“I cannot think clearly when my feet hurt!” – President Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President, 1861-1865

“Remember the longest journey starts with just one step.”

“If you pick them up, O’Lord, I’ll put’em down.” – Prayer of Tired Walker

“The average American has their feet encased in shoes for over 12 hours daily and most often the shoes are ill-fitting, resulting in foot problems.”

Clean Feet Are Important

Like the rest of your body, feet perspire. Each foot has thousands of sweat glands and because they’re usually encased in shoes, socks or stockings, they retain more perspiration than less-restricted parts of the body. This can lead to unpleasant odors and accumulation of rough or dead skin that causes irritation and soreness.

You must tackle foot-bathing with real dedication and vigor. Keep the following items handy, right next to your tub or shower: a handbrush with moderately stiff bristles, a worn-out toothbrush and a pumice stone.

First, scrub your feet with the handbrush. Use health soaps (tea tree, vegetable, herbal, oatmeal, glycerine, etc.) and warm water. Do not neglect the soles of the feet. Next, scrub between the toes. Here is where you use the toothbrush, because these places are hard to get at otherwise. It’s particularly important to get your feet absolutely clean because this helps to prevent athlete’s foot, which is one of the most irritating of foot problems.

Now rinse feet and while they’re still wet, if in shower sit down on shower stool and rub the pumice stone or foot file lightly on any foot parts that feel rough. This usually includes the heels and balls of feet. Use the stone with a gentle, rotary motion, as this helps to soften the skin and discourages heavy calluses from forming.

Drying your feet is very important. Athlete’s foot is caused by a fungus that thrives on warm, damp skin. If you do not dry the foot thoroughly, especially between the toes, you are inviting this fungus which is difficult to overcome. Do not scrub-dry the areas between your toes. Pat them dry, gently but firmly. Otherwise, you may irritate these areas. The rest of the foot you may dry vigorously. In fact, this form of brief massage has the added advantage of stimulating foot circulation.

Pedicure and Trimming The Toenails

A good time to give yourself a pedicure is after your foot bath, when skin is warm and moist. You can gently push back the cuticle and rid toenails of excess cuticle that forms around nails. This habit prevents cuticles from growing wild. (For salon pedicures be sure the instruments are sterilized or take your own.)

When trimming your toenails, please never rip any off. This may leave a torn edge that can become extremely sensitive to shoe pressure. Also, never trim down into the corners of a nail as this is one of the chief causes of ingrown toenails. Trim the toenails straight across and leave the corners alone. Remember – ingrown toenails, corns, calluses, bunions and Athlete’s Foot – all detract from the health, appearance and happiness of your feet!

Remember that the basic purpose of foot hygiene is to maintain a healthy tone and vigor in each foot, just as strengthening-up exercises are designed to keep the body trim. Hygienic foot-care is a routine habit that pays great dividends in healthier feet to carry you through life.

Finish off your pedicure with a massage using our Bragg Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil to keep your feet flexible, soft and smooth. This oil is also great for the legs, arms, face and the entire body.

Baby Your Tired, Aching Feet

Tired, hurting feet can take the joy out of your life! This book is filled with ways to bring life back to your feet! Some methods are a little more elaborate than others, but all are just variations of foot care therapy: various special foot soaks (herbal, vinegar, Epsom salts), foot therapy, pedicure, massage, exercise and rest.

Foot Bath and Foot Massage

The following special foot bath will prove beneficial. Sit on a chair next to the bathtub with your feet dangling under the tap. Turn on tap to make a strong flow for 5 to 10 minutes, alternating hot and cold water over feet (diabetic & heart patients caution using hot water). If you have a spray attachment, just spray alternating directly hot, then cold water, on your feet – feels so great!

After your foot bath, dry your feet thoroughly with a rough towel and be sure that all moisture is off the feet. Now sprinkle cornstarch over your feet and start your foot massage, using fingers, mainly thumbs, in a circular motion. Start on the bottoms of the feet. Put plenty of powder on your hands and massage the soles of your feet in rotary motion. With both hands, twist each foot back and forth in opposite directions to keep them limber and healthy. Then massage the sides and ankles in a rotary motion. Also, gently pull and twist each toe from its base. End up with a stroking massage motion. Don’t be afraid to use pressure as this promotes more healthy blood circulation to the general structure of the feet and ankles, and helps wash the toxins and crystals out of the feet!

Please keep in mind that massage is very important in making the feet healthy, alive and tingling with vitality. Circulation reaches its weakest point in the feet because the heart has to drive blood down there; they are farthest from the heart and blood must flow against gravity to return to the heart. Hence, circulation may often become sluggish in the feet (cold and aching feet are two of the signs of poor circulation).

Expert Advice on Banishing Athlete’s Foot

Our body is normally the host to a variety of microorganisms, including bacteria, mold-like fungi and yeast-like fungi. Some of these micro-organisms are useful to our body, but others may cause infections. Fungal skin infections are caused by microscopic fungi that can live on the skin. Athlete’s Foot is the most common and most persistent of the fungal (tinea) infections. Athlete’s Foot may occur in association with other fungal skin infections such as ringworm or jock itch. Mold-like fungi live on the dead tissues of the hair, nails and the outer skin layers and thrive in the warm, moist areas of the body.

Athlete’s Foot is a skin disease caused by fungi which occurs usually between the toes. The fungus attacks the feet because shoes create a warm, moist environment which encourages its growth. Poor hygiene, prolonged moist skin and minor skin or nail injuries are also factors that can induce Athlete’s Foot. Some symptoms to watch out for are: itching, stinging or burning, skin redness, rash or blisters, inflammation and discoloration and crumbling nails.

Athlete’s Foot is contagious! It can be spread through items such as shoes, socks and shower and poolside surfaces of spas, clubs, summer camps, etc.Athlete’s Foot may spread to the soles of the feet and toes, plus other body parts, notably the groin area and the underarms.

If you have Athlete’s Foot, using self-care can help you banish the problem: Put 1/3 cup of Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar in shallow pan of warm water and soak feet once daily until gone (ideal while reading or watching TV); always keep feet clean and dry; always wear clean cotton or wool socks, change daily; wear shoes made of natural material such as leather, or canvas and best to alternate shoes daily. Shoes then have time to dry completely between wearings; reduce perspiration by using cornstarch powder. When you are infected with Athlete’s Foot, it’s good to change bed sheets and clothing often to prevent the infection from spreading.

Your Posture and Your Feet

Why should emphasis be placed upon such a simple thing as the pull of gravity? This is very easy to explain. In youth, as long as your muscles were strong enough, they held your skeleton in proper balance with its many points and sections free from strain or discomfort. As your body ages, your muscles start to lose the battle with gravity, especially if you are prematurely ageing or heavier than you should be, or a forced rest has weakened your muscles just enough to cause an uncomfortable state of body imbalance. Slumping stretches your back’s ligaments and causes backaches. Ligaments are meant to serve only as check reins for the joints and they cannot be forcibly stretched without, in time, causing pain.

When the ligaments in your back are made stiff and uncomfortable by this, it’s only natural for your muscles to try to oppose this sagging of your back which results from the pull of gravity (poor posture). However, when your muscles are too weak to do their job, they rapidly become exhausted and develop fatigue, making good posture impossible and your back even more uncomfortable!

Check your own posture and symptoms. Do you notice a deep aching and soreness along your spine due to stretched ligaments? Are your back and shoulder areas achy and tired? Is your backache due basically to weak muscles? If it is, it’s about time you did something sensible to relieve it, like strengthening all those weak muscles by proper exercise and posture.

How can you keep your heart in good working order? The four most common types of cardiovascular disease (CVD)—coronary heart disease (which includes heart attack and chest pain), stroke, high blood pressure, and heart failure—and their causes are discussed in detail in this article. By learning more about each, you will know how to lower your risk of ever developing them. For example, simply living a sedentary lifestyle is a strong risk factor for heart disease, and you can lower or remove this risk by becoming physically active.

Similarly, many blood fat abnormalities such as elevated cholesterol levels (another risk factor) can be managed through greater consumption of fish and dark chocolate, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, and sensibly approaching the use of medications for cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes. Here, you’ll learn to love your healthy heart. By taking better care of it, you can enhance your longevity and increase your odds of living a long and healthy life with your heart and arteries throughout your body in good working order.

Which Cardiovascular Diseases Are Most Common?

Taken all together, cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death for Americans, accounting for about half annually. Individually, heart disease and stroke are the most common CVDs, ones that often lead to a lower quality of life, an older biological age, and a shortened life span. More than 70 million Americans currently live with some form of CVD.

Although these health conditions are more common among people older than sixty-five, the number of sudden deaths from heart disease among people between fifteen and thirty-four years old has recently increased with declines in health attributable to unhealthy lifestyle choices. The good news is that if lifestyle choices are causing an increased incidence of such problems, then these problems more than likely can be prevented or reversed by similar means: by improving diet and increasing physical activity.

What Is Coronary Heart Disease?

Heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis, which occurs when the inner walls of the coronary arteries become narrowed due to a buildup of plaque filled with fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances. Atherosclerosis comes from the Greek words athero, meaning “gruel” or “paste,” and sclerosis, meaning “hardness.” When this process causes a partial or complete blockage of the arteries feeding the heart (the coronary arteries), it results in what is known as coronary artery or coronary heart disease. Plaque formations can grow large enough to significantly reduce the ability of the blood to flow through an artery, but most heart damage occurs when plaque becomes fragile and ruptures, causing blood clots to form. A clot that blocks a blood vessel feeding the heart causes a heart attack. Such clots often occur in coronary vessels that are less than 50 percent blocked, which means heart attacks can happen even if your plaque accumulation is not significant. If a clot blocks blood flow for long enough, the part of the heart muscle that is not receiving enough blood through the blocked artery ends up infarcting, or dying.

If blockage is detected early enough, physicians may use balloon angioplasty to force arteries open or implantable steel screens called stents, which are mechanical devices to hold open clogged vessels, in an attempt to restore more normal blood flow through affected coronary arteries. Many individuals with diagnosed heart disease are put on cholesterol-lowering drug therapies and may also be advised to make dietary and exercise lifestyle improvements.

Tips for Better Health

You can lower your risk for developing heart disease by preventing, reversing, or controlling the main causes that are modifiable. These risk factors include cigarette smoking, elevated blood levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity.

Major risk factors for heart disease include both modifiable ones that you can potentially improve and others that you can’t change. For example, advancing age is a no modifiable risk factor, while diabetes is modifiable by improving your blood glucose control. Similarly, the risk of developing problems caused by cigarette smoking is greatly reduced by quitting cigarette consumption. Other modifications you can make to limit or lower your risk are discussed later in this article.

How Peripheral Artery Disease Can Affect the Legs

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a common circulatory problem that limits blood flow to the legs and arms. Plaque can form in any artery around the body, not just in the ones feeding the heart and the brain, and PAD usually occurs in peripheral arteries in the legs. Pain in the lower legs during walking is a common symptom, but you should also be aware that PAD can be a sign of widespread plaque formation in other arteries around the body. If plaque formations in leg arteries rupture, a blockage can occur, limiting or cutting off blood supply to the lower legs, and resulting in pain, changes in skin color, sores or ulcers, difficulty walking, and even gangrene.

