Detoxification and Purification

Detoxification and Purification

Our topic this month is detoxification and purification. I have recommended detox for many patients. This is an excellent opportunity to learn why the body needs purification, how weight accumulates even when calories are not in excess, and, more importantly, how to begin losing stubborn weight.

We use Standard Process products to enhance results along with a variety of individualized protein powders that speed results and satisfy cravings by providing beneficial nutrients. I may also recommend additional products for optimum health according to your specific metabolism.

This is a great opportunity to invest in your health, beauty, and well-being!

Detoxification and Purification

Detoxification is the process of of enhancing elimination of toxic substances out of our bodies. When organs of elimination are overwhelmed or under functioning then toxins are stored away in fat cells. When weight loss is stubborn or not related to caloric intake then it is most likely due to the accumulation of toxins. Toxins can accumulate in anyone who has consumed processed foods, soda, sweets, non-organic foods, meat and poultry with hormones and antibiotics, restaurant foods, coffee, alcohol, dairy products, and tap water. Other exposures that contribute are petroleum produts, pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hairspray, air fresheners, new carpet, paint, furniture, or flooring. Dental amalgums, household cleaning products, and cosmetics are other sources of possible harmful chemicals.

The main organs and systems in the body that assist in eliminating these toxins are the liver, colon, gallbladder, lungs, skin, lymph, and blood. The more toxic our environments, the harder these systems have to work. If not able to keep up with the burden, toxins will be stored in fat cells to protect our brain and other vital organs from oxidative damage. A healthy detox/purification program will provide the proper nutrition to help the systems of elimination function their best as well as protect cells from the oxidative damage that is possible during a detox process.

Benefits of Detoxification and Purification

More energy and vitality
Weight loss: average for 3 weeks has been 8-15 lbs
Better sleep
Cleanse mucous
Reduce inflammation
Improve mental clarity
Control sugar, salt, alcohol, junk food, and nicotine cravings
Balance hormones, improve libido
Strengthen the immune system

Related Articles/Links

Check out the Standard Process website for more information about purification with their products, frequently asked questions, what to expect, and recipies.

Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Paradigm Shift, Energy Medicine, Quantum Science, Consciousness

This month, I would like to share with you a summary I wrote after attending a conference on energy medicine a couple years ago. This topic may be a little esoteric for some but it was exciting to see science confirming, with devices and measurements, the effect of thought and energy on the physical body. Practitioners who work with touch therapies like massage, craniosacral therapy, and acupuncture see the beneficial effects of intention in the results they achieve and now there are instruments to measure physical change! Our mind is perhaps our most powerful tool to create healing. Practice in visualization, considering a best outcome, praying for healing, keeping our thoughts on what we want instead of what we don’t want. . . they all help us step into that realm of possibility that over time becomes the real of probability that can be our reality! Enjoy!

Paradigm Shift, Energy Medicine, Quantum Science, Consciousness

Several years ago I attended a symposium called Paradigm Shift, Energy Medicine, Quantum Science, Consciousness. There is an evolution of awareness that our thoughts truly are creating reality and this symposium brought scientists together to explain, demonstrate, and confirm what more and more people in medicine are experiencing. I will summarize the conference as it had meaning to me with the intention that it may offer you something to think about.

Reality is really a wave of unformed, uncreated, un-originated possibility. Matter or the physical is only one aspect of being. Physical, mental, vital, and bliss are all other states described and it is from these states of consciousness that we mediate the perceived reality. And, we have a choice!

Consciousness and possibility

Quantum collapse

Physical Mental Vital Bliss

Disease is possible at each level and health can be affected through mediation at each level. For example, organs are associated with chakras which are associated with feelings. Real healing and change takes place in quantum leaps. That is, through the assignment of meaning.

Energy medicines such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and craniosacral therapy are techniques and medicines that mediate on dimensions of reality beyond the physical. Often there is a concurrent effect on the physical but many times it is more dramatic on some other plane. How we perceive meaning and changes in habits can change what we experience. Creative healing involves the patient and physician in a creative process together making a quantum leap. This is a discontinuous process, an example of which can be seen when an electron moves from one orbit to another. As it jumps, it disappears and then reappears. This is not a linear change. It is quantum.

