Oh Nuts! 3 Nut Alternatives
Pain of any kind can be amplified by the routine use of nuts of any kind and this includes their butters!! Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter
Why?
Unlike the matter science(MS) nutritional information that fatty acids are good and bad, the energy science(ES) of Ayurveda states that all nuts are inflammatory due to these molecular fatty acids regardless of the "good or bad nature of them" The reason for this is that the post digestive(small bowel) effect is heating therefore inflammation provoking
The sweet taste of many foods covers the acidic nature of the foods itself and this is true of the nut category This is why the ES nutritional information trumps the MS guesswork around nutrition and is why the anecdotal information of the MS nutritional realm is at times confusing hence flares of pain and then no flares
What gives? This also explains why various inflammatory conditions are are actually related such as IC, fibromyalgia, IBS, chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS), GERD, prostatitis(did you know that PSA is a marker for inflammation?), and CPPS(chronic pelvic pain syndrome)
As an aside this sweet taste of nuts in general make them a great choice for building tissue since the sweet taste is anabolic
OK Then What Can I Use for Nuts?
Sorry to blow your day if you crave the mixed nuts but there is certainly a favorite guideline of mine and that is "There are no hard guidelines in the ES realms"
Know that if you use the foods that are provoking that you increase the likelihood of a pain That use of inflammatory foods will keep you up at the ceiling of the curve below rather than allowing your mindbody to do the rebalancing as the curve progresses to the right(BTW the ascent from the left shows how we gradually get sick over decades by our own choices(Oh shoot, you didn't have to say that did you?)
Journey to Balance
Soaked and peeled almonds(this is very important! or you can use slivered almonds from the bulk section of the grocery store if they have one ) are very helpful for their nutritive benefit but also for their cooling effect Turns out that the skin of the almond holds enzymes that in and of themselves are inflammatory Almonds are not actually nuts but in the end who cares
Charole seen in the picture above (actually seeds like sunflower) is another nut choice It's a very small nut found in very few stores in the US(I know because Ive looked; let me know if you have a source that you would share with the community) and is heating but due to the size and its energetics is acceptable and does not provoke Pitta(more about this energy pattern in future blog posts)
And of course coconut because it's COOLING! The general energy science principle is this: Plants that grow in hot climates are there for a very specific reason Their job is to make the environment cold(well cooler) and so Momma Nature is always taking care of balancing herself
What about nut milks? Almond Breeze is made from blanched and peeled almonds so a great drink Coconut milk also is a very nutritious drink and both these "nut" milks make great date shakes More about that in the future
3 Nut Alternatives
Here are three options for substitution without provoking inflammation or the Pitta energy pattern in the physiology
Use the above three recommendations and make your own nut butters from the slivered almonds
Sunflower seeds can be used by anyone anywhere anytime Sooo.. sunflower butter sold at Trader Joe's is an excellent proprietary product and the best tasting sunflower butter on the planet Have tasted many and this by far is the closest to peanut butter with a nice sweet taste Mmm good!
Give yourself "permission" to have a few nuts every once and a while if the craving is too great The ES reminds us that food cravings are a result of imbalanced digestion so the faster we can improve our digestion the better it will be
Well enough for now Until next time To Health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Foods That Dull the Mind and Cause Poor Food Choices
With the close of the 20th century and the beginnings of the human genome project there was interest in the effects food had on the mind This was particularly the case for such health problems as obesity, diabetes, and "overnutrition"
The mind is not a matter or molecular field but rather thoughts are an energy field entity so the energy science can help us with choices Think about it Can we wet our thoughts? Is there any validity to the molecular expressions of thought? Yes, it's true that there are molecular traces of thought by PET scan after the thought but as yet no one has defined that thoughts have a molecular home
Even though we study the brain there are many researchers who would argue that the mind has "escaped" That mind is no longer relegated to the brain but is in every cell of the mindbody
Mind and Nutritional Choices
So why should we care about our thoughts and nutrition? Seems like a dead end
Bu what if I were to tell you that what you eat affects your future choices about food? What if the choices you're making right now are affecting your food choices in the future? That is, if you continue to make choices that blunt your decision making clarity then you'll continue to make the same bad choices as you have done in the past
From an energy science point of view the mind is the DNA of each and every cell of the mindbody Every cell is imbued with mind or DNA Molecularly and structurally our daily life choices impact DNA expression so we need guidance as to what are good choices This is what the energy science discipline provides
What Are Mind Supporting Nutritional Choices?
