How to Win the Battle Against Nasty Cold Germs, etc.

It's quite easy to avoid getting seasonal colds, etc. You can benefit from these tips that took me awhile to figure out. I really needed to come up with preventatives after working in the public school system the past few years. I hadn't been sick for years until finally all the continual germs and viruses that I was exposed to caught up with me and I was extremely sick last Xmas break and last Spring break..............Enough of lousy holidays! "Plan on enjoying your days off!"

First and foremost, if you're lacking energy, like if you have to drag yourself through the afternoon, go home and rest! That's it - lay on the couch - let the troops fend for themselves - better yet, let them fend for you or order a healthy dinner delivered.

Enhance your well being with quick-cooked or better yet, as many raw vegies as you can. Munch on a raw carrot or pieces of celery while cooking dinner or talking on the phone; crunch, crunch, "oh ya, is that right?", crunch crunch, etc. There's endless zillions of wonderful salads that can be thrown together - even to make full meals. It's just so nice now cause you can buy so many that are ready to go into the bowl. If you're lacking ideas grab a salad cookbook or google salad recipes online. Add raw seeds and nuts to them to get your Omegas. Oh ya, let's not forget garlic - the rawer the better! It's just such a natural penicillin. Hopefully you like it. I think it's one of those foods, the more you eat it the more you like it. I'm even to the point of eating fresh sliced garlic, mixed with mayo or plain, on toast. Okay not everyday, only when I'm trying to recharge! Apparently eating fresh parsley with garlic helps with the breath issue! Many people simply take garlic capsules while others make a tea with chopped garlic - cheap, easy and effective. This also cures sinus trouble and pneumonia.

Fresh fruit really enhances the immune system to ward off all the germs floating around. It's the first on my daily eating agenda. I seem to benefit mostly from the citrus ones so a grapefruit and orange top the list along with a banana to feel full and give me a feeling of calmness and a boost of potassium. Later on before lunch it's good to add an apple or grapes, kiwis, strawberries, etc., whatever you like. Colorful fruits are high in antioxidants too. The fruit gives you a lot of needed energy and is a great cleaner-outer of stuffs your body doesn't need. As the day progresses more tasty foods aid in this.

Bran Muffins or whole wheat breads filled with wonderfully healthy stuff like oat bran, ground flax seed, wheat germ, and then sweetened with raisins, dried cranberries and molasses keeps the elimination of nasty germs rolling along. I'll post my favorite tasty recipe later on.

WATER - natures best cleaner! Do It! Don't like it? Just like anything else, add it to your diet in small increments. I'm finally at the point where I crave it. Actually a big part of feeling tired is simply being dehydrated. Drinking water is energizing. If you are worried about the quality of your water installing a filter under your taps or on your tap is cheaper than buying bottled water. Waterpik on your kitchen tap is even a better deal than Britta for replacement filter costs.

If you're fighting a cold it's still okay to be outside in cold winter air. The main thing is to keep your neck and feet warm. If they're continually too cold they can cause you to be ill. Fresh air and moderate exercise is still important when you're feeling draggy! If you do get the chills the sooner you take a hot shower or an epson salt bath (helps expel toxins) the sooner you'll feel warm and cosy.

It doesn't hurt to take a few of the fabulous items found at your favorite health food area location either. Chewable vitamins C's have now evolved into 'Ester-C' - buy them on sale - so good for you along with Oregano Oil, taken under the tongue. When I'm really on the fighting side I take as much as I can stand at least twice a day! Goji Berries are fantastic too, the new superfood, stacked with vitamin C. They're also costly. I buy them in the bulk section and take around 10 a day, during my morning fruit eatin' sessions. Cayenne pepper also tops the list. Taking capsules or mince them to add along with garlic to salads and main dishes assists your body in expelling mucus from your respiratory passages. I'm sure you already have your own tried and true methods to assisting with avoiding sickness - just a few tips to add to your repertoire. Oh ya, one last thing - Salt Water.

Even doctors are now prescribing salt water to gargle and use in the nose. My doctor gave me a syringe - kind of embarrassing to buy one in this day and age. The idea is to tilt your head back and let it go up/down the nose to find it's way clear down to your throat and it even clears your 'pipes' to your ears. You'll have to blow your nose a few times (better out than in) and you'll feel your ears clearing out if that makes any sense! It works. The great thing is that it prevents any yucky stuff from getting down into your lungs and say good-bye to sinus headaches! Experiment with your salt/water mix, 1 teaspoon to 1 cup warm water is okay but if it's too 'salty' add a bit of water or vice versa!

