ALTERNATING SITZ BATH

ALTERNATING SITZ BATH

The sitz bath is an immersion bath with the person seated in a tub with water covering the hips, buttocks, and lower abdomen. It is used to decrease congestion and increase circulation to the pelvic and lower abdominal organs.

Indications: Sitz baths are used to treat vaginal infections, chronic urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, hemorrhoids, fissures, prostatitis, constipation, insomnia, and neuralgias. Contraindications:Open wounds or active bleeding, vaginal bleeding, (including excessive menstrual bleeding), prolapsed organs, acute lung congestion, acute inflammation, painful conditions with spasm or colic, pregnancy and heart problems.

Directions

1. Prepare a tub with hot water at a temperature of 105-110 degrees F. This range is about the same or slightly warmer than a typical hot tub. Do not exceed 120 degrees F. Fill the tub so that it comes to 1 inch above your navel when you are in a seated position.

2. Put a long towel in a separate, small ice water bath (a bucket or large bowl will suffice) placed next to the tub.

3. Sit in the hot bath for at least 3 minutes.

4. After hot bath, stand and, without wringing out towel, wrap the cold towel around pelvis like a diaper. Make sure that the towel is touching your skin all the way around. Do not allow the towel to come up higher than 1 inch below your navel. Leave on for 30 seconds. Return towel to ice bath.

5. Sit down in the hot bath for another 3 minutes.

6. Repeat cold towel wrap, as before, for 30 seconds.

7. Sit down in hot bath for another 3 minutes.

8. Repeat cold towel wrap, as before, for 30 seconds.

9. Following the third cold towel wrap, get out of tub and dry off.

Resources

1. Pizzorno, J., Murray, M., Roberts, N. and Barry, R. Textbook of Natural Medicine, 2nd Ed. 1999. Churchill Livingstone. Edinburgh, Scotland. Pp 345-356, 1474-1477.


2. Thrash, A. and Thrash, C. Home Remedies: Hydrotherapy, Massage, Charcoal, and Other Simple Treatments. 1981. Thrash Publications. Seale, Alabama. Pp 40, 44, 73, 76.

How to make Elderberry Syrup

Elderberry syrup is easy to make. It is great for cold and flu and it tastes wonderful!

1 cup frsh or 1/2 cup dried blue elderberries
3 cups water
1 cup honey

1. Place the berries in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.



2. Smash the berries. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer and add 1 cup of honey, or adjust to taste.



3. Bottle the syrup and store in the refrigerator, where it will keep for 2 to 3 moths.

from Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal recipes for Vibrant Health

Jump Start to Wellness and Weight Loss Purification Group Program

Burdened with toxins?
We are all living in a toxic world. There are more than 100,000 chemicals that are used commercially and 25,000 are known to be hazardous to human health. Recent research shows that 100% of human fat cell biopsies show elevated level of toxins. Our bodies are exposed to toxins every day from the air we breathe, the foods we eat and drink, the medications we consume, and from our own body’s metabolism, no matter how careful we are or where we live. Many of the chemicals detected are known to disrupt hormone, cause cancer, and contribute to many other health problems.

Our purification program is designed to be a safe and effective method of clearing unwanted toxins in your body. You will look and feel better as your body mobilizes and removes unwanted toxins.

We will help you to take the initial step on the path of healthy living. Use our program as a map and Dr. Takashima as a guide to begin this journey to improved health and vitality!

Who benefits from this program ?
Weight gain
Fatigue

Difficult sleeping

Sugar cravings

Digestive problems

Headaches

Food cravings

Low libido

Reduced mental clarity

Allergy

Immune challenges

Skin issues

Bloating

Body aches
Cranky

Hormone imbalances

High blood pressure

High cholesterol

Anti-aging

This program includes:

1. Professional quality 3 week natural cleansing products to help complehensive whole body cleansing. $239.00 plus Tax.

2. Complemental 3 Weekly group meetings plus one orientation meeting with Dr. Takashima. Orientation will be held at beautiful Asilomar conference center. First meeting will be talked about why we need to cleanse and its benefits, food to include and exclude during this program, menus, how to take cleansing products. Other meetings will be discussed additional helpful tips about cleansing plus time to ask Dr. Takashima questions and support from group members. Free ($80.00 value).

