Articles

NOURISHING YOURSELF

Prescription for Nourishing Yourself:  Eat Red Peppers and Salmon

Mark Isaac Thyss, Garden of Healing®

Your Body Heals Itself

• EAT sweet Red Peppers for the cartenoid lycopene (a phytochemical and antioxidant found in tomatoes and other red fruits)

• LIMIT coffee intake because of its acidic and dehydrating diuretic nature

• AVOID drinking sodas; one can contains approximately 10 teaspoons of sugar, the bad kinds, Aspartame and HFC (high-fructose corn syrup)

• EAT Salmon for all the benefits associated with omega-3 fatty acids (essential nutrients which must be obtained from food) 

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© 2007 Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.

Q & A HEALTH

Suspect Seaweed

By C. Claiborne Ray

QUESTION:
I have seen some warnings about hijiki seaweed as a possible source of high levels of arsenic. How alarmed should I be?

ANSWER:
Hijiki, the branched seaweed frequently used in small amounts in salads and garnishes, and other kinds of seaweed do contain more arsenic than other foods, but no arsenic-related health problems have been traced to hijiki in the United States.

But seaweed arsenic is a matter of concern and is under study, along with arsenic levels from known risks like contaminated water and soil. To better assess arsenic levels, the National Exposure Research Laboratory of the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans in 2004 to develop a database of how much of which kinds of arsenic are found in several target foods, including seafood, rice, carrots and apples.

One problem is that food testing efficiency varies widely. For example, for commercially available seaweed and sushi wraps, extraction efficiency ranged from 26 percent to 73 percent, and the testing did not differentiate well between kinds of arsenic found in a sample.

There are many forms of arsenic, both naturally occurring and from mining, industry and pesticides. What is sometimes called fish arsenic has a lower toxicity than other kinds and is rapidly excreted in urine, but seaweed may also contain high levels of more toxic inorganic arsenic.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.

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NATURAL MEDICINE

Natural Remedies for Head Lice

Richard Harkness, Pharm, CDM, Natural Medicines Specialist

QUESTION:

Are there any herbal treatments for head lice?

ANSWER:

It’s that nit-picking back-to-school time again. Head lice make nests in the hair of what seems like a zillion kids each year.

The tiny, wingless insects, usually about the size of a sesame seed, feed on human blood.

They lay nits (eggs) that glue themselves to hair shafts close to the scalp.

Head lice may be spread by head-to-head contact with lice-infested individuals or transferred on clothes, combs, brushes or other items.

Herbal agents that have been used for head lice include pyrethrins, quassia, coconut oil, ylang ylang oil and anise.

Among these, pyrethrins have the best evidence for effectiveness and are included in several commonly used OTC head lice products (e.g., A-200, Pronto, Rid) along with other ingredients.

A topical spray containing a combination of anise, coconut oil, and ylang ylang oil (Hair Clean 123 Completely) and a tincture of Quassia applied to the scalp also appear to work.

Here are important lice facts:

• Head lice can crawl quickly but don’t jump or fly.
• They are more a nuisance than a health problem.
• Don’t blame Benji or Garfield. Pets are not a source of head lice.
• Getting head lice is not associated with poor hygiene, so no stigma need apply.

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Concerns have been raised that some forms of head lice have mutated into “super lice” and may be resistant to some of the active ingredients in over-the-counter head lice remedies.

However, Richard J. Pollack, PhD, public entomologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, believes that most lice infestations will respond to over-the-counter treatments containing permethrin (e.g., Nix) or pyrethrins (e.g., Rid).

Pollack points out that treatment failures can be traced to mistaken identification, faulty treatment procedures, or perhaps actual lice resistance.

The first step in treatment is to make sure someone has head lice to begin with, so that it’s not a case of “mistaken identity” such as dandruff flakes or hair spray droplets. Look for live lice scurrying about.

A common problem may be that the lice are killed, but their hatchable eggs are not. Eggs hatch within a few days and new lice emerge. If these eggs are not killed or removed, reinfestation can occur.

It’s unnecessary to be concerned about eggs that cannot hatch - those that are either empty (already hatched) or dead.

For more information, visit the Harvard School of Public Health Web site (www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html). Near the bottom of that Web page are links to flowcharts with step-by-step instructions for managing presumed head lice infestations at home and at school. Included are close-up photos to help identify lice and their nits.

