By Erika Crotta, N.D., Ph.D.

Ayurveda is such a simple, common sense approach to health.  There are many tips Ayurveda suggests that cost us virtually nothing yet can have profound effects.  In the next two blogs I will discuss 14 items we all can do easily to reconnect us with the inner healer that Ayurveda seeks to awaken.

1. Schedule a walk with a friend or co-worker. Ayurveda considers walking an excellent exercise: it balances all three doshas (psycho-physiological principles) without putting excessive strain on your body. It calms the mind, nourishes the senses and restores “flow” to the body’s essential channels. The following claim about walking recently appeared on the AARP.org website – “If a daily fitness walk could be put in a pill, it would be one of the most popular prescriptions in the world. It has so many health benefits. Walking can reduce the risk of many diseases — from heart attack and stroke to hip fracture and glaucoma. These may sound like claims on a bottle of snake oil, but they’re backed by major research. Walking requires no prescription, the risk of side effects is very low, and the benefits are numerous.”

2. Create a fresh lunch. Foods that are processed, canned, frozen or packaged are harder to digest, and thus create toxins. Also, because they are old, denatured by processing, or include harmful ingredients such as chemical preservatives, they no longer contain nature’s intelligence. Rather, they create excessive waste and block nature’s intelligence from reaching the cells. Just for today, make the effort to eat a fresh, warm lunch. Eat in a settled, quiet atmosphere and focus on your food when you eat. Have your main meal at lunch. Two powerful forces are at their peak around lunch time: the energy of the sun and the fire of your digestion are strongest at midday.

3. Drink a glass of pure, preferably warm water first thing in the morning. This will support proper evacuation through kidneys and bowels. Water flushes out accumulated toxins, and keeps the digestion smooth. Sipped throughout the day, water is an excellent healer, especially warm water. Avoid ice cold water; it will restrict the flow in your body. Proper elimination first thing in the morning is one of the key secrets for good health.

4. Drink a glass of milk. At the end of a tiring day, when you cannot seem to close your eyes, don’t be frustrated: drink a glass of warm milk. Milk should be organic and free of additives, and boiled with a pinch of cardamom before it is drunk in order to make it easier to digest. Drink it alone, away from meals, to avoid indigestion. Warm milk has a very soothing effect on the nervous system.

5. Sit down and close your eyes. Take a “quiet-time” break right now, right here. Disconnect from the outer world and tune in to your own self. Even if you do this for a minute, you will feel healed. Practitioners of meditation say their daily 20-minute ‘self-referral practice’ helps conquer stress and increase positive energy and a sense of well-being.

6. Sip herb tea. All-natural, caffeine-free teas prepared from nature’s healing herbs are a perfect way to relax and recharge: choose from among Ayurveda’s wide range of beverages to pick the flavor and blend that suits your unique body type and your needs.

7. Massage your body. The skin thirsts for touch and attention. When warm herbalized oil is rubbed gently all over the skin, your body and your mind feel pampered and relaxed. Treat your skin to the magic of a daily massage. Use natural, organic, warm herbalized oils according to the season and body type. Containing powerful botanicals working synergistically, Ayurvedic massage oils are especially formulated to nourish, re-hydrate and heal the skin. For the ‘base’ oil, cold-pressed, chemical free, organic sesame oil works best.

8. Breathe deep. Mindful breathing improves the flow of oxygen and other vital nutrients to the tiniest channels of the body, giving you an instant sense of well-being.

Dr. Crotta is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor from Germany with a Ph.D. in Physiology and Ayurvedic Medicine from the United States. She has an Ayurvedic practice in Petaluma. www.AyurvedaND.com

Jean Grant-Sutton

It is becoming common knowledge that diabetes has become an epidemic disease in our country. Statistics show over 18 million Americans are affected.  This complex condition involves our bodies’ metabolic abilities to regulate and utilize insulin and glucose (sugar) in the body. In diabetes, an excess of glucose remains in the circulation and the proper function of insulin to lower glucose levels is not working. There are a number of types of diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is largely preventable and treatable through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes.

