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The Tale of the Lion’s Tooth – A Cancer Story.

Alchemy. The transformation of base metal
into gold. The Philosopher’s stone. The scholar in his remote tower. Seeking,
searching, reading. Glass retorts bubbling over low flames. Star maps, books;
ancient books in arcane script; knowledge lost to all but the alchemist.

What does he seek? Why all these long years
of solitude? To conquer matter. To make gold from lesser metals; lead and
copper. To challenge the gods. He has plumbed the secrets of Solomon, the
rituals of the all seeing eye, the inner meanings of Pythagoras. No knowledge
is beyond his quest. Yet the stone eludes him.

Below his window the Lion’s Tooth is still.
It’s gold turned towards the sun. It’s anchor deep within the cool of the baser
magic of the earthly mother. It’s being the perfect alchemy. Without book or
flame it is alchemical perfection. Through the lion’s Tooth rock becomes gold.
Cold stone becomes life.

Every year with the returning sun the
Lion’s Tooth calls in silence to the Alchemist. But the Alchemist does not
hear. Every year the Lion’s Tooth waves its magical gold below the Alchemist’s
window. But the Alchemist does not see. He is wrapped in his scholarship. He
does not let his mind turn earthwards to the knowledge that lies so close to
him.

Each year the Alchemist grows older, more
remote, more absorbed in his tower. Each year the Lion’s Tooth brings forth a
gossamer host of new life.

In time the Alchemist will become dust.
More dust to fill the room where his thoughts have already become dust.

In time the Lion’s Tooth will cover the
blessed earth with the sure, perfected alchemy of the true Philosopher’s Stone;
for all to see and few to understand.

Who is the Alchemist? Where has the dust of
his thoughts settled amongst us? Will the base metal of his dead mind ever
reach out to the mystery of the Lion’s Tooth?

The Lion’s Tooth has no need of the Alchemist?

The Alchemist has no knowledge of the
meaning of the Lion’s Tooth.

He has only the tools of Aristotle to grasp
the elusive world of true transformation. The Alchemist may pass the Lion’s
Tooth for ever.

And yet…….

In our world the Lion’s Tooth is known by
another name. In French it is called the Dandelion. The Alchemist has taken the
cloak of the Scientist to contain his dry thoughts. Yet he still remains aloof
and separate.

Years ago this Alchemist wrote about the
science of  the Dandelion. The piece was
filled with knowledge. All the gathered facts about the dandelion were
recorded; the pharmacology, pharmacognocy, biochemistry, pathology, botany. All
that science knew about the plant laid out for the scholar. Every statement
referenced to scientific research. A prestigious journal accepted the writing
after peer review. A thing to be proud of.

Some months after this small triumph was
published the editor forwarded a letter. This is what it said:

How the lord told me to cure cancer

Please save this page as it won’t be printed again
by me. It may save your life or the life of a love one or a friend. Anyone may
reprint this if they print it word for word.

Every week at around 10,000 people die of cancer.
Government figures show the death rate for cancer deaths has not changed in the
last 10 years. Chemo and radiation only save around 10% of the people treated.
So this shows our doctors don’t have much to work with. As this article goes
on, I will explain how God told me how to cure my cancer of the prostate and
colon cancer. Also, I will explain how to prepare this plant and how much to
take. There is nothing to buy. For some reason, the Lord has picked me to carry
these words to you. I am only the delivery boy, and none of this is my idea. I
do believe every word I write here, and I’m living proof it works. The cost of
printing is my thanks to God for giving me back my life and health.

A little over three years ago I was about done in
with cancer. One morning as I was waking up and hoping the end would come soon,
a voice came to me and said, “You have to do something about your prostate
cancer. Take the root of the dandelion. Don’t expect a miracle. It took you a
long time to get in this condition.” Then the voice was gone. I thought
the voice was kidding to use the dandelion. When this voice tells you to do
something, you do it. You must do it, like writing this article. It is the last
thing I ever expected to do. Then I thought he didn’t tell me how much to take
or how to prepare it. As soon as you could blink an eye, I knew how much to
take, how to prepare it, and it would take 4 to 6 months to cure me. I also knew
I wasn’t to make a penny on it.

As soon as I got around that morning, I dug some
roots and started to prepare it. About a week later I started taking it. Three
weeks later the pain in my back and side was gone and my bowels had improved.
Five and one-half months later they could find no cancer problem in me at all.

Then I wanted to find someone else to try it, and
that was the biggest problem yet. Nobody seemed to want to help. When I told
doctors, they just smiled as if I were nuts. Finally, I was telling a friend
about it and he said he had a friend that was dying of lung cancer. He had it
in both lungs and was bed ridden. They were tapping his lungs. He had been
given 4 to 6 weeks to live. After he had been on this powder about six weeks,
he was up and around doing his chores and driving his car. He went to his
doctor’s office, and the doctor’s could not believe it. He took him to the
hospital and gave him a CAT scan. He found no cancer lesions in his lungs and
said it was a miracle. I then put an ad in The Northwest Herald offering it
free, and four people said they would try it. Slowly one person told another
and it spread. There was a fair amount of people taking it for different kinds
of cancer and several for other things. For instance, a man lost the use of his
immune system and was told he wouldn’t be able to work again for three years.
In six months he is now working 1/2 days and feeling better. I know this is not
a cure-all. It won’t help everyone or all kinds of cancer. I know it is not a
cure for skin cancer and it hasn’t had much luck with brain tumors. There is a
doctor in Boston, Massachusetts that has developed a vaccine
that is doing great things. This has been successful with prostate, colon.
breast, liver and best of all with lung cancer. Five people have taken it for
lung cancer and all five have been cured once. The immune system controls the
cancer cells in your body. As long as the immune is healthy, you don’t usually
have a cancer problem. When your immune system gets run down, it loses control
of the cancer cells, and they start eating live cells and this is what they
call cancer. This powder made from the dandelion root has something in it that
builds up the blood and the immune system,

When the immune system is built up so far, it gets
back control of cancer cells, and they do an about face and start cleaning up
the mess they’ve made. This is why you must have a fair appetite because your
body must build itself up and be healthy if your immune system is going to be
strong. This will not work for people that have lost their appetite or are on
strong Chemo. Doctors try to blast the cancer out of your body with Chemo or
radiation. By doing so, it destroys your immune system and appetite. These are
the most important things your body needs to beat cancer, Operations also knock
the immune system haywire. That is why so many people that have operations for
cancer find a short time later it has spread somewhere else.

