How I Overcame Depression Naturally

I’ve been depressed. My depression was situational, but it did become very physical, and very chemical. It always does, if you live with it long enough. And I did.

I was depressed for years. I had good times. It wasn’t all negative. I had plenty of good times. But I was depressed. For months at a time, all I wanted to do was sleep. When you’re depressed, even if you’re having an amazing day, it feels like there is an ominous cloud over you, a constant reminder that it will start raining again soon.

The toughest part about being depressed was the fact that I didn’t want to get better. At the time, I couldn’t see that, but I was hurting really badly. Depression was sort of a release; there was no other way to deal with the tremendous amount of pain I felt.

I did overcome it. I needed more than one hand to count how many times I thought I might end it all. But today, I am a very happy person. The following is how I overcame my depression.

Mindset

I started a journal. I wrote every single day. I wrote anything I wanted to write, but I always wrote down anything that was bothering me, and I highlighted those issues. Whenever I was in a good mood, I would go back to my journal and see if some of the things that were bothering me so much still mattered, and if they did, I would see what I could do about them when I wasn’t feeling so overwhelmed and negative.

When something really overwhelmed me and caused considerable pain, I would wait until I was feeling very good and I would remember the incident. I’d make a movie out of it, one where I could watch myself from a distance, and replay it in my head over and over again with different colors, scenarios, distances, etc. I did it over and over again, and then I would see what I could have done differently (if applicable) and I decided if there was anything I could do at the current time or later that could make me feel empowered and resolve the issue.

If you have a very overwhelming traumatic memory, I suggest you learn about neuro linguistic programming (also known as NLP). In particular, I like the Visual-Kinesthetic Dissociation Technique for phobias. I find it alters perspections very nicely. And remember, life is all about perspective, focus, and the choices we make as a result.

I kept a to-do list and stayed busy! I added good things to my list, like exercising, meditation, getting grounded, reading fiction, reading for knowledge, making healthy food, spending time with family, etc. When ridding the mind of depression, it’s not the time to dwell. It’s also not the time to veg out in front of the TV or just hang out with friends. These are methods for “escaping” depression, and the results don’t last. Meditate. Read. That takes effort. Dwelling and worrying, or watching TV are easy and produce toxic results just like eating junk food.

Fitness

We can point to many studies and many more scientific reviews about the effects of exercise, including endorphin release, hormone correction, detoxification, healing, the brain, and any mental disease or health issue.

Your body utilizes, to an extent, a lose it or lose it system. Less educated people don’t use the brain as much as educated people do, and they are more likely to experience Alzheimer’s, and other degenerative diseases of the mind. Exercise helps everything, including your brain. And while I know first hand that it’s the hardest thing to do when you’re depressed, regardless of whether or not the depression is biological or situational (though it’s always biological), exercise is going to help. I like weight lifting. It’s primarily anaerobic, but can be done in a way that offers aerobic benefits as well. Yoga, Tai Chai, martial arts, running, swimming in a non-chlorinated water, and bicycling are great.

If I had to pick the very best, I vote for squats. You don’t even need weights. Everyone should be able to do 100 squats. It helps to detoxify the body, builds the heart, and almost the entire body so well, causes a better release of growth hormone than any other exercise, and you can do it at home anytime. I like what replicates nature (we used to squat all day every day for many reasons) and I like what gets the job done as fast as possible in the shortest amount of time with the most amount of benefit. This is why I love bodyweight squats.

Health

The brain is an organ. Think of it like the liver, the kidneys, and the heart. All of our organs can become bogged down with toxins and not function very well. Anyone who is depressed has a brain that’s not working well. Regardless of whether it’s temporary and situational or chronic, the brain needs nutrition and the body takes up and assimilates nutrition much better when it is not being bombarded with toxins. Plus, certain toxins can cause chemical reactions within the body that exacerbate and even cause depression (and other mental disorders).

Diet

I cleaned up my diet. When you are depressed, this is the time to eat lots of vegetables—raw, fresh, and organic whenever possible. It’s always time to eat lots of vegetables, I know. I say that in every article. But it’s true. A depressed mind is a mind without enough B vitamins. One very common reason for not having enough B vitamins is candida, which can inhibit the development and the assimilation of B vitamins within the intestinal tract.

