Naturopath – Iridology

I first went to the Naturopath about 7 month ago on the recommendation of a friend, who also suffers from food allergies. I went to Eli, who is an Iridologist. This means he predominantly focuses on your eye’s iris to see any imbalances in your health.

When I first saw him he put some drops into my nose to clear my sinuses, which were still blocked with mucus. My food allergies have symptoms of hay fever rather then rapid bowl movements…. So my nose clogs up, I sneeze and I get headaches a lot…. By that time I already stopped eating the items I am allergic to, but I was still blocked up month after. He then put me on some very horrible tasting herbal remedies, to detox my body.

I initially lost a bit of weight as he also straightened out my hormone levels. I suffered from a Hypoactive Thyroid; this means my thyroid was underactive. I knew of this before and took medication (thyroid hormones) for almost 10 years because of it; doctors told me I will have to be on these pills for the rest of my life, but Eli fixed it up within a month with some very bad tasting stuff. But I haven’t needed my medication since. So for ten years I was told that I needed medication, and I took it everyday with exceptions, at some occasions I forgot to take them, but after one or two days without medication I could feel getting sick, lightheaded and very irritable. These were the most recognizable symptoms for me, once back on these pills I was fine again. Now, I have been living without the medication for 6-7 month and have not had these symptoms at all.

One other thing, a particular hard thing for me to discuss, is the unexplained infertility. Well that is what the doctors told me anyways. After 2.5 years of trying to become pregnant, my partner Mark and I went through some tests to see if there is a reason for this infertility. Doctors could not pinpoint it; sper*m was fine and I seemed alright as well; so we were sent off with the suggestion of having more sex… Great idea! Well it hasn’t happened yet, the baby thing not the ‘more sex’ thing, but my Naturopath gave me some Vitex to get my hormones going and to increase my ovulation, he could see that one of my ovaries was lazy, so I would have only had one chance every two month instead of one a month as it should be. This I can feel working already, my menstruation is regulating and becoming heavier, which after the long use of the birth control pill was pretty much none existent. I can feel the ovulation happening, something I haven’t had for a long time. I am very hopeful that it will happen for us very soon, but I have learned not to stress about the situation as much as this would also contribute to the situation.

I went back to see Eli today, to get some more Vitex and I am very happy to say that my partner came along to get himself checked up as well. He has been feeling very tired since a while now and complains about the lack of energy. He is not very keen on changing his diet as much as I do, and told me I am wasting my money going to the Naturopath. Let’s say he is a skeptic when it comes to anything that would imply he needs to change. Well after I went to Eli and had fantastic results, he figured he should give it a try. Maybe my nagging had something to do with it as well :)

I think one thing that impressed Mark was that Eli does not ask you what your problems or symptoms are; he looks in your eyes and tells you. No medical history is needed, no questions are asked; he sees what is imbalanced in your body and gives you advice and remedies to fix it.

Mark will start his course of herbs today; we will see how it all works out. I can only praise the work of naturopath around the world; I believe they actually help people, instead of drugging patients with chemicals, which only numb the symptoms of the disease. As you can see I am frustrated with the efforts of modern medicine, and even though I appreciate the fact that some surgeons and doctors really want to help their patients, I find the abuse of prescription drugs is getting out of hand altogether.

If you have never been to a naturopath and feel the need for improved health, give them a try. I can recommend Eli of the Pinnacle Clinic in Parramatta NSW, but there sure would be one close to your home just as good.

Should Energy drinks be banned?

This morning I was listening to the radio, they discussed so called ‘energy drinks’ and if they should be banned. Supposedly some Australian schools have stopped selling them to students… I couldn’t believe my ears! Why the hell would you sell ‘energy drinks’ at a school in the first place? We all know they are pumped with caffeine and sugar, have absolutely no value and make kids hyper to an extend of serious heart problems. We wouldn’t serve espresso coffee to students why would we give them Redbull, V or Mother which have as much if not more caffeine? This is absolutely wrong and these drinks should have an age limit or be banned all together.