Many of the worst diseases that have plagued the
world have been cured quite easily. When I was a boy, women dreaded the goiter
more than cancer. A little iodine in the diet cured that. For hundred of years
the most dreaded disease was leprosy and lockjaw. A doctor found he could
produce penicillin from moldy bread and could cure them and many more things.
How long has moldy bread been around? I’m sure scientists will find many uses
for the powder made from the root of the dandelions besides cancer. I have
already found it builds up the blood so you heal much faster.

To make the powder from the dandelion root you
must follow my directions to the letter. Any change and it won’t work. Dig a
handful of dandelion roots any time of the year – it doesn’t matter. Cut the
leaves off just below the crown. DO NOT
WASH. Then they must be dried around 100 degrees. I do it in an incubator with no water. You can also dry them under a heat light bulb if you raise or lower it so it’s 100 degrees. You
can also use the sun or in the attic if it’s not too hot. It takes about 5 or 6
days in the incubator. I have not done this all the way under the heat light.
When your break a root and it snaps, it is ready to powder. Take an old iron
frying pan and a clean hammer. Take one root at a time and place in the frying
pan and start tapping. Don’t hit it hard or it will fly all over the place. I
put my hand around the root to keep most of it in the pan. If it sticks to the
hammer and pan, and doesn’t crumble in your fingers, it isn’t dry enough. Keep
it up until you have enough to start. It takes about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to
prepare enough for a week. When you get used to it you can go much faster.

 

I have an old vessel that druggists used to pound
pills, this goes much faster. DO NOT USE AN ELECTRIC GRINDER, it won’t work if
you do. You lose too much of the good part in dust. You must do it as I have
said or don’t do it at all. I’ve tried shortcuts, but it seemed someone was
looking over my shoulder and I know when I made a mistake. I’m just an old
farmer and not a scientist, so I wouldn’t know the correct amount to take on my
own. Now take a little over one-half teaspoon once a day at any time and mix it
with water, orange juice, etc. Do not use in soft drinks, liquor, or anything
hot. When mixed, use all. Don’t let it stand around. Keep the powder in a dry
place. After taking it three or four days, you will feel good, but nothing
else. That is because your blood is building up. When your blood is happy,
you’re happy. In most cases, this will build your immune system in from three
days to three weeks to the point it takes back control of your cancer cells and
thus the cancer stops spreading in most cases if it is going to help. There is
no body feeling as it works. You just feel a little better each week. After
three weeks most of the pain will be gone in your back and you know it’s
working if you had pain there like I did. If you have bone cancer in the spine,
it will take three months to work. This is not an overnight cure. It took a
while to get in this condition and it will take a while for your body to heal.
The sooner you start, the quicker you will be over cancer. Young people heal
faster than old people, but it will help at any age. I know because I’m 80 and
have been taking it for over three years. No cancer has come back and no side
effects except when my body has had enough, it lets me know by getting heart
burn. Then I back off some. Some people get stomach aches when they need less.
It also means your cancer is under control and you don’t need as much. You will
also find you probably won’t catch a cold while you are taking it
full-strength.

The biggest enemy for this root is Chemo. The
stronger the Chemo, the less chance the powder has to help you as Chemo tears
your immune system and appetite down. Two of the most important things you need
to cure cancer. There is only a ten percent chance Chemo will cure you. With no
Chemo, your chances are from 75 to 80% but you must take it every day. Don’t
let your doctor give you that old threat if you turn him down that goes,
“if you want to throw your life away, I can’t stop you.” Just
remember that 90% of the people that take his advise and take Chemo are in the
cemetery. Don’t blame the doctor, he is doing his best with what he has to work
with or you could ask for a  written
guarantee.

 

I have only mentioned cancers that I know people
have had and used this root. It should help pancreas cancer if taken before the
appetite is gone and most body cancer. This is a food, not a drug. It shouldn’t
interfere with medicine your doctor may be giving you. Only two doctors have
told patients to keep taking the powder when they have made a miracle recovery.
The rest of the doctors have run the powder down and blasted the people even if
the cancer has disappeared. The medical world is not going to accept this
easily.

Going back to not washing the roots and leaving a
little soil on them, it is for your own good. A good bit of immunity comes from
the soil. It starts as soon as you are born. Your fingers touch something, and
you put them in your mouth. A little dirt at first, and more as you grow older
and start crawling. Then everything you touch goes in the mouth. When children
go outside to play and when they come in, they are the dirtiest around the
mouth and hand. The hands go in their mouths no matter how dirty they are. Many
diseases and bacteria live in the ground, but they don’t seem to cause any
trouble but it does build up the immune system. Some animals can’t live if they
can’t eat a certain amount of soil. If you read this article over, you will see
it all goes back to common sense. I wish all of you people with cancer or other
problems the best.

The Lion’s Tooth has a voice after all. One
humble man heard and saved his life. In gratitude and thanks, surely the purest
of prayers, he has shared this gift. In doing so many lives have been spared
and one Alchemist has learned his lesson and left his lofty tower.

 

After moving house and a million other distractions it is back to chatting. Hi.

 

I was musing this morning on skin care ingredients. I have been re-reading Judy Vance’s great book – Beauty to Die For. This is what her excellent research tells us about one particular group of previous cosmetic users. In 16^th century Europe a white face was fashionable. I suppose this was in contrast to the sun browned faces of peasants and workers. Who really knows why something becomes fashionable? Anyway a white face was the thing to have if you where a ‘lady.’ Queen Elizabeth of England is shown in portraits with a white face. Other pictures show ladies of the period with very red lips.

 

 

So what! you may ask? Well the white make-up was white lead called ceruse and the red lips were coloured with red mercuric sulfide. Mercuric sulfide is insoluble yet if ingested (lips?) is toxic to the lungs, kidneys, nervous system and mucus membranes. Not only was this very, very nasty stuff to put on their skin but they knew it! They could see what happened to the skin and health of those older than themselves who had used these regimes. The Romans and Ancient Egyptians used both lead and mercury for their top-of-the-lines beauty products.

 

 

Ladies continued to use these toxins even though they caused hair loss, memory loss, delirium, kidney failure and the their skins were literally destroyed; outer layers and all. Of course, what goes on your skin goes into your body. This should not be news to anyone in our times.

 

Why did they do this when they would have seen the disastrous results on their peers and predecessors? Probably because it was more important for those fine ladies, and some gentlemen, to look like the ideal beauty for as long as possible rather than to be healthy or even to survive! The needs of the moment outweighed the needs of the lifetime.

 

There are two schools of thought around skin care. These polarized views can be summed up in their extremes.

 

The first is to truly care that whatever goes on your skin or on your body is really pure, healthy and good for you. Skin is by no means a bag whose sole purpose is for us to look good and to hold the other stuff in. It has been a primary delivery system for medications and drugs for centuries. What goes on the skin goes in the body. Take great care. If you wouldn’t eat it don’t put it on your skin.

