Your Life-Your Choice ISSN 1488-0253 December, 2000 Issue 67 Letter From the Editor Those who suffer from Psoriasis often also experience frustration, and often embarrasement. This condition is typically not a pretty sight. During normal skin production, skin cells begin at the bottom layer of skin. As they mature, they rise up from the bottom layer to the top layer (called the epidermis). In a healthy body this process should take about 28 days. About 2% of the population in both the United States and Europe battle with a skin disease called Psoriasis. It occurs when the skin cells do not produce normally. Typically psoriasis is recognized by large patches of red, inflamed skin having a silvery, scaly surface. Although this condition is not contagious, heredity is a significant factor. This is a heartbreaking disease for two reasons; it can cause a great deal of constant physical discomfort, and with the affected areas being so apparent it is often socially embarrassing as well. There are three main types of psoriasis: Discoid or "Plaque" Psoriasis - This is the most common form. Patches appear on the trunk and limbs, particularly the elbows and knees, and on the scalp. Usually the nails also become pitted or thickened. Nails may even separate from the nail bed. Guttate Psoriasis - This type occurs most frequently in children. Numerous small patches develop rapidly covering a wide area of skin. Often this will occur after a soar throat. Pustular Psoriasis - Small pistules form in this type and can appear anywhere on the body or be confined to specific areas, like the palms or soles of the feet. The exact cause of psoriasis in not known. However there are a number of deficiencies that are believed to be at the source of the condition. Frequently, emotional stress may be a contributing factor. Skin trauma, surgery and physical illness may encourage a psoriasis attack. Deficiencies in the liver and the digestive system can also be at the root of the problem. Mild cases of psoriasis can be helped by phototherapy, exposure to ultraviolet lamps. Typically doctors will prescribe emollient creams. More serious attacks are often treated with ointments containing coal tar or dithranol. Other medical treatments include Methotrexate and corticosteroid drugs. Extreme caution should be used when interacting with Methotrexate or Rheumatrex. This is a highly toxic drug and should only be prescribed by a physician familiar with its properties. It can have devastating side effects if not used properly. For a more natural approach, people suffering from psoriasis are encouraged to avoid alcohol, fats from meat and dairy products, white sugar, white flour, and citrus fruits. A stronger diet of raw foods, sesame seeds and fish (tuna, salmon, and sardines) and increasing fiber in the diet will help keep this condition under control. From a vitamin perspective you'll find that increasing the following vitamins will help your struggle with psoriasis. Vitamins A, B Complex, and Zinc are necessary for healthy skin, hair and nails. Vitamin D helps to heal the skin. Lecithin emulsifies fats and protects cells. Switching to Sunflower oil which contains lecithin may be helpful. Herbs can be tremendously helpful in addressing this condition and typically don't carry the side effects that often accompany traditional treatments. There are several herbs that can be helpful. Availability may determine your selection. Dandelion strengthens the liver which is often damaged in skin diseases like this. Poultices can be made from Chaparral, Dandelion and Yellow Dock. Lavender fights inflammation and can soothe and help heal irritated skin. It can be mixed with Olive Oil and applied externally. Add 2 teaspoons of Ginger to bath water. Milk Thistle protects the liver which is necessary to keep the blood clean. It been recommended to take 300 milligrams 3 times daily. Red Clover is an excellent blood cleanser and can be very instrumental in resolving this condition. Golden Seal is another herb that can be of benefit when dealing with psoriasis. It is important to note that you should ALWAYS consult a qualified health care professional when dealing with a serious health condition. This can be your Herbalist, Naturopath, Nutritionist, Homeopath, family doctor, or any other certified practitioner you trust. They can advise you about appropriate quantities for your specific condition, or counsel you about possible conflicts with other medication you may be on. Until next time, the best of health to you. ---- References: The Complete Home Health Advisor - Rita Elkins & Lendon H Smith M.D. Prescription For Nutritional Healing - James F. Balch M.D. & Phyllis A. Balch C.N.C. The Canadian Medical Association Reference - Peter Morgan M.D. Brigitte Synesael Editor of Your Life-Your Choice Make it your business to be informed! No one cares more about you than YOU. http://www.Life-Choices.com =========================================== ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE: 1. Unblocking Individual Willpower with Therapeutic Massage 2. Top Dog - Parasitic