Try adding dried western and/or eastern herbs, fresh garden herbs, fresh picked fruit, and H2O or your favorite spirit.
“Simple tonics can be found throughout your back yard garden,” urges master herbal wizard formulator Paul Gaylon “these simple herbs act to help modulate the body’s natural immune system, cleanse, enhance memory, increase energy, and simply nourish health”.  Gaylon uses both local and global herbs to make synergetic tonics. Each herb offers healthy properties, but when combined, the synergy of interaction propels individual herbs into a powerhouse for enhancing wellness.  Try his liver tonic in a capsule or special order his tonic tinctures.

Summer Herbal Tonic Recipes:

Sun Tea Tonics are non-alcoholic and are ready to use in 1-2 hours.  Elixirs include alcohol and are more powerful when ages for 2-4 weeks.

1) NOURISHING SYNERGY: Lemon Balm (nourishes the immune, stomach and nervous system), Mint (refreshing to digestion) and Rosemary (tonic for nerves & brain) (When making an Elixir use vodka or gin).

2) STRENGTHING SYNERGY: Lemon Verbena (uplifting & cooling), Apple Geranium (strengthening), and Fresh Limes (digestion)  (When making an Elixir use vodka & tequila).

3) OPENING SYNERGY: Hawthorne Leaves & Flowers (cadiotonic for strengthening cardiovascular system), Hibiscus and/or Rose hips (immune boosting), Fresh Orange Slices (high intake of flavonoids & vitamin C supports arteries),  (When making an Elixir use vodka or brandy).

4) LONGEVITY SYNERGY ELIXIR: The following Chinese herbs are from the Global market and can be purchased at Way of Life. Make this an Elixir (not a sun tea): Schizandra Fruit (enhances & nourishes all fluids), Lycium/Goji Berries (longevity), Longan Fruit (strengthens endurance), fresh tree ripened plums, vanilla bean. The Elixir Spirit to use is Brandy.

MAKING SUN TONICS: Use fresh or dried leaf, flower, berries. Cut or crush herbs in a large open mouth ball jar (be sure to write the amounts if you want to repeat).  Pour to cover with fresh filtered water.  To  release the herbal properties, place the jar for a few hours in the full sun. Strain liquid, dilute to taste or drink as a potent “green” beverage. Refrigerate extra or until ready to serve. Serve with a sprig of rosemary, strawberry, or lemon slice.

MAKING ELIXER TONICS: Chop fresh or dried herbs ( leaf, roots, flower or berries may be used), fresh fruit such as berries, plums, figs, etc. and place in wide-mouth glass jar.  Cover with 3 times as much Spirit.  Store  in cool dark place for 2-4 weeks.  Check once a week, turning upside down a couple of time to stir up the herbal elixir and top off if liquid evaporates.  When ready, strain and store in cool liquor colored bottle. Serve over crushed or cubed ice or dilute with H2O gassed mineral water, or fresh juice. Add a sprig of mint, rose petals, or lemon peel.

Resource for more Tonic making ideas: Healing Tonics 101 Herbal Concoctions by Jeanine Pollak.

by Dr. Holly German, N.D.

In 2006 an estimated 4.5 million children were diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Whether or not the diagnosis truly fits, many of these kids have symptoms of restlessness, hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity that are beyond what is expected in most healthy children. This is a frustrating situation for parents and children that are often avoidable with the right tools in hand.

The first step towards greater health is removing the cause. Chemical exposure through the air, food, water, and medications can wreak havoc on a child’s developing nervous system. There are some easy ways to reduce exposure to toxins.

1. Food and Drink: Choose organic foods as often as possible. Avoid foods with chemicals like MSG, and dyes, which can stimulate the nervous system. Also avoid high mercury fish such as tuna. Drink purified water from glass or stainless steel bottles.
2. Get outside! Outdoor air quality is cleaner than indoor air and connecting with earth energy is an essential way to calm the nervous energy. Place plants throughout the house especially in your child’s room to improve indoor air quality. Spider plants, peace plants, and ivy are just a few that have been proven to improve indoor air quality.
3. Remove your shoes before entering your home to avoid tracking in pesticide residues.
4. If you do choose to vaccinate your child, be sure to avoid vaccines with thimerosal (a mercury containing preservative).
5. Keep it movin’! In addition to being a great outlet for energy, exercise moves lymph and encourages the release of toxins. Your child should be having at least 1 bowel movement a day to ensure the release of toxins from their body.

