Detox for a Healthier You

You know how you feel when you have had too much of the wrong thing to eat or drink? You often feel tired, lethargic, flat, sluggish, and dull. If you have too many toxins in your body, you may feel a little like this all of the time. Detoxing your body is absolutely necessary for your best health – to enjoy abundant energy, glowing skin, healthy sex drive, good sleep, weight loss and more.

Spring is a great time for clearing out the old rubbish, and bringing in new and better beginnings into your life. Please take this time to think about your health, and what areas you want to be better than they are now. A good detox is an excellent way to kick-start your body, to help you look better, feel better, and have more energy.

Does this sound like you?

•  Do you feel less healthy and energetic than other people your age?
•  Do you often have difficulty thinking clearly?
•  Do you get sick often?
•  Do you often feel tired, sluggish and flat?
•  Do you have digestive disturbances (wind, bloating, flatulence, constipation, heartburn)?
•  Do you have bad breath or body odour?
•  Do you eat junk food, drink alcohol or make poor lifestyle decisions?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you may be in need of a ‘spring clean’. These are the types of symptoms you may experience when many of the toxic substances you have been exposed to have accumulated within your body, leaving you feeling less than your best.

Our therapists can recommend a safe and effective professional detoxification program to improve the way in which your body eliminates toxins, and to bring you back to a state of health and vitality.

Toxic Exposure – A Reality of Modern Life

Toxin exposure is seemingly unavoidable in our modern world. Now more than ever, we are exposed to toxins from the lotions we put on our skin, the toothpaste we brush with, the air that we breathe, additives and preservatives in our food supply, pesticides, plastics, etc.  According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), by the time the average woman leaves the house in the morning, she has been exposed to 126 chemical toxins.  And laboratory tests commissioned by the EWG have detected as many as 232 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborn babies. Toxins do not only come from our external environment, they can also be generated internally by ‘unfriendly’ bacteria, yeasts, and parasites in our digestive systems. And stress increases the levels of toxins our bodies naturally produce.

Your body has numerous mechanisms to help eliminate all these toxins, but these detoxification pathways can become overwhelmed if you produce, consume or absorb more toxins than you can easily clear. A professional detoxification program supports toxin clearance through these pathways, leaving you feeling healthy and energetic.

Only Use a Safe and Effective Detoxification Program

Detoxifying is serious business and your safety and comfort during detoxification is important to us. Undergoing the wrong type of detox for your individual needs may actually leave you feeling sick and tired. You should not attempt a detoxification program without the guidance and support of a trained healthcare Practitioner. The natural supplements used in our program support your body by allowing your natural detoxification and repair systems to function efficiently, without causing undesirable side effects.

Live the Detox Lifestyle

To make the most of a detoxification program, specific lifestyle modifications can also be helpful:

1. Exercise

Our bodies are designed for regular physical activity. Regular exercise supports detoxification by allowing the lymphatic system to carry toxins and wastes out of the body. You should aim for 30 to 40 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise, three to four times per week.

2. Avoid recreational drugs

Recreational drugs (including cigarettes and alcohol) interfere with your detoxification processes and should be avoided to ensure you get the most out of your detoxification program.

3. Drink pure water

One of the easiest ways to improve your detoxification capacity is to drink plenty of water. Ideally the water should be filtered and you should aim to drink at least 2 litres of water per day, or more if it is hot or when you are exercising.

4. Detoxify your environment

Your home and work can be major sources of toxins. Try to eliminate or minimise your use of chemical cleaning products (vinegar, bicarb and other natural products are suitable alternatives), antiperspirants with aluminium, pesticides, petrochemicals, paints, solvents and hair spray.

5. Avoid toxic emotions and stress

How you think and feel can profoundly influence your health. Choose to be positive, optimistic and focused on improving your health. If you have a major stress in your life, enlisting the support of others to help can be useful. If you have lots of little stressors, practicing a relaxation technique like yoga, tai chi or meditation may be helpful.

6. Dry skin brushing

Your skin is a major organ of elimination. Dead skin cells can accumulate and prevent the skin being able to remove toxins effectively. Before you shower, spend five to ten minutes with a firm, natural bristled brush or loofah, brushing the skin of the arms, legs, and back briskly in the direction of the heart.

7. Massage

Massage techniques may accelerate detoxification, particularly lymphatic drainage. These treatments have a long traditional use for detoxification and will certainly leave you feeling relaxed and stress free.

Time for a Spring Clean!

