Лекарят лекува, а природата ни излекува!

Трагедията на съвременното здравеопазване е, че ни церят „на парче“

Иванка Гюлева е от София. Преживяла е няколко катастрофи и напук на съдбата е оцеляла. В една от катастрофите загиват съпругът й и петгодишната й дъщеричка, а тя със сина си, който е още бебе, оцелява. Известно време работи в посолството ни в Берлин, в някогашна Източна Германия. Често боледува от бронхопневмония и сърдечни кризи. Тя е една от първите пациентки на новооткритата клиника за алтернативна медицина извън Берлин - “Бух”.
- Г-жо Гюлева, какво се случи с вас?- На 29-годишна възраст загубих семейството си при тежка автомобилна катастрофа - съпруг и петгодишна дъщеря. Самата аз, тежко ранена, обезобразена и с амнезия дълго лежах по болници и прохождах като дете. А когато съм била в хирургията в Пловдив (наблизо стана катастрофата), съседите ми в София извадили и на мен некролог. Оцелях благодарение на това, че повече от месец криеха от мен за смъртта на любимите ми хора. Психотравмата, която получих, след като узнах истината, беше ужасна, но човек е устроен така, че да издържи на всичко.

- Какво ви даде сили да продължите напред?- В името на невръстния си син, който по чудо беше спасен, намерих сили да започна втория си живот. Останала сама, без средства, болна и отчаяна, трябваше да сменя медицинската си професия, да уча и да работя, за да отгледам бебето си, останало сираче. През 1980 г. бях на работа в нашето посолство в Берлин - Източна Германия. Там непрекъснато боледувах от бронхопневмонии и сърдечни кризи, и много пъти ме караха в берлинската болница “Шарите” и “Фридрихсхайм”.

- Какво заболяване имахте?- Лекуваха ме за ангина пекторис и изпробваха почти всички лекарства за сърдечни заболявания, но без успех - нито едно не ми помогна. Вече нямах сили да изкачвам стълбите на подземното метро, а трябваше да работя. Отчаяна отидох в болница “Шарите”. За мой късмет попаднах на възрастна лекарка. Попитах я дали има начин да се лекувам без таблетки - от тях се чувствах вече отровена. Лекарката с радост ми съобщи, че точно за такива болни пациенти има клиника извън Берлин (клиниката “Бух”). Веднага ме изпрати там за лечение.

- Как ви лекуваха в тази клиника?- Лекуваха ме един месец без лекарства, само с природни средства и най-вече с лечебна гимнастика по няколко часа на ден. Когато постъпих в клиниката, едва ходех, а си тръгнах от там като нов човек. След това изучавах един месец автогенен тренинг при д-р Петер Одерих - известен с книгата си “Живея ли правилно”, която излезе и на български език. С него станахме приятели и той ми гостува заедно със семейството си в България година по-късно. Години след това 

преживях още две автомобилни катастрофи 
и общо пет черепно-мозъчни травми. Един от невролозите дори ми каза, че съм била за “Книгата на Гинес”.

- Как се чувствате сега?- Благодарение на Божията милост все оцелявах, но с годините здравето ми се влошаваше. Бях хипотоник години наред, а сега съм хипертоник с две дискови хернии, коксартроза, гонартроза, остеопороза и от няколко години и с хипофункция на щитовидната жлеза - Хашимото. Алергична съм към наркози и много видове лекарства. И въпреки че се стараех да ги избягвам, колкото мога, напоследък нещата се влошиха.

- Защо? Какво се случи?- На 4 януари т.г. се събудих в леглото си със страхотен кръвоизлив от носа. Последваха още два. Загубих много кръв. С “Бърза помощ” ме настаниха в Клиниката “Уши, нос, гърло” на болница “Царица Йоанна-ИСУЛ”. Там ме тампонираха, но на другия ден получих сърдечна криза с болки в сърдечната област и аритмия. Поставиха ме на системи с лекарства, които лекарката ми предписа да приемам след изписването ми. Но няколко дни след като се прибрах вкъщи, получих отново сърдечен пристъп, с високо кръвно налягане и аритмия. Този път синът ми ме закара в модерна частна клиника. Там ми направиха коронарография. 