Problems (Worms) 3. Tea Tips - Tea Promotes Good Health, Symposium Says 4. Are You Sleeping Enough To Loose Weight? *** Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder. http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/info/default.ldml?pub_code=alterh =========================================== Section 1 Unblocking Individual Willpower With Therapeutic Massage by Laurel Duran, CMT http://www2.amigo.net/bluecord During the therapeutic massage I administer, I contact and open the energy flow of the three "fire" chakras in the client's body. The fire chakras relate to personal drive and willpower, and they are the head, the solar plexus and the hips/thighs. The head chakra relates to the individual's ability to initiate plans, to be goal directed and to take charge of formulating her own decisions through combining rational thought (left brain) with intuition (right brain). The hips/thighs chakra relates to the individual's ability to optimistically see herself moving toward her expanded and improved future. The solar plexus chakra relates to using personal strength to follow through with plans contained in one's own will. In this article I will address the importance of healing the solar plexus, and how receiving bodywork can contribute to that goal. The solar plexus chakra contains most of our emotional filter organs: the liver filters anger; the gall bladder filters resentment (which is condensed, old anger); the spleen filters worry; the stomach filters fear of acting on personal willpower; and also located in the solar plexus are the openings into the lungs which filter grief. What this means is that when an individual has an experience in life that causes them to feel angry, resentful, worried, afraid or sad, the organ that corresponds to the specific emotion becomes involved. The job of the organ is to "speak" to the person, usually with a "gut feeling" that the situation is not quite right. If the person ignores the gut feeling - whether because someone else told her the gut feeling was wrong, or because she herself judged and suppressed the gut feeling - then the organ will hold onto the emotional energy until later. If the person continually represses the true emotions trying to arise from her solar plexus every time a similar situation arises, the energy can accumulate and actually become an illness. But there is always hope of healing this because by tapping into the accumulated emotion and safely feeling it, the formerly pent-up energy in the organ begins to empty out of the organ. This heals the organ. Let me give you an example from my own massage practice. An extremely overweight recovering alcoholic woman came to me for a series of massage therapy sessions, and during my initial medical history interview with her I learned she had chronic stomach pain and had gall stones removed. From this information alone I understood a great deal about her spiritual challenges in life as well as some of the corresponding pockets of energy I might find in her body. I could see that her solar plexus was a focal point. I intuitively sensed that she may have been physically abused early in life, and that her extra weight served as a protective cushion that kept others at a safe distance from her body. She watched my face intently while I massaged her supine (face up), which suggested to me that her physical trust had been violated in the past. Even though her torso was draped over with a cotton blanket, when I would gently touch her solar plexus she began to talk nervously about the weather. I could see that she had left her body and was no longer experiencing the massage from the inside. When I asked her what she was feeling, a well of pent-up emotion began to pour forth with her story. As a child she had been physically abused by alcoholic parents and her attempts to assert her own will by saying "NO" to their harmful advances upon her body had driven her OUT of her body during the abuse. (She instinctively used dissociation as a protective coping device during the abuse.) The normal human anger that she had felt about having her own personal willpower overridden by her parents was never acknowledged. The internal anger grew and accumulated over the years until she found alcohol as a temporarily numbing suppressant. Because the liver sustains the greatest damage from alcohol abuse and its underlying cause of suppressed anger, the cycle of illness can destroy life itself. My client's decision to face her alcoholism was her first courageous step in self-healing. While she attended 12-step meetings, someone had suggested that receiving bodywork might help her feel better about herself. Because the physical body carries not only our medical histories but our life histories, when she allowed herself to risk being touched again through massage, the angry, sad, fear-filled memories of past abuse against her will finally began to surface for healing. I suggested that a compassionate psychotherapist could greatly help her emotional and physical healing process, and that she would probably need time for gradual healing. I