If you are feeling sluggish, tired, and less than your best, a detoxification program can help you to make a clean start to Spring with renewed health and vitality. We can provide you a safe and effective professional detoxification program suitable to your individual needs.

To find out your current toxicity level, you can complete our online Comprehensive Toxicity Questionnaire.

If you are interested in finding out if toxins may be causing problems in your body, we offer a free Comprehensive Assessment at our clinic. It will also allow us to identify what is causing any health issues you may have, and the best way to resolve them. Most people quite enjoy their Assessment, and find it very helpful and informative. There is no cost or obligation whatsoever for an Assessment, and you can give us a call or book online.

The Causes, Prevention, and Treatment of Arthritis

Arthritis, or inflammation of the joints, is Australia’s number one crippling disease. It is usually caused by deterioration of the cartilage in the joint.

Types of arthritis

There are over 100 types of arthritis. The two main ones are:

• Osteoarthritis – this is a degenerative joint disease and is the most common form of arthritis. It occurs when the cartilage loses its elasticity, and when it is stiff it becomes damaged more easily. The cartilage, which acts as a shock absorber, will gradually wear away in some areas. As the cartilage becomes damaged, tendons and ligaments become stretched, causing pain. Eventually the bones may rub against each other causing very severe pain.It often appears in the weight bearing joints like the knees, hips and spine and in the hands. Cartilage destruction occurs, followed by the formation of large bone spurs on the joints. The first sign of osteoarthritis shows up as morning stiffness, especially in damp weather, then pain from movement that worsens with prolonged activity. Osteoarthritis is usually believed to be due to age or ‘wear and tear’, however it is more to do with the ability of the body to repair itself. Although osteoarthritis affects more women than men, a man who is 40 kilos overweight doubles his risk of knee and hip arthritis. Food allergies almost always contribute to osteoarthritis symptoms, so a thorough detoxification is a good place to start in the healing process. Today we know that osteoarthritis is repairable – numerous scientific studies have shown that glucosamine sulphate, a natural substance that stimulates the production of cartilage components, works even better than standard drugs.
• Rheumatoid arthritis – is an autoimmune problem, where the immune system attacks the lining of the joints, causing pain, inflammation, and often leads to deformed joints. When this connective membrane becomes inflamed, it may invade and damage the nearby bone and cartilage, resulting in pain, stiffness, loss of movement and eventually destruction of multiple joints. The damage goes even further, because rheumatoid arthritis also causes inflammation of the blood vessels and the outer lining of the heart and lungs. People who have rheumatoid arthritis also may have digestive problems, great fatigue, anaemia, ulcerative colitis, chronic lung and bronchial congestion, and liver malfunction.

Common factors include:

• calcium depletion
• gland and hormone imbalance, especially adrenal exhaustion
• prolonged use of aspirin and cortico-steroid drugs that eventually impair the body’s own healing powers
• poor diet lacking fresh fruit and vegetables and high in acid and mucous forming foods and food allergens.

Rheumatoid arthritis is significantly more common in women than men and generally strikes people aged between 40 and 60. However, children and much older people may also be affected.

What Causes Arthritis?

To understand what is going on when someone suffers from arthritis, let’s look at how a joint works.

Cartilage covers the bone surface to stop the two bones from rubbing directly against each other. The covering of cartilage allows the joint to work smoothly and painlessly.

You don’t want things to get caught between the bones of the joint as they move, so a ‘capsule’ surrounds the joint. The space inside the capsule (the joint cavity) contains a liquid called synovial fluid. You can’t have blood vessels inside a joint – they would get crushed and destroyed. So the body sends blood vessels to the joint capsule, and then the oxygen and nutrients in the blood vessels pass into the synovial fluid. These nutrients nourish the joint and the cartilage. But there is nothing to pump the fluid to the cartilage – the only way the cartilage can get the nutrients is for the bones to move backwards and forwards to push the synovial fluid around the joint. The blood vessels to the capsule also absorb the wastes that the joint produces, so the synovial fluid must be moved around for this to happen as well.

Arthritis is usually considered a ‘wear and tear’ condition, where the cartilage of the joint deteriorates over time. However, the body has an amazing ability to heal itself, with replacement cells being produced all the time. So why doesn’t this happen when someone has arthritis? There are a few things that can cause the cartilage to break down or prevent the body from repairing it.

1. Acidity – if your body is too acidic, it deteriorates more quickly. Think of a nail in water and a nail in acid – obviously the second one breaks down much faster. Most people with arthritis have very acid systems, and until this is corrected, their joints will keep deteriorating.