They are drugs, just as bad if not worse then alcohol. People get addicted, and if you have more then two or three you could have serious heart problems. Why not sell them in bottle shops with alcoholic beverages? If people old enough to understand the consequences want to drink them then fine, but giving them to children and teens that have absolutely no idea about the risks is irresponsible to say the least. This is putting kids at a great risk and even young adults that have it can experience health problems.

Mixing these ‘energy drink’s with alcohol is an even greater health risk, since the two ingredients seem to neutralize each other; at least this is what appears to the consumer when in fact the body is going ballistic with the mixed signals of lots of energy from the caffeine and perceived relaxation from the alcohol.

When I grew up I wasn’t even allowed cola or coffee, these ‘energy drinks’ are far worse in many ways then cola.

The other day when I drove to the gas station to fill up the car on my way to work I saw three different young adults all with a V (energy drink) in their hand. What do they think this is; morning coffee? It is by no means a healthy drink and to have it as breakfast to start your day is just not a good idea at all.

Here is my thought on ‘energy drinks’. These drinks do not provide you with energy; they only simulate the energy you already have in your body. Any stimulant only wakes up the energy that is already available in your body. So it wouldn’t give energy to a dead body, as the energy comes from within the body not from the stimulant itself. That might sound ok if you forget about one very important thing. The body has only a limited supply of energy, and even though we keep energy levels up by eating healthy food and exercise we are slowly using up all of our energy, which you could call live force. Once the life force is used up you are dead. So by stimulating your body to feel energetic you actually shorten your life. When you are tiered you don’t need a coffee or ‘energy drink’, you need rest and sleep. So instead of giving yourself a 'kick' every morning consider going to bed earlier and taking up yoga or meditation to get more resting time to balance your life and keep as much life force for as long as possible.

Gee, all this writing has made me tiered I am going to make myself a coffee… just kidding!

Nutritious Winter Warmers

It is freezing cold as I am writing this, the heater in the office was off all weekend and it takes hours before it gets to a nice temperature. I am warming myself at the moment with a hot cup of lemon myrtle tea and haven’t taken off my jacket because it is so cold.

I guess we are all in the same boat, we try to eat healthy all year, but comes winter all the salads and fruits don’t quite cut the mustard. We need something to warm us from the inside. So traditional we eat a lot of roasts, and snuggle up at home in front of the TV or if lucky the fireplace. This is why so many gain weight in winter. We eat more and richer, fattier food and get less exercise. We have a cookie or two with a hot cup of tea or chocolate, maybe some coffee to keep us awake because we feel sluggish and tiered. It takes some real effort to go outside and exercise or even meet up with friends for a night out. All we seek is a bit of warmth…

One of the best winter warmers are soups. Key ingredients are vegetables, which will make it healthy. Try a traditional vegetable soup, with carrots, potatoes, celery, cabbage, onions and the like; it will really warm you up. I also like to spice my winter foods with a bit of chilli which heats up from the inside as well. One of my favourite dishes for winter is a traditional German dish my mum used to make. We used to call it ‘Lumpe mit Speck’, which means rags with speck (pork belly). I have changed the traditional recipe as it used a lot of saturated fat from the pork belly and is not as healthy as I wanted it to be. So I now use lean minced meat instead of the speck and it is just as nice, if not nicer because there is no ‘guilt’ added.

Steffi’s Rags n’ fleas (like the name?)

This is a recipe for a whole cabbage, you can half it if you are cooking for a smaller family, but it lasts 5 days in the fridge, and tastes even better the second day.

2 onions diced or sliced

4-5 cloves of garlic chopped

750g of minced meat (I prefer to half beef and pork, but just one or the other will do)

Brown these ingredients with a spoon full of olive oil in a very large pot, then add

2 bay leaves

3 cloves

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds

pepper

Add 1 white cabbage (sliced finely) into the pot and top it up with enough water to cover the cabbage.

Salt to taste and let simmer till the cabbage reduced in size.

Add 5 finely diced potatoes and simmer till the potatoes and the cabbage are soft.

Serve hot- bon appetite