I had an eye opening evening. Some day I will have to choose if I should share my spiritual journey with you. For now, I will keep it to myself.  The children are eating breakfast, as am I. I am listening to Sadhguru. Once I listen to the videos in my prompt, I will return to that meditative music video I have. I have much more control over myself when I do.  This is good. 

I got that essay done and even got the grade back.  I got a 100% on it. Today, i will do the quiz and begin work on next week's assignments. I also discovered my Toxicology professor helped write the text book for Herb 503 and 504. Pretty cool! 

I discovered something when I wrote that essay. There are herbs that block pharmaceuticals (one actually blocks cancer cells from forming) that I mentioned in my paper. I do not have a list here that shows these. I also don't think I describe this in detail on this site.  I could list hem on my Herbal Lists page but that page is long, takes forever to scroll, etc. I'm thinking a need a separate page for each thing listed on that page. Any thoughts?

I'll not post an herb post today because today is supposed to me actions and there only one for alfalfa listed is diuretic.  Love and Light!

The kids are up so I'm up.  I have already done my new energy exercise routine and am now listening to meditative music. I have a line-up of three or four of them right now before I listen to my normal video channels each day.  It does help a bit. My daughter asked me for popcorn for breakfast.  I asked her if she wanted an English muffin or toast.  The English muffin just popped up!  They had homemade mac and cheese with chicken last night for dinner. She actually sat and ate at the table. My son devoured his as though he had not eaten all day. That little boy can EAT.

I did make progress on that essay for toxicology yesterday.  I plan to finish it today and get that quiz done then start work on the stuff for the next module. I already have the discussion post done for the capstone, I just need to read the papers written by others and there are none posted yet.  The next module of Health and Wellness will have the last installment of the interviews. I will make myself a checklist and do the best I can since I will lose points off the top for the kids. I need to see when it's due.  I think it's the second week of the module which means I will have a discussion post to do first. I just looked.  That is the next thing due for that class.  I guess I'll check my sister's schedule! I have to have everything that is due by the 28th done by the 21st for studying. It looks doable. Love and Light!

On to alfalfa!

Constituents: Heinermann (1996) doesn’t go into the normal constituents but nutrients count and he gives the data per the USDA daily allowances for these.  Vitamins A, B1, B6, B12, C, E, K1, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid, and essential and non-essential amino acids.  There are up to 25% of the needed proteins, minerals and trace elements like calcium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, etc. In the chart here, he compares different things but I’m only going to put alfalfa here: Protein: 10%, Calcium: 75%, iodine: 0%, Iron: 85%, Magnesium: 45%, Phosphorous: 25%, and sodium: 0% (p. 9).  Chevallier (2016) says isoflavones, coumarins, alkaloids, vitamins, and polyphyrins. The coumarins and isoflavones are considered estrogenic (p. 233).

Therapeutic Actions: Diuretic

Indications: kidney/bladder/prostate conditions, menopausal symptoms, asthma, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, indigestion, and thrombocytopenic purpura. Oral source of vitamins A, C, E, and K4; and minerals calcium, potassium, phosphorous, and iron (Natural Medicine Monograph). Heinermann (1996) mentions recent studies by nutritionists indicating this reduces atherosclerosis, 2 capsules every meal.  He states the manganese levels help with diabetics who don’t respond well to insulin, 2 capsules, 2-3 times per day. In food, he says use sprouts of alfalfa instead of lettuce for increased nutrition.  Because of the mineral content, Heinermann also mentions studies which show this plant helps with depression (p. 8-10). Chevallier (2016) adds it lowers cholesterol and may help with menstruation and menopause (p. 234).

Safety/Precautions/Counterindications: Do not use chronically. Unknown safety for pregnancy/lactation and there is a potential estrogen issue (Natural Medicine Monograph). The monograph also mentions this herb can be contaminated with E. coli, salmonella, and listeria which results in infections. Chevallier (2016) adds a few things here. Do not take with anti-coagulants such as warfarin. Don’t take the sprouted seeds if there is immune suppression. Do not use large amounts if pregnant or with an autoimmune illness (p. 234).

