Oh Holi Medicine! The natural way.

Oh, Holi Med!

I don’t about you guys, but I’ve always been intrigued by holistic medicine. You see, my grandmother, aka my second mother, my psychologist, my confident, my soul-mate and partner in crime got diagnosed with advanced cancer in her early 70s. When the doctors looked at her chest x-rays they told her she had few months to live and would not make it to a year. According to them, it was a miracle she was still alive. Little did they know she would live for another year and half. I think my family and I have natural medicine to thank for that. And of course, my grandmother’s willingness to live. The minute she got diagnosed, we changed her diet to a vegan diet and gave her natural meds, herbs and teas but the doctors suggested chemotherapy and I’m pretty sure that is what took her away from us. The chemo was so strong and toxic it did not only try to kill the cancer but it consumed her immune system completely. There’s no day that passes by that I don’t ask myself what would’ve happened if we had chosen holistic medicine all the way. It’s been two years since she passed away and besides the silence and loneliness she left in me, she also made me start to wonder more and more about holistic medicine. So… I went to a “holi-doc” and to be honest, I was, and still am, completely shocked with the results. Apparently, being vegan and exercising regularly is not enough. We still need to worry about the pH of the foods we eat! I’ve always heard about alkalinity vs acidity but never put too much attention to it. Consequence? My pH is 6.3 when it should be 7.3 or above. You guys might be asking yourselves “Why the hell is pH so important?”. Here’s a great response to that by Dr Sonja Benjamin: “Our bodies live and die at the cellular level. The billions of cells in our bodies must maintain alkalinity, in order to function and stay alive. The first line of defense against disease is a proper pH balance. Disease can only grow in an acidic body, which makes a condition favorable for the growth of bacteria, yeast, fungus, mold, viruses, and any other unwanted organisms. Cancer always strikes those with an over-acidic body. An acidic state causes a lack of oxygenation at the cellular level. When the pH level falls below 7.4, there is less than the maximum oxygen in the blood. Blood carries the maximum oxygen at pH 7.4 (alkaline). Without proper oxygenation, unfriendly bacteria, mold, and viruses will prosper. When the human body is in an acidic state, it will try to shield itself from the damaging acid by storing the acid in fat cells. The body tries to prevent the acid from eating holes in tissues. When the acid level is high in the body, calcium is also depleted. Your body may make fat cells in order to store unwanted acid for its own protection. This process may save your vital organs from severe damage. By returning to a balanced pH level, you may lose unwanted fat cells.Osteoporosis is an acidic problem. As the body becomes more acidic, calcium is depleted. The body will then leach calcium from bones, teeth, and tissue to make up for this loss. One of the first warning signs is calcium deposits in the body, which come from the calcium in our teeth and bones and not from nutritional calcium.”

Now, back to my story. According to my “doc” my pH was the result of the killer combination of my stress level (apparently, abnormal for my age) and acid food choices. I told him there’s not much I could do about the stress since I work in one of the most stressful industries out there, private banking, so until I have the guts to quit and make my passion my bill-payer I would focus on meditating more and definitely taking charge of my eating habits. He laughed and we agreed on the following: 2-3 months healing process to a better me focused on: less carbs, alkaline water ONLY, less coffee (lowering it from 3 to 1 cup a day), a diet based on 2/3 alkaline foods and 1/3 acidic and of course, no wine (told him that would not happen, like EVER! My family produces wine for a living so I’ve been basically a wine-lover since I was tall enough to grab a glass from the table and serve myself! Luckily, the “doc” knew which battles to choose.) and SUPPLEMENTS! Vegans need supplements more than anyone. I’ve hated vitamins and pills since I was a kid so I avoided them as much as I could. Result? I’m deficient in almost every vitamin out there. The supplements he recommended are 100% natural and VEGAN. Here’s the list in case you guys want to give them a try:

-E3Live Renew Me Body Blend (Strengthens immune system, improves attention and energy levels, supports circulation, etc) I add two teaspoons to my morning shake.

-Diatomaceous Earth (root powder that kills all types of bacteria and parasites) I add one teaspoon to my morning shake.

-Moringa (Superfood Miracle aka Botanical Multi-vitamin)

-Clinic’s Choice Optimal Flora (Probiotic to balance digestive bacteria)

-Clinic’s Choice Protosolve (promotes healthy circulation system)

-Clinic’s Choice Digest Plus (enzymes)

-Osteo-Gest (osteoporosis prevention)

I already started this journey and will visit the “doc” in October for a follow up. I’ll let you guys know how it goes. In the meantime, here’s a link to a list of alkaline vs acidic foods. You’ll be amazed by how foods we thought were so healthy (oatmeal and brown rice) turn out to be acidic! At least, I was.

Love you guys!

http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm

http://www.doctoroz.com/article/25-alkaline-promoting-foods

Between Love & Reality.

Today’s post is very hard for me to write and even worse to meditate on. I own a dog myself and have loved animals since I was old enough to hold one in my hand. My love and fascination towards animals ranged from having a little white mouse as a pet, to loving frogs and picking up and healing little lizards that had been attacked by cats. It’s in my essence until this day. I normally don’t like to write about things that can turn our days gray but this is something that breaks my heart and I would like to share it with everyone.

If you look at the picture below these words, what do you see? What does it make you feel? Happiness? Love? What about realization? Or compassion? Let’s face it; whenever we see a picture of a dog, we melt. We smile, say “ahhh so cute”, run home to hug our own dogs, or think about getting one (if so, please adopt!). But there’s so much more behind that picture that we don’t take into consideration. Unfortunately, we live in a world where short-term gains come before health, humility and humanity.  Yes, you read right. HUMANITY! To make this a little more realistic (maybe dramatic? People seem to react better to drama than reality), I want you to stop what you are doing right now and follow these instructions. Ladies, take your cosmetic bag out of your purse and read your cosmetics’ labels. Gents, if you are home, run to your bathrooms and look at the products you used this morning. Shampoos, shaving lotions, etc… Now, ladies and gents, besides all the hard-to-pronounce toxic ingredients on the labels, what else do you see? Do you see a pink bunny logo, or words that say “cruelty-free”, “vegan”, or “no animal testing”? If your products show that, you are freakin’ awesome and I love you! Your conscious buying is shaping this world for the better. If your products don’t show that, here’s a reality check. According to research, 60-74% of personal products and 80-95% of household products have been tested on animals. Now, here’s the biggest reality check of all. The word “animals” does not only include rats and mice, but also rabbits, monkeys, birds, DOGS AND CATS. So now that it’s out there, what can we do about it? Nowadays, it’s not enough to love our dogs and cats if every dollar we spend puts the life of other living beings through torture and fear. All animals that go through product testing experiments never get to see the light of day, or step their paws on green grass, or know what a tender genuine touch means. Half of those animals die within 2-3 weeks after being tested on. Sadly, this is the world we live in but the decision to stop it or support it rests on our hands. So please, next time you go shopping read labels carefully and share this knowledge with the ones you love. Compassion should be the only language governing this planet.

With love, Vale.

For info on cruelty-free products, go over my instagram and blog posts. I’ve shared so many already. 

If you would like to read more about animal testing, click here.

Peta.org recently showed the cutest video about beagles being freed from labs and taking their first steps on beautiful green grass. <3 Click here to watch it.