Calcium and Exercise for Osteoporosis
For many years, doctors have encouraged women to take calcium supplements to prevent or minimize osteoporosis. However, statistics show that women, including those taking calcium supplements, continue to be diagnosed with osteoporosis in record numbers.
Recently, researchers have discovered that weight bearing exercise is necessary for bone health and that the best protection is to take calcium supplements and to perform weight bearing exercise consistently. Weight bearing exercise includes walking, running, dancing, gardening, and weight lifting.
EFA’s
EFA’s stands for essential fatty acids. These poly unsaturated oils are essential for our body’s health and well being, yet the body does not produce them. Therefore they must be obtained through the foods that we eat. EFA’s produce hormone like compounds that effect the functioning of every system in the body. These compounds are essential in regulating pain and swelling, promoting fluid nerve transmission, as well as maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
The most important EFA’s are EPA, DHA (Omega – 3’s) and GLA (Omega – 6). EPA and DHA are found in cold water fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, and herring. Borage and evening primrose oils are rich in GLA. Many studies show that fish oil is beneficial for cardiovascular health. The American Heath Association states that “people who have elevated triglycerides may need two to four grams of EPA and DHA every day. Tissue composition studies have indicated a link between low sea food intake and major depression, postpartum depression, severity of depressive and Bipolar symptoms, and schizophrenia. In clinical trials, low levels of DHA in the body and low fish consumption have been established as risk factors for age-related cognitive impairments especially Alzheimer’s Disease.
Most western diets contain too many Omega – 6 EFA’s, found in corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, and other foods, and not enough Omega –3 EFA’s. This imbalance may be a factor that predisposes us to hyper inflammation, and inflammation plays a major role in many diseases, most notably heart disease.
Unfortunately, it is hard for most people to achieve a proper balance of EFA’s through diet alone. Fish, which is a good source of EFA’s may contain harmful heavy metals. Salmon, as sold fresh in most stores, is farmed and fed grain, thus increasing its levels of linoleic acid and pesticides, and lowering its Omega – 3 levels. Reduced absorption of EFA’s is also a probable factor in lowered Omega – 3 levels. Many factors reduce the body’s ability to absorb natural EFA’s found in food, including diets that are high in hydrogenated and transfats, alcohol consumption, many prescription drugs, and low levels of key vitamins and minerals.
The most efficient way of taking EFA’s is as a nutritional supplement that is easily absorbed. Choose a high quality, flavored supplement that is fresh, pure, and odor free. We carry an excellent line of EFA oils. EFA oils must be refrigerated to maintain their purity and potency.
Did you Know?
Wild salmon is a great source of omega – 3 fatty acids, which help maintain healthy hearts, brains, skin and joints. However most supermarkets sell farmed salmon, which is fattier than wild salmon yet contains two-thirds less of the omega – 3 fats. Studies also show that farmed salmon contain significantly higher levels of cancer causing PCB’s and dioxins than wild salmon. So, if you are buying salmon, or ordering it in a restaurant, ask about where the fish comes from.
Astragalus, known in ?? medicine as Huang qi, is a great natural remedy used to treat colds and flu. It boosts your immunity, and kills all kinds of infections from viruses to bacterial and fungal infections. New studies also show that astragalus helps restore healthy immune functioning in cancer patients taking chemotherapy, thus increasing their survival rate.
Potassium and High Blood Pressure
If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor has probably advised you to lower your salt intake. Unfortunately, what most doctors do not explain is that it is the ratio of excess sodium in relation to potassium that aggravates high blood pressure. Ideally, we need 5 times more potassium than sodium in our daily diets. For most people consuming a typical American diet, this ratio is backward.
Sodium and potassium are minerals that conduct electrical flow through cell membrane activity in the body. These minerals also effect nerve transmission, fluid retention and play an important role in heart disease. An imbalance of potassium and sodium often produces high blood pressure and may also produce muscle cramps, fatigue, confusion, irritability, muscle weakness, and abdominal bloating.
If you are troubled with any of these problems you may want to increase high potassium foods in your diet. Try increasing your daily consumption of these foods: bananas, apricots, avocados, cantaloupe, figs, pumpkin seeds, beans, potatoes, winter squash, and unsalted tomato sauce.
Simplify Your Life
Simplicity helps us stay healthy in our complex, stressful world. There are many possibilities to consider if you need to simplify your daily life.
Diet: eat clean, natural, whole foods that have been processed as little as possible. This includes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans, wild fish, grass-fed beef, and free range chickens.
Exercise: strengthen your heart with aerobic exercise and your bones with resistance (weight bearing) exercise. Try ways of doing both at the same time.
Consider these 3 steps to simplify your life style: 1) do one thing at a time when you are at home so that you can be present, doing what you are doing, in that moment of your own life. 2) Remind yourself often of all that you have and allow yourself to be grateful. 3) Let others be “right.” As often as you can, just listen and do not criticize. Remember that in the big picture of your life, everyone (including you) has all kinds of emotional reactions. They come and they go. They are not “right” or “wrong;” they just are
Energy Facials
Energy Facials is our name for a rejuvenating, unique treatment that combines cosmetic acupuncture with energy therapy. This special method is offered exclusively at MTO Holistic Health Center. Research studies indicate that most wrinkles are caused by a loss of muscle tone; facial lines indicate excessive muscular involvement, while wrinkles indicate loss of energy and balance in the muscle.
Our special method of Energy Facials increases overall energy in the body and corrects facial energy balance by tonifying or sedating the pressure points in the exact location needed by the patient. The treatment restores and balances energy flow, minimizes lines and wrinkles, provides healthy, radiant glow and vitality, balances oily or dry skin, stimulates elastin and collagen production, improves muscle tone, minimizes broken capillaries, and slows the aging process. Since most of the acupoints on the face are located long major meridian Qi pathways, patients often report reduces anxiety and depression, better digestion and sleep, and weight loss during or after a course of treatment.
The typical course of treatment is two sessions per week for five weeks, with a follow up treatment every month or two to maintain best results.
Book Review
This fascinating book offers a new method of using the mind-body connection to stop back pain without drugs or surgery. Dr. Sarno’s premise is that most back pain is caused by tension. He calls this painful muscle condition Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), and defines it as “a change of state in the muscle that is painful.”
In his treatment of patients with back pain, Dr. Sarno uses small educational groups to help patients identify the source of their tension, and look at the emotional reaction they are having as it relates to some stressor in their lives. Their recognition and knowledge of the source of the tension in their body enables them to let go of the physical pain, and focus on the emotional situation. Then, they can become compassionate and understanding toward themselves as they experience their emotions. Dr. Sarno states, “It is my impression that virtually any organ or system in the body can be used by the mind against repressed emotionality.” “There are those in medicine who believe that emotions play a role in all aspects of health and illness. I am one of them.”
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