Cut out alcohol and any other drugs. Drugs are toxins, and any toxins, especially drugs we use to get high or reduce pain, will worsen depression in the long run. That said, the reality is that sometime things are too intense to get through without drugs. Although I am a very anti-pharmaceutical person, I have been so overwhelmed that I chose to self medicate in order to survive (and I did it primarily with marijuana, which is way better than alcohol or pharmaceuticals). But the reality is that they are all toxic. None of them are worth it in the long run.

Sleep

With the right nutrition, high quality, deep, restorative and healing sleep is much easier to come by. It may take time, but it will come. If you suffer from insomnia (and depression often does come with insomnia), go camping if you can. Leave or turn off the cell phone. This can remove distractions and electromagnetic fields that disrupt hormones and sleep patterns. It can also facilitate grounding (more on that coming).

Supplements

B vitamins, balanced minerals, and healthy fats are imperative for anyone dealing with depression. The brain is mostly fat and B vitamins need a body with balanced and healthy fats to assimilate fats properly (which is used to build our cell walls; healthy fats = cells less susceptible to damage or infection). B vitamins are water soluble, but they are not utilized properly if the body is made up of toxic fats.

A detox is also a great away to not only help heal and reset he body, but to give you something to focus on that shows relatively fast results. It can be a nice stepping stone for natural health to become a hobby. Paying attention to your body, really listening to it and knowing what it wants and needs, is hard to do when you’re depressed. It’s also hard to get depressed when you’re doing it (paying attention to the health of your body). Make sure your detox addresses candida and parasites, since both can cause and fuel serious mental health problems.

I love raw oysters for depression and sexual function. I think of them more like a supplement than a food. They have lots of B6, B12, zinc, copper, magnesium, and iron as a whole food source that’s easy to assimilate. All of these nutrients are very important for brain health. Combine a dozen oysters with a salad, a good B vitamin complex and a good nutrition formula, and then I am ready to go workout no matter how stressed, overwhelmed, or depressed I am. And after a good workout, the depression’s severity is at the very least, drastically reduced.

If you do eat raw oysters, be careful. Do some research, and don’t eat them if you have a severely compromised immune system.

Grounding

If you suffer from depression, or you travel frequently, or you get stressed too often/easily, or you suffer from insomnia, grounding will be of a huge benefit to you. And if you don’t suffer from any of the aforementioned, grounding will still be a huge benefit for you. But nothing compares to diet. Supplements are a distant second, and grounding comes in third.

Conclusion

I’ve been depressed. I’ve written about it before. I am passionate about natural remedies for depression, but I know how incredibly difficult it can be. I know the kind of depression that makes your body hurt so badly that moving is difficult. I know depression so debilitating that the idea of exercise is laughable, and the laughter is almost painful; laughing is the second to the last thing you want to do in that state (exercise, of course, is the very last thing you’d want to do).

I am prone to depression and I have also experienced some very traumatic events and losses. It can be so hard to get over and chronic depression; it feels like a warm blanket that I have hidden under for years at a time. Once you get well, you have to figure out what being depressed was doing for you, if you don’t want depression to come right back into your life. You can also heal much faster when you realize what being depressed is doing for you, but it can be impossible for people to see that when they’re in the thick of it. Almost everyone who is depressed will say it’s not how he or she wants to feel. But looking back, when I was depressed, I felt exactly what I wanted to feel at the time. And getting enough motivation to make it through a depressing time in a healthy way can be extremely difficult, but it’s well worth it.

Recommended Supplements:
Further Reading:


How Candida Leads to Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, and Other Mental Disorders

If you are depressed while you suffer from regular yeast infections, or athlete’s foot or have taken antibiotics recently, there is a connection. Our brains are inextricably tied to our gastrointestinal tract and our mental well being is dependent on healthy intestines. Depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and a host of other mental illness from autism to ADHD can be caused by an imbalance of gut microbes like fungi, and “bad” bacteria.

Candida is the opportunistic flora that typically takes over our colon with conventional diets. Along with it comes other fungi, harmful bacteria, and parasites. An intestinal system infected with this kind of ecosystem cannot process and assimilate many of the vitamins we need, like B vitamins, which are imperative for brain function and found to be low (especially B6) in virtually anyone experiencing depression. Candida also breaks down the intestinal wall and leeches into the bloodstream, allowing other toxic byproducts to leak from the colon to the bloodstream.

Much of the body’s hormone production occurs in the intestinal tract. 90 to 95% of our serotonin, the key neurotransmitter responsible for regulating mood, is produced inside our intestines. When the candida population reaches a certain point, it suppresses the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin. A lack of serotonin leads to depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.

