(Oct/Nov/Dec 2010 issue)
Hello Again Dear Reader,
As we move away from the Great Yang of Summer and directly toward the Great Yin of Winter all of the natural world in our area begins to slow down and turn from the focus on external growth more toward internal reflection.
Now comes the time for mental, emotional and spiritual growth, all things of the invisible world.
For many of us the cleansing of our physical blood, through diet, herbs and exercise during the summer months, has led us and prepared us to stay well during the wet, cold winter that lies ahead. If not, there are definitely some natural immune defense products you should get for the cold and flu season ahead.
The Source Naturals “Wellness” supplements are an amazing line of immune enhancing, virus fighting products. Many people keep a bottle of Source Naturals “Wellness Formula” in their cupboard all year long for any problem where the immune system needs to be boosted. Personally, I use Source Naturals “Breathe Free” for my throat and to fight viruses all year long. It is one of our best expectorants I have ever used. “Breathe Free” contains the “African Geranium” (Pelargonium sidoides) full strength – very powerful to clear the throat and lungs of mucus, and get rid of coughs.
Source Naturals companion line of herbal supplements Planetary Herbals is formulated by “Oriental Medicine Doctor “ Michael Tierra – They work wonderful for so many health problems. But for this flu season Planetary Herbals “Full Spectrum Lomatium” extract really helps you fight viruses. And for kids Planetary has three great formulas; “Astragalus Jade Screen” (immune system), “Old Indian Wild Cherry Bark Syrup” (for coughs and flu) and “Loquat Respiratory Syrup” (for sore throats).
Try these formulas and check out their other oriental medicine formulas for so many other compromised health situations.
One more great company whose products you should incorporate into your supplement regimen is Nature’s Way. I use Nature’s Way “Optima”, probiotic, everyday. Every one should! Remember probiotics are pro life, we all need to reinforce these friendly bacteria daily. Also, after the first of the year, many people need to clean out the old stagnant excesses from the previous seasons indulgences – try Nature’s Way “Thislyn Cleanse”. “Thislyn Cleanse” is a full body (blood, lymph, kidney, liver, and bowel) cleanse that nearly everyone can do – clear out the old stagnant toxins, viruses have nothing to feed on – simple as that! Nature’s Way has so many great herbal products but one relatively new supplement from them is their all natural, food based multivitamin, “Alive!”. Not just vitamins and minerals, they have added vegetables, fruits, medicinal mushrooms, omega-3 flax and a good amount of green superfoods – talk about complete!! A great addition to anyone’s diet.
In spite of all I do for my own health benefit dear reader, I still have a good deal of bad habits and dietary slips that continue to aggravate my current chronic health problems.
What these “slips” contribute to, which is what makes us feel we have a problem, are micro-inflammations in our bodies. Hundreds of millions of micro-inflammations if left unchecked become the basis of our chronic degenerative diseases. Yes, degenerating! Think about it. Since there is no such thing as time, (we created the concept of time so we would know when to plant crops so we wouldn’t starve in the winter), there is no such thing as age or aging – Thus, we are not aging – we are born we grow to maturity and then we decline. We are degenerating. The basis of this degenerative process is oxidative stress damage leading to the creation of the inflammatory process which then further damages more tissue and organ systems until we have a full blown “dis – ease”.
The answer to slowing down this process that we generally use is to slow down the oxidative stress damage to all cells before it becomes an inflammation. How? Anti-oxidants; and nutrient co factors.
One thing to surely add is Nordic Naturals omega-3 fish oils. Our American diet is so deficient in omega-3 fats and excessive in omega-6 that when we add good quality omega-3’s to bring some semblance of balance in our blood, automatically the cascade of hormones that increase inflammations dramatically eases off. I did say quality – Nordic Naturals is pharmaceutical grade with no mercury, lead or PCB’s. And many of their products are very high potency. Nordic Naturals “Ultimate Omega” is 70% omega-3! Most fish oils on the market are often 20% omega-3 and the rest is omega-9 so for a 1,000 mg capsule you get barely 200 mg to 300 mg omega-3 – low dose! And you need 4-5 capsules to get a decent dose – with Nordic Naturals “Ultimate Omega” you can use 2 capsules per day and get plenty. Omega-6 = pro-inflammatory – omega-3 = anti-inflammatory.
Of course, when I talk about anti-inflammatory supplements I always include New Chapter’s “Zyflamend”. The true “Aspirin alternative”, “Zyflamend” has concentrated herb extracts specifically designed to act as anti-inflammatory agents.
New Chapter’s “Certified Organic” multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is made from food grown nutrients – high potency, and total digestibility. The New Chapter Organics “Everyman’s One Daily” multiple has many nutrients to act as anti-inflammatory agents. It goes perfectly with an antioxidant herbal formula like “Zyflamend” to really overcome the inflammation cycle.
So if you have not cleaned the physical self, proceed now and calm the inflammatory process – therefore as the Great Yin approaches you can focus more on purifying your heart, mind and spirit. If you have mental problems now; then now is the time to help yourself.
Peace be with you in this wonderful holiday season and prayers for the best in the new year ahead.
Donald Payne
S&S Produce & Natural Foods