Have a Great Day!

I'm trying to decide what to feed the kids for breakfast his morning.  They are getting tired of the same thing.  I don't blame them.  My daughter refused to eat dinner last night so she literally ate carrots.  There are worse things to eat but it is possible to eat too many.  I don't need her turning orange. They wanted an English muffin.  That works.  I'm thinking more brussels sprouts.  That hit the spot yesterday!

I got my drafts turned in and posted for next week's discussion board so my classmates can make comments on them before I complete the final drafts. Today, I'm going to try to get that essay done and the quiz for toxicology.  I seriously need to start getting ahead so I can spend a week cramming for the Health and Wellness final.  I need to start that on the 22nd.

The last discussion from last semester is below so tomorrow I will resume talking about herbs.  I have two ready to go so it shouldn't be a problem with my workload. We shall see.  Obviously the time period around finals can be rough.  At least I'll be taking on this one and the other next month.  I must take deep breaths and remember I can do this. Love and Light!

On to the discussion

"Please answer one of the following:

• Describe the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of a chosen venous diseases.
• Describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, and complications of hypertension.
• Identify the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of orthostatic hypotension."
  

 
 
Since it’s not talked about much, I’d like to discuss hypotension so I hope I understand this correctly! What is important to understand is cardiac output is stroke volume times the heart rate (Banasik & copstead, 2019, p. 337). Volume is obviously the amount of blood flowing through which each “pump”.  When I think of low blood pressure it usually brings to mind hospital movies and TV shows with someone screaming “his blood pressure is dropping” usually followed by words including “stat”.  We hear more about people living with high blood pressure as opposed to low blood pressure. 

In fact, I’ve only known one person who had low blood pressure and I have no clue what ended up with him. The way it’s supposed to work, when you move, your blood pressure elevated a bit with that movement.  Think increase of pulse when you work out. My friend was active duty so I can say he DID work out, yet he had hypotension. On page 350, it says this occurs in 6-30% of elderly people, which makes sense. I’m not surprised the text says the person may experience dizziness, blurred vision and fainting because he did these things. This can lead to cardiovascular disease, stroke, cognitive impairment and death. 

All of this may be caused by some kind of illness or a reaction to specific prescription medications.   In my friend’s case, he was 6’4” and weighed 120 pounds.  The doctor told him to eat more and put him on a specific diet and he was done eating by lunch because he was so full.  The National Institute for Health recommends drinking plenty of fluids with sodium and potassium, abstaining from consumption of alcohol, standing up slowly, do not cross your legs, ant eat small, low-carb meals. 
 
References
Banasik, J. L. and Copstead, L. E. C. (2019). Pathophysiology. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
National Institute for Health retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hypotension
 
Have a Great Day!
 
 

I want to share this video.  many I know have sensitivity to electronic while others call it "hogwash" because the "science is settled.  Science is NEVER settled. This video is a must-see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mK93gHFWXs

The discussion below has obviously been overridden by further research into what is best for me but I wanted to share this anyway because the keto diet is good for some people.  I was able to get some groceries yesterday and am eating brussels sprouts for breakfast.  Sadly, it is one vegetable I cannot eat raw, that and squash but they are quite tasty the way I prepare them. Once school is done, I'll discuss my eating habits much more.  There is only one more discussion after today for me to share then it's back to herbs.  I'm still quite busy with school work but I'm also committed here to I will do what I mus to get everything done.  I got no school work done yesterday so today I will get these books off my desk so I can get that essay done tomorrow.  My "oh my I'm not going to get everything finished" crisis is over, again...  There will be a few more, I'm sure before this is all done.  I really was crazy for taking on all this work but I know the payoff is going to be an amazing stretch of personal growth.  That's what we al should strive for so this pain really is worth it. Love and Light!

"Describe one CAM protocol for detoxification."