Food is medicine. Consuming a balanced spectrum of vegetables/fruits, whole grains, healthy proteins (like wild salmon and nuts), and healthy fats (avocados, coconut oil) is the best way to provide all the essential brain nourishing nutrients. Gut inflammation can effect production of “happy” neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine as well as prevent absorption of important nutrients. Be on the look out for food sensitivities that can cause inflammation in the gut. Common food sensitivities are wheat, dairy, corn, eggs, and soy. Individualized testing may be helpful to reveal food sensitivities and neurotransmitter imbalances. Processed foods such as sugar, white flour, and white rice referred to as simple “carbs”, are known to exacerbate AD/HD symptoms. These foods cause swings in blood sugar, which can affect mood and behavior. Avoiding these foods while consuming plenty of protein (especially with breakfast) is the best way to keep blood sugar balanced.

Beyond the basics: There are an abundance of natural treatments to help kids feel balanced and focused. Seek naturopathic care for advice on how to most effectively and safely use these treatments. Calming Herbs can be used in the form of teas or tinctures (liquid extractions). Some kid friendly herbs include Gotu Kola, Catnip, Chamomile, Avena (milky oats), and Passionflower.

Supplements like B vitamins, calming amino acids (i.e. Gaba), magnesium, fish oils, and iron may also be helpful but should be used only under the recommendation of an expert.

Homeopathic medicines like Chamomile, Arsenicum a., and Aconite may be effective and are very safe.

Dr. Holly German, N.D. practices at the Santa Cruz Naturopathic Medical Center in downtown Santa Cruz. Partnering with parents and children to create a comprehensive and sustainable treatment plan, she uses specialized lab testing to look for hidden illness causes such as heavy metals, neurotransmitter imbalance, and food sensitivities. Dr. German offers a free 15-minute consultation to give you a chance to learn more about Naturopathic Medicine and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Why is one garden more inspiring than another? It is not just how many flats of posies one purchases that touches our hearts, rather it is a felt sense that can inspire and literally transform the way we feel. It is this magical quality that defines a “healing” garden.

Healing gardens have existed throughout human history as intentional spaces where the magic of healing is evoked. Sometimes called restorative gardens, they are apart of an ancient healing tradition found in almost every culture and time. Creating intentional healing gardens where one touches the earth, hearing the bees humming, birds singing and water flowing, while also feeling the sun’s warmth and the softness of air, is part of our western history and is integral to the infirmaries that were often located within monastic communities.

“Many hospitals have reintroduced healing gardens” explains local master gardener and energy healer Patty Dunks, “because these gardens have the incredible potential for supporting and speeding up the healing process.”

Speaking for the Way of Life health lecture series that was held on Tuesday April 20th, Dunks attributes the ability for a garden to provide a “field of healing” to a variety of qualities. Qualities such as the flow of energy, or what is commonly known as Feng Shui, the balancing of the 5 essential elements of earth, air, fire, water and sky, which is literally the composition of the garden’s ecosystem; and the personal resonance with individual plants. “ Each person resonates with different plants” explains Dunks, “so it is important when creating a personal healing garden to include the plants that you feel a particular kinship with.”

To gain a sensitivity to plants, author Stephen Harrod Buhner in his book The Secret Teachings Of Plants: The Intelligence Of The Heart In The Direct Perception Of Nature, eloquently leads the reader through a series of mental, emotional, and sensory explorations meant to help recognize how limited and cut-off we are in the modern world to varied modes of perception. These subtle modes of perception, although not easily tangible, are called Biognosis, which means direct “knowledge from life.”

