15 of 2007
So I finally got to go to Disneyland in the first half-century of my life!
What an amazing place. I was with Stephen, our now 6 year old grandson, and Mark, my husband, and we were all walking around with our mouths open!
What was even more amazing was that they sold pineapple chunks, fresh fruit and natural smoothies and 100% pure fruit juices and yes, the junk food too, but at least there is a choice! We also took along preservative-free dried fruit, fresh fruit and bottled water and juices but you can get most of that there.
This is our first Christmas spent in the USA and what a difference, with lights on homes and even reindeers and sleighs on the roofs! Just like in the movies. We managed to get through Thanksgiving without too much sugar. Just took along 2 large salads and stuck to starches the odd slice of cheesecake for dessert. Just took some extra BarleyLife when we went to bed, and woke up in the morning feeling fine.
Mark started running nearly 3 months ago just after I left South Africa and so I have taken up running about 3-4 miles a day (5-7km a day) after both of us not having run for over 10 years. We are 10 years older but feel a huge improvement in our fitness levels, it is quit astounding that we are fitter now than 10 years ago!
The only thing that has changed for us is that we now take a flaxoil blend daily (Aimega) and drink barley grass juice every day (BarleyLife). As they both have a profound effect on the hormonal system (endocrine) it does makes sense as this is the system that controls muscle tone, energy and lung function. The reason we stopped running was that Mark injured his knee and damaged the anterior cruciate ligament and has had some level of pain for over 10 years now. I have more on this below and interview Mark about this on the DVD this month.
DVD info
This month we interview Mark on his healed cruciate ligament and find out how after 10 years of not running he was healed and able to run again. I do a talk on the Acid/Alkaline Balance and show you some cool soups and salads.
If you want to be inspired every month to stay healthy and find out how other people manage and how much fun and how easy it is, then make sure you order the monthly DVD. Share the costs with family and friends and start your own support group as you meet together monthly.
Following the Natural Way, will give you so much more energy and dramatically improved health that you will save way more than the cost of the DVD
Order the DVD’s from Jason on dvd@mary-anns.com
Interesting info and success stories
Mark’s healing of his knee after 10 years of pain
10 years ago Mark stepped over a small fence and felt a sharp pain in his knee. From that point on and for the next 10 years he has had pain of some sort in his left knee. He found that if he ate foods containing gluten, such as those made with wheat, rye or oats that his pain was worse and found that if he walked too far he was in pain the next day and that he could not run at all. If he did he had pain and for the next 3-5 days his knee was so painful he could not even go for a walk!
He went to a sports injury specialist surgeon in Stellenbosch in South Africa who assured him for a good many thousand he could operate and give him some relief but could not guarantee no pain. Mark decided he was not prepared to risk it. Mark found taking BarleyLife and Aimega and Frame Essentials from Aim helped ease the pain considerably but he was still not able to run. To understand what this meant to him you need to know that he was a top athlete at school when younger and has run for most of his life doing up to 32km runs.
Just about 2 ˝ months ago Mark went for a morning walk and was pretty stressed with me being away and miserable about being apart from me for so long for the first time in over 30 years of marriage. He was speaking to God about this when he felt in his heart that God wanted him to thank him for everything including me being away. So reluctantly he put up hands in surrender and started to thank God for everything in his life even the fact that I was away. Then he felt God telling him to run and he started saying that he had this knee problem, , but felt silly arguing with God so decided to run and felt immediately that his knee was healed! He has continued to run at least 5km (3miles) a day since then and says he feels like Forrest Gump at times as he just wants to run and run. He has had no pain since then in his knee. He continues to thank God every day for everything!
The Injury Mark had was with his anterior cruciate ligament. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important of four strong ligaments connecting the bones of the knee joint. It is often injured.
Ligaments are strong, dense structures made of connective tissue that stabilize a joint. They connect bone to bone across the joint.
