A,B,C+D of Natural Health

The A B C +D of Natural Health:
With so many different herbs and supplements available, the question naturally arises, "Where do I begin?" Like the song in the film The Sound of Music suggests, it is always good to start at the beginning. Reading begins with the ABCs and singing begins with Do Re Me.

Likewise natural healing has its ABCs. It also has a D. This simple ABC+D system helps a person get a "jump start" in understanding how to improve help using herbs and nutrition.¹

A STANDS FOR ACTIVATION

The body has a natural capacity to heal itself. Often if we simply believe we are going to get well, we will, regardless of whatever else we do. There are many ways to help activate the healing process, but the most basic way lies in developing positive attitudes and emotions. Positive thinking electrically stimulates the nervous system and activates the healing energy of the tissues.

Deep breathing, as practiced in meditation, is a good way of centering and calming one's emotions. Not only does deep breathing supply oxygen to the bloodstream, it also centers one's thoughts and emotions and allows the person to have inner peace and calm. To breathe is to feel and to feel is to be alive. All blocked emotions and unresolved conflicts involve a blockage or stifling of breathing, hindering one's ability to feel and to be alive. When you supply your body with deep breathing you stimulate the recuperative abilities of your body. As you think and direct positive thoughts toward those parts that are sick, you activate the healing principle within your system.

Certain supplements can help activate the healing process. These include homeopathic remedies and aromatherapy oils, both of which influence the subtle energies and emotions of the body. However, the most important supplements for activating the body are enzymes. Enzymes act as the "spark plugs" of the life process. Every biological function is controlled or aided by the action of enzymes. Raw foods contain enzymes as do many cultured foods (raw yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.). However, heat destroys enzymes, so a diet consisting primarily of cooked and processed foods lacks natural enzymes.

During digestion, food travels into the upper half of the stomach, where it remains for a period of about 20-30 minutes. Here the stomach begins to pour out sections of hydrochloric acid and pepsin to break down the proteins in the food. At this time the enzymes that are naturally present in raw or enzyme-rich foods have a chance to predigest food. As much as one-third of the digestion process can take place with the enzymes that naturally occur in food. When you eat a diet of predominately cooked or processed foods, the body cannot take advantage of this pre-digestion, and the entire work of digesting food falls upon the digestive organs, particularly the stomach and the pancreas. This not only places excess stress on these organs, it also reduces enzyme activity elsewhere in the body.

One basic thing a person can do to improve nutrition is to eat raw and cultured foods that are rich in enzymes. If this is not possible, taking a plant enzyme supplement can help reduce the stress on digestive organs and preserve the body's natural enzyme systems.

The major plant enzymes are found in NSP Proactazyme. They are:

Protease, an enzyme used to digest proteins.

Lipase, an enzyme that breaks down fat.

Amylase, and glucoamylase, enzymes that supplement the secretions of the saliva and aid the digestion of starch.

Cellulase and pectinase, enzymes that help process plant fibers like cellulose.

Proactazyme aids in the digestion of all food groups except dairy foods, which require the enzyme lactase. Lactase helps break down the sugar in milk.

Adding these enzymes to the diet is a universal need for most Americans. We recommend that you start your health-building programs with Proactazyme.

B STANDS FOR BUILDING

The body needs nutrients to stay healthy. Many of the nutrients we need have been removed or depleted during the refining and processing of foods we eat. Ideally, everyone should strive to eat better, but since this isn't going to happen, most people are better off supplementing their diets with extra nutrients on a regular basis.

Nature's Sunshine offers two general supplements that can benefit the whole body-Super Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals and Colloidal Minerals. Super Supplemental is a comprehensive vitamin and minerals product, supplying the major nutrients that may be missing in American diets. Colloidal Minerals supplies the trace minerals that are lacking in even the best of diets. Even if we aren't eating "junk foods," we may still lack necessary trace minerals because our modern agricultural methods are depleting the soil of these elements and destroying plants' ability to utilize them.

While many in the medical community preach that supplements aren't necessary if we eat a "balanced diet", agricultural experts recognize that farmers must supplement animal feed. In fact, all animal feed contains nutritional supplements. Agricultural experts know that grain and other foodstuffs do not contain enough nutrients to maintain healthy livestock without added supplements. If animal can't stay healthy eating modern crops, how can human beings?

Prior to the 1800's, farmers all over the world fertilized their crops with organic material. Then, a well-meaning chemist burned plant material and analyzed the ashes that remained, discovering that the ashes were primarily composed of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

When farmers started applying these three elements to their soil, they got bigger yields at first. However, with repeated use, problems began to arise. The soil was gradually being depleted of its trace minerals. This lack of trace minerals yielded plants that were not as healthy. Insect damage and disease increased. But instead of adding organic matter to the soil to correct the mineral imbalances, man used chemistry--herbicides, fungicides and pesicides--to correct these problems. Unfortunately, these chemicals compounded the problem.

Healthy soil is teeming with microorganisms. These organisms break down organic material from dead animals and plants and recycle it for use by other plants. They also extract the minerals from dirt and make them available to the plant roots. The chemicals we apply sterilize the soil by killing the microorganism. The result is much like the problem of antibiotics, which kill the friendly

Add to this our food-processing procedures and it is easy to see why everyone need some type of vitamin, mineral and trace-mineral supplementation. The second part of any good health program includes a comprehensive supplementation program. Super Supplemental taken along with Colloidal Minerals fills this need.

