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Bowel Cleanse - is it really beneficial?

While I was at the 2009 USANA convention I attended the Sanoviv dinner. It was an amazing opportunity to see the testimonials of numerous people who have experienced enormous benefit from this wonderful holistic hospital. There were 3 people on my table who had been at Sanoviv, and I was impressed to hear that there is research evidence of the benefits of colonic irrigation.

If, however, the back door approach is a little too severe for you, I found this interesting article about bowel cleansing using oral herbal products.

Personally I use the USANA supplements and foods along with Fybergy, which is a drink containing both soluble and insoluble fibre, for bowel health. Ask me about it - contact me on www.holisticdoctor.usana.com!

Meanwhile I am saving up to go to SAnoviv - www.sanoviv.com - so take a look at this amazing place! If you deicde to take a trip to help your health, mention my name (Email me for my referral code) and you will receive a discount of US$100!

And take a look at what Stacy Zimmerman has to say!

Love & best wishes,

Alison

Dr Alison Grimston

Holistic Doctor and Healer

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This is the blog of Dr Alison Grimston, a United Kingdom GP and spiritual healer who works with animals and people. Here she offers insights and information on integrating the best of complementary and scientific medicine in human and animal care. Disclaimer: The content of our website is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor relating to any medical condition.

 

A Healthy Body with Colon Cleanse

Colon cleanse is important for our health. This is because our colon is the most important part of the body. This is because everything that we consume, from the food we eat to the liquid we drink, have to pass through the colon. This is an important part of the body since this takes water from food wastes in the small intestine.

Daily bowel movement is important for our body's overall health. Our body should eliminate food at least 18 to 24 hours after eating. And when a person does not have at least one bowel movement a day, this can make you feel uncomfortable and we are also putting our body at risk to serious health problems. This is because regular bowel movement can help prevent the build up of toxins in the colon that might be trapped in faecal matter in the colon walls. The build up of toxins can lead to gastrointestinal disorders and disease. The build up of toxin can even lead to colon cancer which is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Regular daily bowel movement can also decrease the build up of faecal matter. Increase amount of faecal matter in the colon can lead to an increase in the weight of your colon by up to ten times its original weight. Thus, natural colon cleanse is very important and essential.

Natural colon cleanse can help release years of toxic faecal matter build up in the body. When the colon is not cleansed, this can lead to toxins overloading the colon, digestive system and even the blood stream. Cleansing of colon the natural way is important as this uses cleansing supplements that do not contain harsh chemicals.

Natural cleansing supplements are made of natural plants ingredients. This is uses plants like psyllium and herbs instead of chemicals. Thus, with this type of cleansing, your body can react to the product naturally. Another advantage is that the herbs used in these supplements have natural disinfectant properties. This property helps eliminate any worms and parasites that your colon might contain and eliminating these parasites can lead to less pain and bloating.

Another benefit of cleaning is weight loss. This is because pounds of impacted faecal matter are expelled with this process. So your body becomes lighter, less bloated and you can even feel more energetic.

But how do you know if you need colon cleanse? Some symptoms of an overloaded colon are bloating, constipation, fatigue, and the feeling that there is more to be eliminated after completing a bowel movement. You might also have headaches, mental and physical sluggishness, joint pain, bad skin and restless sleep.

Irregular bowel movement is often due to people not eating enough fiber and water in their diets. And build up of toxins can also be due to too much consumption of caffeine, deep fried foods, meats, soda, refined sugar and white flour. But with natural colon cleanse, its natural plant ingredient can naturally absorb water and expands the colon to remove these toxins: making colon cleanse a very important process to a healthy body.

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Stace Zimmerman is an Internet Marketer who owns & maintains many health and wellness websites. He is the author of numerous articles on health, nutrition colon cleanse & weight loss. Check out his site for lots more information on healthy weight loss through natural body cleansing.

