ASH GOURD: Healing Properties

Ash gourd, also known as ‘Petha’, is generally cultivated for its nourishing and medicinal values. Its mineral and vitamin contents are calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin C. It’s green in colour from outside and white inside.

Petha is generally used for making sweets, preparing sambar and other curries of South India. Ash gourd / Petha juice is highly recommended for maintaining general good health and in curing diseases of any order.

Method

Petha juice can be prepared by crushing the pieces (without the seeds but with the peel intact) in the mixer-grinder. The pulp can then be wrapped in a fabric and the juice can be squeezed by hand. One should drink it daily in the morning on an empty stomach.

The juice should be taken fresh and in small sips instead of gulping it down so that the saliva mixes with the juice. Some quantity of water can be added to facilitate smooth extraction of juice in the grinder.

Benefits

• Being extremely low in calories, the ash gourd is used to treat obesity as it promotes metabolism and prevents sugar (carbohydrates) from being converted into fat.
• It is alkaline and has a strong ‘antacid’ action. It maintains the pH of the body and counteracts the acidity created in the stomach because of the intake of acidic foods like soft drinks, fried and denatured food.
• It helps in treating constipation and tones up the general digestive system.
• Cough, common cold, fever, influenza, bronchitis, sinusitis can be controlled without any side effects.
• Any kind of severe and chronic asthma can be cured with regular consumption.
• It can help treat thyroid problems.
• It can also help treat mouth cancer and protect the life of teeth and gums when a mouth gargle of the juice is done regularly.
• It is also an effective cure for pyorrhea i.e. bleeding of gums.
• Being grown on creepers, it has the highest prana or ‘life force’ which helps in making meditation practice more effective.

Nutritional Considerations in Kidney Diseases

Kidney diseases kill 60,000 Americans a year and afflict at least 8 million more. Dialysis and transplants are expensive, costing taxpayers over 2 billion dollars annually. To that, add the emotional and physical costs in pain.

How Do Your Kidneys Work?

The answer is, constantly! 24 hours a day, your two kidneys filter your blood somewhat like an aquarium filter filters the water in a fish tank. The functional unit of the kidney is the nephron, a tissue unit that not only filters, but also recycles and excretes. The nephron filters blood (except red blood cells and protein); maintains the body's acid-base ion balance; recycles needed substances (water, minerals); and excretes wastes in a concentrated urine. In a manner of speaking, urine is filtered blood, or more exactly, blood is filtered urine.

Kidney Diseases and Problems:

Inflammation and Infection

The role of massive doses of vitamin C is profound in this case, providing prevention and treatment at saturation levels. Since vitamin C is filtered and "wasted" through the kidneys, it is a virtually custom-made therapy.

Degeneration (resulting from inflammation, etc.)

A chronic excess of dietary protein almost certainly taxes the kidneys and leads to gradual degeneration. (Williams, SR Nutrition and Diet Therapy, page 856, "The Aging Western Kidney"). Vegetarianism is a virtually automatic solution to our nation-wide pattern of protein abuse. Protein restriction is generally considered to be an important treatment for progressed glomerulonephritis. Reducing protein intake is obviously an ideal way to prevent a protein-breakdown induced nitrogenous overload in the first place.

Increasing carbohydrates is recommended. “Carbohydrates should be given liberally. This will also reduce the catabolism of proteins and prevent ... ketosis." (Williams) Again, a regular vegetarian diet, which is high in complex carbohydrates, will assure just this.

Nephrotic Syndrome (swelling and protein in the urine)

This condition results from tissue damage and impaired nephron function. Its association with collagen diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc.) is hardly accidental, for chronic deficiencies of vitamin C (and vitamin C’s helpers, the bioflavinoids) cause the very event described by Williams on page 851: "The primary degenerative lesion is in the capillary basement membrane of the glomerulus which permits the escape of large amounts of protein into the filtrate." This is because capillaries, those tiniest and most numerous of all the blood vessels, get leaky in the absence of ample vitamin C. Easily-bleeding gums are a visible example of this, but easily-leaking glomeruli (part of the nephron) are a greater, hidden, but similar problem.

Acute Renal (Kidney) Failure

Early successful management of infectious disease greatly reduces the likelihood of renal failure. Saturation with vitamin C is very effective, broad-spectrum treatment for infectious diseases (Klenner, Stone, Pauling. Cathcart). Vitamin C does not cause kidney problems; it prevents them. For example, vitamin C stops the formation or oxalate stones, and actually dissolves phosphate and struvite kidney stones (see below). If kidney failure is suspected, see your doctor early in the game, and insist that vitamin C therapy is employed. Even conventional food-groups nutrition texts (correctly) mention the need for supplemental vitamin C and the B-complex for kidney tissue healing. Just up the doses if you want best results.

In early renal failure, no protein should be given. Vegetable juice fasting may work well here. If liquids are restricted, put the vegetables through a blender and eat as a salad puree. It tastes better than it sounds.

HOW TO MAKE A BLENDED SALAD according to Dr. Christopher Gian-Cursio, who was a New York City-based, circut-riding naturopath for over 50 years. I met Dr. Gian-Cursio some twenty years ago. Here’s his recipe:

1 each small tomato, red or green pepper

1/2 small cucumber

juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

5-6 leaves romaine lettuce

3-4 stalks fresh fennel or celery

Place cut up pieces of tomato, pepper and cucumber along with lemon juice into blender. Blend until smooth and liquid. Add romaine leaves one at a time. Add celery or fennel; blend additional 2-3 minutes. (The consistency depends upon personal taste; some like it smooth and watery, others thick and crunchy.)