PAD can be diagnosed by measuring your leg blood pressure and comparing it to measurements made on your arm. If they’re unequal, you may have blockage in your lower limbs raising the pressure there. You can get your PAD under control and maintain your normal activities. Walking or other daily exercise is a key to maintaining optimal circulation in your legs, along with a healthy diet and smoking cessation. In addition, certain medications can cause dilation of your leg arteries, and surgery can be done to improve blood flow to your legs by bypassing blockages.

What Do You Need to Know About Strokes?

Every forty-five seconds, someone in America has a stroke, and about every fourth one is fatal. As mentioned, a stroke results from cardiovascular disease in the arteries leading to and within the brain. The brain is an extremely complex organ that controls various body functions. When a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts, part of the brain doesn’t get the blood and oxygen it needs, resulting in a stroke in the affected region.

Strokes can have different origins. Flow blockages from clots cause ischemic strokes (which account for about 83 percent of all cases), while ruptured blood vessels that leak blood (i.e., hemorrhage) into the brain cause a hemorrhagic stroke. This second type is usually caused by either an aneurysm (a ballooning out of a vessel) or a vessel malformation. A stroke’s impact can vary; only the functions normally controlled by the affected part of the brain will be impaired. One that reduces blood flow to the back of your brain, for instance, is likely to negatively impact your vision. Other areas of the brain control movement, speech, memory, and problem-solving ability.

Tips for Better Health

Ischemic strokes are the most common type. If blood flow to an area of the brain is reduced for any reason, normal functions controlled by that area will be impaired. If you have any symptoms of stroke, get to a hospital as quickly as you can to receive tPA (a clot-busting drug for ischemic stroke) for the best possible outcome.

The most promising treatment for ischemic stroke is the FDA approved clot-busting drug tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), which must be administered within a three-hour window from the onset of symptoms to work effectively. If you have stroke symptoms, get to a hospital quickly to get this drug in time. To prevent strokes in the first place, you should consider taking antiplatelet agents such as aspirin and Plavix (clopidogrel) or anticoagulants like Coumadin (warfarin) that lower the risk of blood clot formation. If you have stomach ulcers or already take other anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil or Motrin (ibuprofen), you should take no more than a baby aspirin (75 mg) a day. For most other people, taking 325 milligrams of a coated aspirin (Ecotrin) is good for stroke prevention.

Is a Transient Ischemic Attack a Form of Stroke?

Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) are minor or warning strokes that usually result in typical stroke symptoms. Normal blood flow to the brain is only reduced for a short time and tends to resolve by itself. Even though the symptoms disappear after a short time, TIAs are strong indicators of a possible major stroke in the future.

You should heed the warning and take steps immediately to prevent an actual, more damaging stroke, including seeking medical care by starting on clot-preventing medications and controlling high blood pressure.

React Quickly to Warning Signs of Heart Attack or Stroke

The most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort, but women are somewhat more likely than men to experience other symptoms, including shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, and back or jaw pain (see the sidebar “Heart Attack Warning Signs”). Even if you’re busy, you should stop to determine the source of mild chest pain rather than potentially ending up with a more damaging heart attack. In other words, always take any chest pain or discomfort seriously. When your heart is not receiving enough blood, lactic acid begins to build up, leading to pain or discomfort; lack of oxygen to your heart (and often to the other parts of your body) can cause additional symptoms, which should be a sign to you that something is wrong. People with diabetes can often suffer from symptom-free heart attacks, so even a sudden onset of extreme fatigue is a symptom that needs to be checked out.

Heart Attack Warning Signs

• Lasting or intermittent chest discomfort in the center of the chest: It sometimes feels like bad indigestion, or it can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or acute and stabbing pain.

• Pain or discomfort radiating down one or both arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach: This symptom is due to “referred pain,” which is actually originating in the heart due to lack of adequate amounts of oxygen.

• Shortness of breath, particularly when unusual or unexpected: It can occur along with chest discomfort or without it.

• Other symptoms: Sudden sweating, nausea and vomiting, lightheadedness, or undue, unexplained fatigue are also warning signs.

Heed these warning signs, and seek medical attention immediately for the best possible outcome. If detected early, blood clots can often be dissolved, resulting in less lasting damage to your heart or other areas of your body. Don’t wait more than five minutes after your symptoms start to call for help, and don’t waste precious minutes by having someone drive you to a hospital. Using emergency medical services (EMS) by dialing 9-1-1 is the fastest and most effective way to get lifesaving medical attention. If you are with someone who loses consciousness and stops breathing, he or she is experiencing cardiac arrest. Activate EMS, preferably by having someone else call for you, and begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until help arrives.

Tips for Better Health

Know the usual warning symptoms of heart attack or stroke. Don’t delay in seeking immediate medical attention, preferably through activating EMS by calling 9-1-1. Lifesaving treatment in the first few minutes is critical for surviving and thriving with a minimum of lasting problems after a major cardiac event.

For stroke, the key word to describe its symptoms is sudden. If someone experiences any or all of the symptoms listed in the sidebar

Stroke Warning Signs

• Sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body (affecting the legs, arms, face, or elsewhere)

• Sudden confusion

• Sudden trouble with normal speaking or understanding

• Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes

• Sudden trouble with walking, loss of balance, or lack of physical coordination

• Sudden onset, severe headache and dizziness

“Stroke Warning Signs,” such as sudden numbness down one side of the body or trouble speaking, immediately call 911 or 102 in India (or your local EMS number, if different) to summon an ambulance with advanced life support. Taking immediate action is critical because if given within three hours of the start of symptoms, the clot-busting drug tPA can improve the long-term outcomes for most individuals.

Tips for Better Health

High blood pressure is a silent killer that you can control before it’s too late. Lower your blood pressure readings by engaging in regular exercise, cutting back on salt, and taking prescribed medications to keep your systolic values less than 160 mm Hg.

Why Is High Blood Pressure a Silent Killer?

Blood pressure is defined as the force of the blood pushing against the walls of your arteries, which is recorded as two numbers, such as 122 over 78 mm of mercury (122/78 mm Hg). The first number is the higher, systolic, pressure exerted during heartbeats, which is the contraction of the heart muscle that forces blood into arteries. The second represents the lower, diastolic, pressure that occurs when your heart is resting between beats. High blood pressure, or hypertension, describes a condition in which your blood travels through your vasculature at pressures consistently above normal, usually diagnosed at 140/90 mm Hg for adults less than seventy years of age.

In older individuals, elevations of the systolic blood pressure are very common, and most studies have shown that simply keeping it below 160 mm Hg when you’re getting older decreases stroke risk. Actually, over time people with low blood pressure often have poorer health, making a systolic pressure between 140 and 150 ideal for most individuals reaching their seventies (and even higher in their eighties). Blood pressure should be a little more tightly controlled in people with diabetes of any age, however, due to their greater risk of heart problems.

Almost one in three American adults have high blood pressure, but as there are no blatant symptoms, nearly one-third are undiagnosed, making it a silent killer. In fact, many people have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. The only way to find out is to have your blood pressure checked annually, particularly if you’re at higher risk. Age is a definite risk factor for hypertension (about 64 percent of people ages sixty-five to seventy-four have it), along with race (higher incidence in African Americans). Other important risk factors include obesity, diabetes, and a family history of high blood pressure. If you have even one of these, it pays to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis, What’s more, you should seek early treatment of the condition as soon as you are diagnosed. Undetected or untreated, high blood pressure can cause you to develop some serious health problems over time, such as hardened arteries, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke, or heart attack. Also follow up to make sure that your selected treatment is actually effective. By way of example, one research study reported that only 45 percent of people known to be hypertensive were being treated with medications in 2002, and just 29 percent of them had the condition under control, even though it’s well-known that controlling it effectively greatly reduces the risk of all of these potential problems.

Understanding Heart Failure

Each side of your heart is made up of two chambers: the atrium, or upper chamber; and the lower ventricle. Both atria, which are found on the top right and left sides of the heart, receive blood into the heart from either the whole body or the lungs, and the ventricles pump it where it needs to go, out to the lungs or to the entire body. Heart failure occurs when even one of these chambers loses its ability to keep up with pumping out the whole amount of blood coming into it.

Heart failure can involve either side of your heart; however, it usually affects the left side first. If the left ventricle loses its ability to contract normally, this is systolic failure, where the heart can’t pump with enough force to push adequate amounts of blood into the circulation. If the ventricle loses its ability to relax normally because the muscle has become stiff, this is diastolic failure, meaning that the heart can’t properly fill with blood during the rest period between each beat. Blood coming into the left chamber from the lungs may back up, causing fluid to leak into the lungs, a condition known as pulmonary edema.

As the heart’s ability to pump decreases, blood flow slows down everywhere, causing fluid to build up in various tissues, including the lungs. This excess fluid or congestion explains the term congestive heart failure used to describe this condition. Left heart failure leads to edema of the lungs, while loss of pumping power on the right side causes blood to back up in veins, resulting in swelling in legs and ankles.

This condition commonly occurs after damage to part of the heart muscle during a heart attack and is associated with a lower quality of life and usually a shortened one. To optimize the rest of your life, particularly if you have already suffered a heart attack, watch out for symptoms of this condition (e.g., shortness of breath or swelling in your lower legs), and talk to your doctor about possibly controlling them with prescribed medications. Heart failure can be treated with varying drugs, including diuretics to drain excess fluids out of the body and others aimed at increasing the pumping power of the heart.

Moderate Your Major Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Major risk factors for cardiovascular problems have been determined (see the sidebar “Major Cardiovascular Risk Factors”). Generally speaking, the more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing heart disease or some other form of CVD. Some factors can’t be modified, treated, or controlled (e.g., age or sex), while others can. As discussed in the last step, control- ling your level of abdominal obesity usually helps more than worrying about your overall weight. You should also keep in mind that simply having an elevated degree of a particular risk factor increases your overall chances. For example, if your total cholesterol level is 300 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), your risk is higher than for someone whose cholesterol runs 245 mg/dL, even though both of you are considered to be in the same high-risk category. Likewise, you can stop or at least reduce cigarette smoking and lower your risk, given that the relative risk of stroke in heavy smokers (more than forty cigarettes a day) is twice that of light smokers (less than ten).

While you can’t modify all of your risk factors to protect yourself from future problems, you can certainly take steps to moderate their potential impact on your health and longevity. In the remainder of this article, we discuss some of these risk factors that you can control in more detail and the steps you can easily take to prevent the onset of cardiovascular problems.

Major Cardiovascular Risk Factors

• Age

• Sex

• Family history of CVD (close male relative younger than fifty five or close female relative younger than sixty-five)

• Elevated blood fats

• Cigarette smoking

• Hypertension

• Physical inactivity

• Diabetes

• Obesity

Change Your Sex?

Your sex isn’t a modifiable risk factor, but a greater knowledge about how it affects your risk will allow you to make informed decisions related to your sex that can somewhat alter your chances of developing CVD. For instance, compared to men, most women are somewhat protected from coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke before reaching menopause, which usually occurs in their early fifties. Once women have gone through menopause, their risk begins to rise and keeps rising, making it incorrect to assume that women always have a lower risk and require less aggressive treatment. In reality, within one year after a heart attack, only 62 percent of women compared with 75 percent of men are still living, and more men also survive strokes. Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability and loss of quality of life for many older females. All types of cardiovascular events are particularly problematic among minority women, especially African Americans. To optimize health and longevity, women can benefit simply by being aware that they likely need to be more aggressive about lowering cardiovascular risk factors after experiencing menopause.