The relationship with plants, Buhner suggests, goes far beyond our dependency on using them for food and medicine; there is a vibrational relationship to the plant kingdom inherent in our physical bodies. Buhner urges us to come to our senses and develop our heart-felt perception as a means of communing directly with the plant world. Learning directly from plants is an ancient indigenous way of learning he expounds, which did not rely on either the analytical capacity of the brain or used the techniques of trial and error, but happened because our ancestors received information directly through the heart of the world. In other words, we can receive directly from and be informed by the plants themselves. “The plants can speak to human beings” clarifies Buhner, “only if human beings will listen and respond to them in the proper state of mind. “ This “state of mind” is currently recognized in cutting edge research as electrical (i.e. vibrational) or neurological coherency. Research shows that simply viewing nature provides benefits to our health. Dunks concurs, being in a healing garden lowers our blood pressure, our pulse rate, our respiratory rate, and slows our body’s output of the stress hormone cortisol.

Just being in a garden is a step towards health. Embarking upon growing a healing garden can not only create beauty and a delightful space for family and friends to gather, but it can also provide the perfect conditions for fostering vitality and good health.

With years of plant wisdom and extensive energetic healing skills, Patty will help you to create your own powerful healing garden. All plants are healers and you can enhance your garden space with conscious attunement to their vibration using the 5 Elements, Feng Shui principles, and being sensitive to energetic flows.

Patty Dunks, creator of Healing Environments, is an energy healer and Feng Shui consultant. Patty was a landscape contractor and designer for over 30 years, the past President of the California Horticulture Therapy Association, and has taught at both UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College in the Horticulture and Horticulture Therapy Departments

Please Note: These are broad, generalized guidelines for healthy animals – obviously all animals are different and some may require more specific attention as well as a more specialized regimen.

With many people feeding raw or home-cooked diets to their animals today, it is important to understand which supplements need to be added. (These suggestions are for cats as well as dogs, with appropriate changes in amounts.)

Since your animal is not eating a whole carcass, you need to cover your bases to make sure you are feeding a diet as close to nature as possible. If your dogs or cats were dining out in the wild, they would be eating the entire body – muscle, bone, fat, intestines, fur or feathers, organ meats, eyes!, brains…including the dirt that the animal was lying on.  (While the thought makes us queasy, to them it is like eating Ben & Jerry’s- but healthy). When we take on the responsibility of making a meal for our animal friends, we are trying to, as Anitra Frazier says, “make a mouse.” Not always easy.

The minimum supplementation for home-prepared diets (whether raw or cooked), must include:

1) A good multi-vitamin. This does not mean the vitamins that are usually sold in most vets’ offices. I recommend a whole-food-derived vitamin and mineral supplement. They are more easily absorbed and metabolized (please come to my Way of Life lecture for recommendations)

2) Essential Fatty Acids. You can’t overstate the importance of EFA’s – for lipid metabolism, for healthy skin and coats, for heart health, for healthy joints, for the brain, to suppress inflammation, and on and on. If you are preparing your own diets, you can add ground flaxseed (if fresh), seeds and nuts, soybeans, and deep-water cold fish (salmon, sardines, and mackerel). Or you can add oils – flaxseed oil and/or fish oil for dogs (you can alternate them). Cats generally don’t like the taste of flaxseed oil, but usually love fish oil such as salmon oil (use only high quality).

3) Calcium. Unless you are adding ground bones into a home-prepared diet, or giving nutritional bones (bones that they will chew up and consume, as opposed to recreational bones, such as knuckle bones, which they will chew on, but mostly leave intact), on a daily basis,(comprising at least 30% of the diet), you need to add a calcium supplement to your animal’s diet. Making sure the calcium/phosphorous balance is correct is very important. You can add bone meal to your mix (1½ tsp. per pound of food); although this is the most natural form of calcium for animals, I do get concerned about Mad Cow Disease, and also the fact that bones tend to concentrate toxins. I prefer a marine based calcium mix. If you are feeding nutritional bones on a regular basis, you can cut down the amount of calcium you are feeding.

