The black sesame secret to good health and beauty

The black sesame secret to good health and beauty: (NaturalNews) What health benefits can the small black seed of the sesame plant offer? Some people might have read about how black sesame seeds are rich in antioxidants and various nutrients. But that is about all. They have no idea that there are actually many more valuable health and beauty benefits of consuming black sesame seeds.

Black Seed claimed to "heal every disease except death" |Natural Cures Not Medicine

Black Seed claimed to "heal every disease except death" |Natural Cures Not Medicine: Researchers say Black Seed has the most beneficial elements of any compound ever discovered. It contains over 100 different beneficial compounds. It raises glutathione levels, the master antioxidant in the body aka the mother of all antioxidants more than anything other than a glutathione IV drip.

The Spice That Prevents Fluoride From Destroying Your Brain | The Mind Unleashed

The Spice That Prevents Fluoride From Destroying Your Brain | The Mind Unleashed: Fluoride is found everywhere today, from antibiotics to drinking water, no stick pans to toothpaste, making exposure inevitable. All the more reason why new research proving this common spice can prevent fluoride damage is so promising!

15 Health Benefits of Cardamom - Sunwarrior News | Vegan, Vegetarian & Raw Food Recipes

15 Health Benefits of Cardamom - Sunwarrior News | Vegan, Vegetarian & Raw Food Recipes: Cardamom is native to the evergreen forests of India. This spice is commonly used in Indian cuisine, but it has also made its way into Ayurvedic medicine as a treatment for mouth ulcers, digestive problems, and even depression. Some of the health benefits of this peppery, citrusy spice are now making their way into modern studies. It’s well worth adding cardamom to your food for the flavor alone, but these health benefits are also something to consider whenever you break out the spices.

Bottom Line Secret's Daily Health News features Duke in article on edible flowers | Dr. Duke's Green Pharmacy

Bottom Line Secret's Daily Health News features Duke in article on edible flowers | Dr. Duke's Green Pharmacy: "Bottom Line Secret's Daily Health News features Duke in article on edible flowers
Submitted by admin on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 09:39
ArticleFeatured (slide)In the NewsDr. James Duke
Dr. Duke was featured in an August 6 article about edible flowers appearing on the high-circulation Daily Health News letter from Bottom Line Secrets. An excerpt with a link to the full article appears below."

Home Remedies - Body+Rashes

Home Remedies - Body+Rashes: "How To Cure Body Rashes - Causes And Herbal Remedies For Body ...

Body rash also known as skin rashes are the eruption of tiny bumps on the body that alters the manner the skin experiences and senses."

Lessons from Chernobyl - Ginkgo Biloba

Lessons from Chernobyl - Ginkgo Biloba: "This will be a continuation of some of the recent posts, but there are a couple of small notes I would like to put at the beginning. As you can imagine, I have been deluged. I actually stayed up very late and read all the emails but could not answer all of them. Please give me time to respond via the list instead of personally.
Secondly, many of you requested permission to reprint the posts. Since I closed my Facebook account, I have given one person permission to post to her account:
http://www.facebook.com/ayurvedasl"

Aspartame and cancer. | BOOM Superfoods

Aspartame and cancer. | BOOM Superfoods: "A long list of doctors and studies showing what a disaster aspartame is. Stick with sweeteners our ancestors ate: honey, maple syrup, stevia, even organic cane sugar is a health food compared to this poison. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor. Immediately throw out anything in your kitchen with aspartame in it.

Study Proves Aspartame Lung And Liver Cancer
By Dr Betty Martini, D.Hum
10-19-10"

25 Natural Herbs and Remedies to Stop the Flu and Cold - Truth is Treason

25 Natural Herbs and Remedies to Stop the Flu and Cold - Truth is Treason: "Cut your fabric into two square pieces. Each piece should be the same size as your finished pillow plus half an inch seam allowance. A six-inch square is good, but you can make it any size you choose.
Place the right sides of the fabric pillow facing each other. Sew them together along three sides, leaving the fourth open for stuffing. Turn the sewn fabric the right side out and press with an iron.
Place your choice of herbs in a bowl and add your fixative. Different mixtures of herbs are used for different things:"

Monarch butterflies use medicinal plants to treat offspring for disease

Monarch butterflies use medicinal plants to treat offspring for disease: "'We have shown that some species of milkweed, the larva's food plants, can reduce parasite infection in the monarchs,' says Jaap de Roode, the evolutionary biologist who led the study. 'And we have also found that infected female butterflies prefer to lay their eggs on plants that will make their offspring less sick, suggesting that monarchs have evolved the ability to medicate their offspring.'"