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

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Being Fit is all to do with Your State of Mind

Have you ever wondered who has the responsibility for you being fit? Is it your parents, your doctor, your boss?

Nope, only you are responsible for whether or not you are fit.

When we were kids we may have had little control over what foods appeared on the table. We did however control what we put into our mouths. Even as babies we spit out what we did not like, much to the chagrin of our parents.

As kids we loved to play, and exercise came naturally to us as we ran outside, played with skipping ropes or rode our bikes. We exercised because it was fun.

As we age, exercise becomes more of a chore, or at least difficult to fit into our busy lifestyles. Our food choices are numerous, but many of them are not healthy for us, often again because of our “busy-ness”. As we age and become more capable of making food and exercise choices of our own, the choices we make determine how fit we are.

Did you ever stop and wonder how we make those choices? Are we fit or unhealthy because of where we live, who our friends are, or where we work? Do we make poor choices because we believe commercials on TV or the radio? Our minds are a wonderful piece of machinery that influences the outcome of our lives. We make decisions every day that may have either a negative or positive impact on our life.

What kind of choices do you make that influence your state of fitness? Do you choose to eat a Big Mac at lunch versus a fruit salad and skinless chicken sandwich without the mayo? How about making your own sandwich at home, so that you know exactly what went into it? Do you choose to drink 3 or 4 cups of coffee instead of drinking any water?

What choices do you make when it comes to exercise? When entering the building do you head for the elevator or the stairs? Do you park near the entrance of a building or do you park far away so you have to walk to the entrance? Do you walk to the corner store or do you drive your car?

We make choices every day that have an impact on our health, on whether or not we gain weight or lose it, and that influence our potential for heart disease, diabetes and other diseases.

Do you have the mindset for a healthy body, one that is fit, trim and fully functioning? Do you instead have a mindset that brings junk food and a sedentary lifestyle into your daily routine?

Being fit is a state of mind because how we think about nutrition and exercise influences what choices we make regarding the foods we eat and the types and amounts of exercise we get each day. Every day we have another chance to make healthy lifestyle choices concerning to smoke or not, to drink alcoholic beverages or not and to eat candy, high sugar and fat content foods or not. We choose whether we drink fizzy drinks and coffee or water and milk.

We are influenced in our choices by what we see, hear and witness throughout our life. We were influenced in our eating habits and the foods we grew accustomed to by the foods and eating habits of our parents. Those habits can be replaced with other habits either healthier ones or ones that are unhealthy. Being fit is a choice we make and an action we take based on what our mind says is good or bad.

Make the decision now to make a difference in the choices you make – it is your life, and your future! Live a healthy life!

Make a start today – increase your exercise levels, smarten up your eating habits, or add in pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements! See how soon you feel the difference.

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Dr Alison Grimston is a holistic doctor who works with complementary therapies and nutritional supplements. She only recommends the best, pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements, such as those on www.holisticdoctor.usana.com.

Disclaimer: The content of our website is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor relating to any medical condition.

Fitness Myths versus Fitness Truths

As in most things in life there are myths and truths about fitness. Can you tell the difference between what is myth and what is truth when it comes to fitness?

Fitness and exercise leads to much speculation. When it comes to exercise there is a lot of "water cooler talk" about exercise such as our myth number 1: if you do specific exercises you can take the weight off a specific body part. Sorry folks but this is myth. You can't do a certain exercise and expect that it is going to work some magic on your hips, or on your buttocks. In exercise jargon this is referred to "spot training" and it is just not possible to predetermine how your body will use the exercise you just did. An example is that when you run, you are burning fat all over your body not just the fat contained on your legs. You can however choose to cross train making sure you choose weight training because you know that it will help to tone muscles. Doing sit-ups will strengthen your abs because it works those muscles.

Another popular myth is that if you are female and choose to lift weights, then you will bulk up like a body builder. The truth is that women do not have enough testosterone in their bloodstreams to build large muscles. The truth is that women tend to lose inches when they strength train. There are, however, many physical benefits for women who weight train including an increased metabolism, a decreased risk for osteoporosis, and increased strength; you will also lose weight; but sorry, you will not build bulky muscles.

