National Herbal Medicine Group Launches Legacy Campaign

The American Botanical Council (ABC), North America’s leading nonprofit research and education organization on herbs and medicinal plants, announced the national launch today of a new initiative called “Creating an Herbal Legacy” (Legacy) designed to ensure that herbal medicine continues to play an increasingly important role in both self-care and healthcare. The formal debut will occur on March 8, 2007 during the American Botanical Celebration at the close of the Nutracon conference and the beginning of the Natural Products Expo West convention in Anaheim, California.

Key volunteer leadership involved from across the natural products community will help ABC launch the campaign at a gathering of more than 250 academic researchers and industry leaders at its annual celebration.

The Legacy campaign will provide long-term financial support in three key areas. Individuals, companies, foundations and organizations will select the area(s) of most interest by designating donations to the following funds:

ABC Endowment Fund – Establishing long-term stability of the organization and ensuring its continued international impact.
ABC Scholarship Fund – Providing support to students and others participating in ABC’s onsite pharmacy and dietitian internships and ethnobotanical eco-tours.
ABC Green Development and Beautification Fund – Improving physical facilities and gardens at the ABC headquarters, including rainwater harvesting, solar electric generation, herbal medicine gardens, and more.

At the Celebration, ABC Board of Trustee Morris (“Mo”) Shriftman, Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Avalon Natural Products, a natural body/skin care company, ABC Trustee Neil Blomquist, formerly the President & CEO of Spectrum Naturals, an organic food and supplement oil company, and Loren Israelsen, president of the LDI Group, and the Executive Director of the United Natural Product Alliance, a trade association, all will help ABC launch the Legacy campaign to fellow leaders in the natural product community.

“Creating an Herbal Legacy is ABC’s effort to ensure a solid future for herbs and herbal medicine” said Mark Blumenthal, ABC Founder and Executive Director. “We anticipate great support for this initiative and are grateful to our many friends and supporters in academia, the health professions and industry who will be helping us initiate the campaign.”

ABC’s Wayne Silverman, PhD asks that people view this effort as a new way of supporting the entire herbal medicine community. “We appreciate and need annual support. However, the Legacy funds represent a new way to make financial support count in very specific and tangible ways. Supporters have wanted more control over how their funds are used, which is why we are so enthusiastic about the Legacy campaign.”

Gillian Christie of Christie Communications understands how vital the Legacy campaign is and has thus offered to help ABC launch the campaign. She explains, “There is a great interest in making natural products more accessible to mainstream healthcare and beauty care. The Creating an Herbal Legacy campaign is a great step forward in helping to raise awareness of natural health and wellness. I am particularly gratified to see one of the choices, the ABC Green Development and Beautification Fund,” said Christie. “I applaud ABC for creating choices in donor support and for offering one that helps to improve environmental awareness and conditions.”

For further information about the Creating an Herbal Legacy Campaign or any of the nonprofit educational work of the American Botanical Council, please contact the Development Office development@herbalgram.org.

About the American Botanical Council

Founded in 1988 the American Botanical Council is the leading nonprofit organization in the United States addressing research and educational issues regarding herbs and medicinal plants. ABC’s members include academic researchers and educators, universities and libraries, health professionals and medical institutions, botanical gardens and arboreta, government agencies, members of the herb, dietary supplement, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries, journalists, consumers, and other interested parties from over 70 countries. The organization occupies a historic 2.5-acre site in Austin, Texas where it publishes HerbalGram, a peer-reviewed journal on herbal medicine, a monthly e-newsletter, reference books and other educational materials. ABC has published three reference books, including one that is also a continuing education course for healthcare professionals, The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs, containing extensive monographs on the safety and efficacy of 29 popular herbs. Information: Contact ABC at P.O. Box 144345, Austin, TX 78714-4345, Phone: 512-926-4900. Website: www.herbalgram.org.

Life-threatening Effects From Mixing Supplements, Herbs, Over-the-counter Medications And Prescription Drugs

People are mixing supplements, herbs and over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs to cure themselves of ills, unaware that they could be making themselves sicker, says George Grossberg, M.D., director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Saint Louis University.

Dr. Grossberg is about to change all that. He is the co-author of a new book, "The Essential Herb-Drug-Vitamin Interaction Guide," which is a comprehensive listing of what various herbs and supplements do, possible side effects and how they might interact with other medications and foods.

"People think if it doesn't require a prescription, it's got to be safe, and that's not true. There could be life-threatening effects."

