Tag Archive for ‘Alternative Medicine’

A Herb To Powerfully Sweeten Anything

Published on August 4, 2009 in Health. Closed
by Anastacia Sampson

The temptation for something sweet is bound to occur; sometimes we are just sweet chasing yoyo fans. Although some of us are outright 'sweet tooth' followers others are less inclined for 'the sweet' while preferring pungent, bitter, salty or sour tastes. If you are about to take part in sport or have finished a hard physical activity you feel the need to boost up your energy.

Of course the quickest way to lift energy and give a sweet taste is through sugar. We may have refined sugar in drinks and snacks or in unrefined forms through fruits. There are types of syrups such as maple syrup. Maple syrup is highly famous in Canada. There the maple tree enjoys wide recognition and its leaf has been made a national symbol. Maple syrup is gained from the inner sap of the maple tree. Maple sugar is processed from the maple tree.

It is from sugar cane and sugar beet that we process molasses, brown and white sugar. Since syrups are high in sugar they may not be what we need sometimes. There are times when we have the craving for something sweet but do not necessarily need to raise our blood sugar up! Being lax; sitting at the office or lying on a couch at home and not being active may still sprout the craving for something sweet.

A perfect substance can provide something sweet without raising our blood sugar; that is stevia. Stevia gives you sweetness without concern on calories. The best is it can be used by diabetics with high blood sugar. We can purchase it as syrup, in powdered form or as dried leaves. It is versatile enough to replace sugar in hot and cool beverages; and adding a sweeter touch to any food.

Stevia has come all the way from its original habitat in South America. This plant enjoys warm weather but not excessive water! It is tasteful that this plant may not drink high levels of water yet it makes our drinks so sweet and enjoyable! Indeed stevia is actually an herb and we can grow our own stevia! For the greatest sweetness you have had, pick and chew on a stevia leaf! It is extremely potent and when we use it we need only a minor amount as it is far greater in sweet strength than sugar and honey or other syrups. Take the advice of taking a small section of the fresh leaf when you try it.

The level of sweetness varies according to the plants growing conditions. The nutrients in the soil have and do affect the health of plants. When you do plant stevia rely on taking a transplant (a section of the plant) rather than the seeds, which are harder to sprout. It is difficult to imagine that a leaf can be profoundly sweet until you have tried and tasted it for yourself. If you're fortunate to have this sweet plant nearby, and there may be times when you have a sweet tooth, then you might just pop in a green stevia leaf.

About the Author:
Anastacia Sampson is a Nutritional Medicine Practitioner and freelance journalist, and lives in East London in South Africa. It is through consulting and advising the public on nutritional information that her health book has been published. Anastacia Sampson also runs a website, Healthy Living, where you will find information on herbs.
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Knowing nutritional guidelines

Published on July 25, 2009 in Medicine. Closed
by Anastacia Sampson

Many foods are packaged with accompanying nutritional information written on the packaging. It may be read and taken at face value. However many factors determine your true gains of nutrients.

Farming conditions can alter a plants level of nutrients! Any one seasons harvest can have different nutritional levels to another season. As we know, we receive our nutrients from plants or other foods. Foods all receive their nutrients from the soil or sea, which receive their nutrients from rocks. Rocks are not just stubborn pieces of art, as those rocks hard stones hold the nutrients! Through the processes of erosion there is scrapping away to permit release of nutrients, to filter into accessible water and soil.

If you have a garden it would be helpful to have stones around, as they certainly have their place. It is through planting and taking many times that depletes our soils. We need to give back. The plant can not demand to have a certain level of nutrients because the packet or box said it will have it! Plants only take what is available.

Climates affect plants and when growing in different climates the same type of plants have different nutrient content. Needs alter according to where we live and the climate affects nutritional needs. Note when you read the nutritional information of two similar foods, as information on various brands can be provided by different sources. On any day if we all ate exactly the same level of nutrients, our absorption tends to differ. Stress tends to lower rates of nutrient absorption and retention of nutrients.

Health professionals aid us as individuals to asses whether or not we are receiving levels of nutrients to match our requirements. By having nutritional charts we manage to benefit anyone to be generally healthy! Nutritional charts are great but recognise the individuality factor! No use to delude ourselves to believe we are all identical as our bodies do not absorb the same percentage of any given food or nutrient. It is recognised that we absorb more if we need it, yet other factors disrupt this; such as alcoholism, certain drugs and digestive-related disruptions.

Nutritional guidelines can sway choices along a healthy way. Do not worry about the extra calorie to the detriment of better mineral levels in foods. Watch of calorie content should not accompany dismissal of the levels of minerals and vitamins. Use whole foods to be on a more nutritious path to lead to health. Indeed a little of nutritious fatty nuts may support some people to lose weight, as we need minerals and vitamins to actually burn calories. We will always need minerals and vitamins; have a balanced view and intake of nutrients.

About the Author:
Anastacia Sampson is a Nutritional Medicine Practitioner and freelance journalist, and lives in East London in South Africa. It is through consulting and advising the public on nutritional information that her health book has been published. Anastacia also runs a website, Healthy Living, where you will find information on Processed Foods.
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Medicinal Mushroom Used in Korea as Cancer Therapy Adjunct

Published on July 21, 2009 in Nutrition. Closed
by Dr. Markho Rafael

There's a new star on the medicinal mushroom sky. It goes by Phellinus linteus in Latin. The little known English common name is Black Hoof Fungus. It's far more common, even in America, to hear it referred to by its Japanese name as Mesima.

Common to southern United States and Southeast Asia, Phellinus linteus is a polypore on hardwood trees such as poplar, oak and mulberry. [1]

Unlike most medicinal mushroom species, which were originally used in China or Japan, Phellinus linteus first became popular in Korea as a complement to traditional cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy.

From Korea, its reputation has spread like wildfire around the world. Doctors across the globe are now beginning to use it as an immune booster [2-11], and especially for preventing cancer metastasis. [5,10,12-17] Apart from Korea, Phellinus linteus is particularly popular in Japan, the U.S., and the Middle East from Israel to Turkey.

It may have all began when a 1996 Korean study reported that Phellinus linteus extract exhibited a broader range of immune enhancing and anti-cancer properties than the extracts from other species of medicinal mushrooms. [4]

Years later, American world-renown mycologist Paul Stamets helped deepen our understanding of Phellinus linteus when he published a comparative analysis with the most common medicinal mushroom species: Agaricus blazei, Lion's Mane, Chaga, Reishi, Maitake and Cordyceps. [18]

Phellinus linteus had a stronger effect than any of them on the part of the immune system known as macrophages. The activity of this type of white blood cell increased by 5,700% when Phellinus linteus extract was administered in an amount equivalent to 3,750 mg for an average size adult (165 lbs). [18]

It should be noted that macrophages may promote cancer growth as well as fight cancer. The research that has been published about Phellinus linteus extract indicates that it enhances the anti-cancer properties of macrophages. [8,14,19,20]

Additional reports have been published on cases of "spontaneously" regressed cancers, where the patients reported having used Phellinus linteus by their own choice:

1. A 2004 paper out of Japan reported "a hormone refractory prostate cancer patient with rapidly progressive bone metastasis who showed dramatic response to intake of an extract from the mushroom, Phellinus linteus." [15]

2. Next out was a Korean article published in 2005, which reported on a patient who "ingested mushroom called Phellinus linteus for one and a half years" before exhibiting "spontaneous regression" of liver cancer and skull metastasis. [17]

3. And then one year later, in 2006, another Japanese article was published on "a case of spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma with multiple lung metastases." The 79-year-old patient had been taking an extract of Phellinus linteus Mycelium for a month. When examined by his doctor 6 months later, his tumors had disappeared. [16]

Note: This article is not intended to treat, cure or diagnose any disease. It is intended for informational purposes only. Phellinus linteus is not approved by the FDA. Never use any herb or mushroom for medicinal purposes without first consulting a licensed medical professional.