Most individuals feel that for exercise to really show a benefit you have to exercise hard and often. That simply isn't true. There are many health benefits to doing moderate exercise activity including reducing your risk of heart disease and stroke. Even very busy individuals who can't seem to find a spare 30 minutes a day to exercise can find 10 minutes here or 10 minutes there to do something whether it is climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or doing some push-ups or crunches during your lunch break. Many office workers are turning to taking a brisk walk around the building at lunchtime. Any exercise, no matter how or when you can fit it into your business routine, is better than no exercise.

There is no magic pill or one exercise that will flatten your stomach. You can't get a flat stomach by doing abdominal exercises. You can slowly strip away the fat from your stomach by doing a combination of cardiovascular/aerobic exercise and strength training along with eating a healthy well-balanced diet to achieve the results you want. Abdominal exercises can achieve muscle mass in your abdominal area, but you won't be able to see muscle definition unless you strip away the fat that has gathered there by increasing your metabolism and burning calories. For this you will need a combination of aerobic exercises and strength training.

It is important that, if you want to burn fat, you watch the total number of calories burned during exercise and not just the percentage of fat calories burned. If you walk, bike or swim fast, you will burn more calories per minute of exercise, therefore burning more total calories over the entire time that you are exercising. It is not necessarily how many fat calories you burn during your workout but how many total calories your burn that will allow you to lose weight.

Perhaps one of the biggest myths in the exercise area is that of "no pain, no gain". You should not be feeling pain while exercising. Pain is your body's communication to you that something is wrong. Exercising does not need to be painful for you to expect a good result. You can breathe hard and sweat a lot especially at the height of your workout, and you may feel a slight discomfort during exercise and stretches, but you should not be in pain. There is a difference between muscle fatigue (feeling the burn) and muscle or joint pain which is a sharp and very uncomfortable pain experienced during movement. You need to listen to your body if it is giving you pain signals, as you need to stop what you are doing and rest so that you can heal.

What do you believe when it comes to fitness? Are you believing in fitness myth or fitness truth?

For optimal fitness I recommend regular exercise, good quality, low GI foods, adequate rest and relaxation, and a pharmaceutical-grade, broad spectrum antioxidant and chelated mineral supplement, with added Omega 3 fatty acid (again of pharmaceutical quality).

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Dr Alison Grimston is a holistic doctor who works with complementary therapies and nutritional supplements. She only recommends the best, pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements, such as those on www.holisticdoctor.usana.com.

 

Disclaimer: The content of our website is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor relating to any medical condition.

Why Probiotics?

Why Probiotics?

Of late, we’ve been hearing the words probiotics being thrown about a lot in the realm of health and fitness. The health benefits are the same that fermented food like yoghurt gives us. They’re dietary supplements of live bacteria or yeast that are healthy for the human body because:

·        They help minimize the effect of antibiotics: While antibiotics are useful in fighting infections and preventing new ones from targeting your body, their overuse can lead to a suppression of your natural immune system because new strains of bacteria that are resistant to most known antibiotics develop in your body when you take too many of them. Probiotics help nullify this effect and boost your immune system so that your body is naturally able to fight infection.

·        They aid the digestive process: It’s not enough to just watch what we eat; we also need to ensure that the nutrients in the food we put in our bodies is effectively absorbed and that we benefit from them. Probiotics help in the digestive process and enhance the absorption of protein, calcium, phosphorous and fat.

·        They prevent vaginal and urinary tract infections in women: There are various healthy bacteria in a woman’s vagina that help maintain hygiene and health. Factors like oral contraceptives, too many steroidal treatments, menopause, spermicides, diabetes, antibiotics, and the reduction of estrogen due to external factors or age kill these bacteria and cause infections of the vaginal and urinary tracts. Probiotics prevent embarrassing infections and helps maintain good hygiene.

