Natural Health – Herbal Medicine And Natural Healing

What we do not understand we tend to reject. Herbal medicines, acupressure, acupuncture, natural medication, and healing are some of those. And we dance along because if things cannot be explained by scientific methods, it cannot be true.

Definition of health varies from person to person. To some it means that nothing is really serious, for some it means not getting any worse, for other it is the visit to the doctor every year to get a nod of "all clear". Seldom did it mean zero health problems. And so we get by with taking aspirins and painkillers and live with aches and pains that we associate with certain infective bug, overwork, or ageing. 

The problem with chemically formulated drugs and medicines is that, one; it remedies a part of the body but destroys another, often the liver. Two, it has questionable benefits that simple observation will tell you that if the medication prescribed by the physician is not getting the desired result, an alternative prescription will be given (a physician that has a reputation for having a higher batting average will be called as "good" and so will the physicians fees be). Third, when a part of the body fails to normally function caused by the drug, it will be termed as side effects. Fourth, when the body acclimatizes to the drug prescribed, we are in effect sentencing our body to a lifetime of medication. Fifth, behind all the advances claimed, it does not really increase the average lifespan. Like the rest of the world, we still are satisfied if we hit the magic mark of seventy years. Sixth, it is so expensive to be a hit and miss thing which often it really is. Scientific claims will be otherwise but everybody can claim. Result though will tell you differently.

For most of us, it has not been recognized that there is an alternative to a life sentence of medication. That there are medications not only to cure whatever ails but to build the reserves and boost the system so that ailments are reversed naturally. When the system is made healthier and reserves are built, we could in part avoid the doctor whose typical remedy is give us drugs, when drugs will not work, chop parts of our body, and prescribe drugs more.

In the ancient world, our forebears have already recognized that there are only two kinds of plants, that which is good for food and that which is better for healing. Even animals know this. Our house pets like dogs, cats, and chickens will forage for a particular grass of herb when they are not feeling well. Sooner this is vomited and the animal heals. In eastern cultures, these natural methods have been the basis for healing. Their life average expectancy is not longer than seventy years but ours is not longer either. The difference lies in the money, the trouble spent and for the most part, the absence of chronic pains and suffering. 

Herbal medicines, natural medication and healing do just that. Relieve the suffering and health anxiety naturally so we have time to enjoy more of life without the drugs that gives temporary eight-hour solutions until the pain strikes again. 

Natural Health – Foods To Eat To Stay Healthy

Over the years, people have become more and more conscious about which food to eat to stay healthy. Over the years too, several recommendations have been advised. To this end, books were written, keep fit programs were sold and advices followed. The average lifespan though stayed the same, seventy years, much the same as centuries ago. 

What are the foods to eat to stay healthy? Everything but in moderation

Doesn't it sound very much like what the Hebrew book says?" Lifespan of seventy years", "all food have been cleansed", "avoid gluttony?" Through all these years, this has never been challenged. This fact remained sure and true. If ever, several adverts have already claimed superior benefits of their weight reducing, health-inducing product. What the adverts succeeded at was over-selling and over- highlighting their claims but never challenged this fact. But that is always true with commercialism. In this age where cents and dimes are often the rule of the day, there is no compunction to oversell a product to the point of using scare tactics for the targeted consumer to get their attention and possibly draw out their wallets and part with their money. 

Do not fall for fad foods. If they were true, some of them should have stayed on in the market and have grown in market share as far as food choices are concerned. Nothing has and nothing will, because the price paid is too high for the benefit received and people eventually could see through that.

Instead eat food that tastes good. Eat all foods that are recommended in the good old food chart. The body needs sodium, it helps cleanse the body and prevent diseases. The body needs fat. Fat insulates us from the elements and helps keep our body lubricated as machines are lubricated. Fat also keeps our skin supple and feeling younger. Have protein in the diet, you cannot do with less of it especially when in the healing and during the growing up years. Calories are needed to maintain energy levels so is sugar. But then everything has to be taken in the right amounts and quantities. Everything in moderation 

The problem is not the food; the problem is the attitude towards food. It is the preference of one food group over the other that keeps the system unbalanced and wanting of nutrients that weakens the body. It is the lifestyle that prevents us or allows excuses not to eat right but have fast food as the usual recourse. 

Aside from the food groups that have been classified by science, there are only two types of food in nature that are provided to us. One is food for nutrition, the other are food for medicine and healing. Examples of these are garlic, turmeric and other herbs too many to mention. Every food has its own function and counter action. Spinach has oxalic acid and oranges have counter effects bad for certain blood types, eating raw exposes us to certain microorganisms etc. Nonsense, every food has properties different and tends to counter balance another food. 

In an effort to sell a product, a brand, or an idea, what results is a scare that effects in limiting us with food choices often to those that we do not enjoy. The limiting of food choices keeps on evolving that if everything that is heard or advertised is listened to, nothing is worthy of eating anymore. 

