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9 Weight Loss Mistakes
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VITAMIN DEBATES
Some vitamins are made from food sources, others from coal tar or petroleum.
WHICH ONES? WHAT KIND? HOW MUCH? DO YOU REALLY NEED SUPPLEMENTS? By Conan Milner | Epoch Times Staff PUBLIC DOMAIN
2013 Gallup poll found that about half of Americans regularly take a vitamin supplement. These supplement-swallowers tend to be older and better educated, yet many doctors believe a multivitamin is a waste of money.
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After a couple of hundred years of widespread scurvy aboard ships, experts figured out that citrus cured it.
So what are vitamins, and are we in danger of not getting enough? The story starts with food. Ancient doctors knew nothing about vitamins, but they did know that when people strayed too far from a healthy diet, disease would result. Sailors and scurvy is a good example. Until the 1500s, scurvy was a rare disease. But as Spanish, British, and Dutch colonists took to the high seas, fresh food was often hard to come by, and many sailors succumbed to a scurvy epidemic. Crews would develop symptoms of bruising, bleeding, and tooth loss, and the condition often turned fatal.
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rystal Stewart suffered from bunions on both feet; walking and standing were painful and she was considering surgery. However, as a diabetic and self-described “big baby� when it comes to pain, she had concerns. One day she saw an ad for minimally invasive bunion surgery and, curious to know more, made an appointment. Stewart was immediately comforted when podiatrist Dr. Andrew Glass explained how much less trauma the foot endures with minimally invasive procedures. Currently, the most common surgery for bunions requires an opening of two to three inches and often involves sawing off or breaking the metatarsals (mid-foot bones, located above the toes). Pins and screws are often needed and the healing time can take 2–3 months. It can also be detrimental because by reshaping the foot, it can change the way the patient walks or stands. Minimally invasive bunion surgery is done with only a 5-millimeter incision. The procedure is performed with long, thin instruments inserted through this opening. The surgeon carefully shaves off the protruding bone causing the bunion while looking at real-time X-ray images to see what’s happening underneath the skin. The healing time is generally much faster. Stewart’s first bunion surgery took about 30 minutes; she had one stitch to close the wound and went home the same day with minimal pain. “It turned out to be a better experience than I thought it would be,� she said, adding that her
WHAT IS A BUNION? A bunion is a bony bump on the joint at the base of the big toe. Bunions can cause significant pain and discomfort, becoming worse over time if not treated.
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Tiger Nuts By Andrea Hayley | Epoch Times Staff There is something about tiger nuts that harkens back to a primordial place. You eat one, then another, and another. In fact, you may find it hard to tear yourself away from the bag. There is actually a decent explanation. It has roots in our history. It turns out that these bite-size tubers (yes, roots) have a carbohydrate, fat, and protein ratio almost identical to human breast milk. Our attraction to tiger nuts may actually be instinctual.
In the United States, tiger nuts are one of the latest superfoods to catch the attention of the paleo community. Early humans between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago are known to have gorged on tiger nuts, which grew in abundance in the old world. According to a recent Oxford University study, the tiny knobs of sweet-tasting nutrition comprised as much as 80 percent of “Nutcracker Man’sâ€? diet. Tiger nuts are nutritional powerhouses that grow at the root of the Cyperus esculentus grass, a type of sedge found in the same family as the papyrus grass known for its role as the paper in Egyptian scrolls. Researchers Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf, and Ehud Weiss wrote in their book “Domestication of Plants in the Old World,â€? cited in a Wikipedia entry, that tiger nuts were cultivated by the ancient Egyptians as far back as 6,000 B.C. Tiger nuts oer certain rare forms of nutrition that can help to heal some of the maladies that have sprouted from our modern, highly processed diet. The Paleo Connection In the United States, tiger nuts are one of the latest superfoods to catch the attention of the paleo community, particularly those dieters who appreciate the tiny legumes for their rare source of prebiotic fiber. A prebiotic fiber, such as that found in tiger nuts, feeds the trillions of beneficial gut microbes known as the human microbiome, which can enhance the body’s natural ability to heal itself and send autoimmune disorders into remission. The paleo group that follows an Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) paleo diet likes tiger nuts’ grainfree, nut-free, dairy-free, and prebiotic qualities, while not getting bothered by the tiger nut’s high carbohydrate content since it comes from a vegetable source. The high carbohydrate content cancels any love coming from non-AIP paleo dieters, who focus on a low-carb, high- protein diet. (At 5 grams of protein per ounce, tiger nuts are a good source of protein, but not a great source.) AIP dieters consume foods to reduce the gut inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and Type 1 diabetes. New technologies in recent years have enhanced the study of the human microbiome, allowing researchers to catalogue changes and dierences in the composition of the microbes in, say, an American, versus
