April 2014 - CandleLighters.ca
Herbs that Benefit Cardiovascular Health
The cardiovascular system is one of the most important systems in the human body. With the heart at its center, it is responsible for the blood circulating around your body. It also functions as the carrier of oxygen to all the cells and is vital to the well-being of your immune system. In the United States, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death. This fact underlines the importance of taking care of your cardiovascular health.
The old adage, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound cure,” is highly applicable when it comes to keeping the heart healthy. Thus, you must establish healthy habits that prevent you from suffering any form of cardiovascular disease. Medical practitioners recommend a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain health at an optimum level. This means getting adequate exercise and having a healthy diet. It can also include regular intake of herbs that are beneficial to the heart.
The most helpful herbs are those that improve blood circulation by keeping the artery walls strong and keeping blood flow consistent. One such herb is garlic. Studies reveal that garlic reduces the formation of arterial plaque that can hinder blood flow. It also raises good cholesterol levels in the body as well as lower bad cholesterol.
Another beneficial herb is hawthorn. Its fruit, flowers and leaves have antioxidants that fight against free radicals in the body. The plant has been known to dilate blood vessels, allowing for a freer flow of blood. It also strengthens the heart muscle, improving its overall function.
Cayenne, another heart-healthy plant, contains a substance called capsaicin. Aside from lowering cholesterol levels, it retains the elastic ability of veins and arteries. This herb’s ability to improve overall blood circulation can make your pulse stronger while reducing blood pressure at the same time.
If you want to know more about the abovementioned and other beneficial herbs, you can do additional online research about these plants and their benefits. Keep in mind though that the names of herbs can be language-specific; meaning, different localities can have different names for the same herb. If English is not your first language and you find it difficult to identify some herbs with their English names, try to find a site that has been translated in your local language by professional translations services like http://www.textualis.com. Reading in your own language will make the references more comprehensible.
Got Metataralgia? Buy Some High Quality Slippers & Shoes!
One of the health issues that seems to be discussed very rarely by health professionals is the health of your feet. Everyone just assumes that feet don’t have any health problems. Unfortunately for some people that is not the case.
So today I wanted to look at one problem that some people have with their feet. It’s probably one of the most common complaints that I hear from people who have foot problems.
It’s Metatarsalgia
This foot condition is called Metatarsalgia and is a condition suffered by a surprising number of people. The first symptoms that most people notice is that they seem to feel like they have a small lump in the ball of their foot, just behind the big toe.
This can be in either one foot or both feet. Commonly the lump isn’t painful, it’s just irritating, though it can also be painful as well. Often it develops gradually over time. Most of the people who report this problem are extremely active people. Often they are sportspeople and often these sportspeople are taking part in high impact sports. It’s the constant repetitive impact of the foot that leads to Metatarsalgia.
So runners, for example, are more at risk of Metatarsalgia that the general population, as are people who are on their feet a large part of the day.
There’s a number of different causes of this condition, created by the impact. One of the most common is an inflammation of the nerves which run between the metatarsal bones of the foot. The constant impact slowly presses the metatarsal bones together, pressing on the nerves, and this leads to inflammation.
And it’s this inflammation that creates the “lumpy” feeling in the foot.
Unfortunately it’s not all that easy to treat. Often it helps adding some padding underneath the sole in the shoe under the center of the ball of the foot to help raise the metatarsal bones slightly to relieve the pressure on the nerves.
Someone who asked me about this recently also indicated that they spent most of their time indoors and during this time went barefooted. This is less than ideal so I suggested that they consider getting some high quality slippers at Tempurpedic as good quality slippers give some support to the foot. Even better would be to wear high quality shoes all the time.
The quality of the slippers and shoes you wear is very important, poor quality slippers and shoes give no support to the foot.
As I said most people never think about the health of their feet until they have a problem. Metatarsalgia is one problem that they are more likely to have than most other foot conditions.
If you’d like to find out more about Metatarsalgia then click here.
Combining Plastic Surgery with Alternative Medicine
As an herbalist, I know how the use or consumption of certain plants can help anyone achieve a better body. Consuming moderate amounts of green tea a day, for example, can help one achieve a slimmer figure. Also, to attain better skin complexion, anyone can just extract juice from citrus and then pour it on one’s skin. The juice works as a very effective exfoliant. Through natural treatments, anyone can look and feel a lot more beautiful.
