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The
digestive system is weak in may people.
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Case:
Eva came to me complaining that she had a condition labeled as irritable
bowel syndrome. She sometimes had bowel movements eight times a day and usually
on days when she was stressed. She also had recurring problems with a sore
throat and loss of speech. She was looking for an herbal tea she could take to
heal her.
Eva was very enthusiastic about taking herbs and wanted to find a magic formula
that would heal her from all her problems. She had listened intently during a
speech I gave, came to two of my classes, purchased some herbs and then finally
came for a session. She took notes during all the classes and sessions and
waited impatiently until the end of the session for me to give her some herbs.
She was disappointed when I informed her that I was not going to give her an
herbal tea because she was not ready for it.
Eva's situation was similar to many peoples. She wanted to heal and was looking
for a formula to help her. She had bad experience with medication since her poor
digestion left her little ability to tolerate anything synthetic. However, like
many other seekers of better health, she was not able to see how her lifestyle,
spiritual life and eating habits were effecting her health. She was so set on
finding an herb to heal her that she did not consider that the power to heal was
in her own hands and not in that of a plant.
I
first suggested that Eva use sage tea as needed to soothe her sore throat and
help her regain her speaking ability. Sage tea is a powerful antibiotic and
healer of the throat area and is famous in the singing community for its power
to restore strained vocal chords. I also suggested that Eva take psyllium seed
powder twice a day to help her bulk up her stools and calm her bowel. These
herbs would help her symptoms and assist in her healing. However, I emphasized
to her that this was not the program I was giving her.
The
program I gave her involved three steps to changing her lifestyle and eating
habits, which would enable her body to be receptive to any herbal tea mixture I
might give her.
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Many
herbal bowel formulas contain psyllium
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The
first step in her program was to increase her food intake. Her iridology reading
showed that her bowel and stomach area were extremely “strictured”, which is
a sign I see in all people who have reduced their diet beyond safe levels. On
most people, if one examines the eye with a magnifying glass and a penlight,
they will observe a ring around the pupil extending away from the pupil at least
a quarter of the distance between the pupil and the sclera. In Eva, this ring
was so close to the pupil it was almost indistinguishable.
Giving
herbs to people with inadequate diet can often result in a worsening of the
situation as the body will interpret the mineral and vitamin rich teas as food
and will cause an even further decrease in appetite and sometimes an inability
to consume any food at all. When I asked Eva about her diet she admitted that
she had been eating very little food and was trying to lose weight. I introduced
her to the concept of the Alkaline Diet, which allows the dieter to eat healthy
quantities of food, but within a strict pattern of food combining rules. The
result is that the dieter consumes a balanced diet of adequate proportions and
nutrients, but the foods are combined in such a way that weight gain is almost
impossible. The basic pattern of the Alkaline Diet is to eat fruit in the
morning, a vegetable with a starch at lunch, a vegetable with a protein at
dinner and vegetables and nuts as snacks. Other rules of the Alkaline Diet are
that one cannot consume protein with starch or protein with fruit. Furthermore,
one must forgo all coffee, sweets, processed foods, sugars and fats other than
olive oil.
The
second thing I asked Eva to do was to try to break the cycle she was
unconsciously creating with her health. Her everyday thoughts and worries were
being transformed into health problems in her body because she was not dealing
with them in any other way. She felt that she had no voice at home with her
husband and sons. In addition she was deeply worried about her father, a
lifetime smoker, who had lost his voice for the past two months. I suspected
that her voice problems stemmed from one or both of these situations.
Furthermore she was releasing her frustrations and worry in her bowel movements
rather than in writing, speaking or moving. Her body wanted to release all the
anger and worry and frustration that she had inside. However, since she did not
have enough outlets for this release so her body was creating a release in the
only way it knew how. Simple awareness of how our thoughts can create illness is
often enough to ease healing. I felt if she became aware of the role her
thoughts were playing in her illnesses that she would also be more able to
control her health problems.
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Too
much dieting can have adverse effects on digestion.
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The
third thing I asked Eva to do was to stop taking all her vitamins and minerals
and multi-vitamins and herbs for a few weeks. Oftentimes a body that is
experiencing digestive problems is worsened by more challenges to the digestive
system in the form of vitamins and powerful herbs. Many natural and synthetic
vitamins, especially multi-vitamins are difficult to digest and thus can cause
further digestive upset to the person. In addition, the starved body may become
accustomed to living on the vitamins and minerals provided by the supplements
and become unable to process the same vitamins and minerals from real food. Or,
the body may perceive that it is getting enough nutrition and thus refuse to eat
any solid food.
Within
a week Eva's digestion improved dramatically and she started to regain her
appetite as well. She even lost five pounds. In addition, Eva became more aware
of how negative thoughts were affecting her health and started to replace the
thoughts with more realistic or positive ones. After two weeks her bowel problem
disappeared and she has been free from a sore throat for three weeks now. Soon,
she will gain enough strength to take an herbal tea that can help her to further
heal herself.