Life as we know it is more than electrical energy. We are becoming aware and even able to measure magnetic type fields. This magnetism is more subtle and less affected by interference. These fields are not linear and not in space and time as we know it. Devices are now available that are able to record and deliver this energy. It is known that the heart emits a field and that each heart field induces flow into the tissue of people around it. It also registers perceptions ahead in time and space beyond immediate surroundings. (For more information, check out “The Electricity of Touch”.)

An example of manipulation of this energy was given in relation to inflammation. Inflammation in tissue is the biochemical result of excess negative ions. Hands and various instruments are now able to alter charge density with resulting reduction in inflammation very effectively. Contact with cells seems to amplify this energy into tissue as a whole, referred to as an electromagnetic whisper. This energy seemingly does not travel in linear time and space and it is more sensitive to frequency than amplitude. The frequency that affects the human body appears to be very subtle or sensitive, confirming in techniques like craniosacral where the best effect is often a result of the practitioner doing less not more. And, all touch treatments appear in some way to be a mechanical signal transduction for the heart field of the practitioner.

Homeopathy appears to improve the physical body but act within the realm of the vital body. Succession or the shaking required to make and activate a remedy may in some way transmit the vital, vibration imprint of the substance into the water molecules of the dilution. Water has some incredible power as a medium of transference for magnetism.

Mind – Body implies mental meaning affecting the physical. When we have insights or awakenings where do we jump to? The supramental, spiritual, OM. Correcting our aberrations requires quantum leaps! Healing can mean regaining holiness or wholeness. This ability to alter our mode of consciousness collapse feels like surrender to a different reality. And it is our way Home. Ego in partnership with the Quantum Self may mean man in partnership with God. . . co-creating.

The Nature of Suffering

The Nature of Suffering

Michael Jackson’s surprising death reminded me, as death does, that life is short so we need to make the most of it. He certainly did! Wasn’t it amazing to see all those clips of his life and to see his spirit infused into his work and his art with as much of his heart as talent? Yes, Michael had some things that haunted him. We all do. In this newsletter I will share a paper I wrote a year after the death of my husband in 1998. He died from lung cancer. It was a very difficult and painful time but also a time that brought the meaning of my life into greater focus.

The Nature of Suffering

I have experienced suffering as have most people, so it is only from my experience and nature that I can describe and relate to it. When I talk about it with my daughter or friends, I am even more aware how personal and unique it is. There are aspects of it, though, that are trans personal, like archetypes, a common human experience. Coming upon the completion of the first year of my husband’s death seems a time to reflect on this quality of humanness with some hope that there is purpose and meaning to it as there is to most emotion.

In our Christmas letter this year I reflected that it seemed pain and suffering did prepare us and allowed us to be willing to let go of Chuck, even though our hearts were still hanging on. Suffering can be on so many levels but mostly it means to me that I am disconnected from the nature of my soul. My first thoughts about it were that it meant losing someone you love . . . like my true love . . . or losing a special friend, or job, or thing that can’t be replaced. It seemed to be about what we are attached to. Then, I thought about suffering with Chuck and my daughter at times . . . hurting with their hurts physically and emotionally. I thought about my physical pains and health challenges that require attention at times and suffering. Suffering with loneliness, worry, defeat, sadness, and weariness. Suffering from an emptiness at times that could seemingly engulf me and then suffering because it doesn’t and I am still here to face this life that brings suffering.