Acetaldehyde, a byproduct of yeast (candida), also reacts with the dopamine neurotransmitter, which can cause mental problems such as anxiety, depression, poor concentration, and feeling spaced-out.

Candida impairs the liver’s ability to store vitamin B12. We don’t need much B12, but if we are low, depression and other more serious mental issues well develop quickly.

The byproducts of candida’s metabolism are toxic to us. Candida goes through the bloodstream and finds other areas of the body to make home in, invading everywhere it can and making detoxifying the blood every difficult for the body. The blood becomes sluggish with diminished regenerative capacities, and the body begins to age, ache, and develop allergies and then autoimmune issues, which all lead to and fuel depression.

It’s rare to find a person who suffers from depression and does not suffer from an overgrowth of candida. On the other hand, it’s rare to find a person in our modern culture that does not suffer from an overabundance of candida. That said, it’s very difficult to improve one’s mindset without a healthy mind. And you cannot have a healthy mind without a healthy colon.

Poor colon health does lead to poor brain health, as well as poor health within the rest of the body. For almost every major disease, both physical and mental, one of the most important things you can do, and the first thing that should be done, is to improve the health of the intestinal tract by killing excess candida and balancing the gut flora. A great way to do this is with thorough detoxification. Also see Natural Remedies for Depression and Leaky Gut & Candida. See the first source for more on detoxifying. We recommend a high-quality probiotic and SF722 along with a healthy, whole-food diet to kill Candida quickly.

Recommended Supplements:

Further Reading:


The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives

We are host to somewhere between 300-1000 different species of bacteria, each of which has one goal—to survive and multiply. While they live and thrive in our gut, beneficial bacteria provide many necessary and health-related functions. They help us digest our food. They line our intestinal wall, providing a physical barrier against bad bacteria and fungi that may damage or inflame the tissues. Some produce vitamin K and B vitamins, while others aid in synthesizing vitamins. They produce 95% of our serotonin as well as other neurotransmitters. They make up 80% of our immune system, and more. The by-products of their lifecycle benefit us through a harmonious, symbiotic relationship.

We classify bacteria as bad bacteria when their byproducts or functions can harm our bodies.   For example, most of the E-coli bacteria strains are harmless. In fact, the harmless strains help prevent colonization of pathogenic bacteria and produce vitamin K2, whereas the pathogenic E-coli strains cause a variety of infections and may even cause death.

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

Aside from illness, researchers are learning that specific species of bacteria exert different influences on their host bodies. One example is our metabolism. The bacterial makeup of a lean person is different than the bacterial makeup in someone who is obese.

One study showed that Enterobacter, an endotoxin-producing bacterium, taken from the gut of a morbidly obese human, induced obesity and insulin resistance in healthy mice. In a volunteer with an initial weight of 385 lbs, Enterobacter made up 35% of the gut bacterium. After 23 weeks of a diet of whole grains, traditional Chinese medicinal foods, and prebiotics, the volunteer lost 113 lbs and all traces of Enterobacter. The conclusion was that this endotoxin-producing bacterium creates inflammation that causes insulin resistance resulting in weight gain.

Another recent study showed a direct correlation between a high or low level of bacterium in the gut and the subjects’ weight. A high level of bacterium, with a high level of diversity, was linked to a healthy weight, whereas a low level of bacterium was linked to overweight individuals.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

The amount of bacteria in the gut relates to more than weight, it is also an indicator of overall health. Our actions affect the amount, the diversity, and the ratio of good to bad bacteria. For example, antibiotic use indiscriminately kills bacteria. Antibiotics do not just target the one pathogen causing an infection in our body; they kill off much of the bacteria in our gut as well. Not only do we need the good bacteria to do its work (including keeping the bad bacteria in check), we need to maintain the delicate balance between bacteria and fungi. Candida is opportunistic. Given a chance, it will quickly mass-produce, wreaking havoc in the digestive tract and, in time, the entire body.

As research continues to reveal that diversity in gut bacterium is essential to good health and can influence bodily functions such as serotonin production (a huge factor in depression) or metabolism (a factor in weight control), researchers are learning more about which particular bacteria are beneficial and which bacteria have an unhealthy effect on the body. The day may soon come when we choose our probiotics to manage our weight, to maintain our mental health, or to treat a variety of diseases. Until that day arrives, our diet choices can and will alter this internal balance.