·        They lower blood pressure and cholesterol: Clinical trials have shown that lactic acid bacteria are effective in reducing both total and LDL cholesterol levels in people who are healthy. And the peptides produced during the fermentation of milk and other lactic products are thought to be useful in controlling and lowering blood pressure.

·        They prevent colon cancer: Cancer is a dreadful disease, and when it affects your colon, you reach a stage where your intestines are blocked and you’re unable to eat anything at all. Probiotics help maintain good colon health by minimizing the carcinogenic effects of cooked meat.

If you’re allergic to dairy products or don’t eat them for other reasons, probiotics are the best way to gain all these health benefits.

By-line:

This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of how to become a radiology tech at her blog The Heath Tech's Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.

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This is the site of Dr Alison Grimston, a United Kingdom GP and spiritual healer who works with animals and people. Here she offers insights and information on integrating the best of complementary and scientific medicine in human and animal care. For more information on how nutritional supplements can transform your life see http://www.holisticdoctor.usana.com

Disclaimer: The content of our website is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor relating to any medical condition.

Affirmations

Here's some welcome advice from my good friend Marnetta Viegas of Relax Kids...

It is so important that children wake up feeling great inside and grow up knowing that they are special. Children with a deep sense of worth and self esteem will find life easier and grow up enjoying each moment and challenge.

Affirmations are a powerful tools to help boost a child's self-esteem. Getting children to repeat a positive quality or statement about themselves is key to developing their feeling of self worth and value.

Repeating positive affirmations brings calmness, positivity as well as power and inner strength.

Here are some positive qualities that you can use and encourage children to talk about, think about, feel, draw, repeat, practice, affirm, write and act out.

I am special
I am great
I am unique
I am confident
I am loved
I am powerful
I am courageous
I am peaceful
I am happy
I am determined
I am lucky
I am calm
I am bright
I am talented
I am clever

The more children (and adults, actually) think and feel these qualities, the more the qualities will be a natural part of their life.

This is something that we could all learn from – related to my earlier postings on the gratitude dance.

Take a moment to look at the Relax Kids CDs available from my site.

I have found these CDs and products AMAZING in helping my own kids and those of my patients with sleeping and behavioural disturbance, low mood, aggression, self esteem, bullying, or just plain feeling out of sorts!

Love & light,

Alison x

The British Holistic Medical Association Conference

Hello there, Naturally Healthy People,

Today I want to tell you about the British Holistic Medical Association (BHMA).

This is an organization of doctors, therapists and others whose aim is to promote holistic practice in health-care and its organization.

The 25th Anniversary conference is on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th April, and I can't wait!

The Silver Jubilee conference is titled Medicine as if People Matter: Patients, Practitioners and Places. Booking forms are available on the website, and I am sure they will be able to fit any late applicants in! Claire Rayner, president of the Patients Association, will be opening the event on Friday afternoon.

Here is some of the information about the conference from the website:

"The first day of the conference will focus o­n the surroundings in which we practise and how important they are for enabling person-centred healthcare. Keynote presentations will be given by Dr Sam Everington and Dr David Reilly. Sam, who is currently a council member of the BritishMedical Association,is a GP at Bromley by Bow, a community regeneration project where enterprise, education, environment and health go hand in hand. David Reilly, another well known figure in holistic healthcare, is lead consultant physician at the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital which has set out to create a place of beauty and healing, and in so doing offers a new model for a better healing environment.

A main feature of this first day will be an exhibition of entries to the BHMA-Nutri Centre Good Practice Award 2008 – Healing Spaces in Holistic Healthcare. This award is open to organisations whose surroundings reflect how architecture, interior design, the use of sound, light, colour, or new ways of using healthcare space creatively can empower holistic healthcare and co-creation. The exhibition will be opened by Claire Rayner, well known as a campaigning journalist andnow President of the Patients Association. The presentation of the winning Good Practice Awards will be given by Sunand Prasad, President of RIBA at the evening reception.