These 3 are just the very basic supplements for a raw-food diet. There are a few others that I always recommend:

Digestive Enzymes – especially when you are transitioning from a commercial diet to a home-prepared diet. But I think enzymes should always be a part of every diet, home-prepared or commercial, every day. Enzymes are the critters that actually break food down into nutrition; without sufficient enzymes not only can our animals (and ourselves) not digest and metabolize food efficiently, but they are setting themselves up for pancreatitis, and possibly the basis for many other diseases as well. There is enzyme supplements made especially for animals, which you can get in many pet or health food stores. You can also use any human, complete, enzyme product, plant-based is best (that way you can sprinkle it directly on the food). Use with every meal. Start slowly and work your way up to the suggested amount, to avoid loose stools.

Probiotics – they keep the intestinal tract clean, put in the good bacteria that are supposed to be there, and get rid of the bad bacteria, keeping the gut in balance. The normal intestinal flora is responsible for proper assimilation of food, and can easily get out of balance from antibiotics, chronic disease, trauma, toxins (from food or the environment), and physical and/or emotional stress. Giving your animal some plain, un-sweetened yogurt is a good idea, and a great treat, but also add a good probiotic supplement to the diet daily. Get a brand with high numbers of organisms, and keep it in the fridge.

These are just the basic supplements that I consider essential to add to your animal’s diet. If you are preparing your diets ahead of time, and freezing them, or if you are cooking your diets, do not add the supplements until just before you serve the meal – they lose a lot of their efficacy if they are frozen and most of their nutritional value if they are cooked. I also like to take a day or 2 off per week, without adding supplements as it gives the body a chance to remember what it can do on its own. (Obviously, do not skip supplements that you are using for therapeutic reasons.)

You also need to keep in mind the individual condition of your animal. Very young and older animals, and ones that are sick or stressed, very active, or pregnant or lactating, will need to have their supplements adjusted, or possibly some others added or deleted from your regimen. What I have outlined here is just a basic protocol.

For those of you feeding a commercial raw food diet, many of them have all the supplements already added, and some don’t. Make sure you check. For some supplements (such as calcium), adding too much is just as bad as adding too little.

Bonnie Blumenfeld will speak March 23rd at the Way of Life Health Lecture Series at 7PM.

Bonnie Blumenfeld is a Registered Veterinary Technician (R.V.T), as well as a holistic veterinary tech. She has 28 years of vet tech experience, 12 of those working with a holistic vet and continues for the past 15 years to be involved in nutritional research. Bonnie has extensive training in flower essences, herbs, homeopathy, inter-species communication, and is a Registered Veterinary NAET practitioner (allergy elimination). She has formulated and developed a line of canine and feline raw food diets and has provided personal consulting for the past 10 years, based on her research, professional training, and most importantly on actual successful results. Her web site is www.headtotailhealth.com

Maintaining psychological health today includes a wide range of approaches. If one expands beyond contemporary medications and talk therapy there is a variety of modalities to choose from which are all very beneficial. These include body somatic awareness, nutritional/chemical balancing, family pattern dynamics, energy, light, and color therapy. What these modalities share in common is not only a holistic approach to health which includes seeing the person’s life in its wholeness, but also an understanding of all humans in context to a larger field of influence.

“Emotional or psychological distress is an indication that in some way an individual’s humanity has been compromised or violated,” explains Dr. Toby Watson, executive clinical director of Wisconsin’s Associated Psychological Health Services. “Restoration and cultivation of the integrity of the person’s humanity is the sole purpose of psychotherapy. There may be many roads that serve this purpose; however, regardless of orientation or technique, the creation of a healing environment that respects the person’s dignity, autonomy, and values is the foundation for emotional healing and is the essence of good psychotherapy.” On his web site http://www.icspp.org/ he continues to articulate that “although it is possible to hide emotional wounds through drugs, electrical shock and other forms of technology, true healing, comes from restoring and renewing the things that define and reflect our humanity. Things like intimacy, community, art, music, spirituality and play.”

Brazilian professor and psychologist Tina de Souza couldn’t agree more. She weaves together her native Afro-Brazilian traditions with her Western educational training to redefine psychological health. “Psychological symptoms and their expressions have been with humanity for a long time” she explains. “For example, depression is a rather old sickness that has been defined in many strange ways throughout history. In the Mayan Age it was viewed as a form of divine punishment and, in more serious cases, viewed as form of demonic possession. By Renaissance time, it was depicted as a sign of one having a deep soul. Today it may be defined by allopathic medicine as an illness that results from an imbalance of the neurotransmitters chemical substances present in our brain.”