can report that while she continues to work on the emotional/psychological issues, her physical health is improving, she is still sober today, and she spends more time inside her own body during her massages. Sometimes abuse memories arise during the massage, but she has my unconditional support to help her go through and come out the other side feeling more peaceful and safe. Because my client's will to decide for herself had been injured, it is essential that she follow her own gut feelings about what healing direction to take, if any at all. I have found that saying "No" - even to offers of help - can be healing for someone whose will was abused. The simple act of taking charge of one's own freedom of choice can set the soul on a clear course of self-healing. "I am master of my fate and captain of my soul" rings true for every one of us, regardless of our health issues. I believe that besides myself, the Creator is the only One who knows what my will is, and what destiny will unfold for me. The same is true for every individual. You have the Creator's love and strength backing you up as you use your willpower to heal yourself. May you trust your gut feelings to guide you toward your destiny! ----- Read about Laurel Duran on our Meet the Team page; http://www.Life-Choices.com/team.html ******************************************* Our sponsors make this newsletter FREE to subscribers. Please take a moment to visit them. ******************************************* GEROVITAL H3 (GH3) 100 Million users worldwide cannot be wrong! Are you? http://www.realgerovital.com ********************************************* COFFEE PAPER & BANANA PAPER Costa Rica Natural makes fine environmental paper products from exotic tropical fibers. You will find complete lines of Agendas, Tel/Add Books, Gifts and Stationery products at our web store: http://www.ecopaper.com COFFEE PAPER is made with actual brewed coffee, and it is inkjet and laser friendly. BANANA PAPER is made with the agricultural residues from the Costa Rican banana plantations and post-consumer office waste. COSTA RICA NATURAL makes the finest and most unique environmental products. Our product designs have won awards around the world. Please visit us at http://www.ecopaper.com ********************************************* Section 2 Top Dog - Parasitic Problems (Worms) Round worms come from the mother before or after birth. Tape worms come from fleas or from eating wild creatures. Run down animals that are in a toxic state end up with round worms, hook worms, whipworms, or tapeworms. Bitches should be treated the week before and after whelping. Puppies can be treated after three weeks and repeated every four weeks, remember puppies can easily be re-infected. Paws for thought From the point that you have the worm problem under control treat your animal twice a year, spring and fall perhaps, for prevention. Worm-ex contains three herbs that are known to expel parasites. I also put three more herbs, fennel, papaya, and sage that help to clean out the gut. For serious elimination problems consider using LAX-EX during the parasite cleanse. Dosage Your pet should be de-wormed regularly. More of the Worm-ex per dose is not the way to go. Just de-worm on a regular basis. Twice a year unless your pet is outdoors most of the time. Check our dosage chart before applying. ----- Do you have a specific question about your pet's health that you would like to have an answer to? Talk to our TOP DOG. http://www.life-choices.com/cj/pet.html *************************************** Section 3 Tea Tips- Tea Promotes Good Health, Symposium Says According to studies presented at the Second International Scientific Symposium on Tea & Human Health (September 1998 in Washington, DC), the evidence that tea can play a real role in promoting health is getting stronger. Among the findings: Pre-cancerous oral lesions treated with a mixture of green and black tea components (consumed orally and applied topically) significantly improved the clinical signs and inhibited the proliferation of pre-cancerous cells. "The results indicate that tea treatment may delay the progression of pre-cancerous lesions into oral cancer," said Dr. Junshi Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine in Beijing, who conducted the study. Two studies-one in animals by the American Health Foundation and another in humans by the Indiana School of Medicine- demonstrated that both black and green tea intake could be correlated to slowed growth of lung cancer. A study headed by Ron Prior of the United States Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, found that tea was found exerted more potent antioxidant activity than 22 fruits and vegetables. Dr. Prior also reported that 85% of the total antioxidant activity of tea was solubilized within the first five minutes of brewing. Researchers at King's College in London found that the catechins and flavonols in tea had a greater ability to counter oxidative damage than did antioxidants from many fruits and vegetables. Unilever Research in the Netherlands showed that consumption