Diet during Monsoon

Often when we think of monsoon, we are reminded of heavy rainfalls, but the correct meaning is a seasonal change in the direction of the prevailing, or strongest, winds of a region. Monsoons cause wet or dry seasons throughout much of the tropics, and winds usually blows from cold to warm regions. Summer monsoons and the winter monsoons determine the climate for most of India and Southeast Asia.

While the rain may bring respite from the scorching heat, it also brings with it a series of health issues like dengue, malaria, typhoid, viral fever, pneumonia, leptospirosis, diarrhea, and common cold/flu. It is important to remain strong and safe in monsoon and protect ourselves from getting these ailments. Diet plays a very important role in being physically strong enough to get any disease. Hence, it is imperative to know the DOs and DONTs for monsoon season, especially regarding the diet. In this blog, we try to understand the same.

DONTs

• Green leafy vegetables

Traditionally, we are taught that we have been instructed about the importance of eating leafy vegetables and having Vitamin B. However, they are complete no-no in this season considering they have excess bacteria. Avoid spinach and go for pungent vegetables like bitter gourd, ghiya, tori or tinda.

• Fresh Juice and Fruit from Roadside Vendors

Roadside vendors have the fruits cut up well in advance, which could have come in contact with contaminated air. Stick to fresh fruit juice prepared at home and consume it instantly. Avoid watermelon and muskmelons and also goosing on too many mangoes may cause pimples. Eat seasonal fruits.

• Fried Food

Heavy fried food in the humid weather in monsoon causes the digestion process to slow down and may cause gastronomical complications like bloating and stomach upset.

• Avoid too much fish and meat this season
• Avoid too sour and spicy food
• Avoid too much of coffee and tea, as it dehydrates body
• Avoid frozen foods such as ice-cream
• Avoid high salt diet, as it causes water retention

DOs

• Eat foods to boost immunity like green tea, vegetables, fruits, soups, salads
• Wash the vegetables well before cooking and eating. Eat steamed salads instead of raw vegetables, as they contain active bacteria and virus that cause bacterial and viral infections
• Eat fresh and seasonal fruits as they help you restore energy. Apples, pomegranates, and pears are recommended
• Have medium to low salt food
• Foods such as brown rice and oats are the best foods one could have in the monsoon
• Add yogurt and almonds in your diet
• Drink only boiled and purified water to protect from harmful germs

Ebola -Lessons Learnt

Now that ebola is on the ebb in Liberia its a good time to see what have been the important issues, mistakes, avoidables. More important what could have been done or done in a different way so that more money could have been saved and used for causes.

Initial Lethargy: Everyone seems to say that there was an initial lethargy in addressing the problem. At all levels. From the top international bodies to the local people( as we were told in Liberia).Nobody took it seriously and all expected things to get better.

Its easy to say this in retrospective  but at that moment in time its difficult to judge the seriousness of the problem.Really?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/17/world-health-organisation-botched-ebola-outbreak

Lets look at some other factors . A country ravaged by civil war for 14 yrs, limited healthcare system, importing food, building bridges and infrastructure is not equipped for anything as serious as ebola.
It is said there were only 40 doctors in entire Liberia.

Though its good that WHO has admitted to their errors an MSF report says we are doing the mistakes again and again....
http://www.msf.org.uk/sites/uk/files/summary_of_findings_of_emergency_response_evaluations_displacement_only.pdf

Governance: The international bodies come into play later. What was Liberia doing ? The story of their ministers fleeing their country and subsequently fired is known to all.
http://www.equaltimes.org/ebola-it-s-governance-stupid?lang=en#.VILoJ9KUeyg

MSF/WHO/RED CROSS : All these are so called humanitarian cause bodies. So what stops them from using HOMEOPATHY ?(oh and everybody knows it works !) For humanitarian causes one should use ALL that can be done.For humanity means for human cause-to save lives. How can we improve things if we DONT take any different steps ? Radical changes are possible with bold and slightly risky actions. Same action ---> same result.

If homeopathy had been employed by MSF/ WHO in its earlier days say Jan -June things would have been different. There was no conflict of interest or business back then. Had that failed there were always other things that we could do anyways. Working parallel with other healthcare would have worked well.! Or it may have failed... whatever but we would have the satisfaction of knowing that WE TRIED.