an African who still lives a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The public’s awareness of the relationship between our health and what we eat is at an all-time high, evidenced by an explosion in foods, like tiger nuts, that carry health claims. Prebiotics found in foods like tiger nuts, and probiotics, such as those found in Greek yogurt, help to stimulate a healthy microbiome, and all major food companies are in R&D overdrive working to bring “functional� foods to market that deliver a health benefit. Resistant Starch One of the most significant and obvious benefits of tiger nuts today is their resistant starch content, which is visible as a starchy sediment at the bottom of Organic Gemini’s TigerNut Horchata drinks. This sediment does not mix, even after shaking, but it serves as a powerful reminder of the uniqueness of this ancient food. Resistant starch is a type of dietary fiber that passes through the small intestine into the large intestine undigested. Eventually, the beneficial microbes in the large intestine break down the starch into butyrate, which is fuel for healthy human cells. Of course, tiger nuts are not the only source of resistant starch. Good sources also include slightly green bananas or plantains, rolled oats, green peas, lentils, cooled cooked pasta, and cooled cooked potato. Tiger nuts have about half the resistant starch as raw potato, but since we normally don’t eat potato raw, blogger and paleo authority Richard Nikoley writes on his blog that raw tiger nuts are the best source. Anecdotal feedback from people who supplemented their diet with resistant starch says they experienced better digestion, better sleep, vivid dreams, and suppressed appetite, according to comments posted and compiled on Nikoley’s blog. The logic in favor of increased fiber (remember, resistant starch is a type of fiber) is simple. Americans—eating a typical modern diet that favors meat over fruits and vegetables, and processed grains with their natural fiber content removed—consume an average of between 15–20 grams of fiber daily, according to the USDA. Hunter-gatherer societies, in comparison, are estimated to have consumed between 50–100 grams daily, according to research compiled by prebiotin, a prebiotic-fiber-supplement company founded by gastroenterologist Frank Jackson. From this perspective, getting more fiber into our diet makes sense. According to Jackson, posted on his company website, there are three main types of fiber: soluble fiber, which breaks down easily in the body; insoluble fiber, which is not digested and acts as a bulking agent; and resistant starch, which is a fermentable insoluble fiber that breaks down slowly. Since resistant starch essentially resists digestion, it can help us feel fuller longer, another benefit of eating tiger nuts and the benefit Organic Gemini highlights above all others on its product website. Resistant starch is also scientifically proven to reduce glycemic response, which is helpful for diabetics in managing their condition, according to research published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. Aside from the unique benefits discussed above, tiger nuts are also a good source of phosphorus; potassium; vitamins E and C; amino acids arginine, glutamic, and aspartic; and digestive enzymes catalase, lipase, and amylase.
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CHINESE MEDICINE
WeightLoss Mistakes
In Chinese medicine, sweets create dampness in the body, which leads to weight gain.
By Lynn Jaffee Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of patients who have attempted to lose weight. Some have been successful, some have not. Some have gone about it in seriously crazy ways that not only don’t work, but have endangered their health in the process. So here’s my list of top weight-loss mistakes— my list of what not to do if you really want to lose weight and keep it off. 1. Magic-Bullet Thinking If you believe that you can lose weight if only you find the right supplement, diet pill, therapy, or energy drink, you’re making this mistake. Years ago, a woman came to me for acupuncture to lose weight. Now acupuncture can help, but this woman came back after one treatment and said she hadn’t lost a single pound. Understand, she hadn’t done a single thing differently, either. She believed that if I performed acupuncture on her, the weight would magically melt away. Good luck with that. The reality is that you need to make a commitment and some lifestyle changes in order to be successful. There is no miracle cure. If there were, we all would have heard about it.
In Chinese medicine, ‘meal substitutes’ are too nutrientdense. They are too hard to digest all at once.
4. Not Moving Your Body You can’t lose weight unless you exercise— simple. In Chinese medicine, fat is considered an accumulation of damp tissue that has basically stagnated, mostly around your middle, buttocks, and thighs. The treatment for any kind of stagnation is movement, and exercise is all about movement. You don’t have to climb a mountain or run a marathon, but you do have to start somewhere—take a walk, work in your garden, or go outside and play. 5. Dieting The problem with going on a diet is that you do it with the mindset that someday you’ll be done and go off the diet. That’s where the trouble starts. When you go off your diet, your body will immediately try to protect itself from starving, dieting, or being deprived by packing on the weight you lost, plus some. I’ve worked with patients who have tried a number of diets, only to be heavier than ever after each one. Rather than dieting, start with smaller changes that you can sustain over the long term—like the rest of your life. Your body will thank you, and you’ll be more likely to lose the weight and keep it off.
