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Taking Control of Your Health & Well-Being

By Georgianna Donadio, D.C., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Do you ever wonder why, in spite of all your good intentions, you just cannot seem to take control over your health and wellness the way you really want to? The answer to that question can be found in the words of Albert Einstein, who reminded us "you cannot correct a problem with the same thinking that created it”. In other words, you cannot change old behaviors without new information.

The Institute of Medicine recently published a study that indicates ninety million Americans are "health illiterate", which means we do not know how to interpret or use health information to control or improve our health, or prevent chronic disease. Data compiled previously identified, "lack of information as the number one root cause of death". Understanding that there exists a cause and effect relationship between what we know and how we behave, we need a model of integrating this important information to change the behaviors that lead to chronic disease. According to a 7-year, 1996, Harvard Medical School study, approximately 70% of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes. Furthermore, our diseases and conditions are primarily a result of stress, food, environment, attitude, emotions or beliefs that keep us in behaviors that lead to illness. Which invites the question, are we consciously choosing to be unhealthy, or do we just not understand sufficiently the relationship between what we think, how we behave, what we put into our bodies and how we keep ourselves well or make ourselves sick?

In a world exploding with health information, especially on the internet, we are caught in the dilemma of having abundant amounts of information, without a context through which we can understand and utilize this information in a way that is appropriate for our own unique personal health needs. There is, however, good news - making its way into the mainstream of health care is an integrated model of health information and education that provides a "whole picture of health" perspective, allowing each of us to discern and create our own unique approach to taking charge of our health and well-being. Whole Health Education, developed over the past 28 years, in cooperation with Boston physicians, nurses and educators, is an approach to understanding the cause and effect our behaviors and choices have on our state of health. Demystifying the five major factors that influence how sick or well we become, Whole Health Education provides a perspective on human anatomy and physiology, bio-chemistry, psycho-social, environmental and spiritual aspects which allows for an authentic understanding of what we need know to resolve chronic health problems or to stay healthy. Integrating evidence-based information with the wisdom of various spiritual teachings and a whole-person overview of behavioral options, Whole Health Education offers each of us a tool for personal health management by providing personalized health information that explains the physical, emotional, nutritional, environmental and spiritual aspects of a health concern.

For example, Mature Onset Diabetes affects approximately 18.2 million Americans and is the leading health concern in our culture today. As all chronic conditions are, Mature Onset Diabetes is a multi-dimensional disease state and the unique Whole Health perspective, can facilitate the restoration of health for those with chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Physical/Structural

What happens on a physical and structural level with Mature Onset Diabetes? The specialized beta cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin, become incapable of producing adequate amounts of the critically necessary secretion. This happens over a period of years and can begin in our bodies, over time, by eating large amounts of insulin-provoking foods. These insulin provocateurs, which are sugars and starches in the form of complex carbohydrates, require the pancreas to produce more insulin so that the sugars can be carried over the cell membranes to all parts of the body. Serious disturbances occur when we do not have enough insulin to carry the sugar over the cell membranes. Insulin hooks onto the sugar molecule and acts like a lock and key mechanism to bring that sugar into the cell which is then used in the energy cycle of cell metabolism. The nervous system, brain and the lungs cannot function without the proper metabolism of sugars.

Emotional/Social

Just as diabetes is a lack of nourishment on a chemical/nutritional level, so is it a lack of emotional nourishment on an emotional/mental level. It relates to the “feel good” nourishment component of your body. What do we know about carbohydrates and serotonin? Carbohydrates provoke the production of serotonin. Serotonin is a neuro-transmitter that produces a feeling of well-being. There is a direct relationship between what our body is doing chemically and how we feel emotionally. When we crave or build our diet around carbohydrates, this can be a way of “self-medicating” our emotional needs by eating carbohydrates to provoke insulin production.

Sugar problems can affect us emotionally. Let's say you have a pancreas that is not working properly. What can happen somatic/psychically from the pancreas to the brain? If we are feeling the ups and downs of hypoglycemia, and its biochemical/neurological symptoms, it may undermine our sense of security, self esteem, and produce anxiety and fear.

What is the emotional component of diabetes and the pancreas? Often, it can be a poor sense of self-esteem and a fear of not being “good enough” or not belonging. These feelings, medicated by the serotonin foods, can lead us to not look deeply enough into what is causing our health concerns and allow the feeling/feeding cycle to continue.

Chemical/Nutritional

On the nutritional side, the treatment for people with Mature Onset Diabetes is to decrease the stress on the pancreas by making changes in their diet -- decrease starches and sugars and decrease calories. Eat less, eat right. What kind of a diet would be best for preventing Mature Onset Diabetes? Vegetables, vegetables, and vegetables combined with lean proteins such as fish, chicken, water, a little fruit and a little fat. In a hypoglycemic situation, it is wise not to eat grain or sugar, but sprouted grain bread, and other substitutes can be healthy and satisfying.