Studies have shown that the regular practice of yoga  can benefit those with Type 2 diabetes. Yoga has shown to reduce blood sugar levels, blood pressure, weight, the rate of progression to complications and the severity of the complications as well. The symptoms are also reduced and so is the number of diabetes related hospital admissions. Quality of life shows a marked improvement.  Yoga has been shown to be effective in helping people make the lifestyle changes needed to control this disease.

Stress plays a big role in glucagon secretion. Yoga effectively reduces stress by lowering cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenalin levels in the body. Forward bending poses have a calming effect on the body, as does child’s pose, knee down twist and some of the breathing exercises.

The belly down poses, like the bow and the cobra, produce a stretch on the pancreas and is found to help stimulate pancreatic function that is responsible for insulin production. Other poses that compress the abdomen will also help stimulate the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, like the  half-seated twist, and the plow.

A balanced yoga practice will put the emphasis on cultivating awareness, or mindfulness. This teaches a sensitivity to body signals, sensations, thoughts, emotions, etc., which

may be ultimately the biggest benefit to diabetics The overall relationship to the body/mind improves and helps  people connect directly to the cause and effect of their actions. They become responsive to the needs of their body.

Food choices have a huge impact on our body chemistry. The yogic diet, which is high in fiber, whole grains, legumes and vegetables, are just the right combination for helping to stabilize blood sugar levels and also encourage weight loss.

For diabetics it is important to choose foods like these that are low on the glycemic index.

Diabetes is a complex condition with a multitude of metabolic imbalances and it is important to be monitored by your medical professional before starting a yoga practice. Diabetes Type 2 is seen to be both preventable and treatable through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. Yoga can be effective due to its emphasis on a healthy diet and it’s ancient bodywork system. It has the capacity to balance the endocrine system, massage and tone the abdominal organs, stimulate the nervous and circulatory systems and reduce stress.

You can find out more about Yoga, Diabetes and the studies that have been done by typing in those topics to your computer browser.

Jean Grant-Sutton is director of BodyWorks Integrative Yoga and Stress Management.

www.bodyworksyoga.com/

Edward Bauman, M.Ed., Ph.D. & Jodi Friedlander, M.S., N.C.

When we question the health benefits of bread, even the whole-grain variety, we are raising

concerns about the entire fabric of our food supply. Bread has been the staff of life for eons. A piece of fresh bread straight out of the oven, perhaps smeared with organic butter, is a very special treat.

Unfortunately, for an increasing number of people, eating bread of any kind on a regular basis – along with flour products such as pastries and pasta, and condiments containing wheat starch – contributes to a wide variety of uncomfortable symptoms and sometimes to debilitating disease.

Most of us have intense emotional attachments to bread, cookies, and pasta, which are usually

made from wheat flour. We reach for these foods when we are feeling happy or sad, lonely or tired, in health and in sickness. Eating bread is both filling on the physical plane and fulfilling on an emotional level. The Eating for Health™ approach encourages people to depend largely on non-gluten grains, such as millet, quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, and non-GMO corn. These delicious grains do not provoke the negative effects that come from a reaction to the glute found in wheat, rye, oats, and barley.

Gluten By Any Other Name….

So just what is this substance that is plaguing so many? Gluten (Latin for glue) is just one of many proteins found in wheat. Comprised of two protein groups — gliadin and glutenin — gluten gives wheat its strength, malleability, and the elasticity that allows it to rise. The gliadin portion, which is a type of prolamin (a group of simple proteins consisting chiefly of proline and glutamine) and the most studied protein fraction, has been recognized since the 1960s a the cause of the intestinal damage seen in celiac disease.

