Taraneh T. Ballew, ND
Naturopathic Physician
Dayspring Naturopathic Clinic
4460 Black Ave., Suite I
Pleasanton, CA 94566
ph# (925) 461-9335
HEALTH TIPS
The information contained here is for educational purposes only and should not substitute professional, individual treatment by a healthcare professional. You are strongly encouraged to seek professional guidance to oversee your progress.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation
Are you ready for a healthier, happier you?
Simple lifestyle changes can make a world of difference. Small, sustained changes can result in great improvements. When beginning to adopt these new changes, be gentle on yourself, take baby-steps by choosing a habit you can do most easily. As you succeed, try more challenging ones. Honor your efforts and remember your dedication will serve you for life!
1. Eat a Natural Foods Diet
A diet high in vegetables, whole grains, beans, fruits, fresh nuts and seeds is the goal. Fish grown in their natural habitat, are also nutritious and can be a good source of essential fatty acids. Free-range, low-fat animal sources can also be enjoyed on occasion. Remember to eat in moderation, chewing your food thoroughly to maximize digestion and achieve natural regularity.
2. Adopt a Daily Exercise Routine
Try to find at least 20-30 minutes a day for a physical activity. For many it’s best to find a routine that raises your heart and respiration rate thus improving circulation. For others it may be necessary to find something low-impact. Whatever the case, find something you enjoy doing either by yourself or with others. If it’s fun, you’re likely to continue for life.
3. Get Sufficient Rest
Early to bed and early to rise is a well-founded proverb. It’s important to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, in complete darkness, every night. In addition, taking breaks during your day reduces stress and fatigue. Moderation and tranquility help sustain relaxation of mind and body.
4. Fill Your Heart with Joy and Love
Engage in activities that develop a calm mind and compassionate heart. Surrender the past and the future, but enjoy the present. Sharing your love is profoundly therapeutic. Laugh frequently and heartily. Good belly laughs every day can directly improve your well-being.
5. Drink Pure, Clean Water
6 to eight glasses of spring or filtered water throughout the day keeps your cells hydrated and enables your cells to flush out any impurities. Too much water taken with meals can interfere with digestion. All the more reason to take a water-break during your work day!
6. Breathe in the Fresh Air and Sunlight
Get fresh air everyday and remember deep breaths taken in from the belly renew the body, mind and spirit. For most people, exposure to moderate amounts of natural sunlight is very beneficial. In the summer, choose morning and late afternoon sun to minimize UV ray exposure. Light waves passing thorough the optic nerve help regulate hormone production, so, if possible, remove your glasses when in the sun.
7. Connect to a Spiritual Source
Believing in a Higher Power that is wiser, more compassionate and powerful than yourself, is very comforting and can enhance your sense of inner peace. Prayer and meditation are indispensable both in times of difficulty and to show gratitude for all that you have been given.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplementation
A high-quality broad spectrum multi-vitamin-mineral is an important step to a healthier foundation. Diet and nutrition are definitely the basics for a health and well-being, but here are some reasons why just about everyone should also supplement with a multi-vitamin-mineral.
1. Subtle vitamin/mineral deficiencies are common among American adults.
2.Vitamin/mineral supplementation helps to overcome and compensate for a sluggish metabolism. For example, an acidic environment is required to absorb calcium, and vitamin B12 metabolism depends on intrinsic factor and hydrochloric acid often found out of balance in the stomach.
3. Our bodies are not able to make vitamins on their own, and as these are “vital” we require a complete source.
4. Agricultural practices such as over-harvesting, poor soil nutrition, processing and many other factors provide foods that are low in nutrient value.
5. Stress, found in abundance in our modern culture, depletes the body’s storage of vitamin and mineral content and thereby increases their need.
6. High doses of certain vitamins, especially in conjunction with a healthy low-sugar diet, help to promote optimal functioning of the immune system.
7. High doses of certain vitamins help to prevent the development of certain cancers and also kill some cancer cells.
8. Supplementation with vitamins and minerals helps to maintain a healthy balance and thereby ward off many diseases, including depression and anxiety.
Do you have frequent yeast infections, allergies, menstrual pain, or chronic fatigue? Many of these conditions are a sign your body is overloaded with a variety of “stressors” such as candida albicans (yeast), environmental toxins and food sensitivities. A whole body cleanse is often a great place to start improving your health.
Sure we have all the organs we need to eliminate, but if we accumulate toxins (which are in abundance today) and don’t do anything to support our liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, blood and lymphatic system, our bodies will eventually be affected. If your not pregnant or nursing, a detoxification program can be beneficial to your overall health.
Most detoxification supplements focus only on the liver and colon. Though important, the only way to make sure detoxification is truly successful, is to cleanse the whole body, and that includes the blood and lymph. These two vital fluids nourish and protect the liver, colon, and all other organs, tissues, and cells.
Detoxifying the colon and liver without cleansing the blood and lymph is like replacing your car’s dirty oil filter with a new clean one, but not changing the oil. Running dirty oil through the new filter will not improve your car’s performance. It’s the same with your circulatory and lymphatic systems. These fluids need “changing” or detoxification, too, for your body’s optimal health.
A safe, effective and natural detoxification program should work with your body’s own detoxification and elimination patterns. The initial two-week phase should:
What you eat and drink during your detoxification program is also very important. Here’s a list of some do’s and don’ts:
Do:
Don’t:
Remember this is just for a short time till your digestive health improves, and you feel generally better. Of course many of the food habits would be beneficial to continue. Enjoy the process, and don’t forget your body has the innate ability to heal itself you are just giving it the tools to do so!
This article was adapted from Dr. Weiss’s publication titled Safe, Natural, Effective Cleansing. It is for informative purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose. For more information please contact Taraneh Ballew, ND at DrTaraneh@msn.com