Depression, she clarifies, can take on different characteristics. Using the symbolism of her Afro-Brazilian traditions, Dr de Souza looks at depression as an expression of the subtle essence of a human being. Made of fire, earth, water, and air each of these elemental qualities she feels has a well-defined psychological connotation and like other Eastern healing traditions she seeks to balance the elemental aspects within as a means of resolving emotional imbalances.

Color therapy is another tradition that can be traced back through ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and India. By the 1800s therapist Augustus Pleasanton was stimulating the glands, organs, and nervous system with blue light; Seth Pancoast used red and blue light to balance the autonomic nervous system. A then leading color therapist, Dr. Edwin Babbitt, applied colored light to the body and successfully treated stubborn medical conditions, which he said were simply unresponsive to the conventional treatments of his time. By the late 19th century, color light was prescribed in Western medicine in a variety of ways: Sunlight was used for tuberculosis, blue light and full spectrum light was effective for jaundiced newborns, and ultraviolet light was employed in surgical rooms to limit air-borne bacteria. The pioneers in color therapy, which include Dr. Dinshah Ghadiali, PhD, MD; Steven Vasquez, Ph.D.; Dr. John Downing, and Dr. Harry Spitler, all have demonstrated the powerful neurophysiological and neurohormonal effects of color light stimulation on both our physiological and psychological states.

No matter which type of therapy one tries, the intention of all holistic healing approaches is the same: to return to a state of integrity. As Souza so aptly describes “Restoring harmony brings a person back to a state of personal plenitude, whereby he can return to his original state of vibrant essence.” To restore this state of personal integrity and psychological health does not necessarily mean solving all of our problems, but it does offer a powerful sense of well being and an access to internal resources that fosters our capacity for maintaining a healthy state of being.

Health Educator Liz Koch is an international somatic educator, and creator of Core Awareness TM focusing on awareness for developing human potential. With 30 years experience working with and specializing in the iliopsoas, she is recognized in the somatic, bodywork and fitness professions as an authority on the core muscle. Liz is the author of The Psoas Book, Unraveling Scoliosis CD, Core Awareness; Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise & Dance, and The Psoas & Back Pain CD. Please visit www.coreawareness.com for workshop information and to join her quarterly newsletter.

by Burt Goulding Jr.

Good Health is all about pH Balance!

The term pH refers to the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Easy to understand examples are spas, swimming pools, planting soil and fish tanks. pH is measured on a scale of 0.0 to 14.0. Values less than pH 7.0 are acidic, and values over pH 7.0 are base or alkaline. Pure water has a pH value of 7.0 — a perfect balance of acids and alkaloids.

A common definition of pH is “potential Hydrogen.” This definition is reasonably accurate.1 But for practical purposes, I like to define pH in terms of its effect on human health and I frequently call it the “power to Heal.”

Lack of pH Balance and Poor Health

We read everywhere that cancer cannot exist in an alkaline environment. Nearly all degenerative chronic diseases of modern man, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, asthma, and tooth decay are associated with excess acidity (pH 5.0 to pH 6.5) in the clear fluids of the body.2

The U.S. Center for Disease Control believes that these chronic diseases are among the most preventable.3   Excess acid in the body dissolves both teeth and bones. Excess alkalinity creates even more severe problems for the body, including vomiting, seizures, chronic indigestion, over-excited nerves, thick blood, edema, night cramps, and bone spurs.4

Poor pH balance is known to disrupt digestion and inactivate vital body functions. One encyclopedia puts it this way “Enzymes and other proteins have an optimum pH range and can become denatured [or altered natural qualities] outside this range.”5

Dr. Robert O. Young (author of several books on ph balancing) has pointed out that every single cell in the human body is affected by the pH levels of the clear fluids of the body.6

Regardless of the health situation you are faced with, you should monitor your progress toward a proper acid/alkaline balance by testing your saliva pH level weekly. Your results will indicate your susceptibility to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Your Power to Heal (pH)

The human body is a marvelous creation, designed to be self-healing. When it is balanced and functioning properly, it will repair itself. Your body will automatically correct imbalances and diseased conditions through its homeostatic mechanism (a survival system) which seeks to maintain a constant pH 7.365 in the blood.