3. Complementary body composition analysis. Free ($65.00 value).

4. Toxicity Questionaire to truck your progress before and after the program. Free

5. 25% off coupon of our mineral detox bath at Natural Holistic Wellness Center.

Total $239.00 plus tax! $384.00 value.

Orientation starts October 1st.

Book by September 19th to receive your purification products on time. Call 831-920-2211. Prefer to start different time on your own? We can help you too.

Homeopathy

What is it?

• Homeopathy is a system of medicine in which minute doses of specially-prepared natural substances are used to stimulate the innate healing capacity of the body. Its central premise is the idea that “like cures like” – meaning that a substance that produces symptoms in a healthy person will cure those same symptoms in a sick person.
• Homeopathy is the second most commonly used form of medicine in the world, behind indigenous herbal medicine (conventional Western or “allopathic” medicine is fourth). Hundreds of millions of people in more than 80 countries use homeopathy, and it is part of the national health system in the UK, Germany, France, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Mexico.

When did it start?

• Homeopathy was created in the early 19th century by German physician Samuel Hahnemann, MD and quickly spread around the world. It has been developed and refined by medical professionals (primarily medical doctors) ever since. Currently homeopathy is the second most widely-used form of medicine world-wide.
• The United States was the center of homeopathic medical development for the 19th century. By the turn of the 20th century in the US there were 22 homeopathic medical schools, 100 homeopathic hospitals, more than 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies, and 15,000 homeopathic practitioners (1 in 5 medical doctors). However, due to a coordinated political campaign by orthodox medical doctors, homeopathy was expunged from mainstream medical education and relegated to the fringe of the medical community by the 1930s.

What conditions respond to homeopathy?

• Homeopathy is a complete system of medicine, and as such is helpful with the entire spectrum of human illness. This includes both physical and emotional disease. Examples include: anxiety, depression, back pain, fatigue, insomnia, allergies, arthritis, skin conditions, menopausal/hormonal conditions, auto-immune disease, ADHD, neurologic conditions, and many more.

How Effective is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy’s effectiveness is supported by a large body of research in the medical literature. There are hundreds of well-designed trials published in peer-reviewed journals that demonstrate its effectiveness. A few include:

• A 2009 randomized, double-blind study conducted at a state medical school in Brazil found homeopathy to be comparable to Prozac (Fluoxetine) in treating moderate to severe depression.
• A 2001 prospective trial in a Swiss pediatric practice found homeopathic treatment of ADHD to be comparable (actually, slightly more effective) than Ritalin (Methylphenidate).
• A double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted at Harvard University School of Medicine, published in 1999 found homeopathy to be effective in treating MTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) (the signature injury of the current Iraq war).
• A 2007 German prospective study published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found a specific homeopathic product to be comparable (again, actually slightly more effective) when compared to Ativan (Lorazepam) for treatment of various nervous conditions (insomnia, distress, anxieties, restless, burnout, etc).

What is involved in homeopathic treatment?

• A homeopathic practitioner “takes the case” of a patient. This involves an extensive interview and sometimes physical examination of the patient. The various aspects of the patient and the pathology itself are taken into account in choosing a remedy that is individualized to each patient.
• The patient takes the remedy in the form of small pellets, which are dissolved under the tongue.
• The patient sees the practitioner for follow up appointments at appropriate intervals for management of the case. With chronic conditions this is usually once every month. In acute cases it may be daily or even more frequently.

Are there risks in using homeopathy?

• Homeopathy is likely the safest medicine there is. In it’s more than 200 year history, used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, there have been almost no reports of serious adverse effects and absolutely no deaths attributed to homeopathy.
• Unlike herbs and nutrients, homeopathy has no interactions with conventional drugs or surgical procedures and can be safely administered in almost any situation. If the incorrect remedy is given, nothing will happen. The body only responds when the correct remedy is given.

What sort of training do homeopaths have?