I will add that you should eat your blended immediately. Fresh, wholesome food does not “keep,” and crushed raw food does not keep at all.

Chronic Renal Failure

Continued deterioration means loss of vital kidney participation in the activation of vitamin D-1. The result can be osteodystrophy (loss of calcium from bone or poor bone formation in childhood). Supplementation with vitamin D and calcium are therefore required.

Amino acid supplements have shown promise in treating chronic renal failure, when coupled with a greatly curtailed amount of dietary protein of only 20 to 25 grams/day. As an advocate of vegetable juice fasting, I personally think the protein restriction may have done as much as the amino acid supplementation. Why? Because typical hospital “protein restricted diets” provide 40g/day of protein!

Consider this: the typical American eats over 100g, and frequently exceeds 120g of protein daily, which is WAY too much. So a so-called “restriction” to 40 g/day is simply a correction. Most of the world’s peoples would be pleased as punch to be able to eat 40g/day of protein. But we happily chow down three times that, call it normal . . . and then line up for dialysis.

Dialysis

The cost of too much meat may ultimately be over $10,000 per year for dialysis at home... or more than $35,000 per year at a dialysis center. And these are 1990 prices.

During dialysis, the water soluble vitamins (B-complex and C) are lost from the blood. Supplementation is essential, and must be both high-potency and FREQUENT.

Obstruction: Renal Calculi (stones)

There are five types of kidney stones:

1. Calcium phosphate stones are common and easily dissolve in urine acidified by vitamin C.

2. Calcium oxalate stones are also common but they do not dissolve in acid urine.

3. Magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite stones) are much less common, often appearing after an infection. They dissolve in vitamin C acidified urine.

4. Uric acid stones result from a problem metabolizing purines (the chemical base of adenine, xanthine, theobromine [in chocolate] and uric acid). They may form in a condition such as gout.

5. Cystine stones result from a hereditary inability to reabsorb cystine. Most children's stones are this type, and these are rare.

The Role of Vitamin C in Preventing and Dissolving Kidney Stones:

The very common calcium phosphate stone can only exist in a urinary tract that is not acidic. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C's most common form) acidifies the urine, thereby dissolving phosphate stones and preventing their formation.

Acidic urine will also dissolve magnesium ammonium phosphate stones, which would otherwise require surgical removal. These are the same struvite stones associated with urinary tract infections. Both the infection and the stone are easily cured with vitamin C in large doses. BOTH are virtually 100% preventable with daily consumption of much-greater-than-RDA amounts of ascorbic acid. Think grams, not milligrams! A gorilla gets about 4,000 mg of vitamin C a day in its natural diet. The US RDA for humans is only 60 mg. Someone is wrong, and I don't think it's the gorillas.

The common calcium oxalate stone can form in an acidic urine whether one takes vitamin C or not. However, if a person gets adequate quantities of B-complex vitamins and magnesium, this type of stone does not form. Any common B-complex supplement twice daily, plus about 400 milligrams of magnesium, is usually adequate.

Ascorbate (the active ion in vitamin C) does increase the body's production of oxalate. Yet, in practice, vitamin C does not increase oxalate stone formation. Drs. Emanuel Cheraskin, Marshall Ringsdorf, Jr. and Emily Sisley explain in The Vitamin C Connection (1983) that acidic urine or slightly acidic urine reduces the UNION of calcium and oxalate, reducing the possibility of stones. "Vitamin C in the urine tends to bind calcium and decrease its free form. This means less chance of calcium's separating out as calcium oxalate (stones)." (page 213) Also, the diuretic effect of vitamin C reduces the static conditions necessary for stone formation in general. Fast moving rivers deposit little silt.

Furthermore, you can avoid excessive oxalates by not eating (much) rhubarb, spinach, or chocolate. If a doctor thinks that a person is especially prone to forming oxalate stones, that person should read the suggestions below before abandoning the benefits of vitamin C.

Ways for ANYONE to reduce the risk of kidney stones:

1. Maximize fluid intake. Especially drink fruit and vegetable juices. Orange, grape and carrot juices are high in citrates which inhibit both a build up of uric acid and also stop calcium salts from forming. (Carper, J. "Orange Juice May Prevent Kidney Stones," Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal, Jan 5, 1994)

2. Control urine pH: acidic urine helps prevent urinary tract infections, dissolves both phosphate and struvite stones, and will not cause oxalate stones.

3. Eat your veggies: studies have shown that dietary oxalate is generally not a significant factor in stone formation. I would go easy on rhubarb and spinach, however.

4. Most kidney stones are compounds of calcium and most Americans are calcium deficient. Instead of lowering calcium intake, reduce excess dietary phosphorous by avoiding carbonated soft drinks, especially colas. Soft drinks contain excessive quantities of phosphorous as phosphoric acid. This is the same acid that has been used by dentists to etch tooth enamel before applying sealant.

Remember that Americans get only about 500 mg of dietary calcium daily, and the RDA is 800 to 1200 mg/day. Any nutritionist, doctor or text suggesting calcium reduction is in serious error.