Оказа се, че нямам стенози и запушвания. Предписаха ми лекарства, допълнително към тези от ИСУЛ. Предупредих кардиолога, че съм алергична, а в листовките пише да не се вземат при определени заболявания, които и аз имам. Той ми отговори, че не трябва да чета никакви листовки. Бях послушна този път и реших да гълтам всичко, което ми беше предписано. Но добре, че не го направих. При изписването сестрата ми даде три таблетки от новоизписаните ми лекарства. Прибрах се вкъщи и още същата вечер се случи това, от което се страхувах. И друг път съм преживявала алергичен шок, и то много тежък, но този беше по-различен и просто ужасен.

- Какво чувствахте?- Изведнъж ме втресе, започнах неудържимо да треперя. 

Поду ми се лицето 
Чувствах горещина както при 40-градусова температура. Виеше ми се свят, не можех да говоря, просто пелтечех. След това ми се подуха и коленете - не можех да ги сгъвам. Едва тогава се сетих да отворя листовката на лекарствата, които синът ми вече беше купил от аптеката. А в тези листовки съвсем ясно бяха описани противопоказанията на предписаните ми лекарства. А аз вече преживях целия този ужас от “страничните им ефекти”. При това не бях започнала да вземам всички предписани ми лекарства след изписването ми от клиниката. Сигурно нямаше да съм жива, ако ги бях изпила. Този шок получих само от трите таблетки, които ми дадоха от клиниката преди изписването ми.

- Обадихте ли се на лекаря, който ви беше предписал лечението?- Когато получих шока, отидох до най-близката болница. Там ми отказаха помощ, защото нямали право да се месят в работата на друга клиника. Бях принудена да търся помощ по телефона. Обадих се на кардиолога, който ми беше забранил да чета листовките на лекарствата. Той ми каза да отида при него, за да ми смени терапията. Кръвното ми налягане беше много високо, имах и аритмия. След редуциране на лекарствата хипертонията ми не се подобри, нито състоянието ми.

Отчаяна, спрях да пия всички лекарства, включително и таблетките за щитовидната жлеза, защото там също пишеше, че могат да повишат кръвното налягане. 

- С нищо ли не се лекувате сега?- От четири дни се лекувам само с природни средства. Пия глог, чесън и др. 

Успях да смъкна кръвното налягане,но най-вече се спасих от болките в ставите, изчезна ми главоболието, гаденето, подуванията, треморът. Просто отзвучаха всички неща, които преживях. И накрая какъв ми беше изводът? Да слушам своя вътрешен лекар. Т.е. интуицията, която никога не греши. 

Фармацевтичните фирми всеки ден пускат все нови и нови лекарства, които, вместо да ни излекуват, ни разболяват още повече и ни убиват. Всъщност фармацевтичните фирми са по-честни към нас, пациентите, защото ясно изписват в листовките към лекарствата какво може да ни се случи. Но лекарите, които явно са заинтересовани да ги изписват, съвсем не ги е грижа за пациентите. От това печалбарство, в цял свят лекарите получават проценти от продадените лекарства на определената фармацевтична фирма, страдат хиляди хора. Има и официална статистика за хората, починали от т.нар. странични ефекти на лекарствата. Трагедията на съвременното ни здравеопазване, според мен, е това, че ни лекуват “на парче”. Т.е. всеки лекар се интересува само (в повечето случаи) от болестите по неговата специалност. След като му кажете какво ви боли, бърза да ви напише рецептата, като ви препоръчва неслучайно “най-новите и модерни лекарства”, от които често умираме по-бързо.

Те просто “затапват” симптомите на заболяването, без да се търси причината за това заболяване. Организмът на всеки човек е едно цяло, съвкупност от много органи и системи, които си влияят взаимно. Природата е създала телата ни с вградени механизми за самолечение, които трябва само да подпомагаме. С други думи, лекарят - лекува, а природата ни излекува! Всеки човек притежава чувствителна, “тънка антена” за своя вътрешен свят и затова е в състояние сам да приема сигналите на тялото и трябва да им обръща внимание, а не да ги потиска набързо с някакви медикаменти. 

warning signs of gluten intolerance that you shouldn’t ignore

Gluten has become a bit of a loaded word these days, but the truth is, it’s a very real problem for some people out there. While some people may confuse gluten intolerance with Celiac disease, some problems with gluten actually deal with the gut directly. There are some signs that are surefire – like vomit, debilitating pain, diarrhea- some issues may come across as something more subtle and common.