We do have a basic knowledge of which foods promote beneficial bacteria and which foods and medications promote bad bacteria, and we know how to increase the beneficial organisms to crowd out those that do not serve our health.

Related: Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

The first and most important step to increase health inducing bacterium in the gut, is to eat a diet rich in prebiotics—in other words, lots of raw vegetables and fruit. A large salad each day, filled with a wide variety of vegetables, provides the healthy bacterium in our gut with the food it needs to thrive. Insoluble fiber also houses good bacteria, giving it a structure upon which to multiply. Raw, whole, organic vegetables and fruits (more vegetables than fruit) should always comprise 80% of our diet.

We not only know what to feed good bacteria, we know what feeds or promotes bad bacteria: processed dead foods, acidic foods (factory raised meat and dairy), pasteurized foods, irradiated foods, sugar, antibiotics, antacids, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Choose only organic grass fed beef, organic free-range chicken, and raw dairy. Never eat farm raised fish. Avoid all GMOs, including second generation GMOs from animals raised on GMO feed.

If we were to believe the advertisements, one or two servings of sugar filled, pasteurized, yogurt (often with other ingredients added to thicken, stabilize, preserve, and/or add artificial flavor)  would provide all the beneficial bacteria we need. If any beneficial bacteria from this yogurt survived our stomach acid and made it to our intestines, the dairy and sugar content alone would negate its benefits (pasteurized dairy and sugar feed Candida and “bad” bacteria). There are better ways to include probiotics in our diet.

Related: How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Probiotic foods such as coconut kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, and raw, organic apple cider vinegar all increase healthy bacterium in the gut.  There are also excellent probiotic supplements formulated with very strong bacteria strains that have the ability to make it past the stomach acid before releasing the bacteria into the intestines. These probiotics are rare; most on the market are useless. But the good ones are powerful and can help reset your ecosystem. Remember, while probiotics can be very helpful, more benefit is gained from prebiotics, vegetables in particular. Conversely, if your appendix has been removed, you may need a daily probiotic supplement for the rest of your life. FloraMend Prime by Thorne Research is a very strong and stable probiotic that we highly recommend.

Every choice we make to detox, cleanse, and properly feed our bodies will affect the microbes in our gut. Though we were born with a particular balance of bacteria, it has been influenced throughout our lives by toxins, antibiotics, vaccines, and the foods we have eaten. But we do have the power to change it. We can increase the amount and the type of bacteria in our bodies primarily by the foods we choose to eat and the foods we choose to avoid.

If you want to reduce Candida and harmful bacteria in your gut be sure to check out Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases, and we recommend the following:

Recommended Supplements:

Further Reading:

 Sources: 

  • Na Feiand Liping Zhao, An Opportunistic Pathogen Isolated from the Gut of an Obese Human Causes Obesity in Germfree Mice; The ISME Journal (2013) 7, 880–884
  • Q. Aziz, J. Dore´,A. Emmanuel, F. Guarner, & E. M. M. Quigley; Gut Microbiota and Gastrointestinal Health: Current Concepts and Future Directions, Neurogastroenterol & Motility (2013) 25, 4–15


Poisoning the Mind: 7 Heavy Metals to Cleanse for your Mental Health (names, symptoms, research, common food sources)

(NaturalNews – Mike Bundrant) History’s largest mass poisoning of a human population has occurred in Bangladesh. Because of it, 35 million people have been exposed to lethal levels of arsenic. Mortality rates are estimated at 13 per 1000, which means that this poisoning has ended as many at 455,000 lives.

It happened simply enough. In the late 1960s and 1970s, UNICEF and the World Bank, concerned that surface water in the area was causing too many cases of fatal diarrhea, funded the drilling of new wells. These deeper wells provided an abundance of fresh water to the booming population of Bangladesh and West Bengal.

There was one tragic oversight that sabotaged what might have been a monumental humanitarian achievement: They didn’t test the new wells for heavy metal content.

The negligence is hard to fathom, yet it pales in comparison to the global irresponsibility and conscious wrong doing that goes on every single day in the world of big food manufacturers. And this is why Mike Adam’s work and new line of heavy metal cleansing supplements is essential.

Exposure to heavy metals in food, air and water is perhaps the most underrated toxicity issue of our time. The consequences of chronic exposure cannot be underestimated. The damage caused by exposure moves well beyond physical health. The mind is poisoned as well.

Imagine: you may be unwittingly ingesting food and water that makes it impossible to achieve a state of lasting happiness and mental well-being, regardless of how psychologically educated you are.