Chinese Herbs with Hormonal Effects

Chinese Herbs with Hormonal Effects: "Chinese Herbs with Hormonal Effects

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the kidney system has a wider function than that of the Western anatomical kidney, regarding it as the root of life and the origin of our individuality as human beings. TCM considers the kidney to be the most important organ of the body since it performs functions pertaining to the genital, urinary, endocrine, skeletal, blood, and central nervous systems.

One of the main tasks of the kidney in TCM is controlling the growth and development and reproduction of the body. Besides the sex glands, other endocrine glands like hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal and thyroid are all involved actively in the growth and development of the body, as a result, according to the TCM understanding of the kidney, the modern concept of the endocrine system belongs to part of TCM kidney functioning."

What’s the difference between bird flu and swine flu?

For bird flu you need tweetment, and for swine flu you need oinkment.

The news has been filled with dire predictions for the flu season. We’re all being encouraged to run out and get our inoculations. Before you do so, you may consider what I had previously written in the “Notes to Health and Nutrition Section”of this blog.

Many years ago I read a copy of a speech delivered by Rudolf Steiner to an audience in London in the 1920's. He spoke of how all our lives we've been encouraged to use an intermediary in all areas of our lives except in our economic life in which we all are actively engaged: we've had the church or organized religion for our spiritual needs; the medical profession for our health needs; government for our political and social constructions, etc.

The point was, I think upon reflection, that it would be only in our direct interaction with the economy that we would come to see the truth in how we have been controlled throughout history. As we realize the validity of this perspective, we must also begin to take back control and responsibility for all aspects of our lives.

I have spent a lot of time learning about alternative medicines and gravitating toward Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I found TCM to be most intuitive and easy to grasp with relatively little time expended in acquiring a working knowledge. It's all about balance.

I believe that traditional medicines, whether they be native American, African, Ayurvedic, Chinese, Tibetan, etc., are all remnants of a global system of health which has been lost through history after the cataclysms which wracked our planet some 5,000 years ago. These systems of health are predicated on prevention and a recognition of the importance of balance in our intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional lives. I encourage you to explore these venues for health. I have included a number of my favorite books and other which i have found helpful to get you started on this journey back to wholeness.

Once one no longer looks to the “authorities” as being responsible for our health needs there are more common sensical, less expensive, and natural alternatives. I have been a big proponent of Dr. James Duke’s herb book The Green Pharmacy. (This is the best herb book I know of listing herb usage by maladies rather than alphabetically by herb—much easier to use.) He also hosts an excellent web site with a section devoted specifically to the Swine Flu Outbreak. Be sure to notice “The Response” section located on the right side beneath “The Challenge” section for links to other resources.

When I studied Chinese medicine, I learned that astragalus root is the best herb in Chinese herbology for boosting the immune system. I recommend purchasing the root from the bulk section of your local health food store, and adding a couple of inches of the sliced root to soups and rice, small bits to hot teas, or anything you simmer while cooking. The herb has a subtly sweet taste and doesn’t unnecessarily distort the flavorings of your dishes.

Learning how we may individually bring balance to our lives in all things; from the food we consume, to the people and situations we experience daily is a necessary step toward wholeness and reclaiming our own personal sovereignty. It also can be extremely personally satisfying and fun as well.

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Hippocrates

“Death begins in the colon.” Elie Metchnikoff

We all most probably have a very complex relationship with food. Is it only something we eat to fuel our lives? Is our choice of food an emotional response to the chaotic world around us, or a culturally learned tradition inherited from our ancestors? We don’t spend a lot of time looking at our accumulated eating habits and choices and what role these preferences might have on our health, energy, emotions, and quality of life.

Where does our food come from? What is the shape of the soils from which it is grown? How is it processed, prepared and consumed? How might our mindless consumption of various types of food together ultimately lead to illness and infirmity as we age? There are lots of issues related to what we put into our bodies.