When you can't avoid nasty germs try these tips and you'll feel a lot more confident about being healthy - last tip - Think Positive! If you hear yourself constantly saying that you don't feel very good, you won't feel good! Your best bet is to think 'healthy' and cheery thoughts! Please feel free to post all your 'cheery' tips here. Avoiding the common cold is historical!

Antibacterial & Antiviral Herbs to Cure MRSA

Can garlic stop Godzilla?
Godzilla, as you know is this monster. An unstoppable monster that rips up whole cities. Bombs, bullets and even missiles just bounce off his back like raindrops.
So what if you ran into a real-life Godzilla?
A Godzilla called MRSA

MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is a dangerous bacteria that has exploded from 127,000 cases in 1999 to 278,000 in 2005. According to the CDC, this deadly threat was responsible for more deaths in the US than AIDS in 2005. Spreading across the world, MRSA is now found in 38 states, Canada, and 9 European Union Countries.

So will garlic help?
MRSA mutates quickly
A new variant of MRSA called MDR has been recently identified in the Jan 15th 2008 physicians journal called the Annals of Internal Medicine. Standing for multidrug resistant, MDR is the newest MRSA-zilla monster to be unleashed. Cases of this newest monster have been found in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.

This strain has also shown the ability to resist almost every antibiotic. Without antibiotics, there are not many drugs that will protect you.

Will garlic save you from this monster?

MRSA-zilla on a rampage
MDR is a highly virulent strain is reported to produce rapidly spreading skin infections where hours can make a difference. It can also penetrate deeper into your bloodstream, bones, and joints. The lungs and heart are also at risk.

When doctors try ineffective antibiotics first, it is like trying to stop Godzilla with a squirt gun. This delay can mean the difference between life and death.
Who is most at risk?

People who are at the greatest risk are athletes, children, military personnel, and people with weakened immune systems. Health care professionals, teachers, and sports trainers are also at risk when they come into contract with if from their patients, students, and clients.
MRSA is in your community

A Poolesville County high school student gets MRSA from infected football equipment. A Montgomery County Maryland school teacher in Maryland dies because of it. Paramedics and firefighters in Washington, DC have contracted it. A grand mother is transferred out of a Maryland hospital because doctors can't stop it.

There are multiple strains: a strain found in hospital patients especially from post-surgical infections called HA-MRSA and a community strain CA-MRSA. MDR is the newest variant of the CA-MRSA strain called USA-300.
You can't always see it coming

People who are perfectly healthy and do not show any symptoms have been found to be carriers of these strains of MRSA. According to the CDC, these bugs can be carried by a person for weeks or years without any signs or symptoms.

Doing all the right things may not be enough

You know all the right things to do to not get sick: wash your hands and cover up any open wounds until they heal. You also need to keep your immune system strong by eating well, getting enough rest, and exercising. However, MRSA infections are growing among people who have not been in a hospital in over a year.

You need more than medications

Most people like you feel scared when you realize that medications may not protect you from these quickly mutating MRSA-zilla monsters. When you are still sick after multiple courses of antibiotics, where can you find a more powerful defense against these mutant MRSA drug resistant strains?

Is garlic the answer?
Herbal defenses for your immune system

In a 2000 report on treating MRSA in a Japanese hospital, five patients had active MRSA even after receiving multiple courses of different antibiotics, including the more powerful intravenous ones.

Their doctors were also trained in Chinese herbal medicine. They gave these five patients daily doses of 5 grams of an herbal formula called Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang which translates to ''Ginseng and Astragalus Combination.'' Antibiotic drugs were discontinued at this time.

MRSA disappears in less than 6 weeks

Within 16 to 39 days, all of these patients tested MRSA-negative. No side effects were reported as a result of receiving the herbs.

These herbs have antibacterial and antiviral properties

This herbal formula has been shown to produce an increase in the activity of your immune system killer cells. One of the key herbs in this formula, called Astragalus, is known for it's antibacterial and antiviral properties. Astragalus works in combination with the other seven herbs in the formula to stimulate your immune system while helping to protect you from dangerous infections.

Patients recovered from other symptoms related to MRSA

The five patients in this study recovered from a variety of different symptoms related to their MRSA infection. These include: fever, pneumonia, open wounds or sores that wouldn't heal, difficulty breathing, lung congestion, abnormal breathing sounds, and chest pains.