As to why gluten should cause some of us such difficulty — why the “staff of life” should become the stuff of strife and a toxin to some — the reason appears to be a symphony of factors that began to be played out about 10,000 years ago, when humans began cultivating wild grasses as food crops. Until that time, grasses had been utilized as a food source on a minimal basis. It may be that our digestive tracts have not had enough evolutionary time to develop the digestive enzymes necessary to assimilate what nutritionist Sally Fallon calls one of the most difficult proteins to digest (2001, p. 56). One of the known problems with grains, especially wheat, is that people can be intolerant. Intolerance to wheat does not elicit an immune response. It may be caused by an enzyme deficiency or by undigested food particles that create bacterial fermentation in the colon, with its resulting symptoms (Steinman et al., 2005).

People can also be allergic to grains. Because of the vast quantities of wheat we consume, it is the culprit in most of these reactions. Wheat contains over 100 different proteins, and allergies are mostly related to the albumin or globulin protein fractions rather than gluten (Steinman et al., 2005). These allergies are immune responses and can produce fairly sudden life-threatening reactions, such as anaphylaxis. More frequently, they produce skin (hives, eczema) gastrointestinal (cramps, nausea) or respiratory (asthma, rhinitis) symptoms. Allergies may be present with or without a family history. Wheat allergies are treated with a wheat- and gluten-free diet. As true allergies, they are Immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated reactions.

Celiac disease has long been considered a disease of malabsorption because the damage done to

the intestinal lining, which contains enzymes essential to digestion, impairs assimilation Deficiencies of iron and folic acid, serum calcium, and the fat-soluble vitamins D and E often occur; Vitamins B12 and K deficiencies sometimes occur (Collin et al., 2002; Helms, 2005). Though the classic symptoms have remained constant since being defined in the1960s, CD currently seems to present with milder symptoms than it used to.

Ed Bauman, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Bauman College Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts. He is a ground-breaking leader in the field of whole foods nutrition, holistic health, and community health promotion. www.baumancollege.org/articles.

Jeff Friedman D.C.

Fibromyalgia is a condition that affects over 8 million Americans, 80% of them female. People with this chronic condition have symptoms of severe fatigue and multiple sites of aches and pain in their muscles, ligaments and tendons. Years ago, people with this condition were told they had fibrositis, myalgia, rheumatism or were just plain hypochondriacs.

In the early eighties, criteria for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia were formulated to include three month’s duration of the condition and noticable pain upon palpation (gentle pressure) of at least 11 of 18 common muscle sites. The key areas palpated include virtually all of the large muscles of the body, particularly those used in posture to hold us up.

By the late nineties, however, some doctors began to recognize that fibromyalgia did not have to be present in the whole body, that symptoms could be present even in a single extremity.

Since it is a chronic disease, people with fibromyalgia tend to have symptoms most of the time. Various factors can cause an increase in severity of the condition, however, including weather changes and the degree of physical activity and stress in the patient’s life. Food additives and substitutes (such as aspartamine) have also been shown to increase symptoms of fibromyalgia.

What causes fibromyalgia?

There isn’t a single cause of this condition. The theories run the gamut from the long-term effects of having an infection to the consequences of a trauma to the upper segment of your spine.

What is known is that your Autonomic or Involuntary Nervous System has been stressed by injury, toxicity, nutritional deficiency, or emotional duress. Imbalances within the nervous system affect the small circulation network throughout the body. In the case of fibromyalgia, muscles and ligaments are the most affected.

Care for people with fibromyalgia must be tailored to the patient’s individual condition. All components of your life must be analyzed. This is very much an illness for which the patient has to become active in his or her own care.

For example, while exercise is important, too much exercise can activate symptoms that will cause discomfort for months. Diet is also very important. Creating a diet that allows your body to manufacture its own natural anti-inflammatory agents may reduce your need for anti-inflammatory medications. You must also avoid foods, food substitutes, and food additives that increase the inflammatory response in your body.

Maintaining structural balance can be an important help in preventing unnecessary muscle contractions, as when a dropped arch in your foot causes increased muscle contraction from your foot to your jaw.

In short, every patient with fibromyalgia suffers from diffuse pain in multiple areas and is usually chronically fatigued, as well. It is, therefore, critical that each patient have a personalized treatment plan tailored to the individual’s needs and engaging his or her active involvement in their own care.

Could you or someone you know have fibromyalgia?

The following describes the most common symptoms:

•        Widespread pain in the body. Fibromyalgia causes pain in specific muscle locations when pressure is applied. These areas may include the muscles of the base of the neck, the upper chest, and the forearms, thighs, and calves. The pain generally persists for months at a time and is often accompanied by stiffness.

•        Fatigue and sleep disturbances. People with fibromyalgia wake up tired and unrefreshed. They may stay asleep all night, but it is not a sound sleep. They suffer from a condition called alpha wave interrupted sleep pattern, a condition in which deep sleep is frequently interrupted by bursts of brain activity, similar to wakefulness.

• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Between 40% and 70% of people with fibromyalgia experience symptoms of constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating.

•        Chronic headaches and facial pain. 50% have recurrent migrane or tension-type headaches.
90% experience jaw and facial pain or increased sensitivity. 50% report increased sensitivity to odors, noises, bright lights, various foods, changes in weather, and numbness or tingling sensations in the hands and feet.

•        Difficulty concentrating and mood changes.

•        Chest pain or pelvic pain.

•        Irritable bladder.

•        Dry eyes and mouth.

•        Dizziness.

•        Sensation of swollen hands and feet.

Dr, Friedman uses gentle neurological and muscle relaxation methods to promote self-healing.

www.FriedmanChiro.com.

The other day a visitor at the dojo asked me, “Does it mean that the person falling down loses?”  I had to explain that Aikido is not a competitive art and that the person defending themselves from attack and the attacker are working together and not competing against each other.

Perplexed, she asked, “Then how do you know who wins?”

I went on to explain that in Aikido there are no winners and losers.  You gain rank by time spent training and demonstrating your competency in front of your teacher.  You improve by training recurrently over time with partners who help you advance in your skill level.  In other words, it’s a partnership in which you are equally committed to each other’s development.  While you are learning more and more complex techniques you also embody fundamental principles such as dynamic relaxation, centering, grounding, extending and focusing your energy, blending, being a skillful partner, neutralizing aggression without violence, and being in harmony with natural laws (spirals, gravity, yin and yang).

The person who defends in Aikido is called nage and the person who attacks, and then is thrown, or taken down, is called uke.  The word uke, from ukeme, is roughly translated as the one who receives the force, and nage is the one who gives the force.  Training with an accomplished uke vastly accelerates your ability to learn the techniques and principles because a trained uke can fully take your force without hurting themself, or you, and moreover they can help you shape your moves more effectively.  In this way both partners work together to help each other improve.  To see Aikido in this way is pure Beauty…capital B; and Beauty is good for your health.

This embodied ethic of cooperation goes far beyond the dojo and it has deep and wide ramifications in our personal and professional lives.  The embodied practice of partnership in Aikido produces more effective communication, deeper listening, and an increased willingness to help others in our daily lives. Training with this ethic of cooperation in mind it then becomes natural to become a “good uke” for someone outside the dojo as well; that is, to be open to and receive “the energy” of family, colleagues, clients, and loved ones so we can listen more deeply to what they’re communicating: their purpose, concerns, hopes, fears, and dreams. In this way the word “uke” becomes a practical operational distinction in our relationships and we can ask ourselves: am I listening clearly and deeply enough to them, am I giving them useful feedback, am I treating them with dignity, am I shaping myself so they become more skilled at what they are doing?  We learn to partner this way in Aikido through practices that consolidate body, speech, and spirit.

Remember that this cooperation and partnership doesn’t mean that uke is simply being acquiescent or compromising.  The uke has standards of center, ground, and connectivity as well; and if the nage is unnecessarily rough or disconnected the feedback from uke will be clear and direct.  That is, he or she will not take the ukeme, which means they won’t fall or go down or they will stop the nage from completing the technique.  This type of direct feedback is the responsibility of the uke to insure that nage meets the standard of the relationship and is not bullying, or overly timid.  For uke to maintain standards is their commitment to the advancement and learning of nage.  We can easily see how this transfers to our relationships outside the dojo.  Both partners learn to feel, not just think, their way through the nuances of a relationship.