 

 

The second is that you really don’t care and that the synthetic chemical garbage that contributes to most of you absorbing 2 kilos of toxins annually through your skin is a small price to pay if the product is cheap, cool, smells nice and looks pretty. Or if you are into expensive skin care and exclusive images you can get the same toxic load by spending hundreds of dollars!

 

In between are millions of people who want to know more. They are also expecting cool, nice smelling and pretty products for their skin that are also really pure, healthy and good for them. The advertisements in glossy magazines and on the television tell them that such and such a product will do everything they ask for and need. So they believe it and buy it regardless of the truth. They have bought into the marketing monster. The marketing monster does not give a dam about health and wellness. It is only concerned with sales. Toxic products are much cheaper to make than truly natural health giving ones.

 

Time to get back to work and assemble the data. Healthy, high quality skin products do exist, they can be found. But you have to know what to look for and how to spot the fakes.

 

You can begin by becoming your own authority.  Please visit www.ewg.org and check out the health risks of your favorite products. EWG has compiled a guide of 7,500 beauty care products and has ranked them according to their ingredients’ potential to cause cancer, trigger allergic reactions, interfere with the endocrine (hormonal) system, impair reproduction or damage a developing fetus. Their data is sound.

 

By the way….

 

Sunscreen products and health

 

Soon the store shelves will be stocked with sun protection products. Media run the latest medical warnings and sales fly high. So what do you need to know to make healthy choices for yourself and your family? Here is the link to the relevant page on Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Groups resource on sun care products.

 

http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2011sunscreen/

 

Whatever you choose to put on your skin remember that your daily intake of antioxidants, minerals and other natural nutrients is the major source of all protection against radicals, radiation and inflammation. You don’t get that out of a tube.

 

I came upon the quotation that begins this essay some years ago. I remembered it in some other context last week. These words from Louis Pasteur run contrary to much of what we associate with his work.  They were a surprise. The following are my thoughts that flow from Pasteur`s words.

 

“Bernard is right. The pathogen is nothing. The terrain is everything”.

 

Louis Pasteur – 1822-1895.

 

These words were said by Louis Pasteur on his deathbed. They express his view that it is not pathogens that cause disease, but the body environment that allows pathogens to thrive. The “terrain” that Pasteur refers to is the body’s internal environment.

 

Claude Bernard, the French physiologist who is referred to, maintained that bacteria and viruses thrive only in an acidic condition and that keeping the body alkaline is key to preventing infectious diseases.

 

The 19^th century gives us many of our fundamental ideas about medicine and health. Notable is the “Germ theory” of disease. Without doubt the great work of scientists in that era brought about a turning point in health. Many of the diseases that plagued those time originate in the urban and rural environments where the population lived.

 

In 1854 John Snow traced a Cholera outbreak to the drinking water from a public pump in London. The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated. It was the first link between the disease and its source as a water borne pathogen.

 

Between 1860 and 1864 Louis Pasteur demonstrated that the previous theory of the spontaneous generation of disease organisms did not hold water. By isolating boiled broth through a system of filters he showed that pathogens came from outside the vessels.

 

In England in the 1870s Joseph Lister pioneered aseptic procedures that significantly increased survival in surgical procedures.

 

The German physician Robert Koch devised specific tests to assess this “Germ theory” published in 1890. In 1882 he identified the tuberculosis bacterium. Koch holds a historical place as one of the funders of modern microbiology.

 

These were monumental discoveries. Modern medicine as we know it was being created in response to a world riddled with infection. In 1889 William Ostler was appointed Physician-in-Chief of the new Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. This was to be the first hospital and later medical school based on research and the development of modern methods.

 

Clean water and waste disposal in cities reduced the incidence and spread of infectious diseases in cites. Poor sanitation is a primary cause of Cholera and Typhoid fever and diarrhoea, still the principle cause of childhood deaths worldwide. Major reforms in England during the 1870’s, championed by the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli addressed public health and pollution on a national scale. A whole country was becoming a healthier place to live and work.

 

In the 20^th century anti-microbial drugs made further inroads into the control of pathogens. The very first antimicrobial agent in the world was Salvarsan, a remedy for syphilis that was synthesized by Ehrlich in 1910. Sulphonamide use dates 1935. Penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, began clinical use in 1940 saving untold lives during World War 2.

 

In these last 150 years the advances in public health and the development of anti-microbial medicine have ensured that the Germ Theory of disease has been fully vindicated. Medicine has looked to pathogenic and infectious agents as the instruments of disease. The enemy at the gate.

 

But what of Claude Bernard? How does an understanding of his views on the terrain contribute to health?

 

Bernard was by no means a marginalized or disrespected voice in his time as a French physiologist (1822-1878). The former professor of the History of Science at Harvard, I. B. Cohen, considered Bernard “one of the greatest of all men of science”. Bernard’s development of scientific and experimental methodology is, along with his discovery of the functions of the pancreas and the role of glycogen, a significant achievement. He is still the only scientist to have been given a state funeral in his honour.

 

As our 21^st century study of the body and disease advances Bernard’s concept of the internal environment becomes increasingly important. During Bernard’s lifetime this idea was largely ignored. It was in the early 20^th century that it reappeared in association with the principle of homeostasis.

 

Perhaps the  milieu intérieur (the environment within), the phrase Bernard used, has its strongest ties with what have become naturopathic ideas. That the state of the body’s inner environment is the most important factor in the development and expression of health and disease. What we do, think, feel, eat, where and how we live all determine the condition of the inner environment. Many of the great medical traditions of the world have based their systems on just this idea. Not being based on the Germ Theory they have and still are regarded as unscientific and largely irrelevant by the current establishment.

 

Yet in our own times the revolutionary work of many researchers have repeatedly shown that Bernard showed the way to a missing link in  medical theory and practice. Dr. Alfred Pichinger in Vienna amongst many has revealed the science of this in his work, Matrix and Matrix Physiology.

 

We find these Bernard’s idea clearly defined in the greater field of environmental studies concerned with the world about us. Concerns for nature and the health of the planet at large are no different, fundamentally, from his view of the body’s inner environment. Clean air, water, soil, organic agricultural practices, all conform to a healthy, sustainable society. Pollution, bad air, toxic foods, poisoned water all lead towards a diseased, unsustainable society. In extremis this leads to a dying world just as a human’s fouled inner environment leads to sickness and disease. Our world and our body can only self-regulate to a degree. Exceed its capacity to do so and only appropriate intervention can restore health.

