BARBARA'S PEARLS

NOVEMBER 2013

  Categorized: Newsletters       Comments: None

CHAPTER 3, Volume 1


news_novI apologize for the delay in writing this newsletter. The flood placed enormous demands on many of you and I hope I can offer support and advice to keep you healthy in the coming months. In Chinese Medicine we have an extra season that comes late in the summer and is ruled by the spleen, which is the master of digestion. The environmental influence that most damages the spleen is dampness, and, well, we had plenty of that. We commonly see very mucousy colds and digestive disturbances at that time of year.

Lungs

We are now in fall, the season of the lung. The lung rules the entire respiratory system. Lung qi descends to promote the circulation of qi and body fluid through the body. Dysfunction of the lung in descending may lead to symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath.

The emotion of the lung is grief and as beautiful as this season is some people are more prone to depression as the nights grow longer. We are fortunate to have many days of sunshine, but it can be a challenge to get out into the light. I recommend walking without sunglasses for a full 15 minutes in daylight as often as possible so that the glands in the brain that regulate so many aspects of our bodies can be stimulated.

The lungs are damaged by too much dryness and of course this is often the beginning of the cold and flu season. I recommend keeping a bottle of Cold Nip or Gan Mao Ling at home so the minute you feel any hint that you might be getting a cold you can take those herbs as directed on the bottle. Another great aid is Sambucus or Black Elderberry. This herb interrupts the virus and taken early in the illness along with a cold remedy gives the best results.

nov_img-1If you are already a client and have a more serious illness, I can make a custom formula for you. I am in on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursday, but I do check my email daily and will get back to you as soon as possible.

Winter places great demands on our body’s resilience and after experiencing the trauma of roads and tiny creeks turning into raging rivers that invaded the safety of people’s homes, I highly recommend giving your adrenals added support this year. Many of you have received various products for this and if you need help or advice please do not hesitate to call me.

Staying Healthy

The best advice I can give for prevention of all illnesses are to get regular exercise, maintain healthy blood sugar and get rest. You don’t have to keep up with your triathlete neighbor. A walk for 20 minutes a day five days a week will go a long way to keeping things strong and balanced.

When people see me for the first time one of the first things I do I look at their diet diary because having healthy blood sugar is the best way to prevent inflammation.

This means low amounts of carbohydrates and sugars. In fact Halloween (the major sugar holiday) often marks the beginning of cold season. However what many people don’t know is that a slice of whole wheat toast will raise your blood sugar faster than a banana or a teaspoon of white sugar.
Sleep is a chance for deep healing. I know that for many menopausal women sleeping through the night seems like a far distant memory. Healing this takes time and individualized care. I am finding that using powerful anti-inflammatory herbs is offering some help with this challenging issue.

Olive Oil Revisited

I wrote earlier about olive oil and I wanted to mention a couple of additional things on this subject. I have come to understand that olives are a fruit and olive oil is actually a pressed fruit juice and should be treated as such. We have an excellent olive oil store in town and this is olive season in the Northern Hemisphere, so you should be able to get very fresh olive oil high in polyphenols. I recommend keeping some in the freezer, some in the fridge and a small amount in a bottle that you use within a week. Remember to get the oleocanthols that I wrote about before, the oil should burn at the back of your throat.

Curcumin

In the past couple of months some of you have received Enteles™ Longvida® Optimized Curcumin from me. Curcumin is a polyphenol extract from turmeric root. I chose this particular delivery of curcumin after extensive research. This supplements offers potent anti-inflammatory support and according to research done at the Alzheimer’s Research Center at UCLA it also can benefit our brains.

Support

I was talking to an old friend recently and we were reflecting on our lives. I told her that I have spent many years of my life in three small rooms. Remarkable people have entered that space and together we have gone on journeys that deepened and awakened me. You all have helped me travel to the worlds of the human spirit — places of profound beauty.

Recently I was offered the chance to move into a lovely home. I feel like I have been given a safe harbor. Thank you Sam and Wyndham.
For more information please call our office at 303 442-0306


The information in this newsletter is not intended to replace the relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge from research and experience of B. Mahler, LAc.


Barbara A. Mahler, LAc has practiced
Traditional Oriental Medicine
and Nutrition since 1987.
For more information please contact Barbara.

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