7. Not Dealing With Emotional Issues I see so many patients who are suffering from stress or depression who have insatiable cravings for sugar. I have seen patients who suffer from eating disorders: overeating, food restriction, anorexia, or bulimia. I have also worked with people who have food issues as a result of childhood abuse. If your mental health is playing a part in your weight issues, one of your best first steps is to get some professional help.
8. Eating Too Many Dampening Foods Dampness is a result of your body’s inability to digest well and metabolize fluids. When you eat the wrong foods, your digestion gets bogged down, and you begin to gain weight and retain water. Foods that tend to be overly dampening include greasy, rich foods, saturated fats, dairy foods, and sweeteners of any kind. 9. Not Paying Attention to What You Drink That’s right, that double mocha espresso or those three pops you had at work are all heavy hitters if it’s calories you’re counting. Frequently, people forget to count the stuff they’ve had to drink when they’re trying to lose weight, which can derail all your efforts. Drink water or tea, or count up the calories in what you’re drinking. Lynn Jaffee is a licensed acupuncturist and the author of “Simple Steps: The Chinese Way to Better Health.” This article was originally published on AcupunctureTwinCities.com
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2. Not Sticking With It It probably took you many years to gain the weight you are now trying to lose. What makes you think you can lose it between now and your vacation in three weeks? Serious weight loss, the kind that you’re looking for, is a longterm project. The one thing that makes weight loss so difficult is that it takes a strong commitment over a long period of time. 3. Meal in a Can Having a shake substitute for a real meal is a bad idea for a couple of reasons. First, in Chinese medicine, these “meal substitutes” are too nutrient-dense. They are too hard to digest all at once. Second, they tend to have a lot of sugar and not enough fiber. Third, they’re not really food—just check out the ingredients list. And fourth, can you really make it from meal to meal by just drinking 12 ounces of whatever? At some point, you’re going to be hungry, rebel against the can, and pig out in a very big way.
6. Taking Diet Supplements First of all, see Mistake No. 1: There is no magic pill. But secondly, some of those supplements can be dangerous. In Chinese medicine, herbal formulas are prescribed based on your very specific needs. Taking a supplement just because you heard it’s good for weight loss runs counter to this philosophy. It may not be what you need, and as such, may aggravate any health issues you have.
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Pinched Nerve? Carpal Tunnel? Migraines?
CLOCK Part 1
By Matt Leve Feldenkrais is a method of movement that uses very subtle, sometimes imperceptible or even imaginary gestures to rewire the brain in profound ways. It is a healing modality and is used by performance artists and athletes to enhance performance. Feldenkrais is widely recognized among
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today’s neuroscientists as being ahead of the curve in his understanding of human development and the brain’s neuroplasticity. He applied his scientific understanding and extraordinary intuition to develop a unique method of healing the mind and body. For example, in one case, Feldenkrais helped a child named Elizabeth, who was born missing a third of her cerebellum, which regulates
Lie on your back, eyes open or closed. Place a folded towel under your head and a pillow under your knees if needed. Notice the space under your lower back and the pressure of your pelvis and head on the floor. What else do you notice?
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Slowly bend your knees and stand your feet on the floor. Imagine your pelvis is lying on a clock with 12 toward your head and 6 toward your feet. Slowly tilt the pelvis toward 12 by very gently pressing your feet into the floor. Notice the tailbone slowly tilt away from the floor while the lower back flattens. Reduce the effort. Are you using your back muscles? Repeat several times with a pause between each repetition. Rest.
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Born in Ukraine in 1904, Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist, judo master, and an individual deeply interested in the nature of learning and human consciousness. The method of movement he developed helps people transform the way they move, relieving stresses they habitually place on their bodies by reducing unnecessary muscular effort. The method is conveyed either with gentle hands-on manipulations by a practitioner or with structured group lessons in which students are verbally guided in a set of particular movements. These lessons have a unique emphasis on purposeful, slow and gentle movement, which is thought to enhance sensory learning. As you do this lesson, think about “doing less” or “reducing effort.”