Incorporation of more different pathies helps. Life and health have become much more complex for any one pathy.

Focus:One can see lots of stress given to data,data and data.But what was the quality of the data. Have we been able to understand who died and who survived. More importantly WHY ? What made the difference ? Before I left for Liberia there was not much data (that I could get-maybe there was...) on the state of health of a Liberian person.Of course there are virulent strains- but there is a whole different way of seeing this. How do people escape death or how does body pick itself up ?It is possible to decide with few questions the status of the body and predict the outcomes. Means its possible to predict fairly accurately if person can survive or not but we need different type of patient data for it.There is no data maintained of this type which can help us better to save lives in the future.With few simple question this data can be obtained and analysed.

Death Of Healthcare Workers: In ebola there is often in some patients what is called projectile vomitting. Means even if a healthcare worker stands away the vomitus of patient can still land on his body. Hence its important for healthcare workers to be careful and always protected. There should have been a healthy rolling of roles in the healthcare system. Means a nurse should be employed only say for 3 wks and then her duty changed in other dept (could check her blood first and then..). The reason being as more days go- one starts becoming bold and less cautious about using all the protective gears. However every new one will be more careful. From whatever details I got most of healthcare workers were working continuously for months with ebola patients.

Failure To Include many countries which could also help in things being done differently.So no serious international movement. I wonder why countries did not respond...

Vaccines: There does not seem to be any other answer to all our health/ epidemic problems other than vaccines. Or we dont want to look or explore other. But the problem is vaccines are very COSTLY and need lots of RESOURCES. Also they really are not solving anything. Measles is back, tuberculosis is back, variants of whopping cough is back. Again there are different strains of ebola-can one vaccine give immunity to all ? Can Africa afford the costs ? Can our body keep responding and yet keep its self intact considering we now have diabetes, blood pressure, cancer as ongoing and genetic ? Do we know about all the effects and results ?

These are all external help to body. Focus on the internal health-immunity of the body.Look at health in long term basis over a period of time.Anti-biotic grand era have come and going-did not work. Vaccines not really working. The solution is the inward journey-get your body to be strong and develop its own resistance.(homeopathy can help). And in acute distress -use sparingly conventional treatment. Integrated approach-future of medicine.

Ebola -Ground Realities and vaccine

My 3weeks trip to Liberia has only convinced me further that Ebola needs homeopathy. To be able to validate this we first need to take a journey into the ground realities that prevail in Liberia. The overall healthcare that is prevalent, the infrastructure, the people.

I love to study the human body with all its genetic composition, what illnesses it has passed through, how the body copes with it, its connectivity to the mind. It helps me to know the general capasity of the system and more importantly how is it more likely to improve.Actually much like any machine- so you know the compatibility. A Nokia charger will not work for Sony Erricson or Apple. What is the host body like ?

Well this is really really big ...First there is Malaria-in all its various facets. Means its repeatedly infecting people-all the time. Most people admitted have 2 fingers enlarged liver and spleen. Blood smears are always positive for malaria. People get fever and chills on and off -they are no longer paying attention to it. Lots of research going on about this sort of Malaria and immunity.Already there are multiple understanding about how it hijacks our body. (Too many researches on malaria)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16495509

Secondary infections very common so you have typhoid. Widal is positive. So we have malaria and typhoid together as co-infections.Not to mention other varied infection due to low resistance to organisms.Its so imp that WHO has guidelines on it

http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c1350.abstract#

That secondary infections cause immunosuppression (see management of --secondary infections)

http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/75-76/1/29.full#sec-10

Chronic Anemia which is due to malaria and also because there is no iron rich food available in plenty.The Hb levels is 2, 3, 4. So most patients are first given blood as routine.Lets not talk about children, pregnant women....

Malnutrition is common. Protein rich food is not there especially during ebola times when bush-meat is best avoided. Body is just not upto any sort of fight or resistance.

The other chronic complaints like Diabetes and Blood pressure are also prevalent and add to the problem.
There is long standing loss of appetite due to the current health status. Rice is the staple food along with fruits like papaya, banana, oranges.Sweet potato are plenty.

