Geri asks me: “Hi, I have been constantly sick for years, catching everything going. Immune system shot. Started Miso soup 3-5 days a week and didn’t get sick for months. But, gained 15lbs. Dr. advised i stop it, and lost 6 pounds within a week.
Would the miso have any benefit to me if i drank just 2 tablespoons a day instead of small bowl? Small amounts of vitamins and medications suit me, and am always told take the least of anything due to reactions.
What do you think?
Thanks very much. Geri “

So, lets see if we can’t help Geri and others raise their immune system in a healthy way. Hopefully we can do it in a way where no one is going to have a reaction!

I would like to start with the Miso Soup. Good job on picking up the miso and sticking to it. Well, gaining 15 lbs in a few months isn’t a medical problem so I don’t know why your doctor would intervene in this when you clearly made a good change and have not gotten sick! Seaweed and the minerals in miso soup are truly miracle workers in themselves. Seaweed is very alkaline which works to balance your body’s pH. Its a fact that people with higher acidic pH levels are more prone to getting sick. Seaweeds also balance your thyroid and metabolism as well. A problem I am seeing is the amount of salt in the miso soup! My suspicions here seem to be confirmed based on the fact that you lost 6 pounds in a week by not eating the miso soup. The saying goes like this “where sodium goes, water follows”. You have clearly built up quite a bit of water weight and your body has been able tore-balance itself when you stopped taking in the miso. You have taxed your kidneys a bit at this point in filtering the sodium out, but now you should be okay.

At this point lets talk about increasing immunity. In Chinese Medicine people don’t ‘catch a cold’. We believe that we are exposed to pathogens (germs) all the time. These external pathogens want to invade us all the time. It depends on the person and their defense system (wei qi or immunity) if they get sick or not.  This old Chinese Medicine way of looking at this has been proven by Western Science. In recent studies on ‘common cold’ or ‘rhino virus’ patients were planed with the rhino virus directly in thenostril . About 60% of the patients got sick. This study was used in very different ways, but as far as Chinese Medicine is concerned- What Happened to the Other 40%? Simply they had defense high enough to dispel the virus!

There are many herbs when used together to supplement the system they can raise your immunity! However, alone there is one that stands atop these called Astragalus or Huang Qi.  Huang Qi is well documented for this task and is recommend for everyone. This is a typical herb used through the Fall and Winter season. I would also note that Echinacea is also used to raise white blood cell count, but this herb should be used in no more than 10 day increments.

Immunity is best done by eating soups and such. Foods like Congee or Kicharee offer foods and herbs that are already cooked down. This allows your body to easily digest and assimilate the nutrients and foods. This really gives your body a break from working so hard on the foods we take in all the time. Also, making a soup or other food like this allows you to add herbs. Herbs for medicinal purposes need to be decocted down. Being in a crockpot and slow cooking for a few hours, you are also decocting these herbs!

Here is a recipe I would like you to switch to:
http://blogofherbs.com/herbs/energy-weight-maintenance-congee-recipe

This Congee recipe has many great herbs and is very uplifting to your energy and immune system. I want you to pay special attention to use the herbs Huang Qi and Dang Gui. If you can’t or aren’t able to source the other herbs that is fine! Huang Qi and Dang Gui together is going to supplement your body and immune system.

For ongoing immunity supplementing you can take pills for this as well! Lung Tonics, Yin Tonics, Immunity Tonics and such are essential here.
Dimmak Herbs sells a formula called ‘Immunity’. These pills contain Ginseng, Huang Qi, Dang Gui, Goji (Gou Qi Zi) Berries, Licorice Root, and about 5 other herbs that synergistically are used to raise your immunity to these external pathogens!

I think between alternating these other foods and maybe eating Miso once a week should be great. Also note the usage of seaweeds in the Congee recipe, add more if you like!

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Omega Fatty Acids, or EFAs, are considered ‘good fats’ and are an essential part of a healthy diet. Whilst most people tend to think that all fats are unhealthy, Omega Fatty Acids have a variety of health benefits including helping the body process cholesterol and degenerating arteries of cholesterol, assisting the adrenal and thyroid glands, and regulating blood pressure therefore becoming quite essential!