Which Elevated Blood Fats Should Cause Concern?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance made by the liver and also supplied in your diet through animal products, including meats, poultry, fish, shellfish, and dairy products, but it’s not found at all in plants. Some cholesterol is needed in your body to insulate nerves, make cell membranes, and produce certain hormones. The total amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream comprises both healthful and harmful types, the majority being high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL).

HDL is touted as the good type of cholesterol, meaning that it is supposed to protect against heart disease. It has the ability to remove excess cholesterol and may actually take some out of arterial plaques and slow their growth. High levels are associated with a reduced heart attack risk. In fact, low levels of HDL, along with elevated triglycerides (fat), appear to be a stronger predictor of heart-disease-related problems in women than in men. Luckily, you can raise HDL levels and lower triglycerides naturally with increased physical activity. Moderate alcohol consumption, whether it consists of wine, beer, or distilled spirits, apparently cuts the risk of nonfatal heart attacks as well, likely related in part to the beneficial elevations in HDL it causes. Ideally, your HDL levels should be as high as possible. Aim for HDL levels that are higher than 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women for optimal cardiovascular health.

Tips for Better Health

Your total cholesterol levels don’t matter as much as the levels of good and bad types that you have. Small, dense forms of LDL are best lowered, but large, fluffy LDL is relatively benign, while most HDL is beneficial. Have your types and subtypes measured before deciding whether to start taking cholesterol-lowering medications.

Conversely, LDL is considered mostly as the bad type of cholesterol. In particular, oxidation of LDL may contribute most to the development of plaque in coronary and other arteries. A high level of LDL cholesterol (more than 160 mg/dL) reflects an increased risk of heart disease. However, it is now known that there are two types of LDL: a small, dense LDL (sd LDL), which often ends up being taken up into arterial walls and rapidly oxidized, and a large, fluffy LDL that is relatively benign. High levels of the latter type are common in centenarians, while sd LDL is often associated with high triglycerides and heart disease. Thus, sd LDL is the “bad-bad” type of cholesterol, and large, fluffy LDL is the “good-bad” cholesterol. Before being treated for elevated LDL cholesterol levels, have your doctor measure your levels of both types. If you mainly have the good-bad form, then treatment with medications may not be recommended. You may also ask your doctor to measure your blood levels of lipoprotein (a) and Apo lipoprotein B, both of which are protein markers for bad-bad cholesterol, to find out more about the types that you have.

Finally, most cholesterol-related recommendations currently suggest that levels be reduced to excessively low values—despite little scientific evidence that doing so is truly beneficial, even for younger individuals. We recommend keeping your LDL at no higher than 120 mg/dL, particularly if you have mostly sd LDL and your HDL levels are less than 70 mg/dL. Aggressively lowering cholesterol levels at ages older than sixty-five, though, should likely be limited to people who have evidence of heart disease, diabetes, or high levels of sd LDL or lipoprotein (a). The drugs of choice for lowering cholesterol levels these days are statins (e.g., Lipitor), which appear to be cardio protective beyond their lipid lowering effects by blocking cytokines that damage artery walls and increase plaque formation.

Boost Your Antioxidant Status to Lower Cholesterol’s Effects.

Antioxidant vitamins—E, C, and beta-carotene, which is a precursor of vitamin A—have potential health-promoting properties. Be careful not to take too much vitamin E, as recent studies have shown that high supplemental doses of vitamin E may actually increase your risk of heart disease. Vitamins consumed naturally through foods are almost always better for you than supplemental ones. So consume more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts to boost your vitamin E and other vitamin intake. A recent study of the French concluded that each additional fruit or vegetable consumed daily above the minimal recommended intake could cut the risk of heart disease by as much as 4 percent.

Tips for Better Health

Some easy ways to improve your heart health and lower cholesterol levels through dietary means include eating more fish, drinking moderate amounts of any type of alcohol, eating more vegetables and fruits high in antioxidants, and consuming dark chocolate in limited quantities.

In addition, omega-3 fats found in fish may prevent sudden death or fatal cardiovascular events by regulating heartbeat and preventing irregular rhythms. Cold water fish, such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel, are recommended as good sources of omega- 3 fatty acids to be eaten four times a week. Fish oil supplements at a dose of about 1 gram a day may also reduce the heart rate and normalize heart rhythms in people with and without heart disease.

Likewise, the cacao plant, from which chocolate and cocoa are derived, boosts the immune system and restricts formation of the cholesterol type that damages the coronary vessels. It naturally contains antioxidants called cate chins and phenols, as well as over six hundred other plant chemicals. The fat content in dark chocolate comprises equal parts of oleate, a heart-healthy fat also found in olive oil; stearate, which has a neutral effect when eaten in chocolate; and palmitate, which can elevate cholesterol but only comprises one-third of chocolate’s fat. Recent studies have indicated that 22 grams of cocoa powder and 16 grams of dark chocolate daily actually can raise HDL cholesterol levels by 10 percent while lowering oxidation of LDL, thereby reducing sd LDL, but milk chocolate may not be nearly as heart healthy, as more of its fat is saturated. Stick with moderate intake of darker types to optimize the workings of your cardiovascular system.

Poorly Controlled Diabetes Causes Heart Disease

Diabetes cases have reached epidemic proportions worldwide and are expected to keep rising during this century. Unfortunately, as far as staying young for longer is concerned, this disease—especially when blood sugars remain poorly controlled—accelerates aging, making the average person with diabetes ten years older biologically than his or her actual chronological age. By itself, diabetes also constitutes a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Older diabetic adults have two to four times the normal risk of suffering from a life-ending heart condition than their non-diabetic peers. Overall, up to 80 percent of people with diabetes die from cardiovascular complications, and their life spans are typically shortened by ten years or more. The statistics are even more disheartening for adults who develop type 2 diabetes at a younger age (by eighteen to forty-four years old): they’re fourteen times more likely to have a heart attack, up to thirty times for a stroke. However, such dismal outcomes are largely preventable by lifestyle choices. Regular physical activity, better food choices, reduced levels of insulin resistance, and more tightly controlled blood glucose levels reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the first place, help control it more effectively, and lower the chances of ultimately experiencing cardiovascular problems precipitated by it.

Physical Inactivity Decreases Vital Heart Health

Physical activity plays a role in cardiovascular health, given that a sedentary lifestyle in itself increases your risk of all forms of CVD. For instance, less fit people have a 30 to 50 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure and subsequent strokes, and sedentary people have twice the chance of developing life-shortening heart disease. Regular activity also lowers your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which by itself is a huge risk factor for CVD. While regular exercise does not guarantee that you won’t get heart disease or other related problems, it can considerably reduce your chances. Doing any physical activity is far better than none, and even low-intensity activities can help prevent heart problems.

Tips for Better Health

Remaining sedentary is likely the greatest risk for heart problems that you can have. While regular exercise does not guarantee that you will never experience any heart disease, your chances are far less if you’re active. Do both aerobic and resistance work to optimize your insulin action and reduce inflammation.

IN SHORT…

Cardiovascular problems can make you biologically older than your chronological age, thereby reducing your overall health and quality of life. Act immediately to get medical help if you experience any of the usual symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, for the best possible outcome. To stay younger, also take steps to modify or reduce your risk of such events, such as using dietary and exercise interventions to manage high blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol levels, control diabetes, and limit plaque formation in arteries. In addition, you can use medications to control your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but don’t treat your cholesterol levels too aggressively without first checking your subtypes of LDL cholesterol.

Making Baby Food

Homemade baby foods can help you provide low-cost nutritious foods for your little one. Com- mercial baby foods are convenient and safe, but they often contain more water, starch, and sugar than homemade ones.

Most babies do not need solid foods until they are about 4 to 6 months of age. Before that age most babies have not learned to swallow solid foods. The sucking reflex pushes the tongue forward in the mouth and pushes out solid foods.

You can force food down the baby’s throat but the baby is not really swallowing. Starting solids too soon may contribute to gagging and choking. If you wait to introduce solid foods, you will not need to make them too liquid. Babies will be able to handle food that is slightly textured and has small lumps.

Baby’s first foods need to be soft. Some pediatricians recommend iron-fortified infant rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula as a first solid food because rice is less likely than other grains to cause allergic reactions. Foods can be softened or mashed in a blender, food processor, food mill, or grinder. Sometimes just mashing with a fork is sufficient. If you are using foods fixed for a family meal, take out baby’s portion before adding seasonings and spices. Begin with single foods in case allergies are present. Later try combinations of fruits, vegetables, or vegetables and meats.

When to introduce solid foods

Remember food safety

• Special care should be taken when preparing foods for babies because they are more vulnerable to germs than are older children or adults.

• Always wash your hands and equipment thoroughly before making baby food.

• Raw food contains bacteria. Never let cooked food come into contact with raw food. Thoroughly wash cutting boards and utensils that have been used with raw foods to avoid the cross-contamination that is responsible for many foodborne illnesses (food poisoning).

• Do not let baby food sit at room temperature for more than two hours. Harmful bacteria in the food grow very well if given a chance. Refrig- erate or freeze baby food as soon as possible.

How to make baby food

1. Wash and rinse your hands and equipment thoroughly.

2. Prepare fresh fruits and vegetables by scrubbing, peeling, and removing pits or seeds. Remove all bones, skin, gristle, and fat from meats. Do not use leftovers to make baby food.

3. Cook food in a small amount of water until tender. Use the cooking water if the recipe calls for liquid. Food also may be steamed or baked.

4. Don’t add salt or seasonings.

5. Don’t add sugar, honey, or any other form of sweetener. Babies do not need the sweet flavor. They like fruits and other foods just the way they are. Honey and corn syrup are not safe for infants under the age of 12 months because they may carry botulism spores.

The digestive system of a baby cannot destroy these spores.

6. Purée or mash cooked food.

7. Package and label for refrigerator or freezer storage.

How to store baby food

Making several servings is a good use of time, but it also requires careful storage. One to three extra servings may be stored in the refrigerator. Use cooked vegetables or fruit within three days. Raw fruit and meats should be used the next day.

To store more than three servings, freeze the prepared foods in ice cube trays. After the food is frozen, put the cubes in freezer bags. Seal tightly, label, and store up to one month. To serve, heat in a small dish or custard cup set in pan of water. You do not need to heat the food too much.

Warning:  Use extreme caution if defrosting or heating in a micro- wave oven. Microwaves can heat a food unevenly and form hot spots. One spoonful may be cold, yet the next spoonful could burn your baby’s mouth. Always stir the food well before feeding your baby. Most health and child care professionals recommend against using a micro- wave oven to warm baby food.

Baby food recipes

Vegetables (for 7 months and older)

1. Use fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables. Check canned and frozen labels to see that they are low-salt or unsalted.

2. Wash and peel the vegetable, if necessary. If uncooked, cook over low heat in a small amount of water. Cool and purée or mash.

3. Some good combinations are: mashed potatoes and carrots or green beans; carrots and peas; sweet potatoes and squash; green beans and peas.

Warning: Beets and spinach have high concentrations of naturally- occurring nitrates which can reduce the ability of the baby’s hemoglobin to transport oxygen. Use these foods in moderation or not at all until the baby reaches his or her first birthday.

Fruit (for 8 months and older)

Follow the same procedure as for vegetables using fresh, frozen, or unsweetened canned fruit.

Good combinations are: peaches and pears, banana and apricots, or applesauce and peaches.

Banana-Oatmeal Breakfast (for 8 months and older)

1⁄4 cup rolled oats

1⁄2 cup formula (or breast milk)

1⁄3 whole banana

1⁄4 cup formula (or breast milk)

Combine oats and 1⁄2 cup formula. Bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mash banana and 1⁄4 cup formula. Combine banana and oatmeal mixtures.