How herbs can help you against MRSA

If you have contracted MRSA, you can receive a customized formula with the dose of each herb tailored to address and heal your specific symptoms. If needed, additional herbs are often added to increase immune system activity, increase antibacterial and antiviral properties, or to strengthen specific organs that are weakened or affected.

Herbs can also be used as preventative medicine also

These herbs can also be taken as a preventative measure to strengthen your immune system. If you tend to get sick more often, then your immune system needs additional support.
Having strong defenses prevents you from being overrun

By knowing what you can do now to strengthen yourself against these MRSA-zilla mutants, you will have a much better chance of stopping it before it has a chance to go deeper into your body.
Garlic helps too

In addition to the Chinese herb Astragalus, Dr. Andrew Weil recommends taking several pieces of raw garlic which is the Chinese herb called da' suan. Whenever you are feeling the first signs of any infection, I recommend swallowing four to five toes of minced garlic with a glass of water during a meal.

Continue doing all the right things like washing your hands frequently, keep you cuts and scrapes covered until they heal, and avoid contact with people's bandages or wounds.
Strengthen yourself against MRSA-zilla

You would greatly benefit from strengthening your immune system with Chinese herbs if you tend to get sick easily, require multiple rounds of antibiotics to recover from an infection, or work with people who are at risk. If MRSA-zilla ever strikes, your immune system will have a much better chance of protecting you against this mutating monster.

©Two Frogs Healing Center. All Rights Reserved.

Wouldn't you love to stumble upon a secret library of powerful healing tools and ideas? Find simple, yet electrifying ideas on self-healing, powerful herbs, spiritual healing, and acupuncture for resolving difficult illnesses. Head down to http://www.TwoFrogsCenter.com today and judge for yourself.

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Why Meditaions is Good

Alpha Meditation - Why it is Good For You By Amanda Isbitt



The art of Meditation has been around for over 5,000 years. Learning to meditate properly takes some time; however, anyone can grasp the basic concepts in just a very short time span. You would begin with the basic form and learn how to relax; wipe everything out of your mind and turning your attention to only one single thought. The word Meditation is a means to refer to many spiritual practices.

Meditation gives a person a better focus on self-awareness, a higher state of consciousness, and the ability to achieve a more creative aspect. It has been practiced by all sorts of religions and cultures from every country in the world, including the western world.

It has suffered much criticism from many doctors, because there was no proof that it worked. However, there have many studies done on Meditation and the findings were phenomenal. Doctors and people everywhere found that it does help a person relieve stress and pain as well as it helps the person to have a much better life.

Many people suffer from stress from their jobs, stress of a situation they may be in, or from an illness. Meditation helps relieve this stress, and pain from some form of illness by focusing your thoughts away from your troubles. Hospitals and clinics have used this technique more in the western world since the 1960's, and it has become so popular that it is being offered by many businesses, as an out-of- office class.

Most of the participants are taught to sit cross-legged, however, not all types of Meditation are taught this; many different traditions may have other ways to Meditate. Some may want you to sit on a stool. Some basic concepts in all the traditions prefer that you keep your back totally straight, and use an ommmm sound focus.

One way to practice a form of Meditation is to lie down and clear your mind by imagining a shiny sparkling cloud out in space traveling towards earth. As it reaches earth, it stops and the glittering sparkles form a beam of light right over your country, then the beam of light moves downward toward your city to you and as it gets to you, it begins to enter the top of your head. Suddenly, you can feel a tingling feeling traveling down your body from your head. As this tingling feeling moves down, you will begin to feel a warm feeling where the beam of light is passing through your body. You will feel the tingling travel on down warming your body in every part until it directs itself out through your toes. Your body will feel as though it is still pulsing a stream of particle light, and you will feel relaxed and full of energy.

This method is one that I have personally used for many years. It has changed my life for the better. I learned to dismiss the anger that I had so much of, and it taught me so much more.
Amanda Is A Work From Home Mum of 3, Mainly Researching Unique Products to write about. For all of the latest products, news, and case studies please visit Learn The Art Of Alpha Meditation
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MEDITATION: Proper Breathing Techniques

Are you trying to learn how to meditate or maybe you just want to learn how to really relax at any point during your day? Do you want to know the meditation breathing techniques that masters use to relax whenever they want? There are specific methods to the breathing that they use when it comes to meditation. Here are some tips to help you through your breathing.

1. Find a good focus

The first thing you have to do is find something you can focus on. Breathing itself can be a good focus, but it does not work for everybody. At first, you will want to focus on your breathing so that you can get a good rhythm and make sure you are breathing deep enough, but with meditation breathing you might need to focus on something else. An object that you really like might work best.