The function of the ACL is to provide stability to the knee and minimize stress across the knee joint:
· It restrains excessive forward movement of the lower leg bone (the tibia) in relation to the thigh bone (the femur).
· It limits rotational movements of the knee.
A tear to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) results from overstretching of this ligament within the knee.
· It's usually due to a sudden stop and twisting motion of the knee, or a force or "blow" to the front of the knee.
· The extent of the tear can be a partial or a complete tear.
· Individuals experiencing a tear to the ACL may or may not feel a pop at the time of the injury.
· It is often injured together with other structures inside the knee joint.
· After the initial injury, the knee may swell and become painful.
· Instability or a sensation the knee is "giving out" may be a major complaint following this injury.
Often, but not always, depending on a person's activity level, a torn ACL needs to be fixed. Unfortunately a simple repair by suturing the torn ligament together again is not effective. A successful repair involves completely replacing the torn ligaments, and there are a number ways that this can be done.
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Body Brushing
Caryl de Vries our newest Natural Health consultant in New Zealand (This is from one of her assignments for the Natural Health and nutrition consulting course.)
Well, what an interesting experience….
I must begin by saying that I have never been much of a soap or a body cream person. I use soap mainly on my hands and smelly areas. My hands are terribly dry, so I have a pot of hand cream in every room of the house and even in the car. My shins are also particularly dry in the winter, even though it is our rainy season. I always remember my paternal grandmother’s story. She was a midwife for a time and used to wipe a newborn baby’s wet nappy over her face (the first wee)! She also used sunlight soap (the green one) for washing her face and never used pots of cream or anything else on her skin and had a beautiful complexion to the envy of her friends who had a dressing table full of lotions.
Dry body brushing was really invigorating and felt good. It being winter though, I don’t think this is the way I’ll go for now, it’s too cold to stand and body brush before dipping into a lovely inviting hot bath J
I have good, long, hot baths, really soaking, relaxing time before sleeping, and prefer to do the body brushing just before getting out.
I noticed that I had no body odour, which is wonderful. My skin seems to be smoother.
I have not used soap on my feet for many years, only use a genuine pumice stone, which is freely available in NZ. Pumice being volcanic rock, and this country is a country of volcanoes, you can imagine. So my feet are smooth like a baby’s bottom.
This is the information that I sent all the people doing this study for me:
Skin Info:
The skin is an organ of elimination i.e. it provides the body with a mechanism to cleanse itself. A simple skin rash is often nothing more that the body trying to eliminate something foreign or toxic. Often by eating something incorrectly will inflame the skin, and incorrect food combining can even cause severe dermatitis for those with sensitive skins.
The skin is also an organ of nutrition assimilating Vitamin D, and an organ of protection, shielding the body against bacterial and other infection.
The Care of skin:
Soap strips the skin of it's acid mantle. As soap is alkaline, it counteracts the natural acidity of the skin, resulting in an alkaline environment, an ideal place for breeding of bacteria. Sores and scratches more easily become septic. Soap also removes natural oils from the surface of the skin leaving it dry and taut, hence the need to reach for creams to try and put the oil back. Soap doesn't remove surface dead cells, resulting in that flaky, dry look. Body brushing with a loofah or natural bristle brush - not nylon, which will damage the skin - on the other hand, keeps both the pH balance and natural oils intact, yet removes the dead skin cells from the surface.
When you stop using soap, you won't be needing block-out, sunscreen or hand and body lotions. Burning cheeks, dry legs and hands or cracked heels will be something of the past.
Years and years of eating foods our bodies weren't designed to eat, excessive exposure to very strong sunlight and artificial skin preparations age the skin prematurely.
Body brush 1x day is sufficient, ideally in the morning as the skin is busy replacing cells during the night while we sleep. Body brush the face with a soft bristle brush - shaving brush or something firmer e.g. a clean cotton face cloth and can be done 2 x day. Pubic area only needs water and a cotton cloth, but if you need to use soap, use soap made from natural products like coconut, olive, palm, for e.g., one that contains no animal products, preservatives, or artificial colourants and use a pH balanced cleanser on the rest of your body.