I see a lot of people talking about herbs and diet and they really go hand-in-hand for a healthy body.  For me, I like the keto diet to start the detox process then move to the gut health diet as long-term on the keto diet is not healthy.  Keto helps drop the weight off that is so taxing to the body and in doing so, all the toxins trapped in that fat come out and try to invoke all kinds of nastiness.  The keto diet is very rich in antioxidant and detoxifying (as well as fat-burning) foods to  help mitigate the problems caused by the release of those toxins.  Just flipping through this book, the recipes have things like limes, avocados, tomatoes, coffee, etc.  There are also things in there I have never heard of and have no clue where to buy them once I have the ability to give the diet a try. I'm more looking forward tot he gut health diet since the whole family can be on that. I promise, my kids don't need more energy...  LOL  I didn't notice any dandelion in there (which shocks me) but there is some cilantro which helps flush heavy metals from our body.   A LOT of these recipes have olive oil which has vitamin E (from Fallon, 2001 but I can't find the page number again).  I'm glad I've already eaten breakfast because between the keto book and my Nourishing Traditions book, these look tasty!  

References
Fallon, S. & Enig, M. G. (2001). Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. NewTrends Publishing, Inc.
Boyers, L. (2015). The Everything Guide to Gut Health. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media.
Boyers, L. (2015). The Everything Guide to the Ketogenic Diet. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media.

Have a Great Day!

I have to go run some errands today and get a few things done then get back here in time to get my friend's daughter off the bus. We have had our breakfast but my son wants to play instead of eat.  I was trying to wait until he ate more but I won't wait much longer!  I'm making some progress on the capstone assignment but someone mentioned they understood a different page requirement than the rest of us understand.  Now I'm wondering if I'm writing too much.  I figure I'll just write what I understand the requirement is and tailor it back if I have to.  I have to start focusing on my final for Health and Wellness in two weeks.  The days are ticking down and the stress is ticking up but if I can get these 2 fully written by next week, I'll feel better. I still have an essay and a quiz due for toxicology so I'll switch to that once these last four books are in my papers. Love and Light!

"Please describe some specific changes that you could make to improve your immune system."
 
Well, there are many things that can be done, and again, my classmates seemed to have covered everything so I will go this route.  One thing I would do is remove my dental amalgams. I’m listening to this video below, the IAOMT Symposium, as I type and he’s now talking about the mercury from your fillings finding its way to the blood stream. He says mercury is “slow and insidious”. It affects the blood, pituitary glands, gut, brain, fetus, and at one time it was illegal to use in our country.  Within 10 minutes of chewing, the mercury has reached a peak of being released and it stays that way until the chewing is done.  It take 90 minutes for the emissions to stop.  This symposium happened in 1988.  I don’t know what is more alarming. The fact they still use this process or the dangers it presents to our health.

Of course, there are many other things I can do.  I need to change my diet.  I eat fairly well but not enough fresh fruit and veggies.  This will change once I can grow them.  Increasing antioxidants will also help.  Taking glutathione made me feel great as did C60.  I do need to add a probiotic. The class lesson suggested that one and many others. One thing I’d really like to do is the Keto diet followed by the gut health diet. While the keto diet should be used for weight loss, the gut health diet is to maintain health. There are all kinds of interesting recipes in there!
 
References
1988 09 16 18 IAOMT Annual Science Symposium Oak Brook, IL Vimy, Nylander Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2HAHRedC5o
Class Lesson retrieved from https://achs.instructure.com/courses/1674/pages/clinical-correlate-allergic-rhinitis?module_item_id=191274
Boyers, L. (2015). The Everything Guide to Gut Health. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media.

Have a Great Day!

Today's post is going to be a little different because my experience I will be sharing is about healing and I think it should be the focus for today.

I've share in the past of how I'm always dry and I can't seem to get enough water. I think I shared a link a few months ago of a video of someone explaining reasons we don't get enough.  Some simply don't drink enough which is the category I always thought I fit into. Some don't have enough sodium to intake the water into their cells. I had switched our salt to celtic salt after watching the video to see if that would help. Celtic sea salt has more minerals than any other salt, though Himalayan is close. It had a minor effect.