Fruit and yogurt (for 10 months and older)

1⁄4 cup plain yogurt

1⁄4 cup cooked, unsweetened fruit

Combine, mashing lumps of fruit, if necessary.

Meat (for 10 months and older)

1⁄2 cup cubed cooked meat

2 to 4 tablespoons water

Combine and purée until smooth.

Combination Meat Dinners (for 10 months and older)

1⁄2  cup cubed cooked meat

1⁄4 cup cooked vegetable pieces

1⁄4 cup cooked rice, potato, or enriched macaroni

1⁄4 cup formula (or breast milk)

Combine and blend or mash until few lumps remain. Some good combinations are: beef, peas, and potatoes; chicken, carrots, and rice; beef, squash, and macaroni; liver, green beans, and potatoes.

Meat Balls (for 10 months and older)

1⁄2 pound lean ground beef or pork

1⁄2 cup mashed potatoes or rolled oats

Combine the meat and potatoes or oatmeal, mixing well.  Form into balls about 1 inch in diam- eter. Place meatballs on a baking sheet and bake in a 350^o oven for 20 minutes, or cook in a skillet until done in the middle. Drain off fat. Offer the cooled meatballs as finger foods for snacks or meals. Label and store the extra meatballs in the freezer. Use within one month.

Warning: Babies sometimes choke on small foods. Make sure the meatballs are large enough not to get caught in the windpipe, and never leave the baby unattended while eating. To protect your baby from the danger of choking, offer only foods that are soft or will soften in the mouth.

Credits: The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush, by Andreas Moritz

The Most Common Causes Of Liver Disease And Gallstones

Human Liver

Bile consists of water, mucous, bile pigment (bilirubin), bile salts and cholesterol, as well as enzymes and friendly, essential bacteria. This greenish fluid is produced by liver cells that pass it into tiny canals, known as bile canaliculi. These join up to form larger canals which, in turn, connect with the right and left hepatic ducts. The two hepatic ducts join to form the common bile duct which drains bile from the liver and supplies the gallbladder with the right amount of bile required for proper digestion.

Any change in the composition of bile affects the solubility of its constituents and, hence, causes formation of gallstones. For simplicity sake, I have categorized gallstones into two basic types: cholesterol and pigment stones. Some cholesterol stones are composed of at least 60% cholesterol and have a yellowish color. Others have a pea-green color and are generally soft, like putty (these can consist of  5% cholesterol). Pigment stones are brown or black, owing to their high content of colored pigment (bilirubin). They may be calcified, are harder and more solid than the cholesterol stones. However, also cholesterol-based stones can become hard and calcified. Calcified stones can only be found in the gallbladder.

Abnormal composition of bile can occur in a number of ways.

Cholesterol is normally kept in liquid form through the dissolving action of bile salts and, of course, the availability of sufficient amounts of water. An increased amount of cholesterol in the bile overwhelms the dissolving capacity of the bile salts, thereby promoting the formation of cholesterol stones. Similarly, a decrease in the amount of bile salts also leads to cholesterol stone formation.
Insufficient water intake decreases the fluidity of bile. If this occurs, cholesterol cannot be dissolved properly; instead it reconstitutes into small and forms into small cholesterol pebbles. In time, the small pebbles gradually grow into larger ones.

Pigment stones form when the bile pigment, bilirubin, which is a waste product of the breakdown of red blood cells, increases in the bile. People with excessive amounts of cholesterol stones in the liver are at risk of developing liver cirrhosis, sickle-cell disease or other blood diseases. Any of these complications can produce higher concentrations of bilirubin pigment in the bile, hence the formation of bilirubin stones in the gallbladder.
When the composition of bile in the liver is no longer balanced, small cholesterol crystals begin to combine with other bile components to form tiny clots. These tiny clots obstruct the even tinier bile canaliculi. This slows the bile flow further, and more bile is added to the tiny clots. Eventually, the clots become large enough to be called stones. Some of these ‘grown’ stones may pass into the larger bile ducts and cluster together with other stones, or grow to larger sizes by themselves. The result is that bile flow becomes obstructed in the larger bile ducts as well. Once several of the larger bile ducts are congested, hundreds of smaller ducts also become affected, leading to a vicious cycle. Eventually, even the hepatic ducts begin to clog up, which drastically reduces the amount of bile available for the digestive process.
Sluggish bile flow in the liver alters the composition of bile even further, which subsequently affects the gallbladder. A small clot of bile in the gallbladder may take about eight years to grow large enough to be noticeable and become a serious health threat. It is known that 1 in   Americans has gallstones in the gallbladder. Of these, 500,000 opt for a gallbladder operation each year. What is not known, however, is that almost every person with any kind of health problem has gallstones in the liver. Moreover, it is estimated that about  5% of adults in industrialised nations have gallstones in the biliary system of their liver. Gallstones in the liver can cause many more diseases than gallstones in the gallbladder. To prevent illness and generate a genuine and lasting breakthrough in the understanding and treatment of disease, we need to understand what exactly dehydrates the bile fluid, alters its natural flora, destroys its enzymes, increases its cholesterol content and changes the amount of bile pigment. The following four categories shed light on the most common factors responsible for causing gallstones.

1.Dietary

Overeating

Dietary mistakes possibly play the biggest role in producing imbalanced bile composition and, consequently, gallstones. Among all dietary mistakes, overeating affects health most severely. By regularly eating too much food or eating food more frequently than the body needs to nourish and sustain itself, the digestive juices (including bile) become increasingly depleted. This leaves large proportions of the ingested foods undigested, thus becoming a constant source of harmful microbial activity. Subsequently, more and more toxic substances begin to linger in the intestinal tract, leading to congestion of the lymphatic system and thickening of the blood. All this overtaxes the liver and excretory functions.
Intestinal disorders can greatly deplete bile salts in the body and, thereby, lead to formation of gallstones. This is most notably shown by the marked risk of gallstones among patients suffering from Crohn’s disease and other forms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

An imbalanced blood and lymph condition, caused by overeating, leads to decreased blood flow in the liver lobules, thereby altering bile composition and generating gallstones. Gallstones in the liver further congest the blood and lymph, which upsets the body’s basic metabolism. The more one overeats, the fewer nutrients become available to the cells of the body. In fact, constant overeating leads to cell starvation, which creates the strong urge of wanting to eat food more often than normal. The repeated desire to snack, known as food craving, is a sign of progressive malnutrition and metabolic imbalance. Moreover, it indicates imbalanced liver activity and presence of gallstones.

Eating to the point that you feel completely full or cannot eat any more food is a clear signal that the stomach has reached the point of dysfunction. Digestive juices in the stomach are only able to mix with the ingested food so long as the stomach is at least one quarter empty. Two-cupped handfuls of food equal about three-quarters the size of your stomach, which is the maximum amount of food the stomach can process at one time. Therefore, it is best to stop eating at the point when you feel you still could eat a little more. Leaving the dinner table slightly hungry greatly improves digestive functions and prevents gallstones and disease from arising in the future.

Eating Between Meals

Eating Between Meals

Ayurveda, the most ancient of all health sciences, considers “eating before the previous meal has been digested” to be one of the major causes of illness. The following factors are among the most common reasons why people eat in between meals:
1. A stressful and hurried lifestyle.
2. The temptation generated by the huge variety of processed, refined and attractively packaged food stuff available
3. The convenience of having fast food meals (low in nutritional value) virtually any time.
4. Lack of satisfaction from foods eaten; hence, food cravings develop.
5. Emotional eating to comfort oneself and avoid dealing with fear insecurity issues.

Any or all of these may have contributed to the irregular eating habits prevalent in a large percentage of today’s population. As a general rule, the more foods are processed, the fewer nutrients they contain; and the fewer nutrients they contain, the more of them we need to eat in order to satisfy the daily nutritional requirements of the body. [Note: Taking food supplements can neither replace real food nor provide the satisfaction from eating which the body requires to successfully digest and process nutrients.]

Irregular eating habits, which include eating between meals, greatly upset the body’s finely tuned biological rhythms. Most of the important hormonal secretions in the body depend on regular cycles of eating, sleeping and waking. The production of bile and intestinal digestive juices, for example—necessary for breaking down foods into their basic nutrient components—naturally peak during midday. This suggests that the biggest meal is best eaten around that time. In contrast, the body’s digestive capacity is considerably lower during the morning and evening hours. If, day after day, the lunch meals consist merely of light snacks, the gallbladder cannot squeeze all of its contents into the intestines, leaving behind enough bile to form gallstones. Remember, the gallbladder is naturally programmed to release the maximum amount of bile during mid-day.

In addition, eating only non-substantial meals during lunchtime leads to nutritional deficiencies, often expressed through a frequent desire for food or drink that promise a quick energy boost. These include sweets, pastries, breads and pastas made from white flour (starches act like white sugar), chocolate, coffee, black tea, soda, etc.
With every little snack, the gallbladder releases a little bile. However, the secretion of just a little bile is not sufficient to completely empty the gallbladder, which raises the risk of gallstone formation.

Having a constant urge to eat between meals suggests a major imbalance of the digestive and metabolic functions. If you decide to eat something an hour or two after a meal, for example, the stomach is forced to leave the previously eaten meal half-digested and attend to the newly ingested food instead. The older food begins to ferment and putrefy, thereby becoming a source of toxins in the digestive tract.
The new food, on the other hand, receives only inadequate amounts of digestive juices, leaving it only half-digested as well. While the body is engaged in digesting a meal, it is simply incapable of producing and delivering sufficient amounts of bile and other digestive juices to properly handle a new meal. If this stop-and-go process is repeated many times, it results in the generation of ever-increasing amounts of toxins and ever-decreasing amounts of nutrients. Both of these stressful situations cause a reduction in bile salts and an increase of cholesterol production. Hence, the body is left with no other choice but to produce gallstones.

To escape this vicious cycle, allow yourself to go through the initial phases of food cravings with more awareness. Feel your body when it signals discomfort. Ask your self what it really wants. If you crave something sweet, try substituting with fruit. In many people the urge to eat is often a sign of dehydration. Drinking one or two glasses of water can stop the discomfort altogether. At the same time, make certain that you get a substantial and nutritious meal at lunchtime. In time, and provided you have completely cleansed your liver, your body will receive enough nutrients from this main meal to satisfy almost all of its daily nutritional requirements. This will effectively stop food cravings and the desire to eat in between meals.

Eating Heavy Meals in the Evenings

A similar eating disorder occurs when the main meal of the day is consumed in the evening. Secretions of bile and digestive enzymes are drastically reduced later in the afternoon, and especially after 6PM. For that reason, a meal consisting of foods such as meat, chicken, fish, cheese, eggs, oily or oil-fried foods, etc. cannot be properly digested at those times. Instead, such a meal becomes a source of toxic waste deposits in the intestines.
Undigested foods are always a cause of congestion, first in the intestinal tract, and then in the lymph and blood. This greatly affects the quality of digestion during daytime meals. Gradually, the digestive power, which is determined by balanced secretions of hydrochloric acid, bile and digestive enzymes, becomes subdued, causing similar side effects as a result of overeating. Therefore, eating a large meal in the evening is a major contributing factor in the development of gallstones in the liver. Eating food before going to sleep also upsets the digestive functions, for similar reasons. Ideally, there should be at least three hours between eating and bedtime. The ideal time for evening meals is at around 6PM.