Practiced diligently Aikido is an effective martial art; but at its heart there lies the seeds of how people can harmoniously conduct their relationships in dignity, love, and strength.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler has a Sixth degree black belt in Aikido and a PhD in Psychology.  He is the author of seven books including the nationally acclaimed In Search of the Warrior Spirit and The Leadership Dojo. He can be reached at: Strozziinstitute.com

There are thousands of homeopathic remedies, and unlike prescribing Western medications, like antibiotics for infections, homeopathic remedies are chosen with both the patient and the condition to be treated in mind.

Huh?

Well, not for an acute situation, such as a fall resulting in bruises — almost every homeopathic prescriber would tell you to take some arnica. Other conditions, however, differ from person to person. Even if the symptoms are the same, for instance, a cold with a cough, congestion, and lethargy, how we as individuals respond is quite different. Some of us might go to work as usual and try to ignore it. Another person might stay home in bed. A third might go to the gym, steam in the sauna, and buy out the over-the-counter cold treatment aisle at Whole Foods.

The homeopath, as I have said before, tries to match the remedy with the person and his or her coping strategies. The practitioner will asses the acuteness of the situation, whether it is a chronic, a recurring, or a deteriorating condition; how rapid is its onset and its response to treatment, etc. The practitioner will also be assessing the patient — how is the mood? Anxious, depressed, cheerful  — this is all data.

Two major ways that homeopaths classify remedies are through kingdom and miasm. Kingdoms are mainly mineral, plant, and animal (although there are weird ones like fungi and inponderables, and then there are nosodes, which I’m not going to even try to explain here) and are the source material for the remedy. Miasms are classification of remedies by disease names. These are not necessarily the remedies for those diseases, although often they are used to treat them, but they are also remedies describing the disease state and the issues involved, even of the symptoms being treated have nothing to do with that disease.

Are you sufficiently confused?

Let’s start with the kingdoms, because that is a more familiar classification system for us. We’ve all heard someone described as “a rock”, or “the salt of the earth”, or “iron-willed”. These people are not going to share the characteristics of someone we would call, “a shrinking violet”, a “hot-house flower”, or “a clinging vine”. And when we are speaking of a “fox”, a “tiger”, or a “mouse”, an entirely different picture of the person emerges.

The first descriptions would be used to describe people needing a mineral-based remedy. They are often concerned with structure and order (although this is not so apparent in gassy mineral types, who tend to have loose boundaries). Relationships are important, and are often described in terms of the role relationship – “my wife”, “my best friend”.

Contrast this with an animal remedy. Here the issues, for the most part, have to do with survival, hierarchy (who’s dominating whom?), jealousy, passion – the kinds of things we associate with animals. While a mineral remedy may deal with anger by putting up a wall, an animal may fight for something “tooth and claw”.

And the plants — they are sensitive, adaptive, concerned with having roots or flying all over the place like a thistle. They are sensitive to physical conditions such as heat and rain and often have seasonal allergies, but they are emotionally sensitive as well. They may be prickly or easily bruised.

These are oversimplifications, but you get the idea. Most people identify with one kingdom or the other. Which one do you think you are?

Naomi Richman, MFT, is a psychotherapist and homeopath with offices in Petaluma and Berkeley.

www.naomirichman.com

This year, because of swine flu, there is understandably a good deal of concern about the impending flu season. There have already been 9 deaths in Sonoma County from this flu, so it is something we all need to take seriously.

Western allopathic medicine approaches this illness with the use of vaccinations. Chinese medicine takes another approach. First, the aim of treatment is to strengthen the body’s natural defense against infection. The second aspect of prevention in Chinese medicine is to pay attention to our lifestyle.