Of course, even though I’m an herbalist, I have to admit that there are limitations with regard to the use of herbs for cosmetic purposes. Having an organic diet can help you keep your skin firm, but no matter how many organic fruits and vegetables one consumes a day, one won’t end up restoring the firmness of their breasts through an organic diet. When it comes to such matters, it is still best to consult with a plastic surgeon. Don’t get me wrong, the use and consumption of certain herbs and plants help, but nothing significant is accomplished unless one actually gets help from a plastic surgeon.
When it come to plastic surgery, New York-based plastic surgeons are the best at what they do. The breast implants New York doctors gave me didn’t cause me any pain. Also, aside from getting breasts that look very natural, I also had a quick recovery time. This is because the plastic surgery New York City doctors do is always at the forefront of medicine. Unlike many plastic surgeons from other states, the ones based in New York always make it a point to update their knowledge. So many people from all over the world fly to the state because they know that they are going to get the best treatment there. In addition to this, it also doesn’t hurt that many plastic surgeons based in the area actually offer their services at very affordable rates.
I actually referred my friend Katie to my surgeon, and here’s what she had to say about her experience:
“When I underwent plastic surgery in New York, I actually had apprehensions right until my doctors started the procedure. After everything, though, I was left very amazed at the results of their work. Despite being minimally invasive, the results of my procedure we’re really drastic. I highly recommend undergoing plastic surgery in New York to anyone considering it. It’s definitely worth the trip.”
Once you have had help from a plastic surgeon, that’s when you can concentrate on consuming organic food. Consuming organically grown Papaya, Mango, Banana, Eggaplants, and other fruits and vegetables can help with your recovery as well as complement the results of your plastic surgery. It’s really amazing. In today’s world, it’s best to combine the best of what both western medicine and alternative medicine can offer. By doing so, one actually ends up getting the best results. Of course, alternative treatments need to be matched with specific conventional treatments. I’ll save this topic for another time, though. In the meantime, go get in touch with a plastic surgeon and see how they can help you become more beautiful.
Most Popular Alternative Medications
Alternative medicine is the term used to refer to any kind of medication that is outside the conventional methods of healing which are practiced by doctors. But despite such definition, it doesn’t mean alternative medication is not effective or not to be trusted. In fact, there are many kinds of alternative medicines and therapies that are considered by people, especially those who are suffering from certain health dilemmas that doctors cannot treat anymore. Cancer, for instance is a health condition that is mainly treated by chemotherapy and radiation-involved treatments. But if all scientific means don’t work anymore, many patients consider alternative medicines.
Acupuncture
This is most probably one of the most common type of alternative medication performed today. Aside from the fact that it’s been practiced for many years already in many different areas around the globe, acupuncture was also able to build a strong reputation in the field of alternative medication. This involves the usage of small needles which are punctured on more than 400 points on the body. It is said to help improve the body’s normal energy flow. According to traditional Chinese and Asian practitioners, injecting these needles on the right place would help acupuncturists cure various health conditions.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy
BHRT is an alternative medication for menopausal problems. Apparently, menopausal bring different health dilemmas and discomforts to women and while there are many pills you can take for this, some prefer undergoing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. This involves the usage of bioidentical hormones, or synthetized hormones which are normally produced by the ovary. If you wish to know more, you can contact an expert on BHRT in Miami or check nulifeinstitute.com for more thorough details. The idea here is to lessen aging and menopausal concerns.
Chiropractic
This is yet another type of alternative medicine that focuses on the neuro-musculoskeletal system. A chiropractor must be licensed to be permitted to work legally. This treatment involves hand pressures that are applied in soft tissues and joints. It has a strong emphasis on spine manipulation where chiropractors work by hand to align bones and muscles within the spine area. Misalignment of bones, muscles and joints cause pain and this is usually the culprit of the ever-common back pain.
Herbal medicines
Last on our list would be herbal medicines which is composed of various tablets and capsules produced to attend to different health concerns. Herbal medication started many years back and traditionally, the plants are consumed in different ways. Beneficial parts of it are often pounded into powder or directly eaten. Today, herbal medicines are in form of tablets and capsules and through time, many of it have been proven effective. Some are provided to help lose weight, to help lower blood pressure and sugar levels, and others are for boosting the immune system.
Websites like http://www.nulifeinstitute.com/hormone-replacement-therapy.php and experts in natural hormone therapy in Miami and other areas are there mainly to help provide substitute medication. But aside from the fast-rising BHRT, there are also many other substitute treatments you can consider. This is only one sign that such general type of treatment is efficient in many ways.