We’ve rounded out some common ways gluten intolerance can display themselves!

Stomach ache.

If you’re feeling stomach pains after eating foods heavy in gluten, it could be a major sign of gluten intolerance. Various feelings could be associated with this, including gas, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation. For those that have an intolerance, it can damage the lining of the small intestine and cause a problem in absorbing minerals, vitamins, and energy from the foods itself.

Dizziness

If, after eating, you start feeling brain fog, disorientation, and a strange feeling of being off-balance, there might be a chance that gluten may be the culprit! Because this is an issue with the brain, it can be hard to make the connection. If you’re getting any of these feelings after eating, it might be time to take a look at your gluten intake!

Mood Swing

If your body is feeling miserable from the food you eat, your mood can similarly shift in the same way! Make sure to keep an eye out on your mood- if your food is making you

Headache

If eating comes with a headache roughly 30 to 60 minutes after the meal, then it might be time to look into a gluten allergy. These headaches can come in a variety of different styles, so keep an eye out for what food is doing to your brain!

Itchy Skin

If your intestines are having issues processing the gluten you’ve eaten, the intestines may become inflamed and manifest on the skin. Gluten sensitivity is often associated to various skin conditions, like eczema and psoriasis, and this is why. Keep an eye out for your skin as well to see if you have any issues with gluten!

Fibromyalgia

 

If your mind and body are reacting to the gluten, it can make sense that a sense of fatigue takes over. If you’re feeling tired, even after a full nights sleep, this might be another sign of gluten intolerance.

Lactose Intolerance

If you are lactose intolerant, then the chances of finding yourself with a gluten intolerance also increases. There is a specific type of sugar found in lactose foods that can trigger digestive issues and can worsen symptoms of gluten intolerance!

It’s truly amazing how foods can make us feel and we need to make sure to be aware of everything that gluten can do to our bodies. Some people may be intolerant and not even know it, and it’s important to know how these intolerances can manifest in our bodies!

Why Nose Breathing Is so Important for Optimal Health and Fitness

VIDEO 

https://youtu.be/mBqGS-vEIs0

By Dr. Mercola

Patrick Mc Keown is one of the top teachers of the Buteyko method — a breathing method named after the Russian physician who developed it. Mc Keown has been teaching the Buteyko Breathing Method full-time in his native Ireland and abroad for over a dozen years.

As he notes in the featured TED Talk, breathing is typically an ignored topic when it comes to health, yet breathing properly can improve oxygenation through your body, including your brain, and is a powerful strategy for relieving stress and anxiety.

Two of the most common breathing problems are over-breathing and mouth breathing, both of which have adverse health consequences.

Mouth breathing even alters your facial structure, causing your facial features to narrow and droop downward. Narrow and set back jaws increase the risk of developing lifelong obstructive sleep apnea.

In the video below, Mc Keown reviews the many problems associated with mouth breathing specifically, and the importance of addressing mouth breathing early in childhood, as it can have lifelong repercussions.

VIDEO

https://youtu.be/qBFqdz3GnG4

Nose Breathing Is Key for Good Health and Stress Management

Most people will tell you to take a deep breath to calm yourself down. However, this strategy can actually have the opposite effect.

When you're stressed, your breath becomes faster, deeper and noisier, you breathe more often through your mouth and you tend to breathe with your upper chest rather than your diaphragm.

As noted by Mc Keown, it simply doesn't make sense to amplify your current breathing pattern if you want to bring yourself from a state of stress to a state of calm. To induce calm, you need to breathe slowly, using the diaphragm. You also want to breathe less, and breathing through your nose is key.