High Protein Diet

Excessive Protein Consumption

Excessive protein consumption leads to thickening and congestion of the basement membranes of the blood vessels (capillaries and arteries), including the liver sinusoids. Consequently, much of the serum cholesterol is hindered from leaving the blood stream at the sinusoids. Therefore, the liver cells assume that there must be a shortage of cholesterol in the body. This ‘shortage’ stimulates the liver cells to raise cholesterol production to abnormally high levels (some of the cholesterol is needed to shield off damaged areas in the walls of arteries). However, many of the membranes and openings of the sinusoids are congested with accumulated protein fiber (collagen). Since this prevents the sinusoids from absorbing the produced cholesterol, almost all of it is forced to leave the liver via the bile ducts. Hence bile, which excretes cholesterol into the small intestines, becomes too saturated with cholesterol. This causes the formation of small clumps of cholesterol crystals, mixed with bile components, in the liver bile ducts and gallbladder.

Interestingly, Asians generally have a low protein but fat-rich diet rarely, and rarely have cholesterol stones in their gallbladders. On the other hand, cholesterol stones in the gallbladder are very common among Americans whose diet is rich in flesh and milk protein.

Dietary fats play only a secondary, almost insignificant role in raising cholesterol levels in the blood. The liver cells produce most of the cholesterol the body requires on a daily basis for the normal metabolic processes. It is only when the basement membranes of the sinusoids are thickened through protein deposits that the liver raises cholesterol production to abnormal levels. Other factors that also generate excessive amounts of protein in the blood include stress, smoking and drinking alcohol or coffee. Once enough of these degenerate proteins are deposited in the blood vessel walls, the liver cells automatically raise cholesterol production. The side effect of this response is gallstone formation.

If you are not a vegetarian it is best to cut out meat, pork, eggs and cheese, and keep other types of animal protein to a minimum. Although all animal protein has a gallstone-generating effect, white meat, including chicken, turkey and rabbit, cause the least damage to the liver, provided they are of free-range origin and not eaten more often than once or twice a week. It is best to avoid fried and deepfried foods as they aggravate both the gallbladder and liver. Once your taste for meat or other animal protein begins to diminish, you can gradually switch to a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet.

Over 2/3 of the world’s population is vegan and has no access to animal protein. It shows no signs of such degenerative illnesses as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, etc. About 95% per cent of the body’s protein is recycled; the rest of it is manufactured by bacteria in the intestinal tract and/or supplied by plant foods. The common assumption that you need to eat protein-rich food on daily basis is not only misleading but also totally unscientific.Human breast milk is the most important and balanced food there is for a newborn child. However, in comparison with cow’s milk, it contains almost no protein, that is, just about 1.5%. Right from the beginning of life, the growing physiology is naturally prevented from receiving concentrated protein foods. It is, perhaps, for this reason that life-long vegans have the lowest incidence of gallstones, heart disease and cancer.

Other Foods and Beverages Drinks

Eggs, pork, greasy food, onions, fowl, pasteurized milk, ice cream, coffee, chocolate, citrus fruits, corn, beans (except soybeans) and nuts, in that order, are known to bring on gallbladder attacks in patients suffering from gallbladder disease. In a 1968  research study, an entire group of patients with gallbladder disease were free of symptoms while on a diet that excluded all of these foods. Adding eggs to their diet brought on gallbladder attacks in 93% of the patients. Egg protein, in particular, can have a gallstone-producing effect. Researchers believe that the ingestion of substances that cause allergies make the bile ducts swell up which, in turn, impairs the flow of bile from the gallbladder.

This assumption, however, is only partially true. From the Ayurvedic point of view, gallstone formation is Pitta disorder, affecting mostly the Pitta body type. Pitta literally means bile in Sanskrit. Bile is naturally secreted in large amounts among people with this body type, but is also easily aggravated, i.e., its constituent parts become imbalanced, when any of the above foods are eaten in large amounts, or on a regular basis. This does no mean that Pitta types are naturally prone to gallbladder disease; rather, it means that these individuals are not designed to digest such foods because they are not required for their growth and sustenance.

The Pitta body type is known to have only limited amounts of enzymes to break down certain foods or drinks, of which the most prominent are: sour dairy products, including cheese, yogurt and sour cream; egg yolks; salty butter; all nuts except almonds, pecans and walnuts; hot spices, as well as ketchup, mustard, pickles, refined or processed salt; salad dressings that contain vinegar; spicy condiments (sauces); citrus fruit and juices; all sour and unripe fruits; brown sugar; whole (non-ground) grains, such as those contained in many whole wheat breads; brown rice; lentils; alcohol; tobacco; coffee and regular tea; colas and other soft drinks; artificial sweeteners, preservatives and colorings; most pharmaceutical drugs and narcotics; chocolates and cacao; left-over, frozen and microwave foods; all iced drinks.

Although the Pitta type is the most prone to develop gallstones, other body types are also at risk if they regularly eat foods that clash with their natural constitutional requirements.7 In addition, processed and preserved foods and beverages disturb liver functions in every body type. Foods that contain artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame or saccharine, severely upset the liver, gallbladder and pancreas.
Drinking alcohol on a regular basis has a dehydrating effect on bile and blood, and causes fat deposits in the liver; and so does eating foods that contain a lot of sugar. Also, carbonated drinks and fruit juices are loaded with sugar. The increased consumption of sugar among children may explain why such a high percentage of younger people today have already accumulated numerous gallstones in the liver, although relatively few children normally develop stones in the gallbladder at such an early age. (I personally know of numerous ill children, who have done the liver cleanse and released hundreds of gallstones.) Children rarely produce gallstones if they eat a balanced, vegetarian diet, that is rich in fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates.

A Word on the Effects of Refined and Unrefined Salt:

Natural sea salt contains 92 essential minerals, whereas, refined adulterated sea salt contains only two elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). When there is a dietary deficiency of trace elements, cells lose the ability to control their ions. This has dire consequences for the human body. Even if ion equilibrium is lost for only one minute, cells in the body begin to burst. This can lead to nervous disorders, brain damage or muscle spasms, as well as breakdown of the cell-regenerating process.

When ingested, natural sea salt (reconstituted seawater) allows liquids to freely cross body membranes, blood vessels walls and glomeruli (filter units) of the kidneys. Whenever the sodium chloride concentration rises in the blood, the water in the neighboring tissues is attracted to that salt-rich blood. This, in turn, allows the cells to reabsorb the enriched intra-cellular fluid. Healthy kidneys remove the saline fluids easily. Refined salt, however, poses a great risk to the body. It prevents this free crossing of liquids and minerals, thereby causing accumulated fluids to stagnate in joints, lymph ducts and lymph nodes and the kidneys. Its dehydrating effect can lead to gallstone formation and numerous other health problems.

The body requires salt to properly digest carbohydrates. In the presence of natural salt, saliva and gastric secretions are readily able to break down the fibrous store of carbohydrates. In its dissolved and ionized form, salt facilitates the digestive process and sanitizes the gastro-intestinal tract.

In contrast, commercially produced table salt has quite the opposite effect. To make salt resist re-absorption of moisture and, thereby, be more convenient for the consumer, salt manufacturers add chemicals as desiccants, as well as different bleaches, to the final salt formula. After undergoing processing, the salt can no longer blend or combine with human body fluids. This invariably undermines the most basic chemical and metabolic processes in the body. Water retention, kidney and blood pressure problems are the most obvious consequences of salt consumption. Refined salt is still added to thousands of different foods. Over fifty percent of the American population suffers from water retention (the leading cause of weight gain and obesity).

Before it was commercially produced, versus naturally harvested, salt was considered the most precious commodity on earth, even more precious than gold. During the Celtic era, salt was used to treat major physical and mental disturbances, severe burns and other ailments. Research has shown that seawater restores hydro-electrolytic imbalance, a disorder that causes loss of immune response, allergies and numerous other health problems. Today, salt has earned a bad name and people have learned to fear it, in the same way they fear cholesterol. Many doctors warn their patients to stay away from sodium and sodium-rich foods. But living salt-free lives also means having increased risk of mineral and trace mineral deficiency, as well as numerous other complications.

Celtic ocean salt is a particularly good product to ingest because it is naturally extracted through sun drying. If taken dissolved in water or added to the moisture of foods, it has profound, positive effects on the cellular levels. It can also be used to cleanse and detoxify the gastro-intestinal intestinal tract. .

Dehydration

Many people today suffer from dehydration without being aware of it. Dehydration is a condition in which body cells do not receive enough water for basic metabolic processes. The cells can run dry for a number of reasons:

• Lack of water intake (anything less than one liter of pure water per day)
• Regular consumption of beverages that have diuretic effects, e.g., coffee, tea, colas, soda and alcohol, including beet and wine
• Regular consumption of stimulating foods or substances such as meat, hot spices, chocolate, sugar, tobacco, narcotic drugs, etc.
• Stress
• Most pharmacological drugs
• Excessive exercise
• Overeating and excessive weight gain
• Watching television for several hours every day

Any of these factors have a blood thickening effect and, thereby, force cells to give up water. The cell water is used to restore blood thinness. To avoid self-destruction, however, the cells begin to hold on to water. They do this by increasing the thickness of their membranes. The clay-like substance, cholesterol, helps to surround the cells and prevent loss of cellular water. Although this emergency measure may preserve water and save the cell for the time being, it also reduces the cell’s ability to absorb new water, as well as muchneeded nutrients. Some of the unabsorbed water and nutrients are accumulated in the connective tissues surrounding the cells, causing swelling of the body and water retention in the legs, kidneys, face, eyes, arms and other parts. This leads to considerable weight gain. At the same time, the blood plasma and lymph fluids become thickened and congested. Dehydration also affects the natural fluidity of bile and, thereby, promotes the formation of gallstones.

Tea, coffee, cola or chocolate share the same nerve toxin (stimulant), caffeine. Caffeine, which is readily released into the blood, triggers a powerful immune response that helps to counteract and eliminate this irritant. The toxic irritant stimulates the adrenal glands, and to some extent, the body’s many cells, to release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol into the blood stream. The resulting sudden surge in energy is commonly referred to as ‘the fight or flight response.’ If consumption of stimulants continues on a regular basis, however, this natural defense response of the body becomes overused and ineffective. The almost constant secretion of stress hormones, which are highly toxic compounds in and of themselves, eventually alters the blood chemistry and causes damage to the immune and nervous system. Future defense responses are weakened and the body becomes more prone to infections or other ailments.

The boost in energy experienced after drinking a cup of coffee is not a direct result of caffeine, but the immune system’s attempt get rid of it (caffeine). An overexcited and suppressed immune system fails to provide the ‘energizing’ adrenaline and cortisol boosts needed to free the body from the acidic nerve toxin caffeine. At this stage, people say that they are ‘used’ to a stimulant, such as coffee. So they tend to increase their intake of it to feel the ‘benefits.’ The often-heard expression “I am dying for a cup of coffee” reflects the peril of this situation.

Since the body cells have to continuously sacrifice some of their own water for the removal of the nerve toxin caffeine, regular consumption of coffee, tea or colas causes them to become dehydrated. For every cup of tea or coffee you drink, the body has to mobilize about 2-3 cups of water just to remove the stimulants, a luxury it cannot afford. This also applies to soft drinks, drugs or any other stimulants, including watching TV for many hours (see more about this in the article on Lifestyle). As a general rule, all stimulants have a strong dehydrating effect on bile, blood and digestive juices.