If you are an excessive user of creams or just a regular user, it might take up to a year to wean yourself, but in the end you will reap the benefits, health wise as well as financially!
Experiences from the different individuals:
Body brushing for 2 weeks Shirley Aug 2006
For 1 week I sand-papered my body with a dry loofah followed by showering using water only. In the 2nd week I used the loofah while showering still using no soap.
On the 1st day my body reacted by being all over very itchy. I think the zoo on my skin were putting up a fight. The top of my hands burnt when I squeezed a whole lot of oranges. Over the week the itchiness steadily decreased. I turned bright pink esp. on the softer whiter skin of my torso. I avoided scrubbing my face while scrubbing dry.
In the 2nd week, using the loofah wet, was much gentler. Therefore I used it on my face with care, being conscious of those possible lurking basal cell carcinomas. The whole process of scrubbing in water has proved very satisfying although energy sapping in the fading moments of my day. But as I say, satisfying, I feel like I’ve had a whole body workout by the time I’ve finished and my body responds delightfully to restful relaxing afterwards in my fleeting moments of consciousness.
I see a real improvement in the condition of my skin – softer, silkier, and I think some teeny wart-like things have diminished. My lower legs, although still as ugly as ever with veins, are my greatest thrill as they are so less dry and generally in good shape.
I feel the scrubbing is good for my circulation generally can’t measure that in any way, just what I feel.
Not using soap in the privates is great. I have always found soap there burns and so have used soap scantily in the past. Glad to have the assurance that water is all that is needed, and will stick with that.
Have decided to remain a water scrubber. J
Comments from Margaret 22 August 2006
The first 2 days or so, my skin was a bit “soapy” or “slimy” to the touch when under water. I did smell a bit when I perspired the first few days but I was painting etc and was in my “not very clean” paint clothes so I don’t know if it was the clothes or me!
It has been an invigorating and enjoyable experience. Obviously the “wet” brushing was more enjoyable than the “dry” (and shivery!) brushing as it is winter but I think the dry brushing will be more invigorating when it is warmer again. I haven’t used anything on my skin at all for these 2 weeks. My skin is smooth and clean. The massaging that the loofah does as you brush is also enjoyable. Only my lips have been dry but other than that, I haven’t felt the need of any moisturizers or deodorants. I will continue to use this nice scratchy and blood-moving loofah!
Experiences with loofahing…… Sheila August 2006
Skin Red after scrubbing each time
Probably felt smoother and lightly oilier whilst in the shower only
Smells No change
Circulation - Seems to
be better. One of the ladies at the writing club said something like "I can
tell from your face that your circulation has
improved." When she said that I thought about it and reckon she may be right as
I do have bad circulation and hadn't been noticing it quite so much but really I
would need to have a cold snap to check if there is any difference - maybe the
weather is just warmer!!
Susan September 2006
This was quite a culture shock, scraping the loofah across my skin, and then not using any products for the period!! Although I must admit that I’m not a lotion and perfume person, but have never gone without soap and deodorants. The 2nd week was better with water and in actual fact I’ve decided to continue to loofah because of the following benefits:
· My skin is softer and smoother, not dry at all
· I’m using less soap and deodorant – a saver
· I feel invigorated and good
Ina December 2006
Ina enjoyed the experience. The first week was quite scratchy but invigorating. She was keen to do this scrubbing as she has some real itchy and dry patches. By the second week, when she could scrub under the shower, she really started to enjoy it. Her skin started to glow and the itchiness started to disappear. She never realised that you could scrub without using any soap and not have body odours! She thought that she would have to sleep in a separate bed to her husband during this time, but that was not necessary J She will keep on scrubbing as this seems to be really good and refreshing.
This is a piece written by my literary friend. She belongs to a writer’s club and had to compose a piece that was a little out of the ordinary and it happened to be in the weeks she was loofah – experimenting!