Your nose actually directs 30 different functions in your body. Nerves in your nasal passages (which connect to your hypothalamus) sense everything about your breathing and use that information to regulate your bodily functions.

For example, your nose releases nitric oxide (NO) during breathing, which is carried from your nose into your lungs. NO is a gas that plays a significant role in homeostasis (maintaining of balance) within your body.

NO also sterilizes the air carried into your lungs, opens up the airways and increases the amount of oxygen taken up in your blood. You were born to breathe through your nose, yet many develop dysfunctional breathing patterns that lead to mouth breathing.

This in turn can result in other health problems, including asthma. As a result of feeling like you're not getting enough air, asthmatics tend to breathe heavier, and when you increase the breathing volume coming into your lungs, it causes a loss of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Importance of Carbon Dioxide Homeostasis

Contrary to popular belief, CO2 is not merely a waste gas. Although you breathe to get rid of excess CO2, it's important to maintain a certain amount of CO2 in your lungs, and for that you need to maintain a normal breathing volume.

When too much CO2 is lost through heavy breathing, it causes the smooth muscles embedded in your airways to constrict. When this happens, there is a feeling of not getting enough air and the natural reaction is to breathe more intensely.

But this simply causes an even greater loss of CO2, which constricts your airway even further. In this way, asthma symptoms feed back to the condition, and to remedy the situation you need to break this negative feedback loop by breathing through your nose and breathing less.

Also, while most believe that taking bigger breaths through your mouth allows you to take more oxygen into your body, which should make you feel better and more clear-headed, the opposite actually happens.

Deep breathing tends to make you feel a bit light-headed, and this is due to eliminating too much CO2 from your lungs, which causes your blood vessels to constrict. So, the heavier you breathe, the less oxygen is actually delivered throughout your body.

Overbreathing and mouth breathing also tend to go hand-in-hand with snoring and/or sleep apnea; conditions that decimate your sleep quality. This too contributes to the downward health spiral associated with improper breathing.

Less Is More When It Comes to Breathing

Breathing through your nose and breathing less is the answer to all of these problems. According to medical textbooks, normal breathing volume is between 4 and 7 liters of air per minute, which translates into 12 to 14 breaths.

Clinical trials involving asthmatics show they breathe between 10 to 15 liters of air per minute, and people with chronic heart disease tend to breathe between 15 to 18 liters of air per minute.

This suggests breathing less is a sign of better health. Conversely, the more you breathe, the more likely you are to experience significant health problems. Your tolerance to CO2 is part of this equation, as good CO2 tolerance equates to higher levels of health and fitness.

When your body and brain have a normal CO2 tolerance, your breathing will be light and smooth as your body is not constantly trying to rid itself of excess CO2. Contrary to popular belief, the primary stimulant signaling your body to take a breath is not lack of oxygen; it's an excess CO2.

"Oxygen only drives your breathing when oxygen levels drop to about 50 percent, and that would be quite an extreme situation. So, your body breathes to get rid of the excess gas, CO2," McKeown explains.

You always need a certain amount of CO2 for normal functioning. If you have normal CO2, you will have good tolerance to it, which translates into a higher breath-hold time (the length of time you can hold your breath). Also, when you exercise, your body generates more CO2, and if you have good tolerance to it, your breathing rate will remain much lower than someone who has a poor tolerance to CO2.

How to Improve Your Blood Circulation and Lower Stress Through Proper Breathing

In his talk, Mc Keown leads a group demonstration of proper breathing, summarized as follows:

•Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly; feel your belly move slightly in and out with each breath, while your chest remains unmoving.

•Close your mouth and breathe in and out through your nose. Focus your attention on the cold air coming into your nose and the slightly warmer air leaving it on the out breath.

•Slowly decrease the volume of each breath, to the point it feels like you're almost not breathing at all (you'll notice your breath getting very quiet at this point). The crucial thing here is to develop a slight air hunger. This simply means there's a slight accumulation of carbon dioxide in your blood, which signals your brain to breathe.

After three or four minutes of air hunger, you'll start experiencing the beneficial effects of CO2 accumulation, such as an increase in body temperature and an increase in saliva. The former is a sign of improved blood circulation; the latter a sign that your parasympathetic nervous system has been activated, which is important for stress reduction.