Saturday's theme is patients and practitioners, and how to make people once again our healthcare system's over-riding concern. The BHMA says that money, technology, performance measures and management systems aren't enough; that the NHS can only be sustainable if it fosters genuine participation in health creation, and supports staff to deliver patient-centred and values-led care.

This second day of the conference will focus on patient and practitioner resilience and person-centred approaches to healthcare. Speakers include:

• Harry Cayton Chief Executive of Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence - will talk about what health-care stands to gain from putting people first. 
• Professor Bob Sang Professor of Patient and Public Involvement, Southbank University - will talk about Patient-led Initiatives.
• Jan Alcoea freelance writer - will give a personal account of empowerment and recovery.
• Chris Johns Professor of Nursing, University of Bedfordshire - will talk about mindful health-care practice.  
• Workshops will explore: healthcare that integrates mind, body and spirit; communication and informed choice; mindful practice and a return to the values that first inspired us to become practitioners. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the BHMA’s quarter century of promoting holistic healthcare. Add your voice to the growing number who believe sustainable healthcare means delivering medicine as if people matter." I love the BHMA meetings - they are a rare opportunity to network with people who share my feelings about holistic healthcare. Most of the doctors that I come into contact with are so focused on evidence based medicine that they don't seem to see the individual before them. It is all down to today's evidence-based training, which is fine for comparing two similar pharmaceuticals, as long as you do not wish to include any element of an individual patient's self - healing! The journal for the BHMA is also fantastic, well worth subscribing to. With articles on art, sculpture, and poetry and how they help health, and with lots of information on complementary therapies in the NHS, it is inspirational. Keep Naturally Healthy! Love & light, Alison x

An Orange tongue - holistic doctor's view

Orange tongues!

A divorce coach and therapist colleague has a client who has developed an orange tongue.

Jackie Walker does some amazing work with higher self therapy clearing, and found that a client she had been working with and encouraging to drink more water (on discovering that she drank virtually none) developed an orange tongue.

As a GP I know that we don't have any answers for orange tongues, and we would all suggest that the patient just see how it improves - "watchful waiting". Candida (thrush) tends to give a white coating or just redness and soreness, while "geographic" tongue is just a white patch that is constantly changing, for which we don't have an answer and that can cause pain.

As a holistic doctor I would recommend firstly rehydration, and secondly consult a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine - they use tongue signs prominently in their assessments in a way that most of my (non-holistic) colleagues would find difficult to relate to.

Some of the responses that Jackie has received are outlined below, including some of the signs that a traditional Chinese medic would use.

The problems that need to be watched out for with tongues would be a lesion, particularly an ulcer, that stays in the same place for 3 weeks or more, especially if there are associated enlarged glands - that needs to be referred to ensure it is not malignant. That does not seem to be the situation here.

Water is essential to health and well-being - it amazes me how little water some people drink. I would recommend approximately 2 litres of water per day, more in hot weather or if you are in an over-heated environment. If you suffer from incontinence (I am one of the doctors at the local incontinence clinic) we recommend 1.5 to 2l fluid intake if possible, but caffeine and theophylline (in tea) make incontinence worse.  Do try herbal teas and even just hot water - I drink this regularly, and it is just as comforting on a cold day as tea or coffee!

Regards,
Alison

Some of Jackie's responses:

A redder than normal tongue would indicate excess heat. A paler than normal might indicate excess cold. A dark tongue indicates some form of stagnation. A purple tongue could indicate a problem with liver chi. A yellow moss on the tongue indicates excess heat and the deeper the yellow, the greater the heat. Heat is yang and so is dryness. As red and yellow together make orange, you may be right to suggest that the colour is associated with dehydration.

Yellow coating on the tongue, dark urine and ruddy complexion, aversion to heat and attraction to icy drinks etc, may suggest excess yang and body heat.

Dark red tongue or pale tongue may suggest liver stagnancy.

If the orange colouring of the tongue has appeared with the sudden increase in water intake, I would suggest reducing it again to the  level it was before and increasing it much more slowly, with the supplement of some detoxing herbs, recommended by a herbalist.

The healing power of a country walk

Hi there!

I have had a wonderful holiday in Devon, very relaxing, in our favourite holiday cottage down there.

The week before last, however, I went for a fantastic walk at Exceat, which is the estuary for the River Cuckmere in Sussex.

It is right next to Friston Forest, where there are 2 good car parks, if the one on the coast side of the road is full. In addition, when the kids are with me they are always happy to see the ice cream van waiting at the Exceat car park!

Willow had an absolute whale of a time, running around, sniffing rabbit smells, swimming in the water, and being very good around the sheep. I only needed to put her on the lead a couple of times.

It was a beautiful morning on 9th February. The thick frost gave the whole view an eerie appearance, with the mist-shrouded South Downs just visible, although watery and incomplete in the early morning. I parked at the exceat car park this time, although as it was just before 9 o'clock I had beaten the ice cream van!

Willow plunged into the ditch - being a labrador, she loves swimming!

I stood for a minute or so watching the inlet - and saw a heron, a dabchick (or little grebe, diving for impossible amounts of time before reappearing where you would least expect it) and a pair of beautiful shelduck. How calming the sound of the water lapping at the edge sounds! Skylarks, reputedly dwindling, are common around the South Downs, and their songs were competing high on either side of me.

There were several people with dogs, all friendly - people tend to be much happier and great each other when walking their dogs, especially with the sun making the mist rise on a beautiful day.  The place seemed unnaturally quiet in this relatively busy corner of the South East - by 11, when I left, there were many more families enjoying the countryside.

I could see the sheep scattered like chicken pox on the distant hills of the downs, and in the next field, the beef cattle, bunched up more. On the seaward horizon was the famous outline of the coastguard cottages, focus of many a painting and photograph from this region.

Seeing a cormorant sunning its wings on the opposite bank of the river Cuckmere reminded me of Spike Milligan's famous poem -

The Common Cormorant

    The common cormorant (or shag)
    Lays eggs inside a paper bag
    The reason you will see no doubt
    Is to keep the lightning out.
    But what these unobservant birds
    Have never noticed is that herds
    Of wandering bears may come with buns
    And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

Isn't that just wonderful?

I will continue this post next week as out of time (again)....

Enjoy your English Country Cottage Holidays! (We did!)

LOL
Alison

The Healing Power of Flowers

Hi there, naturally healthy people!

I have been using Bach flower remedies successfully for a number of years now, although not for clients usually as it takes too long to select appropriate mixes for an individual - I think we learn so much from selecting our own as there is an element of personality self-analysis involved. Not enough time in the NHS 10 minutes, of course...

I am doing the level 1 training course for Bach Flower remedies (among all the other courses I am doing) - will let you know any advances as I work through it!

I was interested therefore to find this useful post by Vonalda Utterback on the internet today.

Healing Power of Flowers
Whether as bouquets in our homes and offices or blooming in our gardens, flowers have a wondrous ability to bring joy and rejuvenation simply by their presence in our lives. While their beauty alone can uplift us, according to thousands of flower-essence practitioners around the world, it is the unique energy of each flower, also known as its vibrational “essence,” that holds the power to truly heal.

“Flower essences work on the mental and emotional level to restore health,” explains Nancy Buono, a Bach Foundation registered practitioner and international educator and consultant in the field of flower essences based in Tempe, Ariz. “Our body, mind, and spirit are linked. When we are blocked emotionally, our physical body is affected. Essences facilitate physical healing by clearing the emotional distress and increasing the energy that’s available to the body.”