I have also shared how this rash I developed is dry and I'm drinking more water as a result. I just started going to the bathroom more.  My body wasn't actually using it. Then I saw a video of someone who is on the same transformation journey I am. He understands the power of crystals and, like many others, he decided to sell water bottles with crystals in them. He has two kinds, quartz crystals and rose quartz.  The quartz can be charged with anything but the rose is for love. Since my guide told me to "just be love", I bought the rose quartz. 

I have been drinking from this bottle for four days now and the difference has been amazing. I'm drinking a LOT more, peeing less and the rash is no where near as itchy.  I'm not feeling as dry in other ways either such as dry mouth. I'm hoping my dry sinuses will also be healed eventually but I feel the difference for sure.  I didn't think about it but if you drink from a bottle or a filtration system (All the water we consume is filtered through an AlexaPur), you may be able to just add a crystal to that instead of buying this bottle. The one I'm using that has it is made of glass.

I don't know if any of my readers are experiencing anything similar but I felt this was important to focus on for the day.

Love and Light and Have a Great Day!

Well, the laptop was taken away yesterday.  I worked with the lady on Saturday to come to an agreement of when the payment would be due and we had a contract and they decided they wanted more money.  If I had more money I would not have needed to go to them in the first place. They told me they could hold it for me until I could make the payment and apparently didn't realize how stupid the comment was.  What's the difference?  I told them to keep it. And yes, the kept the money I gave them the day I picked it up.  I'm using my husband's computer that is not fully functional but I ran a bunch of updates and it's better than it was.  I currently have no way to play the kids' movies that are on disc.  Right now, that is not a problem. I hope it doesn't become one.  I think I only have 3 more days of discussion posts after this.  I REALLY need to make more headway on the book entry and the paper. This computer fiasco is slowing me down!  Love and Light!

On to the discussion!

"Why do you feel that we need to reduce the amount of inflammation we have?  Do you need any inflammation?  Please explain."
 
I’m late to the party again. This is actually my last due-out for this week and I wanted to get some reading done before I answered but my children have allowed me to only read 2 pages so far so I’m going to just go ahead and answer.  Inflammation is the way the body responds to pretty much any form of injury. The problem today is so many people are living with chronic inflammation which gives them chronic illness. 

The easiest example I can provide is from my own life.  I have Hashimoto’s and goiter is a problem periodically.  I had the problem for years before the doctors finally recognized it.  That is a form of inflammation that doctors don’t acknowledge but it IS inflammation none-the-less.  Many people fix it themselves rather than live with it the way the doctor tells you to. For me, I took iodine or a thyroid support that had iodine in it.
 
I had a post written up yesterday and hated it so I decided not to post it and think more on the topic. I think the lecture this morning speaks more of what I think about inflammation than anything so I will spin off of that. There was a time when inflammation simply meant the body’s response to injury like a swollen knee.  That definition has changed over time as the body is more understood and we observe, now, the body’s response to the environment. 

This isn’t just the plants, like some tend to think.  The environment is anything your body is exposed to and reacts to. This means the food you put in your body, the particles you inhale. The things that touch your skin but don’t enter your body.  Your body can react to any of these things with inflammation. From the lecture, we discussed the cayenne tincture.  If this touched your skin (I’m using it as an example because it’s fresh in my mind) it would cause a level of inflammation you would never want to experience again.

I used to get inflamed sinuses every allergy season.  In fact, one day I went into the doctor’s office and he asked what was wrong, I said I had another sinus infection. He said he would determine that, give him symptoms, he then determined I had a sinus infection…  When you get them constantly, you know. It’s important to note what happens in your environment so you can help those who have learned about these things figure out what is causing the inflammation.  It also needs to be evaluated whether that inflammation needs to be “treated”.  Your body responded to that stimulus for a reason.  It’s one thing to say “I have a sinus infection” but another to understand WHY “I have a sinus infection”. The WHY is why I’m here. 

If I understand these things, I can help others understand as well as long as they are willing to help themselves.  In the case of my sinus inflammations, it was seasonal allergies. Treating the inflammation never fixed the underlying problem of the cause of the inflammation so they simply kept happening. In my case, treating the allergies did.  I held my nose and ate local honey.  It doesn’t work for everyone but it did for me. The inflammation stopped. 