 

In medicine there are methods to measure the quality of the milieu intérieur. The use of Biological Terrain Assessment is one such tool. Through the testing of body fluids, urine, saliva and blood, information can be gathered on pH, the acid / alkali trends, conductivity and oxidation and reduction. This is foundation data for a physician interested in the inner state of the human body underlying any and all disease processes.

 

The predominance of the Germ Theory is hard to modulate. It has been so important and has contributed to saving the lives of many millions. Yet an increasingly sophisticated population is asking questions beyond the scope and solutions derived from the Germ Theory. How do we understand the physiology of chronic disease as opposed to acute? Why does inflammation happen and why does it go out of control? How does taking pain killers solve the problem? These questions, and many, many more,  are significant and challenge many of the methods and dogmas inherent in current institutional medicine.

 

This may be the time, and long overdue, to reconsider Bernard’s view and Pasteur’s words. Is medical science capable of accepting the evaluation of the state of the inner environment as an indicator of function and health? Or is it too bound to its juggernaut of pathology and drug or surgical intervention? It is not a matter of either one way or the other. Rather the release of dogma in the interests of the people.

 

8 February 2012

 

Hello, I do wonder just who might read these occasion thoughts. But then it is really none of my business.  However, welcome. My thoughts today reflect on the matter of food.

In a society that is deeply concerned about food and eating one more bit of advice about diets and so on and so on would be superfluous. What to eat, what not to eat, how to stay slim, avoid death by arterial disease, cancer junk food, the organic debate create as much anxiety as health.

I was thinking about our relationship with food not just the dietary element.

I came originally from England, not known for its cuisine. But Europe is very close to England, 26 miles or so. What is there to be learned there?

Well here is a jewel of wisdom from Italy. Far, far away from the neurosis of North American food relationships: Show this one to your friends, they with either enjoy it or maybe they need it.
By GIULIANO HAZAN originally printed in the New York Times

VERONA, Italy – I have just greeted a new batch of students here in Verona, the gateway to the Valpolicella wine region on the picturesque foothills of the Dolomites. Their mandate is a delectable one: to master the craft and artistry of Italian cooking. What greater pleasure than to whip up – and eat – risotto with truffles, pasta with porcini, homemade tortelloni filled with Swiss chard and ricotta. As their teacher and culinary guide, I have had the good fortune of growing up with parents who nurtured my passion for cooking and eating well. Some of my fondest memories are of times spent in the kitchen with my mother. I would stand with her at the stove and carefully stir the risotto – something my 5-year-old daughter now does at my side. In Italy, cooking and eating are not chores, they are one of life’s gifts that nourish the soul as well as the
body.

Sadly, according to fans of the low-carb mania that is sweeping the United States, the Italian gastronomic landscape is the equivalent of a minefield. Our diet of pasta, rice and an abundance of fruits and vegetables is loaded with evil carbs.

So why is it that Italians are shrugging off America’s latest dietary obsession?

For one thing, the mere idea of giving up pasta would be cause for severe depression in an Italian. I experience withdrawal if I go more than four or five days without it.

And why is it that the number of Americans who are overweight or obese continues to increase at an alarming rate while here the percentage of overweight or obese people is half of what it is in the United States? After all, those trim and fit Italian men with flat bellies and women with hourglass figures are all sitting in restaurants eating pasta, polenta and crusty bread.

Ultimately, it’s not the carbohydrates – or the next unsuspecting food group that will come under attack – that will make us overweight. It’s our relationship with food and our lifestyle. In other words, how we eat is just as important – if not more so – than what we eat.

Maybe that’s the ultimate cooking lesson. In general, Italians take their time when they eat. Many businesses in Italy still close in the middle of the day for three hours to allow for a leisurely lunch. Family mealtimes are sacred. Cooking for one’s family becomes an act of love. Family meals allow for conversation and strengthen the family bond. The antithesis of the Italian eating style is fast food and “eating on the run,” where little attention is given to what is being consumed and the quicker one is done, the better. There is a physiological benefit of eating more slowly, too: your body senses that food has reached the stomach and shuts off the feeling of hunger before you overeat.

Italians also tend to lead less sedentary lives. Walking is a necessity not just in cities but also in smaller towns where cars are usually banned from the center of town. Many people live in walk ups, and elevators are usually found only in high-rises.

Above all, portion sizes in Italy are undoubtedly smaller than they are in America. According to a poll sponsored by the Union of Italian Pasta Producers, over half of Italians interviewed eat pasta every day. But pasta is generally only one of several courses in a typical Italian meal. So although per capita pasta consumption in Italy is four times as much as in the United States, Italians actually eat less pasta at a single sitting than do Americans, who tend to eat it only once or twice a week. The trend in the United States seems inevitably headed toward larger and larger portions. To suggest that more and bigger is not better seems almost un-American.

When I was growing up in Italy and then in New York, I remember having a one-liter bottle of Coke in the refrigerator. It took my parents and me almost a week to drink it. Now, a 32-ounce Coke is a single serving.

And when my grandmother came to visit from Italy, many years ago, we went out to eat at a restaurant in New York. She was served first and was baffled by the amount of food on the large plate placed in front of her. Then she had a realization: “Oh,” she said, “am I supposed to serve everyone?”

Let’s not forget that bad habits begin in childhood. Children’s menus in American restaurants seem to be made up of fried foods, hamburgers, chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese (which my 5-year-old insists is not pasta). Restaurants will say that it is because that’s what youngsters like. The truth is that it is what parents are teaching their children to eat. Once at a Japanese restaurant a family sitting at the table next to ours looked in amazement as our daughter was thoroughly enjoying her eel sushi. They said they never would have even considered offering it to their child instead of ordering off the children’s menu.

In Italy there are no children’s menus, but half portions are always happily provided. You may be surprised that some restaurants in the States are willing to oblige as well.

Americans’ quest for the ultimate miracle diet has engendered a dizzying array of often contradicting messages. Whether it’s salt, fat and now carbohydrates, it seems as if no food group will be left unscathed. We might be closer to finding warning labels on our food telling us that “eating may be hazardous to your health” than we think. That would be a very sad state of affairs indeed, as nothing could be further from the truth.

Eating sensibly is really the best diet, and the better we can teach our children to appreciate good food and the pleasure we can take from eating leisurely together as a family, the less likely we will be to feel the need to try the latest diet fad. Savoring a good meal simply makes us feel good. Food should not be feared. It should be a source of pleasure and well-being. So sauté a little sliced garlic in extra virgin olive oil until it sizzles, add ripe fresh peeled tomatoes, cook 15-20 minutes, stir in some fresh basil and toss with some spaghetti. Then sit down with your family and enjoy one of life’s simple pleasures together.

