Dead Sea Herbs

NYT:

Instant gratification

Patients begin by popping too many pills to deal with a migraine or a simple tension-type headache. When the medications stop, another headache follows, similar to a hangover. Sufferers race again to the medicine cabinet, and before long they are locked in a cycle of headaches and overmedication.

At any given time, more than three million Americans are suffering from headaches they are inflicting on themselves, according to Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, a professor of neurology and director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “If a patient’s headaches have grown markedly worse or more frequent, the problem is almost always medication overuse,” Dr. Silberstein said.

“Overuse has less to do with how many pills you take to relieve a single headache than with how often you take them,” said Dr. Robert Kunkel, a headache specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Headache Center. “If you get more than two headaches a week and take pain pills for them, you’re at risk.”

Instant gratification

Pain relievers may offer quick relief for occasional headaches, although there is a limit. If you find yourself taking pain medication more than two or three days a week, you may actually be contributing to your headaches rather than making them more manageable. This is a cycle known as rebound headaches.
In the case of a rebound headache, your body actually starts to get used to the drugs. With rebound headaches, your body actually starts craving the drugs, as if they have somehow become essential nutrients! Many commonly used immediate relief medications, when taken in large enough amounts, have been found responsible for inducing rebound headaches.

Here are some incredible statistics. It seems that with current approach to health care the treatment is worse than the disease.

I am not blaming all the doctors here.

I am blaming the whole “Health care” industry that feeds on our health and our ignorance.

* The term iatrogenic is defined as “induced in a patient by a physician’s activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially to pertain to a complication of treatment.”

Furthermore, these estimates of death due to error are lower than those in a recent Institutes of Medicine report. If the higher estimates are used, the deaths due to iatrogenic causes would range from 230,000 to 284,000. Even at the lower estimate of 225,000 deaths per year, this constitutes the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Another analysis concluded that between 4% and 18% of consecutive patients experience negative effects in outpatient settings, with:

116 million extra physician visits

77 million extra prescriptions

17 million emergency department visits

8 million hospitalizations

3 million long-term admissions

199,000 additional deaths

$77 billion in extra costs

The high cost of the health care system is considered to be a deficit, but it seems to be tolerated under the assumption that better health results from more expensive care.  However, evidence from a few studies indicates that as many as 20% to 30% of patients receive inappropriate care. An estimated 44,000 to 98,000 among these patients die each year as a result of medical errors.

My advise: again and again please educate yourself. Don’t trust the medical establishment. Don’t go for instant gratification-quick pain relief. Pain is worning you of a problem.

Stress relief, exercise, proper food and natural supplements and vitamins will in many cases help with your headaches and many other pains.

For example strong stomach and back muscles will help with your back aches.

So drop the pills!

WASHINGTON — No major medical group recommends routine PSA blood tests to check men for prostate cancer, and now a government panel is saying they do more harm than good and healthy men should no longer receive the tests as part of routine cancer screening.

Prostate cancer tends to develop in men over the age of fifty and although it is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in men, many never have symptoms, undergo no therapy, and eventually die of other causes. This is because cancer of the prostate is, in most cases, slow-growing, symptom-free, and since men with the condition are older they often die of causes unrelated to the prostate cancer.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer

Besides, the tests are not reliable.

Too much PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, in the blood only sometimes signals prostate cancer is brewing. It also can mean a benign enlarged prostate or an infection. Worse, screening often detects small tumors that will prove too slow-growing to be deadly. And there’s no sure way to tell in advance who needs aggressive therapy.

The cure is worse than the disease!

There is harm from routine screening: impotence, incontinence, infections, even death that can come from the biopsies, surgery and radiation, some doctors say. One study estimated 2 of every 5 men whose prostate cancer was caught through a PSA test had tumors too slow-growing to ever be a threat. Yet 30 percent of men who are treated for PSA-discovered prostate cancer suffer significant side effects, sometimes death, from the resulting treatment.

