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Alternative HealthBe Your Own Herbal Expert, Part 7By Susun S WeedVibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated a lectures are engaging and provocative. Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used — and our neighbors around the world still use — plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It's easy. You can do it too, and you don't need a degree or any special training. Ancient memories arise in you when you begin to use herbal medicine — memories which keep you safe and fill you with delight. These lessons are designed to nourish and activate your inner herbalist so you can be your own herbal expert. In our first session, we learned how to "listen" to the messages of plant's tastes. In lesson two, about simples and water-based herbal remedies. In the third, I distinguished safe (nourishing and tonifying) herbs from more dangerous (stimulating and sedating) herbs. Our fourth lesson focused on poisons; we made tinctures and an Herbal Medicine Chest. Our fifth dealt with herbal vinegars, and the sixth with herbal oils. In this, our seventh session, we will think about how we think about healing. THE THREE TRADITIONS OF HEALING There are many ways to use herbs to improve and maintain health. Modern medicine uses highly refined herbal products known as drugs. Many alternative or holistic practitioners recommend herbs, usually in less-refined (and less dangerous) forms such as tinctures or homeopathic remedies. And then there are the yarb women, the wise women, such as myself, who integrate herbs into their daily diet and claim far-reaching results for simple remedies. I call these three different approaches the Scientific, Heroic, and Wise Woman traditions. These three traditions are ways of thinking, not ways of acting. And they are not limited to herbs. Any technique, any substance can be used by a healer in the Scientific, Heroic, and Wise Woman traditions. There are, for instance, naturopaths, midwives, and MDs in each tradition, as well as herbalists, educators, therapists, even politicians. Each of these traditions lives within you, too. As I define the characteristics of each tradition, identify the part of yourself that thinks that way. SCIENTIFIC TRADITION Modern, western medicine is an excellent example of the Scientific tradition, where healing is fixing. The line is its symbol: linear thought, linear time. Truth is fixed and measurable. Truth is that which repeats. Good and bad, health and sickness are put at opposite ends of the line, where they do battle with each other. Food and medicine are quite different. Newton's universal laws and the mechanization of nature are the foundation of the Scientific tradition. Bodies are understood to be like machines. When machines run well (stay healthy) they don't deviate. Anything that deviates from normal needs to be fixed or repaired. The Scientific tradition is excellent for fixing broken things. Measurements must be taken to determine deviation and insure normalcy. Regular diagnostic tests are critical to maintaining proper functioning and ensuring utmost longevity in the body/machine. In the Scientific tradition, plants are valued as repositories of poisons/alkaloids. They are seen as potential drugs, and capable of killing you in their unpredictable crude states. They are helpful and safe only when refined into drugs and used by highly-trained experts. In the Scientific tradition the whole is the same as its most active part, and machines are more trustworthy than people. HEROIC TRADITION There is not one unified Heroic tradition, but many similar traditions collectively called the Heroic tradition. Alternative health care practitioners generally represent the Heroic thought pattern, symbolized by a circle. This circle defines the rules, which, we are told, must be followed in order to save ourselves from disease and death. Healing in the Heroic tradition focuses on cleansing. According to this tradition, disease arises when toxins (dirt, filth, anger, negativity) accumulate. When we are bad, when we eat the wrong food, think the wrong thought, commit a sin, we sicken and the healer is the savior, offering purification, punishment, and redemption. In the Heroic traditions, the whole is the sum of its parts. We are body, mind, and spirit. The spirit is high and worthy; the body is low and gross; the mind is in between. In the Heroic traditions, we are personally responsible for everything that happens to us. Religious beliefs frequently accompany herb use in the Heroic tradition. The Heroic healer uses rare substances, exotic herbs, and complicated formulae. Drug-like herbs in capsules are the favored in this tradition. Most books on herbal medicine are written by men whose thought patterns are those of the Heroic tradition. WISE WOMAN TRADITION The Wise Woman tradition is the world's oldest healing tradition. It envisions good health as openness to change, flexibility, availability to transformation, and groundedness. Its symbol is the spiral. In the Wise Woman tradition we do not seek to cure, but focus instead on integrating and nourishing the unique individual's wholeness/holiness. The Wise Woman tradition relies on compassion, simple ritual, and common dooryard herbs and garden weeds as primary nourishers, but appreciates (and uses) any treatment appropriate to the specific self-healing in process. The Wise Woman tradition sees each life as a spiraling, ever-changing completeness. Disease and injury are seen as doorways of transformation, and each person is recognized as a self-healer, earth healer: inherently whole, resonant to the whole, and vital to the whole. Substance, thought, feeling, and spirit are inseparable in the Wise Woman tradition. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Spiralic and amazing, the Wise Woman tradition offers self-healing options as diverse as the human imagination and as complex as the human psyche. The Wise Woman tradition has no rules, no texts, no rites; it is constantly changing, constantly being re-invented. It is mostly invisible, hard to see, but easier and easier to find. It is a give-away dance of nourishment, change, and self-love. An invitation to honor yourself and the earth. An admonishment to trust yourself. COMING UP In our next sessions we will learn how to make herbal honeys and syrups, and how to take charge of our own health care with the six steps of healing. I also invite you to study with me in the convenience of your home via correspondence course! Choose from one of my four courses: Green Allies, Spirit & Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition, Green Witch, and ABC of Herbalism with Susun Weed. EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE The next time you start to feel unwell, ask yourself what each one of the three traditions would advise you to do — e.g. You feel a headache coming on. The Scientific tradition says take a pain killer. The Heroic tradition says give yourself an enema. The Wise Woman tradition says take a nap. (For more information on the three traditions, see the chart in my book Healing Wise.) EXPERIMENT NUMBER TWO Instead of doing what you usually do for some problem (e.g. headache), do something different. Choose something from the same tradition you usually use, or from a different tradition. EXPERIMENT NUMBER THREE Become more aware of the "nourishment of your senses" as Gurdieff put it. What do you look at? Listen to? Smell? Touch with your skin? Taste? EXPERIMENT NUMBER FOUR Nourish yourself in a new or different way. You might: eat something — or eat somewhere — that you've wanted to try but never dared. Go to a museum, or the opera, or the ballet, or a Broadway show. Visit with a cherished friend. Listen to music that touches your soul. Sit in meditation and burn subtle incense. EXPERIMENT NUMBER FIVE Make a list of ten things that nourish you that are now in your life. Make a list of ten things that could nourish you if they were in your life. FURTHER STUDY 1. Become more familiar with the Scientific tradition: Read one or more issues of Scientific American and/or Science News. 2. Become more familiar with the Heroic tradition: Skim through Back to Eden or any current book on detoxification. 3. Become more familiar with the Wise Woman tradition. Read: ADVANCED WORK The three traditions of healing are not restricted to healing of course. You might have recognized these three attitudes in your profession. Wonderful articles have been written on the "Three Traditions of Teaching" (the Scientific relies on tests, the Heroic on punishment and reward, the Wise Woman on freedom to experience and express) and the "Three Traditions of Therapy" (the Scientific refers to manuals and prescribes drugs, the Heroic blames the unconscious, the Wise Woman nourishes the spirit and builds wholeness) and even the "Three Traditions of Cooking" (the Scientific uses a thermometer and a recipe, the Heroic blackens and heavily spices everything, and the Wise Woman uses what is in season where she lives). Apply the three traditions to your profession. Read about the history of herbal medicine. Suggested books: © 2004, Susun S Weed. Visit Susun Weed at: http://www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com. For permission to reprint this article, write to: susunweed@herbshealing.com. For more great info on menopause, visit: www.menopause-metamorphosis.com.
Dangers of Artificial SweetenersBy Roopa Chari, MD. & Deepak ChariWe are writing this article to inform you of the dangers in artificial sweeteners as we have found out that many health practitioners along with the general public are still unaware of the potential hazards in consuming products containing these artificial ingredients. Complaints against aspartame constitute 75% of all additive related complaints relayed to the FDA Department of Consumer Complaints. There are many reasons why aspartame marketed as "Nutrasweet", "Equal", "Spoonful" and "Equal-Measure" is so dangerous. Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, published a book, "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills". In this book he thoroughly discusses the damage caused by the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame. He makes approximately 500 scientific references detailing how excess free excitatory amino acids including aspartic acid and glutamic acid in our food and beverage supply are causing very serious chronic neurological disorders. According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame ("The Guardian",England, July 20, 1990) the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting aspartame including brain tumors, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, parkinson's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, alzheimer's fibromyalgia and diabetes. On the molecular level the chemical Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine. Aspartic acid is an amino acid which in its free form significantly raises the blood levels of aspartate and glutamate. Aspartate and glutamate are neurotransmitters in the brain that facilitate the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. However too much of either neurotransmitter kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. They "excite" or overstimulate the neural cells to death. Methanol makes up approximately 10 percent of aspartame. When the temperature of aspartame exceeds 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the wood alcohol in Aspartame (methanol) converts to formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and then to formic acid (same chemical as fire ant venom), both of which are toxic. Formaldehyde is a neurotoxin and is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects per The Guardian (April/June 1990). It is stored in the fat cells particularly in the hips and thighs. A one-liter aspartame sweetened beverage contains approximately 56 mg. of methanol. The EPA recommends a limit of 7.8 mg./day of methanol due to the low rate of excretion. The methanol toxicity mimics among other conditions multiple sclerosis. The third component of aspartame is phenylalanine which is another amino acid normally found in the brain. It has been shown that ingesting aspartame can lead to elevated levels of phenylalanine per "Science Times" (in 1985). This can then lead to decreased levels of serotonin in the blood leading to depression. Dr. Blaylock also mentions in his book that excessive build up of phenylalanine in the brain can cause schizophrenia and seizures. Diketopiperazine (DKP) is a byproduct of aspartame metabolism and has been implicated in brain tumors.The process by which DKP is produced is accelerated by an increase in temperature. DKP is formed from liquid aspartame containing products and levels increase with the prolonged length of time a food spends sitting on a shelf or in storage. Aspartame is particularly dangerous for diabetics. Dr. Blaylock states that with the buildup of accumulated concentrations of formaldehyde and formic acid in nervous tissue, long term damage and rapid progression of diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a given. Dr. H.R. Roberts warns that aspartame can cause birth defects (i.e. mental retardation). Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should not be given NutraSweet. The blood brain barrier which normally protects the brain from excess glutamate and aspartate and toxins is not fully developed during childhood, and even for adults allows uptake of excess glutamate and aspartate in the brain even when it is intact. Dr. Roberts also stated that addiction to aspartame products is as real as abuse of tobacco, alcohol and drugs. According to Dr. Julian Whitaker and the International Center for Nutritional Research consumption of aspartame has also been proven to increase appetite, especially cravings for sweets and that the damage is cumulative. Dr. Sandra Cabot said that "aspartame makes you fatter.... After having been consulted by thousands of overweight people suffering with problems concerning the liver and /or metabolism I can assure you that aspartame will not help you in any way, indeed it will help you to gain unwanted weight", www.liverdoctor.com. It is also best to avoid Splenda (sucralose) because as Janet Hull stated (Health Newsletter Dec. 2003) it is a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons have been known for causing organ, genetic, and reproductive damage. Sucralose is a synthetic chemical, not a natural compound. Sucralose is derived when three chlorine molecules are added to a sucrose or sugar molecule. Splenda is actually a chemically created product that uses substances such as chlorine and phosgene, a poisonous gas. The Chari Center of Health is in Del Mar, CA. Please visit their website at www.charicenter.com. Dr. Roopa Chari is a Board Certified physician in Internal Medicine and is certified in Thought Field Therapy, Guided Imagery, Pranic Healing and the EPFX. Deepak Chari has a Master of Science Degree in Engineering and is a Certified Biofeedback Therapist. Mr. Chari is also certified with the EPFX, Hypnosis and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). The Chari's combine their experience and talents in the fields of Science and the Healing Arts with nutrition, remarkable mind/body techniques and the latest healing technologies in Quantum physics. The Chari's were recently featured on "The Learning Channel." Dr. Chari can be reached at (619) 275-8073 for appointments or please visit their website at www.charicenter.com
Healthy Indian Vegetarian CookingBy Mani ChariPotatoes are a very good resource of vitamin C and potassium and have been wrongly accused for many years of being a high-calorie food. One medium baked potato contains only 110 calories and has no fat. Look for plump and firm potatoes. Avoid those that are green or have started to shrivel or sprout. All peas are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, folate, iron and phosphorus. Green peas are second only to lima beans as a fresh vegetable source of protein. Frozen peas retain their color, flavor and nutrients better than canned peas and are lower in sodium. Spinach is a good source of vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. Potato and Spinach Curry (Kora) Ingredients: Recipe: 1. Wash the potatoes and cut into one half inch size pieces. 2. Wash the spinach well before cutting. Cut the spinach into small pieces along with the stems. 3. In a pan, cook the spinach in a small amount of water for ten minutes and keep aside. 4. In a separate pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. 5. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. 6. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add ginger and green pepper pieces. 7. Add the potato pieces, salt, turmeric and water. Cook for fifteen minutes and mix well. 8. Add the cooked spinach. Mix well and cook for two minutes. Cover. This curry can be eaten with bread or rice. Potato and Onion Curry (Kora) Ingredients: Recipe: 1. Cut each potato into half. Boil the potatoes in three cups of water. Make sure the potatoes are covered with water. 2. Boil for fifteen minutes. 3. Check if the potatoes are cooked. 4. Remove the water. Let it cool. Remove the potato skin. Then cut the potatoes into one half inch size pieces. 5. Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a pan. 6. Add the mustard seed and the onions. Fry the onions until they are golden brown. 7. Add the chopped green pepper and ginger. Fry slightly then add the potatoes, salt and turmeric. Mix em well. 8. Cook for one minute. 9. Add the cilantro, mix well and cover. This curry can be eaten with bread or rice. Potatoes Peas and Tomato Curry (Kora) Ingredients: Recipe: 1. Heat the oil on medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. 2. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add ginger, green pepper, tomatoes and potatoes. 3. Add turmeric and salt. 4. Cook and mix for fifteen minutes. 5. Optional: Can add garam masala at this time. 6. Add green peas and cook for another five minutes. 7. Add chopped Cilantro. 8. Cook for one minute. Cover. This curry can be eaten with bread or rice. Mrs. Mani Chari is a professional Indian Classical dancer and musician. She introduced Indian vegetarian cooking at a University in Ohio and has taught cooking classes in San Diego and Los Angeles. She offers cooking classes where she teaches the cooking techniques and explains the health benefits of the spices and nutritional benefits of the dishes. Mrs. Chari can be reached at (619) 275-8073 or please visit their website at www.charicenter.com
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