Giuliano Hazan is a cooking instructor and the author, most recently of “Every Night Italian.”

 

This is a piece I wrote some time ago. The purpose behind it was this:

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

George Santayana

 

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Isaac Newton

 

The history of Western herbal medicine is not separate from the history of human culture. As each phase of recorded history unfolds so its relationship with nature, health and healing is revealed. History records the luminaries, the authors, the social and intellectual forces. This essay will trace some of those patterns as they affect and form the viewpoints reflected in the diversity known as Western herbal medicine. It also acknowledges and honours those who left no written word behind. These healers, ordinary and extraordinary, knowledgeable, wise and compassionate who just got on with the business of healing the sick. They are the silent majority here. From the hills of Wales to the villages of Greece, from the lodges of British Columbia to the cities of Persia; they are the grandmothers and grandfathers who have always cared. They often know more of nature and life itself than the grand physician or philosopher. For them an injured lamb or a child in fever calls all their attention. They are still there and care for us in need if we only know how to find them and listen.

 

A student of the history of Western herbal medicine must consider that, with few exceptions, all medicine was herbal until the late 19^th century. The major themes that run through this history are the medical theories and practices that predominate at different times and the unceasing urge to control the medical market that distinguishes the professions of physicians (Greek, for one who has knowledge of nature).

 

The written development of Western herbal medicine is centred on European history. Yet that history itself looks back to other, more ancient cultures. The Ebers papyrus of the Egyptian dynasties records the sophisticated medical use of herbs and includes the use of mouldy bread being applied to wounds to prevent infection, predating Fleming by thousands of years. By 1500 BC there is evidence of a thriving world trade in herbal drugs. The materia medica of Babylon, India and Egypt shows many similarities. The Empire of Persia reached from Istanbul to Afghanistan and traded with China. The armies of Alexander the Great traversed the known world in the 3^rd century BC. His officials recorded everything they found and gathered medical knowledge as they went. Amongst the plants in common use were castor oil (Ricinis communis), linseed, (Linum usitatissimun), poppy, (Papaver somniferum), juniper (Juniperus commumis), fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare), garlic (Allium sativum), aloe (Aloe spp.) and Cannabis sativa, then used as a pain killer and tranquilliser. Professional physicians are known from these times and alongside them the commerce in herbal drugs that became the precursor of the pharmacies and health stores of today.

 

It is in ancient Greece that the rhizotomoki or root gatherers created the first lists of medicinal herbs and their actions. The earliest recorded was by Diocles, a pupil of Aristotle in the 4^th century BC and contemporary of Hippocrates of Cos. Yet it is the armies of Rome that lead to the development of the modern materia medica. Rome took great care of its legions. The best doctors and surgeons were recruited and local knowledge was valued throughout the empire. Dioscorides, a surgeon in the armies of the Emperor Nero, compiled “De Materia Medica”, giving detailed descriptions of plants and their actions.

 

In Greece, the first significant European medical theoretical system had developed through the work of Hippocrates and Aristotle. Symbolic elements, Air, Earth, Fire and Water, represent the substance and changes of the human existence. Coupled with the humors, Choler, Sangue, Phlegm and Melancholer, representing the fluid states of the body, and an analysis of herbs and foods by temperature, Hot, Warm, Cool and Cold, a practice based on balance evolved. In Hippocratic teaching the healthy body was one in which the four humors were in equilibrium.

 

Yet it was not Hippocrates’ legacy, whose liberal and humanistic principles are held as an ideal even today, which was to dominate European medicine. Galen, born in Turkey, became physician to the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius in the 2^nd century AD.  Galen took the ideas of Hippocrates and forged a complex and rigid system of medicine that, along with the natural philosophy of Aristotle, paralysed European medical thinking for the next 1500 years. Not until William Harvey proved the circulation of the blood, contrary to Galen’s teachings, did this authority crumble.

 

Galen’s medicine, codified in massive treatises and commentaries, is similar in principle to the weaknesses of allopathic medicine today. Set formulae and prescriptions for set diseases or imbalances of the humours. The knowledge of individual plants and the subtle variations of individual patients faded from practice. Heroic remedies, complex and expensive prescriptions, purging and blood-letting, were used with increasing indiscrimination into the Middle Ages, when even the theory behind them became lost. Throughout the Renaissance the phrase “Galen says..”, was enough to subdue any challenge to his principles. In the wake of Galen’s work the division between the professional physician, controlling nature, and the amateur (from the Latin, Amo. to love) working gently with nature becomes apparent.

 

By the 13^th century two important schools of medicine appear in European medicine, counterbalances to the Galenic dogma. Salerno in Italy, studied and honoured the works of Hippocrates. The practice of Doctors trained there would be familiar to naturopathic physicians today. Moderation, diet, sleep, fresh air and exercise were their main tools. Myddfai in West Wales, drawing on both the Druid practices and the legacy of Phoenician traders who visited its shores, developed a school of equal importance and principles. These schools offered the best professional health care in early medieval Europe, holistic, sensible and humane. This would not last.

 

The Islamic influence that further developed Galen’s work and added a significant materia medica of its own dates from translations of Greek and Latin medical texts into Arabic in the 8^th century. The Arabs took to this with enthusiasm.  Teaching hospitals, environmental medicine, clinical medicine, public health, preventative medicine, the first professional pharmacies sprang up within a short period. The principles are familiar. “Where a cure can be obtained by diet, use no drugs and avoid complex remedies where simple ones will suffice.” Ar-Raza (869-925). Yet by the 9^th century Islam had produced its own Galen, Avicenna.

 

Avicenna, a medical prodigy, who was a highly respected practitioner in Baghdad by the age of seventeen, embraced Galen. The Cannon of Medicine, at over a million words, one of Avicenna’s many works, was the final codification of Greek and Arabic medicine. The combining of complex astrology, vast formularies and an inflexible method allowed no interpretation.

 

When Avicenna’s works were translated into Latin in Salerno in the 10^th century, Europe had the complete medical works of Greece for the first time. Avicenna and through him, Galen, surpassed the simple humanistic principles of Hippocrates. The typical university-trained mediaeval physician was the product of this influence.

 

To these doctors, the use of herbs as simples was beneath their dignity and their training affirmed that medicine was too complex to be entrusted to lay persons. Medicines prescribed by mediaeval physicians became fabulously expensive,  some formulae using ground pearls and emeralds. Bleeding and purging became the rule.

 

Herbs and their virtues were still studied and as early as Alfred the Great of England in the ninth century, excellent herbals had been created. This was medicine for the people and often by the people. These and later herbals form the basis of our knowledge of an excellent practice of herbal therapy throughout the middle ages.