Dr. Grossberg first became interested in the topic after a routine six-month visit with a patient he had successfully treated for depression. He had been seeing the patient for four or five years, and asked if the man was dealing with any new health problems.

The patient mentioned that he was scheduled to go in for cystoscopy in a couple weeks because there had been blood in his urine. The procedure involves inserting the pencil-thin tip of a probe through the urethra, up to the bladder to detect the cause of the problem.

The patient had undergone thousands of dollars of MRIs and CAT scans of his lower abdomen and pelvis, which had not revealed the reason for the bleeding, and the test was the next diagnostic step.

Dr. Grossberg asked if the patient had changed anything - perhaps had started taking a new medication.

No new medicine. Then the patient's wife pulled from her purse a vial containing a supplement she had purchased from the health food store to enhance memory. Both husband and wife had started taking the herbal memory enhancer, which largely contained ginkgo biloba

"One of the side effects of ginkgo biloba is an increased risk of bleeding. He had no awareness of this. I told him to stop taking the herb and get rechecked before having cystoscopy. The bleeding stopped, and he didn't need the test."

Dr. Grossberg ticks off other common herbs that people take without realizing their side effects or how they might interact with medications.

St. John's wort sometimes is taken for anxiety and depression. Those who also are taking antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications, such as Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil, should beware. Mixing St. John's wort with these medicines can cause serotonin syndrome -- with symptoms that may include agitation, rapid heart beat, flushing and heavy sweating -- that may be fatal.

Dong quai, which some women take for menstrual disorders and to ease symptoms of menopause, has been linked to cardiovascular problems, such as irregular heart rhythm and low blood pressure. If a patient takes the herb along with an antihypertensive drug, her blood pressure could plummet, putting her at risk of stroke.

Some people take echinacea, which enhances the immune system, for the common cold. However, those who also take Lipitor, Celebrex and Aleve face an increased risk of liver damage. Echinacea also can be harmful for those who have multiple sclerosis, diabetes, HIV infections or allergies.

Dr. Grossberg and his co-author Barry Fox make it clear that they're not anti-herb or anti-medicine.

"There just are a lot of things people can take that have a lot of bad interactions. And on some level it makes sense for them to think that what they're doing is safe. They associate natural remedies with nature and think if the supplement wasn't safe, they couldn't pick it up without a prescription.

"Hopefully this will get them to think more about it so they look before they leap. People can look up what they're thinking of taking and see if there's efficacy. And they should always talk to their doctor about everything they're taking."

Many doctors don't know much about herbal remedies, which have been used as medications for thousands of years.

"When I trained, there was nothing like this in our medical education," says Dr. Grossberg, who graduated from medical school in 1975. "The younger doctors are more likely to know this than older doctors."

Elderly people, he says, use herbal remedies and don't always tell their doctors and pharmacists. They should.

"A lot of our older patients are buying herbals and botanicals. In addition, while those over 65 represent about 14 percent of the population, they consumer 40 percent of over-the-counter medications," he says.

The book, published by Broadway Books, a subsidiary of Random House, is being released in mid-April.

The traditional roots of modern medicine

The African’s practice of medicine is a mixture of the traditional and the western. This stems from our understanding of illness: as the effect of both physical and metaphysical causes.

Western medicine cures only those ‘physical’ ailments for which it has managed to find cures. We have a lot more ‘physical’ ailments against which Western medicine is quite simply impotent, so far. The psychotherapeutic care of traditional African healing has been praised by many Western doctors. And the tradition is so deeply embedded in our culture that even the educated elites resort to them. Our dual understanding of disease as the effect of both physcial and metaphysical forces means that our prescriptions usually involve the use of, herbs, animal substances, prayers and incantations. This holistic and comprehensive approach to medical care also defines the Eastern tradition - both Taoism and Hinduism share this metaphysical view of man.

However, this dual approach to medical care should not be confused with the magical invocations of the visionary or the cult-healer. It is more accurate to see it as a recognition, imaginatively grasped, of what Western medicine today calls the ‘psychosomatic” nature of many diseases-- ie, the aggravation of physical illness by mental conflict or stress. so, What better medical approach to have than a comprehensive one? Through trial and error, especially in herbal medication, we’ve come to crystalise what works and what does not.

We often forget that the pharmaceutical industry ‘has its roots in the ancient art of botanising’, and blockbuster synthetic drugs, like aspirin and heroin, were minor modifications of molecules extracted from, respectively, willow bark and poppy seed-pods.’ The superiority of western medicine is not borne out by the evidence: according to the WHO, out of a 119 plant-derived pharmaceutical medicines, 74% of them are used “in modern medicine in ways that correlate directly with their traditional uses by native cultures”. The chinese, for example, have been using the herb, ephedra, to cure asthma for over 2000 years, in the same way that today’s commercial pharmaceutical companies are doing. In fact we can claim the superiority of herbal medication, given the speedy toxicity of synthesised drugs, even in small doses.

