cholesterol as well as providing a good source of vitamin B-3 which helps to lower cholesterol levels.

Tomatoes are also a good source of fiber as well as an excellent source of the antioxidant lycopene helping to prevent cell damage.

High levels of lycopene have been shown to reduce the risk as well as lower the symptoms of asthma, diabetic complications, as well as colon cancer.

In fact Tomatoes have been shown to reduce the risk of many cancers, prostate cancer in particular.

Tomatoes are a natural anti-inflammatory.  Both the lycopene as well as beta-carotene found in Tomaotes’ help to reduce inflammations.

The chromium in Tomatoes helps to regulate blood sugar levels.

Tomatoes can help reduce migraines being a good source of riboflavin.

The vitamin K in Tomatoes strengthens our bones.

The vitamin A maintains the health of the retina and the overall health of our eyes.

Tomatoes are also high in vitamin C.

Keeping the body’s ph balanced is not easy considering how acidic most of our diets are as well our stress levels.

Both the foods we consume and the stress we are under can make our system more acidic than is healthy leading to illnesses such as colds and flu.

Too much acidity in the body can cause calcium loss, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, acne, eczema, depression, sleeplessness, and other degenerative conditions.

The body’s ideal ph is around 7.4.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of calcium, magnesium and potassium, all helpful in balancing our ph.

Drinking Tomato juice helps the body become more alkaline and builds a defense against colds and flu as well as lessening the symptoms you might already be feeling.

The ideal of course is not to let our immune system drop at all but life happens.

The next time you are feeling a cold or flu like symptoms coming on, try drinking Tomato juice and see if it does not bring a smile back into your life.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy
thelymphguy.com
thelymphguy@gmail.com

You can find test strips to check your ph at most health foods stores.

Here is a link for an excellent chart on Acid/Alkaline Foods you can download and have on hand as a reference.

Change Is In The Air

According to Eastern Healing Traditions every season, in fact every hour of the day is governed by particular organs.

These organs influence our health in the moment and are keys as to how to stay in balance both seasonally as well daily.

We are now in Autumn.

It is the season of Air.

The Large Intestine and Lungs are the organs of Air.

The Large Intestine is Yang, the Lungs are Yin.

Balance is key as it is symbolized in the above Yin/Yang symbol and keeping our Lungs and Intestine in a healthy balance is key to Staying Healthy This Autumn Season.

We are coming out of Summer and all she brings:
sunshine, warmth, fruits and vegetables, a sense of ease and pleasuring.

With the beginning of Autumn a change can begin to be felt all around.

The days are getting shorter, the nights longer.

The harvest is done and crops are being stored.

With Winter coming soon we know times are going to be a bit harder and more taxing on our systems.

Rain, cold, and wind are coming!

There tends to be a sense of loss with this change from the ease of Summer to the pending hardship that can come with Winter.

Loss and grief are associated with Autumn and with the Large Intestine and Lungs.

It is a time of letting go!

Now is the time of year to check in and see how both your breathing is doing as well as how your colon area is doing.

Is our breath deep and full or are we feeling that it is more shallow and constricted?

Are we feeling a bit scratchy in the throat and perhaps there is a metal taste in the back of our throat?

Are we bloating with eating and feeling more fullness in our stomach area?

Do we feel a flutter, a certain unease in our abdomen?

It is a good time of year for a seasonal colon cleanse.

And a good time of year to revisit any loss, grief, sadness, or regret that is part of our live’s tapestry.

Autumn is the beginning of the “turning in” process.

As days get shorter and nights longer it is a natural transition to spend more inner time with ourselves.

This inner care will make a difference with how our Lungs and Large Intestine are able to cope with the seasonal changes.

It is an important time of year to stay dry and to watch our diet and not move into heavier foods too soon.

On colder damp days you might want to grab your heating pads and have one on your chest and one on your abdomen.

Doing Castor Oil Packs this time of year is an ideal way of keeping both systems working optimally and help with any overload they may be experiencing.

And be sure you are drinking plenty of water.

There is no need for our health to falter with this seasonal change if we are caring for ourselves and taking the time we need for our own well-being.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy
thelymphguy.com
thelymphguy@gmail.com

Stay Healthy With The Seasons by Dr. Elson Haas is a wonderful book to have around the house to help with your taking charge of your own health throughout the year.  It was one of my early reference books and one I still turn to.

The hours of the day the Lungs and Large Intestine govern is 3am – 7am.  How many times do we wake up coughing in the middle of the night!

How we care for ourselves in one season has a direct effect on how our health will be in the next.  If we ate a heavier diet  of breads, cheeses, beans, and meats during the Summer there will be more for our system to clean out to prepare for Autumn.  We will be more susceptible to colds & flus.

Chinese medicine has this as being the season of metal, which corresponds to air in other systems.

You sure do But could it be a good thing?

A recent report from the Mayo Clinic is shedding new light on intestinal gas.

We all have a very specific view on flatulence and unless you are an adolescent boy (or acting like one) it is something we hold back and feel embarrassed about.

In the report it is mentioned that a healthy individual can have up to 18 flatulence’s per day and be perfectly normal*.

In fact it may very well be a sign of your having a healthy gut!

And in turn no gas might be a sign that your gut microbiology is not healthy!

We have been talking about gut microbes and how essential they are for a healthy digestion system, our immune system, and a happy healthy body.

There are primarily two ways we get gas into our digestive tract.
One is by swallowing air when we eat or chew gum.
The other is from our microbiome.

Microbiome includes hundreds of different forms of bacteria as well as another organism called the archaea**.