I have worked with my dreams for over ten years and this past year my Jungian therapist said something that especially caught my attention. He reflected that the dream life often connects with the numinous. It is that glimpse into our soul that provides the perspective of what we are cut off from. I think that is what brings suffering . . . being cut off consciously from our soul. The other side of that is union with our soul is where we find meaning and joy. Union with our soul is what love seems to reflect. Relationships often allow us to experience a connection to the Self or our soul. We may project it on to the person of our affection and say they bring us love but really it is the relationship that awakens love in us. The dreams and goals we pursue, I have come to believe, are our soul calling us deeper and more intimately into our whole Self. These dreams and goals bring us into roles that foster our contact with more sides of our self and realization of our soul’s expression. A good example is my mother-daughter relationship. It brings me into the mother archetype and the capacity to experience love that only Mothers can know. But, it also touches a place in the numinous that reflects the nature of creation. I have experienced it through my body during pregnancy and in bringing forth of life. I continue to experience more aspects of motherhood as my nurturing supports my child’s growth and development. I appreciate that this archetypal role serves to heighten an awareness of a mystery and wonder that is greater and more meaningful than myself.

Suffering is not being one with this mystery and feeling the absence and loss of its presence and potential. I have felt this mystery in my relationships but have suffered when I have lost them. I have felt suffering with my body, with physical pain, with loss of vitality and disease. For me, however, it is the suffering that continues to motivate me to search for the meaning that exists even in the pain. My soul is not satisfied with the state of suffering, I must seek meaning or greater purpose in the feelings and somehow I know and have experienced the transformation that comes through the not denying and even accepting the state of suffering. As this capacity for acceptance grows there is room for forgiveness, compassion, humility, and a growing ability to receive from others and from God. It seems a paradox that with acknowledgement, experience and acceptance of most feelings there is then the release from their hold and an ability to move on in the process we call Life.

I have extensive professional and personal experience in death and dying so feel free to contact me if you need support in this area. Michael Jackson’s death, like the death of a loved one, may trigger feelings of past losses. Support is available so reach out.

Childs Art
A picture my daughter drew of herself at 6 years old, one year after her father’s death.

Sugar

Oh so good Sugar!

Most people know that sugar is not good for your health, but few control the intake of it. Worse yet, it is given to children in greater and greater quantities. Every month you (yes you) eat 5 pounds of sugar and most of it doesn’t come from the sugar bowl. More than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the U.S. are soda. More than 15 billion gallons were sold in 2000 and the number is rising every year. That means every man, woman, and child consumes at least one 12-ounce can every single day. Obviously not everyone consumes sodas so many people are drinking more than their share! In one study 56% of 8 year olds consume sodas daily and at least 30% of teenage boys drink greater than 3 cans a day. Sugar and corn syrup just from soft drinks now supply more than 10% of our total calories.
Refined sugar was first produced in India around 500BC, with the introduction to Europe from the Crusaders in 1100AD. Venice, at the height of its financial power, was the chief sugar-distributing center of Europe. Modern industrialization created processed foods; where sugar was added to almost everything from ketchup to crackers.
We are a culture that has replaced real foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, meats) with carbohydrates that are refined and treated by the body no different than eating a cookie. Fat, fiber, and protein slow the rate carbohydrates enter the blood stream. This prevents a sudden rise in insulin levels, with a sudden drop thereafter. Refined carbohydrates such as cereals, pasta, potatoes, white rice, breads and other refined grains contain virtually no nutrients. The body breaks itself down to recruit the nutrients to turn those empty calories into energy. It is no wonder why we have so many diseases!
Sugar harms the body in many ways: it suppresses the immune system, causes a rapid rise in adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. It contributes to gallstones, appendicitis, and suppresses calcium absorption in bones (in fact, soda is now considered the number one contributor to osteoporosis). It causes problems with digestion, increases hormonal imbalance, fuels cancer cells, contributes to PMS, diabetes, tooth decay, and on and on.
All of this is accentuated if your body does not handle blood sugar well. Blood sugar is managed primarily by the liver, adrenals, and pancreas. A weakness in one of those glands results in a weakness in how the body responds to sugar.
Overwhelmingly, the main culprits behind weight gain are grains and sugars. High-carbohydrate foods like bread, grains, cereal, potatoes, fruit, and sugar are converted to glucose (sugar) in the body. When your body can’t burn off this sugar, it accumulates in the blood, causing your blood sugar level to rise. In response to this, insulin is released to break down the sugar and store it.
Your body will increase its output of insulin to compensate for the higher blood sugar levels. Over time this causes progressively increasing levels of insulin and resistance to the effects of insulin. If the body cannot use the insulin the glucose is sent back to the liver and converted to fat as high triglycerides.
Insulin resistance is one of the fundamental mechanisms behind aging and all of its related diseases, including obesity.
Dr. Mikel can help you start down the path to repair the damage done from a lifetime of sugar/processed food overuse which can assist in achieving healthy weight and optimal health.