5. Take a magnesium supplement of at least the US RDA of 300-400 mg/day (more may be desirable in order to maintain an ideal 1:2 balance of magnesium to calcium)

6. Be certain to take a good B-complex vitamin supplement daily, which contains pyridoxine (Vitamin B-6). B-6 deficiency produces kidney stones in experimental animals. Remember:

* B-6 deficiency is very common in humans

* B-1 (thiamine) deficiency also is associated with stones (Hagler and Herman, "Oxalate Metabolism, II" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 26:8, 882-889, August, 1973)

7. Additionally, low calcium may itself CAUSE calcium stones (L. H. Smith, et al, "Medical Evaluation of Urolithiasis" Urological Clinics of North America 1:2, 241-260, June 1974)

8. For uric acid/purine stones (gout), STOP EATING MEAT! Nutrition tables and textbooks indicate meats as the major dietary purine source. Naturopathic treatment adds juice fasts and eating sour cherries. Increased vitamin C consumption helps by improving the urinary excretion of uric acid. (Cheraskin, et al, 1983). Use buffered ascorbate "C".

9. Persons with cystine stones (only 1% of all kidney stones) should follow a low methionine diet and use buffered C.

10. Kidney stones are associated with high sugar intake, so eat less (or no) added sugar (J. A. Thom, et al "The Influence of Refined Carbohydrate on Urinary Calcium Excretion," British Journal of Urology, 50:7, 459-464, December, 1978)

11. Infections can cause conditions that favor stone formation, such as overly concentrated urine (from fever sweating, vomiting or diarrhea). Practice good preventive health care, and it will pay you back with interest.

REFERENCES:

Cheraskin, Ringsdorf Jr., and Sisley: The Vitamin C Connection, Harper and Row, 1983.

Pauling, Linus "Are Kidney Stones Associated with Vitamin C Intake?" Today's Living, September, 1981.

Pauling, Linus "Crystals in the Kidney," Linus Pauling Institute Newsletter, 1:11, Spring, 1981.

Pauling, Linus How to Live Longer and Feel Better, Freeman, 1986.

Williams, S. R. Nutrition and Diet Therapy, 6th ed. Chapter 28.

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* Courtesy - Andrew W Saul. http://doctoryourself.com

Role of Vitamin C in Gout

WASHINGTON: Men with a higher intake of vitamin C appear less likely to develop gout, a painful type of arthritis, according to a study.  "Gout is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis in men... The identification of risk factors for gout... is an important first step in the prevention and management of this common and excruciatingly painful condition," wrote the study's authors.  Hyon K Choi, then of University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and now of Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the relationship between vitamin C intake and gout in 46,994 men between 1986 and 2006.  Every four years, the men completed a dietary questionnaire, and their vitamin C intake through food and supplements was computed. Every two years, participants reported whether they had been diagnosed with or developed symptoms of gout.  During 20-year follow-up, 1,317 men developed gout. Compared with men who had a vitamin C intake of less than 250mg per day, the relative risk of gout was 17% lower for those with a daily intake of 500 to 999 mg, 34% lower for those with an intake of 1,000 to 1,499mg per day and 45% lower for those with an intake of 1,500mg per day or higher.  Vitamin C may affect re-absorption of uric acid by the kidneys, increase the speed at which the kidneys work or protect against INFLAMMATION, all of which may reduce gout risk, a Boston University statement quoted the authors as saying.  These findings were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Source: IANS, Jan. 10, 2009

Health and Wellness Tourism in India

India offers their visitors access to some of the world’s highest-qualified professionals and top-class biomedical facilities, offering world-class health care in facilities that vary in size from small, specialized clinics to large hospitals. Britain’s "The Telegraph” newspaper reported that 150,000 medical tourists travel to India each year, and that in response, authorities there are in the process of introducing a system of medical visas to streamline visitors’ entry. The Confederation of Indian Industry released a study in August 2006 forecasting that medical tourists will contribute $5 billion to the country’s economy.

Those in search of advanced medical care find that, in India, health care prices are competitive with world markets, and that it’s easy to schedule procedures. As the CII study asserts, "heart surgery in the US costs $30,000, while it costs $6,000 in India.” While each patient’s charges differ, in general, the difference in costs varies between one-fifth to one-twenty. Certain surgeries and orthopedic procedures (such as hip resurfacing) not provided in North American hospitals, are available in India.

Travelers interested in wellness find many reasons to journey to India, such as the ancient Ayurvedic therapies. Health tourism includes naturopathic treatment, spa visits and yoga, as well. Agencies offer specialized travel packages for those who consider health maintenance alongside surgical intervention.

Before or after their treatment—or both—medical travelers can enjoy India’s many popular tourist destinations. Whether they enjoy heritage tourism, or viewing wildlife, a beach vacation, or rounds of golf, India has a great deal to offer.

What is GLYCEMIC INDEX?

By now, most people have heard of the glycemic index, but I’ll take a moment to explain it.

• The way the glycemic index works is that a scientist will measure the blood sugar of a volunteer and then feed that volunteer a single food. After two or three hours, the volunteer’s blood sugar is measured again. What scientists have discovered through this kind of testing is that certain foods increase blood sugar a little, others increase blood sugar moderately, and still other foods increase blood sugar dramatically.

  While there are complicated glycemic index charts that show hundreds of foods, here is a typical one:

  

  What you want to notice about this list is that sugars (left-hand column) are mostly in the high top part of the chart. Sucrose (table sugar) and glucose are always found near the top, but, here is the kicker: so are white rice, pancakes, bread, corn flakes, crackers, parsnips, potatoes and many other foods. These are the Foods That Act Like Sugar in your body.