The body protects this pH balance by depositing and withdrawing alkaline or acidic minerals from other locations in the body including the bones, vital organs, soft tissues, and body fluids.

Your “power to Heal” is at its greatest potential when the pH of the body’s clear fluids remain in the Healing pH rangeTM of 7.1 to 7.5. This slightly alkaline condition is vital to the body’s ability to perform cellular repair and maintain natural healing. A fasting saliva pH test is the quickest, easiest, and most accurate way to establish your immediate healing potential.

The pH level of your saliva is a powerful indicator of health because:

1. Saliva is part of the clear fluids that make up over 55% of your body weight. These clear fluids fill the body and include lymph fluid, intracellular fluid, organ cushioning fluid, spinal fluid, cranial fluid, the fluid that surrounds the heart, and the synovial fluid that fills the joints.
2. The saliva pH test is convenient. Testing is most accurate when done first thing in the morning. However, you get a good indication anytime day or night when it has been: • 2 -3 hours after food and beverages, • 1 hr after chewing gum /teeth brushing, • 5 mins since drinking water.
3. Saliva pH testing can be done at home, in the health food store, the wellness clinic, or the doctor’s office. It only takes about two minutes total to test and log your results. Saliva pH Testing is the simple way to take control of your own health. It is easy to help your family, friends, and neighbors to learn to do the same for themselves.

All acids are not bad

The human body is designed to work best with a healthy balance of good acids and good alkaloids that keep each other in check.

Good (balancing) acid sources include:  fresh citrus fruit – fresh onions and garlic -  organic apple cider vinegar – vitamin C (ascorbic acid) – all essential fatty acids

Harmful acid sources include: Juices from concentrate (choose fresh-squeezed juices only) – meats from grain-fed cattle (choose free-range, grass-fed beef and bison) – Heavy metal and heavy chemical contamination contribute to acid levels. These are now commonly found in: drugs, including prescription and over-the- counter medications, seafood that contains mercury (includes most saltwater and freshwater fish!)

high fructose corn syrup (HFCS —has been found to have dangerous levels of mercury in most batches; most are also GMO).

Acid-forming sources to avoid

1. Coffee bean (208 acids in the harmful or incompatible range for the human body)
2. Tobacco (smoking and chewing)
3. Alcohol in all forms
4. Black tea (with tannic acid), hot or cold
5. Carbonated beverages (colas, fake energy drinks, even club soda)
6. White refined sugars (table sugar, artificial sugars, HFCS are worst!)
7. Bottled up, unresolved stress (Extreme worry and anger)

The bottom-line

For achieving and maintaining a healthy, happy life, there is no other health-related number as important as your “power to Heal” or pH. Your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, and pulse readings are all affected by the pH of the body’s internal environment.

You can reach your health goals. Your body can regain its natural healing ability. Don’t ever give in to those who would tell you that there is no hope for your health condition. You can be pH-healthy for life!

Burt Goulding is Managing Director of Positive Nutrition Institute and will be speaking January 19th at the Way of Life Lecture Series.  His lectures, training seminars and radio show interviews are based on 99% success rating in balancing the pH of more than 1,500 people. He can be contacted at: burt@pn-institute.org

Resources

The pH Miracle For Diabetes by Robert O.Young, Ph.D. and Shelley Redford Young, Warner Books, 2004 (see pgs. 1-54, 146-63)

Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, and James F. Balch, M.D., Avery, 2000, (see pgs.122-25)

1 ‘The term pH is derived from “p”, the mathematical symbol of the negative logarithm, and “H”, the chemical symbol of Hydrogen. The formal definition of pH is the negative logarithm of the Hydrogen ion

2 activity.’ see http://www.omega.com/techref/ph.html see Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, and 3 James F. Balch, M.D., Avery, 2000, pgs.122-25

4 http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp see Prescription for Nutritional Healing, pgs.122-25

5 see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH_7

6 see The pH Miracle For Diabetes by Robert O. Young, Ph.D., and Shelley Redford Young, Warner Books, 2004, pg.21