Rapid Weight Loss

Rapid Weight Loss

Overweight people are at greater risk of developing gallstones than people of average weight. It is an undisputed fact that there are significant health benefits to be gained from losing excess pounds.
Many people, for example, can normalize high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels through weight loss.

Vitamin D3 can also help lower blood pressure. Do you know Vitamin D3, also known as the “sunshine vitamin”, can be manufactured in the skin when the body is exposed to sunlight. However, as we age, the absorption of Vitamin D3 can be decreased. Vitamin D3 is the active form of Vitamin D. Vitamin D2 is a cheaper synthetic version that is ineffective. Vitamin D is necessary for healthy bones, muscles, and cells. It also helps the body absorb and use phosphorus and calcium. When one is exposed to sunlight for 15 to 20 minutes a day, they can absorb about 10,000-15,000 IU of Vitamin D3 each day.

However, achieving rapid weight loss through diet programs that advise very low intake of calories each day increases a person’s risk of developing gallstones, both in the liver and gallbladder. Some lowcalorie diets may not contain enough fat to enable the gallbladder to contract sufficiently to empty its bile. A meal or snack containing approximately   grams (one-third of an ounce) of fat is necessary for the gallbladder to contract normally. If this does not happen, the gallbladder retains the bile, which subsequently leads to stone formation.

Obesity is associated with increased cholesterol secretion into the bile ducts, which raises the risk of developing cholesterol stones. When obese individuals undergo rapid or substantial weight loss by following an unbalanced diet program, the congested and, therefore, undernourished body seeks to utilize nutrient and fat components from reserve deposits. This quickly raises blood fats and further increases the risk of gallstone formation. The sudden formation of gallstones among people following rapid weight loss programs appears to be a result of increased cholesterol and decreased bile salts in the bile.

Gallstones are also common among obese patients who lose weight rapidly after gastric bypass surgery. (In gastric bypass surgery, the size of the stomach is reduced, preventing the person from overeating.) One study found that more than one third (3  %) of patients who had gastric bypass surgery developed gallstones afterwards. Gallstones are most likely to occur within the first few months after surgery. The research findings, however, relate only to gallstones in the gallbladder. The damage done to the liver, itself, through this procedure is likely to be far greater than just causing a few gallstones in the gallbladder.

If substantial or rapid weight loss increases the risk of developing gallstones, the obvious way to reduce this risk is to lose weight more gradually. In fact, this problem is solved when toxic waste deposits are removed from the body, including gallstones, and a balanced lifestyle and appropriate diet are implemented. In such cases, weight loss does not increase the risk of gallbladder disease, but reduces it.
By eliminating all stones from the liver and gallbladder, an obese person can drastically improve digestive functions and gain energy rather than waste. Such an approach cuts out the harmful side effects that may be associated with sudden weight loss.

Low Fat Diets

The promotion of a low fat diet as the most healthy diet of all can be held partly responsible for the continuous increase of liver and gallbladder disease among the population in the Western hemisphere. Foods high in protein are still heralded as the most important food to provide physical strength and vitality. Fats, on the other hand, have been branded as a culprit for causing many of today’s chronic diseases. Yet, fats alone certainly cannot be held responsible for causing diseases such as atherosclerosis.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, heart attacks were extremely rare anywhere in the world. Since that time, fat consumption, per capita, has remained almost the same. What has risen most dramatically in the affluent parts of the world, however, particularly since World War II, is the consumption of protein. The overconsumption of protein foods in industrialized nations has caused an unprecedented number of circulatory diseases and fatalities through heart attacks. In comparison, these health problems occur only very rarely among ethnic groups who consume mostly vegetarian foods. In fact, a report issued by the American Medical Association  stated that a vegetarian diet could prevent 97% of all cases of thrombosis leading to heart attacks.

Although a balanced vegetarian diet may contain larger amounts of fats, the fats do not seem to have any detrimental effects on the circulatory system. By contrast, overeating proteins of animal origin causes thickening of liver blood vessels, which leads to gallstone formation; and gallstones cut down bile production in the liver. Diminished bile secretions reduce the body’s ability to digest fats. Due to indigestion, weight gain and other discomforts arising therefrom, a person is naturally advised to cut down on fats. But this further prevents the gallbladder from completely emptying its bile contents, which leads to more problems with fat digestion.
Eventually, the body will run short of useful essential fats and fatsoluble vitamins. This prompts the liver to increase cholesterol production, which causes even more stones to be formed. The less fat the body receives with the food, the worse the situation becomes. But since fats cannot be digested properly, the body enters a vicious circle, which in most cases can only be stopped by removing all gallstones from the liver and gallbladder, and then gradually increasing fat intake to normal levels.

Low fat milk, for example, may be one of the culprits that start off this vicious cycle. In its natural state, full fat milk contains the right amounts of fats required for the digestion of milk proteins. Without the natural quantity of fat in the milk, the gallbladder is not stimulated to release the right amount of bile required to digest both the milk proteins and the milk fats. Hence, proteins and fats are left undigested in the gastro-intestinal tract. The proteins putrefy and the fats turn rancid. All this leads to severe lymphatic congestion, as is often seen among formula-fed babies suffering from intestinal colic. This may be responsible for the formation of gallstones in the liver of very young children. Even the whole fat milk offered in food stores today has a reduced fat content, certainly not sufficient to make milk digestible for most people.

2. Pharmacological Drugs

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and Birth Control Pills

The risk of developing gallstones is four times higher among women than men. It is especially high among women who have used or use birth control pills and hormone replacements. According to medical research, oral contraceptives and other estrogens double a woman’s chance of developing gallstones. The female hormone, estrogen, contained in contraceptive pills and hormone replacements increases bile cholesterol and decreases gallbladder contraction.Therefore, this estrogen-effect may not only be responsible for causing gallstones in the liver and gallbladder, but also for many other diseases that arise from diminished liver and gallbladder functions. Earlier medical research also implicated progestogens contained in HRT drugs in the development of gallstones.

Women who go through menopause can find great relief from menopausal symptoms by doing a series of liver cleanses. Improved liver performance and an increased production of bile, in particular, can prevent and reverse osteoporosis and other bone/joint problems if diet and lifestyle are also balanced.

Other Pharmaceutical Drugs

Medications prescribed for people to lower their body fat (lipids), including clofibrate (Atromid-S) or similar cholesterol-lowering drugs, actually increase cholesterol concentrations in the bile and, thereby, lead to an increased risk of gallstones. These drugs lower blood fats, which they are designed to accomplish. This, however, causes the liver cells to assume that the body is running short of fats; hence, they produce more cholesterol which is secreted into the bile ducts. The imbalanced composition of bile (excessive cholesterol) causes gallstones, both in the liver and gallbladder. Octretide, one of the new generations of ‘statin’ drugs, prevents the gallbladder from emptying itself after a fatty meal, leaving plenty of bile behind to form stones. The dangers involved in such a method of medical intervention are obvious; they are certainly more serious than having raised levels of blood fats (contrary to common belief, there is no scientific evidence, to date, that shows heart disease is caused by high blood fats).

According to several studies published in various medical journals, such as the Lancet, there are certain antibiotics that also cause gallstones. One of these is ceftriaxone, used to treat lower respiratory tract infections, skin and urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, bone and joint infections, as well as meningitis.

Similarly, anti-rejection drugs given to kidney and heart transplant patients increase the likelihood of gallstone formation. Also, thiazides, which are water pills used to control high blood pressure, may bring on gallbladder disease in patients with gallstones.Furthermore, children taking furosemide are likely to develop gallstones, according to research published in the Journal of Perinatology. And prostaglandins have no fewer side effects.

All drugs are toxic by nature and require detoxification by the liver. Yet, impaired liver function permits many of the poisonous chemicals to enter the bile. This alters the natural balance of its constituents and leads to the development of gallstones in the liver and gallbladder. It may be worth mentioning that the above findings only refer to gallstones in the gallbladder and do not reveal the severity of damage that these drugs can cause to the liver itself. If pharmacological drugs are able to generate some gallstones in the gallbladder, it can be assumed that they produce hundreds, if not thousands, of them in the liver bile ducts. Time and again, I, personally, have observed that people who have taken medical drugs in the past, have had considerably more gallstones than those who took none. Symptomatic treatment always has a price tag attached to it; that is, the impairment of basic liver functions. It is far easier and more beneficial for the body to remove all gallstones, restore normal blood values and improve digestion and waste removal than to suppress symptoms of any disease. Symptoms are not the disease,  they only indicate that the body is attempting to save and protect
itself. They signal the body’s need for attention, support and care.

3. Lifestyle

Disrupting the Biological Clock

The way we organize and live our lives has a tremendous impact on how our body functions. The body’s efficiency and performance largely depend on predetermined biological rhythms that are in synchrony with the so-called circadian rhythms of nature. Circadian rhythms are closely linked with the movements of our planet around the sun and its axis. They are also influenced by the motions of the moon and other planets in relation to the position of the earth.

Our body follows more than 1,000 such 24-hour rhythms. Each individual rhythm controls the timing of an aspect of our body’s functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, hormone levels, secretion of digestive juices and even pain threshold. All these rhythms are well co-ordinated with one another and are controlled by the brain’s ‘pacemaker device,’ known as suprachiasmatic nuclei. This area of the brain regulates the firing of nerve cells that seem to set the clocks of our biological rhythms. If one rhythm becomes disrupted somehow, other rhythms are thrown off balance too. There are, in fact, numerous disorders that can arise from interference with one or more of our biological rhythms, as a result of ‘mistakes’ in our lifestyle.

This particular section deals with some of the most common ‘deviations’ that particularly affect the functioning of the liver and gallbladder. By attuning your daily routine to the natural schedule of your body, you can greatly assist it in its ceaseless effort to nourish, cleanse and heal itself. Moreover, you can also prevent new health problems from arising in the future.

Daytime Sleeping

The Natural Sleep/Wake Cycles

Our natural sleep/wake cycles and basic body processes are regulated by the alteration of day and night. The onset of daylight triggers the release of powerful hormones (glucocorticoids), of which the main ones are cortisol and corticosterone. Their secretion has a marked circadian variation. These hormones regulate some of the most important functions in the body, including metabolism, blood sugar level and immune responses. Peak levels occur between 4AM and 8AM, and gradually decrease as the day continues. The lowest level occurs between midnight and 3AM.

People change their natural, daily sleep/wake schedule in a number of ways. The peak of cortisol’s cycle changes if, for example, you regularly go to sleep after midnight, instead of before  PM, and/or you arise in the morning after 8AM or 9AM, instead of with the sun, at around 6AM. This hormonal time-shift can create chaotic conditions in the body. Waste materials that have accumulated in the rectum and urinary bladder during the night, normally meant to be eliminated between 6AM and 8AM, are partially retained and reabsorbed. When you disrupt your natural sleep/wake cycles, the body’s biological rhythms become desynchronised with those regulated by darkness/daylight. This can lead to numerous types of disorder, including chronic liver, respiratory and heart diseases.

An upset cortisol cycle can also bring on acute health problems. It has been found that more strokes and heart attacks occur in the morning than at any other time of day. Blood clots form most rapidly at about 8AM. Blood pressure also rises in the morning and stays elevated until late afternoon. At around 6PM it drops off and hits its lowest point during the night. To support the basic hormonal and circulatory rhythms in the body, it is, therefore, best to go to sleep early (before  PM) and rise no later than the sun does (ideally at around 6AM). [Note: These times change according to season. During the wintertime we may need a little more sleep; in the summer time we may need a little less.]