Now we have an idea of the host body. To this we can think how the Ebola virus can create a havoc. With chronic diseases in body does it have enough strength to respond/react to a virus ? Just not equipped. The symtoms of Ebola of projectile vomitting (which puts so many health workers at risk) and disorientation mimic cerebral oedema. As homeopaths we know that when important organs like brain or heart gets involved means the body is in poor shape.

And what are the current medicines we are giving ? Drips and rest and symtomatic treatment ? Even a common man will understand that this is too little.

Now vaccines are supposed to elicit a response from the body to generate immunity. There is so much data on malaria and immunity and so much research. However, less insight. We do not understand what damages it does and how our immune system stands. So how these host body are going to respond to vaccines is anybodys guess.

We can produce vaccines and ensure people take it but I dont think chronic diseases already there in the body is going to allow positive results. There is research that says that chronic malaria and secondary infections are like immunosuppresants.

Very optimistically it could generate a feeble response. There are many links missing here-science has just not advanced enough but a good learner gets the point.

There is probably evidence to say all these chronic infections hamper immune system..

http://www.microbiol.unimelb.edu.au/new_students/new_honours/projects_2015/project44.html

It would be helpful to address the chronic issues of malaria and typhoid with homeopathic medicines. Its an uphill task no doubt but it IS the only way out. Treating chronic diseases will improve the general body condition and immunity.This then can and WILL be able to deal with repeated infections-even Ebola.

Ebola in itself is not much of issue but its got complicated. Also we do get 4-5 days inbetween to treat before it begins to deteriorate. Should be enough for homeopaths.

Have treated lingering problems in Ebola survivors -better in 3 doses. Sad to see nurses dying and docs critical.So much of mind block !!

Ebola- how homeopathy can help.

Ebola has scared everyone and one thinks if this is too much of globalization. Also earth is one place and its our responsibility to help all nations so that we save our own skin. The WHO is also debating the ethical issue of trying out untested drugs to contain it.Its clearly a crises more of concepts than the actual infection !

If we study the signs and symtoms they are clear. The incubation period -time from person infected to the time when symtoms appear- is 8 to 10 days. Decent time period. The symtoms are like flu bodyache, joint pains, fever, weakness, diarrohea, vomitting , sore throat. There are differnt starins of the virus like Zaire strain and hence minor changes in al the above.

The virulence of the virus is associated to the death caused by it.The pathology is complex and involves the immune response of the body.Baize et all had studied the Ebola outbreak in Gabon in 1996. His study concluded that the people who survived had a better immune system than the once who did not-this was supported by the levels of IgM responses. So how are body reacts to Ebola is how our immune response is. How this response is will depend on how our body's vitality is. Example -if someone has fever and he is doing all his routine I will say response is poor. If a virus has attacked -you need to feel low, not eat , get weak which shows body is fighting the virus. Such a body will eventually out-power the virus. But if you have diabetes, hypertension, family history of cancer your immunity is innately hampered at core level and you are already in compromised state. Your body state depends on
1) Family history-the more people in family are suffering from major diseases like diabetes, blood pressure,cancer,thyroid the more your body is affected
2) Your history-what you have suffered in the past
3)General vitality-your thoughts, feelings, capasity to cope/manage. A positive thinker conquers all.
4)Pollution of different kinds around where you live.
5) Help given to body in virus crises.

How are we treating Ebola. By quarantining them and giving supportive treatment- keeping fluid levels ,blood pressure,oxygen etc. We are dealing with the problems ebola is creating.

So in actuality in fighting the virus we are NOT assisting the body.We have nothing against the virus which multiplies rapidly.!

The only thing that can assist the body is the miasma tic approach. It is the collective answer to the first 3 points mentioned above. A homeopath takes these into consideration and gives medicine that addresses them. This helps the body to generate the  required response.

To understand our body we have to go back to evolution. There is NO present without a PAST. Our body and genes have evolved over a period of time and will undergo deterioration as well due to environmental changes.According to it will vary our ability to fight virus and bacteria. The problems created by our past, our genes, our environment can be partly addressed by miasma tic medicines. They break the blocks created in our system, improve immunity.

Our Special Recommendations:
In the flu phase-take the history and get all 5points of info mentioned above.
Give medicines like rhus-tox 200 2pills/3times a day till you get the confirmed diagnosis
Give Tub1M single dose if any factors mentioned are positive(patient has diabetes, blood pressure etc)
Full blown case Crotalus H / Lachesis depending on more info-given repeatedly(since high virulence) for at 3days.
After better take full case(homeopaths do it) and give constitutional for next 2 months.
Repeat Tub1m one/two times more.