The Shower Scene by Sheila L
Such a title conjures up different images for everyone. It is amazing how often shower scenes have played out at the movies. Somehow they do not feature as often in books…or do they? How is it the television authorities prepare people for what they are about to see. Ah yes, the following may disturb more sensitive viewers. Without the visuals this shower scene is unlikely to have that kind of effect so none of you need leave the room.
Two weeks ago, a friend who is doing a health practitioner’s course and needed a study subject, issued me with a loofah - one of those handy glove shaped ones with the little knitted cuff which fits snuggly around the wrist. I was very pleased with it. After all they have been “cultivated for bathtime luxury for hundreds of years” or so the advertisers on Google told me. Actually Google sites also mentioned that the Loofah Gourd is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family - a distant cousin of the cucumber. Since I have seen people put cucumbers on their eyelids to refresh and invigorate, I was sure all should go well.
My first hint of things not being so charming was the instruction that I was to use this loofah dry for a complete week. Have you ever tried sandpapering yourself? One does all sorts of strange things at boarding school and I can remember girls trying sandpaper as an alternative to shaving. I was reminded of this as the loofah scraped across my skin for the first time. Visions of sitting in a tub full of soap bubbles whilst listening to soft music and sipping from a slender glass were replaced by the reality of assuming positions a contortionist would be proud of and listening to the abrasive sounds of my skin being ruffled unceremoniously limb by limb. From top to toe the dry loofah was relentless. In an attempt to be diligent to my task, I loofahed very vigorously each night for the appointed week. Beetroot red and freshly scrubbed, I would step into the shower and feel the tingling and stinging pinpricks as the hot water fell on my freshly loofahed exterior. The second instruction involved a prohibition on soap. Now before all of you move three chairs from me, I hasten to add that, so far, my nearest and dearest has not commented on any odours and trust me…he would have.
I guess once in the shower it should have been relaxing. After all the workout of loofahing, equivalent to an hour at the gym, was now over. However I was wrong. In order to comply with the soap ban, I had to ensure that the shampoo - a permitted substance - did not contaminate the rest of me. This involved experimentation beyond the contortions I had achieved outside the confines of the shower. After many trial runs, I had found that there are many ways to stand in the shower but very few that ensure the shampoo stays where it should be. Have you ever seen a giraffe at a water hole? Take the gracefulness from that picture and you have it. As I spanned the breadth of the shower cubicle at an inhuman angle, Shakespeare’s words rung in my newly scoured ears: Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus"
By the second week, my initiation was over and the thrill of graduation was in the air. My reward was a second week of scrubbing but being allowed to loofah after turning on the water and stepping into the shower. A vast improvement, though an added challenge since hearty loofahing whilst ensuring shampoo did not go where it should not, meant forethought and precision in timing. However it was achieved and now I have a wealth of loofah knowledge and experience to share with the world at large.
I’ve planned loofah parties - a definite change to the seemingly outdated Tupperware and lingerie ones. I have researched my topic from a biological, health and even literary viewpoint. The latter was most enlightening since I found that loofah rhymes with two very apt words, one meaning a loudspeaker, which resembled the sound the loofah made on my skin, and one meaning a soft rock. With my new found career I feel that from parties in home settings I can progress to a countrywide tour giving talks at prestigious venues. I’ll give you a taste of it with this limerick, which captures the essence of loofahing.
There was a brand spanking new loofah
That yearned to be loud like a woofer
It rubbed and scrubbed each day
So it would have its say
And Sheila became like a tufa
As you can see from this, it won’t be long before I’ll be writing a book on my experiences and I am sure that Hollywood will eagerly grasp the opportunity to make it into a movie. After all I already have a shower scene.
Thought for the week
Proverbs 3: 13 & 14
Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the man who gets understanding; for the gaining of it is better than fine gold, she is more precious than rubies, and all your delights are not comparable to her.