of a single dose of tea increases total antioxidant activity in the blood. Source: Tea time for nutraceuticals: new black, green tea products brew up a bevy of health benefits. Food Processing, March 1999. --- Source: Thousand Cranes Tea http://www.life-choices.com/cj/tea.html *************************************** Our sponsors make this newsletter FREE to subscribers. Please take a moment to visit them. *************************************** AwesomeHealth: Powerful ideas to help make your mind even sharper, & push your spiritual, relationship, physical, & career health to the next level. A whole approach. http://www.awesomehealth.com/tr/a.cgi?sig *************************************** Finally, the real ANSWERS to LOSING WEIGHT! Leave behind the gimmicks, the fads and most of all... the POUNDS. You've Got Nothing To Lose... But Pounds! gets to the source of permanent, healthy weight loss. You're weight problem may not have anything to do with over eating. Get your copy now and find out. http://www.diets-dont-work.com *************************************** Section 4 Are You Sleeping Enough To Loose Weight? By Jacqueline Swensen http://www.SleepSoundly.com To lose weight, three simple rules need to be followed: eat a well-balanced, low-fat diet; exercise regularly; and get proper rest. While the first two rules are obvious to everyone, few people pay attention to the third-sleep. Recent research has shed light on why it's important to get enough sleep if one wants to lose weight. A sleep researcher, Dr. Eve Van Cauter, of the University of Chicago, published an article in the October 23rd, 1999, issue of the British medical journal Lancet. Dr. Van Cauter's team studied the effects of varied amounts of sleep in 11 healthy men, ages 18 to 27. The men spent eight hours in bed during the first three nights, four hours per night for the next six nights, and twelve hours per night for the remaining seven nights. Just one week of sleep deprivation revealed that the production of the growth hormone that helps control the body's proportion of muscle to fat was reduced. This hormone is secreted mostly during the first round of deep, slow-wave sleep (to a greater extent in men than in women). This hormone is extremely important in controlling body weight. When the body produces less of this hormone, there is a tendency for the body to store fat. Depriving ourselves of proper sleep limits the production of this hormone. Also, as we age, the time we spend in deep sleep lessens, making it even more imperative for us to get the sleep we need. Another hormone that is effected by the amount and quality of sleep we get is leptin. This hormone plays a large part in our ability to control how much we eat. Leptin is the hormone that gives our body the signal that we've eaten enough; it's what tells us that we feel "full." Dr. Van Cauter's study revealed that sleep deprivation causes leptin levels to be reduced. This causes our bodies to crave carbohydrates even though we've consumed enough calories. Unless we can burn these excess carbohydates, they will be converted to body fat. As a result of sleep deprivation, we make the task of controlling our weight even more difficult-we begin our day fatigued. In his book The Promise of Sleep, Dr. William C. Dement writes that when people are sleep deprived, we lack energy during the day. This lack of energy means that not only do we accomplish less, we also don't burn many calories. The body reacts to this by hoarding calories as fat, making weight loss very difficult. So how do you get a full night's sleep so you can have the hormone levels that can help with weight loss? Here are some general sleep tips to get you started. o Avoid napping during the day. o Limit or omit the use of alcohol and caffeine and avoid smoking, especially in the late afternoon and evening hours. o Exercise regularly, but not within three hours of bedtime. o Avoid mental stimulation just before going to sleep. o Avoid using your bed for reading or watching TV. o Try not to go to bed hungry, or within three hours of eating a full meal. Eating foods high in protein close to bedtime can keep you awake because your body thinks it should get active. o Eat a healthy diet (consulting a book on nutrition or speaking to a nutritionist might be necessary to establish a better diet) and supplement your diet with a good multi-vitamin. Remember these two simple, natural methods that can help increase deep sleep: 1. Make sure you exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes three or four times a week. 2. Take a warm bath just before going to bed to raise your body temperature. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Disclaimer All material appearing in this newsletter is provided for educational purposes only. It is provided with the understanding that authors and contributors are not offering medical advice or services. We strongly encourage you to consult with your own physician regarding any recommendations with respect to your own medical condition. 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