Because hormones are chemicals, diabetes and hypoglycemia are both hormonal-based problems. What we know about the hormone system is that it works as a balanced interdependent system. Diabetes is an endocrine-related, systemic problem. With a systemic problem like diabetes, you have a body system problem--you do not just have a condition by itself. It is known that the pancreas is related, through hormone interaction, to the adrenals, and the adrenals are in turn related to the reproductive system. It is known that these glands are related through hormone interactions to the pituitary and the pituitary is related to the thyroid gland, the thyroid is related to the thymus, and the thymus is related to the immune system.

Environmental/Internal & External

The environment that we work in, live in, walk through, live near -- how does that environment have an impact on the way that we feel and the way we feel about ourselves?

How do we learn to trust in the order of the universe? By behaviors that come from trusting the order inside ourselves. We do this by setting boundaries -- codes of conduct of how we are going to behave, eat, work exercise and live. If we don't violate our own boundaries, we are less likely to let anybody else violate our boundaries. We have to start with ourselves. Our experience of victimization can begin with our own self-victimizing behavior.

Spiritual/World View

A Hindu Vendata truth is that “the whole world is one family”. It is said that there is only one disease, the disease of separateness, separating oneself from the awareness that we are one living organism. Competition creates isolation. The spiritual challenge presented by hypoglycemia and diabetes appears to be involved with over- or under-valuing the self: judgment of self and then others. Where are we in the process of getting to the truth that we are all equally important? The drama created by a one-up or one-down dynamic that we may allow to be part of our experience can lead to psychophysiology and the behavioral issues which can contribute to and create Mature Onset Diabetes.

Whole Health Education can transform our experience of taking care of ourselves. It can provide an understanding of our health concerns and conditions from this multi-dimensional perspective that makes sense in a way we can utilize the information directly and in a meaningful way. In addition, having the information provided in a mindful, respectful way that invites each of us to discern what we know about our health and condition, how to choose to resolve the problem and what kind of care we choose to have, allows each of us to experience whole-person health care through whole health information. Then, WE become the center of our health and healing process, rather than the doctors or practitioners we go to for guidance.

Georgianna Donadio D.C., M.Sc., Ph.D., has conducted a private practice in Whole Person Care since 1976. She is the Founder and Director of The New England School of Whole Health Education, the pioneer of Whole Health Education and a provider of patient and healthcare professional education since 1977. For more information, visit http://www.wholehealtheducation.org [out] or call 1-888-354-HEAL (4325).



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Awaken to the Benefits of Natural Food Supplements

By Kevin Pederson
If health food supplements are supposed to be natural solutions for dietary deficiencies in human beings, all natural health supplements should come from human food. After all, fish eat fish food, dogs eat dog food, cats eat cat food, cows eat grass and dung beetles eat dung. That, by the way is how its always been.

Naturally it would be safest for humans to supplement their diet with human natural food supplements. Consider the overall benefits - weight loss, no obesity, natural cures, healthy lifestyle, weight control. What more would one ask for?


When natural really is natural.
Carrots and whole grains are natural and healthy for humans that have been proven. So why do so many supplement manufacturers use strange ingredients in their products that have no safe, long-term, non-toxic history of use? The answer is not complex really. There is no other market for this kind of junk, so, as no one else wants it, it's cheap and plentiful.

As it is mentioned that apart from drugs, online pharmacy consultation is also given by these internet pharmacies. Some online pharmacies charge consultation fees but many do it free of cost. Another major benefit of buying on internet from foreign online pharmacies is that you are saved from the embarrassment of interacting directly with your doctor or the pharmacist. In a very convenient and simple way, you can get your desired medications at your doorstep.

What scientists don't really know are the long-term detrimental effects of these non-human foods. Who really wants to be a guinea pig? For instance, let's take dunalliela salina thats used as a carotenoid; it grows in stagnant polluted water that no living creature eats. Its use in food supplements is based not on nutrition but on profit margins and hype-marketing.
Human food chain nutrition

If you want nutritional foods that go way beyond natural, you ought to consider whole food and even organic foods. These natural food supplements use traditional fruits, vegetables and whole grains as their source of ingredients. They are even guaranteed to be free of all toxins and have been proven to work. Hundreds of thousands of satisfied people in dozens of countries around the world have been using natural supplements for over 50 years to look and feel their best - naturally.

Benefits of natural food supplements

They encourage access to key nutrients that prevent disease. Thus they eliminate the population of diseased, malnourished customers.