I have always had a keen interest in food and in many ways am quite hedonistic. I love all kinds of food, and I love to experiment by trying new cuisines and new recipes. I also have an intense interest in health. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Years ago, my employer whose wife’s health continued to deteriorate in spite of his ability to afford the very best health care available, called me into his office to ask my advice regarding what he might do for her failing physical condition. I was at a loss as to what suggest. My only response was that as he was having no positive results from the allopathic medical system, he might investigate alternative medicines. He then asked that I research the alternatives. Thus began my study of alternative medicines.

I first found an online book about nutrition and how the soils have been depleted of nutrients by modern agricultural practices. I read of how agriculture since the 19^th century has been selecting crops where yield and how the crop looked were given much more emphasis than the nutritional content of the product. As a result the foods we consume have much less nutritional value than those consumed by past generations. This new understanding of what has been lost though the centuries because of these practices prompted me to visit, for the first time, the local health food store.

On my first expedition into an organic, health food store I was bewildered with the long rows of vitamins and supplements which took up at least a third of the store and much more space than the produce section. I remember being perplexed and wondering if one wanted to be healthy, how would one know where to start? My personal inclination is not to take a pill or supplement. Could I improve my health solely though diet? Thus truly began a journey into health.

I began reading extensively on health and healing. I progressed from soil science, to homeopathy (which I found too complex, the Materia Medica was huge), to Ayurvedic medicine, and finally settling on studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I had then found a system which resonated with me. The Chinese medicine seemed to apply most to the temperate climate in which I lived. I also found the whole system to work intuitively. From a basis of yin/yang and balance, I came to see that the system works from an energy perspective related to the electro (yang)-magnetic (yin) energy of the universe in which all life exists.

Yin is an expansive energy and yang a contractive one. Everything in existence falls within these polarities. In the summer, a yang season, in order to balance it is best to eat yin foods like leaves, summer watery fruits and vegetables in order to dispel heat and balance oneself accordingly to the season. In winter, a yin season, yang contracted foods are best eaten in order to adjust to the season as they are warming. We can then come to easily understand the good judgment of eating local foods grown in season. We do crazy things like consuming icy cold drinks (extreme yin and cooling) in the winter and big fat juicy hamburgers (extreme yang and warming) in the summer. For years I personally was freezing when the temperature dropped below 70 degrees. Especially the winter was a problem. I would come home at night, snuggle into bed to warm up and eat dinner, take a hot bath and then return to spend the rest of the evening in bed under the covers. I later learned I suffered from “internal cold.” The foods I was consuming were creating a cold environment within my core, so naturally I could not regulate my external temperature.

We have long ago forgotten the wisdom related to food and energy. Most religions retained this information as in the dietary food laws in the Book of Leviticus in the Christian Bible. Unfortunately the knowledge was privileged and up to the time of Martin Luther was enforced with restrictions by the church. The basis for understanding food energy and proper combining was not taught by the religious hierarchy but rather used as means of controlling and bilking the people. Luther’s lists of ninety-five theses which he nailed to the church door in protest of abuses by the Church hierarchy, an event which is purported to have set off the Protestant Reformation, addressed the Church’s selling of indulgences and pardons. Among other things, the poor were quite upset by the aristocracy’s use of indulgences in relation to increasing their personal meat consumption. Once the break with the church occurred, meat consumption in Europe sky rocketed resulting in an over utilization of protein which persists to this day, to our personal physical detriment and that of our planet as well. Methane gases produced from animals is the second biggest component of green house gases, even more so than automobile emissions.

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There are five primary flavors and thus energies which are also important to understand in order to maximize one’s health. These flavors should ideally be consumed from healthy sources. Our bodies are always seeking balance, but we have been apt to misread its clues by our unbalanced diets and lifestyles. Basically the five flavors are: pungent, bitter, sour, sweet, and salty. Pungent dissolves toxins in the body, bitter and sour cleanse and eliminate these toxins, sweet is fortifying, and salty is softening. Daily we need each of these flavors in our diet. Often food cravings are the result of an imbalance. For instance, when one craves sweet rather then going and eating a Snickers bar you might rather balance the craving eating something bitter, pungent or sour.

The importance of diet cannot be overstated. Generally women being more yin suffer yin excess diseases and the converse for men; enduring more yang excess diseases. Women eat too much sugar—extreme yin, men eat too much meat and potatoes—extreme yang. The resulting polarity excesses affect not just our personal health but our relationships to each other and the planet as well.