This is the reality of heavy metal exposure and toxicity. What follows is evidence provided by research and case studies that demonstrates how aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, cesium, cadmium and arsenic contribute to the chronic poisoning of your mind.

Aluminum

According to the New York University Langone Medical Center, symptoms of aluminum toxicity can include serious mental health problems, including:

  • Confusion
  • Slurred speech or speech problems
  • Nervous system problems that may cause involuntary tics

There is also some concern that aluminum toxicity can lead to degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Several studies have linked the conditions to overexposure to aluminum, including studies from the University of California, University School of Medicine in Belgrade, and the School of Studies in Zoology at Jiwaji University in India.

Natural health practitioners believe that aluminum collects in the thyroid, liver, lungs and brain. It is believed that overexposure to aluminum can lead to a number of symptoms, including confusion, cognitive impairment and memory loss. As a result, aluminum cleanses and approaches such as aluminum-abstinence therapy are common.

Luckily, these approaches are often met with incredible success. Aluminum-abstinence therapy has become particularly popular in the treatment of Alzheimer’s patients. Many nursing homes and long-term care clinics have seen some excellent results with this therapy.

Copper

According to the National Institute of Health, overexposure to copper can cause a number of physical symptoms. Symptoms of copper toxicity that may be considered mental health issues include chills, convulsions, a metallic taste in the mouth and weakness.

Doctor Lawrence Wilson has also written extensively on what he calls copper toxicity syndrome. This condition is believed to cause a number of mental health symptoms, including:

  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Depression
  • “Spaciness”
  • Detachment
  • Learning disorders
  • Premenstrual syndrome
  • Alzheimer’s disease

Lead

Lead is a well-known and -researched neurotoxin that has been scientifically associated with major depression and anxiety disorders. It seems inescapable that, if the lead content in your blood is elevated, you will suffer with cognitive disorders and mood disturbance.

The following symptoms have been linked to lead exposure:

  • Decreased learning and memory
  • Lowered IQ
  • Decreased verbal ability
  • Impaired speech and hearing
  • Hyperactivity
  • ADHD
  • Fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Lethargy
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Headaches
  • Encephalopathy

Mercury

The CDC reports that exposure to gaseous metallic mercury over a long period of time may cause irritability, sleep disturbances, excessive shyness, coordination problems, tremors, memory problems and mood swings.

Natural health practitioners have long argued that exposure to mercury contained in childhood vaccinations and in the environment is one of the major causes of conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders.

These include symptoms such as:

  • Lack of communication/connection with others
  • Increased activity
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Delayed speech
  • Reduced cognitive ability
  • Reduced appetite
  • Sensitivity to environmental stimulation (light, sounds, smells)
  • Repetitive behaviors

Cesium

While it is believed to be unusual for a person to be exposed to toxic amounts of cesium through natural exposure, the CDC lists decreased mental ability and an increase or decrease in activity as symptoms of cesium toxicity.

Many natural health practitioners feel that exposure to cesium through food or drink could be a likely cause of disorders such as ADHD, difficulty concentrating and seizures.

Cadmium

The New York University Department of Medicine lists no mental health symptoms associated with cadmium exposure and toxicity. However, because many authors consider cadmium to be associated with heavier metals such as zinc and mercury, it is believed to cause similar symptoms as those associated with heavy metal toxicity, such as:

  • Anxiety and irritability
  • Difficulty concentrating, or “brain fog”
  • Depression
  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Memory loss or forgetfulness

Arsenic

Arsenic poisoning can be deadly if left untreated. Exposure to toxic levels can occur in a number of instances, including the consumption of contaminated foods and beverages. Living in industrial areas can also increase rates of exposure, and arsenic may be found in contaminated drinking water as well. Arsenic poisoning can result in a number of obvious mental health symptoms, including:

  • Confusion
  • Drowsiness
  • Headaches
  • Convulsions
  • Night blindness

Arsenic poisoning can progress rapidly if left untreated, and unusual symptoms should be treated immediately.

The most sinister aspect of chronic heavy metal exposure and toxicity is that it is impossible to detect as it is happening. You can’t know for sure unless you get tested. The good news is that tests are available for those who become aware.