All of these microbes are gas making.  They eat up unused food in our large intestines like fat, fiber, and other carbohydrates we do not digest and create gas as a waste by product***.

We need this collection of Colon-Dwellers as not only are they gobbling up food we do not digest, they also make molecules that boost the immune system, protect the lining of the intestine, and help prevent infections.

They also produce short chain fatty acids that promote the growth of other beneficial bacteria and archaea.

The more fiber you eat the more you are feeding these friendly Dwellers.

It is one of those paradoxes that undigested fiber and carbohydrates actually helps our body’s ecosystem to thrive and remain healthy.

Most gas produced by the microbiome is odorless.  It is mostly comprised of:
carbon dioxide (the same gas we exhale with our breath)
hydrogen (water is 2 parts hydrogen and one part oxygen H20)
methane.

What makes flatulence smelly is when sulfur is added to the mix.

Sulfur is found in many healthy vegetables such as broccoli, bok choy, kale, cauliflower, and cabbage.

Called Brassica vegetables, they are packed with a sulfur compound called Suforaphanes.

Suforaphanes are associated with reducing our risk of cancer.

Another part of this equation is that this smelly gas may also reduce excess overall air volume in our guts.

It are our healthy gut bugs that will convert the gas already created into a sulfur gas which actually reduces the overall gas volume in the gut and reduce excess flatulence.

But it does make the remaining gas a bit more odoriferous.

Not all flatulence is created equal!

If we eat in a hurry, drink with our meals, mix too many types of food in a meal, or overeat; our system will react with producing way too much gas than is normal.

An example would be finishing a full meal with fruit.  Fruit needs very little digestion and wants to pass right away into the small intestines.  If held up in the stomach while the rest of the meal is being processed it will create excess gas.

Anything in excess is not good for the system.  This excess gas can create bloating and interfere with the health of the ecosystem.

As with so many things having the right proportions is key as to whether something is healthful or harmful.

Interesting that both the lungs and intestine are responsible for releasing waste by products such as carbon dioxide.

In Oriental medicine the lungs and intestines are paired as organs of Air.  More on this in our next newsletter.

So do not fret when you pass gas.  In fact smile knowing you’ve got healthy gut microbes doing their work to keep you healthy and happy.

Be aware though you might be the only one smiling.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy
thelymphguy.com
thelymphguy@gmail.com

*report by: Purna Kashyap

** It is believed that archaea, a single cell organism is responsible for the “Great Dying” about 300 million years ago.  Global warming led to organic matter covering the oceans.  This provided massive amounts of food for the archaea and they multiplied.  With excessive amounts of methane gas being produced, 90% of all species on Earth died.

But out of this period came the Ice Age that was the beginning of the evolutionary process for humans.

***The key is to find the right balance of carbohydrates and fiber that work for you.   Too much or too little can throw the delicate balance off.

Just For You!

I have always been very proud of the massage oil formulations I have created to use in my practice over the years.

Much care and research always goes into what oils I use for both their healing components as well as how they feel on the skin.

Lymphatic Massage needs an oil that is very lubricating and has enough viscosity as to not get absorbed by the skin too quickly.

My most recent formula used Sunflower and Olive Oils as the base to which I added essential oils, flower essences, and other healing formulations such as a Pine Infused Oil that I made myself.

My new formula is the simplest one I have made yet and no doubt will be the most powerful and healing of them all.

I am using Coconut Oil as the primary ingredient.

We all know now the amazing healing qualities of Coconuts both internally and externally.

Coconut Water was used in WWI when they ran out of intravenous fluids.

Extracts of Coconut are being used to treat and heal diseases such as HIV, Herpes, and other viral, fungus, and bacterial illnesses.

On the skin Coconut Oil does exceptional things for our bodies.

Due to the high levels of medium chain fatty acids or triglycerides, Coconut Oil helps to retain the moisture content of the skin.

Most people know that high moisture levels in the cells of the skin are essential for a smooth, younger looking body.

Coconut Oil is also a natural disinfectant as well as having antimicrobial properties.

By using Coconut Oil our bodies are getting a protective layer against microbial infections that can enter through open wounds but also through our pores.

Coconut Oil contains about 0.1mg of Vitamin E per 100grams of Coconut Oil.

Vitamin E and its role in skin care are well know for healthy skin growth, the repair of wear and tear on the skin, and helping to keep the skin smooth.  Vitamin E also helps to heal cracking of the skin.

Vitamin E prevents premature aging and wrinkling of the skin due to its antioxidant properties.

Coconut Oil is rich in proteins.  These proteins also help keep the skin healthy and rejuvenated as well as help with cellular health and tissue repair.

These proteins help damaged cells be replaced which results in a quicker healing time and with less scaring.

Coconut Oil is a wonderful and natural sunscreen providing protection against the damage of Sun exposure.

To the Coconut Oil I add a few drops of Healing Oil that Gardenia formulated.  It is an amazing blend that is used to anoint oneself or others to stimulate healing energies.

I also add drops of a blend of Frankincense, Pine, Sandalwood, and Palo Santo essential oils for their specific healing and spiritual significances.

The practice of using essential oils for healing, magick, and spiritual practices is thousands of years old.

Our ancestors knew the value of the oils and resins that we have been gifted with and how to use them for healing, protection, blessings, and deepening our own Spirit connection.

I have loved all my other formulas over the years but having this new oil blend is taking sessions to a whole new level of healing possibilities.

One added benefit is that Coconut Oil does not go rancid as does most other oils.  This means it can be left on the body after a session allowing the benefits of the Coconut Oil to continue on your journey home.

Coconut Oil: Better for your body, your health, and for your clothing!

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy
thelymphguy.com
thelymphguy@gmail.com