Stop a Runny Nose!

It is not just colds and flu that can make a nose run. Cold weather, sugary/fatty foods, congested liver/gall bladders, or allergies can also cause you to reach for a tissue. Just when you want to look your best for the Holidays, and not compete for the Rudolph contest, a runny nose can spoil your fun. Fight back with these healthy strategies.

Here are some tips to dry up quickly.

1)   Massage the points on the sides of your nose where the curve of your nostrils meets your cheek. Tap under your eyes, in the hollow, and down towards your cheeks and sides of the nose. Alternate these points, massage and then tapping.

2)   Find the point halfway between the bottom of your ribs on the right side, and your belly button. Massage the area firmly to release the gall bladder.

3)   Take “Cold Calm” from Boiron Homeopathics. This safe, natural medicine can stop a runny nose for a few hours, and can be used for children.

4)   Take Zypan and Multizyme for digestive aids. Sip some apple cider vinegardiluted in water. Sufficient stomach acid helps the liver/gall bladder work better. And extra digestive help may help you to sleep after feasting.

5)   Get plenty of sleep. If you feel stressed, or traveling, take extra adrenal support. Fatigued adrenal glands can produce symptoms that mimic a cold or allergy. If you suffer from any type of allergies, your adrenal glands are weak and need support!

6)   Lay off sugar. Sugar stresses the body in every way, from depleting minerals to lowering stomach acid, to weakening the immune system. Use Stevia and Xylitol for sweet treats that don’t compromise your health.

7)   Don’t overdo coffee, which also stresses your adrenals and dehydrates your body. Try Teecino herbal coffee, sip herbal tea, and drink extra water. Not a water fan? Try a naturally sparkling water like Pellegrino and flavor it with cucumber or fruit slices or flavored liquid Stevia.

8)   Come in for some soft tissue work on your liver. The sinuses are very affected by the ability of the liver and kidneys to detoxify. There are acupuncture reflexes and acupressure points that can offer relief, and even help a real cold or flu to move through quickly.

9)   Consider food intolerance testing if the runny nose is chronic. Keep a food journal, but know that it may take 48 hours before a food issue shows up in your nose.

10)   Avoid toxic people. Today someone asked me if I thought her body was allergic to the guy she is seeing. When she described his behavior to me I told her that it is probably not her body that is allergic, but SHE may be allergic to how he treats her!

Once you find out how well natural medicine can work for you, a runny nose won’t slow you down. It is just a symptom of a need to move something through your body more quickly.

May all the running in your life involve kids, dogs, and running around with people you love, and not your nose. And keep in mind that these tips work on people of all ages.

True Stress Relief With Herbal Medicine

Plant medicine is the oldest form of medicine on the planet. Over thousands of years, herbalists have identified the key benefits of various plants, long before they knew why they worked. Thousands of years of research have demonstrated the fact that plants have amazing medicinal ingredients.

Today we know what those ingredients are, and why correct preparation pulls out the active constituents. With modern tableting technology these powerful medicines are readily available. The important thing about herbal medicines is to choose companies that understand how to prepare them. Without regulation, your money will be well spent with companies you can trust.

Here are some other ways that herbal medicine can help you. With the Holidays on us in full stride, stress may be a part of the preparations for the merry making.

If you are experiencing stress and anxiety, herbal medicine offers some of the fastest relief. Licorice, Rehmannia, and Ashwaganda, Rhodiola, Schisandra and Kava are all herbal remedies that can handle stress quickly. Some of my herbal preparations can knock out those frazzled feelings in just a few minutes. Think nutritional medicine for long term handling, and herbal medicine to calm things down when you need it right now, as well as supporting the body’s ability to adapt to stress.

For example, Schisandra with Rhodiola supports lung and adrenal gland function, boosts energy and stamina, helps to cleanse the liver, eases the effects of everyday stress, enhances memory and mental clarity, promotes vitality and stamina, supports physical endurance, maintains feelings of general well-being, supports and maintains the body as it ages. Nothing in the drug world can come close to this.

You may not believe how well these herbal complexes can work, whether it is a matter of stress on the job, physically over-doing it, or experiencing an emotional response. Your body does not know what kind of stress it is; only that it needs to go into high gear to deal with it.

This puts a strain on the systems that can lead to over-indulgence in drugs, alcohol, sugar, salty foods or comfort foods. These herbals remedies can help you curb emotional and stress eating, as well, which will ease the strain on your waistband over the Holidays! For further help with cravings, ask us how Gymnema can magically help you avoid sugar altogether.

Next time you are in, ask for a sample and see how you feel after taking a herbal supplement. Let us know about any medications you take, as that may determine which herbal remedy is right for you.

Enjoy a safer, saner, happier and healthier Holiday season by tapping into the healing power of Nature.

Anne Dunev, PhD, C.N., is a Naturopath/Nutritionist in Los Angeles. With 25 years of clinical experience her Functional Medicine approach has helped thousands of people recover their health by rebalancing hormones, and removing the barriers to the body healing itself.

Feeling Really Good

How many days do you feel really good? Do you skip through your work, juggle your family and friends with ease, and have the time you need to prepare delicious and healthy meals, enjoy some “me” time and then get the deep, refreshing eight hours of sleep you need?

Me, neither. But I do know what to do when I am particularly frazzled or my immune system is under siege.

Our bodies are up against terrible odds for maintaining health and stamina. And when the body is stressed physically, or you are stressed mentally or emotionally, the flood of responses in the body can make you feel overwhelmed. Internal alarm bells sound. Stress hormones like cortisol kick in, blood supply is re-routed, digestion may be affected, and reserves of nutrients are depleted. The result may leave you drained and feeling at the end of your rope. In actuality, you may be having a bio-chemical response, and think that how you feel is the way it has to be.