When you're breathing properly, your breath will be so soft, quiet and light. It will not be visibly or audibly noticeable. By slowing down the speed of your breathing to the point where the hairs in your nose barely move, you can more easily enter into a calm, meditative state. Breathe less air into your lungs than what you were breathing before you started the exercise.

The air shortage should be tolerable and not at all stressful. If the air shortage is too much, take a break from the exercise for 15 seconds or so before resuming to it again. This type of breathing will also help lower your blood pressure, and can be a useful technique to address hypertension without drugs. You may also notice that you have less nasal congestion, allowing for easier breathing.

Breathing Exercise to Quell Panic Attacks and Anxiety

Another breathing exercise that can help if you're experiencing anxiety or panic attacks, or if you feel very stressed and your mind can't stop racing, is the following. This sequence helps retain and gently accumulate CO2, leading to calmer breathing and reduced anxiety. In other words, the urge to breathe will decline as you go into a more relaxed state.  

• Take a small breath into your nose, a small breath out; hold your nose for five seconds in order to hold your breath, and then release to resume breathing.
• Breathe normally for 10 seconds.
• Repeat the sequence several more times: small breath in through your nose, small breath out; hold your breath for five seconds, then let go and breathe normally for 10 seconds.

The Impact of Breathing on Sports Performance

VIDEO 

https://youtu.be/1LGxLv2WuwY

The way you breathe also affects your heart. I interviewed McKeown on the effects of Buteyko breathing on sports performance in 2013 (see above). Typically, athletes who experience cardiac arrest or heart attacks are in prime physical condition and do not fit the model of someone with a heart problem. However, athletes do tend to breathe very heavily, for obvious reasons, and this alone can trigger a chain of events that could lead to cardiac arrest.

As mentioned, the loss of CO2 from heavy breathing constricts your blood vessels, causing reduced blood flow to your heart. As a result, oxygen delivery is reduced, and your heart requires oxygen for proper performance. Arrhythmia can occur when there's insufficient blood flow and insufficient oxygen. Arrhythmia is when your pulse increases too much, causing it to become chaotic. In severe cases, the heart may stop.

McKeown has also investigated the effects of breath-holding during exercise to simulate high altitude training. In order to simulate high altitude training, the percentage saturation of the red blood cells with oxygen must be decreased to less than 93 percent as shown in the following video.

VIDEO

 https://youtu.be/DBTeU0-iFXU

While it may seem a bit counter intuitive to restrict breathing during physical exertion, this may actually be beneficial in a number of ways. According to Mc Keown:

"When you subject your body to a reduced concentration of oxygen, as is the case during high altitude training ... you're going into anaerobic metabolism, so you're working without air. Your oxygen partial pressure is dropping to below normal.

Breath holding after an exhalation causes a decrease to the concentration of oxygen to trigger increased lactic acid. At the same time, carbon dioxide also increases leading to an increased concentration of hydrogen ions to further acidify the blood. Repeated exposure to increased acidosis- forces the body to adapt to it.

To neutralize hydrogen ions, the bodies buffering capacity improves which delays the onset of fatigue to improve anaerobic capacity. This allows athletes to continue to exercise longer or at a higher intensity for a given distance.13 Your spleen, which is an organ located just under your diaphragm (it's basically your blood bank), contains about 8 percent of the total red blood cell count.

But if you're doing altitude training or involving breath holding during exercise, the arterial saturation of oxygen is dropping. The spleen will sense this drop of oxygen, so it will release more red blood cells into circulation.

Another factor is that your kidneys, during high altitude training and during breath-hold exercise, become slightly hypoxic; there's reduced oxygen in the blood. In response to that, your kidneys will synthesize a hormone called EPO, which stimulates the maturation of red blood cells in your bone marrow.