2. Lack of nutrients – the list here is very long, but the main ones are zinc and vitamin C (which the body needs for repair of any damaged areas), as well as glucosamine and chondroitin, which are both needed to repair cartilage. Sometimes a lack of copper can worsen arthritis, and in these cases copper bracelets can help.

3. Lack of blood to the joint capsule – this is quite common, and usually caused by tight muscles around the joint constricting the blood vessels, or by sluggish circulation in the legs or hands.

4. Chronic inflammation – either from overuse, an old injury, or from existing deterioration.

5. Lack of movement – it is important to frequently move the joints through their full range, otherwise the synovial fluid will not get pushed to all parts of the joint. The synovial fluid is a bit like blood – if it is moving freely, all the tissues will get a good supply of oxygen and nutrients, and have their wastes cleared. Otherwise the tissues will suffer and deteriorate.

6. Toxins – unwanted chemicals can build up in different areas in our body and cause damage and inflammation.

7. Rheumatoid Arthritis – is a more complex condition, as it is mostly caused by the immune system attacking the joint. In these cases, treating the immune system to get it working correctly again is also essential.

Treatments

Movement As you can see, under use and over use can both cause joint problems. Low-impact exercises that take the joints through their whole range of movement are ideal.

Unfortunately, people who already have arthritis often find that movement of the joint is painful, so nutrients or herbs that reduce the pain and inflammation are important. As they say, ‘If you don’t use it you lose it!’

Acupuncture Quality acupuncture is wonderful for reducing the pain and inflammation of arthritis. It can also help to loosen the joint and allow a greater range of movement. Japanese acupuncture will help stimulate the body’s repair systems and increase the blood supply to the joint, allowing it to repair more quickly and easily.

Naturopathy Herbs and supplements are used to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. A naturopath will also supply the right nutrients that the joint needs to replace the damaged cartilage and repair the joint. They will also improve the acidity of the body, and make sure that the person is correctly absorbing the right nutrients. Different foods will make the arthritis better or worse, so diet education is quite important. In particular, foods belonging to the night-shade group (potatoes, tomatoes, egg plants, chillies, and capsicums) are known to aggravate arthritis. Some foods cause or worsen inflammation, and some foods such as turmeric supplements decrease inflammation, and a naturopath will go through this in detail with the client.

A thorough detox by a good naturopath will often help arthritis considerably.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Because it is caused by the immune system attacking the joint, often the first step is to check for any food intolerances or allergies (at our Clinic), and to treat any of these that show up. This helps the immune system to settle down and behave more correctly.

As well as improving the immune system, our therapists will use the osteoarthritis treatments for reducing pain and inflammation, and repairing the cartilage and other parts of the joint.

If you are interested in finding out about possible treatments for arthritis or any other health condition, please contact us on 07 3376 6911, and ask for a free Comprehensive Health Assessment. We can then see what factors are involved in your condition, and recommend which therapy would be most effective for you.

Food Intolerance Testing Now Available

Do you feel unwell without knowing why, or have a lot of vague symptoms? If so, there is a good chance that food intolerances may be to blame.

Intolerances can affect almost any part of your body, and some of the symptoms associated with them are:

So if you often feel fatigued, irritable, achy or depressed, it may be due to something in your diet. Sometimes the connection is obvious, for instance if you get a migraine after eating oranges. But often the connection is more subtle, and your symptoms may not develop for several days. By that time it can be very difficult to know what to attribute them to.

Your body can react badly to any food, even healthy ones such as apples or pears.

However, a survey carried out by a food intolerance website, Foodintol, found that the most common food intolerances are dairy (59% of people), gluten (58%), wheat (48%), additives (27%), fructose (21%) and yeast (19%).

Food Intolerances and Food Allergies

These are quite different reactions. A classical food allergy (such as peanut or shellfish allergy) is usually characterised by an immediate and often severe reaction of the immune system to a specific food. The symptoms can include sneezing, rashes, skin irritation, swelling, runny nose, fatigue, diarrhoea and vomiting. Normally the symptoms occur within a few minutes of eating or coming in contact with the offending food, although they can be delayed by up to two hours. So unlike food intolerances, it is normally obvious which are the problem foods.

Food allergies are quite rare, with only about 2.5% of the population being diagnosed with the condition. The most common food allergies are to peanuts, tree nuts (almonds and Brazil nuts), eggs, milk, fish and shellfish. Allergic reactions to food can vary considerably in their severity, and some can even be fatal.