Even Western society subsisted on herbal medication for centuries before the discovery and synthesis of anti-biotics. Nicholas Culperer’s, The English Physician, was a valued herbal pharmacopeia, which is still widely consulted today. 80% of the world’s population use herbal medicine. Are they all wrong? There are about 750,000 plants, and very few of them have been studied by Western science. There must be many cultures in the world with knowledge of certain plants which western science does not have. These western scientist must return to the classroom and learn from the oldest primary care system in the world.

Exploring the heritage of traditional Vietnamese medicine in town

Located in a small and quiet street behind Ky Hoa Park II is the first traditional medicine museum in HCMC. The museum building has six floors and 18 exhibition rooms, with a total area of 600 square meters. Built in 1995 in a modern style, the building was used as an office for eight years. The interior and exterior decoration of the building was then refurbished into a specialized museum, depicting the cultural heritage of traditional Vietnamese medicines.

About fifty artisans and skilled handicraftsmen worked for three years to transform the building into a replica of an ancient medical house in the north around the Red River valley and an institute of the royal physicians, where royal physicians took care of the health of royalty in former imperial cities in Hue.

The materials used to renovate were carefully selected so as to recreate the ancient style of the museum. Bricks, wood and tiles were bought from old houses at two or three times the price of new ones. The builders also brought wood frames of houses built at the end of 19 century in the delta of the north to install in the museum. Among the frames, one is from a family who have worked as traditional physicians for four generations in Kieu Ky Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi. There are also pictures and patterns skillfully carved in the girders and the gates of the museum, demonstrating for visitors the talents of Vietnamese artisans.

Visitors will also see unique features of the museum on each floor of the building. On the fourth and fifth floors artisans used a special wood carving technology while on the third floor is the incrusting technology, which is given this name because the floor is of incrusted pearl. The other floors were also designed with specific features such as the traditional wood house, and the red-lacquered and gold-trimmed house. Despite having a limited area, the museum also has exhibits of the customs and cultural features of the old times, such as samples of Vietnamese and Chinese traditional medical houses, Cham tower, the institute of the royal physicians and the gate of the Medical Temple designed in the style of Thang Long Medical Temple, a historical relic built in 1774 in Hanoi.

Besides the architecture and decoration, visitors are also attracted to the precious antique objects and items displayed in the museum. There is a large picture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, depicting Vietnamese life in the three regions and traditional Vietnamese medicine activities of the old days. Also on display are books by well-known Vietnamese physicians, a collection of drawings of 2,000 herbal trees in Vietnam and a wood-carving honoring the names of 100 famous physicians who have contributed to the development of Vietnamese traditional medicine from 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The museum has also reserved almost 3,000 other objects, among them are medicine paraphernalia including knives, pestles, mortars, medicine pots, scales, medicine cabinets, planks carving prescriptions and more.

The museum serves both as a scientific foundation and a cultural center, depicting the cultural life and the creativity of ancient Vietnam in traditional medicine.

The Traditional Vietnamese Medicine Museum is at 41 Hoang Du Khuong Street, District 10, HCMC. It is open daily from 8:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m.

Traditional medicine expected to play important role in rural China

Chinese political advisors attending their annual full session in Beijing said that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) should play an important role in health care in rural areas.

"Chinese have relied on TCM for thousands of years while Western medicine was introduced into the country several hundred years ago. TCM should and can play a bigger role in rural areas," said Zhu Qingsheng, former vice minister of health and now a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body.

Zhu's remarks won consent of a number of CPPCC members both from the medical sector and other circles. "I believe TCM is a good tool in building a system of primary health care services for both urban and rural residents," said CPPCC member Ha Xiaoxian, who is also an expert from the Harbin Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center.

TCM was widely used in the rural health system after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and helped double the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978. However, it is losing out to Western medicine in the popularity stakes in China, according to an online survey last year.

A nationwide debate erupted over the survival of TCM last year after an online proposal by Zhang Gongyao, a professor with Central South University, urged China's health authorities to remove TCM practices from national health service. It attracted both support and outrage from thousands of netizens.

Supporters of the proposal labeled TCM as "unscientific and untrustworthy" and opponents lambasted supporters for ignoring history and the true values of TCM.