  A Sugar is a Sugar

  The take home message from the studies done on glycemic index is that a sugar is a sugar, no matter what the source. To your body, it doesn’t matter if you pick up a table spoon of sugar and put it in your mouth, or if you pick up a baguette and start munching on it: the results are the same. Up up up goes your blood sugar every time you eat these foods.

  If you want to maintain good blood sugar control, I always recommend eating low or below the glycemic index.

  Below the Glycemic Index

• 
  

  You may have heard of high and low glycemic index foods and that you should eat as many low glycemic foods as you can if you want to keep your blood sugar low or if you are diabetic, but you may not have heard of the concept of Eating Below the Glycemic Index.

  A typical glycemic index chart looks something like this:What you should notice about this chart, or any glycemic index chart, is that there are a number of foods that are missing. The reason why these missing foods are not on the chart is that they don’t have any effect on your blood sugar at all. But just because these foods are not on the glycemic index doesn’t mean they are not important, in fact the opposite is true.

  Below the Glycemic Index Foods:

  Here are the foods that are below the glycemic index. You can safely eat as much as you want of them and they will have no impact on your blood sugar:

  • Onions and garlic
  • Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, chard, kale, and cabbage
  • Lettuce of all kinds: red leaf, green leaf, iceberg…
  • Mixed greens: spinach, arugula, endive, dandelion greens, escarole, radicchio, red mustard and various lettuces: red leaf, green leaf, romaine
  • Avocados
  • Meats: fish, chicken, beef, pork, wild game
  • Eggs
  • Mushrooms: Shitake, Maitake, Reishi and others

  What is amazing about all these foods is that they are not only low on the glycemic index, but many of them are what I call Disease Busing Power Foodsbecause they pack that additional nutritional punch that makes them not only good for you, but can actually prevent (and maybe even treat) many common diseases (such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and others).

  By choosing foods from below the glycemic index, you are picking the very best nutrition you can find. You are not only keeping your blood sugar low, but you are also giving your body that extra boost it needs to navigate our stressed-out over-processed and sometimes toxic world.

  Cannot Live on “Below” Alone?

  You may look at the Below the Glycemic Index foods and think that you cannot live on those foods alone. Fair enough. The next best place to choose your foods from is the low glycemic index foods, the best of these include:

  • Nuts: peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts…
  • Fruits: apples, kiwi, cherries, berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries…)
  • Beans: pinto, chickpea, butter beans, lima bean, black beans, lentils…
  • Grains: while I’m not a big fan of grains, if you want to include them in your diet try to prepare them as most people make rice: boil and eat them. The whole grain with the lowest glycemic index is barley. You should also choose the whole-grain versions and not the “white” versions. If you simply must have your grains ground and processed, choose pasta as it generally is very low on the glycemic index.

  Below or Low

  As you can see, the best way to eat is to choose foods low or below the glycemic index. While it can be difficult at times, these foods are what your body need to thrive.

Hydrotherapy: The Water Cure

History

After the use of Herbal Medicines, the use of water to stimulate healing may be the next-oldest form of medical treatment. We know that hydrotherapy is among the treatements used in ancient Egypt and India, and is mentioned in the oldest writings known to still exist, the Vedas.

The modern system of Naturopathic Hydrotherapy has its roots primarily in the European Alps. Vincent Priessnitz (1799-1852), an unschooled farm boy who learned how to treat animals with cold water, later healed himself from broken ribs and eventually treated patients for a wide range of conditions. Despite his lack of formal medical training he was formally acknowledged by the Austrian government.

Father Sebastian Kneipp, a German priest (1821-1897), cured himself of tuber-culosis and went on to be considered the Father of Modern Hydrotherapy. A great many of the early Naturopathic physicians trained under him.

Hydrotherapy was hugely popular during the 1800's, both in Europe and the United States, and Spas and Sanatoriums flourished. Eventually, with the onset of modern medicine and a greater reliance on drug therapy, the use of hydrotherapy to stimulate our own internal healing mechanisms has waned. Here in the 21st century, it is the practitioners of Naturopathic and Ayurvedic medicine that are keeping this valuable treatment method alive.

Therapeutic Effects of Water 

Specific Physiological Effects of Hydrotherapy Enhanced Circulation of Blood & Lymph Increased Oxygen to Tissues Better Digestion of Food Increased Nutrients to Cells General Boost to the Immune System Balances the Nervous System: - Calms the Sympathetic - Nourishes the Parasympathetic Assist the Body's Detoxification Efforts

Hydrotherapy usually consists of using hot or cold water, and sometimes alternating between the two. Water can be applied to the body in packs, in sprays, or through soaking in tubs or lakes. The water may simply be pure water, or in some instances natural mineral springs were used which were observed to have healing effects. Even in modern times, there are more research citations in Pub Med, a large government medical database, on the use of water than there are for the use of aspirin.

Hot water is known to expand tissues and increase circulation. Cold water contracts tissues and decreases circulation. When these two are alternated, a pumping effect on tissues is achieved, which accelerates the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients into, and accelerates the removal of wastes and toxins from the affected area. When these alterations are carefully choreographed, the body's parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for healing, can be stimulated.

