Alternative Health Frustration

I gorged last night...

Not on food, but on information. A while back a cute little woman of chinese heritage running a smoothie shop informed me that I had "the yeast". She said that the overeating i do, and sugar cravings are from something called a Systemic Candida infection. (too much yeast inhabiting your digestive tract, or other areas of your body).

So i search for this off and on, and I'm totally saturated w/ the information that is available on the web and in books that I've taken out of the library.

And...as is usual w/ alt health stuff...I'm confused. Tired of searching for myself, and interested in just fixing this (if it's in fact "the yeast" that I have)

I've come to the conclusion that when anything is extremely complex (like being overweight) you find that a lot of people label themselves as "experts" and will happily give you their opinions.

So what I like to do is to read what the experts say and draw my own non-expert conclusions by looking for the overlap, and the most practical options for me.

Here's the overlap on the yeast...and in stopping sugar cravings...

1. Cut most of the sugar out of your diet. Raw honey is ok, but use it sparingly
2. Limit fruit to 2-3 servings a day...it's better than sugar tho, so if you crave sugar, eat fruit instead
3. Eat more vegetables, preferably those that are lower on the glycemic index
4. Reduce the amount of fat you eat...no fried foods at all.
5. Exercise regularly.
6. Get enough sleep
7. Drink lots of warm and hot water and herbal teas.
8. Use a neti pot/sinus rinsing device at least daily
9. Stop eating vinegar, start using lemon juice instead.
10. Talk to a qualified alt health practitioner and detrmine if you do, indeed, have "the yeast"

#10 kind of freaks me out. Insurance doesn't typically cover alt health practitioners...so i'm going to do some research to find one or more that I can try out. If the woman @ OR Smoothies is right, then I've got a long term problem to solve.

If not, then steps 1-9 are just plain healthy advice.

Too bad i have $50 worth of Girl Scout cookies ...

Self-massage

Deepak has many suggestions for daily practices that will keep you happpier and healthier.

One of them is self massage...

For those of us who are overweight, we have a "Kapha" imbalance... meaning that we are accumulating and carrying excess baggage...mentally, physically, emotionally.

Another thing to remember is that when under stress, everyone gets out of touch with his or her body.

Enter: the dry massage

and Abhyanga, sesame oil massage.

First: Dry massage: Take a dry loofah...over "long" bones or arms and legs do back and forth motion...20-40 times.

At your joints use a circular motion

I was very skeptical that this would be good on my skin...but it leaves me w/ a "buzz". It is invigorating and definitely wakes up my body.

Second: Follow dry massage w/ a sesame oil massage. Warm a small amount in your hand (or have a small plastic bottle and warm that in hot water). Starting w/ your scalp and using circular motions, massage all over w/ sesame oil. pay special attention to your feet.

then follow all of THAT with a steaming hot shower.

Repeat daily.

After all of this, i felt AMAZING. Relaxed and alert. Calm. bright eyed. Coffee? who needs coffee?

This total took me about 20-30 min. Right now i can't add that to my routine daily, but oh what a world it would be if i could.

Clean the office...or make Ayurvedic food

Make Ayurvedic food in an effort to avoid the office. ...

Hey. Don't Judge. Deepak said "you need to boil your milk"

and then he said "Ghee is purified butter. it is what you should cook with. so spend at least an hour on your saturday or sunday skimming the crap off the top of it.

God, I love Deepak. Meanwhile, my office has more and more crap piled into it.

But i have clarified butter...and boiled milk.

The boiled milk is actually kind of tasty. and i have been really drinking a lot of it. So Thumbs Up, Deepak!

So far i haven't made anything w/ the ghee (clarified butter...melt butter and skim the crap off the top, then pour the middle layer into a clean bowl leaving the bottom layer of crap in the pan. I read after i did it this way that you can achieve the same effect faster by straining through a cheesecloth).

Tomorrow i'll tell you what it's like to massage yourself w/ Sesame oil prior to showering. ...

the short answer is ...invigorating!! :-)