Juicing

Juicing

Juicing is a fun and delicious way to add nutrients from fresh vegetables and fruits in a way that is easy to digest and absorb. The dense nutrients are available then to repair, rebuild and promote the detoxification’s system of the body. The benefits of fresh juice is that most of the enzymes and nutrients are intact able to be used for the cleansing and regenerating processes. Almost all store bought juice is pasteurized which destroys these beneficial properties. Even fresh juice stored open or for too long will begin to lose nutrient potential through the oxidation process with oxygen. It is best to drink immediately and perhaps mix with a portion of purified water.

Juicing fruits is a fun way to start but like we emphasize in the detox groups smoothies add some greens to balance the sugar! All fruits except citrus and melons are good combinations. Add several along with acceptable vegetables, mixed green lettuce, and celery.

Vegetable juicing is more impacting for detoxification and regeneration. Small amounts of several vegetables including kale, spinach, and beets for detox impact are wonderful. A little apple and carrot will sweeten and keep you interested!

Four to eight ounces a day is a nice addition to your diet. It is best to do juices alone, that is in between meals for optimal digestion and absorption of the nutrients that will enhance your body’s healing power. Fruits with protein can cause mal-digestion. Attention to those fruit and vegetable combinations will also optimize digestive power and utilization.

Juicers can sometimes be expensive but often can be found used or on sale. Clean up can be an excuse to not juice often but the health benefits are the pay off! Remember taking time to clean and prepare fresh food is a nice way to reconnect with Nature! She is so willing to heal us if we get back to the foods put here to nourish us!

http://www.bastis.org/juicing.htm

http://juicing.mercola.com/sites/juicing/juicing.aspx

http://www.juicingbook.com/juicing_questions_and_answers/juicing_combinations

Healthy Blood Sugar

Healthy Blood Sugar

This article will try to explain how glucose is one of the main sources of energy for all cells including the brain, how it stabilizes energy, how it contributes to healthy weight, how it maintains healthy veins and arteries and why it contributes to healthy mood and vitality.
Every cell in the body needs glucose as an immediate source of energy. Brain cells have severely limited storage capacities, and for this reason, the blood must maintain a fairly constant supply of glucose. For this reason even though the brain represents only 2% of the body weight, it receives 25% of total body glucose utilization.

To utilize carbohydrates for energy, your body converts them to glucose in the liver (or glycogen for storage and use later). Carbohydrates–from sugars, fruits, vegetables or grains–follow a similar route in the process of digestion. Carbohydrates are broken down to mono saccharides (very basic sugar molecules) which are absorbed and carried to the liver. The liver release the glucose into the blood stream as needed.

Glucose is transported into cells via insulin and once inside of the cells, the energy producing reactions begin. The powerhouse of energy production is a result of breakdown of chemical bonds. This energy release helps initiate the many needed chemical reactions for life; protein formation, enzyme production, movement of chemicals across cell membranes to movement of skeletal muscle. ATP is the carrier and regulation-storage unit of energy. It is a molecule stored and generated within each cell. When it is chemically changed to form ADP a huge amount of energy is released. The energy for constructing ATP is food. 2500 calories of food translates into 400 lbs of ATP. There is a huge need for energy in the cells to keep all the functions going from moving muscle, elimination, respiration, and repair.

Complex carbohydrates are whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, brown rice, potatoes, and grains. They are molecules that combine sugars in chains and complex structures and for that reason break down relatively slowly. Because of their slower digestion, these complex carbohydrates are better for the body as the eventual glucose they become is released more gradually and steadily.