Moreover, Mike Adam’s new line of supplements is designed and scientifically proven to eradicate lurking heavy metals in your food as you digest them. They should be an indispensable part of any conscious natural health regimen.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.med.nyu.edu
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov [PDF]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://drlwilson.com
http://www.nlm.nih.gov
http://emedicine.medscape.com
http://emergency.cdc.gov
http://emergency.cdc.gov
http://drhyman.com
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.toxicwatersolution.com
http://medicine.med.nyu.edu
http://www.livescience.com
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov
http://emedicine.medscape.com
http://science.naturalnews.com
http://science.naturalnews.com



Indoor Gardens and Cats: Keeping Your Pets Out of Your Crops

1. Cayenne Pepper – Most cats have an aversion to cayenne pepper. Sprinkling a small amount around your planter can help keep the kitties away from the plant itself.

 

2. Aquarium Gravel – Unlike other surfaces, gravel is much too grainy for cats to really get comfortable on. It not only makes an uncomfortable bed, they  do not like the feel of the rocks on the pads of their feet. A thin layer on your top soil can be enough to keep them out of the planter.

3. Mesh Screening – Window screen is actually cheap if you purchase it in a roll. By using a few pieces of wood, you can create a mesh box around your plants. TA mesh box will allow sunlight and water in, while keeping kitties out. .

4. Citrus Peels – Citrus peels are a potent way to keep cats at bay. Place peels around your planters or gardens to provide a layer of protection for your plants. Once they dry, these peels double as compost filling in your garden.

5. Tin Foil – Tin foil is another texture that cats find unappealing. Some people have had a degree of success deterring cats by placing sheets of it on or around the area.

6. Coffee Grounds – Kitties don’t like the smell of coffee grounds. Sprinkle them around your garden and most cats will move on to another space.

7. Spray Bottle – And then there is always behavior modification. Arm yourself with a spray bottle and squirt every cat that comes near your garden. They will soon learn that your garden is off limits.

It is in a cat’s nature to use prefer soft soil for a litter box or a bed.  By making the area as uncomfortable or unappealing as possible, you greatly reduce the chance of your planters being used as bathrooms or beds. While not all of the above suggestions will work for every cat, each has been used with varying degrees of success. If any other methods have worked for you, please comment, and let us know.



The Amazing Health Benefits of Holy Basil

Holy Basil or Tulsi is one of the most powerful herbs alive.  The name “Tulsi” means “The Incomparable One” because of its unique health benefits.  The herb was a staple of Hindu mythology and considered sacred by the Indian royalty.  Modern science has shown that this distinctive herb is incredibly good for balancing the mind, body, and spirit.

Holy basil, a variety of Ocimum basilicum (basil), is a small shrub with scented leaves that is a part of the mint or Labiatae family.  It grows wildly throughout south Asia where the natives in these areas have been using it for centuries.  It is known to help the bodily systems adapt, balance, and increase resilience.

The Adaptogenic SuperStar!

Holy basil is known in natural medicine as an adaptogenic herb in that it helps the body better adapt to stress.  Adaptogenic herbs don’t affect an individual’s mood, but they help the body function at its optimal level during times of stress.  They do this by modulating the production of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

Chronic, low-grade stress is a modern day epidemic that creates sluggish metabolism, chronic inflammation, and abnormal immunity.  High cortisol creates digestive problems and leaky gut syndrome, increased appetite, weight gain, thyroid disorders, and accelerated brain degeneration.  This is commonly found in the brains of those with anxiety disorders, depression, and other physchological disorders.  Many auto-immune conditions also link to chronically elevated stress hormone production as a catalyst for abnormal immune response.

Stabilize Cortisol Levels

One of the key components that adaptogenic herbs offer is their ability to lower and stabilize cortisol levels.  High cortisol drains the precursers to major hormones such as testosterone, progesterone and estrogen.  With less than adequate raw materials, the body becomes sex hormone deficient.  This process rapidly accelerates the aging process and makes an individual’s life miserable.

Healthy individuals have stable cortisol levels that naturally spike in the morning and then level off and stay consistently low during the day before tapering at night.  This allows us to wake up with energy in the morning and maintain that energy until nightfall when we should naturally be gearing down and getting ready for sleep.  Stable cortisol levels result in improved mental clarity and memory.  The individual feels as though they are less agitated and anxious and therefore able to perform better and have higher quality of life.

Holy Basil Contains Powerful Anti-Oxidants

Holy Basil is rich in aromatic essential oils that have powerful effects on the body.  These phytonutrient rich oils include ursolic acid, rosmarinic acid, caryophyllene, and eugenol, among others.  These oils have a great smell that naturally boosts mood and spirit.  Eugenol has been shown in studies to combat stress and enhance mental clarity.