C STANDS FOR CLEANSING

The third step of the herbal ABCs is cleansing, another vital part of natural healing. For the human body to remain healthy, it must burn fuel cleanly to radiate the energy the body needs. The body must also eliminate waste material from the system. When the body is fed junk food, excess waste material accumulates and clogs the system, obstructing body functions and giving rise to various manifestation of disease (which means literally "lack of ease").

Disease symptoms are the body's efforts to remove excess waste through one of four "chimneys" of elimination: the bowls, the kidneys, the skin or the respiratory tract. If the body removes toxins through the bowels, the result can be nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. When it eliminates toxins through the skin, rashes, pimples, hives, acne, itching and body odor can occur. When the body removes waste through the respiratory tract, the result is a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, post-nasal drip, earache, sore throat and respiratory congestion. Eliminations of toxins via the kidneys may result in frequent burning, urination. More chronic symptoms such as pain are manifest when waste is not released. Toxins accumulate and settle in the eliminative organs, where they begin degeneration of tissue, causing the body to no longer function as it should.

The homeopathic physician Constantine Hering defined Hering's Law of Cure, which essentially states that the body heals from the inside out, from the top down, and in reverse order as the symptoms appeared. From the inside out means that as we strengthen the body, it will push irritating toxins out of the body to get rid of them. Most of us today interpret the idea of from the top down meaning that healing must start in the head. It must start with a change of attitude.

Even when discussing changes in nutrition and the use of supplements, most people wont do these things until they have a change of attitude, until they have a desire to get well, until they believe the tools are available. Healing has to start in the mind. In reverse order as the symptoms appeared means that as you strengthen your body, you will again experience the symptoms you once suppressed. For example, you start with a runny nose and take drugs to suppress that symptom. This causes you to develop an earache. Again you turn to suppressive medications. Next, you get bronchitis and respiratory problems. Again, you suppress your symptoms. Finally, you wind up with kidney infection. When you decide to strengthen your body by giving it the ABC+D nutrition it need, your body begins a process of cleansing. First you experience relief from the current symptom. But as you find that relief, you will discover a recurrence of the respiratory problems you previously repressed. As you continue, the ear and sinus problems will eventually recur. In other words, the body will retreat through the various suppressed symptoms from the most critical symptoms to the least critical symptoms.

This process perplexes people when they get into natural healing because they may have had a problem and thought they got over it when they took suppressive medications. They don't understand that some of their new problems are actually manifestations of the old problems they suppressed. When the body is strengthen, new symptoms will disappear and the old suppressed symptoms will return. This is the true definition of "a healing crisis."

In natural healing, rather than trying to suppress symptoms and block the ability of the body to eliminate irritations, we aid the cleansing process. We do this by taking herbs and supplements that support the eliminative functions of the body. We recommend that everyone do at least one two-week cleanse each spring and fall. Most people will also enhance a health-building program by starting with a good cleanse. However, cleanses are not recommended for people who are extremely weak, pale, anemic or emaciated. In these cases, a building program is needed first. Cleanses should also not be done during pregnancy or nursing.

Nature's Sunshine offers two very good general cleansing programs. The Tiao He Cleanse® and CleanStart®; are simple, effective cleansing programs. They both contain herbs that aid elimination through the bowels, liver and kidneys. We recommend you take either cleanse in spring.

Another excellent cleansing programs the Para-Cleanse. This program eliminate parasites as well as open the eliminative channels. It also contains many herbs that benefits the respiratory system. This makes a good fall cleanse. Any cleanse may be used at any time.

When doing the cleansing program, it is wise to just focus on cleansing for that two-week period. In other words, don't take any of the direct aids (see below) when doing the cleanse. This avoids overloading the body with too many supplements. After cleansing, one can return to taking whatever direct aids are appropriate.

D STANDS FOR DIRECT AID

The general ABCs work on the entire body. Direct aids are specific herbs and nutrients that strengthen or balance specific body systems. NSP's Lifestyle Analysis can be used to help determine which body systems need direct aid. Once you have determined the weakest body systems(s), go to the charts for those systems and use them to determine the most appropriate direct aid(s).

Generally speaking, one or two direct aids should be sufficient when used as part of a complete ABC+D program. Occasionally three may be required. We recommend that you never select more than three aids. If three directs aids are used, take them ate different times of the day to avoid overloading the system. Programs are generally more effective if they are focused. Choose the weakest body system and work on that one first. Then, as that system shows improvement, move to the next system.

pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The lower the pH number, the more acidic the solution is. The higher the pH number, the more alkaline solution. Most people have acid pH. This condition forces the body to borrow minerals like calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium from vital organs and bones to buffer the acid and safely remove it. This weakens the organs and bones over time and creates other complications sush as Cardiovascular weakness, Bladder and kidney concerns, weight gain. It is important for you to test your pH level to determine if your body's pH needs balancing .

Nature's Sunshine offers many products that are excellent for balancing pH. If a person is over-acidic, Ultimate GreenZone, Skeletal Strength, Coral Calcium (75 g) or Herbal Potassium Combination are excellent choices. For over-alkalinity try Time-Release Vitamin C or Vitamin C Ascorbates, and Flax Seed Oil to help the body in regaining balance.

¹ Source: Leadership Development program Manual p 25-27 - Steve Horne and Carl Robinson.

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Information on this site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. You should read carefully all product packaging. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider.