Healing Insulin Resistance and Digestive Function with Food

So I’ve had this really annoying digestive issue for a long time: every time I ate much protein or anything high in animal fat, I’d get ungodly ill. I mean, I couldn’t even take a tsp of fish oil without feeling like I’d swallowed a swamp for at least 24 hours. If I ate a steak, it stuck in my gut for two days and I turned a bit green around the edges. Yeah I know, my liver, more poor liver. But the thing is, all the liver treatment in the world even with specific protein digestion enhancers like Mahonia wasn’t doing me a bit of good. On some level, this isn’t a surprise since I don’t fit the normal pattern of protein intolerance combined with allergies, dry skin, arthritis and so on. I was a vegetarian for seven years and...

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The Omnivore’s Delight: Reasons to Enjoy Meat

Check out this great post by Paul Bergner regarding the wonderfulness of eating meat, and here’s a quote to whet your appetite: A very large trial showed that meat eating was protective against heart disease, and a large and growing body of evidence shows that meat eating is protective against osteoporosis and its worst endpoint.  This is in stark contradition to the neo-naturopathic theory that it causes the bones to melt down in acidified blood. I say neo-naturopathic, because in the history of naturopathy, starting in Germany and up until the 1970′s, among several dozen major figures and teachers, we find only two vegetarian advocates, both of whom died 15-20 years before the meat eaters. For arachidonic acid (an oft-maligned component of beef),...

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Beebalm: Notes on Burn Treatment

First things first: I don’t recommend ever putting a salve on a fresh burn. It seems to hold the heat in and aggravate the burn. Once the heat is gone from the burn, salves can be very healing. Second, don’t put ice on burns, especially severe burns, you run the risk of increasing tissue loss and increasing scar damage. A hospital once did this to my little sister’s hands when they were badly burned and it was a mess. Use cool or lukewarm water to help pull heat from the burn. A very popular first defense for acute burns is Lavender essential oil, which is indeed quite effective in reducing pain, lessening the chance of infection and speeding healing. The downside is that you can’t make it yourself, everything then reeks of Lavender (ok for...

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Cellulitis from Hell: Foot Infection Update

So you know that case I talked about the other day? Well, it got worse again the next day. In fact, it got downright scary again, the swelling didn’t reoccur much but the red rash (cellulitis) started to spread up the ankle. And then I smacked myself in the head in disbelief at my own stupidity. I know this (I’ve even seen it before) and you should know this: do NOT, do NOT put salves (especially those that contain beeswax in any amount) even if they are extremely antibacterial on suspected staph, strep or other such infections on the skin. It holds the bacteria in and keeps the area too moist, allowing the infection to rapidly spread. The reason the foot got worse is because the client and I were so incredibly diligent about keeping the salve on the...

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Old Fashioned Medicine – Herbs and Hot Water

Old Fashioned Medicine – Herbs and Hot Water

Note: If you read this post, please be sure to read the followup post as well which give further important information on the treatment of cellulitis and other infections of the skin. I have recently attended to a great number of acute injuries to the hands and feet of various family, clients, students and assorted other people. Several of these issues required fairly prolonged treatment over period of days to weeks, with several applications/treatments a day. In quickie cases, I like to use tinctures or other ready made preparations I have on hand, but with something like this it’s much more useful to make water based herbal preparations as needed, and usually cheaper too. In every case I resorted to using a strong infusion as a soak for the affected body...

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Nutritional Notes: Obesity as a Form of Malnutrition

An overview of some of the evidence pointing to obesity as a direct result of malnutrition, especially associated with certain minerals and vitamins. This is a post from Regina Wilshire’s Weight of the Evidence blog. She also has a really interesting post on the lack of difference in results between a low GI diet and a high GI diet with overall high carb intake. Which brings us back, once again, to the importance of traditional, nutrient dense foods.

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