My Friend’s Journey to Experience of Meditation in Thailand
My friend Shauna, a high school teacher, wanted a change. She felt like her world was spinning around, with too much chaos and blurred lines. She wanted a deep, satisfying rest, so I suggested to her to meditate.
Meditating is a practice with its roots in ancient civilization that existed thousands of years ago. Taoists in China and Buddhists in India were some of the ancient people who started the art of meditation. It simply involves retreating into a quiet place, breathing in and out, and focusing your mental energy to a single purpose, and for my friend, that is to rest.
She was interested with my suggestion and looked it up in the Internet. Then she stumbled upon a list of meditation retreats throughout the world. She decided to try The Middle Way Meditation Retreat in Thailand, so she packed up her stuff and stored some in Quick Portable Storage she bought here, and she regrets nothing.
The Place Where You Can’t Kill Mosquitoes
Every visitor of the Middle Way Meditation Retreat is awed by its beauty. Located in northeastern Thailand, it seats in the middle of rolling green hills and tropical forest. Almost every space in the retreat compound can be used for meditation and relaxation. Its water-fall fed gardens is so soothing and the outdoor dining pavilion also adds to the natural healing touch. The house itself consists of wooden bungalows separated for men and women.
My friend was new to meditation, so she knew nothing about the Dhammakaya meditation practiced in the place. This is a form of Tibetan Buddhist tradition that regards the center of the body, located two fingers above the navel, as the energy core and the gateway to a higher consciousness.
While their stay at the retreat house, they were not allowed to curse, tell lies, say negative words, and even kill insects. They couldn’t kill mosquitoes, ants, flies, wasps, and other creepy crawlies as a form of respecting life.
Her Experience
My friend was away for one week and all she could say when she came back was, “Superb”. She said that she really felt that her burdens were lifted, her body healthier, and her mind clearer. She recommends the place for anybody looking for rest and recharge.
Removing Stress from Your Life
Stress can cause so many bad health issues. Stress can cause sleep issues, heart problems, depression, weight problems, skin conditions and so much more. Check out other effects of stress. Here is my guide to help remove some of the unnecessary stress from your life.
Figuring out What Stresses You
Each person has their own problems that cause stress. Some you can handle and some you can’t. Some of the most common external stress causes are business, children, schooling, work, life changes, relationships and of course financial problems. Take a day and every time you think about something that stresses you out write it down. I recently did this and took a few steps to removing some of the unneeded stress from my life.
Financial Stress
The number one cause of stress in my life is financial problems. From the costs of being a home owner to putting gas in my vehicle, money was a thing I think about and stress about a lot. What I did was write down my daily costs for a month. I did this to see where my money went and how I can keep some of it in my own pocket.
Here are some of the steps I took to help my financial stress. Instead of driving to store to pick up a few items, I rode my bike. This step saves me around $10 a month plus it is good for your health. I invested in a food saver to keep frozen food longer. This set me back $100 but I should save at least $200 a year on wasted food. Those were two easy things to do that most of you could implement immediately. There are a few more things (that not all of you can do), but I did include a FHA streamline refinance with this company to cut my mortgage costs. I also put a spare vehicle on non-op to remove extra car insurance costs and registration costs.
So far I have only done a few things, but I hope this gives you an idea on what you can do to remove financial stress from your life. After all financial stress is the number one stress for Americans, so I’m sure a lot of you are on the same page as me.
YouTube Marketing is Ideal for Natural Healing Therapists
People who want to see what natural healing and alternative therapists can do for their patients may be suspicious about some therapists at the start. That is a completely understandable point as some people will want to have proof suggesting that a person who works hard with particular therapies is actually experienced and knows what one wants to get out of the process.
That’s why many therapists will flock to YouTube. They want to create all sorts of videos devoted to highlighting their skills. However, there are so many videos devoted to many natural forms of healing that it can be a real challenge for some therapists to appear online. That’s why it is so important to make the best quality videos. People who make better videos tend to be more visible while prospective patients are more likely to feel comfortable about the services that are being offered to them.
YouTube marketing is important to consider in that YouTube marketing through a firm like http://www.viewsaccelerator.com can help get any therapist to become more visible. It is important to see how this particular solution may work for one’s needs when highlighting the many functions that a business has to work with.