Prevention: Building the Wei Chi or Defensive Chi

Many thousands of years ago Chinese medicine realized that the best way to prevent illness and disease was to strengthen the defenses of the body. The ancient master practitioners formulated the idea of a special type of energy called Wei Chi, or defensive Chi. This idea has many features in common with the modern concept of our immune system. Very specific herbal formulas and Acupuncture treatments were designed to help boost the Wei Chi and reduce the possibility of becoming ill.

One of the main herbal formulas used to strengthen the Wei Chi is Jade Wind Shield. This formula was first used in China in 1481, eleven years before Columbus sailed for America! This formula has a very high percentage of an herb called astragalus.  There has been a lot of highly accredited research, readily available on the Internet, showing quite conclusively that astragalus increases the body’s ability to produce white blood cells.

Modern variations of this formula are Jade Shield and Jade Screen. These formulas can be taken now before the flu season gets under way. Taking it now will help strengthen your immune system and reduce the chances of you becoming ill with the flu in the coming months.

Lifestyle

Another way you can help prevent becoming susceptible to illnesses, and swine flu in particular, is to follow some simple, but very effective, lifestyle measures.  Western research has shown that 70% of the immune system is found in the digestive tract. It is in this lymphoid tissue where immune cells are stored and from where attacks are carried out against pathogens. Eating lots of green vegetables is very beneficial for good health. In addition, regularly taking probiotics or aerobic bacteria, which are in abundance in a healthy gut, can enhance the strength of the immune system. Probiotics support and encourage the growth of healthy aerobic bacteria and reduce the growth of anaerobic bacteria.

Reducing or even eliminating sugar and highly processed foods is another very good thing to do when it is your intention is to enhance the effectiveness of your immune system.

Taking Herbs Early

If you do think you are coming down with the flu, there are specific herbal formals that can be taken. It is important to add these formulas as soon as you suspect you are unwell. If you do this, there is a very good chance that the herbs will stop a cold or flu altogether. If the infection has become established, the herbs can significantly shorten the time and severity of the illness. These early symptoms can be subtle: a scratchy throat, a feeling of chill, or unusual achiness or fatigue.

The formulas that you will need to take will vary according to your symptoms and so it is advisable to contact a qualified practitioner to ensure you get the correct treatment.

It is very important to take the herbal formulas for at least 3 days after you feel the infection has cleared up and you have been symptom free. Often the virus or bacteria linger in the body after the symptoms are alleviated. If you stop taking the herbs too soon, the infection may get re-established.

Rest

Along with taking the herbs, you will need to rest to give your system a chance to fight the infection.

The information in this blog is for general guidance. If you get the flu or specific questions about the herbs we recommend you should contact a qualified herbalist or medical practitioner.

Ian Rawlinson has practiced Chinese medicine in Petaluma for 23 years.

www.rawlinsonacupuncture.com

Jean Grant-Sutton

Did you know there are 60,000miles of blood vessels in your circulatory system? Also, are you aware that the complete cycle for a blood cell from the heart through the body back to the heart takes less than one minute?  A well-balanced yoga class will provide moderate exercise for the heart muscle during the active part of the class and complete relaxation at the end of class. This balance of moderate work and complete rest is an ideal program for a healthy heart.

Did you know that the endocrine system regulates the secretion of important chemicals into your body’s blood stream? The chemicals have important functions like regulating the fight or flight response. Like all of the systems of the body, the endocrine system is designed to have periods of activity and rest. If this system is operating on red alert status all of the time the glands can be affected. The thyroid can lose its ability to secrete sufficient amounts of thyroxin. The adrenal glands can loose their ability to secrete adequate amounts of adrenaline and the pancreas can loose its ability to secrete adequate amounts of insulin. Yoga balances the endocrine system as a whole by balancing the mind, which then sends a message of balance to the pituitary, the master gland of the endocrine system. The yoga postures have a direct massaging and balancing effect on all the different endocrine glands.

