Gemara

People DO need salt, and the best form is from natural sources such as plants, seaweeds, sea creatures and via salt-saturated airborne water molecules as found close to seashores. This form of salt is rich in 84 known human cell replenishing minerals and trace elements, plus dried mineral rich sea vegetable matter. Salt, in true sea-form and botanical mineral-salt form, unprocessed, unadulterated, is the natural controller of our physiological and spiritual actions. We think because of the salt in our blood. There is a Russian proverb that says

“Eat grain and salt and speak the truth!”

Sodium and potassium within tissue intercellular spaces and inside cells creates the necessary osmotic pull, contraction and expansion to mobilize cell fluid contents. In this way the internal saline sea is kept in motion propelling nutrients into or through the cell membrane, and expelling cell-wastes out of cells for lymphatic elimination. The sodium-potassium ‘pull’ or interaction, draws energy producing oxygen molecules into the cells, determining the ebb and flow of life’s processes, including mental alertness, imagination, resolve, eg will and strength, and the acuteness of all senses.

Table salt is simply two inorganic minerals, sodium and chloride – toxic poisons to the human system. In contrast, sun-dried sea salt is reputed to be healthy and a little every day is beneficial. This is because such unrefined sea salt also contains organic, salt laden mineral and nutrient rich plankton.

Human blood is similar to the composition of the ocean ‘from whence he came’. Salt is a catalyst of man’s functions. Man is borne of salt, conceived and nurtured in a salty medium.

Many people cannot tolerate salty foods at all. This intolerance affects the quality of their health and character. Lacking warmth and affection, these persons remain unhappy. This stems from any of the following causes:

1.     A high salt concentration remaining in tissues and fluids, due to salt plus meat consumption

2.     Kidneys that have become weak or failed to function

3.     Conditioned judgement – the person blames the food, the cook, the water, but refuses to recognize his or her condition.

We learn that excess salt collects in tissues and body fluids. However, it is only the refined salt that causes this problem. Natural sea salt does not accumulate in the tissues, as the magnesium salts will eliminate sodium chloride after it has performed its important jobs of acid-base balance, cell permeability and muscle contractibility. If an excess of natural salt is ingested, then the intake of water is automatically increased caused by thirst. The quantity of salt in excess of the body’s need is automatically rejected by the body, but much more easily if natural salt is used. An unbalanced diet or malfunctioning kidneys are much lesser causes of salt retention. An over-salted condition can become chronic when blood vessel walls are shut tightly by the hardness of refined salt. The disruption of sexual functions is only a warning signal, announcing impending illnesses such as urinary tract infections, Addison’s disease, kidney cancer or albumen in the urine.

Addisons’s disease is a condition of adrenal deficiency. Some of the symptoms are: abnormal cravings for more salt; weak sex drive; gradual darkening of the skin and mucus membranes; puffiness of face and jaw. This illness has been described as tuberculosis of the adrenals. In symptomatic medicine, it is treated by a steady regimen of hormone injections.

These medications create high blood pressure, due to fluid retention made worse by the use of refined salt. They also cause the toxins of these drugs and hormone injections to concentrate and stagnate in the body which inevitably results in vulnerability to more disease.

One of the major functions of the adrenal cortex is to secrete the hormone cortisone, sodium being a mineral vitally needed for human metabolism; a healthy adrenal cortex prevents the unwarranted elimination of sodium salts. This, together with aldosterone, regulates and balances salt and water throughout the body. Natural cortisone has many other functions, from changing protein into glucides and changing food into cells, to prevent inflammation.

Unrefined sea salt is available as ‘Celtic Sea Salt’ in Health shops.

With many of us juggling two jobs just to be able to put food on the table and pay mortgages and other debts, the idea of getting sick is something dreadful and unimaginable.

If you can't afford to be sick because of all the things that you have to do, then you need to know how you can strengthen your immune system. Remember, your immune system is your first line of defense against bacteria or virus-causing diseases. Below are some of the effective ways in which you can boost your immune system:

Bring Color To Your Life

Living in the fast lane is not a good excuse for depending on fast food for your sustenance. If you want to be healthy and if you want your immune system to work at its peak, you better add green leafy vegetables, orange produce, and red fruits on your plate.

Starting today, you need to aspire to eat at least 10 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. It is not really that hard to eat fruits and vegetables, because you can eat most of them raw. Add an apple to your oatmeal, order a large portion of salad at lunch, munch on carrot sticks and celery for your mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, and heat a vegetable soup for dinner.