I wished to introduce this topic when first reading warnings about the swine and avian flu alerts. A virus such as the flu is an extreme yin condition and might be balanced with extreme yang. For instance, I have been sharing this remedy with friends for a number of years: at the onset of a cold, when your sinuses are drippy and secretions watery and clear, if immediately you have either a strong, fresh ginger tea or a tablespoon of miso paste in hot water, pretty much you can stop the cold in its tracks. You have balanced the energy. I first learned about how the knowledge of food energies might be practically applied in times of catastrophe, when I read of a Japanese doctor who applied this information to his patients affected by the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Generally chemicals are extreme yin so he counseled his patients to consume extreme yang until rebalancing.

I begin learning TCM over 12 years ago. At the time, I suffered from numerous maladies that I equated to “just growing older.” By adapting a new diet, and making up various herbal teas to address each health issue I was able, one-by-one, to assist the natural intelligence of my body to seek balance, and heal the problem before it was able to develop into a health crises. The primary tool on my bookshelf is The Green Pharmacy by James A. Duke—an herb book catalogued by malady rather than by herbs. Generally, one should never use one sole herb. Through my study of Chinese herbology, I learned to balance the energies of the herbs I used for the teas; sound familiar? Use leaves (yin) and roots (yang). Many roots which are beneficial for liver health are very bad tasting so use of herbs like peppermint, spearmint, etc., can help mask the offensive flavors. Don’t overuse a remedy. If you must continue a remedy for any duration of time, give your body a rest periodically by discontinuing its use for a few days. By experimenting with creating my own herbal teas, I produced some very pleasant tasting beverages for healing my body. Who says that what’s good you has to taste bad or be offensive? It’s quite satisfying to be able to reclaim one’s health in such a manner without spending a lot of money. All one needs is a desire to learn, experiment, and learn to pay attention to the signals from your body. For too long we’ve been encouraged to turn over the responsibility of our lives to some “authority.” My personal credo has been, and I mean no disrespect, “if the authorities knew so damned much, why are there so many damn problems.”

See the “Health and Nutrition” section below for more information and resources.

Spice Remedies

Warming	Cooling	Additional Uses
(stimulates digestion)	(anti-inflammatory)
Allspice		stimulant
Anise		sweetener
Asafoetida		stimulant, antispasm
Basil		increases sweating i.e., diaphoretic
Bay Leaf		laxative
Caraway		reduces phlegm, drying
Cardamon		heart stimulant
Cayenne		increases circulation
	Chicory	blood cleanser
Cinnamon		circulation, diaphoretic for arthritis, colds, and flu
Cloves		adrenal stimulant for asthma, impotence
	Coriander	diuretic
	Cumin	cools ulcer pain
	Dandelion	diuretic, laxative, lymph cleaner
	Dill	expectorant
	Fennel	diuretic
Fenugreek		sexual stimulant
Garlic		liver stimulant, antibiotic
Ginger		diaphoretic
Hawthorn Berries		reduces cholesterol, heart stimulant
Juniper Berries		diuretic
Kelp		minerals
	Lemon	vitamin C, expectorant
	Lemongrass	diaphoretic
	Licorice	demulcent, laxative, source of estrogen
Mace		antispasm, expectorant
Marjoram		calming, antispasm
Mustard Seeds		stimulant, expectorant
Nutmeg		sedative
Onion		blood cleanser, tonic
Orange Peel		dries phlegm, stimulant
Oregano		stimulant, diaphoretic
Paprika		stimulant
Parsley		blood cleanser, diuretic, increases menstruation, i.e. emmenagogue
	Peppermint	diaphoretic
	Pomegranate	dries phlegm
Rosemary		strong stimulant
Safflower		increases circulation
	Saffron	liver cleanser, emmenagogue
Sage		stimulant, expectorant, stops excessive sweating
Savory		stimulant
Sesame Seeds		nerve tonic, rejuvenator
	Spearmint	diaphoretic, diuretic
Tarragon		emmenagogue, diuretic, antiseptic, liver stimulant
Thyme		antispasmodic, dries phlegm, increases breath
Tumeric		stimulant, antibacterial, increases circulation and intestinal flora, antitumor

Extracted from Hadady’s Asian Health Secrets