 

Thus, there were two patterns running alongside each other throughout history. The so called superior, theoretically elite physician and the wise herbalist. Each with their training, literature and opinion of each other.

 

The first instances of physicians establishing a chemical pharmacology was the use of mercuric chloride for the treatment of syphilis. This blend of the “new” chemistry with alchemy began the trend of laboratory medicine. That sarsaparilla was found to be more effective in this treatment was not even considered. The massive reactions from the use of mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate as it was also called, established its power, fulfilling Galen’s principles of adjusting the humors by evacuation even if the patient died.

 

The state of sixteenth century medicine and the needs of the people is well summed up by the great charter of Henry VIII of England. The essence of this was that “surgeons in London, minding only their own won lucres, and nothing the benefit and ease of the diseased or patient, have sued, troubled and vexed honest persons whom God hath endued with knowledge of herbs, roots and waters” and that ” although the surgeons have small cunning yet they take great sums of money and do little therefor and by reason thereof they do often impair and hurt their patients rather than do them good………that every person of the King’s subjects, having knowledge of herbs, roots and waters may practice, use and minister without suit, vexation, trouble, penalty of loss of goods.”

 

This charter formalised what voices such as Paracelsus had been lamenting for centuries that physicians sought their own ends and glory and that the wisdom of the simple herbs of the hedgerow was beneath them.

 

That wisdom was in good hands. From the sixth century it was part of the monastic rule to care for the sick. Cassiodorus wrote to his monks: “study with care the nature of herbs and the compounding of drugs. If you have no knowledge of Greek, you have at hand the Herbarium of Dioscorides, who fully described the flowers of the field. After that read Hippocrates and Galen and other books dealing with the art of medicine, all of which I have left you on the shelves of the Library”.

 

A series of herbals maintained this knowledge through the Middle Ages. Turner, Parkinson and Gerard’s herbals are widely known today. Culpepper wrote the English Herbal in the 1640’s for all to read.  The availability of printing fuelled this spread. Monasteries continued to practice free herbal medicine for the ordinary people. Women, in particular, used the advice in the herbals to treat their families and communities.

 

However in the eighteenth century, Europe gave itself over to “rational” medicine. The science of Newton, Boyle and the ideas of Descartes set the pattern for the establishment practice that we know in our times. Simple practices such as ensuring enough Vitamin C in the diet, something every Roman physician knew from its sources if not by their constituents, fell by the wayside. Of the 185,000 men conscripted by the British Navy for the seven years war of the eighteenth century, 135,000 died of scurvy. Hippocrates, Avicenna and Galen were no longer read or considered important. The common knowledge of herbs was not “professional”. The industrial revolution moved populations from the country into cities and medicine could neither cope nor considered itself lacking.

 

The living knowledge of herbs moved away from Europe at this time. True, in the countryside the old ways were kept alive in small pockets and by word of mouth in families. But it was the settlers in North America who found a source again in the medicine of the native people. Indeed it was from North America that the resurgence of herbal medicine in Britain in the nineteenth century came. Into the dark towns of the industrial north came practitioners from the USA bringing the practices of Samuel Thomson, Albert Coffin and the Physiomedicalists.

 

The herbs that were found in America are now part of all our Western herbal materia medica. Early herbals did not contain Cimicifuga, Echinacea, Capsicum, Ulmus, Caulophylum, Camaelirium, Hamamelis, Hydrastis, Lobelia, Passiflora, Serenoa, Scutellaria, Turnera, Zanthoxylum, Zea. Today these are on the shelves of every herbalist’s dispensary in Britain but they were brought over by the travellers of the great nineteenth century movement in herbal medicine that began in the USA.

 

That resurgence of herbal knowledge came on the heels of Dr Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) of Philadelphia. From 1769 to his death he taught three quarters of the doctors of the emerging nation who came through his classes at Pennsylvania University. What he taught them was to use mercuric chloride or calomel and to bleed the patients.  This was the time of heroic medicine. Rush’s influence was such that these two therapeutic practices were applied to almost every condition. “We have drawn blood enough to float a steamboat, and given calomel enough to freight her” so said an Ohio physician during the cholera epidemic of 1836, twenty five years after Rush’s death. Thomas Higgins, writing in 1861, considered that the physicians of American had created a nation of invalids by its methods.

 

A contemporary of Rush’s was Samuel Thomson whose practice began with his discovery, in his native New Hampshire, of Lobelia inflata. Thomson’s own experience of “doctoring” and that of his family turned him away from doctors altogether. Obeying his own instincts he applied hydrotherapy to his convulsing daughter and saved her life. Neighbours started coming to him for help with their diseases, which he treated with herbs and sweating.

 

Thomson’s principles of self-reliance and home help were suited to the widespread and mobile population of the emerging West. This was the time of Lewis and Clark and the opening of the continent. In 1813 Peter Smith published his Indian Doctors’ Dispensary. In the introduction he stated: “the natives of our own country are in possession of cures, simples etc. that surpass what is used by our best practitioners”.

 

Many books followed and the influence grew. By 1835 the Governor of Mississippi announced that half the population of his state depended upon Thomsonian practitioners. Four years later Thomson claimed over three million adherents to his principles of medicine. This represented 20% of the population of the USA.

 

Yet again this was a time of extremes. While herbs and nature cures became popular this was the age of mercury and opium. Such herbs as were in the pharmacopoeia were powerful drugs. Digitalis, foxglove, became the mainstay of heart treatment. Others were narcotics like Hyosymus and Datura. Atropa and Aconitum were chosen for the satisfactory force of their “effect”. The ladies who marched against the “demon” drink during the temperance movements would likely sooth their nerves with Laudanum in their parlour.

 

In 1855 Wooster Beach became president of the new National Eclectic Medical Association. After an early absorption with the popular practice of homeopathy, Beach studied allopathic medicine in New York. He considered the weakness of the Thomsonians to be a rejection of any academic foundation for their practices.  Beach read widely and was aware that new worlds were opening to research in pathology, physiology and anatomy. Even in Thomson’s speciality, medicinal plants, the foundations for a new scientific understanding were emerging. Beach’s opinion was that if chemistry offered tools to unlock the medicinal secrets of plants, how could any Botanic doctor afford to dismiss chemistry as having “nothing to do with medicine”? He was determined to put as much distance between his own and Thomson’s methods.

 

When explaining his ideas of combining what was useful in the old practices with what was best in the new, a friend of Beach’s exclaimed “You are an eclectic!” to which Beach famously replied, “You have given me the term which I have wanted: I am an Eclectic!”