Prevention.

There’s no proven prostate cancer prevention strategy. But you may reduce your risk of prostate cancer by making healthy choices, such as exercising and eating a healthy diet.

Recommendations by Mayo Clinic staff

Eat healthy.

Choose a low-fat diet. But not fat free. We do need fat. Eat more fat from plants than from animals. For instance, cook with olive oil rather than butter. Sprinkle nuts or seeds on your salad rather than cheese.

Increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat each day. But try to eat fruits and veggies that are in season. Don’t eat tropical fruits in winter. It cools your body and you will get cold more often.

Eat fish. Fatty fish — such as salmon, sardines, tuna and trout — contain a fatty acid called omega-3 that has been linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. If you don’t currently eat fish, try adding it to your diet.

Eat whole grains instead of refined products. Choose organic, lean meats and fish as opposed to commercial varieties that may contain environmental contaminants or antibiotics.

Reduce the amount of dairy products you eat each day. Fermented products like cheeses and sour milk are better. And forget the skim milk-it is not milk.

Drink green tea. It is a good antioxidant.

Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all. A couple of drinks a week will do no harm and according to some studies may be beneficial.

Maintain a healthy weight. We all know why.

Exercise most days of the week. Exercise has many other health benefits and may reduce your risk of heart disease and other cancers. Exercise can help you maintain your weight, or it can help you lose weight.

Life is good!

And last but not least have a healthy sex life. According to some studies regular ejaculation lowers the risk of prostate cancer.

The cancer risk in men who reported more than 20 monthly ejaculations was 33 percent less than that of other men, the Harvard University study showed. Elevated testosterone has been tied to both a high sex drive and prostate cancer, which had led scientists to propose a link between cancer and sexual activity.

So the bottom line- enjoy healthy life style and healthy food. And good wine!

Cheers!

Reading the face and health helps us to review not just our health and to know which areas in our diet and lifestyle need attention but also help us to find out the best way to detox and lose weight and a plan for gaining more energy.

Acne

Don't make it worse!

All natural practitioners know that topical treatments are either short term remedies or more often contribute to the acne problem.

Toxins often cleanse through the skin, when the other eliminating systems are sluggish; hormonal imbalances over stimulate the oil glands and impurities in the blood will often affect the skin. All of these can clog pores. Acne is the body’s reaction to those clogged pores.

The Macrobiotic guru Mishio Kushi theory, though not a science, can be helpful when trying to pinpoint a reason why one has acne . Thereby, enabling one to treat the cause instead of the symptom.

Below are some other skin symptoms

Forehead

In Oriental medicine the forehead is related to the following organs: the gall bladder, liver and stomach. If there is no proper elimination of toxins by the gall bladder and intestines, this will produce pimples.

• Oily skin between the eyebrows.

• Redness or rashes between the eyebrows.

• Itchy or tired eyes

What to do

• Avoid eating two hours before you sleep.

• Try to develop patience. This could involve taking up yoga, Tai Chi or meditation.

• Reduce consumption of alcohol, sugar, spices, eggs, dairy food and all animal fats.

• Increase salads, green vegetables like broccoli, watercress, spring onion.

• Chew very well and slowly.

Skin around the eyes.

Look inside

• Puffiness below the eyes.

• Dark circule below the eyes.

• Bruised appearance below the eyes

Indicates kidney or adrenal imbalance

What to do:

• Increase the amount of sleep, try to be in bed before 11pm.

• Keep your feet, ankles and midriff well wrapped and warm.

• Reduce raw salt (fine to use good quality sea salt in cooking), coffee, ice cream, ice cold liquids, burnt foods for example  toast or crackers

• Increase warm or hot foods, hearty soups, root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and rutabaga.

Cheeks

Cheeks

• Spots, broken capillaries, inflammation or rashes on the cheeks.

Indicates lung or bronchial imbalance

• Take as much fresh air as possible and increase the amount of green leafed non-flowering plants in your home.