When using mineral baths, minerals are absorbed through the skin into the blood, having direct physiological effects. Minerals and bath salts can be used in home tubs if you are not able to travel to natural mineral hot springs. Another type of home baths is peat moss baths. Peat is rich in a cocktail of plant derived minerals, and soaking in peat baths is much like soaking in a peat moss tea. Peat baths are also excellent for detoxification

Constitutional Hydrotherapy 

is a traditional Naturopathic treatment developed in the early 20th Century by Dr. O.G. Carroll, and later passed on to Dr. Harold Dick. It consists of alternating hot and cold applications to the chest, abdomen and back, in conjunction with sine wave electrotherapy to the liver and adrenal glands.

Constitutional Hydrotherapy

The primary treatment goal is to enhance the function of your body's parasympathetic nervous system, that portion of your autonomic functions which regulate digestion and absorption of nutrients, immune function, and is the body's natural antidote to stress.

By stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, the body's overall healing ability is enhanced. Stress is a vital part of our makeup that protects us from danger. Too often, however, the "effects of modern living" leave us in a stressful "fight or flight" mode for too long, which prevents the body from absorbing nutrients, healing, or recovering from injuries. Constitutional Hydrotherapy is a way of jump-starting the parasympathetic nervous system and defusing the effects of stress.

Conditions Treated by Hydrotherapy 

Based on its therapeutic effects, Hydrotherapy can be used for a wide variety of illnesses The following list of conditions are some for which the Constitutional Hydrotherapy treatments in particular, have been effective for many patients.

Conditions Successfully Treated by Hydrotherapy Crohn's Disease Colitis IBS GERD Hemorrhoids Chronic Asthma Bronchitis Allergies Colds Flu Pleurisy Systemic Infections AIDS Chronic Fatigue PMS Dysmenorrhea Infertility Reynaud's hypertension Arthritis Diabetes Hypothyroidism Obesity Cancer varicose veins Psoriasis Depression

Unity of Disease and Unity of Cure

There exist three primary causes of disease and of premature death of the physical body. These are:

1. Lowered vitality.
2. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph.
3. Accumulation of morbid matter and poisons.

  

In the ultimate, disease and everything else that we designate as evil are the result of transgressions of natural laws in thinking, breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting, as well as in moral, sexual and social conduct.

In Tables I and II, I have endeavored to present in concise and comprehensive form the primary and the secondary causes or manifestations of disease and the corresponding natural methods of treatment.

TABLE I

THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT

Barring trauma (injury), advancing age and surroundings uncongenial to human life, all causes of disease may be classified as given below.

Violations of Nature's Laws in thinking, breathing, eating, drinking, dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social conduct result in the following:

Primary and Secondary Causes of Disease

Primary Causes

1. Lowered vitality due to overwork, nightwork, excesses, overstimulation, poisonous drugs and ill-advised surgical operations.
2. Abnormal composition of blood and lymph due to the improper selection and combination of food, and especially the lack of organic mineral salts and other essential nutritional elements.
3. Accumulation of waste matter, morbid matter and poisons due to the first two causes, as well as to faulty diet, overeating, the use of alcoholic and narcotic stimulants, drugs [both street and prescription], vaccines, accidental poisoning and, last but not least, to the suppression of acute diseases (Nature's cleansing and healing efforts) by poisonous drugs and surgical operations.

Secondary Causes

1. Hereditary and constitutional taints of sycosis, scrofula, psora, syphilis; mercurianism, cinchonism, iodism and many other forms of chronic poisoning.
2. Fevers, inflammations, skin eruptions, chronic sinus discharges, ulcers, abscesses, germs, bacteria, parasites, etc.
3. Mechanical subluxations, distortions and displacements of bony structures, muscles and ligaments; weakening and loss of reason, will, and self-control resulting in negative, sensitive and subjective conditions which open the way to nervous prostration, control by other personalities (hypnotic influence, obsession, possession); the different forms of insanity, epilepsy, petit mal, etc.

Table II

THE UNITY OF DISEASE AND TREATMENT

In correspondence with the three primary causes of disease, Nature Cure recognizes the following:

Natural Methods of Treatment

1. Return to Nature, or the establishment of normal habits and surroundings, which necessitates:

1. Extension of consciousness by popular general and individual education.
2. The constant exercise of reason, will and self-control.
3. A return to natural habits of life in thinking, breathing, eating, dressing, working, resting and in moral, sexual and social conduct.
4. Correction of mechanical defects and injuries by means of massage, chiropractic or osteopathy, surgery and other mechanical methods of treatment.

2. Economy of Vital Force, which necessitates:

1. Prevention of waste of vital force by the stoppage of all leaks.
2. Scientific relaxation, proper rest and sleep.
3. Proper food selection, magnetic treatment, etc.
4. The right mental attitude.

3. Elimination, which necessitates:

1. Scientific selection and combination of food and drink.
2. Judicious fasting.
3. Hydrotherapy (water cure).
4. Light and air baths, friction.
5. Chiropratic or osteopathy, massage, and other manipulative treatment.
6. Correct breathing, curative gymnastics.
7. Such medicinal remedies as will build up the blood on a normal basis and supply the system with the all-important mineral salts in organic form.

The Three Primary Causes of Disease

We shall now consider the three primary causes of disease one by one.

Lowered Vitality

There is a well-defined limit to the running of a watch. When the wound spring has spent its force, the mechanism stops.

So also the living forms of vegetable, animal and human life seem to be wound by Nature to run a certain length of time, in accordance with the laws governing their growth and development. Even the healthiest of animals living in the most congenial surroundings in the freedom of Nature do not much exceed their allotted span of life, nor do they fall much below it. As a rule, the longer the period between birth and maturity, the longer the life of the animal.