China's Ministry of Health has made its opposition to the proposal, saying "TCM is an inseparable and important component of China's health sector" and "Chinese medicine has been acknowledged in a growing number of foreign countries."

In the government work report delivered on March 5 at the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government would strongly support the development of traditional Chinese medicine and the folk medicine of ethnic minorities and give full play to their important role in preventing and treating illnesses.

However, China is in dire need of experienced TCM doctors as there are only 270,000 practitioners in the country and only 30, 000 of them practice TCM only, most of whom are above 50 years of age, according to CPPCC member Si Fuchun, an expert from Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The political advisors from the health sector have submitted suggestions, calling on the government to improve the training of TCM practitioners, alter certification procedure to enable more practitioners to get licenses, and subsidize those who work in rural areas and communities.

Source: Xinhua

Medicine names can make you sick

Are there any uglier words in the industrial world than the names of prescription drugs?

Imagine telling someone your doctor ordered you to take two Zilgiflux after every meal? Or a spoonful of Psylpukalor at bedtime?

So it may have been bad for business but at least a short reprieve for the English language when Merck & Co. last week announced a halt to development of a new insomnia drug, abominably called gaboxodol.

Who thinks up such atrocities?

The well-deserved death of that particular coinage was no joke for Merck's partner in Europe, the Danish firm H. Lundbeck. Poor Lundbeck's shares took their worst one-day drubbing in four years.

Bloomberg News said the firm had been hoping gaboxodol would ease its dependence on a really big sales item, Lexapro. Not to be confused with Carbitrol, Rozerem, Placidyl or Prozac. What a crew. Traditional brand names at least sounded made up by people: Wheaties, Cadillac, Coca-Cola, Palmolive. The new crop suggests a computer trying to imitate human speech. Just unrelated syllables.

Lexapro is an anti-depressant, although you wouldn't know it by the word. Gaboxodol would have peacefully administered a knockout blow if you toss and turn at night. But laboratory test data didn't show persuasive enough results to continue the investment, said Merck.

All drug makers are under pressure to keep coming up with new medicines, and original names for them, as pills and powders go "off patent." When that doomsday occurs, generic drug makers rush in to produce the profitable potions cheaper.

Insomnia is an especially restless market. Spurned by the arms of Morpheus, millions of us evidently reach for a little bottle of something by the bedside.

In this country alone, consumers spent $3 billion last year on two somnolence inducers, Lunesta and Ambien. Both happen to have nicer sounding names than average (thanks to focus group testing no doubt). Lunesta is promoted in TV commercials. They feature the lightest of cartooned butterflies wafting in through the curtains. Ambien goes off patent protection in a month.

U.S. doctors who in the past might have advised a glass of warm milk at 10 o'clock, or a good book till the eyelids droop, wrote 57 million insomnia prescriptions in 2006. There are 300 million Americans all told, so a fair percentage of us must be using.

Pharmacies did miss a blip last March when news reports coupled a brand name pill not only to traffic arrests -- understandable enough when drowsy -- but binge-eating, too?

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., added to the lore of his family's accident proneness. He crashed a car into a security barrier in Washington, told police he'd taken one pill for sleeplessness, another for nausea.

Don't mix, the Food and Drug Administration urged physicians to warn patients; sleeping pills don't go with drinking. Or driving.

They never said that about warm milk or a good book. No warning labels needed.

Retired business editor Jack Markowitz writes Sundays and Thursdays. E-mail him at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.

Campaign To Raise Awareness Of Traditional Medicine

Heightening consumer awareness about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) use is the aim of a drive by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), the organization said Monday.

A code of practise is needed on the way TCM is promoted in the city-state, said CASE President Yeo Guat Kwang.

CASE plans to work with TCM retailers to raise awareness about the origins of various remedies and their prices.

Lee Tiong Sa, chairman of the Singapore Traditional Medicine Organizations, told The Straits Times that closer cooperation will allow it to respond faster to complaints brought to CASE.

Most TCMs sold in the city-state have undergone checks by authorities, he said, but warned consumers to be wary about drugs sold in makeshift stalls as they may not have passed through proper channels.

Case received 20,000 complaints last year.

Traditional medicine has "world potential"

Traditional Chinese medicine could become a global leader in medical treatment, a top science official said yesterday.

"Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its peculiar way of observing life and disease, has the greatest potential for original innovations among all the other academic disciplines in the country," Liu Yanhua, vice-minister of science and technology, said.

Liu made the comments at a ceremony marking the launch of a new report on TCM's potential to prevent and treat major infectious and chronic diseases.