7 see The pH Miracle For Diabetes, pgs. 1-54

Cell Power® is a registered trademark of Positive Power Nutrition, Inc. product information: www.CellPowerUSA.com

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this booklet are based upon the opinions of Burt Goulding, unless otherwise noted. This information is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is only intended to share the knowledge and information from the research and experience of Burt Goulding and his associates. Burt Goulding encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

© 2009 Positive Nutrition Institute

This holiday season make personal winter cordials for warming the soul, opening the heart, and healing the body. Blending herbs and infusing them in brandy or vodka or drinking hot tea blended herbs is an ancient tradition that is beneficial and easy to enjoy. Way of Life offers a wonderful choice of both western and eastern herbs.

Many times people report that the herbs they chose or were chosen for them, didn’t work. After a few experiences, many people just come to the conclusion that ‘herbs don’t work for me’. According to the energetic system of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine it is of the most importance to match the energy of the person with the energy of the herbs.

This is not as straightforward as it may seem as energies can change as herbs are synergistically blended together, or the energy of the person may change according to what is happening with them. For example: Are you, at the present time, running cold, hot or somewhere in between?

Herbs chosen for a person with a fever will be different than if that same person was shivering with chills.This is why Valerian doesn’t work for everyone (especially menopausal women) because it is very warming and if you are warm already, you will not be lulled to sleep, you can very likely be wired! When you learn the energies of the various herbs, it allows you to have a more intimate relationship with them on a deeper level than just expecting a certain reaction. The true essence of the plant medicine is understood, revered and the medicinal results are greatly enhanced.

It is also important to balance each tea blend. For instance, a ‘cool’ tea for when you are very hot should still be tempered with at least one warming herb because too much cold would be too unbalancing and the warm herb helps transport or move the cooling qualities where it needs to go (for example the lungs). A helpful rule to remember is: warm & hot “moves,” cool & cold “constricts;” an artful combination will supply the very best blend. And then WOW-you get results!

Matching the energy of the person with the choice of the herbal blends goes to a whole other level. To get started, you do not have to be a professional herbalist. In the past every kitchen was stocked with herbs known to boost immunity, ease digestion and support wellness. Common garden and daily herbs still offer powerful nutritional support, just as an array of vegetables and fruits do. Although Linda is the first to acknowledge it may not be as straightforward as concocting a salad or soup it is one part intuition and another part getting familiar with herbs.

“Herbal energies change”, explains Linda. This change occurs both when herbs are synergistically blended together, and/or, when the energy of the person changes according to what is happening with them.

Way of Life offers an amazing array of dried herbs for both personal use and for gift making. With the Holidays in full swing, giving herbal blended teas and cordials are inexpensive on the budget and refreshingly artful. Placed in a cellophane bag with a ribbon and tag explaining what herbs you have selected and how to enjoy, a tea blend can relax, release stress or strengthen and support. In an expressive glass bottle, corked and sealed with beeswax, a winter tonic chock full of nourishing herbs promotes health and fortifies us into the New Year. For you, the gift giver, making these gifts is so much more than a necessary task; it is shear fun.

So where to begin: Below are two fresh herbal blended recipes to try at home for you, your family and to serve to your holiday guests.

Ginger-Rosehips Special Syrup by Linda Vaughan

1 cup Rosehips

Handful of fresh, grated ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon chips

1 tsp (or a bit more if desired) fresh grated orange rind (dried if fresh is not available)

3 cups water

Honey to taste

Gently simmer rosehips in water for 20 minutes. Add ginger, cinnamon and orange rind and simmer another 10 minutes, keeping pan covered. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool slightly then strain through a fine strainer (or cheesecloth). Squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Add enough honey to slightly thicken and sweeten the syrup. Stir well and refrigerate. Can be heated (never boil) gently and served over pancakes or waffles. It is very yummy and effective for sore throats. Rich in vitamin C, it is great to have on hand all winter. Children love it too!