 

At his “United States Infirmary”, Beach introduced his methods, combining herbs with regular medicine, and what he considered to be the best combinations of treatments from all ages and disciplines. To his great disappointment Beach’s endeavours to reform the narrow and harmful practices of his medical colleagues provoked only hostility. His attempts to found a school were hindered by the New York Medical Society to whom Beach’s methods were anathema. He moved to Worthington, Ohio a stronghold of Thomsonian practice, and in the late 1830’s the Eclectic movement had truly begun.

 

The people of North America consulted the Eclectics to such a degree that the American medical profession were concerned for their livelihood. The Eclectic doctors in the latter half of the century, then lead by John Scudder, looked to herbs and gentle medicines. Scudder’s collaboration with John King and a brilliant chemist John Uri Lloyd lead to the King Dispensatory of 1895, the great record of Eclectic medications. The late nineteenth century and early twentieth saw the production of important Eclectic Materia Medicas. Notable among these are those of Dr Fyfe, published in 1903, Dr Ellingwood, 1915, and Dr Felter, 1922. Important writings by John Uri Lloyd and texts on Pharmacology by Dr Culbreth show us the energy and academic dedication of the Eclectics. It was the Eclectics who brought the knowledge of Echinacea from the plains nations to the pharmacopoeias of the world.

 

This energy was not confined to the USA. In 1864 British practitioners founded what was to become the National Institute of Medical Herbalists of today. At this time, in the late nineteenth century, homeopathy was also becoming popular in the USA and as professionals the American medical profession was the poor relation. It is only a century ago that herbs and homeopathy were the front line of medicine.

 

The patterns of this last century are well known. The 1910 Flexner report on medical schools, funded by the Carnegie Endowment Fund, attacked the quality of Eclectic medical schools.  This report, created in conjunction with the AMA, revealed to an astonished public that the medical schools that supported Eclectic and Physio-medical medicine had low standards, poor equipment and inadequate clinical facilities.  At the same time educational foundations showered fortunes  on regular allopathic education. The Rockefeller Education Board alone donated more than 600 million dollars. The impact on the Eclectic medical profession was rapid. From the publication of the report to the ending of Eclectic practice in the USA was a mere twenty years.

 

The discovery of the principles of cellular pathology in the late nineteenth century was characterised by the work of Pasteur in France, Verchow in Germany and Osler at John’s Hopkins in Baltimore. Their discoveries created a movement in North America, and to a degree in Europe, that was to virtually sweep away the knowledge of centuries of herbal medicine.  The pharmaceutical industry and the practices of medicine in our era considered herbs and the knowledge of their use to be at best foolishness, at worst, dangerous meddling and unscientific. Countries have held on to their herbal knowledge to different degrees. Russia has a great tradition of research and applications of herbal medicine which they share freely. Germany, France and other European countries have pursued research and clinical findings which are not always reported in the USA.

 

In Europe today up to 80% of medical doctors prescribe botanical medicine on a regular basis. In Germany all doctors are required to study naturopathic therapeutics before they graduate. The pharmaceutical industry that supports botanical medicine in Europe is on an international scale. High quality research is undertaken.  The introduction of Ginkgo biloba to the materia medica was the result of a German company’s research in China in the 1960’s which subsequently produced the first herbal patent on their product, Ginkgoba.

 

Politically botanical medicine in Europe has never been stronger. A  European Union of Herbalists is being formed at this time. In Britain six Universities offer degree courses in Herbal Medicine and, in the opinion of a former President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, this will be a licensed practice within three years. There is even talk of Doctors of Herbal Medicine.

 

At the beginning of this new century, looking back at the patterns of history behind us, what can we learn about herbs and their use in health and healing?

The physicist Werner Hiesenburg wrote that “what we observe is not nature itself, but nature submitted to our method of questioning”. When we explore herbs, nature and, as doctors, people, we see reflections of ourselves. Our beliefs, dogmas, limitations, fear, envy, greed, entitlement, pride and ignorance live beside our knowledge, compassion and good intentions.  We see that every era in the history of herbal medicine has all the same elements, those of humanity. We live in an time when we can know these patterns as never before. We can draw on the knowledge of all cultures, South America, India, China, and our own, for knowledge of healing. Will this bring about a renaissance time in medicine? While we are strangers to ourselves so are the herbs, the eagles, the seasons, the rivers. Perhaps our greatest journey is still the inner path that will teach us to truly listen and see. The herbs will be waiting.

 

Rowan Hamilton.

The diet, weight loss, health practitioner and health anxiety industry has had much to say in recent years about carbohydrates. The authorities seem to fall into two camps. On the one hand learned scientists and doctors appear in the white coats of their authority. They tell us that we should only have a certain percentage of carbohydrates every day in our diet. We are told about diabetes, heart disease and the usual suspects waiting for us if we don’t as we are told and get sensible. We should have a certain amount of carbs daily. Is it 20 or 30 or 40%? On the other hand,  fabulously fit, tanned and beautiful people who have obviously found the secret of perfect health and eternal youth rave about the new diet that will make them famous and rich. Mostly they make us jealous and insecure about our own bodies.

 

Change and moderation is certainly not easy. The inner isles of just about every North American Supermarket are a deadly place of  processed and lifeless foods. TV and even Internet advertising tells us that the answer to hunger is a Pop Tart or its evil sibling. We must have fast food because there is so little time……Of course the kids love them!

 

We are so fortunate here in the Rockies. Last evening I went to our Stinging Nettle patch and picked a bundle. Today I have a bowl of delicious and ultra nutritious nettle soup in front of me. Not everyone can do that. Not everyone wants to.

 

So here’s a question about carbohydrates. We live in an era when we can get just about any food we want and like a fox in a chicken coup just can’t stop ourselves.

 

Our predecessors on this continent did not have this luxury or our dilemma. They lived on what was around them and that was that. They were very, very, good at it.

 

Just how much of it was carbohydrates? Interesting question.

 

Some years ago I attended a lecture in Vancouver, Canada given by the noted ethnobotanist Dr, Brian Compton. His subject was the traditional diet of the first nations people of coastal British Columbia.

 

Brian described the annual cycles of hunting and gathering on the coast. By the end of his talk we had a rich picture of a sophisticated and successful culture.

 

At question time I raised my hand.

 

“Brian, you have described the dependence of these people on fish, shellfish, other meats, herbs, roots, trees and other healthy staples. I didn’t hear you mention any source of conventional carbohydrates, particularly grains. Could you tell us more about this.”