From the botanical world there are a number of herbs that are real medicine for challenged, stressed bodies. Herbs are the basis for many pharmaceutical drugs. But drugs are made in labs by producing synthetic copies of the active ingredients of plant-based medicines. Our bodies were not designed to easily handle synthetic chemicals. Our bodies were not designed to live off chemical, synthetic foods, either. So, breaking them down so they are not toxic taxes kidneys and livers. And, after a time, a kind of living death occurs.  People on multiple drugs of any kind, and people eating only junk foods, develop bodies that are only half alive. This drags them down mentally and spiritually, also. The answer is never more synthetic chemicals.

We have been led to believe that herbs cannot be as effective as pharmaceutical meds. But many herbs are powerful medicines, if they are prepared correctly, using the strongest parts of the plant, carefully preserving the active constituents. Herbal preparations from Health Food Stores may have some use, but few are potent enough when you need strong medicine.

By test, the MediHerb company makes some of the strongest herbal medicine in the Western world. In Australia, herbal medicine is regulated and must be effective and potent.

If you are feeling less than ideal, give herbs a try for supporting your body. Drugs bypass normal body function. Herbs can help your body truly heal and repair.

Brain fog? Memory issues? Study difficulties. Try Bacopa complex. Bacopa is a brain tonic that assists mental function, concentration, memory, and the mental stress of study and work. It may assist ADHD symptoms, and it appears to protect against brain decline and Alzheimer’s.

Flu is already making the rounds. Andographis Complex is a herbal preparation for acute and sudden onset infections. It helps relieve fever and mucous congestion, and will also boost your natural immunity. You can keep Andographis around to help for times you need extra immune support, or you can take Andographis every day to prevent infections. For flu bugs that linger and move to the chest, Andographis with Congaplex or Immuplex, can pull you out of the illness fast. Add Pneumotrophin if you are prone to chest infections, or have a history of asthma, bronchitis or pneumonia. *

MediHerb also makes some wonderful liquid preparations. They are very potent, and the taste reflects this. If you need a sleep tonic, I can mix California Poppy, with Licorice to improve the taste and support adrenal glands, as well as calm the stomach.

There are some powerful herbs for helping you to handle stress and anxiety and I will write about them in my next blog.

Whole food nutrition is still your most important priority in supporting your health. Adding in herbal medicine will help you support your health at a cellular level so that you can have the kind of bodily well-being it takes to manage your world and enjoy your life.

*There are times when pharmaceutical antibiotics are lifesaving, so any illness should be evaluated on an individual basis. 

Anne Dunev, PhD, C.N. has over twenty years experience helping people feel better by finding the root cause of what is causing their symptoms. Addressing that with the correct natural and nutritional medicine is her strength. With help restoring balance and function, thousands of people are living happier, healthier lives.

Simple Home Test for Candida

Doesn’t it seem like everyone has Candida these days? If you look on the Internet just about every type of symptom known to man is a sign of Candida. So, how do you really know if your symptoms are Candida?

First, let’s look at what Candida is. There are many kinds of yeast (single-cell organisms) in our intestinal tract, vaginal tract, mouth and sinus mucosa that are part of our normal internal “garden”. We can’t survive without all the friendly bugs that cohabitate with us, and perform assorted vital functions. Candida is one of the friendly guys that act like trash collectors and help to digest debris, in the same way that yeast digests sugar in a bread recipe.  But Candida has to live in balance with other good bugs. Over use antibiotics, eat a crappy diet, or get exposed to chemicals (like most Americans) and the Candida yeasties can grow out of control when other good bugs are absent. Have you ever planted mint in a garden? It spreads like wildfire and can take over all the space for itself. I learned this the hard way.

Fortunately the balance can be restored. It may not be enough to take any old probiotic. Dietary improvements, handling sugar cravings, addressing other gut issues such as Irritable Bowel, chronic constipation, toxic bowel or food allergies may be needed to fully restore the gut flora balance so your garden blooms. 70% of your immune system resides in your gut, and it is literally the soil on which health flourishes or languishes in your body.

Milton White, MD. believed that cancer is a chronic, infectious, fungus disease. He was able to find fungal spores in every sample of cancer tissue he studied. Our grain crops are contaminated with mycotoxins, or various types of fungus that live on grains like wheat. The mycotoxins are toxic to humans, and the fungicides used to control them are also toxic to humans. This is a major problem with all grain crops.

http://www.cancerfightingstrategies.com/fungus-and-cancer.html#sthash.1EP567Xc.dpbs 

 Discovering if you have candida and treating it effectively is vital to your long-term health. Do this test yourself at home as soon as you can. First thing in the morning, before you drink water or brush your teeth, spit into a tall glass of clean water. You may have to work up some spit if your mouth is dry. After a good spit, allow the glass of water to sit undisturbed and check it after a few minutes, an hour, and a few hours. If there is no Candida the water will remain clear. If there is a Candida overgrowth in your body the water will look like a science experiment. Long “legs” will develop and trail down to the bottom of the glass. White matter may pool in the bottom of the glass and the water may get cloudy, with white specks appearing.

If your test reveals that you have Candida, come in and get checked to find out exactly what personalized program you need to restore your gut flora balance. This is an important marker of your immune health, and if your test is positive, you will have other symptoms. But now we know. We can organize a treatment program and have you retest until the Candida is contained and you are on a healthier path. Let me know what your results are, and if you have any questions. Good luck with your test!