Ginger-Licorice Digestive Tea

From Jeanine Pollak’s Healing Tonics Published by Storey Books

1 Part grated fresh Gingerroot

1 part peppermint leave

1 part lemon verbena leaves

1/8 Part Licorice Root

Make an infusion, enjoy 1-2 cups with or after meals. To make an infusion pour boiling water over the herbs, stir well, cover and steep for 15-20 minutes.

Liz Koch is the Way of Life Health Educator www.coreawareness.com

You may be unaware of the health impact that the 2007 LBAM Checkmate spray had on you, your loved ones, and the health of our community. It may no longer be on your radar screen of important issues. For many people who were not out that night or possibly out of town, connecting the dots between current health issues and the effects of being sprayed seem somewhat vague and difficult.

Exposure to chemicals may even seem like a necessary evil to achieve a healthy balance between the health and economy of the people and the needs of the agriculture business. Isn’t that why we do not protest the use of known carcinogenic chemicals on our commercial strawberry plants when we know that California commercial strawberries use the highest rate of chemical pesticides at 148 pound per acre (sited at California Farmers Increase the Use of Toxic Substances—-Stephen Tvedten Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com).

For many of us we simply avoid exposure as best we can and/or use Way of Life’s great detoxifying products to stay ahead of the massive exposure. You can find something for almost everything: mercury exposure, heavy metals, plastics and other pollutants. Utilizing these products can help us keep exposure at bay. We also fight to reduce chemical exposure with our personal purchasing power buying green, organic and local products and at the ballot box with laws to protect our bodies and homes from toxic substances. The thinking goes something like this: if we decrease our exposure we can handle the onslaught of chemicals that already make up our man-made world.

Doris Rapp MD author of Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call and international recognized environmental physician began her career as a pediatrics allergist. She agrees that a combination of eliminating exposure, and reducing the individual burden with clean filtered water, organic food, detoxification and infrared saunas can all help us maintain a level of health BUT she also recognizes that when it comes to endocrine disrupters avoiding ANY exposure is really the only option.

Exposure to synthetic pheromones (such as Checkmate) whether it is sprayed, splattered on poles, or twisted into trees (all planned by CDFA for 2010 LBAM project) brings a whole host of health issues effecting and altering every ones sexual and functional development – especially the unborn.

Dr Theo Colburn author of Your Stolen Future believes the consequence of prenatal exposure are extremely serious, contributing to the disturbing increase of diseases such as “autism, ADHD, childhood cancers, childhood diabetes, behavioral problems, Parkinson disorders…Alzheimer’s disorders, testicular cancer…the epidemic of prostate cancer, and breast cancers. The list she tells us just keeps growing. Colburn says that the culprit is endocrine disrupters and points directly to man-made chemicals and synthetic pheromones.

At present there is no chemical that has been regulated in the USA because of endocrine disrupting effects. Our government has failed to respond to the evolving science around endocrine disruption. The impact on nature and human heath is known and it is time for our community to take a precautionary approach. Do No Harm!

Failure to monitor synthetic pheromones is based on an attitude that dose makes the poison. It is the common theory in toxicology. The idea is that smaller is safe. But when it comes to endocrine disruptors, this theory is untrue. “The trouble says Pete Myers PhD author of “Does Dose Make The Poison?” is that while toxicologists traditionally assume that the dose makes the poison, endocrinologists – “scientist who study the action of the hormones have long known that hormones respond at very low doses and at ambient exposure”

So what’s the connection to your thyroid problems, infertility, and menstrual or menopausal difficulties? With pheromones such as Checkmate, we were told it was safe because it was “just a pheromone” The reality is it may not knock you dead, but it is very deadly to your health. Synthetic pheromones whether they are being sprayed over your home, used to freshen your car, or sprayed on as cologne are reeking havoc with your hormonal balance.

The CDFA continues to put us through regulatory hoops (EIR, Re-classification Petition, Senate hearings, etc.) They have discounted all credible evidence presented by experts who say the moth is not a threat and eradication is not feasible. We anticipate that they will re-implement their toxic LBAM eradication program in Santa Cruz County in early 2010.

Simply pour 8 oz. boiling water over 1 Tbs. bulk tea, cover, and let steep for 15 minutes. Sweeten with local honey and enjoy!

Tara, Bulk Herb Buyer