• Keep your home or office well ventilated.

• Reduce dairy foods, tropical fruits and their juices.

• Increase good quality rice, well cooked brown rice would be best, hard green leafy vegetable such as kale, broccoli, watercress, parsley.

Lower lip

• Dry, cracked, puffy or purple lower lips indicate colon imbalance

What to do

• Chew food extremely well for a week. Try 20 times a mouthful and increase to 30 times if you can.

• Never eat when you are distracted.

• Reduce raw fruits, nuts and seeds.

• Increase good quality rice such as brown rice, root vegetables, and salad.

Health and beauty

 Please pay attention to your face. Notice any changes and do some research.

These changes may be symptoms of some health problems. So don’t try to cover it up with makeup or facelift.

And don’t forget that healthy lifestyle is beneficial for inside and outside of your body.

Pearls of wisdom

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.
Carl Gustav Jung, 1875-1961.

Skin

Eczema

Although eczema may look different from person to person, it is most often characterized by dry, red, extremely itchy patches on the skin. Eczema is sometimes referred to as “the itch that rashes,” since the itch, when scratched, results in the appearance of the rash.

Hydrocortisone side effects.

Side effects include: thinning and discoloration of the skin, easy bruising, permanent dilation of certain blood vessels, burn marks on skin, itchiness, perioral dermatitis, liver and kidney damage and a weakened immune system. Recent studies further reveal changes in the shape or location of body fat (especially in your face, neck, back, and waist), increased acne or facial hair, menstrual problems and impotence. Not only this, but steroid use almost always produces a “rebound effect” of the very symptoms you are trying to get rid of!

Studies have shown that if more than 500g of hydrocortisone is used per week, sufficient steroid may be absorbed through the skin to result in adrenal gland suppression and/or eventually Cushing’s syndrome.

Generally, cortisone creams are only prescribed for short periods of time.

Continued use of topical steroid creams containing hydrocortisone can cause the skin to develop a resistance (called tachyplaxis) to the medication.

As a result, in order to have the desired medical effect, a stronger and more potent steroid may be needed, which may cause even more potential side effects.

Many people do not want to use Cortison to treat skin problems. So what are the alternatives?

Here are unique products available that are 100% organic and cause no side effects.

Herbs of Kedem

Products are developed based on ancient herbal medicine, a practice in which many fundamentals are used to this day.

The core ingredients, which are all 100% organic and some entirely unique to this region of the world, posses incredible healing and therapeutic properties.

Mazor

Mazor (*NPN 80027163) kills a wide range of fungi and stimulates skin regeneration.

*A  Natural Product Number (NPN) is an 8 digit product license number, preceded by the letters “NPN”. The NPN on the label will inform consumers that the product has been reviewed by Health Canada for safety, quality and health claims.

Benefits

Neutralise fungi that develops in your humid zones – between the toes, around joints, the vagina, the nipples of breast-feeding women and babies` buttocks

Soothes itching and irritation

Very helpful in cases of eczema – especially those situated in humid zones

Stimulates your skin regeneration

Ingredients and their properties

Palm kernel oil – (Elaeis guineensis)

Camphor oil – Kills bacteria, combats inflammation and improves your circulation

Lavender oil - (Lavandula angustifolia) Stimulates your epidermis regeneration, heals, purifies, balances, calms, effective for your skin conditions, kills bacteria and fungi, treats burns and acne

Eucalyptus oil – (Eucalyptus globulus) Antiseptic, powerful anti-bacterial, combats your fatigue

Ylang ylang oil - (Cananga odorata) Antiseptic and relaxing. It has a calming effect on your mind and body and has a balancing and stimulating effect on the skin. It also stimulates circulation and relieves skin irritation

Thyme oil – (Thymus vulgaris) Antiseptic, cleanses and soothes anti-fungal and stimulates your skin

Oregano oil – (Origanum vulgare) stimulates your immune system, it is antifungal, antibacterial, antiparisitic and a strong analgesic

Basil oil – (Ocimum basilicum) Treats acne, skin irritations and congested skin. It also kills bacteria and fungi as well as toning the skin.

