Monday, September 27, 2010

Treating Anxiety and Postpartum

Our society has changed in many ways in the last fifty years or so. Traffic, quick paced jobs, less face to face communication and increases in taxes, gas prices, illness and obesity.
One of the main factors affecting our society today is the increase of those suffering with anxiety disorders and illnesses that are related to that. There is also a large amount of women who suffer from Postpartum depression but are never properly treated.
Doctors will give you a few easy answers; Prozac, Paxil, Effexor, Zoloft etc...
I want to offer another option. This option will take about a week to fully take affect, but you will not have the ill side effects of the above mentioned pharmaceuticals. My option is all natural and very easy to follow.
Step 1 is to limit coffee intake to a maximum of 2 cups per day, and preferably none of those after 3pm.
Eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible, and try to take warm showers and/or relaxing baths. Avoid refined sugar and processed white flour (this should be followed by just about everybody in fact).
With breakfast, you will need to supplement with B100 Complex, Ashwaganda and 5-HTP.
With lunch take a regular multi-vitamin.
With supper take either a magnesium or a calcium/magnesium supplement.
45 minutes before bed, take 2 valerian gelcaps.

This may seem like a lot, but here is why it works. This will help keep your stress level down, mood up, a feeling of calm or relaxation will be there, and you will sleep better.

Ashwaganda helps keep you calm, relaxed and helps alleviate anxiety.
5-HTP is the precursor to seratonin, the "make me feel good" hormone.
The Vitamin B complex helps keep your mood up, helps with proper metabolism, and reduces stress.
The multi vitamin will just make sure that you have everything you need.
The magnesium is good for your bones, teeth and helps you feel better.
The valerian will keep you calm, relaxed, and will help you sleep better.

I assure you that this method is worth a try before you try pharmaceuticals.
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section and I will reply.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Allergies & Illnesses

I am no expert, but if you ask me, the increase in food based allergies and the rise in cancers and diabetes is the result of 1 main culprit - Processed Foods!

As the years go by, we claim to want to be healthier and try so hard to be healthy. Take a look at the general North American population today... UNHEALTHIER THAN EVER!!! So how do we explain this? Simply... eat real food.

I am not sure if there are any large studies that have been done, or are currently being done, but I am sure that many food based allergies are the result of years of eating processed foods and foods that are not real food, such as margarine, Kraft Singles, CheeseWhiz and the like.

One of the main things that is now processed is baby formula. Nothing, NOTHING beats breast milk. Baby cows need cow milk, baby boys and girls need mommy's milk, plain and simple. I understand that there are women who do try to breast feed and cannot, and that is where formula can be an alternative, but too many people just opt direct to the formula without even a thought of breast feeding.

Snacks that we are eating are filled with refined sugars, HFCS, artificial sweeteners which do harm to your liver... how can we give this to our kids? It is child abuse! I am positive that many cancers are due to poor diet. We know that diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are a result of poor diet. I am betting that if we dig deep enough many of these food allergies are the result of diet. Our bodies adapt and change and evolve, perhaps in the wrong ways sometimes.

I am not sure how to avoid children from developing allergies, but 1 thing I am sure of is this;
If you want your children to grow up happy and healthy, feed them real food. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fresh fish, lean proteins, beans, nuts and real butter and yogurt. Trust me, both you and them will feel and see the difference.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Major Backfire

Not too long ago I wrote a blog about natural detox products (http://mytraineroz.blogspot.com/2010/02/detox-products.html). It amazes me that "health food stores" have very little food and alot of self described magic pills.

If you open any major web page on the internet, you will see ads for Acai pills, weight loss formulas, erectile dysfunction cures, omegas etc... Our society has become overly obsessed with "healthy" yet North Americans are currently unhealthier than ever!

Where did we go wrong? As I mentioned in my above mentioned blog, step 1 is to eat REAL FOOD! Our society eats food out of boxes because it is faster and easier. Many also now have claims, such as "Now with Omega 3!" or "50% Less Sodium". Chances are if it is processed food, with a health claim, it is not healthy.