Although flower remedies have been used in various ways throughout history by holistic healers, it was Edward Bach, MD, a British bacteriologist, pathologist, and homeopath who first formalized their use in the 1930s, bringing flower essences to the general public. Bach was a pioneer in psychosomatic medicine, recognizing the impact of stress and other emotional states on health. He developed flower essences in response to his belief that physical illness was a manifestation of emotional imbalance. Convinced that there were substances in nature that would correct these imbalances, he began to experiment with various flowers. Prior to his death in 1936, Bach had created a complete system of 38 flower essences prepared from the flowers of wild plants, trees, or bushes. Bach felt that these 38 essences, when used singly or in various combinations, corresponded with all the basic human emotions.

Reaching Far and Wide
What began with Bach has now spread throughout the world. Today, according to Buono, there are more than 800 certified Bach flower remedy practitioners in 40 countries. In addition, hundreds of other companies, along with the original Nelsonbach in England, create and distribute flower essences. Buono estimates 5,000-plus flower essences are available worldwide, with branded blends from Hawaii, Australia, Alaska, California, and numerous locations in Europe.

Although various methods are used to create essences, most companies employ the manner developed by Bach, which involves floating delicate blooms in pure spring water under full sun for a number of hours (or boiling more hardy varieties) to release the unique vibrational energy from the flowers. After the essence has been captured in the water, brandy is often used as a preservative and mixed with the flower tincture. That mixture is then combined with water. Drops from the preserved original tincture are further diluted in brandy to make the formulas that can be purchased in stores. At that point, very little trace of the original flower is scientifically detectable. Flower essences are usually taken orally from a dropper bottle, typically four drops four times per day. Drops can also be placed in water or other beverages and sipped throughout the day.

Put to the Test
As with many complementary therapies, flower remedies have gained their popularity based primarily on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Although there is a dearth of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (the gold standard for the scientific community), many published case studies exist—a number of which can be found at www.bachcentre.com and www.flowersociety.org, the official website of the Flower Essence Society (FES). FES is an international membership organization based on flower essences that funds scientific research studies using double-blind, placebo-controlled protocols.

A 2001 preliminary study on flower essence therapy published in The International Journal of Healing and Caring, an online journal, was one of the first of its kind to attempt to quantify, scientifically measure, and document the clinical effects of flower essences on the treatment of depression. The results of the small study, funded by FES, were positive, recommending the use of flower essences adjunctly to help resolve mild to moderate depression. A 2003 case report published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine details how flower remedies were used successfully along with antidepressant medication and psychotherapy to successfully treat individuals with chronic depressive disorders.

Julia Brayshaw, MA, a licensed mental health counselor and FES-certified practitioner in Olympia, Wash., would like to see more research studies on flower essences. “Studies bring validity and awareness to our choices,” Brayshaw says. “However, the problem is that standard double-blind studies are not, in general, the best-suited research design for flower essences, mainly because essence prescribing is so individualized—it is an art rather than an exact science. Each individual requires unique treatment. Therefore, anecdotal evidence and case studies become very important in flower-essence research—and the more of these we can collect, the more we can learn and see patterns.”

Up Close and Personal
Although Brayshaw appreciates the written evidence, she doesn’t need it to know that flower essences work—for herself, her family, and the clients in her private psychotherapy practice. Brayshaw has used essences for 13 years, having discovered them after a health crisis hit in 1992 and she began experiencing symptoms that mimicked Crohn’s disease.

After medical testing provided no answers, she turned to naturopathy and received relief from her physical symptoms through the use of herbs and supplements. However, in addition to her severe digestive problems, she was also experiencing “bouts of terror.” Through flower remedies, beginning first with aspen (Populus tremula), whose primary indicators are fears and worries of unknown origin, she began to treat her emotional state. “I turned to essences to address my states of terror and to tap into the underlying spiritual causality of my state of being,” Brayshaw says. “The essences worked beautifully for this. The states of terror were eased, and the essences initiated a whole process and journey of awareness of my soul challenges, life themes, and approach to life. Flower essences were the first thing in my life that worked to heal on all three levels—the physical, emotional, and spiritual.”