The document, "Outline for Innovative Development of TCM" was co-published by 16 central government ministries and other official bodies.

TCM and forthcoming breakthroughs in life science are expected to be "one of the points of penetration for China's scientific research into the world".

Investment, innovation

To encourage more innovation, China will invest more money in the area and encourage international cooperation in the TCM research field.

And to give TCM a better footing on the world market, "a system of standards" would be established for medical treatments, medicine production, teaching, scientific research and market entry.

Such a system of standards would help boost TCM's "recognition and understanding" throughout the world, Yu Wenming, deputy director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said.

That system was expected to be the same as that applied to the world's traditional medicines.

More monitoring efforts will also be made on the side effects of TCM, according to the outline.

The State Food and Drug Administration received 369,000 reports of adverse drug reactions last year, of which TCM accounted for 15 percent, Wu Zhen, deputy director of the administration, said.

SADC TO RECOGNISE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

Speaking at a press conference during the SADC health Ministers forum in Lilongwe, Malawi,chair person of senior officials of the forum who is also the pricipal secretary of the Ministry of Health in Lesotho Teleko Kangombe said it is high time traditonal doctors should be recognised since the actual medicine are made from the very same african helbs.

He said what SADC states should do is to come up wuth the recommeded reseach on the traditional medicine and made them in a good quality for other countries.

"After we recognise the traditional drugs we will make them in the good quality, package them and even inport them to othe countries"said Kangombe.

The forum will also look major problems of SADC health issues such as HIV and AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Following a four day meeting by SADC health ministers.Malawi is expected to declare TBas an emergency following the reserch done in the region.

HEalth: Morning Rituals and Meditation

Morning Rituals and Meditation

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner
Some people meditate, others do yoga; some have a protein shake every morning for breakfast or a green drink like fresh vegetable juice or wheatgrass as a morning ritual.

This morning, I got out of bed fifteen minutes after my alarm went off (a morning ritual I'd like to shake).

I went to my desk and did my morning written meditation - 3 written pages based on the concept of Julia Cameron's "morning pages" to clear my mind and harmonize my thoughts and feelings. I find that writing or doing any ritual first thing in the morning helps me to connect with what is happening on the inside of my psyche. It enables me to break through the barriers of my wide awake, conscious mind to learn what's going on underneath, stabilizing and calming both my body and my mind.

I have another morning ritual that I follow at least 5 days a week - vegetable juice before breakfast. I have a great little juicer into which I'll stick anything from organic carrots, half of a lemon, celery or apples slices to lettuce, bitter chard or kale, and live, protein-rich sprouts! Juicing is one of the best things you can do for your health. A fresh juice just before breakfast - particularly one with something green in it - sets your body up with a wealth of vitamins, minerals and enzymes to support you through the day. Organic fruit and veggies are especially good for you to juice.

I usually add an ounce of wolfberry antioxidant juice and some hemp seed oil for omegas, and sometimes a fiber supplement. It's an acquired taste, but by now I love green juicing and I can feel the good it's doing for me.

What do you do for your wellness and health as a morning ritual? The discussion boards are open and I'd love to hear from you.

Diet: Protein in dietary balance

Protein in dietary balance

How much protein you need may vary, depending on what else you're eating. Raw foods and juicing includes enzymes that balance blood sugar in ways a processed diet won't.

The really interesting thing about dietary protein, as far as I’m concerned, is how the standard varies with who you ask. Most general food guidelines recommend that 10-15% of our diet come from protein. This number can vary depending on your body’s individual metabolism and your daily activity, and holistic practitioners tend to recommend more rather than less protein. Bodybuilders and athletes have been known to eat about 35% protein to support the growth of lean muscle mass - yet many nutritionists claim that this is not necessary and that, like the Atkins diet, athletes who consume this much excessive protein are putting their heart and kidneys at risk.

I have type A blood - the blood type that is typically considered the least protein-dependant and most condusive to being vegetarian. However, I tend to feel tired, dizzy, or get a stomach ache if I haven’t had enough of a complete protein at a meal - particularly if there are a lot of starches, sweets (even healthy ones) or other carbohydrate foods involved.

When I focus my diet on raw fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, my need for protein to balance the blood sugar high of the carbs decreases - thanks primarily, I think, to the high count of enzymes in the raw produce. I notice a particular difference when I'm juicing (green vegetables, lemons, and whatever else I have on hand) first thing in the morning, as I have been lately. Despite the high sugar content of most raw fruits and veggies, the sugars don’t hit my system the way processed carbs do, and I feel less need for protein when I’m eating a more raw diet.