Videos Display Services
One of the most popular reasons why YouTube marketing works for natural health therapists is that it makes it easier for people who practice certain fields to talk about the physical procedures that they will engage in when taking care of their patients. For instance, a video on music therapy can show a room where a patient is being treated. Much of this can entail showing how a person is being treated by allowing that person to learn a new instrument or by using relaxing music to ease a person.
Videos like these are designed to get people to understand why certain therapies work. This is all to show that a particular therapy may be worthwhile.
Meanwhile, a video on massage therapy can highlight the many massage styles that a person can participate in or the steps that come with a particular procedure. Either way, a video like this will highlight the natural processes that come with healing the body. Marketing on YouTube is done to help get certain therapists to show just why their services are as useful as they can be.
Patients will want to know if their professionals are able to take care of them with ease. Much of this entails looking into different YouTube videos to take a closer look at the skills that a particular therapist has and if those skills do add up.
Showcasing an Environment
A marketing plan may also be used to highlight the environment that a therapist works in. Many patients will want to attend services in environments that they feel are appealing and relaxing. For instance, a chiropractic therapist’s office may showcase an environment where there is a relaxing amount of light and a soft look to a place to allow the person’s mind to relax and feel at ease when at a particular office.
The need to highlight the design of an environment is important for therapists as people will be more likely to feel better if they know what a place looks like before going there. The process of showcasing such an environment will certainly be easier to manage through YouTube videos that give people virtual tours of particular spots.
YouTube marketing will be easy for all sorts of different natural healing therapists to use when it is used right. If videos are made to express the many things that can occur in a particular place then it might be easier for a business to benefit in the long run.
I’m Taking Charge of My Own health. I Take A Fish Oil Supplement Now, I’m Protected from Heart Attacks
When you think about it it makes complete sense to take charge of your own health. Your health is yours alone, and your illness is yours as well.
So many people outsource all of their health requirements to their doctor. Carry on with life and if anything goes wrong with your health visit the doctor and get it fixed.
The problem with that approach is that doctors can’t fix everything, in fact many of the nasty diseases in life aren’t really treatable. Like many types of cancer.
If you take charge of your own health then you shouldn’t need to visit the doctor. You should be healthy regardless.
Of course being responsible for your own health isn’t easy
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to make taking charge of your own health sound easy. It takes some work.
For instance there is absolutely no doubt that one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy is to exercise. So many people don’t exercise, and this is opening them up to so many health problems.
I realised years ago that exercise had to become a regular part of my life whether I wanted it to or not. So I made a conscious decision that I would find an exercise regime that I enjoyed and which fitted in with my life, and I would make regular exercise a permanent part of my life.
I’ve done that, I now cycle around 200 kilometres a week.
And there’s more effort required than just taking up exercise. For instance you need to eat properly. Eating a good healthy balanced diet is essential.
And there’s more. For instance I’ve recently started taking a fish oil supplement because there is significant evidence that we are deficient in our intake of the Omega 3 fats and this can increase our risk of a heart attack. I read the information from the American Heart Association and decided it applied to me.
Mind you it was difficult to decide which one to take, finding the best fish oil supplement isn’t easy. (I read this article, and that helped).
And it’s important to keep your mind busy as well
And of course you have to keep yourself mentally and physically challenged to keep your brain active.
I do some online mental challenges every day to keep my brain active. I also try to learn new things regularly, I’m learning a language at the moment and shall be for a long time.
I’m also trying to learn some new skills which will be useful to me. Lately I’ve decided to learn how to sharpen my kitchen knives, they were all blunt. I discovered that sharpening a knife isn’t as easy as you might think, so I bought the best knife sharpener I could find and started learning. I read more about sharpening knives before I bought a sharpener as it’s much more complicated than you would expect.
So if you’d like to stay healthy, rather than just rely on the doctor to fix you up when you get sick, you need to be proactive. Learn about what you need to do to stay healthy, both physically and mentally. Once you’ve decided what you need to do make a conscious mental decision to do it every single day of your life.
You won’t regret it. It takes some work but you’ll be healthier (and happier) than most other people.
The Community Benefits of Recycling
Simply put, recycling means the process of converting waste into useful material. The benefit that recycling provides to the environment is common knowledge; but unknown to most, there are other less tangible but long-term gains that recycling offers to communities.
The recycling industry positively affects economic development. According to statistics, the worldwide waste and recycling market is worth a staggering 410 billion US dollars. This estimate comes from businesses that are involved in collecting and processing recyclable materials, as well as distributing recycled ones. In the United States, the industry has created more than 3 million jobs, employing truck drivers, sorters, sales representative, brokers, engineers and chemists. Reports indicate that annual gross revenues have reached more than 200 million dollars. Because these recycling businesses and their employees pay taxes to the government, more funds are added to the public coffers as well.