After her own positive experience with essences, she went on to use them successfully with her two daughters and began incorporating them into her therapy practice in 1996. “In my practice some of my clients have been able to discontinue antidepressant use through the help of flower essences combined with psychotherapy,” she says. “One example is the case of a middle-aged man who had tried several times to discontinue the use of Prozac, which he had been taking for six years. Each of his attempts was unsuccessful because without the drug, his mind would race in obsessive thought loops. While taking a combination that included essences of arnica (Arnica montana) and scarlet monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis) to address his anger and his difficult relationship with his body, this ‘squirrel cage’ process totally resolved, and he was able to completely discontinue his use of Prozac, from which he remains free five years later.”

Buono has experienced similarly gratifying results with essences for the past 20 years in using them for her family of six and with countless friends and clients. Her first experience with flower remedies began when her normally healthy 5-year-old daughter became quite ill after the birth of Buono’s second child. “For an entire year after my second baby was born, my daughter was sick all the time,” Buono recalls. “I discovered Bach flower essences and ended up giving her holly. I knew she was having a difficult time with the shift in our relationship, and holly is indicated for feelings of jealousy. I could immediately see a change in her, and within a week her chronic earaches and her shingles were gone.”

Although science may not be convinced, for Buono and Brayshaw as well as thousands of other devotees around the world, flower essences provide an inexpensive, gentle option for healing emotional and physical pain. “When we are able to attune to a flower, we can understand why flower remedies intrinsically hold the power to heal our relationships with our bodies and with the whole of the natural world,” says Brayshaw. “Flowers captivate all of our senses, helping us to joyfully inhabit our bodies and celebrate our connection to physical life.”
-By Vonalda Utterback, CN

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Information presented is of a general nature for educational and informational purposes only. Statements about products and health conditions have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Products and information presented herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional.

Drugs versus diet in diabetes

Dr John Briffa, a nutritional doctor who works privately in London, spends a lot of time analysing the evidence for frequently recommended (to us doctors and the public) health advice.  Goodness only knows how he makes time for all this - all I can suggest is that he is better at focus than I am!

He recently blogged about diabetes, and how a low carbohydrate diet is actually a very good way forward for these people.  This of course flies in the face of traditional diet advice to diabetics, whereby it is considered essential that carbohydrate is eaten with every single meal.  He also comments on the use of polypharmacy in diabetes, something that I feel intuitively reluctant to do, yet continue with as I trust the evidence at my fingertips that says there are morbidity and mortality advantages in reducing blood pressure, cholesterol (triglyceride and LDL) and HbA1c.  He calls this into question.

On reading his blog post (click here or see below), I felt compelled to reply:

Hi John,

Great post again.  My gut feeling is that we are overtreating patients with diabetes, but it is rare that I can feel armed with sufficient evidence to go against the flow of polypharmacy with the sole aim of continually reducing HbA1c, LDL. Triglycerides, blood pressure & weight.

As far as diet is concerned, I feel that it is so individual that I cannot give advice to any particular patient. The leaflets that we are armed with continually push the low saturated fat, high carbohydrate diet as you suggest. 

One eye-opening approach that I have found is nutritional kinesiology, which could result in a taylor made diet for each individual, leading them to have more energy, feel great & reduce their blood sugar. However, insufficient practitioners and the skewed funding of an NHS that considers staffing hours more expensive than multiple repeat prescriptions make this option for NHS patients unlikely to be taken forward. Add to that the skew for evidence based medicine, focussing on large trials rather than inidvidual cases (to reduce bias, as we know) and many of these complementary approaches will not get a look in.

We doctors can only advise to the extent that our education allows us, and your articles are always eye opening - keep up the good work!

KR
Alison Grimston
www.holisticdoctoronline.com

Click here to read Dr Briffa's post