Causes of Food Intolerances

The 3 main causes are:

1. Enzyme Deficiencies: Such as lactase deficiency, which causes lactose intolerance
2. Chemical Sensitivities: Such as to MSG or sulphites
3. Immune Responses: The production of IgG antibodies to the offending foods.

The third cause is usually the result of ‘Leaky Gut Syndrome’. Under normal circumstances, the epithelial cells that line your small intestine are joined tightly to each other. This makes the lining of your intestine nearly leak proof, and only fully digested food molecules are allowed to pass through. If there are strong stresses on these delicate structures, these tight junctions may start to separate, creating gaps between the cells. These gaps make your gut ‘leaky’, and then large, undigested food molecules can pass through into the body, where they are collected by the bloodstream and lymph vessels of your intestine.

When your immune system spots these large molecules, it decides that they are too big to be digested food, and must be a foreign invader into the body, such as a virus or bacteria, so it attacks them. Your immune system attacking these food molecules in your blood is what causes the broad range of symptoms.

Treatment

1. Enzyme Deficiencies: This condition can be treated by taking the correct digestive enzymes
2. Chemical Sensitivities: A thorough detox will usually help this problem considerably
3. Immune Responses.

The immune responses need to be addressed in 4 ways.

a) Identify the foods that the body is reacting to, and remove them from their diet
b) Reduce irritants to the digestive tract, such as alcohol and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. aspirin), as much as possible
c) Optimising the person’s digestion, using supplements that help heal and repair the lining of the small intestine
d) Following correct dietary recommendations on what to eat and how to eat (such as not skipping meals, eating little and often, and reducing refined foods).

The Foodintol survey also found that, while a person’s physical symptoms usually improved once the food intolerances were identified and those foods were removed from their diet, they also experienced emotional and psychological benefits. 70% of people reported they had more energy, 50% said they had a ‘brighter mood’, 40% had better concentration, and 37% felt less stressed.

Food Intolerance Testing

Identifying the foods that the body reacts to and taking them out of the diet is a crucial step- without doing this, good results are very unlikely.

We are pleased to announce that our clinic now has the equipment to perform in-house Food Intolerance Testing. After pricking a finger, a blood test is performed to determine the level of anti-bodies in your body to 59 of the most common foods reacted to. The test also tells us if your reaction to the food is mild, moderate or severe. A brochure on food intolerances and the test for them is available at the clinic.

If you feel flat or unwell all the time, or if you have a number of symptoms with no obvious cause that won’t go away, consider having Food Intolerance Testing at our clinic. We offer treatments for allergies and food intolerances as well. If you would like to find out if Food Intolerance Testing would benefit you, please contact the clinic and book in for a free Health Assessment. (Normally a Health Assessment costs $120, but they are on special for the moment.)

The Cholesterol Myth

In early November, the ABC ran a 2 part program called ‘Heart of the Matter. The Cholesterol Myth: Dietary Villains and Cholesterol Drug War’. In this program, they looked at how valid the link between cholesterol and heart disease is, and how the majority of patients taking cholesterol lowering drugs won’t benefit from taking them.

The main cholesterol drugs are Statins, which can cause a large range of side effects, some of which can be debilitating, such as severe muscle injury and fatigue.

They also block the production of some of the nutrients produced in the body, such as CoEnzyme Q10, which ironically is an antioxidant that plays a vital role in maintaining cardiovascular health.

You can view both parts of the program by clicking here. Natural therapies usually work very well to improve both the level and type of cholesterol in the body, and to improve the health of the heart as well. It is my opinion that, if you can take care of a problem naturally, without the use of drugs or surgery, you will be better off. If you would like to find out about natural approaches to look after your cholesterol and heart, please book in for a Health Assessment with Peter.

Please note that you should not change taking any medication you have been prescribed without checking with your doctor.

Massage Gift Vouchers Available from our Website

As well as being able to purchase our very popular Massage Gift Vouchers over the phone, you can now obtain them online through our website. Just click here or navigate to the ‘Our Services’ tab and select ‘Gift Vouchers’.

We have 3 massage therapists at the clinic and they are all very good, having over 50 years combined experience between them. In fact, we guarantee that you won’t get a better massage anywhere else in Brisbane. If you think that you have, we will give you your money back!

A reminder to employers that you will receive 10% off if you purchase 6 or more Vouchers for your staff.

Holiday Survival Packs

Christmas can be a wonderful time of year, but it can also be a hectic and stressful time as well. Work is often busy, you are trying to organise Christmas, there is the all the shopping to do, Christmas functions to go to, and the house needs cleaning before the relatives come. Often the diet goes out the window as well. So to help everybody survive the holiday period, we have put together some high-quality packages to help you enjoy your Christmas more.