• In many countries (e.g. France, Brazil, Argentina, etc) homeopathy is a regulated medical specialty (like cardiology or oncology), practiced only by MDs. In the United States homeopathy can be practiced by most medical professionals, though training varies greatly. Only in naturopathic medical schools do students formally learn homeopathy both in the academic and clinical settings (seeing patients under doctor supervision). All other medical professionals learn homeopathy outside of their official academic and clinical training.

Source:AANP

Naturopathic Treatment of Diabetes and Prediabetes

Diabetes seems to be occurring to everyone—most people know a friend or family member who has developed it. Our country is in crisis regarding this disease because, quite simply, diabetes is at epidemic levels in the United States. And the statistics of diabetes are devastating—over the next 24 hours, 2200 people will be diagnosed with diabetes, 512 diabetics will die, 66 diabetics will go blind, 77 diabetics will be diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, and 153 diabetics will require an amputation.

24 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, and 47 million Americans with “prediabetes.” In fact, the Centers for Disease Control state that if things don’t change, one out of every three born today will become a diabetic, and that half of all Americans will be a diabetic by 2050.

There are several types of diabetes: gestational, whereby a woman becomes diabetic during her pregnancy; Type 1, which occurs both in children and adults due to an auto-immune disease destroying cells in the pancreas; and, Type 2, which is the most common form, occurring in 90-95% of diabetic patients, including pediatric patients. Type 2 diabetes is related to insulin resistance, which means the pancreas is producing insulin but the body cells are no longer sensitive to it, so glucose levels in their blood stay high.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by a number of factors, most of them controllable. There is a genetic association with diabetes, which people cannot change, but if everyone kept the controllable factors well-managed, we still would not be seeing the preponderance of diabetics. The controllable factors include: poor diet, over-eating, nutritional deficiencies, high refined grains and sugars consumption, high saturated fat consumption, lack of exercise, and being overweight/obese. Environmental toxins and hormonal imbalances are also noted for initiating insulin resistance. In the comprehensive visits with patients in which naturopathic physicians specialize, naturopathic physicians will investigate all of these "Obstacles to Cure" to uncover which aspects need to be specifically addressed per individual patient. In most patients many, if not most, of all of the etiologic factors are involved.

The naturopathic physician will then do a thorough physical exam, including basic evaluations as well as those specifically associated with diabetes, like checking the feet for nerve damage. Doctors will do the standard lab tests, checking for cholesterol, liver and kidney function, anemia, and all the blood sugar monitoring labs. Doctors may also do tests to measure vitamin D (necessary for glucose regulation), inflammatory markers, and cardiac risk profiles, including checking for environmental toxemia and thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive hormonal imbalances.

Diabetic patients need to welcome many changes into their lives, and naturopathic physicians are excellent at instructing and supporting them in this process. Diabetic patients will need to change their food intake to a low carbohydrate diet, and be taught how to get good protein variety in their diet, what kinds of oils are healthful, and how to include vegetables and a little fruit in their dietary regimen. Patients are encouraged to get an hour of exercise five days a week, and are taught methods to help regulate their stress, if that is a factor in their glucose control.

Patients will be given various supplements, which are invaluable. They work synergistically with the other aspects of the comprehensive protocol to replace deficient nutrients; help lower their glucose levels and decrease their insulin resistance; reduce inflammation, lipids and blood pressure; and protect them from diabetic induced damage. Patients may at times need to continue on standard prescriptive medication, may need to start medications or commonly, due to naturopathic care, may be able to reduce or stop medications. The naturopathic physician will effectively monitor the need for medication and make appropriate suggestions about the need for their use.

All in all, naturopathic protocols for diabetes are detailed, safe, and responsible. Patients can lose weight, gain significant energy, and reduce their glucose numbers, lipid values, and blood pressure. They can at times see their damaged nerves and kidneys to recover full functioning, and those without such damage will have protection from developing it. Naturopathic treatment of diabetes can be incredibly effective and naturopathic physicians should be the first type of doctor a diabetic patient seeks out for long term care.

Reference: AANP by Mona Morstein, ND, DHANP