Reflexology

Reflexology may be described as a specialized form of massage of the feet and less commonly of the hands. Performed to detect and correct imbalances in the body that may be causing ill health, it is, however, much more than simply massage.


The setting should be peaceful. The therapist takes a case history of past and present health and current lifestyle. The treatment itself as it progresses should reveal any other problems. The therapy can be quite safely and effectively practiced by a non therapist if a trained professional is not available.

The person who is to receive the therapy should be seated in a comfortable position, barefoot and with the legs supported.

Clean and dry both feet thoroughly before checking them for corns, calluses, swelling, deformities, and anything else that might be painful to the touch. Relax the feet by stroking them as you talk. Starting with the toes, work down the length of each foot to the heel, including the top and sides. Both feet should be worked on simultaneously. A full reflexology session usually lasts between 45 and 60 minutes. Most therapists agree that for bet results a number of treatments are essential, and should take place on a regular weekly basis.

To do reflexology on one's own feet is extremely difficult, but shoes, mats, rollers, and brushes that stimulate the reflexes are widely available as a method of self help.

While in self treatment you do not benefit from a transfer of energy from the reflexologist to the person being massaged, it is very useful as preventive therapy and in times of emergency,


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Nutritional Therapy

Nutrients are the chemical components of diet and are essential to life and health.


Nutrients are classed as either macro nutrients or micro nutrients:
macro nutrients are carbohydrates (sugars and starches), fats (including essential fatty acids), proteins (including essential amino acids), and fiber
micro nutrients are vitamins, minerals, and trace elements that cannot be manufactured in the body, and so must be eaten daily.

If micro nutrients are absent or too low, illness results, Scurvy, for example, is a disease resulting from lack of vitamin C. It used to be the curse of sailors who had to make long trips at sea with no access to fresh fruit or vegetables. Once the connection between scurvy and fresh fruit had been made, and the sailors issued lime juice to drink, scurvy virtually disappeared.

Micro nutrients have only been identified extensively and researched since 1913 when an American biochemist, Elmer McCollum, discovered the first vitamin, vitamin A. Their use in treatment has now become a major, and rapidly growing, therapy in its own right throughout the world. Another nutritional therapy is mega vitamin therapy, established by the Nobel prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling in the United States. He believed that schizophrenia and other mental problems were the consequence of vitamin deficiency and originally called his therapy “orthomolecular psychiatry.”

The therapeutic prescription of nutrients is known as nutritional therapy, and practitioners specializing in it are nutritional therapists. Nutrients prescribed in this way are called “dietary” or “food supplements,” and they come in the form of tablets, capsules, powders, or liquids. Nutrients may sometimes also be injected for greater effect, but in most countries only conventional medical doctors may do this.

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Kava

Kava (Piper methysticum) is a member of the pepper family. It is a hardy, slow-growing perennial that generally resembles other members of the family Piperaceae.
This attractive shrub can attain heights of more than 3 meters. The plant does not have many leaves, and those are thin, single, heart-shaped, alternate, petiolate, and 4 to 10 inches long and sometimes wider than they are long. Although Piper methysticum does flower, it is incapable of self-reproduction; its propagation is vegetative and solely due to human effort.
The rootstock is used for medicinal purposes. The rootstock is knotty, thick, and sometimes tuberous, with holes or cracks created by partial destruction of the inner tissue. In other words, the rootstock is often somewhat pithy. Lateral roots up to 3 meters long extend from the main rootstock.
Analysis of the composition of the dried kava rootstock indicates that it contains approximately 43 percent starch, 12 percent water, 3.2 percent simple sugars, 3.6 percent proteins, 3.2 percent minerals (primarily potassium), and 15 percent kavalactones.
On the basis of detailed analyses of kava's active ingredients (a laborious process spanning the past 110 years), many experts now believe the pharmacological activities of kava are due mostly, if not entirely, to the presence of kavalactones (also referred to as kava alphapyrones). These compounds are found in the fat-soluble resin of the root. Although the kavalactones are the primary active components, it must be pointed out that other components appear to contribute to the sedative and anxiolytic activities of kava, as in one study the sedative activity of a crude preparation was more effective than that of the isolated kavalactones . The kavalactone content of the root can vary between 3 and 20 percent. Therefore, for clinical use, preparations standardized for kavalactone content are preferred to crude preparations.
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Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper (also known as chili or hot pepper) is the fruit of Capsicum annuum, a shrubby, tropical plant that can grow to a height of up to 3 feet. Although cayenne pepper is native to tropical America, it is now cultivated in tropical locations throughout the world and has found its way into the cuisine of many parts of the world.