We have a current situation where 60% of North Americans are overweight or obese. The cost and strain that will put on health care is tremendous. On the flip side, we have an increase in young kids with anorexia. More and more teenage boys are developing eating disorders. Turn that around and there is also an increase in teenage boys with what is being called bigorexia (the desire to have unnaturally large muscles).

We have become so focused on being healthy that we have forgotten how to truly BE HEALTHY. Yes, taking a good multi vitamin may help. If you do not eat alot of fresh fish, Omegas are a good idea. Here too you have to be careful. So many of these products that line the shelves have an array of chemicals that have the potential to harm us.

We are starting to mistake "the look" for health. I think that the last few years of American history will teach us to keep things simple. All these processed foods have led to an increase in Type II Diabetes, cancer, obesity, cholesterol issues and hypertension. Not only in health has overdoing it turned around and bit us in the ass. Look at GM. Once the biggest car manufacturer in the world. They had Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Saturn, Hummer, Isuzu and I may have missed one. What happened to them... that's right, they are now left with the basics that they started with.

That's what we need to do for health as well. Back to basics. 3 healthy homemade balanced meals. Snacks that were fruits or vegetables. Real food. Playing real games in real parks. I know with our hectic schedules, it is tough, but there is always a way. Even if you prepare food for 3 or 4 days at a time, you are eating real food,and I assure you if you try it, you will feel better.

Our current thinking has backfired majorly, and if you need help to change, please feel free to contact me on twitter at www.twitter.com/1proofpositive.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Back to basics

Most people who know me understand that I am not anti-medication, but I am very pro natural healing and "alternative" medicine. I fully believe that through nutrition, meditation and herbs, illness and disease can be prevented and cured.

I want to start with a short commentary about "alternative" medicine. I put alternative in quotations because it is truly the original form of healing. Herbs and plant extracts have been used way longer than tylenol. It is true that forms of treatment such as chiropractic and osteopathy are newer forms of healing, but naturopathy, reflexology, acupuncture and Chinese medicine have been practiced for thousands of years.

First Nations tribesmen on Canada, aboriginals of Australia and New Zealand, and Native American Indians all practice forms of natural healing based on tree extracts, herbs, and fragrances. Same goes for Shaman of South American tribes and tribes in Africa.

Our world has become a place of synthetic answers. Margarine is synthetic butter, only unhealthier. We have processed and artificial foods, food coloring and food flavours. We have pharmaceutical medicines, and synthetic cheaper versions of those. There are labs that create synthetic viruses with the desire to discover the cure.

I am not saying never use medicine. What I am saying is try something natural first. Personally I believe in chiropractic and Naturopathy. I believe in energy healing. I also believe that modern medicine should be a last alternative. That is my truth, and that is how I decide to live and treat and prevent disease in me.

There are pills for just about anything out there. One of the big issues affecting our world today is Type II Diabetes. What do doctors do? Here, take these! I guarantee you, in 95% of the cases, changing your diet, adding just a bit of daily walking, and perhaps some team or individual sport, and the diabetes can be controlled drug free. The increase in this disease comes as we become more chair bound, and our food becomes increasingly processed and fake.

Scientists caught onto this troubling trend, and an flood of synthetic sweeteners flooded the market. Aspartame, sucralose, splenda and sugar twin are all household names. People use them daily in coffee, tea, soft drinks and baking. Guess what! New research is showing what many have suspected for years... there is a link to these chemicals and cancer.

I cannot claim to cure or prevent disease, but here are a few tips that I know cannot hurt;
- eat organic foods whenever possible, and mainly fruits, veggies and whole oats
- avoid plastic products with BPA
- use organic cane sugar instead of processed white sugar or a sugar alternative like sucralose
- find an "alternative" healer that you are comfortable with and see them as needed
- walk, doesn't matter where or when, but walk daily

I am always available should you have any questions. I would also love to hear your comments.

All the best until next time!