Finally, the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles may become exhausted during both short-term, high intensity exercise and more prolonged exercise such as marathon running. Holding the breath after an exhalation until a medium-to-strong need for air mobilizes the diaphragm, providing it with a workout and helping to strengthen it. A recent study involving elite athletes found that breath holding improved inspiratory muscle strength values by 14.9 percent.14

So, the benefits of incorporating breath-holding into walking, for instance, will lead to improved anaerobic capacity and respiratory muscle strength, along with improved oxygen-carrying capacity in red blood cells. We've heard of many athletes who have to do this unethically and illegally. But we should really tap into our body's natural resource, because our body has everything that we need, if we know how to guide it."

The Basic Buteyko Self-Test

Dr. Konstantin Buteyko developed a simple self-test for estimating your CO2 tolerance. He found that the level of CO2 in your lungs correlates to your ability to hold your breath after normal exhalation. Studies involving patients with cystic fibrosis and asthma have confirmed that the lower your breath-hold time, i.e. the amount of time you can hold your breath, the heavier you breathe in general.15,16,17,18 You can use a stopwatch or simply count the number of seconds to yourself. To do this test:

1. Sit straight without crossing your legs and breathe comfortably and steadily.
2. Take a small, silent breath in and out through your nose. After exhaling, pinch your nose to keep air from entering.
3. Start your stopwatch and hold your breath until you feel the first definite desire to breathe.
4. When you feel the first urge to breathe, resume breathing and note the time. The urge to breathe may come in the form of involuntary movements of your breathing muscles, or your belly may jerk or your throat may contract. Your inhalation should be calm and controlled, through your nose. If you feel like you must take a big breath, then you held your breath too long.

The time you just measured is called the "control pause" or CP, which reflects your body's CO2 tolerance. Short CP times correlate with chronically depleted CO2 levels. Here's what your CP time can tell you about your health and fitness:

• CP 40 to 60 seconds: Indicates a normal, healthy breathing pattern and excellent physical endurance.
• CP 20 to 40 seconds: Indicates mild breathing impairment, moderate tolerance to physical exercise and potential for health problems in the future (most folks fall into this category).
• CP 10 to 20 seconds: Indicates significant breathing impairment and poor tolerance to physical exercise; nasal breath training and lifestyle modifications are recommended (potential areas are poor diet, overweight, excess stress, excess alcohol, etc.).
• CP under 10 seconds: Serious breathing impairment, very poor exercise tolerance and chronic health problems; Buteyko recommends consulting a Buteyko practitioner for assistance.

How to Practice Buteyko Breathing Daily

VIDEO

https://youtu.be/QAf8Elez6bg

The good news is you can improve your CP time by regularly performing the breathing method outlined below. For a demonstration, see the above video. For each five-second increase in CP, you will feel better and improve your exercise endurance.

While this exercise is perfectly safe for the vast majority of people, if you have any cardiac problems, high blood pressure, are pregnant, have type 1 diabetes, panic attacks or any serious health concern, then please do not hold your breath beyond the first urges to breathe. The following exercise is also very effective for decongesting your nose in just a few minutes:

• Sit up straight.
• Take a small breath in through your nose and a small breath out. If your nose is quite blocked, take a tiny breath in through the corner of your mouth.
• Pinch your nose with your fingers and hold your breath. Keep your mouth closed.
• Gently nod your head or sway your body until you feel that you cannot hold your breath any longer.
• When you need to breathe in, let go of your nose and breathe gently through it, in and out, with your mouth closed.
• Calm your breathing as soon as possible.

Repeat this exercise several times in succession, waiting about 30 to 60 seconds in between rounds. Be sure to do it on a regular basis, ideally daily. The fastest way to increase your CP is by learning to be mindful of your breathing on a moment-to-moment basis:

• Always keep your mouth closed for breathing, even during exertion. If you're exercising or exerting yourself to the point you have to open your mouth to gasp for air, slow down and avoid exerting yourself beyond the point where you can no longer breathe through your nose. This will help you avoid the hazards associated with over breathing during exercise, such as doing damage to your heart.
• Even when you breathe through your nose, try to breathe more lightly than you normally do; you should not be able to see your breathing in your chest or abdomen.
• Control your breathing all of the time, especially in stressful situations.