The National Pediculosis Association (www.headlice.org/) also provides useful information. The LiceMeister Comb, designed to remove nits and lice, is available from this organization.

Finally, note that itching may persist after successful treatment and should not be assumed to indicate treatment failure.

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© 2007 Richard Harkness. All rights reserved.

Richard Harkness is a consultant pharmacist, natural medicines specialist, and author of eight published books. Write him at 1224 King Henry Drive, Ocean Springs, MS 39564.

Richard Harkness, Pharm, CDM, Natural Medicines Specialist

Email Richard Harkness at: rharkn@aol.com

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SLICE OF LIFE

Fun with Food: Oysters

By Judith Martins, Miss Manners

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Dear Miss Manners,
Please tell us how to eat oysters correctly - fresh or stewed.

Gentle Reader,
It is difficult to eat anything correctly when you are stewed. Raw oysters are eaten whole with a teensy-weensy oyster fork, with which you rip them from their shells, which are gripped firmly in the left hand, unless you are right-handed.

Oysters encountered in soups are eaten whole on the soup spoon. Those found on plates, as opposed to shells or bowls, are eaten with a fork.

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© 1990 Fireside/United Feature Syndicate, Inc. with Judith Martins. All rights reserved.

Miss Manners is a registered trademark of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

SPIRITUALITY

Beingness, Doingness and Havingness

Excerpted from:  Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain

First be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards:  they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so that they will be happier.

Think of life as having three aspects: beingness, doingness and havingness.

Be
Beingness is the basic experience of being alive and conscious.  It is the experience we have in deep meditation, the experience of being totally complete and at rest within oneself.

Do
Doingness is movement and activity, it stems from the natural creative energy that flows through every living thing and is the source of our vitality.

Have
Havingness is the state of being in relationship with other people and things in the Universe.  It is the ability to allow and accept things and people into our lives; to comfortably occupy the same space with them.

Instead of living life backwards, it really works in the reverse.

First BE, then DO, and this results in HAVING.

You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you really want.

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Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain
Published by New World Library, San Rafael, CA

© 1978 Shakti Gawain. All rights reserved.

NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS

What is the difference between Vitamin A and Beta Carotene?

By Mark Isaac Thyss, Garden of Healing®

August 26, 2007

What is the difference between Vitamin A and Beta Carotene?

Vitamin A
Vitamin A (retinol) is an essential human nutrient and fat-soluble vitamin necessary for new cell growth, healthy tissue, and vision in dim light.

Vitamin A is found naturally in many foods:

• Sweet potatoes, carrots, collard greens, kale, pumpkin, spinach, sweet peppers, winter squash, apricots, cantaloupe melon, mango, liver (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish), eggs, and broccoli.

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Retinol, the animal form of Vitamin A, is a yellow fat-soluble, antioxidant vitamin with importance in vision and bone growth.

Vitamin A is stored by the body and can be toxic in extremely high doses taken over a long period of time.

Hypervitaminosis A refers to the effects of excessive vitamin A (specifically retinoid) intake.  Signs of acute toxicity include nausea and vomiting, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, and loss of muscular coordination.

Beta Carotene
Beta Carotene is not a vitamin, but the body converts it into Vitamin A as needed. Beta Carotene, unlike Vitamin A, is not toxic in high doses.

Beta Carotene, sometimes referred to as Provitamin A, is know to be an efficient anti-oxidant.

Carotene is responsible for the orange color of carrots and many other fruits and vegetables.

The following foods are particularly rich in carotenes:

• Sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, spinach, cantaloupe melon, turnip greens, winter squash, collard greens, cilantro, fresh thyme, Romaine lettuce, goji berries, Ivy gourd and Cassava.

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Absorption from these foods is enhanced if eaten with fats, as carotenes are fat soluble, and if the food is cooked for a few minutes until the plant cell wall splits and the color is released into any liquid.

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Mark Isaac Thyss is the founder, editor and publisher of Garden of Healing®.  Mr. Thyss resides in San Diego, CA.  He can be reached at:  (619) 615-9962 or via email at:  mithyss@yahoo.com.

© 2007 Garden of Healing®. All rights reserved.