The demand for jobs related to the environment arises whenever green initiatives are implemented. An example is the need for an environmental officer aboard cruise ships. Such a position was unheard of before. However, because some cruise lines are serious about adhering to high environmental standards, they assign an officer to join in every cruise, to ensure that established standards are complied with. Strict compliance is even more applicable for the European river cruises, which are mandated by governments to keep the rivers free from pollution. To know more about these cruises in Europe, click here.
Recycling provides energy security. It takes significantly less energy to manufacture an item from recyclable materials than to make the same item from raw materials. This gives manufacturing companies savings in terms of energy consumption and costs. It also conserves other resources used in the production process. As a case in point, the recycling of aluminum cans to produce aluminum saves ninety-five percent of the energy expended in manufacturing aluminum from raw sources. Saving on energy now will ensure that future generations will still have sufficient energy resources.
Recycling fosters partnerships between communities, organizations and the government. No recycling initiative will ever succeed without the cooperation of the members of a community. Community involvement increases awareness and knowledge not only on recycling but about the environment as well. This will create a more environmentally-conscious citizenry.
Recycling is but one aspect on caring for the environment. If it is done right, it will do a lot of good for a community and the nation as a whole.
Rituals To Clear Your Mental Space
We’ve all heard of feng shui (pronounced ‘fung shway’). At its heart, feng shui is the Chinese art of creating energetic harmony. Perhaps you’ve been introduced to it as a way of arranging your furniture to foster a feeling of security. For example, you can improve your sleep by positioning your bed in such a way that your head isn’t too close to the window as this will stop chi from escaping. Others suggest that chi can also move more freely if you use an air mattress rather than the more popular foam mattresses.
Indigenous cultures were keenly aware of the energetic fields of the planet and all life forms, including trees, stone, water, animals, plants, and objects. They are also aware of the polarization of energies that result in both positively- and negatively-charged energy fields, as well as different vibratory rates, and the subtle effects these energies can have on us.
You may hear New Agers talking quite a bit about “vibration.” This isn’t some far-out imaginary way of describing experience - it’s scientific. Physics recognizes the principles of magnetism and the existence of energetic fields. Living beings are made up of cells that literally vibrate. Life forms generate energy fields that can be measured. When our understanding of reality expands to include energetic fields, we become more sensitive to our own energy and the energies around us. Heightened sensitivity to energy fields is demonstrated by senior practitioners of energetic healing arts, such as qi gong, tai chai, reiki and shamanic doctors. These metaphysicians literally ‘tune in’ to energetic fields (qi) and manipulate them - clearing out collected pockets of lower vibratory energy so that the energies in a particular region are harmonious and able to move freely.
Indigenous world-views include an understanding of the invisible realm of energy fields and the ability to harmonize the energies present in a particular location. Many healers choose to work in this realm to target disharmonious energies (sometimes referred to as ‘stagnant qi’) because they believe that disharmony within the energy field can result in illness and disease. Disharmonious energy can result from a variety of influences, including:
Painful emotions (anger, depression, fear and sadness);
Material decomposition (garbage bins, dead plants / trees, graveyards); and,
Destructive, habitual thought patterns (self-hate, negative messages).
Realizing that energies can become polarized, and polarization creates conflict, a peaceful home and mind are best achieved by dispelling the polarization and harmonizing the energies. Many practitioners also report success with the use of chi machines and inversion tables to help redress these imbalances.
There are a number of techniques you can use in your own home to clear and harmonize your personal energy field. One of more obvious techniques is the use of sound. Sound has resonant vibration and by making harmonious sounds (ringing bells, gongs, singing bowls, practicing mantras, singing and playing concordant music) you create a resonance within your space which vibrates outward and alters the vibration of the space to match its own. Try purchasing for yourself a singing bowl or meditation bell that you particularly like the tone of. Ring it every evening at dusk, and once a week, carry it through your whole house, allowing its sound to penetrate the entire space. You can actually alter the quality of a home’s atmosphere for the better with this technique. Be mindful: the sounding of discordant music, or the repetitive playing of depressing or angry music will do the opposite. Pay very close attention to your emotions in response to sound: does certain music make you feel happy or heavy? Use sound to attune yourself to the emotional states you want to experience regularly.