All the different families of mammalia, when living in freedom, live closely up to the life period allotted to them by Nature. Man is the only exception. It is claimed that according to the laws of longevity his average length of life should be considerably over one hundred years, while according to life insurance statistics, the average is at present [1913] thirty-seven years.This shows an immense discrepancy between the possible and the actual longevity of man.

Even this brief span of life means little else than weakness, physical and mental suffering and degeneracy for the majority of mankind. Visiting physicians of the public schools in our large cities report that seventy-five percent of all school children show defective health in some way. Diagnosis from the Eye proves that the remaining twenty-five percent are also more or less affected by hereditary and acquired disease conditions. Christian Science says, "There is no disease." Nature's records in the iris of the eye say there is no perfect health.

These established facts of greatly impaired longevity and universal abnormality of the human race would of themselves indicate that there is something radically wrong somewhere in the life habits of man, and that there is ample reason for the great health-reform movement which was started about the middle of the last century by the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany, and which has since swept, under many different forms and guises, all portions of the civilized world.

When people in general grow better acquainted with the laws underlying prenatal and postnatal child culture, natural living and the natural treatment of diseases, human beings will approach much more closely the normal in health, strength, beauty and longevity. Then will arise a true aristocracy, not of morbid, venous blue blood, but pulsating with the rich red blood of health.

However, to reach this ideal of perfect physical, mental and moral health, succeeding generations will have to adhere to the natural ways of living and of treating their ailments. It cannot be attained by the present generation. The enthusiasts who claim that they can, by their particular methods, achieve perfect health and live the full term of human life, are destined to disappointment. We are so handicapped by the mistakes of the past that the best which most of us adults can do is to patch up, to attain a reasonable measure of health and to approach somewhat nearer Nature's full allotment of life.

Wild animals living in freedom retain their full vigor unimpaired almost to the end of life. Hunters report that among the great herds of buffalo, elk and deer, the oldest bucks are the rulers and maintain their sovereignty over the younger males of the herd solely by reason of their superior strength and prowess. Premature old age, among human beings, as indicated by the early decay of physical and mental powers, is brought on solely by their violation of Nature's Laws in almost all the ordinary habits of life.

    Health Positive--Disease Negative

The freer the inflow of life force into the organism, the greater the vitality, the more there is of strength, of positive resisting and recuperating power.

In the book Harmonics of Evolution we are told that at the very foundation of the manifestation of life lies the principle of polarity, which expresses itself in the duality and unity of positive and negative affinity. The swaying to and fro of the positive and the negative, the desire to balance incomplete polarity, constitutes the very ebb and flow of life.

Disease is disturbed polarity. Exaggerated positive or negative conditions, whether physical, mental, moral or spiritual, tend to disease on the respective planes of being. Foods, medicines, suggestion and all the other different methods of therapeutic treatment exert on the individual subjected to them either a positive or a negative influence. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that the physician and every one who wishes to live and work in harmony with Nature's Laws should understand this all-important question of magnetic polarity.

Lowered vitality means lowered, slower and coarser vibration, and this results in lowered resistance to the accumulation of morbid matter, poisons, disease taints, germs and parasites. This is what we designate ordinarily as the negative condition.

Let us see whether we can explain this more fully by a homely but practical illustration: A great many of my readers have probably seen in operation in the summer amusement parks the "human roulette." This contrivance consists of a large wheel, board-covered, somewhat raised in the center, and sloping towards the circumference. The wheel rotates horizontally, evenly with the floor or ground. The merrymakers pay their nickels for the privilege of throwing themselves flat down on the wheel and attempting to cling to it while it rotates with increasing swiftness. While the wheel moves slowly, it is easy enough to cling to it; but the faster it revolves, the more strongly the centrifugal force tends to throw off the human flies who try to stick to it.

The increasing repelling power of the accelerated motion of the wheel may serve as an illustration of that which we call vigorous vibration, good vitality, natural immunity or recuperative power. This is the positive condition.

The more intense the action of the life force, the more rapid and vigorous are the vibratory activities of the atoms and molecules in the cells, and of the cells in the organs and tissues of the body. The more rapid and vigorous this vibratory activity, the more powerful is the repulsion and expulsion of morbid matter, poisons and germs of disease which try to encumber or destroy the organism.

    Health and Disease Resident in the Cell

We must not forget that health or disease, in the final analysis, is resident in the cell. Though a minute, microscopic organism, the cell is an independent living being, which is born, grows, eats, drinks, throws off waste matter, multiplies, ages and dies, just like man, the large cell. If the individual cell is well, man, the complex cell, is well also, and vice versa. From this it is apparent that in all our considerations of the processes of health, disease and cure, we have to deal primarily with the individual cell.

The vibratory activity of the cell may be lowered through the decline of vitality brought about in a natural way by advancing age, or in an artificial way through wrong habits of living, wrong thinking and feeling, overwork, unnatural stimulation and excesses of various kinds.

On the other hand, the inflow of vital force into the cells may be obstructed and their vibratory activity lowered by the accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the tissues, blood vessels and nerve channels of the body. Such clogging will interfere with the inflow of life force and with the free and harmonious vibration of the cells and organs of the body as surely as dust in a watch will interfere with the normal action and vibration of its wheels and balances.