Holy Basil acts to modulate stress levels and blood sugar levels by stabilizing cortisol and insulin.   A study out of the Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry indicated that holy basil may reverse some of the damaging effects of diabetes like neuropathy and retinopathy.

Holy Basil contains vitamin C, vitamin A, and essential oils, which are all anti-oxidants that scavenge free radicals in the body, improving cellular integrity, blood flow, and genetic expression.   It is particularly good for cardiovascular health and brain function, as it helps protect against heart disease and brain degeneration.

Holy Basil Helps the Immune Coordination

Holy basil helps to strengthen the body’s immune system, helping it to fight off opportunistic parasites such as Candida, viruses, and MRSA staph infections.   As an adaptogen, it is able to modulate the immune system by turning it up higher when it is necessary to fight a toxic invader.  It also has the ability to quiet down the immune system to reduce unnecessary inflammation.

The strength and coordination of the immune system plays a very important role in preventing and destroying cancer cell growth.  A 2007 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food described holy basil’s ability to combat the development of cancer. The herb significantly reduced the formation of cancerous micronuclei, while increasing antioxidant levels and healthy enzyme activity.

Breakthrough Technology for Herbal Botanicals

My favorite way to consume Holy Basil is in its fermented form, from Beyond Organic Terrain liquid herbals.  These unique products unlock the full nutritional potential of the Holy Basil by putting it through an intense 3-month fermentation process. The Sacred Herbs Terrain combines the extraordinary adptogenic benefits of fermented holy basil with the incredible anti-inflammatory and cancer killing properties of turmeric.

Related Products & Reading:
Sources For This Article Include: 


How To Be Happy

“How to be happy” is googled 55,600,000 times a month in the United States. Happiness is something every business pretends to sell. Pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, clothing lines, and just about every product you can purchase claim to offer happiness for a price. But what if you don’t have the money? No problem. You can buy it with credit. But the truth is, if we were happy we wouldn’t be spending so much money on crap we don’t need.

open happinessHappiness VS. Pleasure

Understanding the difference between pleasure and happiness is paramount. And from what I see, hardly anyone in our society knows the difference.

Coke started a marketing campaign, “Open Happiness,” implying that happiness is inside their bottles and within their soda, dancing among the fizzy sweet goodness, waiting to start a party in your mouth. The first time I saw that commercial, I knew a new trend was starting. While Coke wasn’t the first, it seems that every large business marketing their brand is now promising some degree of a happy, more joyful life.

At most, these products that are pushed on us in every way possible, 24 hours a day, offer pleasure and nothing more. They certainly don’t offer happiness.

Pleasure is short term. It comes in spades with happiness, but it comes at a price with consumption. And often that price exceeds the number on the price tag.

Polls show that in countries where people have less–less cellular coverage, less television, less shopping, fewer automobiles–they are often much happier than we are in our modern societies with all our toys. It seems the more we attempt to satisfy our every eager impulse, the emptier we feel.

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socks memeFuck Convention, and Fuck Consumerism

Convention says you need to spend money to be happy. Convention says you need pharmaceuticals (or you will at some point) and a large home to be happy. Convention says you need to work your ass off for many years to achieve this. And convention says a lot of other stuff that doesn’t do us any good.

Convention produces marketing that is shoved down our throats to spur us on to stimulate an economy that will collapse if it doesn’t keep growing at an incredible rate. It’s all about selling us stuff: more vaccines, more cars, the newest phones, and bigger, higher resolution televisions. But the price we pay is a drive to work harder and harder and harder to keep up with the Joneses. All the while, we are bombarded with so much technology offering us convenience while it sucks up every spare moment we might have had. Most of us want this. Most of us need this, because when we stop and just sit still with our thoughts, we don’t like the massive void we feel. We think all that crap fills that void, when, in fact, it creates more and more of a void within us.

Let go of what you’re supposed to do, and do what’s best for you. Unplug for awhile. Unplug more often. Get away from the noise. Figure out what makes you happy, and start taking some time to do it. Make the time.

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Fuck What Other People Think

My life really started to change for the better when I began letting go of what other people think of me. I do things for me. I don’t do things for someone else unless it’s out of love and/or the desire to help someone. It’s no longer because I want to impress someone. I used to live for other people, working the job that I was supposed to work, driving a car that I thought other people liked to see me in, wearing the clothes that people told me I looked good in, and constantly worrying about what other people thought. It takes a lot of energy out of you.