2. Meditation breathing from the belly

This is referred to belly breathing and I am mentioning it because it is not difficult to master. However, this is only about half as deep as you can really go. The basic idea is to breath slow and deep concentrating on expanding your belly so that the bottom of your lungs fill up with air first. Then, it will filter up and fill the top of your lungs. You will then expel your breath through your mouth and do it again.

3. Feeling like you are an inner tube

One of my favorite ways to breath when I am trying to meditate is to pretend like my spine is the middle of an inner tube and I have to fill it with air all the way to the bottom of my back. If you can practice this technique for breathing and master the feeling of your back filling up, then you will be able to take some of the most relaxing and deepest breaths you have ever taken.
These are just a few of the tips you can use for breathing while you are meditation to relax at any point in the day. It is amazing how well our bodies respond to good full breaths and you can use them to relax at work, at home, or anywhere you want.

To download the top Online Meditation Guide, Go Here!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_T._Felton

Ayurvedic Way of Healthy Eating

Wholesome Diet: An Ayurvedic Way of Healthy Eating by Dr. Pardeep Sharma

All the developments in scientific areas have made our lives easy and luxurious. Today we can enjoy those conditions which were away from dreams of our ancestors. But in this race we have left our joy, feelings and happiness somewhere, centuries back. We are living a very painful life today. We all need solutions for a healthy lifestyle.

Today we have a lot in name of health sciences and medical facilities. We have big surgical rooms where a surgeon can peep into the minutest part of our brains; they are capable to replace the "not-properly" working organs with new organs. Modern medical sciences have almost everything besides happiness of being healthy and health proper. This is an era of transition.

Things are changing very fast. IT revolution has changed the way to think a lot. People want to explore the newer horizons. Intellects of health industry are busy in developing newer and newer things. Today, most ignored concept of modern sciences, health and lifestyle are in hot list.

Modern science accepted the concept of Holistic Sciences like Ayurveda, that without a good diet and lifestyle, complete health is a dream only. Today there are many diet plans available around us - Diet for heart, diet for diabetics, diet for osteoarthritis and much more. Where is the diet for complete human body? Where is the wholesome diet, where is the diet which can nourish your whole body?

It really makes sense to care the whole body, when we are targeting the complete health. But things are going towards wrong direction. These days we have become more and more subjective about the body. We and our physicians feel that more and more specialization is a healthy practice. It seems to so. But reality is some what different when we approach the body with a Wholistic approach. I have changed Holistic in Wholistic.

A science which covers every thing related to body is Wholistic. Ayurveda is so. In Ayurveda we cannot differentiate the human body in different parts of specialization. According to Ayurveda a complete Doctor -Vaidya is He, who knows all about human body, all aspects, all horizons of human body. So Ayurveda is more subjective in approach than modern day sciences. When body is one, all organs and tissues are working for one complete body, then why to think differently about different organs? Diet for diabetic can manage the weight and sugar levels for the body. Special diet for heart can help the cardiac muscles and arteries. These are vital surely but not the only part of body which should be cared. The half knowledge, these diet plans are providing is increasing ignorance. To be more careful for a single organ causes ignorance, ignorance towards rest of the body. I have seen many examples of all this during my clinical practice.

More a person is conscious about health, more he suffers. They are conscious about weight, brain, heart and other vital parts. I found none with a complete consciousness towards complete body and complete health. This weight, brain etc. cause fear of death that is why we think about these only. But death is never a challenge to life. I met a patient of Insomnia last week at my clinic. For him life is to sleep, what he cannot do. He read somewhere that heavy, fatty diet will help him to sleep sound. He started all that. I put a question to him that he might have read it also that the diet he is taking to sleep may cause heart diseases also. He nodded. Then he answered, it is easy to face a death than not to sleep for the whole night. This is a main lacuna in our approach that we are never sure about what we are going to do. This patient was and I felt happy for him.

Second example may lead you to think twice about the altered diet you are taking. The patient I am talking is Mr. Verma, a case of severe obesity. He visited some modern day dietitian. The dietitian prescribed him high fiber diet and he skipped everything from his meal except half cooked veggies and juices. No sugar, no cholesterol and nothing else. Changes were dramatic and that fellow lost almost half of his weight. He met me in a social gathering and I advised him not to do that all. But the miraculous results were amazing him and he went on with the same for next one month or so. Last week I got a call and on other end it was Mrs. Verma. I was shocked by listening that Mr. Verma has been hospitalized due to blood in vomit. He was diagnosed severe Peptic Ulcer along with Portal Hypertension. Portal hypertension has caused esophageal varices so bleeding was more severe. Moral of this accident is, we should know the difference between ignorance and knowledge. Mr. Verma is not alone, who is suffering from all this.