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motor control. According to the account of Dr. Norman Doidge, who wrote about her in his best-selling book “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” after a year of conventional therapies, the only movement she could do was to roll onto one side. Her doctors gave up and predicted she would require institutionalization due to severe motor and cognitive impairment. Fortunately, her parents persisted in looking for help and were eventually led to Feldenkrais. He offered a gentler approach, joining Elizabeth at her level of development as opposed to forcing her to try to do things like sit up. He helped Elizabeth learn to crawl and hold her head upright in her first two sessions. After many years of hard work with Feldenkrais, Elizabeth proved all the conventional doctors wrong and is now married and runs a small business. So whether it’s swinging a golf club, playing an instrument, improving a dead lift or yoga pose, or even something as simple as learning to knit with less effort to reduce strain on your hands, the Feldenkrais method of movement can help you improve. This is the first of a four-part series that will explore a few basic lessons and principles of
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the Feldenkrais Method and help you build awareness through movement. “If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want!” This is one of my favorite quotes by Feldenkrais; it captures the spirit of the method. On that note, let’s begin a lesson.
CONTACTS AND GLASSES
Pelvic Clock Lesson The pelvis is essentially the center of our skeleton. With training, one can learn to access and channel power from the pelvis into any part of the body. In this lesson, we will explore some simple movements of the pelvis while lying on the floor; however, this lesson can also be performed seated or in bed. Movements should be performed with minimal effort and with no pain or strain. Take frequent rests to enhance brain learning. Set aside at least 10 minutes to complete this lesson. Take your time and enjoy the process. Matt Leve is an orthopedic physical therapist based in Manhattan. He incorporates principles of physical therapy, the Feldenkrais Method, tai chi, and aikido as a means to help clients achieve optimal performance and self-organization. Email him to ask questions or share feedback with him: Matt@Shift.nyc
Slowly tilt the pelvis toward 6. Notice the lower back lifts away from the floor. Do less. Allow the abdomen to expand as you tilt the pelvis. Rest. Feel the difference. How is the space under your lower back?
Tilt the pelvis from 12 to 6. Slowly. Repeat several times. Try a few times quickly. Imagine your pelvis is heavy as you move it. Then light. Notice how your head moves in relation to the pelvis. Rest. Observe your breath.
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Explore some different diagonals such as 1 to 7 or 11 to 5. Move your pelvis in clockwise then counterclockwise circles. Try moving your pelvis clockwise and your head counterclockwise. Rest.
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Imagine slowly moving the pelvis from 12 to 6 several times. What path does your pelvis take? Move your pelvis from 12 to 6 as you imagine the opposite. Move your pelvis in a clockwise circle as you imagine counterclockwise. Rest and feel the difference from the beginning.
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Slowly come to sitting and standing. Sense the ground. Walk and notice what you notice.
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What Are Essential Nutrients? Vitamins do not provide calories or energy as do macronutrients, but they are required to turn food into energy. Some vitamins aid in enzymatic processes; others act as hormones and antioxidants. Others aid in tissue structure and repair. Since Funk, scientists have discovered a total of 13 essential vitamins: A, C, D, E, K, as well as the B family of vitamins (B1, or thiamine; B2, riboflavin; B3, niacin; B5, pantothenic acid; B6, pyridoxine; B7, biotin; B9, folate; and B12). Vitamins are found in all types of food: meat, vegetables, fruits, grains, and dairy. We need only a small amount of each one every day, but vitamins are essential for balanced body chemistry and general health maintenance. “Essentialâ€? is the key word for vitamins. During the 1920s and 1930s—the heyday of vitamin discovery—scientists found some compounds that looked like vitamins but that were later disqualified. Researchers have dismissed nearly 20 vitamin-like compounds because they turned out not to be essential. For example, check out the holes in the B family: B8, B10, and B11 didn’t make the cut, but one aspect of B4 called choline was oďŹƒcially recognized as an essential nutrient by the Institute of Medicine in 1998. According to Balz Frei, Ph.D., director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, which specializes in nutrition research, the definition of an essential nutrient is that our bodies not only need it to function properly, but it also provides something we can’t make on our own. One notable exception is vitamin D, which is required to make bones and teeth strong. Our bodies can synthesize vitamin D in our skin, so technically it doesn’t meet the definition. But vitamin D also happens to be a nutrient that many of us lack. “We do not synthesize adequate amounts of vitamin D in our skin because of a lack of sun exposure,â€? Frei said. “It is also very diďŹƒcult to get the recommended daily amount of vitamin D from the diet. “That’s one of the conclusions for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee. They found that even a perfect diet still doesn’t provide enough vitamin D. They also said a supplement would make sense.â€? Frei said that dark-skinned people are even more in need of vitamin D since the high melanin content in their skin limits vitamin D synthesis. “Vitamin D inadequacy in African-Americans is very high,â€? he said. “It’s really a significant problem, especially in pregnant women.â€? Common Deficiencies Ideally, all our micronutrient needs would come from the food we eat. But many diets fall far short of meeting daily requirements. According to the World Health Organization, about 250 million preschool children worldwide suer from vitamin A deficiency, contributing to blindness, severe opportunistic infection, and
Supplement Disagreements While everyone agrees that certain individuals may lack some essential micronutrients, there is great disagreement whether vitamin supplementation is necessary for the rest of us. Some doctors discourage the use of a daily vitamin supplement for otherwise healthy individuals because studies have shown that they do not prevent disease. But Frei says they’re looking at it the wrong way. “Medical doctors often view multivitamins as a pharmaceutical drug to treat disease. So when they do these clinical trials and they don’t find an eect, for example, of vitamin E supplementation on heart disease risk, they say, ‘Well, you don’t need vitamin E.’ But they’re not looking at it in the context of nutritional gaps,â€? he said. Frei stresses that vitamin supplements are not some magic bullet: “These are just the normal essential nutrients that help support normal physiological function, metabolism, and good health. It’s just basic biology that is being supported here.â€? The underlying premise of dietary guidelines like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate program is to promote a diet that provides all your micronutrient needs. But Frei says that, despite the message, many Americans still eat a diet that’s calorie-rich and nutrient-poor. “If we ate an ideal diet as prescribed by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans—a Mediterranean-type diet, for example— then we would probably meet most but not all requirements for all vitamins and minerals. The biggest issue in the United States is that many people don’t eat vegetables, and that’s where a lot of your vitamins come from,â€? he said. According to Frei, everyone can use a multivitamin, multimineral supplement. He stresses that supplements are not a replacement for a healthy diet, but they can fill the nutritional holes that even the best diets leave behind. Synthetic Vitamins Versus Food-Based Supplements As vitamins were discovered and their abilities promoted to the public, the supplement market was born. To meet nutritional needs, supplement companies initially began making their products from vitamin-rich extracts of yeast, liver, and plants such as alfalfa, beets, and carrots. Starting in the 1930s, however, scientists started synthesizing vitamins in the lab. Once these micronutrients could be manufactured in their pure chemical form, supplements could be made for less money and in greater nutritional concentrations than a food extract. Frei says that while food, which also provides the health benefits of fiber, is the preferred vehicle for vitamin intake, synthetic vitamins are otherwise equal to food-based vitamins because they share the same molecular composition. However, some dispute this idea of equivalency. According to nutritionist, acupuncturist, and herbalist Michael Gaeta, there are significant dierences
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An estimated 2 million sailors died from scurvy until the late 1700s when they figured out that a supply of citrus fruit on board could prevent the scourge. Today we know that vitamin C cures scurvy, and citrus is just one of many foods that contain this vitamin. The concept of vitamins came in 1912 with Polish-born chemist Casimir Funk. He was inspired by a study that linked the rise in white-rice consumption to higher rates of beriberi—a disease characterized by low energy, weak muscles, confusion, and paralysis. Previous research had found that eating brown rice cured beriberi symptoms, so Funk looked for a chemical compound in the rice bran responsible for the cure. He called this chemical “vital amine,� which is where we get the term “vitamin.� This rice- bran chemical was later classified as vitamin B1, also known as thiamin. The concept of vitamins was a revolution in the treatment of disease, as many common ills previously elusive to medicine were soon discovered to be simply nutritional deficiencies. In addition to macronutrients, such as protein, fats, and carbohydrates, we now know that good nutrition also includes micronutrients: vitamins and minerals.
death. The diets of these children often lack fresh vegetables, which provide vitamin A precursors (such as beta carotene), as well as vitamin A-rich animal foods: fish and dairy. Older adults can often suer from B12 deficiency because they don’t produce enough stomach acid and so have a hard time absorbing this vitamin in their diet. That’s one reason why doctors might give a B12 injection—it bypasses the stomach so more of the nutrient gets absorbed. Prescription and over-the-counter drugs can also inhibit B12 absorption. “B12 deficiency is also a very big issue that’s not very recognized for people who take antacids like Tums or proton pump inhibitors like Tagamet or Prilosec. These drugs alter the stomach pH, which causes the same problem of being unable to absorb B12 from diet,â€? Frei said. According to a recent study from the Linus Pauling Institute, people with metabolic syndrome require more vitamin E, but they get less because the condition prevents the vitamin from finding its way into tissues where it is most needed. Those who smoke, suffer from an infection, or exercise excessively may require extra vitamin C. There is even an increased dietary allowance for vitamin C for smokers because smoking increases oxidative stress, which means that vitamin C is used up more quickly.
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between a vitamin that comes from food and one synthesized in a lab. One big difference is source. Synthetic vitamins may be made from starch, corn syrup, or even coal tar or petroleum derivatives. Studies have demonstrated that foodbased and synthetic vitamins have virtually no dierence in absorption rate. But Gaeta says there is a noticeable difference in eects between the two products—eects he has observed both personally and clinically. “As a dietitian and nutritionist, I was raised, so to speak, on synthetic vitamins the way most health professionals are,â€? he said. “These are what I was trained on. It’s what I used on my patients in the first five or six years of my practice. It’s what I took myself.â€? “When I switched to a food-based supplement, I was initially pretty skeptical because, milligram-wise, there wasn’t much there. But I had a personal experience that was amazing and impressive. “My patients were also feeling better than when they were on the synthetics. Their quality of life increased dramatically, compared with the synthetics, and they had less adverse reactions. My practice grew because I was getting better results than my colleagues who were using synthetics.â€? Synthetic vitamins are sometimes called nutraceuticals or isolates because they focus only on the target nutrient and ignore the many other phytochemicals that always accompany a vitamin found in nature. But Gaeta believes it’s the addition of these overlooked phytochemicals that makes food-based supplements superior to isolates. “We’re just starting to learn what’s in plants. It’s the arrogance of reductionism to say we know everything, and we’ve totally dissected all of nature. There are thousands of other substances that are not vitamins but have tremendous therapeutic value,â€? Gaeta said. “If you understand botanical medicine—and as an herbalist I’ve studied this for 28 years— these substances in very small amounts can have profound therapeutic benefit.â€? Frei has a dierent perspective. “Phytochemicals are not nutrients. They may have an eect, but we don’t need them for any specific biological function. They just happen to come along with our diet.â€? Frei said. “The nutrients, on the other hand, have binding proteins and transport mechanisms that accumulate the vitamins and minerals in cells and tissues,â€? he said. “The body needs these essential nutrients because without them, the tissues and cells cannot function normally. The phytochemicals are not accumulated in cells and tissues. They are excreted as quickly as possible.â€? Choosing a Supplement There are many multivitamin products on the market. Frei advises consumers to choose one with a USP stamp, which means that it meets the requirements set by the U.S. Pharmacopeia. These products contain the full Daily Value (DV) or Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for each essential vitamin, which, according to Frei, is plenty for a daily dose. “It’s not necessary to get 10 times the RDA,â€? he said. To choose a supplement based on Gaeta’s criteria, you have to look at the ingredients list. “If all you see is a bunch of vitamins with milligrams next to them and a percentage of Daily Value, that’s how you know it’s a synthetic vitamin,â€? he said. “However, if you read the label, and it says carrot, buckwheat, alfalfa, pea vine juice, mushroom, liver—these are foods. If those are the ingredients, you know that you’re dealing with a food concentrate,â€? Gaeta said. For those looking for something with the best of both worlds, some products combine synthetic isolates with food concentrates. But Gaeta says that much of the time the food-based component is negligible. “You have to look at the label and see how much is natural and how much is synthetic because the trend these days is to sprinkle in a little bit of food to make it look better,â€? Gaeta said. “At the bottom, it will say, ‘whole food concentrate’ or ‘whole food blend.’ They’ll list alfalfa, carrot, and kale, and you think, ‘Oh wow, that’s great. It has all these whole foods in it,’ but it’s just a small percentage of the entire vitamin tablet,â€? he said.
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HEALTH & FITNESS DIRECTORY Discover distinguished local establishments with great reviews
Adventures & Events
Union Square COURTESY OF TIANTI BOOKS
NINE-DAY FALUN DAFA MEDITATION WORKSHOP
Greenwich Village
Relieve physical and emotional stress at this nineday introductory workshop to the self-cultivation practice of Falun Dafa. The workshop will introduce the teachings with video lectures and include detailed instructions on qigong exercises and meditation. Register by March 5.
SHIFT INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Monday, March 7–Tuesday, March 15 Monday–Friday, 7 p.m.–9:15 p.m. Saturday & Sunday, 8:30 a.m.–10:45 a.m. Tianti Books 220 W. 30th St., Second Floor Free TiantiBooks.org/blogs/news
THE YINOVA CENTER
Shift offers you an integrative approach that acknowledges not only the physical but also the spiritual, emotional, and energetic components of your health. Together we treat the whole you.
The YinOva Center is a complementary medical center in New York City, known for its experienced team, warm atmosphere, and effective care.