Capsaicin is the active component of cayenne pepper. It is also the component responsible for the pungent and irritating effects of cayenne pepper in other words, it's what makes red pepper hot. Typically, cayenne pepper contains about 1.5 percent capsaicin and related principles.

Other active constituents present include carotenoids, vitamins A and C, and volatile oils.

Cayenne pepper exerts a number of beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. In addition to possessing excellent antioxidant compounds, studies have shown that cayenne pepper reduces the likelihood of developing atherosclerosis by reducing blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels; in addition, it reduces platelet aggregation and increases fibrinolytic activity. Cultures consuming large amounts of cayenne pepper have a much lower rate of cardiovascular disease.

When topically applied to the skin or mucous membranes, capsaicin is known to stimulate and then block small-diameter pain fibers by depleting them of a neurotransmitter called substance P. Substance P is thought to be the principal chemomediator of pain impulses from the periphery. In addition, substance P has been shown to activate inflammatory mediators in joint tissues in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Cayenne pepper should be recommended as a food for its beneficial antioxidant and cardiovascular effects. Although people with active peptic ulcers may be bothered by spicy foods containing cayenne pepper, spicy foods do not cause ulcers in normal individuals. In fact cayenne pepper exerts several beneficial effects on gastrointestinal function.

Green Tea

Both green tea and black tea are derived from the same plant, the tea plant (Camellia sinensis). The parts used are the leaf bud and the two adjacent young leaves together with the stem, broken between the second and third leaf. Older leaves are considered inferior in quality.

Green tea is produced by lightly steaming the fresh-cut leaf, while to produce black tea the leaves are allowed to oxidize. During oxidation, enzymes present in the tea convert polyphenols, which possess outstanding therapeutic action, to compounds with much less activity. With green tea, oxidation is not allowed to take place because the steaming process inactivates these enzymes. Green tea is very high in polyphenols with potent antioxidant and anticancer properties.

The chemical composition of green tea varies with climate, season, horticultural practices, and age of the leaf (position of the leaf on the harvested shoot). The major components of interest are the polyphenols. the term polyphenol denotes the presence of multiple phenolic rings. The major polyphenols in green tea are flavonoids (e.g., catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate and proanthocyanidins). Epigallocatechin gallate is viewed as the most significant active component. Not surprisingly, the leaf bud and the first leaves are richest in epigallocatechin gallate. The usual concentration of total polyphenols in dried green tea leaf is around 8 to 12 percent.

Other compounds of interest in dried green tea leaf: caffeine (3.5 percent), an unusual amino acid known as theanine ( one-half of the total amino acid content, which is usually 4 percent), lignin (6.5 percent), organic acids (1.5 percent), protein (15 percent), and chlorophyll (0.5 percent).



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Amino Acids II

Amino acids, the building blocks o proteins, can have pronounced drug-like effects when taken singly, and should be taken with as much caution as drugs. Some of these effects are beneficial, but amino acids aren’t entirely benign substances.
In a placebo-controlled study of 31 men with untreated coronary artery disease, a stress test was given The stress test was then repeated after intravenous injection of either the amino acid carnitine (In the form of L-propionylcarnitine) or a placebo. The group that got the carnitine had fewer changes in their EKG, and their hearts pumped more efficiently.
Another trial of heart attack patients compared 79 subjects who took conventional medication with 81 subjects who also took carnitine. The carnitine group’s heart rates improved, and they had fewer anginal attacks and lower death rate (1.2% vs. 12.5% in the control group).
Another amino acid, tryptophan, had been used for depression and insomnia, but it’s no longer sold in the US because a batch contaminated with an unknown substance caused about 1500 cases of a debilitating condition called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, and about 40 deaths. There’s some evidence that, in combination with other treatments, tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan trials found that it’s unsuccessful as a treatment by itself.
Lysine is often used to treat or prevent herpes infections, but there are fewer positive trials than negative ones, and the negative ones are better. There’s actually a sound physiological basis for lysine to work, but when it’s studied in a controlled manner, it doesn’t seem to.


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