Energy Medicine in the Real World

Energy Medicine in the Real World

It’s here and it’s being discussed on Oprah. Is Energy Medicine and energy healing work the real future of medicine?

I grew up on aspects of Energy Medicine. My mother studied Touch for Health Applied Kinesiology and Brain Gym when I was a child, so I knew, at least in theory, how profound the impact of energy work could be. Energy testing or “muscle testing” was invaluable for working with my allergies and sensitivities as a child and as a teenager. However, it was only after I took a 5-day Energy Medicine Intensive taught by Donna Eden in August 2005 that I really began to feel the impact that the simplest of these exercises could have on my body and mind.

After the Energy Medicine Intensive, I began to practice Donna Eden’s “5-minute tune up” every morning. Within days of starting to do the three thumps, the hook-up, cross crawl, and all the rest, I noticed that I had more energy, my mind was clearer, and I felt stronger as I used the daily tune-up as part of a morning meditation.

I do everything I can to encourage others to try using these exercises daily - not only for those who are healthy, to improve your strength, immunity, and brain function, but also to help those who are ill come into better balance with your health.

I firmly believe that there are solutions in energy work and Energy Medicine to help almost everyone with their healing challenges - whether they have simple aches and pains or serious illnesses like cancer, chronic fatigue, and MS. Energy Medicine is so versatile and powerful that it can make a difference for almost everyone.

My favorite applications of Energy Medicine are the ones I’ve used the most - those to relax, to “unscramble” a cluttered mind, to help calm kids (children with ADD/ADHD tend to respond especially well to energy work), to ease pain and tension, and to settle anxious pets (believe it or not, they have the same energy systems as we do - it just takes a little more effort to work with them).

I’ve had some experience using Energy Medicine on skeptical relatives when they were sick enough to be willing to give anything a shot. My efforts helped them to feel better, get out of bed, and go back to grumbling about my odd habit of offering to help them sort out all kinds of situations with energy work.

The most exciting thing, for me, is the public perception of energy healing and the way it is gradually becoming more accepted and appreciated. I think we’ve come a long way from labeling alternative medicine “witchcraft” and essential oils “snake oil.” Last week, a doctor appeared on Oprah’s show and called Energy Medicine “the next big frontier” in medicine! You can’t get much more mainstream than that.

Oprah’s guest, Dr. Oz, said, "We're beginning now to understand things that we know in our hearts are true but we could never measure. As we get better at understanding how little we know about the body, we begin to realize that the next big frontier… in medicine is energy medicine. It's not the mechanistic part of the joints moving. It's not the chemistry of our body. It's understanding for the first time how energy influences how we feel."

3 tips for Toronto vegetarians

3 tips for Toronto vegetarians

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner
Torontonians reading my recent articles about the pros and cons of vegetarianism - or anybody else - might be interested in trying these three food discoveries!

I'm admitting straight off the top that this is a silly post. In light of my recent article about vegetarianism, I thought some of my readers might be able to make use of the fabulous results of my recent foray into vegetarian health food cuisine. I've found three things I'd like to share:

1. Basil pesto from Sunflower Kitchens

2. Vegepate from Fontaine Sante

3. Free hulled hemp seed samples at Noah's at Bloor and Spadina

1. Sunflower Kitchens is a small operation that cooks up various forms of hummus, pestos, and other dips and sauces to gourmet and health food stores in the Toronto area. I've tried some of their catering, over the years, and it's very good - but nothing compares to their fabulous BASIL PESTO. It has a rich, fresh flavour and is completely vegan - any creaminess is due to the ground sunflower seeds added to the pesto. It'll last for at least two weeks, opened, in the fridge (I've never had one longer than that before I use it up!) and it's great on salads, sandwiches, to dip raw veggies, you name it. Don't confuse it with Sunflower Kitchens' Kale and Basil Pesto - which is not as flavourful.

2. Fontaine Sante is a fresh health food company out of Quebec. I'm not as familiar with their products, but I picked up a small package of VEGEPATE yesterday at the health food store and I was surprised how good it tasted. It also has a sunflower seed base, with onions, nutritional yeast, carrots and other veggies, but it tastes like nothing so much as my Jewish great-aunt's recipe for vegetarian chopped liver. Excellent on crackers. I doubt that it will have the longevity of the Sunflower Pesto - which I like to stock as a staple! - but it's nice on occasion.