If the WHO is ready to use untested drugs on people why is it not seeing the homeopathic option here.
If we are ready to prescribe along with the allopathic help it will only help the patients isnt it ?  This is the era of virus, chronic diseases, allergies--all homeopathic domains !

Gall Stones--what to do ?

What are gall stones ? We have a small pouch under our liver which stores the products made by our liver which is called gall bladder. Due to various reasons the matter in the gall bladder undergo changes in form to give rise to hard stones-the gall stones. They are mainly of two types the cholesterol stones and pigment stones. The cholesterol form about 80% of the stones and pigment are 20%.

It affects one in ten in US , causes 800,000 admissions and about 500,000 surgeries for gallstones.

The important reasons why these stone happen are only two. One is a particular body chemistry(which is genetic) and the mobility of the gall-bladder. The gall bladder is a muscular pouch and is supposed to squeeze and pump the fluids into the stomach/intestine (fluid helps in digestion). When this does not happen properly due to any reason or the gall bladder gets inflamed there is fluid stasis(remains in place) and gives rise to stone.Hence often we find recurrence of gall stones because even if the stones are removed the gall bladder is unhealthy and will again form stones.Both these reasons are something which we can hardly change.

The other are the risk factors which if kept minimum can help us in preventing gall stones. Obesity is an obvious risk as it increases the cholesterol levels which will cause gallstones. Doing yo-yo dieting with sudden reduction in weight gain, prolonged fasting,hormone therapy,birth control pills. Women from 20 yrs to 60 yrs are at risk and men over 60yrs. All obese people are at risk.

What happens if you have gall stones. ? Most of the people who have gallstones do not get any problem.They are often diagnosed when sonography is done for some other purpose. They can get formed and remain there for many years without any discomfort to the patient. When they do cause problem the symtoms are 1)pain in abdomen more on right side 2)fullness of abdomen-gases 3)nausea 4)digestion problem-and if severe jaundice, acute pain between shoulder blades and fever.

How to manage gallstones ? For the young people (under 50yrs ) the conservative treatment means
1) Observation- dont start any treatment
2) Reduce weight by starting on daily walks, exercise in a gradual manner
3)Stop hormonal pills/ contraceptives if its possible
4)Reduce all the crash diets, yo-yo diets, fads ...
5)Eat smart- reduce heavy foods, butter,oil,ghee,cheese, junk,large meals. Go for smaller meals and fibre.
6)Try alternative therapy like homeopathy. Give it at least 8-10wks and see. Most of the times the symtoms are reduced and the stones may remain. Good enough.

Surgery is not a good idea as surgery is a major one and stones do form again if gall bladder unhealthy. If you remove the entire gall bladder also there are problems
http://ibs.about.com/u/ua/relatedconditions/Problems-After-Gallbladder-Removal.htm
Of course there will be -you are removing an organ out of the body!

For the senior citizens walks is a good idea as a form of exercise and reduction in heavy foods.Can also go for alternative therapy and try.There is no need for surgery if the symptoms are less-or can be reduced by any other therapy. Chances of stone obstructing bile duct and causing jaundice are not very common and if happens can be treated easily. Chances of causing cancer or pancreatitis are very remote and hence should not be the reason for every gallstone surgery.

Many times larger stones do not do anything and can be ignored.Surgery in senior citizens actually is a problem because of the other health issues like blood pressure, diabetes and no added benefit to the person.

No action is many times the best action !

www.homeopathy4all.com

When will we have a healthy world ?

The World Health Organisation(WHO) was founded on 7 April 1948 as an off shoot of the UN. It was meant to take up a leadership role on world health platform. Today, WHO is really not a formidable body and was currently criticised for overplaying the H1N1 scare (2010) and wasting large sums of public money.

At the governmental levels few have been able to keep politics out of their healthcare schemes and policies. The big pharmas have a giant role to play in the economics of Europe and UK homeopathic hospitals are closing down.It has taken UK-NHS (one of the foremost in research) so many years to realise that homeopathy does not work ?  Haha....