The muscular-skeletal system of the body is designed to provide strong support and free

movement to our frame. Chronic stress, tension and inactivity can limit the body’s natural movement. When the muscles are chronically contracted through physical or emotional trauma, poor posture, and such, the skeleton loses its natural alignment. This may cause wear and tear and conditions such as osteo-arthritis and other chronic pain symptoms. As the muscular system comes back into balance through yoga, healthy alignment of the skeleton occurs, strength and flexibility return and this allows the muscular-skeletal system to be pain free and move with ease through the day.

For a strong immune system the yoga postures, the breathing exercises, the relaxation and meditation practices are fantastic tools. As we know, a strong immune system fights off invaders that can make us sick from invading bacteria or viruses, causing flus, colds etc. Our immune system can also be over working and producing too much mucus, which creates allergy symptoms like, inflamed eyes, headaches, stuffy ears, nose and difficult breathing. Through postures done in a relaxed way, slow, deep breathing and deep relaxation techniques we can calm and settle the nervous system which informs the  immune system to stop attacking foreign bodies and decrease the amount of mucus being produced. Our symptoms may subside.

There are more systems at work in our bodies including our respiratory and digestive systems. It’s important to remember we are taking care of a whole large multifaceted system that is designed to work synergistically, in harmony with all of its parts, in order to experience optimum wellbeing.  The essential teaching of Yoga is Unity Consciousness, bringing things together, joining all of the systems into balance. This integration is key to the positive benefits that we receive from a regular yoga practice. As our awareness in this deep interconnectedness grows, we can experience a reconnection to the sacred in everyday life and we will truly delight in the joy of being alive.

Jean Grant-Sutton is director of BodyWorks Integrative Yoga and Stress Management.
www.bodyworksyoga.com

Erika Crotta N.D. Ph.D.

Modern medicine provides us with miraculous procedures to deal with the end result of a disease process (e.g., cancer: removing the tumor; heart attack: bypass surgery). These lifesaving techniques provide quick relief. However, if the patient doesn’t change his/her habits after these events, then the conditions that inspired the problem in the first place will remain, inviting the disease to return. Hippocrates said, “A disease does not fall from heaven, it is the result of the little sins we do day by day.” Ayurvedic Medicine compliments modern medicine in such a beautiful way because it looks at the whole person, teaching us to listen to our inner voice so that we can “read” our body’s signals in order to re-establish and maintain good health.

According to Ayurvedic Medicine, good digestion is the basis for good health. Each person has a constitutionally different digestive strength and needs to eat according to that strength.  One way to know if you are eating according to your own unique, digestive strength is to be aware of how you feel right after you eat, as well as one, two or even three hours later. Do you feel light and happy? Or, do you have a feeling of dullness, heaviness and fatigue after meals (symptoms like bloating, or pressure in the abdominal area)? These uncomfortable feelings can be a sign of overeating; this leads to indigestion and the production of toxins.

Most chronic diseases start on the physical level with indigestion. When the digestion is functioning poorly, or the food you eat is not prepared or eaten properly, then toxic waste material called “Ama” collects in the digestive tract. Ama moves from your digestive tract through your circulatory system, into other parts of your body where it creates the basis for the disease process. The final localization of the circulating toxins determines the resulting disease, e.g. liver, kidney or heart disease, etc. However, if we eat just the right amount (and good quality) of food that can be digested well by our digestive strength “Ojas” is created. Ojas is the finest end-product of proper digestion – the material that keeps the body’s inner intelligence lively so that each cell can function efficiently. This results in a beautiful balance of body, mind, and heart. The more “ojas” your body produces, the greater experience you will have of good health, strong immunity and happiness.