From this it is evident that negative conditions may be brought about not only by hyperrefinement of the physical organism, but also by clogging it with waste and morbid matter which interfere with the inflow and distribution of the vital force. It also becomes apparent that in such cases the Nature Cure methods of eliminative treatment, such as pure food diet, hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic, osteopathy, etc., are valuable means of removing these obstructions and promoting the inflow and free circulation of the positive electric and magnetic life currents

Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph

As one of the primary causes of disease, we cited abnormal composition of blood and lymph. The human organism is made up of a certain number of elements in well-defined proportions. Chem-istry has discovered, so far, about seventeen of these elements in appreciable quantities and has ascertained their functions in the economy of the body. These seventeen elements must be present in the right proportions in order to insure normal texture, structure and functioning of the component parts and organs of the body.

The cells and organs receive their nourishment from the blood and lymph currents. Therefore, these must contain all the elements needed by the organism in the right proportions, and this, of course, depends upon the character and the combination of the food supply.

Every disease arising in the human organism from internal causes is accompanied by a deficiency in blood and tissues of certain important mineral elements [organic salts]. Undoubtedly, the majority of these diseases are caused by an unbalanced diet, or by food and drink poisoning. Wrong food combinations, on the one hand, create an overabundance of waste and morbid matter in the system and, on the other hand, fail to supply the positive mineral elements or organic salts on which depends the elimination of waste and systemic poisons from the body.

The great problem of natural dietetics and of natural medical treatment is, therefore, how to restore and maintain the positivity of the blood and of the organism as a whole through providing in food, drink and medicine an abundant supply of the positive mineral salts in organic form.

Accumulation of Morbid Matter and Poisons

This is the third of the primary causes of disease. We have learned how lowered vitality and the abnormal composition of thevital fluids favor the retention of systemic poisons in the body. If, in addition to this, food and drink contain too much of the waste-producing carbohydrates, hydrocarbons and proteins, and not enough of the eliminating positive mineral salts then waste and morbid materials are bound to accumulate in the system and this results in the clogging of the tissues with acid precipitates and earthy deposits.

Such accumulation of waste and morbid matter in blood and tissues creates the great majority of all diseases arising within the human organism. This will be explained fully in the following chapters which deal with the causation of acute and chronic disease.

More harmful and dangerous, and more difficult to eliminate than the different kinds of systemic poisons, that is, those which have originated within the body, are the drug poisons, especially when they are administered in the inorganic mineral form. Health is dependent upon an abundant supply of life force, upon the unobstructed, normal circulation of the vital fluids and upon perfect oxygenation and combustion. Anything that interferes with these essentials causes disease; anything that promotes them establishes health. Nothing so interferes with the inflow of the life force, with free and normal circulation of blood and lymph and with the oxygenation and combustion of food materials and systemic waste as the accumulation of morbid matter and poisons in the tissues of the body.

This I have endeavored to explain more fully in connection with lowered vitality. Let us now see how disease and health are affected by mental and emotional conditions.

    Mental and Emotional Influences
Our mental and emotional conditions exert a most powerful influence upon the inflow and distribution of vital force. The author of The Great Work [The Great Work: The Constructive Principle of Nature in Individual Life, by John Emmett Richardson {1853-1935}, Indio-American Book Company, Chicago, IL. 1907.] has described most graphically in the chapter on Self-Control how fear, worry, anxiety and all kindred emotions create in the system conditions similar to those of freezing; how these destructive vibrations congeal the tissues, clog the channels of life and paralyze the vital functions. He shows how the emotional conditions of impatience, irritability, anger, etc., have a heating, corroding effect upon the tissues of the body.

In like manner, all other destructive emotional vibrations obstruct the inflow and normal distribution of the life forces in and through the organism, while on the other hand the constructive emotions of faith, hope, cheerfulness, happiness and love exert a relaxing, harmonizing influence upon the tissues, blood vessels and nerve channels of the body, thus opening wide the floodgates of the life forces, and raising the discords of weakness, disease and discontent to the harmonics of buoyant health and happiness.

Let us see just how mind controls matter and how it affects the changing conditions of the physical body. Life manifests through vibration. It acts on the mass by acting through its minutest particles. Changes in the physical body are wrought by vibratory changes in atoms, molecules and cells. Health is satisfied polarity, that is, the balancing of the positive and negative elements in harmonious vibration. Anything that interferes with the free, vigorous and harmonious vibration of the minute parts and particles composing the human organism tends to disturb polarity and natural affinity, thus causing discord or disease.

When we fully realize these facts we shall not stand so much in awe of our physical bodies. In the past we have been thinking of the body as a solid and imponderable mass difficult to control and to change. This conception left us in a condition of utter helplessness and hopelessness in the presence of weakness and disease.

We now think of the body as composed of minute corpuscles rotating around one another within the atom at relatively immense distances. We know that in similar manner the atoms vibrate in the molecule, the molecules in the cell, the cells in the organ and the organs in the body; the whole capable of being changed by a change in the vibrations of its particles.

Thus the erstwhile solid physical mass appears plastic and fluidic, readily swayed and changed by the vibratory harmonies or discords of thoughts and emotions as well as by foods, medicines and therapeutic treatment.

Under the old conception the mind fell readily under the control of the body and became the abject slave of its physical conditions, swayed by fear and apprehension under every sensation of physical weakness, discomfort or pain. The servants lorded it with a high hand over the master of the house, and the result was chaos. Under the new conception, control is placed where it belongs. It is assumed by the real master of the house, the Soul-Man, and the servants, the physical members of the body, remain obedient to his bidding.