There are different varieties of Omega Fatty Acid, most notably Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9 (carbon chains of 3). The final variety may be naturally produced by the body, however the first two Omega Fatty Acids cannot and therefore must be consumed either through Omega Fatty acid rich foods or via food supplements.

Omega-3, also known as Linolenic Acid or ALA, is perhaps the most well known of the EFAs and both Fish oil and flax seed are sources. Oily fish such as herring, salmon, sardines and anchovies contain high levels of Omega-3, with tuna also being a source but containing relatively lower quantities. Although fish is a source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, they obtain them from algae in their diet, rather than producing the EFA themselves, and this later passes on to us via movements in the food chain.

Flax seed, also known as Linseed, is also a source of Omega-3 and is the other main source of Omega-3. Butternuts and Walnuts are also sources of Omega-3, but the percentage quantity of the EFA is far lower in these.

Regular consumption of Omega-3 is necessary for a healthy diet, and which source is most beneficial to your health is a question that deserves some coverage. Fish oil may be considered superior because it is an animal product, and because it is a direct source of EPA and DHA.

Flax seed may be a superior source of Omega-3 due to the fact that with oily fish there are health risks posed by the potential presence of heavy metals and fat-soluble pollutants such as dioxin. However, it should be remembered that many manufacturers have processes in place to both monitor and remove these contaminants. Flax seed is also considered by some to be superior because it is fiber rich, and also not a direct fat. Flax seed, or linseed, contains high levels of ALA which is one of the two Omega Fatty Acids the body needs, and the body can create all other Omega Fatty Acids that are needed once it has this ALA source. However, in doing so, relatively more flax seed must be consumed.

Another issue that people concerned with having a good source of EFAs in their diet may ask is whether they should obtain the Omega-3 source directly from the food or via food supplements. Although food supplements do offer the benefit that there is a regulated amount of the Fatty Acid, and therefore you can be ensured of how much of your RDA you are having, there have in recent years been many health scares related to food supplements and in particular with Omega-3 fatty acids. As an example, in 2006 the FSA in the UK was forced to temporarily withdraw a brand of Omega Fatty Acids supplement because of high levels of the toxic contaminant PCB. Although cost can be a contributory factor, it is almost always more beneficial to get your Omega Fatty Acids directly from the food source, not only because it is a more pleasant way or because there are less health risks but because in doing so you receive the other beneficial nutrients.
No suprise on my advise here. I believe you should know you are short on something before you start supplementing, making food choices superior. Omegas happen to be something needed weekly. If you eath fish 1-2 times a week (friday night sushi?) you probably get enough of your Omegas. Flax seed is a favorite of mine. I add to everything as it tastes good and adds fiber to your meals! Feel free to get more info on this, there are vast amounts of theories about ailments that come and go from lack of Omegas including fatigue!

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Ever hear that you need to drink 8 cups of water a day (64oz)? Of course you have! Working in the alternative medicine field I run into this alot. People and practitioners alike think they should be drinking gallons of water a day. This is an age old myth that got obscured from some factual information. This blog isn’t the first post written to clear this information up, but I would like to see these facts more widespread.

I urge you to search the Internet about water intake and look at all the information available to you. You will get all kinds of information, but most of all you will be told you need to drink lots and lots of water.

In the 1950’s a famous nutritionist wrote an article about water intake to the body. This write-up was scientifically backed with tests and studies and was a wide spread breakthrough research report. This report stated that you need to take in 8 cups of water a day or 64oz. This statement is well used throughout the world and Internet. I see practitioners tell their patients to drink lots of water, people being told they don’t drink enough water, and even people walking around with jugs of water! Well, before I talk about what the rest of the report says, I would just like to analyse this statement of why this really doesn’t make sense.