At the hospital levels it is all about returns and profits. Big hospitals are run not by doctors/physicians but MBAs who are wired for profits. So if you are not admitting more patients you can be replaced by a doctor who does. The most advanced diagnostics has to be available at the hospital -so you can charge patients more. No consideration that your area may not need it to the extent or cases in your area does not warrant its use.As a result what happens is that a hospital buys this big costly diagnostic facility, finds not much use-then sort of manipulates patients to use it and hence add to the headache of recovering the costs.
Oh please its only diagnosis-the major part is to treat and get results, get health !

At the level of clinics which directly cater to the patients its all about what works and what does not. I as a homeopath may feel it works, an ayurvedic may feel the same about ayurveda etc.We directly connect and work closely with people.We too are looking at our kitty at the end of the day. Some of us run 2 clinics and are constantly competing with nearby doctors, hospitals, different treating methods. Few can really say how their patients are doing or whats working for them.
We in the alternative healthcare need to take a neutral and unbiased stand to study what in our therapy is working and where is its scope.Also where other therapy can work in a complimentary manner to better health.

Healthcare at various levels have their own agendas and non of them is improving health of people.Nobody is studying the outcomes enough to reach any conclusions. The latest being supplements for women after menopause. A great talk and noise about giving supplements to women after menopause since the eastrogen effect is gone and bones become porus--only to discover later that there was no real advantage and the excess formed stones. Oh supplement company made their money....

The common man as I see them does not want to do anything for his health. Eat less -no, eat healthy-no, eat smart -no, exercise -no, medicate timely-no, patience-no, sleep-no, rest-no, relationships-no.There is very less investments in terms of meaningful behaviour, control. Except spending on  surgery, diagnostics, procedures-any quick fix. Unfortunately body is just not designed for it.

If nobody is making health as their sole focus how can we achieve it ? We need to rise above all our objectives and personal goals to be able to deliver good health. Appropriate for that person, for his body, culture, genetic pattern. We need to INTEGRATE healthcare systems because there really is no one-fit-all medicine. There are places where allopathy works and places where homeopathy works and prayers work and talk works ...You need to choose what is good for you.

From my experience I can say that many times you dont know what worked. Body has self healing capasity if your basic body is not too bad(your body basic is also decide by health genetics of your family). You just have to aid it-help it a little. That can be done by allopathy, homeopathy, prayers whatever....I prefer homeopathy. Do you ?  

Homeopathy is a girls best friend ..

Womens health should be one of the top priority in every home. Since on this is dependent lives of many others to whom she is mother,wife,daughter,teacher,friend etc.

The most important is the menstrual cycles and sexual development. A regular menstrual cycle is a reflection of good health. All menstrual irregularities can be treated safely and effectively with homeopathy.It is a good option especially in young girls with menstrual irregularity. However it is important to have the diagnosis clear and hence the understanding of pathology.So the reason for menstrual irregularity should be ascertained and then the scope for homeopathic treatment. The need for unnecessary hormonal pills that could have side-effects can be avoided.

In the young women many problems can be treated with homeopathy. Small sized fibroid, lumps in breats like cysts,fibro-adenoma , abscesses, boils can completely disappear with homeopathy. Vaginal discharges from fungal infections, dryness of vaginal, boils or abscesses can be treated. Acne chronic or acute -pus filled or leaving scars respond beautifully to homeopathy.

In young women pregnancy related problems like excessive vomitting, lethargy, infections (cannot take allopathy) can be effectively treated. Problems of lactation, cracked nipple in young mother are treated by homeopathy.

Besides all the other ageing problems homeopathy has good medicines for menopausal problems like flushes,thyroid, depression, weakness etc. Pain in muscles or fibromyalgia , joint pains, uric acid can be treated by homeopathy.

The more serious women related problems like infertility, cancer palliation, PCOD respond well. Homeopaths today use all the modern diagnostics inorder to prove their results and also monitor progress.In India homeopaths have worked to establish homeopathy as a modern science. There are no side-effects in homeopathy and the treatment is gentle, kind and wholistics with all the emotional considerations that are so vital to women.

Homeopaths and homeopathy truely cares for women. We understand the hyper-state, the high-strung state, the mood swings, the empty nest syndrome, the sleeplessness, the relationships gone wrong. We listen to body and mind and soul. Listening is the first step in productive help.

Homeopathy is a womens best friend NOT diamonds...