3. I was at Noah's Natural Foods at Bloor and Spadina this evening and they have a basket of FREE HEMP SEED SAMPLES on the check-out counter at the front. I doubt it'll last long, but while it does - free hemp seeds! They're a great source of omega-3 oils and of protein. And they taste great. (I was amused to see fine print on the tiny card insert in the package which reads, "Batch 6. THC Test: 0%"

HERBAL : Vegetarian Restaurants in Toronto

Vegetarian Restaurants in Toronto

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner
On the lookout for a restaurant in the city of Toronto? Check out these five vegetarian restaurants for creative dining options for vegans, omnivores, and all in between

By no means an exhaustive list, this post is in intended as a follow-up to my recent articles, Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet and Disadvantages of Going Veg to suggest a few of Toronto’s best restaurants for great cuisine, good atmosphere, and healthy eating!

1. Fresh / Juice for Life

Juice for Life has three locations in the city: at Bloor and Spadina, on Queen Street West at Crawford, and on Spadina south of Queen Street West. Each is a bouncing spot for vegetarians and vegans to enjoy wholesome meals, fresh juices, and a range of desserts made with natural ingredients and healthier sweeteners. Their specialties include a veggie burger made from almonds and rice bowls topped with any and every combination of vegetables, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, and sauces you can imagine. Most of their desserts come from Sweets from the Earth, the exquisite Toronto vegan bakery (most of their goodies are, however, made with unrefined cane sugar).

2. Annapurna

One of the oldest vegetarian restaurants in the city (and perhaps across Canada) is Annapurna Restaurant, a quirky, quiet place in Toronto's Annex, on Bathurst Street just south of Dupont. Annapurna specializes in delicious Southern Indian cuisine, with daily soups and specials, all very reasonably priced. Their masala dosai, a lentil flour crepe filled with potatoes and served with spicy sanbar lentil soup, is a favorite, as are the honey-sweetened carob balls for dessert.

3. Live

Live Organic Food Bar, located on Dupont at Spadina, is the only restaurant in Toronto that offers raw food appetizers and entrees as nearly half of their menu. They specialize in gourmet vegan food, fresh juices, and gourmet raw vegan desserts. Live is new, trendy, and more than a little pricey, but the food is excellent. They also offer cooking classes, catering and healthy packaged foods in the entryway.

4. Le Commensal

Le Commensal has been around since 1996, and it’s still going strong. Located in the heart of Toronto at Bay and Elm Streets (near the subway at Dundas and Yonge), Le Commensal is a buffet-style vegetarian restaurant where you pay for your food by weight before you eat. Food choices include a range of salads, rice, tofu and seitan curries and stews, pizza, lasagne, and more. Their soups and the favorite dishes are prepackaged and frozen so you can also enjoy them at home. As a bonus, they make the best tofu cheesecake in town.

5. Vegetarian Haven

Set in the U of T/ Kensington Market district on Baldwin Street, Vegetarian Haven has a huge menu - from the more conventional stews, noodles, and stuffed vegetables to unusual veggie simulations which included the popular “tofu drumsticks” as well as tofu "ham", "pastrami", "salmon" and more. The food is nicely presented and, for the most part, in very generous portions. Like Fresh/Juice for Life, they also serve desserts made by Sweets from the Earth (see above); and they’ll blend any cake or cookie into a dessert shake to order.

Traditional Medicine, why is Important?

Importance of Traditional Medicine

Traditional medicine has always been regarded as important in Bhutan, and a dispensary which doubles as a training centre was opened at Dechenchoeling in 1967. In 1979, a traditional medical hospital with a laboratory for making medicines was opened in Thimphu, subsidized by the World Health Organization. This hospital can be visited (see page 161). Four dispensaries were also set up in the rest of the country. In 1988, a project for cataloguing plants and establishing a training centre for doctors was begun with the help of an Italian non­-governmental organization. This project today is being continued by European Community.

Traditional Medicine : Diagonistic Techniques

Diagonistic Techniques

Diagnosis begins with an examination of the 12 pulses, the tongue and urine, and questions to the patient. Illnesses develop with the increase, decrease or destabilization caused by bad food, the weather, evil spirits, the weight of previ­ous actions, karma, or way of life. Remedies, in general, consist of a diet that varies with the nature of the illness, and medi­cines, which may be aided by acupuncture and moxibustion.

The decision about what kind of treatment to use for a particular condition is made by the physician mainly through the reading of the pulses. In modern medicine, pulse reading is only used to detect anomalies of the heart and of the circulatory system. Using the So-bar Rig-pa method, it is possible to detect diseases of any organ through the pulses. The eyes, tongue and urine are also examined for signs that will help with the diagnosis, and sometimes the physician will record the patient's medical history.