Drinking 8 cups of water a day from a Chinese Medicine has a few problems right off the bat. First and foremost to say that Jane and Joe both needs to drink 64 ounces a day is absurd. If Joe is 6′3″ tall and 230 pounds why should his water consumption be the same as 5′4″ 120 pound Jane? This is contradictory to every holistic medicine as this is not holistic. Common practice seems to be during the patient intake and history, regardless of the ailment, ask them how much water they drink. A common response is “probably not enough” or “I could drink more”. Why would you accept this answer? This is based on a person thinking they need to drink, more than likely, way to much water. A common pet peeve of mine is even hearing a practitioner say “are you drinking enough water?”. WHY on earth would you say this to your patient? How are they supposed to know that?
Now lets examine some other possible problems with this statement. As far as Chinese Medicine is concerned we have issues of taking in a bunch of water and over working our kidneys. This will lead to weak knees, lower back pain, fatigue, coldness, and much more. Your kidneys do enough work without you asking them to constantly need to drain a bunch of water from you body all the time. Biomedically we face issues of losing electrolytes, causing edema, bursting red blood cells, and not being able to be away from a bathroom for more than 30 minutes.

By far the biggest spread of bad information is telling people they need to drink a bunch of water to lose weight. Are you joking? Are people supposed to pee the fat away? Lets examine this abomination of advice. If you have ever gone on a diet you can relate to the first week diet miracle. You start doing a little more exercise and start eating better you lose 10 pounds or so. Your so excited that you just keep going only to find out that you didn’t lose a single pound your second week. This is the power of water weight. When you took control of your exercise and diet you balanced your body water. I spoke about this and weight loss in a previous post here:
http://blogofherbs.com/recepies/diet-and-weight-loss-tips-tricks-and-help-part-1

Think about this logically for a second. A cup of water is 8 ounces of water, which is 8 ounces of weight. 2 cups of water or an entire 16oz water bottle is a POUND of weight. Want to gain a pound? Just drink 2 cups of water and get on the scale.

So what happened in this report? What part of the report didn’t get out with the rest of the information? The report said that we all need to take in about 64 ounces of water a day. And went on to say that this includes foods, soda, drinks, anything you put in your body. If you ate a bowl of soup you have taken in quite a bit of water. I don’t care what someone says, a can of soda contains water and counts as water intake. If you want to be specific you can 1/2 your carbonated water. a 12 oz can of soda has about 6oz of water in it. Your daily coffee or tea is part of this figure.

“Does the amount go in, come out in urine?”, I hope no one has ever asked you that. You should NOT urinate the same amount of water daily that you take in. Water is lost through your bowel, breathe and sweat as well. There isn’t scientific proof that drinking a gallon of water a day is good for you. This also stands true for Chinese Medicine.

“There isn’t scientific proof that drinking a gallon of water a day is good for you“

Is there a reason this myth perhaps got out of hand? I don’t know, look around and see how many people are making money off of water. Bottling Companies (incl. Coke and Pepsi), Water filtration systems, ionizing systems, and more. Not that I don’t drink purified water, but you wont see me walking around with the gallon jug!

Guess what people, your body tells you when your thirsty! Unless your out hiking in the sun, your thirst center is going to be pretty accurate.  Take this information and digest it. If your running 5 miles a day, you probably need more water than if you have and inactive life and an office job. Your size is going to come into play. I would also like to suggest that if you exchanged your sodas intake with water, you would be making a healthy change, so don’t get me wrong here. Every BODY is different, and that’s the point.

Im still searching for the original New York Times article, but found this on the way
http://style.uk.msn.com/fashionandbeauty/bebeautiful/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6775927

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As you know the internet is a big place! Search engines have gotten really, really big but WHY? Because the internet is too big to search yourself, it is too big to look at directories, it is too big to rely on many things! Because there are so many new sites and scammers out there, the search engines will sometimes not show you the best results, just the best results to their algorithm and that’s okay! No matter how bad the world gets, word of mouth with always reign big!

On that note, this is what we are talking about. Where do you buy your herbal supplements? I have recommended  Dimmak Herbs in the past for a variety of needs. Dimmak Herbs doesn’t make something for everything, but they do make alot of herbal remedies for first aid, training, sports medicine, and ailments. Dimmak Herbs has now launched their long awaited new site!

They have had 40k hits on the video that launched to celebrate their new site! All of these products are made from scratch, strait from a dried herb. Many of the products are also hand made!

For a limited time save 10% on your order there!  Through the month of Octobersave 10% by using the coupon “blogofherbs”.

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