Other inflammations are not so easy to figure out. But what is irrefutable is, if you don’t figure out the cause of your chronic inflammation, simply treating it will never make it better. Inflammation is a symptom, nothing more. It’s good to have that so you understand that your body is trying to ell you something.  The best way to address inflammation is to figure out what your body is saying with that inflammation.

Have a Great Day!

I sent the current draft of my book to the advisor, Scott today.  I do need a second set of eyes to let me know if it sounds okay as is or should I use first person for my own experiences.  I'm just not sure I'm happy using third person.  My capstone teacher still doesn't understand what I'm doing and the drafts are due next week.  It makes me question if I should write if she can't understand what I'm writing.  She has requested a meeting so I told her to just let me know when she's available.  We shall see how this goes.  Today's focus will be on that essay for Health and Wellness.  I need to pick up that grade since I know I'll take hits on the things that count the most.  I'm actually counting on getting a 70-something on my last interview since I always get penalized for the children. As long as I can keep the other grades up, I think I'll be able to skin by with a low B.  Love and Light!

On to the discussion.  This was a few months ago and some of the information is outdated but that's okay.

"What is your opinion on genetic testing?  If given the opportunity, would you choose to have genetic testing on yourself?  Why or why not?"

Genetic testing.  An interesting topic. The short answer is yes, I would have myself and my children tested if there was a promise the data would remain in my medical records. Frankly, the government already has my DNA from my days in the military and they have my husband’s DNA for the same reason so all the CERN stuff Todd brought up is something I put in the way back of my brain. They could easily do what they want with the samples we provide the military upon entry. The reason is, I am vaccine injured (thanks to the Air Force) and the science says for that to happen, your genes must mutate.

One sign of this mutation is the inability to consume folic acid – as in, it makes you ill. Check.  In fact, both of my children were unable to have commercial formula.  I had to make it while verifying the ingredients of all the things I put in there. The recipe is 14 ingredients. My son could only have 6 of them. My daughter is unable to eat her favorite sausage because it makes her ill. I had her allergy tested and she passed with flying colors. The doc told me to keep doing what I’m doing.  What I’m doing is challenging my children with new foods while staying away from the things I know makes them ill. My daughter CAN eat lettuce but she doesn’t much like it. She also licks the dressing off and puts it back in my bowl…  In addition, soy lectin dries out both of us (we just drink more water) but I only let us get us exposed through chocolate and I limit that. Have you tried to avoid soy in your food?  It’s EVERYWHERE. All salad dressing has it. You find it in places you wouldn’t even think of.

I feel if I could get us genetically tested, I’d have a more complete list of the things we should avoid rather than me having to play Russian roulette. There is also the “how much” question.  If my daughter has ONE mini chocolate bar in a day, there is no problem.  If she has 3, her face breaks out in little bumps. My son doesn’t appear to have this problem. He can’t have ascorbic acid. It turns his stomach. That is not QUITE as hard to avoid as soy but it’s also in a LOT of things. The good thing is I avoid processed foods so it makes it easier to avoid these things. I actually bought raw cocao so if anyone has a good candy bar recipe that I can make at home to avoid the soy, hit me up!

Now, I did see some budding science a few months back that there may be a possibility to reverse the MTHFR mutation. I don’t have the link to the study – it was behind a paywall so I only read the abstract which means I don’t even know if it was a sound study but I like to hope it was.  Another point Todd made is that our genes do change which makes the study plausible to me. We really ARE what we eat. While I was content to eat healthier but still have SOME junk, my children have made me make more adjustments.  I’m still refusing to give up chocolate but the rest is negotiable!

I did a quick search on PubMed looking for one of the many MTHFR and Folic Acid studies and found something else that was very interesting and promising. I’m attaching the link below even though it is only loosely related to this post. They reversed her paralysis symptoms which they said were related to the mutation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30544400

Have a Great Day!