Sweat It Out

Exercise is important in maintaining good health. Just by adding 30 minutes a day of brisk walking, dancing, jogging, or whatever activity that would make you sweat and work out your muscles, you are already strengthening your heart and bones, toning your muscles, and boosting your defense against sickness.

Slumber Your Way To Health

Everyone needs at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. This is the time when your brain processes the information you accumulated throughout the day and when your body repairs itself. Sleep and rest well so that your body and mind will have enough time to rejuvenate and restore damaged tissues and cells.

Up Your EQ

Anger, revenge, stress, tension, depression, anxiety and all these negative emotions are taking their toll on your body. If you want to maintain a healthy mind and body, you need to pay attention to your emotional state too. Always be happy and positive. Try to reduce unnecessary stress, such as road rage.

Let Water Flow

In order for your body to work properly, you need to drink at least eight glasses of water everyday. Water is important in many bodily functions, especially in the elimination of toxins and waste products. By the way, you should not confuse eight glasses of water with coffee, soda, and other sugar-packed beverages.

Mind Your Hygiene

Washing your hands with soap and water before and after you eat and use the bathroom is one practice that can help prevent bacterial and viral infections.

Be Sensitive To The Needs Of Your Body

A lot of people do not listen to what their bodies are telling them. If you want to be healthy, you need to be sensitive to subtle changes in your body. If you feel rumbling on your stomach, it may be time to eat or else you might develop ulcer or other stomach problems. If you feel tired and sleepy, stop what you are doing and doze off a little a bit. Your body cannot talk to you so it sends signals, such as the rumbling of the stomach, when it needs some attention.

They include financial concerns, work deadlines, providing for our children, countless tasks to do and errands to run, heavy traffic, relationships with co-workers, family relationships, and the list goes on. The irony is that the responses of our physical bodies that are designed to protect us can turn against us when stress and anxiety is without relief or prolonged.

Under stress, our heart rate and blood pressure increase to provide our brains with more blood flow for oxygen and nutrients. Our blood sugar increases to provide us with more energy as we would need in a crisis. Our blood is routed away from our intestines in order to provide energy for the large muscles in our arms and legs for fight or flight. If the source of our stress and anxiety subsides after a brief period of time, our bodies return these functions to their normal process. If the source of our stress and anxiety remains constant then our physical responses become harmful to our health. We begin to experience insomnia, joint and muscle inflammation and pain, fatigue, hypertension, perhaps heart constriction, indigestion, higher cholesterol levels, impotence, either lack of or excess appetite resulting in weight loss or weight gain, weakened immune system making us vulnerable to colds and flu, and so on.

Emotionally we experience feelings of irritability, impatience, lack of sexual interest, lack of concentration, depression, restlessness, excessive alertness and reaction to normal external stimuli, or feelings of being constantly overwhelmed and helpless.

Our bodies need time to recover from being in crisis mode due to stress and anxiety in order to restore normal physical balance and functioning. We need a break from and relief from the stress and anxiety in order to maintain our health. Some of us have had experience with prescription, synthetic drugs to ease anxiety and stress, but have suffered the potentially harmful and discomforting side effects which, ironically added to our feelings of stress and anxiety. Fortunately, many of us have discovered substances provide by nature that our bodies readily absorb and utilize to deal with stress and anxiety without the possible harmful side effects of prescription, synthetic drugs.

When dealing with stress and anxiety, our bodies need a proper balance of vitamins and minerals that can be obtained in multivitamin formulas some of which are specially created to provide extra stress protection with calcium, potassium, magnesium, a full spectrum of B vitamins and pantothenic acid.

Essential fatty acids provide us with Omega 3 and Omega 6 which help balance blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and provide our neurotransmitters in our brain to function quickly and efficiently. Essential fatty acids help reduce joint and muscle inflammation and fatigue, and enhances the functions of our respiratory and intestinal digestive system providing our muscles organs, and brains with the oxygen and nutrients needed to deal with stress and anxiety. Flaxseed oil with lignans and fish oils which have been filtered to remove heavy metals can provide us with the essential fatty acids that we need for dealing with stress and anxiety.

GABA i.e. Gamma-aminobutyric Acid, which is an amino acid, effects the neuro-receptors in our brain. This helps us deal with stress and anxiety by lowering over-reaction to potentially stress causing stimuli and enables us to be detached in an emotionally healthy way providing us with the calmness and poise we need to deal efficiently and effectively with what we are presented.