 

Well to cut a long answer short. Brian told us they didn’t have any. Not that they went without carbohydrates. Their sources, roots and other vegetation, were a small but significant part of their diet. These contain complex, healthy carbs. The first nations people had the richest sources of berries in the world. Wild blueberries, thimbleberries, bunchberries, huckleberries, salmonberries, elderberries, kinnikannikberries, bunchberries, high bush cranberries, squashberries, all grow in abundance up here. These combine  energy rich sugars with massive quantities of anti-oxidants. Healthy beyond belief.

 

The first nations people here had a far higher intake of fish oils than us. The great rivers of the Pacific North West are home to the largest salmon runs in the world. The best protein imaginable. They had an abundance of healthy herbs for food and medicine. What they didn’t have was refined sugars and synthetic, processed, profit oriented foods as we do, to our cost.

 

“Were they healthy Brian?” I asked.

 

“Absolutely Rowan. Until Europeans brought measles, syphilis and other disease again which they had no protection, our first nations people did not suffer chronic disease as we do.”

 

“Can we learn from them?”

 

“They have much to teach us about living well. They did not follow medical theory about what they eat. They followed nature and learned from her.”

 

I have often thought about that lecture. So might you

 

Talk to you soon. Rowan Hamilton

Yesterday my friend Susan called to talk about choosing vitamins for herself and her family. In these days of nutrient deficient foods and GMOs that is a necessary supplement to the best diet we can give ourselves.

But what to choose?

I think there are only two alternatives; food source vitamin supplements and synthetic pharmaceuticals. Here is an example: Vitamin C. Wikipedia gives a nice description:

Artificial modes of synthesis
Vitamin C is produced from glucose by two main routes. The Reichstein process , developed in the 1930s, uses a single pre-fermentation followed by a purely chemical route. The modern two-step fermentation process, originally developed in China in the 1960s, uses additional fermentation to replace part of the later chemical stages. Both processes yield approximately 60% vitamin C from the glucose feed.

World production of synthesised vitamin C is currently estimated at approximately 110,000 tonnes annually. Main producers today are BASF, DSM, Merck and the China Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.. China is slowly becoming the major world supplier as its prices undercut those of the US and European manufacturers.

Get the picture? Vitamin C supplements DON’T come from oranges. Its the sugar industry yet again……

So choose food source vitamins. They may cost a little more but they are concentrated nutrition that will lead to true health . Mega Foods and New Chapter are the North American brands to choose. Then there is the European product BioStrath which has nourished generations.

Ask for food source every time or choose the cheap pharmaceutical. Its your choice. Check out the brand you trust and see if it is really trustworthy.

In the last Acne post I described supplements which would assist the body in reducing excess free hormones. These are obtainable at stores which sell natural health products. I’m concentrating on recommending help for acne which is available and easy to use.

So a word about detoxification…..

Our bodies have to deal with more toxins than ever before. Oxidation and stress are part of this picture both as a cause of internal toxins and as the result of taking in toxins from foods, the air, and our general and home environment.

There is an opinion that detoxification has to be a vigorous process to be effective. I don’t agree with that at all. For most of the people I’ve worked with vigorous “cleansing” adds to their metabolic stress. Cleansing and detoxification support is best done gently and steadily. Do this with the same kindness and gentleness that you would hope someone would treat  you personally. After all the mind, the emotions and the body are all connected. So treat them all the same way.

A cleanse product which will truly reduce your toxic load gently and effectively is Flor.Essence from a company called Flora. This is widely available in stores across North America and probably in Europe too and they have connections to a leading German natural products company.

Here is their web link:

http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/canada/products/R8070.htm

They have a 25 page booklet on the cleanse to download so you can get lots of information and real testimonials.

Why I like this so much beyond its gentleness is that it is all herbal. No fillers, no pharmaceuticals in disguise. It is a formulation that comes down to us from the Ojibwa First nations people of Ontario with all their experience and connection with natural healing.

A 25 day program (look at the site) will go a long way towards cleansing, healing and relaxing your body. Use this with the I3C/DIM and D-Glucarate supplements and the toxic  and excess hormonal load underlying your acne will be greatly reduced.

I’ll write about topical healing for acne in my next post. Until then just think about being gentle to yourself however desperate you may feel. Your skin feels stress too!

Last Saturday Karen and I were taken for an Easter treat around our Chinatown by Robert Sung. Robert gives cultural and culinary tours to very, very fortunate people. There were just the two of us and our personal guide to a world rich in meaning and with so very much to teach us.

To describe the whole tour would take many pages. You can find Robert’s tours at www.awokaround.com and see for yourself. What we were given was an insight into a culture that trully understands the relationship between food, medicine and culture.

Harmony with nature, harmony with the body and harmony with the spirit were laid before us. Some people take issue with elements of Chinese politics and some of the medicines used in their practice. However these things should not cloud what we can learn from them. Culture, food and medicine are not separate. They are food for the soul as well as food for mind and body. Awareness of our relationship with nature and the nature of things is the key to life. Honouring nature and honouring our body and mind is honouring life itself.

It is a great day out. Fun, colour, learning, de-compression (a word Robert uses wisely) and companionship are all included.

Life is a whole to be received with humility and gratitude. If you can, take the tour and partake of the feast that Chinatown offers.

Thank you Robert Sung.

All acne begins with an excess of free, circulating hormones. Which ones exactly gets experts into all sorts of arguments. The most significant is testosterone. women have this hormone as well as men as it is a vital part of all growth during and after puberty.

The point here is that excess free testosterone triggers acne. the glands in the face, shoulders and chest which produce natural sebum to moisturize the skin are the target. they respond to excess testosterone by an enzyme conversion to an aggressive form of the hormone called dihydrotestosterone.

At this point changes in the gland lead to blockage of the duct from the gland to the skin surface so the flow of sebum is impeded. This blockage leads to the oxidising of sebum, bacterial infection and inflammation from the natural immune response to the bacteria. Just killing the bacteria is temporary at best.

This is where the first therapeutic work begins; reducing the excess hormones. There are two important supplements which work on this.

Diindolylmethane (DIM) and Indole 3 Carbinol. Derived from cruciferous vegetables such as Broccoli. Of these two DIM is preferable. both should be used at the makers recommended doses. They increase the clearing of excess hormones by the liver.

Calcium D Glucarate. This natural compound ensured that the detoxification process of the liver and colon is not impaired and works at its best.

To support this work increase dietary fibre and reduce high glycemic index foods. These are the foods, especially carbohydrates, which produce only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels.

Using DIM/I3C and Calcium D Glucarate is a slow change. Much faster and most significant is an effective topical treatment which will reduce the hormone influence on the glands, reduce inflammation and the risk of scarring as well as impeding bacterial growth.

More in the next post.

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