About the Author:
Dr. Rafael currently focuses on medicinal mushrooms research, having worked with natural health since the mid-90's. He partners with Cordyceps Reishi Extract, LLC, a business offering premium quality medicinal mushroom products including Phellinus linteus extract. For article references, go the Phellinus linteus reference page.
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Historic Use of Mushrooms in Religious Ceremonies

Published on June 10, 2009 in Nutrition. Closed
by Dr. Markho Rafael

People have used mushrooms as spiritual tools for at least 7,000 years. Thats the age of the oldest preserved records, cave paintings left by the historic San Peoples in Tassili of southeast Algeria. Images depict what has been interpreted as masked, dancing medicine men holding mushrooms in their hand; presumably of the awareness altering variety.

Tassili is located in an area that today is an uninhabitable mountainous desert. But in ancient times, the climate was wet, allowing not only humans to live there but also cattle, and even crocodiles. The San Peoples were culturally tied to other tribes across the desert, from Chad to Egypt, maybe even Greece.

Jumping forward 3,400 years in time to Greece, 1,600 B.C., we find the Eleusinian Mysteries. Continuous for an astounding two millennia, the Eleusinian Mystery initiation was the most important spiritual ceremony of ancient Europe. Scholars believe the Mysteries involved use of consciousness-altering mushrooms. With well-known participants like Plato and Aristotle, its influence on western civilization cannot be denied.

Jumping another millennia or so forward in time, the Vikings were known to consume the poisonous species Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) in limited amounts to overcome fear. In spiritual pre-war ceremonies, they are said to have eaten mushrooms and danced in the woods before going into battle.

It may not have been an admirable type of spirituality practiced by this warrior culture but it was none-the-less part of their religious practices whatever we may think of them. Siberian shamans are also said to have used Fly agaric in their spiritual practices to help them talk to their gods.

In a controversial book titled Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality by R. Gordon Wasser, Fly agaric is even attributed as the source of the Vedic juice called "soma" - a liquid described to have been used in ancient Hindu religious practices, and said to be bestow divine qualities to the soul of the consumer, even immortality.

(Note: Make no mistake, Fly agaric - Amanita muscaria - is poisonous and can also be confused with other deadly species. Consumption for any reason is completely discouraged.)

On the other side of the ocean from Europe, the Mixtec culture likewise employed mind-altering mushrooms in their spiritual ceremonies, as recorded in the Mixtec Codex (13th-15th century). Their Gods were frequently engraved with mushrooms in hand.

Although Mixtecs themselves told white anthropologists they used spiritual mushrooms in their religious rituals, western scientists still doubted them in characteristic condescending manner.

American botanist William Safford argued that peyote buttons were mistaken for mushrooms, while other scientists insisted that the Mixtec culture really did use mind-expanding mushrooms in their religious rituals.

The debate raged on until the early 1930s, when amateur anthropologist Robert Weitlaner got invited to witness an original spiritual ceremony that included the use of consciousness-altering mushrooms.

Then in 1953, mycologist R. Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina Povlovna as the first westerners became honored participants in a mushroom ceremony - Velada - performed by shaman Don Aurelio. Wasson published his account of the Velada in Life Magazine, 1957. His article initiated the broader public awareness of spiritual mushrooms.

25 species of the Psilocybe genus are known to contain the consciousness-altering chemical compounds psilocybin (stable) and psilocin (unstable). The species used by the Mixtec culture are believed to have been Psilocybin caerulescens and Psilocybin mexicana. The more common and sometimes cultivated species Psilocybin cubensis did not exist in America before the arrival of Europeans.

Viewed as recreational drugs, mind-altering mushrooms have been prohibited in most countries since the early 1970's. The exception, which will come as no surprise, was The Netherlands, were fresh Psilocybe mushrooms were legal until very recently.

However, that came to an abrupt halt when a 17-year-old girl jumped off a bridge in Amsterdam after consuming Psilocybe mushrooms. In response, the Dutch parliament banned all sale of "magic mushrooms" effective December 1, 2008. So from Tassili to Amsterdam, the use of consciousness-altering mushrooms is now officially history.

About the Author:
Dr. Markho Rafael has worked in the natural health field since the mid-90's, today specializing in medicinal mushrooms. He does not support the use of mind-altering mushrooms. The article on this page is for entertainment only. Click reishi to visit site for more free mushroom articles, or reishi cordyceps for mycomedicinal products. Note: Absolutely no magic mushroom products, please do not inquire.
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