The energy science of Ayurveda states that there are foods that produce over time mental clarity These would be:
Mango pomegranite figs date peaches and pears(in general most fruit); sweet potato sprouts leafy greens zucchini yellow squash and asparagus; basmati rice quinoa blue corn tapioca barley; mung dal red and yellow lentils; fresh unprocessed cow's milk ghee soft cheese homemade yogurt goat's milk; almonds white sesame seeds fresh cashews; saffron tumeric cardamom coriander fennel cumin; fresh sugarcane juice jaggery raw sugar raw honey; herbal teas such as brahmi and licorice;
Foods that increase mind and thoughts(increase hyperactivity):
Sour fruits apples banana guava tamarind most citus; potatoes nightshades broccoli cauliflower broccoli spinach winter squash pickles; millet corn buckwheat; brown lentils lima and kidney beans adzuki beans tur dal small amounts of black pinto and pink beans; sour cream salted or sour butter cream cottage cheese ice cream; most nuts brown sesame seeds; curry chili cayenne black pepper; processed sugar artificial sweetners cooked honey; coffee black and green tea; fish most seafood chicken
Foods that decrease mental clarity and produce dullness:
Avocado watermelon plums apricots; mushrooms garlic onion pumpkin; wheat brown rice; urad dal and large amounts of black pinto and pink beans; hard processed cheese processed milk eggs; peanuts rancid nuts black sesame seeds; jalapeno pepper nutmeg; molasses soft drinks stevia extremely sweet tasting foods; alcohol marijuana most other drugs; beef pork lamb and venison
This latter group is particularly important and will produce over time obesity, metabolic syndrome, and dullness leading to continued poor food choices
Anyhow as they say "Food for Thought" To Health as a Skill Love DrBill
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What’s More Important? Number or Quality of Calories
Present day everything gets measured How many miles per gallon, how much per item at the store, how many cups of flour, how polluted is the air today
In the biologic matter(molecular) science model everything is measured and it is mechanical(kidneys are filters) we want everything to be quantified There is great reassurance for us that we have taken in so many milligrams of vitamin C or ingested so many calories Blood tests by measurement tell us whether we are healthy or not?
But how is it that we can gain weight and yet calorie count is low?
And There Is Nothing Wrong With Measurement
Tried and true This is how we live And there is a monitoring process that gets aided by measurement
If we determine a size of a urinary stone too large to pass easily then that is helpful for decision making in the management of the problem If the PSA is too high then surgery is not a good option If the estrogen receptors are too high then that helps in management If we work out at the local gym and record what we did 3 weeks ago then we know we are making progress and can increase our weight training schedule
There are some who have advocated not measuring so much and just living But there is value in lifestyle guidelines and structure which measurement gives us
But Measurement to Excess
From an energy science nutritional view some measurements may not be helpful and actually may interfere with our lifestyle decision making causing us to make poor assumptions particularly about food
For example, we determine that raw tomatoes are a low calorie vegetable food that would be good to use in our diet to lose weight But if we find that they are physiologically imbalancing(which they are), then they have the capability of causing weight gain even though they are low calorie Holy Smoke!! can this be true? From an energy science view it is but from the reliable quantifiable matter science calorie counting view it is not
It's Not the Number of Calories, It's the Quality of the Calories
Traditions such as calorie counting die hard especially in a quantifiable culture But there are times when there are better ways of doing things
The energy science of Ayurveda is a qualitative discipline and sets itself apart from the matter science discipline presently dominant in world view Because of this its way of doing its science is different but not invalid
From personal experience eating a nutritional format that is appropriate for my mindbody energy makeup allows me to eat without the necessity of quantifying our nutritional intake Why? Because when I eat for balancing my physiology and not for calorie counting my mindbody becomes fine tuned and healthy The mindbody's inherent desire is to be in balance and nutrition is a primary way of helping us achieve it
Until next time To Health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Women’s Health and Disease Prevention
Well it's nice to be back After spending a year doing a fellowship in Energy Science Medicine at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque NM I am now doing general Ayurvedic energy science consulting online as well as helping a very specific group of men, women, and children who have a problem called interstitial cystitis
For today I wanted to discuss the feminine energy and its creativity that leads to transformation in any group large or small especially as it revolves around health and disease prevention
The Feminine Energy
The feminine energy is the creative force in Nature and abides in everything(yes I mean everything) we observe Any force that is creative whether it be the bringing of new life, sculpting a beautiful piece of art, or the beginning of a new plant are all aspects of the feminine
Feminine energy is not gender specific when we view its activity in ourselves We are all aware of the very creative male but suffice it to say the female within any culture is primarily responsible for the creative force It's almost as if "it's their job(dharma if you will) to take on that role" And obviously the feminine takes on that role with zeal, zest, and pride in their power
Leading the Way
A culture is brought about by the feminine creative energy It's the leading force in producing new ideas, moving on to new frontiers, and loss of the fear of engaging in a different way of doing things
We look to the feminine to give us new ways of doing the old Not necessarily destroy the old and bring on the new for that's a masculine energy The feminine is to introduce us to the new and fresh ways of viewing our reality
So What?