Here are some easy tips to improve or maintain the potency of your digestive strength:

1. Avoid overeating. Try to eat to only 2/3 of your capacity (if your washing machine is too full then your clothes won’t be able to move around to get clean; a similar principle applies to your stomach – leave enough room for good digestion to take place);

2. Avoid drinking too much with your meals (especially ice cold drinks). Too much iced tea, for example, will dilute the potency of the digestive enzymes;

3. Avoid eating before the previous meal is digested (before you experience the feeling of hunger);

4. Have your main meal at lunch when your digestive fire is strong (avoid eating your biggest meal at suppertime);

5. If your digestion is weak, reduce the amount of raw and cold foods to smaller portions and enjoy these foods only at lunchtime.

The best way to maintain your ideal weight, improve resistance to disease, increase immunity and sustain wellness, is through adoption of healthy habits – including eating foods that are easier for you to digest.  If you would like to know what types of food best support your digestive strength, consult an Ayurvedic physician.

Dr. Crotta is an N.D. – Naturopathic Doctor from Germany and also has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Ayurvedic Medicine.

Our bodies create substances from fats that are necessary for good health – hence the term “essential fatty acids.”  Fat is used to store energy, make hormones, and transport vitamins, among other important functions. For a moderately active person, approximately one third of one’s daily calories can come from healthy fats.

It is useful to think of fats as building blocks – and the better the blocks, the stronger the building. If there are only broken or damaged blocks available, you can still build a house, but the house won’t have a strong foundation and eventually there will be problems.

Good Fats

Certain essential fatty acids are extremely beneficial. These include:

• Omega-3s, found in oily fish, algae, and some seeds and nuts;
• Omega-6s rich in GLA (gamma linolenic acid), found in evening primrose, borage, and red current oils; Omega 9s, found is olives, avocados, and nuts; and
• Uncooked saturated fats, found in coconut and raw dairy.

In our not so distant past, people consumed a healthy balance of oils and fats, which kept our immunity strong, our hormones in balance, our thinking clear, our energy even throughout the day, our skin, hair and eyes healthy, and even helped us maintain a healthy weight. Today, Americans consume large quantities of corrupted fats – found in packaged and processed foods, commercially baked goods, and fried foods – and not enough of the Omega-3 fats found in algae, fish, nuts, and seeds.

A general description of good fats is that they are naturally-occurring and haven’t been damaged by high heat, refining, or over-processing. The best fats are found in:

Fish (such as salmon and sardines)

Nuts

Avocados

Seeds

Fresh, organic creamery butter

Cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil

Flaxseeds

Organic whole milk products

Organic eggs

Coconut

Bad Fats

Saturated fats, which come mostly from animals – such as are found in butter, meats, and dairy products – have a bad reputation, but many nutrition experts believe it is not animal fat, per se, that is the problem, but  the fact that they are usually refined, heated at high temperatures, or polluted by commercial farming methods. Due to abundant antibiotic and steroid use, fats from conventionally fed factory-farm animals should probably be consumed with caution, if at all.

“Bad fats” are damaged. They have become oxidized due to high heat processing, which removes healthy nutrients like Vitamin E and creates lipid compound that the body cannot utilize for healthy cell building.

Fats are often described as saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated. has All have different properties. In general, the monounsaturates (such as olive oil, avocado, and some nut oils) are good for you. We definitely need some saturated fats, but avoid those that have been exposed to high heat or chemical contamination, if possible. Polyunsaturates (especially in the form of refined vegetable oils) can be detrimental to your health over time, so choose a healthier fat when given a choice. Remember to read food labels, and avoid partially hydrogenated fats whenever you see them.

Here is a quick guide to the best and worst fats:

“Good” fats “Bad” fats

Nuts                                               Margarine

Seeds                                             Fried foods

Avocados                                      Partially hydrogenated fats

Fish oils                                        Refined vegetable oils

Flaxseed oil and meal                Saturated fats, in excess

Olive oil & olives                         Most polyunsaturated fats

Fresh butter (in moderation)

There is no need to be afraid of fat. Our bodies and brains require the healthy forms of fats in order to function well. Enjoy some good fats in your diet every day and you will reap their health benefits.

Ed Bauman, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Bauman College Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts. He is a ground-breaking leader in the field of whole foods nutrition, holistic health, and community health promotion.