Recovery Pack

This contains herbs and vitamins that help you recover from over-indulging in Christmas cheer and rich foods. You are likely to feel much better the day after a party, a Christmas feast or New Years Eve if you have been regularly taking these products beforehand.

Holiday Survival Pack

Helps with stress, so probably needed by almost everyone!

Energy Pack

Helps improve your energy levels if you are feeling tired and run down.

You may want to look at whether your partner needs one of these popular packs as well.

A Great First Aid App

The Red Cross is the world’s largest provider of First Aid training, and they have developed a very good First Aid app. It is a comprehensive pocket guide, and gives you access to the most up to date First Aid information anytime, anywhere.

It is not a substitute for First Aid training, however it is still very detailed and easy to use, with good instructions, videos and images. Accidents are more common over the Christmas period, and having this app on your phone costs nothing and could save a life.

Starting Off 2014 the Right Way

Many of us will want to make 2014 a year where we look better, feel better, have more energy and better health than we do now. So at the start of January we will be launching special quick and easy detox programs and fat loss kick-start programs.

We will also be holding a Detox webinar early next year. You will be able to learn all about the reasons for have a detox, how a detox can improve your digestion, your energy levels, mental clarity, skin and fat levels, plus how to detox successfully without feeling crook. Being a webinar, you will be able to attend and participate from the comfort of your own home.

Full details of the programs and webinar will be published on the website and included in our next newsletter.

Was Acupuncture Practiced in Europe 5,000 Years Ago?

In 1991, the scientific world was rocked by the discovery of Otzi, a 5,000 year-old mummified man found in the mountains along the border between Austria and Italy.

Named after the Otz valley in which it was discovered, the mummy’s body was remarkably well preserved, as were most of his clothing, tools and weapons. Since then, scientists have examined the mummy’s remains thoroughly, learning much about the everyday life of ancient Europeans.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was a complicated system of bluish&#45black tattoos running along Otzi’s back, right knee and left ankle. While most tattoos are ornamental in nature, the tattoos found on Otzi’s body were in the form of simple stripes or crosses. They were also found in places that would normally be covered by hair or clothing. Did the ice man’s tattoos have any significance beyond ornamentation? A group of scientists from the University of Graz in Austria attempted to answer that question by theorising a relationship between the tattoos and traditional acupuncture points. Their findings, first published in The Lancet in 1999 and updated in Discover magazine in 2000, show that acupuncture, or a system of healing quite similar to it, may have been in use in central Europe more than 2,000 years earlier than previously believed.

The research team, led by Drs. Leopold Dorfer and Max Moser, overlaid the locations of the tattoos with acupuncture points. Experts from three acupuncture societies then examined the locations of the tattoos.

X&#45rays of the ice man’s body revealed evidence of arthritis in the hip joints, knees, ankles and lower spine, and many of the acupuncture points associated with his tattoos can be used for these conditions.

Forensic analysis of the mummy also revealed that his intestines were filled with whipworm eggs, which can cause severe abdominal pain. Five of the tattoos located on the body corresponded with points traditionally used to treat stomach disorders.

“The fact that not randomly selected points, but rather corresponding groups of points were marked by tattoos, seems especially intriguing,” the researchers noted. “From an acupuncturist’s viewpoint, the combination of points selected represents a meaningful therapeutic regimen.”

“Taken together,” the scientists added, “the tattoos could be viewed as a medical report from the stone age, or possibly as a guide to self-treatment marking where to puncture when pains occur.”

Admittedly, not all of the tattoos matched up precisely with known acupuncture sites; one tattoo, in fact, was located more than half an inch from the nearest acupuncture point. The scientists theorized that these differences in location “might be explained by twisting of the Iceman’s skin relative to underlying structures that may have occurred during 5,000 years in the ice.” They also acknowledged that some tattoos “are partly shifted today out of symmetry according to their location on the twisted body.”

Despite these small variations, the discovery of therapeutic tattoos on a mummy who died more than 2,000 years before the appearance of acupuncture as it is known today raises some interesting questions as to where this form of care originated and how long it has been practiced.

“The locations of the tattoos are similar to points used for specific disease states in the traditional Chinese and modern acupuncture treatment,” the scientists concluded. “This raises the possibility of acupuncture having originated in the Eurasian continent at least 2000 years earlier than previously recognized.”