I find it startling how low the number of people who actually are interested in disease prevention It's accepted norm or fact that everyone gets their fare share and so we just move on
It's the accepted norm that disease is not preventable And clearly that once you've got chronic disease it's yours for life
I would offer from a energy science view that disease is preventable and even chronic disease is reversible It takes work on our part but it is indeed the case We just have to have a different mindset For example, moving from a matter science to a energy science nutritional format will pay big dividends towards improving health, preventing disease, reducing the impact of chronic disease in your life
When the feminine energy understands these basic aspects of health she will lead our culture to new heights of health
Until next time To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Digestive Fire: The Obesity Problem and Ginger Pickle
A recent article on obesity in the Atlantic points to the frustration that we as a technological society are being confronted Nobody in the weight treatment industry buys into the calorie balance theory(excess calories in and not enough out = weight gain) these days since it's been shown to be ineffective as a solution to the problem But if that fails what else can we measure to find a solution to this pandemic problem
A now popular obesogen theory which the article talks about describes three groups of food additives that are correlated with obesity Fructose causes us to eat more than we need; BPA(bisphenol A) causes changes in fat metabolism(more about that later); and organotins cause the increase in number and size of fat cells
Can We Continue To Blame Molecules?
It's indeed true that the study of the molecules and their effects is the current way we do science Another way to describe this approach is as a system of measurement If measuring calories is not helpful perhaps a better approach would be to identify molecules that have ill effects
This quantitative nutritional approach that is used in present day practiced medicine has great advantages in healing Ask any person who has had a brush with cancer and been cured by surgery
But the discipline has an Achilles heal It doesn't offer us a system of disease prevention And that's what the obesity pandemic is all about It's a disease that can be prevented but unfortunately we are asking the quantitative model to deal with a problem that is beyond its capability
Origins of Disease
One of the greatest gifts that energy science medical and nutritional model from the Ayurvedic tradition gives us is that of prevention The reason for this is actually quite simple The model is based on the origins of disease
The contemporary matter science or quantitative(molecular) nutritional approach looks for the origins of disease in the measurement of calories or molecules that seem to fit the bill for the reason for disease It's taking pot shots at various aspects of reality and saying "There that's the problem molecule"
The qualitative approach to disease takes us to the place where decisions are being made that begin to tweak the physiology and start the downward spiral that eventuates into disease such as obesity
Another significant gift of the energy science is our understanding of metabolism and its role in disease particularly in such problems as obesity
The Metabolic Fire and Its Role in Obesity
Slow metabolism has been an oft overlooked aspect in the obesity problem since the quantitative science doesn't know where to put it But it's an oft described aspect of the obese person's life "I just look at food and gain weight" As a way to study slow metabolism BMR(basal metabolic rate) has been used in the quantitative nutritional science
Nonetheless it is indeed the case that digestion can becomes so sluggish that there is no possibility to lose even with small amounts of caloric intake One of the easiest ways to lose weight is by exercise And interestingly exercise enhances digestive fire or metabolic rate from an energy science perspective
Besides exercise here are other ways to stoke that digestive fire(DF) or metabolism
Avoid foods that put the fire out
Avoid incompatible food combinations
Use spices that will stoke the digestive fire
Use ginger pickle before each meal made with slice of ginger lime and salt This will kindle DF
Just try one of these suggestions for 6 weeks and you'll be amazed at the results
Until next time To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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