This is the new man, the ideal progeny of a new and higher philosophy. Understanding the structure of the body, the laws of its being and the operation of the life elements within it, the superman retains perfect poise and confidence under the most trying circumstances. Animated by an abounding faith in the supremacy of the healing forces within him and sustained by the power of his sovereign will, he governs his body as perfectly as the artist controls his violin and attunes its vibrations to Nature's harmonies of health and happiness.

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* Abstracts from the Naturopathy Classic "Philosophy and Practice of Nature Cure" by Henry Lindlahr, MD (1922 Ed.).

Shiatsu

Introduction

Shiatsu is a Japanese word meaning "finger pressure". Shiatsu uses hand pressure and manipulative techniques to adjust the body's physical structure and its natural inner energies, to help ward off illness, and maintain good health.

Shiatsu is characterized by its great simplicity. It grew from earlier forms of massage, called Anma in Japan (Anmo or Tuina in China) which use rubbing, stroking, squeezing, tapping, pushing, and pulling to influence the muscles and circulatory systems of the body. Shiatsu, by contrast, uses few techniques and to an observer it would appear that little is happening - merely a still, relaxed pressure at various points on the body with the hand or thumb, an easy leaning of the elbows or a simple rotation of a limb. It almost seems a lazy activity. But underneath the uncomplicated movements much is happening internally to the body's energy on a subtle level.

Subtle Energy in the Body

The Oriental tradition describes the world in terms of energy. All things are considered to be manifestations of a vital universal force, called 'Ki' by the Japanese, ''Chi", or 'Qi', in China. Ki is the primary substance and motive force of life. It is most often described as "energy", but Ki is also synonymous with breath in the Japanese and Chinese languages. In Oriental medicine, harmony of Ki within the human body is conceived as being essential to health. 

History of Shiatsu

The Development of Shiatsu in Japan
Shiatsu was developed in the early part of the 20th century by a Japanese practitioner, Tamai Tempaku, who incorporated the new Western medical knowledge of anatomy and physiology into several older meth ods of treatment. Originally he called it "Shiatsu Ryoho", or "finger pressure way of healing", then "Shiatsu Ho ", "finger pressure method". Now known simply as "Shiatsu", it was officially recognized as a therapy by the Japanese Government in 1964, so distinguishing it from the older form of traditional massage, Anma. The role of shiatsu therapists is to diagnose and treat according to the principles of Oriental medicine.

Chinese origins of Shiatsu
The earliest known book of Chinese medicine is called the 'Huang Ti Nei Ching', 'The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine'. In it the legendary Emperor questions his physician, Ch-I Po, about problems of medicine ,and health among his people. In one well known passage Ch'i Po explains that different forms of medicine were developed in different re gions according to the prevailing climate and the resulting constitutional problems from which people suffered. Treatment using herbs, needles and heat were attributed to Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western re gions, but development of physical therapy including massage and breathing exercise was accorded to the people of China's central region. Thus began the long association of massage and manipulative therapy with special physical exercise, breathing techniques, and healing med itations which represented the highest level of Chinese medicine. These came to be known collectively as "Tao Yin", methods for guiding the subtle energies within the body to flow smoothly. Shiatsu is the modern inheritor of this tradition. 

Chinese medicine was introduced to Japan by a Buddhist monk in the 6th century. The Japanese developed and refined many of its methods to suit their own physiology, temperament, and climate. In particular they developed the manual healing and diagnostic arts, evolving special techniques of abdominal diagnosis, treatment, and abdominal massage.

Styles of Shiatsu

Many early Shiatsu practitioners developed their own style and some, including Tokojiro Namikoshi and Shizuto Masunaga, founded schools that helped establish Shiatsu as a therapy. There are many different styles of Shiatsu today. Some concentrate on "acupressure (acupuncture) points". Some emphasise more general work on the body or along the pathways of energy to influence the Ki that flows in them. Others highlight diagnostic systems, such as the "Five Element'' system or the macro-biotic approach. But all of these are based on traditional Chinese-medicine.

Zen Shiatsu

Masunaga incorporated his experience of Shiatsu into his studies of Western psychology and Chinese medicine; he also refined the existing methods of diagnosis. His extended system incorporated special exercises, known as "Makko Ho', to stimulate the flow of Ki, and he developed a set of guiding principles to make the techniques more effective. He called his system "Zen Shiatsu" after the simple and direct approach to spirituality of the Zen Buddhist monks in Japan.

The Chinese Approach to Understanding the Body and Health

You may notice a circularity in the logic of Chinese medicine. Westerners think of cause and effect as a linear progression of ideas and events from A, through B, to C. Eastern philosophy regards events as mutually conditioned, arising together. They are not seen as distinct from the environment in which they occur. The background is as important as the fore-ground. An example is given here to help to clarify the difference.

A headache is not just an event in the head, according to Chinese medicine, nor is it merely a pain, or something to be stopped without regard for its origins, nor even treated on the same basis as someone else's headache. Rather, it is an obstruction of Ki, related to the overall energy patterns in the whole body of the particular individual, their circumstances, and lifestyle. Treatment might involve work on the arms or legs as well as (or instead of) the head and will bring more lasting and satisfactory changes than will an attempt to block the superficial symptoms.

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* Edited extract from Paul Lundberg’s ‘The New Book of Shiatsu’, as obtained from ShiatsuSociety.Org