I realize that many people aren’t going to like my use of language in the previous two titles, but I felt for the sake of authenticity, well, fuck it.

I see a lot of my friends trying to please their parents at the expense of their own happiness, for their whole lives. I see these people choosing careers and their whole life’s path based on a need for their parents’ approval. And these are people with parents who will never, no matter what their adult children do, tell their son or daughter that they are proud of them. Nothing their kids do will ever be enough. But if it were, it wouldn’t have been worth it.

I tell people to go do something embarrassing, to go into a store where no one knows them and pretend to trip and fall. Or yodel. Go for a walk with their headphones on and dance across every crosswalk. I tell them to practice not worrying what anyone thinks. It’s liberating and it feels better and better every time you do it.

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Fitness

If you haven’t heard, exercise releases endorphins. Exercise has many benefits on our emotional state. It’s actually very difficult to be miserable about anything in life when you’re exercising, (except maybe the exercise itself.)

Exercise has a knack for putting us in the moment. Other worries fade away. Things shift into perspective. The whole day is better after a good workout.

Give it some time if you’re new to fitness. Those benefits don’t come immediately. At first it can feel like a drain, and the initial soreness can be very painful. But like everything else, the good stuff takes work.
Science of Happiness

Diet

Poor nutrition and toxic ingredients prevent the body from working right. This includes the brain. The brain doesn’t work right when we don’t get the right nutrition. When the brain doesn’t work right, we feel like shit. This goes for the body, too, but I find it surprising how many people think that the brain’s ability to function properly, including (but not limited to), dealing with stress, remaining objective, and controlling anger, has nothing to do with physical health. Studies show that chemical toxins, both in food and in our environment, have a direct correlation to our overall wellbeing.

B Vitamins, D, oils

B vitamins, vitamin D, and healthy fats are absolutely essential to our wellbeing. Anyone suffering from depression or any other mental health issue needs to consider taking high quality supplements and changing their diet.

Staying in the Moment

We spend so much time wishing to be in a different time. With phrases like, “I can’t wait until…” and, “Remember when things were…” But we so often fail to realize that the moment you are in now could very well be a time you long for later.

Learning to stay in the moment has been absolutely life changing for me. There are rarely any problems in the present. Putting yourself in the moment, and staying there, is difficult at first, but it puts things in perspective. Exercise is a great way to do this. Yoga and meditation are also very good at teaching us to stay in the moment. Whenever life gets overwhelming, consider that the problems at hand are in the future. Right now, at this very moment, we have everything we need.

Perspective

Have you ever had a day where you felt great, and then you had one or two little things happen to you and all of the sudden your life sucks? Life is all about perspective. Our perspective is our life. And that means that our life, no matter where we are in it, is our choice. A terrible situation for one person can be an incredible experience for another. It all depends on perspective.

I was in prison, after having lost my daughter, my friends, the business I had just started, and what felt like my whole life. I had lost everything I thought I cared about except for my mom who came to see me every single chance she could. And in that prison, when I got to see my mother, I was filled with joy. I spent all week looking forward to visitation. Hugging my mom meant everything to me. I was in prison, and every day I got to hug my mom was amazing. This was after a year of being in jail where I could only see my mom through glass. Prison was wonderful because I not only got to hug her, I got to go outside, walk in the grass, exercise, eat raw vegetables, and feel the sun on my skin. I got none of this in jail. A year deprived of all of these pleasures put things in a whole new perspective. And I never let go of that.

It really is the little things in life that you’ll remember, that you’ll laugh about, that you’ll hold in your heart. No one (or at least, very few people) lays on their death bed agonizing over a bad business decision. Stay in the moment with a fresh perspective and look at the joy you can feel. It’s there. Sometimes you just have to look harder for it.

I Am Happy

I have been through more crap than most people who read this article would ever know. I carry pain with me at all times. There is a sadness that may never go away, due to a major loss in my life. But I am still, really, very happy. I love life. I live in the smallest home I have ever lived in. I have less stuff than I have ever had. I am starting Green Lifestyle Market and it is very stressful. But still, I am not only happy, I am joyful. I keep my diet clean. I exercise. I don’t give a damn what other people think of me because it’s none of my business, and I love being me. If you are reading this article, looking for your own happiness, I wish you the very best and sincerely hope you find it. I am sure it is with you, that it has always been with you, waiting for you all along.

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