They make artificial food supplements more expensive, putting their purchase out of reach of more consumers.

With the loss of vitamin sales, a lot of artificial health retailers will be forced out of business. This is good for the health industry at large. The fewer health shops, the less competition there is for prescription drugs.

They set the stage for the future banning of artificial food supplements that prevent disease such as blueberries, broccoli and garlic.

They allow for the arrest and incrimination of key proponents of bad health (drug manufacturers, retailers and consumers), removing them from the public stage so that they no longer have a voice.

They allow natural health critics to use circular logic to attack the drug industry.

Kevin Pederson, a regular writer on Diet Health Club diet explains the necessary food supplements required by our body to encourage access to key nutrients that prevent disease.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Pederson


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Is Your Diet Healthy? Be Aware of the Power of Healthy Foods

By Rrohit Kumar
Many People ask why they put on weight even they do not overheat and follow a fairly normal diet. they also want to know why they fall ill regularly. Most of us do not even know what a healthy diet is. Read this Checklist to see whether you eat healthy or not.

Do you eat three fruits daily
Fruit are a rich source of active enzymes and Vitamins. Enzymes are bio-molecules that are only available in uncooked foods like fruits and salads. Enzymes helps the liver digest foods that are difficult to digest. People whose diets are poor in enzymes are prone to liver disorders and digestive problems. It's ideal to have one fruit from each category. This means having a citrus (orange/sweet lime) fruit, a filling (apple/pear/banana) fruit and a cleansing (papaya/pineapple) fruit a day.

Do you eat 20 gms of fibre daily?
Most of our problems stem from eating too little fibre. The maximum fibre is found in the skin of cereals like wheat and rice and pulses. Unfortunately, we eat all these cereals and pulses in high processed form when the skin is removed. This results in weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, constipation and cancers. similarly, soluble fibre that dissolves in the bloodstream is found in oat bran and the skin or peel of fruits that we usually discard. A lack of soluble fibre in your diet can cause problems like high cholesterol and gall stones.

Do you eat variety of foods?
Most of us have never heard of cereals like bajra, jowar, ragi (an excellent source of calcium). Think for a moment about what is common in so called variety of foods you eat: bread, biscuit, chapati, pasta, macaroni, noodles, sandwiches, momos, pastry, cake. they are all made of one cereal: wheat. Include other cereals in your diet.

Do you eat enough vegetables?.
We often cook and eat our vegetables with a lot of oil and think that's the only way to eat them. But there are many different ways to eat vegetables. You can have them in soups or eat them in soups or eat them streamed with a dressing of lemon, olive oil and light salt and pepper. You can stir fry them Chinese style or also juice them. Make a mixed vegetable juice out of Tomatoes, carrots, bottle gourd and beetroot.

Do you eat nuts and oil seeds?
Nuts and oil seeds provide us with vital minerals and micro minerals. They are rich in vitamin E, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.

Are you aware of power of special foods?
Health foods like sprouts, alfa-alfa sprouts, wheat grass juice, spirulina, amla and aloevera have the power to change lives. But we are unaware of them and wonder why we fall ill.



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How to Get Rid Away From Acne - 3 Simple Tips to Cure it

By Rrohit Kumar

Our face is the most exposed part in the body. Taking care of the skin is essential to look good. Proper acne skin care treatment can help you vanish this problem to make you feel better about yourself. Stop spending money on acne it is common problem in teenagers. A pimple starts when the pores in the skin become clogged with a type of oil called sebum. Natural remedies can be just as effective against medications.

Follow these simple tips will help you to get rid of acne fast:-

1. Always remember to be very gentle when washing the face. If you want to scrub your face then do it very gently otherwise it may result to irritate the skin which can further spreads the bacteria and makes the acne worse and worse. Use mild Cleanser when washing the face it gently wash away dead skin cells and will help your skin smoother. Repeat this process alternate days.


2. Fruits and vegetables are very good sources of Vitamins, eat green vegetables and seasonable fruits regularly it helps to clear the skin and improves its appearance. Drink 10 to 12 glasses of water everyday it flush out toxins which are harmful to the skin. Avoid too much oily foods, this method is not only good for your skin and health but as well as for acne also.


3. Don't touch acne excessive it may cause irritation which can spread. If you look your face in the mirror and see a pimple, don't touch it or squeeze it. Wash your pillow cover everyday because pillow cover absorbs the oil from your skin and reapplies the dirt and oil on it. Buy 'Safi' it is a blood purifier Syrup, you will get it from any medical store and drink 2 tea spoonful regularly. This purifies the blood and vanishes the acne and also good to all skin related problems.



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