95 University Place (at 12th Street) 212-604-1316 | Shift.nyc
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GLUTEN-FREE QUICK-BREAD WORKSHOP Quick breads are always a crowd pleaser—quick to prepare, easy to modify or improvise, and great for snacking. Learn to transform a baking favorite into gluten-free versions. All you need is a reliable flour mix, your favorite flavor elements, some baking soda or baking powder, and a loaf pan.
Thursday, March 10 7 p.m.–10 p.m. Natural Gourmet Institute 48 W. 21st St., Second Floor Cost: $130 NaturalGourmetInstitute.com/class/ gluten-free-quick-breads
CHIROPRACTIC HEALTH CONCEPTS
DIY SPRING DETOX WORKSHOP COURTESY OF MEGAN HUYLO
Learn how to plan and execute your very own cleanses using nourishing seasonal produce, superfoods, and even eggs. In this class, cleanse expert Megan Huylo will discuss the body’s natural detox systems (lymphatic, kidneys, skin, and more) and the ways in which you can support them through proper food combining and preparation. Wednesday, March 9 6:30 p.m.—10 p.m. Natural Gourmet Institute 48 W. 21st St., Second Floor Cost: $125 NaturalGourmetInstitute.com/class/ diy-detox-spring-menu
MONTHLY YOGA INVERSION WORKSHOP Bring balance and poise into every aspect of your life. Inversions are powerful asanas, affecting you physically and mentally by stimulating intuition and clarity. Learn how to invert safely with proper alignment and intention. Inversions included in the monthly workshops are handstands, headstands, forearm stands, and shoulder stands. Beginners welcome. Saturday, March 5 6 p.m.–8 p.m. Jivamukti Yoga School NYC 841 Broadway, Second Floor Cost: $35 in advance, $40 the day of the workshop JivamuktiYoga.nyc/inversion-workshop
DR. ALEXANDER KULICK
Chiropractic helps your brain to communicate with your body. Through proper postural correction, one can begin the natural journey to a healthy, pain-free life.
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SECRETS OF KOREAN MEDICINE
Don’t Be Fooled by the Conventional Wisdom on Eczema It is possible to completely cure it by strengthening the lungs Part 19 By Dr. Seo Hyo-seok COURTESY OF DR. SEO HYO-SEOK
The following is an account from one of my patients who suffered from severe eczema and side effects of steroidbased medications. She wrote this after eight months of cleansing her lungs with Korean herbal medicine. Patient’s Account I am a 40-year-old woman who works as a broadcast writer. I never had any kind of skin trouble until seven years ago when I developed eczema in my early 30s. I was diagnosed with hormone imbalance exacerbated by stress. My skin problems began with pimples on my face, so I visited a very reputable dermatology clinic, and just as hoped, my acne disappeared completely within several days of treatment. However, as soon as I stopped taking the prescribed medication, my breakouts began again. So I got another prescription and took it almost every day, feeling I had no choice since the drug kept my skin clear.
Now that I have been taking the herbal medicine for eight months, my eczema has become tremendously better.
Modern medicine considers eczema incurable.
program on Dr. Seo’s eczema treatment and called to tell me that she may have found someone who could treat my condition. I didn’t have any expectations when I set out to visit Dr. Seo because I had already tried so many things in hope of a cure. Nonetheless, I pursued this thread of hope and with the feeling that I had many more things to do in my life. To my amazement, his Korean herbal formula allowed me to regain it. After taking his Korean hebal medicine to clean my lungs for two weeks, the painful rash I had completely disappeared, along with the blotches caused by enlarged capillaries. The hard protrusions also gradually disappeared, leaving only scars. Now that I have been taking the herbal medicine for eight months, my eczema has become tremendously better, even though my body has not yet fully recovered. But although itchiness still remains, and I occasionally scratch myself in the evenings, I have no more sores or hard protrusions. This medicine saved my life, and as an added benefit, my writing has become markedly healthier, reflecting the mindset of the writer.
Former eczema patient Understanding Eczema After nearly three years of continuous treatment, this patient’s eczema was fully cured. This was a relatively quick recovery, as the majority of those who have become this addicted to steroid medications require a much longer period for such improvement, usually three-and-a-half years.