Fats and proteins contributes to available energy via ATP production even more slowly through a different process than glucose production called and the energy available is even more dense per calorie.

Simple carbohydrates break down and absorb quickly which turns then out to the blood stream or to the liver very quickly. Processed food including most white flour products. packaged foods like cereal and noodles, cookies, chips, candy, fruits, juices, milk, yogurt, honey and sugar will break down quickly and soon raise blood glucose levels.

Excess glucose happens when taking in more than you need to burn for energy. If this happens too often it eventually contribute to high triglycerides and increase in body fat. Your body breaks down the carbohydrates you eat into glucose to be used for energy by your cells. Once the cells have what they need, the excess glucose is sent back to your liver and converted to glycogen. Glycogen can then be stored in your muscles but there is a storage capacity. Once glycogen stores are filled glycogen is sent back to your liver again, where it becomes triglycerides. These triglycerides become stored as fat. Llowering refined carbohydrates in your diet a is the most significant way to lower triglycerides and one of the most effective ways to lose excess weight.
Some of these triglycerides are not stored as fat, but remain in your blood stream, which is where the problem lies for artery and veins. Excess levels of triglycerides thicken your blood, making it sludgy, which increases the possibility of clotting and blockage which could eventually lead to a heart attack or stroke. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found, if your triglycerides are high, you have two to three times the risk of heart disease and stroke – even if you have low cholesterol. [Vol. 86: 943-49] Triglyceride levels over 200 mg/dl are considered high and put you at serious risk. An optimal level is below 150 mg/dl. Many doctors focus too much on cholesterol, and not enough on triglycerides. However if you have high cholesterol AND high triglycerides, your chances of developing heart disease go up exponentially. Both indicators must be looked at together for cardiac risk.
Lowering your intake of refined carbohydrates is the key to improving your triglyceride levels.

Insulin is a hormone that allows glucose in the blood stream to enter cells that need it for energy (ATP). Often a diet that is in excess with simple carbohydrates (processed foods) will develop problems with insulin. If the body has the fuel it needs and glycogen stores are filled then the body will respond by turning down receptivity to insulin. With glucose in the blood stream, storage as glycogen filled it will be rerouted to the liver again converted to triglycerides and stored as fat. People frequently become overweight not from eating too much but from eating too much processed foods. Exercise will increase the demand for energy and will optimize the use of glucose or glycogen. Insulin resistance can be reversed by eating foods that break down more slowly to glucose in the digestive tract (high in fiber and complex starches, proteins and fats) so that the production of glucose is more gradual appropriate to the energy needs of the body.

Finally how does blood sugar affect mood? Refined carbohydrates like white sugar and breakfast cereals, broken down quickly with result of high glucose stimulate a quick boost of serotonin, that’s why after eating sugary donuts and other similar foods you feel pretty good. However the feeling drops and you want more. These high spikes of serotonin confuse the brain and it shuts down some of the receptors to try and restore balance. Serotonin resistance means we can’t use the serotonin we have, something similar to insulin resistance. The more this cycle goes on the more problems with serotonin resulting in mood swings or just generalized low mood and energy. The mood problems are even worse when combined with insulin resistance. In the last 20 year depression and diabetes have both significantly increased .

The human body is amazing in it’s complexity as to how it handles food we take in and getting it to the vast array of physiological processes call life. Most imbalances can be reversed and we see this over and over again as people get education, understanding as to how their food is contributing to their complaints and guidance to change their choices. Just to eat natural whole foods seems like an old prescription but my patients, along with myself, are really convinced when they try it! The body and mind will eventually find harmony. If you have been neglecting your body and mind then this will take time, so don’t think that one good day of eating is going to make a difference it must become a lifetime quest. However, build in success on those days when you do make good choices and pay attention to how you feel.

Better energy, more consistent energy to stay alert, weight loss and improved metabolism, improved mood, motivation, memory and vitality are the motivators to do a little better job each day.