Additional Resources

According to Mc Keown, most dysfunctional breathing patterns are rooted in the modern lifestyle. Contributing factors include:

Processed food (which are acid-forming)	Overeating	Excessive talking
Stress	Believing it's good to take big, deep breaths	Lack of exercise
Asthma	Genetic predisposition or familial habits	High indoor temperatures

Addressing these issues can also be helpful if you struggle with chronic over breathing or mouth breathing. To learn more about the Buteyko Breathing Method, check out Mc Keown's books, "The Oxygen Advantage," "Close Your Mouth: Self Help Buteyko Manual," and "Anxiety Free: Stop Worrying and Quieten Your Mind," which can be found on amazon.com and ButeykoClinic.com. There's also a website dedicated to children, called ButeykoKids.com.

How To Grow An Unlimited Supply Of Lemons Using Just 1 Seed

The common saying is: “If life gives you lemons, then make lemonade.” But what if you never needed lemons given to you because you were able to grow your own? Unlimited lemonade and fresh lemons whenever you wanted, that’s what would happen!

This is why I’m going to show you how you can grow your own lemon tree inside your house using just the seed from a lemon! But first, let’s get into some of the health benefits of lemons.

Lemon Health Benefits

Although lemons aren’t the first choice of fruit when you’re looking for a snack, there is no denying its powerful heath benefits.

To start off, they are incredibly rich in vitamin C, making them great for treating common sicknesses such as the cold or a flu. Some less known facts about vitamin C is that it has also been found to treat more serious health conditions, such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. It also helps to reduce inflammation and the damaging effects of free radicals in the body.

Lemons also contain a variety of other flavonoids that have both antioxidant and anticancer properties.

VIDEO 

https://youtu.be/Ywy6rRv1xPk

Man with Incurable Lung Cancer, Turned Down Chemo and Outlived All His Doctors

Man with Incurable Lung Cancer, Turned Down Chemo and Outlived All His Doctors

In 1943, Stamatis Moraitis, a Greek war veteran from Ikaria, Greece came to the USA for a combat-related injury to his arm. He wound up falling in love, marrying a Greek-American woman, and having three lovely children. He  bought his very own Leave it to Beaver three-bedroom house with his 1951 Chevrolet parked in the driveway.

Stamatis was living the American Dream. It all seemed Hollywood perfect until 1976.  That’s when Stamatis began experiencing shortness of breath upon exertion – for example, when working or climbing stairs. Eventually, he consulted a doctor who diagnosed him with terminal lung cancer and gave him only months to live. Predictably the doctor urged him to start chemotherapy immediately as it was his only hope.

Still not convinced he was a dead man walking Stamatis consulted with nine other doctors. They all told him the exact same thing. He had lung cancer and roughly nine months to live. They all recommended that he start aggressive chemotherapy ASAP.  Ten doctors later Stamatis was finally convinced that he was going to die and soon.

He still refused chemo. Instead, he reasoned since his inevitable funeral would cost a lot less back home, only $200 total, he would return to his birthplace Ikaria, Greece to die peacefully. There he could spend his final days with family and old friends. That’s when his story gets really interesting –remarkably so in fact.

[box]“Ikaria is named after Ikaros, who according to Greek mythology was the son of master craftsman Daedalus, and who was escaping imprisonment from King Minos in Crete by flying with wings his father had made. But ignoring his father’s advice, Ikarus flew too close to the sun and landed to his death on the island.”

“Moraitis and Elpiniki [his wife] moved in with his elderly parents, into a tiny, whitewashed house on two acres of stepped vineyards near Evdilos, on the north side of Ikaria.”

Of course, upon his return to his homeland, although he was very happy to be with loved ones, he was also very depressed and felt hopeless about his condition. He slept most of the time while his wife and mother acted as his primary caregivers. As time passed his hopelessness waned and a strong desire to live took its place. He began spending whatever precious time he might have left with friends.

 “He reconnected with his faith. On Sunday mornings, he hobbled up the hill to a tiny Greek Orthodox chapel where his grandfather once served as a priest. When his childhood friends discovered that he had moved back, they started showing up every afternoon. They’d talk for hours, an activity that invariably involved a bottle or two of locally produced wine. I might as well die happy, he thought.” 