One of the pineal gland’s most powerful hormones is the neurotransmitter melatonin. The secretion of melatonin starts between 9:30- :30PM (depending on age), inducing sleepiness. It reaches peak levels between 1-2AM and drops to its lowest levels at midday.

The pineal gland controls reproduction, sleep and motor activity, blood pressure, the immune system, the pituitary and thyroid glands, cellular growth, body temperature and many other vital functions. All of these depend on the regular melatonin cycle, which can be disrupted by sleeping late or working night shifts.

The brain also synthesizes serotonin, which is a very important neurotransmitter related to our state of physical and emotional wellbeing. It affects day and night rhythms, sexual behavior, memory, appetite, impulsiveness, fear and even suicidal tendencies. Unlike melatonin, serotonin increases with the light of the day; physical exercise and sugar also stimulate it. If you get up late in the morning, the resulting lack of exposure to sufficient amounts of daylight reduces your serotonin levels during the day. And since melatonin is a breakdown product of serotonin, this also lowers the levels of melatonin during the night.

Any deviation from the circadian rhythms causes abnormal secretions of the brain hormones—melatonin and serotonin. This, in turn, leads to disturbed biological rhythms, which can upset the harmonious functioning of the entire organism, including metabolism and endocrine balance. Suddenly, we may feel to be ‘out of synch’ and become susceptible to a wide range of disorders, from a simple headache to depression, to a fully-grown tumor.

The production of growth hormones, which stimulate growth in children and help maintain muscle and connective tissue in adults, also depends on proper sleeping cycles. Sleep triggers growth hormone production. Peak secretion occurs at around 11PM, provided you sleep starts before  PM. This short period coincides with dreamless sleep, often referred to as ‘beauty sleep.’ It is during this time that the body cleanses itself and does its main repair and rejuvenation work. If you are sleep deprived, growth hormone production drops dramatically. People who work the night shift have a greater incidence of insomnia, infertility, cardiovascular illness and stomach problems. Also, performance falls and accident rates are higher during the night.

Natural Meal Times

Ayurveda, the Science of Life, declared thousands of years ago that in order to maintain physical and emotional well-being, the body must be fed according to a natural time schedule. Like most other functions in the body, the digestive process is also controlled by circadian rhythms. The secretions of bile and other digestive juices peak at midday and are at their lowest during the night. For this reason, it is best to eat the largest meal of the day at around midday and take only light meals for breakfast and dinner. This enables the body to digest the food properly and absorb the appropriate amount of nutrients necessary for the maintenance of proper functions throughout the body. To avoid interfering with the secretion of digestive juices at lunchtime, it is ideal to eat breakfast not later than 8AM. The evening meal is digested most efficiently when eaten no later than 6PM to 7PM.
Any long-term disruption of this cycle, either caused by irregular eating habits or placing the main emphasis on evening meals and/or breakfast, leads to accumulation of undigested foods, lymph and blood congestion. This also disturbs our natural instinct. If it were fully alive and developed, we would naturally want to eat only those foods that are suitable for our body type, and eat these when we can digest them best. One of the leading causes of gallstone formation is accumulation of improperly digested foods in the intestinal tract.
Eating meals irregularly or having substantial meals at those times of the day when the body is not prepared to produce the appropriate quantities of digestive juices, generates more waste than the body is able to eliminate.

4. Miscellaneous Causes

Watching Television for Several Hours

Scientific research has shown that watching television can dramatically increase cholesterol production in the body. Cholesterol is also a stress hormone that increases during physical or mental strain. ‘Television-stress’ is especially pronounced among children, who can experience a soaring rise of up to 300% cholesterol within a few hours of watching television. Such excessive secretions of cholesterol alter the composition of bile, which causes formation of gallstones in the liver.

Exposure to television is a great challenge for the brain. It is far beyond the brain’s capacity to process the flood of incoming stimuli that emanate from an overwhelming number of rapidly changing picture frames appearing on the TV screen every split second. The resulting stress and strain takes its toll. Blood pressure rises to help move more oxygen, glucose, cholesterol, vitamins and other nutrients around the body, including the brain. All of these are used up rapidly by the heavy brainwork. Add to this the tension associated with the content of some programs—violence, suspense and the noise of gunshots, cars, shouting, etc.—and the adrenal glands respond with shots of adrenaline to prepare the body for ‘fight or flight’ response.
This stress response, in turn, contracts or tightens the large and small blood vessels in the body, causing a shortage of water, sugar and other nutrients in the cells.

There may be several kinds of symptoms resulting from this effect. You may feel tired, shattered, exhausted, stiff in the neck and shoulders, very thirsty, lethargic, depressed, and even too tired to go to sleep. Stress is known to trigger cholesterol production in the body. Since cholesterol is the basic ingredient of stress hormones, stressful situations use up large quantities of cholesterol to manufacture these hormones. To make up for the loss of cholesterol, the liver raises its own production of this precious commodity. If the body did not bother to increase cholesterol levels during such stress encounters, we would have millions of ‘television deaths’ by now. Still, the stress response comes with a number of side effects, one of which is the formation of gallstones.

Relax Yourself-Give more time to yourself

Emotional Stress

A stressful lifestyle can alter the natural flora (bacteria population) of the bile, thereby causing formation of gallstones in the liver. One of the leading stress-causing factors in life is not having enough time for oneself. If you do not give yourself enough time, you will feel pressured. Continuous pressure causes frustration, and frustration eventually turns into anger. Anger is an indication of severe stress. Anger has a very taxing effect on the body that can be measured by the amounts of adrenaline and nor-adrenaline secreted into the blood by the adrenal glands. Under severe stress or excitement, these hormones increase the rate and force of the heartbeat, raise blood pressure and constrict the blood vessels in the secretory glands of the digestive system. In addition, they restrict the flow of digestive juices, including stomach acids and bile, delay onward movement and absorption of food, and inhibit elimination of urine and feces. When food is no longer digested properly and significant amounts of waste are prevented from leaving the body via the excretory organs, every part of the body becomes affected, including the liver and gallbladder.

This congesting effect, resulting from the stress response, gives rise to great discomfort on the cellular level and is felt as emotional upset. Chronic stress or, rather, the inability to cope with stress, is now held responsible for 85-95% of all diseases. These are commonly referred to as psychosomatic diseases. Stress-induced obstructions not only require deep physical cleansing, such as liver, colon and kidney purges, but also approaches that trigger relaxation.

During relaxation the body, mind and emotions move into a mode that supports and enhances all the functions of the body. Contracted blood vessels open again, digestive juices flow, hormones are balanced, and waste gets eliminated easily. Therefore, the best antidote to stress and its harmful effects are methods of relaxation, such as meditation, yoga, spending time in nature, playing with children or pets, playing or listening to music, etc. To cope with the fast pace of modern life and give the nervous system enough time to unwind and release any accumulated tension, it is vital to spend at least one hour a day by yourself, preferably in silence.
If you have had any stressful periods in your life, or currently have difficulties calming down or unwinding, you will greatly benefit from doing a liver cleanse. Having gallstones in the liver is, by itself, a major cause of constant stress responses in the body. By eliminating these stones, you will become naturally calm and relaxed. You may also discover that you once your liver is clean, you will become much less angry or upset about situations, other people or yourself, regardless of the circumstances.

Conventional Treatments for Gallstones

Conventional treatments for gallstones aim at either dissolving gallstones in the gallbladder, or removing the gallbladder through surgery. However, these treatments have no effect whatsoever on the large amounts of stones congesting the bile ducts of the liver. I wish to emphasize at this point that every person who has gallstones in the gallbladder has many more in the liver. The removal of the gallbladder or its stones does not substantially increase bile flow because the stones that are stuck in the liver bile ducts continue to hold up the flow of bile. Even in the case of surgical removal of the gallbladder, the situation remains very problematic for the body. Since the pumping device for bile (gallbladder) is missing, the little bile that is made available by the liver comes forth merely in a dribbling mode. So, the uncontrolled flow of bile into the intestinal tract continues to cause major problems with the digestion and absorption of food, particularly if it contains fat. The result is an ever- increasing amount of toxic waste that accumulates in the intestinal tract and lymphatic system. The restricted ability to digest and assimilate fats stimulates the liver cells to increase production of cholesterol. The side effect arising from this emergency maneuver of the body is the generation of more gallstones in the liver bile ducts.

Therefore, removing the gallbladder is not a solution to digestive problems but, rather, a cause of further and more serious complications in the body, such as cancer and heart disease.

Any treatment of the gallbladder, however advanced and sophisticated it may be, can only be considered a drop in the ocean because it does not remove the main problem, which is the congestion of bile ducts through hundreds or thousands of gallstones in the liver.
Conventional medicine offers three main approaches to treating gallstones:

1. Dissolving Gallstones

For patients with mild, infrequent symptoms, or those who do not want surgery, a number of different drugs are available that claim to dissolve gallstones. On the surface it seems like a good idea to gradually dissolve gallstones through drugs that contain bile salts (oral dissolution therapy). Given in pill-form over a period of twelve months, these drugs may achieve a decrease in cholesterol levels in the bile. But there is no guarantee for this. According to the British Medical Journal, the use of bile salts has a failure rate as high as 50%. In addition, many ‘successful’ patients simply do not experience complete gallstone dissolution in their gallbladder. For the few patients who do, the recurrence rate can be as high as 50%. Other dissolving agents, such as methyl tert-butyl ether, have no advantages over bile salts. Unsuccessful treatment may lead to surgery.
More recently, solvents have been directly instilled into the gallbladder by means of a small catheter placed in the skin. This approach has been shown to be more effective in dissolving cholesterol stones, but does not resolve the major issue—the accumulation of gallstones in the liver. There is not enough scientific research yet to determine what side effects accompany this method of treatment.

2. Shock Waves

Another alternative method to surgery is lithotripsy, a technique where the gallstones are literally pounded into submission by a series of sound waves. In a 1993 report by Lancet, this therapy has great setbacks because it can result in kidney damage and raise blood pressure. Both of these side effects can lead to an increase in the number of gallstones in the liver.
In addition, this procedure, in which gallstones are fragmented through shock waves, leaves toxic gallstone residue behind which can quickly become a breeding place for harmful bacteria and parasites and, therefore, infections in the body. Recent studies have confirmed that most patients undergoing this kind of treatment experience internal bleeding, ranging from a small hemorrhage to major blood loss that requires blood transfusion. This treatment also has a high stone-recurrence rate.

3. Surgery

In 1991, 600,000 Americans had their gallbladder removed through surgical intervention. Since then, the number has steadily increased. A gallbladder operation costs between $8,000 and $ ,000 and takes about 30 to 45 minutes with laproscopy. While open gallbladder surgery-cholecystectomy-is still commonly used for patients with frequent or severe pain, or with a history of acute cholecystitis, laparoscopic cholecystectomy has now become the preferred surgical technique. With traditional surgery, the gallbladder is removed through an open technique requiring a standard skin incision and general anesthesia. During laparoscopic cholecystectomy, also called ‘keyhole operation,’ the stone-filled gallbladder is literally pulled through a small incision in the abdomen.
Sometimes, open cholecystectomy is required if a keyhole operation fails.
With a keyhole operation, patients seem to recover much faster and often leave the hospital and return to regular activity within days.
However, since its introduction, this ‘band aid’ approach to treating gallbladder disease has prompted many patients to have a gallbladder operation unnecessarily; that is, to rid the patient of some persistent
symptoms of discomfort.