In Oriental medicine, the skin and lungs are seen as directly connected. IGHTZABER/ISTOCK
Later on, I came to learn that continuous use of these kinds of drugs is very dangerous. However, none of the dermatologists I met with told me to be careful with them. Eventually, without realizing the danger, I became addicted to the steroids contained in the drugs . Then I started to have strange reactions. The skin all over my body became blotchy due to enlarged capillaries and also became very thin. My skin also began to bruise easily and was prone to tearing upon even a slight impact, and if I became slightly fatigued, a rash would manifest. Unbearable itchiness all over my body also kept me awake at night. My symptoms were so bad that I visited a larger hospital where I was told that they were due to weakened immunity arising from steroid addiction. This was four years ago. My skin problems continued to get worse, with sores forming, and because of my continual scratching, I had scars all over my body and small bean-size protrusions that became hard. This impacted my life a great deal. I used to enjoy taking baths and would sometimes bathe and wash my hair several times a day whenever I felt depressed or had difficulty writing. Now, taking a bath was torment. And although it was excruciating to have water come into contact with my broken skin, it was even more difficult mentally when I looked at my wrecked body. I visited several reputable hospitals as well as hot springs throughout Korea that were known for effective treatment of skin troubles. However, it all proved futile. Even though I was hospitalized twice for medical examination and had a biopsy done on the hardened protrusions, doctors were unable to find a cause or offer any effective treatment. I was told to reduce my workload since excessive stress was having an adverse effect on my condition, and to change my diet to be composed mostly of vegetables. I decided to reduce the amount of steroid-based drugs I was taking, even though doctors warned me that this would be difficult. I truly had to confront gruesome pain every day, and if I hadn’t had strong religious faith, it is very likely that I would have committed suicide. In fact, I even begged my husband to get me drugs that would put me to sleep permanently in order to escape the pain. Then one day, my younger sister saw a television
In order to cure eczema, you need to discharge both water- and fat-soluable toxins through the skin. To date, this treatment has fully cured more than 40,000 eczema patients, and there are two key things that I always tell them about curing eczema. First, you need to focus on opening the pores and avoid steroids. Eczema is fundamentally caused by the failure to properly discharge toxins accumulated under the skin; therefore, eczema can only be cured by discarding toxins accumulated in all corners of the
body through fully opening the pores and sweating. Steroids block the pores, preventing the body from discarding fatty and water-soluable waste. An even more serious problem is that steroids push the toxins that cause eczema deeper into the body. Steroids also infiltrate the bones, where they can cause osteoporosis. So what’s the best way to discard toxins? Exercise is a good start, but it alone is not sufficient because it only discharges water- soluble waste, which will not fully cure eczema but can shorten the treatment period by about half. For a complete cure, it is necessary to discard fat-soluble waste via the pores. This can be achieved by fortifying the lungs. In Oriental medicine, the skin and lungs are seen as directly connected, with the skin sometimes referred to as “the third lung”; therefore, key to treating eczema is opening the skin pores by fortifying the lungs with cleansing therapy. Taking saunas or hot baths to further open sweat pores can also help restore beautiful skin. Secondly, in order for treatment to work, you must stick with it. Many people are suspicious that cleansing the lungs with herbal medicine is just another “natural” treatment that sounds good when they read about it but won’t actually make any meaningful improvement in their condition. This kind of doubt makes it difficult to continue with treatment, which often involves a healing crisis. As steroids and various accumulated toxins begin to be discharged from the body, there is usually a temporary aggravation of symptoms, which is a necessary step in the healing process but difficult to endure. When this happens, many people stop taking the medicine, believing that it is not effective. There is an old saying in Asia: “Do not use something if you are doubtful, and have no doubt if you have already decided to use it.” I would like to emphasize that this is key to treatment. If you cleanse your lungs with Korean herbal medicine but have even the slightest doubt about its effectiveness, it is very likely that you will stop taking it when you feel uncomfortable. Eczema is classified as a form of atopy, which is an allergy condition characterized by hypersensitivity. Asthma and hay fever are other common forms of atopy. It has been found that such allergic conditions manifest due to an abnormality in the immune system. However, modern medicine still has no idea how to normalize an immune system that has started to function abnormally. I was successful in finding a very accurate method of normalizing immune system by fortifying the lungs, which strengthens the tonsils, which are part of the first line of defense of the immune system. This is where the key to the treatment of eczema and other atopic conditions lies. I have used this therapy to completely restore the health of people who were very close to death. I hope many more people can understand these principles of treatment and apply them to restore their health. Dr. Seo Hyo-seok is the director of the Pyunkang Korean Medicine Hospital, which has seven branches in South Korea, one at Stanton University in California, and one in Atlanta. Dr. Seo entered Kyung Hee University in Korea at the top of his class and after years of research developed the Pyunkang-Hwan herbal formula, which improves immunity by strengthening lung function. It has helped cure over 155,000 patients of various conditions. Find out more at Pyunkang.com Email: Dr.Seo@wwdoctor.com