Then something miraculous happened. Stamatis started feeling like his old self again and noticed that his strength and stamina were returning. As if out of the blue, Stamatis suddenly had an idea to plant a garden even though he still believed he would never live to reap its bounty.

The gardening was very therapeutic and brought him into steady productive contact with the sun, fresh air and the sea breeze.  The garden project was his new life purpose. Each morning he woke up early eager to spend time in his new garden. In fact he would spend most of the day gardening. His wife and mother would prepare his meals with fresh plants and herbs from the garden. Six months had come and gone yet he was still alive.

 “… He reaped his garden and, feeling emboldened, cleaned up the family vineyard as well. Easing himself into the island routine, he woke up when he felt like it, worked in the vineyards until mid-afternoon, made himself lunch and then took a long nap. In the evenings, he often walked to the local tavern, where he played dominoes past midnight.

The years passed. His health continued to improve. He added a couple of rooms to his parents’ home so his children could visit. He built up the vineyard until it produced 400 gallons of wine a year.”

As the years rolled by Stamatis’ health continued to improve. Thirty years after his diagnosis he realized that he wasn’t going to die from cancer after all. At the ripe age of 97, Stamatis summoned the courage to submit to a medical exam to confirm his belief that he was cancer free. He wanted to know what had happened to him and why he didn’t die.

 His doctors thoroughly examined him and reviewed his medical records. Not only did they give him a clean bill of health,  he also learned at the same time that all the doctors who had predicted he would die in nine months if he didn’t submit to chemo had died – all of them were dead!  Meanwhile, Stamatis lived on until the age of 102, and when he did die it wasn’t from cancer!

Stamatis Moraitis tending his vineyard and olive grove on Ikaria.Andrea Frazzetta/LUZphoto for The New York Times

“Herbs have a fascinating place in the local culture, as both food and folk medicine. Sage tea with honey was “our childhood antibiotic,” as my friend Yiorgos Stenos, 84, told me. Ikarians still drink this when they feel a cold coming on, as they do oregano for stomach aches, chamomile for insomnia, and more. Most of these infusions are mild diuretics, helping relieve hypertension, perhaps one reason locals have relatively little heart disease.”

SamatistwoThe lesson here is simple yet profound: Wholesome, seasonal food prepared with love is potent medicine, spending time connecting with mother nature’s life force can help rekindle an individual’s will to live, having a reason or purpose to continue living is essential for healing, and last but far from least sharing quality time with loved ones when sick and recuperating, can transform the depressed mind back to a state of innocence, gratitude and awe of the mystery called life. In the end, real healing is the soul’s domain.

It should be mentioned that the Greek island of Ikaria has a well deserved reputation as a Mecca for longevity. The island is renowned for its abundant, locally grown food, which is traditionally prepared according to season, its slow pace and pristine, vibrant beauty, and its long lived, mostly healthy inhabitants, many of whom are centenarians. In fact, Ikarians rarely fall prey to today’s most common killer lifestyle diseases like heart disease and cancer.

“Ikaria’s isolation helped create a living testament to the Mediterranean Diet in its most holistic sense, one in which fresh, seasonal, home-cooked food and community are interwoven in ways that sustain physical and emotional health, human relationships, and the environment.

 Many Ikarians live long and well, with less cancer and heart disease than Americans, and virtually no dementia, or depression, drinking wine, enjoying sex, walking, gardening, and socializing into their sunset years. They are 10 times more likely to live to 90 or even 100 than Americans, a statistic that embraces men and women almost equally.”

Recent reports indicate that as of 2014 life in Ikaria is still idyllic and its reputation as the “place where people forget to die” is as relevant as ever.

 According to a recent Huff Post article titled: Ikaria: The Mindful Mediterranean Diet on the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die: by Diane Kochilas a Greek-American chef, cookbook author, and TV cooking show host:

“Life on Ikaria, even in 2014, is still a paradigm for healthy living, sound of body and mind. The island has taught me to cherish relationships that span generations and continents, to enjoy and appreciate the gifts of nature, to eat real food in its season, and, perhaps, most important of all, to do so with an open heart and an open table, welcoming others to it.”