Therapeutic applied in traditional medicine

Therapeutic Practices

Several forms of treatment are applied in traditional medicine. Hundreds of medicinal plants, minerals and animal parts form the basic drugs used by the practitioners. These ingredients are processed and mixed in different combinations to make about 300 medicines in the form of pills, tablets, syrups, powders and lotions. Other treatments include dietary and behavioural advice. There are also so-called surgical procedures that include gtar (blood letting), bsregs (cauterisation by lerbal compounds), gser facos (acupuncture by a golden needle), tshug (cauterisation with instruments of different materials), dugs (applying heat or cold to parts of the body), byugs-pa (medicated oil massage), sman-chu (stone-heated bath), fsha-chu (bath at a hot spring) and turn (vapour treatment).

Herbal in Bhutan: The Land of Medicinal Herbs.

The Land of Medicinal Herbs.

One of the ancient names for Bhutan was Menjung – ‘the Land of Medicinal Herbs’.

The Himalayan Buddhist system of medicine is called So-ba Rig-pa and is practised in many countries today. Because it originally developed in ancient Tibet, it is commonly known as Tibetan medicine.

It is believed that at the beginning of time, the art of healing was a prerogative of the gods. It wasn't until Kashiraja Dewadas, an ancient Indian king, went to heaven to learn medicine that medicine could be offered to humans as a means to fight suffering. He taught the principles and the practice of healing, and this knowledge was spread as part of early Buddhist sacred writings. Some of the fundamental beliefs of this system are the basis of Buddhism itself.

When Buddhism was first brought to Tibet in the seventh century, some of these medicinal texts were translated into Tibetan and the rulers became interested in the subject. From that time, So-ba Rig-pa was considered a single system of medicine, although some differences are found in the different lineages based on the discovery of terma, which occasionally include medicinal teachings.

When Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal came to Bhutan, his minister of religion, Tenzin Drukey, an esteemed physician, spread the teaching of So-ba Rig-pa. Though the basic texts are the same, the Bhutanese tradition of So-ba Rig-pa has developed independently from its Tibetan origins. Today, the Himalayan Buddhist tradition is the most common type of medicine practised in Bhutan. It has been recognised by the government as the official medical tradition of the country and has been included in the national health system since 1967.

GMO Potatoes Cause Cancer in Rats

Herbal: GMO Potatoes Cause Cancer in Rats

Genetically Modified Potatoes: finally, proof of the risks
Newly released evidence from Russian studies that were suppressed since 1998 shows exactly the danger that alternative health experts predicted: GMO foods may not be safe

The debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) has been going strong for years. When Monsanto and other companies began designing GMO corn, soy, potatoes, tomatoes, and other crops and marketing them to third world farmers, they opened a can of worms that may never be shut.

Environmentalists take issue with the risk that GMO crops can accidentally be released into the environment and wipe out other, native, plant species.

Religious activists object to the concept of humans "playing god" with other lifeforms and our own food supply.

And health experts - especially those in natural healing, energy work, and holistic health fields - believe that GMO foods are inherently unsafe to consume, because we don't know how the combination of genes in new ways might effect a food's chemistry or its impact on the human body.

Now, we are beginning to find out.

Studies conducted in Russia in 1998 - and suppressed by the biotech industry for eight years - have finally been uncovered, showing that rats fed GMO potatoes developed tumors. The findings from these studies are being released thanks to the work of Greenpeace activists in the UK.

Natural Medicine

The debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) has been going strong for years. When Monsanto and other companies began designing GMO corn, soy, potatoes, tomatoes, and other crops and marketing them to third world farmers, they opened a can of worms that may never be shut.

Environmentalists take issue with the risk that GMO crops can accidentally be released into the environment and wipe out other, native, plant species.

Religious activists object to the concept of humans "playing god" with other lifeforms and our own food supply.

And health experts - especially those in natural healing, energy work, and holistic health fields - believe that GMO foods are inherently unsafe to consume, because we don't know how the combination of genes in new ways might effect a food's chemistry or its impact on the human body.

Now, we are beginning to find out.

Studies conducted in Russia in 1998 - and suppressed by the biotech industry for eight years - have finally been uncovered, showing that rats fed GMO potatoes developed tumors. The findings from these studies are being released thanks to the work of Greenpeace activists in the UK.

For more information on GMO foods, and links to the full story, see http://www.mercola.com/2007/mar/8/warning----gm-food-linked-to-cancer.htm