Every region on earth will always provide a balanced food source for that region. Foods grown in the US are different from those grown in China. But when examined closely, the tastes may change but the same balancing effect in the diet is present, anywhere in the world. That should tell us something. The earth provides everything for our enjoyment and health. Anyone who is not trying to sell anything will say the same thing, "that we should eat all the food groups in correct quantities and proportions". That way we enjoy life, that way we stay truly healthy.

Natural Health – Balance, Variety, And Common Sense

Every day one or two health foods are flooded into the market claiming superior health benefits. Almost every month, bookstores will stock up on books that sell health and dieting programs. On the TV, exercise programs and exercise machines are advertised to keep healthy and fit. The fact is all of these works, the question is, is it really needed?

The Exotic Sounding Foods

You would have heard of the Acai berry, fig leaves, bitter melon, green tea, and so many other exotic sounding foods. Do they work? They do, but so does other foods. There is nothing wasted on Gods earth. The proof of that is when the excitement for these foods wanes, another food will crop up, the benefits overstated, and orders will start coming in increasing the demand, spiking prices for the products until a new one appears. Is it worth it? Well, that depends on how deep the wallet is. The truth is that every food that is natural has its own benefit that when examined closely will always reveal special properties that are waiting for an advertiser's attention. The properties then could be highlighted depending on current health and commercial climate. The carrot consumed like crazy some years back due to it beta-carotene property is now relegated to the background in place of "new food discoveries". In today's stiff commercial competition, the point to remember is that when it sounds too good to be true, then probably it is not.

The Fad Foods

Everybody loves to have a good figure and wants six-pack abs, everybody, and why not. When the figure is good, employment is easier to find, earning potential increases, the body feels light, looks so much healthier, younger, and energized. 

What is wrong with fad foods is that it is not telling us the whole truth. If Halle Berry for example gave birth last week and appear today on TV with the same figure, everybody will be curious. The TV host knows that and so the question that would be asked is the diet that keeps her figure "bathing suit" perfect. Whatever answer Halle Berry gives will get the audience's attention and telephone will start ringing for orders. What will not be mentioned is that stars maintain a host of dieticians, physicians and exercise guru's working for the sole purpose of keeping the image of the star and maintaining it. The diet may be true but it is only a part of the whole regimen of things observed to make the star look good on camera. Rests also are monitored, exercises are supervised let alone food intake, to keep the star healthy.

Eat, exercise, rest, and work.

The natural things that we do provided it is kept on a good balance are always the best. It has kept people alive for thousands of years; it will keep the person healthy for many more. 

Eat a variety of food. All food is good provided the person eats variety and strives for a balanced diet. Exotic sounding and foreign delicacies and specialties are not required nor needed. Food grown in every region is sufficient and balanced for the needs of people living in that region. The key in maintaining natural health is balance, variety, and common sense.

Natural Health – Learning To Listen To What Your Body Tells You

When a poet and king once sang, "Our bodies are beautifully and wonderfully made oh God", he knew what he was saying. One of the wonderful things that our bodies could do is healing itself. We need intervention from time to time but the body, when treated right has the ability to correct itself. Often, all it takes is to listen to what the body is telling us. 

Sure there is nothing much we can do when our body is already shouting for the nearest comfort room or the stomach is rumbling for the next meal. Often times though, when there is pain, like a headache, the normal course of action is to reach out for a bottle of painkiller to mask the pain so we can function.

Listening to what our body is telling us would prevent a lot of illnesses from getting worse. When there is a headache, there is something wrong done to cause the pain. Taking painkillers is a good but temporary solution, the next step though and more permanent is to know what caused the pain. Not being able to identify that will make us grab the painkiller in another six to eight hours. Every ingestion of a tablet or a capsule puts our liver and our colon in danger. Chemical residues that were components to its manufacture will stay in the liver and overtime will clog the colon that will produce other more serious illnesses. Learning to listen to the messages that our body tells us is that important.

There are many other things that our body is trying to tell us. Being sleepy, feeling sluggish, increasing weight or weight loss, body temperature, mood swings, blood pressure, and pulse rate are among the few that could be observed and could be measured with certainty. When that happens the body is telling us that something is not working well. Taking energy drinks, resting, relaxing, taking antacids are few of the things that are normally done but all these have temporary effects. When the feeling of sluggishness for example persists, no amount of energy drink could restore the body to functioning normally. All the palliative measures taken are temporary solutions that do not cure the illnesses. It only masks the effects and masking the effects could be terribly dangerous.

What cures the illness is the identification of the cause of the pain or discomfort and if it is not a medical emergency, the avoidance of repeating the same thing to happen again. It is a conscious effort to sit back, think a while, and deciding on matters that will work best for the body and those that will not. Taking temporary measures and dependence on it will make matters worse.

When we learn to listen to what the body is telling us, our dependence on costly interventions and help from health care professionals will be minimal aside from lessening the introduction of chemicals to our system.