Apart from having had no effect on the overall mortality rate from gallbladder diseases, laparoscopic surgery does have its risks. As many as  % of patients coming out of surgery have stones remaining in the bile ducts, according to the U.S. National Institute of Health (Note: The bile ducts referred to here are not liver bile ducts).
According to Mayo Health Oasis, other hazards include lost gallstones in the peritoneal cavity, abdominal adhesion and possibly infective endocarditis. And according to the New England Journal of Medicine, the procedure can cause hemorrhage, inflammation of the pancreas—a potentially fatal condition—and perforation of the duodenal wall. There may also be injury and obstruction of bile ducts and leakage of bile into the abdomen, increasing the chance of suffering a potentially serious infection. About 1 in  0 patients are at risk of dying from this kind of operation.
Bile-duct injuries have increased dramatically as a result of using keyhole surgery. In Ontario, Canada, where 86% of all gallbladder operations are performed in this way, the number of bile duct injuries has risen by 305% since this method has become standard practice.

In a number of patients, gallstones are caught in the common bile duct (the main bile duct leading to the duodenum). In such cases, the removal of the gallbladder does not alleviate the symptoms of gallstone disease. To help the condition, a flexible tube is placed in the mouth and advanced to the point where the common bile enters the duodenum. During the procedure, the opening of the bile duct is enlarged and the stones are moved into the small intestines.
Unfortunately, many of the stones may become stuck in the small or large intestine, becoming a source of constant intestinal infection or related problems.

Conclusion

None of the above procedures address the cause of gallbladder disease. In fact, they contribute to further disruption of the digestive and eliminative processes in the body. The short-term relief that a patient may experience after his gallbladder has been removed, may mislead the patient to believe that he has been cured. In truth, however, the continued or even worsened impairment of proper bile secretion by the liver may lead to the development of far more serious health problems than just gallbladder disease.
Our Next blog post describes a simple procedure that painlessly, and safely and effectively removes not only the few gallstones in the gallbladder or large bile ducts, but also, and most importantly, the hundreds and thousands of gallstones in the liver. It is extremely unfortunate that millions of people have had their gallbladder removed unnecessarily or lost their lives because of liver and gallstone disease. Fortunately, there is a simple, risk-free, inexpensive approach available to every person to naturally restore their liver and gallbladder health and prevent diseases from arising in the future.

Every Woman Deserves a private area in her home

Every woman deserves an area in her home that is entirely hers. If you do not have that space, begin to create one. It will be your own laboratory, where you can establish a home “spa.”This area will be the one place you will use to store your own ideas and creations.

Do-It-Yourself Mouthwashes

Tea Wash

Boil a strong cup of mint (peppermint, spearmint, etc.) tea. Cool and rinse.

Honey/Clove Rinse

Mix 1/4 cup of honey with 1 teaspoon of ground cloves. This mouthwash can be thinned down if desired.

Take Care Of Your Feet

When purchasing a heel higher than one inch, go up a half size. There’s some natural swelling that occurs that necessitates advancing at least half a size in order to accommodate the toe area. This is one time when smaller is not more attractive. A tight shoe bulges the foot out, not to mention what it does for the wearer’s expression. A larger shoe actually gives the foot a longer, more graceful line.

Change Shoes

Try not to wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. Give them at least 24 hours to air out.

Use an Antiperspirant

The foot contains more sweat glands than the underarm area. Don’t waste that precious money on expensive foot powders and other foot remedies. Not only is this cosmetically important, but it is key in keeping bacteria at bay.

Soak Your Feet

At least once a week, steep 4 tea bags (purchase an inexpensive brand because it will contain a larger content of tannic acid) in 2 cups of boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of cool water. Soak for up to 30 minutes. Note: Don’t use herbal tea because it’s the tannic acid that will cause proteins in the skin to bond. This thickens the skin and blocks many of its sweat pores.

Always wear a bra

The Healthy Breasts

Wear a Bra

The chest muscles don’t provide enough support to go braless, no matter how small your breasts are. Keep your weight constant. You can take all natural weight loss pills to control your weight. Yo-yo dieting can cause the breasts to sag.
When trying on a bra, lean way over to make sure breasts fit snugly and comfortably in cups.

Exercise in the Proper Bra

If your breasts feel tender after a workout, you’re probably not wearing a bra that is supportive enough.
A sports bra should be made of material that prevents sweat from gathering underneath and between the breasts.

Make sure that the straps don’t slip while running or jumping.

Perspiration

Clean your cleavage area dry by dusting with talcum pwoder

Perspiration can collect in the cleavage and especially under the bust. Keep the area dry by dusting the breasts with talcum powder before dressing.

Bulges

Should you find yourself “pouring out” of your bra, choose a style with more support at the sides and underneath.

Bathing

The beauty benefits of bathing are many. Use this time as a restorative, a spa, and personal time.

Beauty Benefits Of Bathing

Temperature

Keep water warm, rather than hot. A too-hot bath strips the skin of moisture and will leave you feeling dehydrated.

Additives

-TEA
Tie a tea bag under the faucet so that the water will run through the bag. Use your favorite herbal teas, which will scent the water and you. The aroma will relax and invigorate you.

-alka-seltzer

Toss a tablet into your tub and your bath will fill up with tiny bubbles, skin softeners, and other good things.

-baby oil

Soften water and your skin to silken elegance with a splash of baby oil

Other Intimate Information

Hair Removal

Getting rid of hair is so much fun, isn’t it? Here are some pointers that I hope will make the job a bit less tedious.

Don’t shave right after getting out of bed. Skin tends to be puffy in the morning, and stubble is not as visible. Try to wait a half hour if you can.

Make sure hair is well-moistened. Use shaving cream, soap, or other softener.

Start at ankles, go to bikini line, and then to underarms. This gives coarser hair a chance to soften.

Avoid getting waxed just before or during your period. You are more sensitive to pain at this time.

Tweeze hair in the tub. It’s easier to tweeze when skin’s warm and soft.

Shave opposite hair growth. It prevents hairs from curling under the skin and becoming ingrown.

Numb areas with witch hazel or ice to lessen pain.

Bikini line hair removal is pesky, painful and pricey

-the bikini area

The bikini line can be difficult to shave because the hair grows in so many different directions. Always prepare the skin with soap and water. Don’t stop shaving the bikini area just because the colder months have set in and you’ve stopped wearing a bathing suit. Discontinuing to shave this area will cause it to become overly sensitive. So when the warmer months return, you’ll literally have to “break in” that area again. Ouch!

Some women choose to shave or trim their pubic hair for hygienic purposes as well as appearance. Use caution when doing so. Use small scissors for safety. Don’t shave your bikini line before going to the beach if you’re skin is prone to irritation. You risk a rash or mottled skin.

-underarms

Hair also grows in different directions in the underarm area. Teach yourself to shave up and down and sideways. Always prep this area thoroughly.

-loofah your legs

Try to give your legs a light scrub with a loofah before you shave them. This will get rid of all the excess dead skin cells that may otherwise clog up your razor. If you use a double-edge razor, then switch to a single-edge one.

Deodorants

There are more deodorants on the market than ever. The skinny on deodorants is that there’s a lot of hype in the marketing. Sweat is sweat, whether it’s on a man or woman. Models don’t want to lose big jobs by ruining a designer dress with perspiration. You won’t find any fancy, delicate flowery deodorants in a model’s bag. Go get the strongest (yes, the ones made for a man) antiperspirant that you can find, and forget about the fancy, overpriced, weak stuff.

Bloat

If you have a tendency toward excess bloating, don’t chew gum, sip through a straw, or drink from a bottle. These cause you to swallow air, which goes to your stomach.

Baring Skin

Make sure to wash after shampooing and conditioning your hair. Hair products leave a residue of oil on your shoulders and back.
Always wear sunscreen on exposed chest and back areas.

Cellulite

The methods of getting rid of cellulite are controversial to say the least. The cottage cheese that seems to gather on the back of the thighs and other spots are best eliminated by working it off in an aerobic program. Spot exercises fail miserably. Running, walking, dancing, swimming, and skating rev up the body’s metabolism for burning fat throughout the body.

Work off cellulite in your tub. Lie on your stomach, bend one knee, raise and lower heel to the ceiling. Try not to drown doing this exercise.

Some cellulite marks that are unsightly can be diminished with massage. Break open a vitamin E capsule with a safety pin (1,000 units) and rub into those pesky areas.

When we don’t get enough sleep, we don’t look well. Most of us need at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Sleep For Beauty

There can be no doubt about it. When we don’t get enough sleep, we don’t look well. Most of us need at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Tossing and turning or awakening several times a night is detrimental not only to your looks, but to your overall psyche. Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to fall asleep and stay asleep. But there are ways to put the odds in your favor.

Melatonin

This is the supplement you’ve been reading about, “nature’s sleeping pill.” Taken twenty minutes before bedtime, melatonin is certainly worth a try. Some users have expressed concern about nightmarish dreams, while others have praised the vivid, lucid dreams they have been experiencing. Although still controversial, this supplement has also been linked to anti-aging properties.

Eat Early

There are very important reasons not to eat past 5 or 6 p.m. Late-night eating makes for difficulty in sleeping. You will end up wide awake, while your body is trying to digest your last meal. If you’ve eaten certain kinds of foods, you’ll experience painful heartburn. Plus, as every successful dieter knows, those late meals are not good for weight reduction.

Scent your pillow with a few drops of eucalyptus before sleeping

Scent Your Pillow

Add a few drops of eucalyptus (available at health stores and natural supermarkets) to promote breathing. Stuffy nasal passages, whether due to a cold, flu, or allergies, can cause you to awaken during the night. Scientists have discovered that when you have a cold, you awaken up to a hundred times, although you may not be aware of it.

Drink Tea

Several teas on the market today have been found to be helpful in inducing sleep. Although chamomile tea promotes sleep, it’s also a diuretic, defeating its purpose.

Set Your Clock

Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. Your body will try to adjust to a regular schedule. Sleeping in on weekends will disrupt your body’s inner clock.

Sleeping on Your Back

Here’s an age-old beauty secret that you won’t pay a cent for, but could save you dozens of wrinkles over the years. Wrinkles form on the side you sleep on. If you can’t train yourself to remain on your back, invest in a satin pillow. Your face is going to slide around all night on this pillowcase, discouraging the wrinkling effect.

Wash off your makeup before sleeping

Keep It Cool

In an offbeat way, a slightly cool room is in fact, a beauty treatment. A room that is too hot can cause you to perspire. This increases oil production, which clogs the skin’s pores. Equally important is to sleep on (and in) bed clothing that “breathes.”

Get Plenty of Exercise

Although going through a rigorous workout routine just before bed can keep you awake, regular exercise may help you to sleep longer and more soundly. If you should find yourself “wired,” do some easy stretching to relax and soothe your muscles and promote those zzzz’s.

Wash Off Your Makeup

Please remove every bit of face and eye makeup before getting into bed. Failing to do so can cause bacteria build up and acne.

Take a Bath

A warm bath will relax the body into a “ready for sleep” mode. Use bathing as a prelude to a night of beautiful dreams.

Get Gorgeous

Use the heaviest moisturizer you can find to make up for the loss of water during the night. Fight free radicals during the night by puncturing a vitamin C capsule and adding it to your night cream. Elevate your head with a firm pillow to eliminate puffiness.