Herbs e.g. skull cap and passion flower can help us relax and receive the rest and sleep that we need. L-tyrosine is an essential amino acid often used to treat insomnia, depression and anxiety as well as helping to control appetite and elevate our mood. Melatonin and herbal formulas are available to us to provide the restful, restoring sleep we need in order to deal with anxiety and stress.

Aromatherapy which is the use of aromas from plant essential oils can be added to our baths, used in massage oils, or released into our living space with aromatherapy candles. As we inhale these aromas, they quickly reach our brain and help provide us with feelings of calm and relaxation. The aromatherapy essential oils that are most effective in easing stress and anxiety are bergamot, cypress, geranium, jasmine neroli, rose, sandalwood and ylang-ylang. Lavender is the most popular essential oil used to provide us with a feeling of calm and well being.

These are just a few of the all natural substances and formulas available to us to help keep our bodies healthy as we experience the stress and anxiety that accompanies our too often hectic and prolonged stressful life experiences. Other all natural formulas that increase the functioning of our brains in the areas of attention, concentration and performance are also available to us. Our bodies need extra help in dealing with stress and anxiety. Cognitively and emotionally we need breaks and periods of rest and release from stress and anxiety.

The safest, non-addictive way to obtain the help we need for dealing with stress and anxiety is with all natural health care products that do not present the possibility of harmful side effects that actually increase stress and anxiety.

Essential oils have a different chemical composition from other herbal products, because of the distillation process. Essential oils are comprised in a richness of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, aromatic compounds, esters, organic sulfides non-terpene hydrocarbons, along with several other VOC substances. In herbal oils from plants, the distillation process will only bring lighter types of phytomolecules.

The (mostly westernised) term of aromatherapy is in reference of the many traditional ways in making use of essential oils. Essential oil use comes from the ancient times of over 6000 years ago, and proven to be utilized back in the cultures of the Greeks, Egyptians and Romans. There were known essential oil usages in massages, bathing in the essential oils were used for running off communicable illnesses too. In the days of Egyptian physicians like Imhotep and Hippocrates, the ways of aromatherapy were strongly believed in as a part of doctor's regime of healthy healing.

The basic modes of aroma-therapeutic applications are aerial diffusion, for environmental dispensing of desired fragrance or dispensing through the air for aerial disinfection. There is also direct inhalation for respiratory disinfection, decongestant, expectoration as neurological wellness effects. Aromatherapy oils have been used as topical applications for many centuries for general massage, baths compresses, and therapeutic skin care. The last set of aromatherapy oil usage is oral, rectal, and vaginal interfaces for infection, congestion, parasites, and of course, perfumes for our body along with fragrances for anointment's.

Aromatherapy is known to ease several types of ailments. Many aches, pains and injury discomforts can be physically relieved throughout the body when using the right aroma-therapeutic essential oils in the correct manner. Aromatherapy has also been proven to act on the central nervous system in giving relief from depression and anxiety by reducing stress, contributing to a more relaxed mode, uplifting spirits through sedation or stimulation. Aromatherapy restores both physical and emotional well-being without the modern medical remedy side effects.

When wanting to use aromatherapy throughout your home, there are several ways to use. As an air freshener, there are the benefits of a better smelling home, but also the mental effectiveness physically depending on the therapeutic essential oils chosen. After choosing your oil or mixture of oils, add up to 10 drops of oil or mixture of oils to every two cups of boiling water. You can also go throughout your home putting a few drops in garbage cans, laundry wash, water drains, vacuum filter bags, and on tissue for setting in the drawers of your dressers.

Traditional cultures have known for thousands of years that these aspects are intimately connected. Every food we eat, every thought we entertain, every emotion we feel and every interaction we experience impacts overall health.

Many blame their health problems on genetics, a virus, toxins in the air, and stress. While these factors can contribute to illness, very often problems result from a lack of fundamental health-enhancing qualities such as responsibility, a strong will, family support, passion, a balanced lifestyle and a knowledge of good health. Without these, whatever modality is chosen becomes just another pill to be taken and discarded when symptoms disappear.

When disease is artificially removed without changing the underlying cause, long-term health will NOT be achieved. The quick fix approach brings little or no permanent success. This is by no means a suggestion that we abandon medical treatment but a simple recommendation that we look for deeper cause of the problem from a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and lifestyle perspective. We need to take the holistic health perspective. Lasting solutions can be found to multiple illnesses of society by getting at the root of the problem holistically.

I have observed patterns among those who have successfully reversed health problems. These traits are not rigid models. We all have them to some degree. They are holistic health approaches that each of us can maximize in our own unique way to return to our natural state of health.