There are so many people who have gone through same condition. Matter is the information; these health conscious people are collecting. On internet one can find a lot of information, in tons. But this information is altered smartly. People serve as much they need to serve for the sale of their package or diet plan. I used to amaze about how one can send a diet plan to someone without a personal check up or without taking any history, how best seller books can assure someone for better health? A lot of confusion is here. Last week condition of Mr. Verma asked me to narrate all this about wholesome diet.

There is always a reason for a happening. Let's first discuss about human body- What is body basically? Are we really mechanized as modern sciences think? We human beings are an outcome of a very planned and organized process of evolution. Evolution started from one single cell living beings- protozoon. These developed in porifera then came coelenterates and we mammals are the last in this chain. We mammals are the ultimate developments of the Mother Nature. Evolution has two important points - one is work division and second is perfection.

Perfection comes when there is a smart work division. In protozoon a single cell performs all the vital activities like respiration, digestion, assimilation etc. In mammals these activities are divided among trillions of cells. In protozoon everything was in crude form and in us there is much perfection. Cells work together for a complete human body and these cells make tissues. All the cells are complimentary to the whole body and whole body is complimentary to these cells. Body is nothing, if these cells won't work properly. So for complete health it is important that each and every cell should work properly.

Second is, are we really mechanized? No, not at all. All the living creatures are blessed with a cosmic/universal intelligence. This natural intelligence resides in all of us in a silent mode. It never interferes in any physical activity, done by body in relation to the external environment. This intelligence holds all the rights to control the behavior of a body on gross level and also that of every cell on minute level. This universal intelligence makes us sure to do things in a right manner.

This intelligence, when challenged gives signals. All these diseases and their sign and symptoms are signals from this intelligence, which want to convey that something wrong is going on somewhere inside the body. So over all it is important that we should have "Wholistic" a wholesome diet, which will nourish each and every part of the body and will lead us to complete health.

Health is a matter of the whole body, not of a particular system or an organ. According to Ayurveda there are six types of tastes- Madhur (Sweet), Amla (Acidic), Lavana (Salty), Katu (Bitter), Tikta (Pungent) and Kashaya (Astringent). These six have different impact on different Doshas. The first three Sweet, Acidic and Salty pacify Vata and have soothing effect on body; last three Bitter, Pungent and Astringent pacify Kapha Dosha and open the blocked channels of the body. Sweet, pungent and astringent is good for Pitta and have cooling effect on the body. This is a common classification.

The main problem is it that this description is available all over the internet and one can access this anywhere. But the next lines are not clear to anyone. The Vata pacifying tastes where pacify Vata, on other hand these are responsible for the aggravation of the Kapha. So excessive use of these tastes will never prove healthy for a Vata person because continuous consumption of these tastes will increase the Kapha and this increased Kapha will occlude all the channels of the body.

Once these channels are occluded the free flowing air will be trapped in the channels and this trapped Vata will try to come out. So Vata will aggravate excessively. This happens mostly and blame comes on Ayurveda. Culprit is not Ayurveda; this is basically the "provide half knowledge strategy of" web marketers. If not this, what should one do? Being continued with the example of Vata pacifying tastes, if a person is completely dominated by Vata he should go for Sweet, Acidic and Salty tastes. These three should be in dominance and all three should be added properly in a particular ratio not on a "Guess What" preference.

Ayurveda has condemned the excessive use of a single taste and also have advised that one should go for a mixed diet. So add all the tastes in your food and you will be healthy. Ayurvedic Diet has a complete solution for a man, just try to find what the best is. Next time you look for a diet please look for a complete wholesome diet not for an incomplete diet. At Ayurvedic Diet Solutions we have made all the diet plans in such a way that these should be wholesome completely. Wholesome diet will lead you to the better health and happiness. In our diet plans we have managed to give you the lifestyle information according to your Doshas also. Moreover, we have a new unique feature that is Personalize Ayurveda. In this you will get all the information regarding your diet and lifestyle.


About the Author
Dr. Pardeep Sharma, an Ayurveda physician from India. I am Working as President of Atharv Ayur Health Care, Jaipur, India. Have worked on Ayurvedic Diet and Lifestyle for ten years almost and now running a chain of clinics - Sukhayu Ayurveda Clinics, my domain is http://www.ayurvedicdietsolutions.com