Myrtle oil – (Myrtus communis) Stimulant, anti-fungal and beneficial against certain your skin imperfections, balances sebum secretions

Wintergreen leaf oil – (Gaultheria procumbens) An effective pain reliever antiseptic, helps heal your skin

Testimonial

“I was covered by allergic eczema on 70% of my body for 10 years. At the salon de La Femme in Quebec in November 2010 I bought Mazor cream. This cream was sold by the manufacturer Herbs of Kedem. It was miraculous. I can now live without cortisone.”

Anonymous.

I am spreading your message because I know that there are many people who suffer from similar problems. There are also many ppeople who wish to avoid the use of cortisone.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/asthma-treatment/AS00032

Herbal remedies

healing bark

Herbal remedies have been used for thousands of years to treat lung disorders and are still considered a primary asthma treatment in many countries. Some have shown promise in research, but more studies are still needed to find out for certain what works and what’s safe.

French maritime pine bark extract (pycnogenol)

Vitamins and supplements
Supplements that seem promising include:

Antioxidants. People with severe asthma appear to have decreased levels of these protective nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin A and magnesium may have some effect on asthma by boosting the immune system.

Omega 3

Omega-3 fatty acids.

If you’re worried about heart disease, eating one to two servings of fish a week could reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by a third or more.

Vitamin D. Some people with severe asthma have a vitamin D deficiency. Researchers are exploring whether vitamin D may reduce asthma symptoms in some people.

Vitamin C

Resveratrol

Vitamin C has several benefits, including a modest effect combating the common cold. Recent research suggests another potential use for vitamin C. In a study of hospitalized patients — who often have lower than normal vitamin C levels — researchers observed an improvement in mood after they received vitamin C.

Red wine and Resveratrol: Good for your heart?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089

Red wine, in moderation, has long been thought of as heart healthy. The alcohol and certain substances in red wine called antioxidants may help prevent heart disease by increasing levels of “good” cholesterol and protecting against artery damage.

Pearls of wisdom

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~World Health Organization, 1948

Is a Koch Industries factory getting away with murder? While the brothers wage war against safety precautions, every day their factory is dumping millions of gallons of wastewater into streams that flow near a small rural town in Arkansas.

So what is more important? Our lives or the Economy?

I wear Alpaca socks during winter and summer. For sport and at home. Alpaca is by far my favorite fiber.
Here is why:

Did you know???

Healthy feet

With 26 bones and many joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, the human foot is very complex. In a lifetime, each person logs an average 70,000 miles on their feet. With all that use on such a small percentage of our body it’s a wonder we get around at all! Kind of gives you a new respect for your feet, doesn’t it? That’s why proper foot care, and wearing the right socks and shoes is essential. If you treat your feet right, they will treat you in kind!

Feet perspire about 20-30 gallons in total, per year, even per foot that’s a lot of sweat! Where does it go? Well 5-8 gallons of that perspiration gets absorbed by each sock, and shoes get their fare share as well. Fiber content does make a difference in your socks! Avoid 100% cotton socks. Cotton is a great absorbing material, but then where does the moisture go? Nowhere! It stays right there against the foot. This moisture softens the skin, increases friction and, in turn, causes blisters. Avoid Wool socks! Wool is a coarse fiber, about as thick as a human hair (80-100 microns or so) and can cause itch and irritation. It too absorbs moisture, as much as 30 percent of its weight! This moisture in wool has an odor all its own. Additionally, wool contains lanolin which is a fairly popular allergen. Many people are allergic to this old world staple

Alpaca

What then to you use to keep your feet happy and healthy? Alpaca! Alpaca is a natural fiber, free from lanolin and naturally hypoallergenic. It is hollow and wonderfully thermal. It does not absorb moisture, rather it wicks it away. It is a super fine fiber with a far better fineness compared to wool; in fact it is so fine that four or five strands equal the width of a single human hair! In other words, it is 25% the size (or 18-25 microns) of wool while being just as warm! So ideally, it is lighter and far less irritating! Just try one pair of Alpaca Socks and you’ll be a believer!

Alpaca Socks are designed to help keep feet dry and comfortable, no matter what the temperature. It all begins with alpaca and other micro fibers that wick moisture away from feet. Filled with a soft cushion of terry loops these socks will protect the tender areas of the foot from irritation and provide you with the best foundation for an outstanding performance.
High-performance socks protect feet against cold or excessive heat and assist the foot’s own temperature regulating function. Under varying climatic conditions, socks help balance the body’s temperature and manage perspiration creating a pleasant feel next to the skin.

Alpaca sport and every day

Alpaca fiber, with its hollow-core, traps air for greater insulation in any weather. Alpaca is very soft and luxurious yet is incredibly strong, providing heavy-duty performance Alpaca can be processed organically, is sustainable, being shorn off the gentle alpaca annually and alpacas are the green alternative to sheep, causing no destruction to the environment.  Alpaca is a lightweight natural fiber, and therefore alpaca socks weigh less than other socks, so wearers carry a lighter load. Alpaca is hypoallergenic, does not absorb water and thus alpaca socks do not foster bacterial growth in the sock, so there is less chance of foot odor. Alpaca socks are machine washable or easily hand washable on the trail in cold water and quick to dry.

Baby Alpaca Fiber is the exact same fiber as alpaca however it is shorn from younger animals, usually alpacas that are 12-18 months old (shearing is a needed and natural process for alpacas!) or animals that have a low micron count. Because of it’s fineness it is softer, more luxurious and more expensive than standard super fine alpaca. Baby alpaca socks are very popular!

Staying cool during the summer – Thermal is the answer!
It’s a myth that your feet will stay cooler if you skip wearing socks in your shoes, unless you wear flip flops or skimpy sandals. In fact, in the summer the natural heat and humidity aggravate perspiration which causes friction between the foot and the shoe, and that can cause hot spots and blisters.

Socks with an inner layer of micro fiber knit against the skin transfer moisture away from the foot to keep it dry. Alpaca, some think is an unsuitable fiber for summer use, but because of the huge thermal capacity it is in fact very comfortable. It does a wonderful job wicking moisture away from the foot in the heat!

Better safe than sorry!

Many people know that dressing in layers and wearing a hat, are key ways to stay warm. However, some overlook the importance of keeping feet equally protected. Remember when Mom told you over and over to go put on socks?  Believe it ~ Mom was right! In fact, because blood goes to protect vital organs first, blood vessels in the feet constrict. This reduces circulation and increases the likelihood of frostbite. The basic concept you should look for in cold weather clothing applies to socks too. The best high quality fibers and fabrics offer insulation from the cold and allow the body to release perspiration. The body needs to do just as much of this in the cold as in the heat, in order to regulate its temperature.

High-quality alpaca socks help retain warmth, and absorb and transfer moisture away from the skin and keep you warm and healthy.

Alpaca is the best natural fiber for warmth. Even in damp conditions, alpaca provides warmth because its hollow fibers trap air in their core continuing to provide insulation. Synthetic fibers, such as micro fiber acrylics, provide superior moisture transfer as well and when combined with alpaca it is a sure fire winner! Thicker socks are generally warmer because their large loop (terry knit) construction traps more air which provides warmth and insulation from the cold. Warrior Alpaca socks with a combination of these natural and manmade fibers and thick terry knit construction offer the greatest protection from the cold.
In addition Alpaca has one of the highest resistance factors of all natural fibers. The resistance factor of a human hair is 100, wool is rated at 122.8 and mohair at 136. Alpaca is rated at 358.5. It is a very strong fiber. The reasons alpaca is incorporated with other fibers are cost and special properties required for some garments.