Tag: depression

Causes of Memory Loss

How To Reverse Memory Loss

Toxic Chemicals, Alcohol, Marijuana, Microwaves, Toxic Dentures, And Some Medications Can Cause Candida

Candida Can Cause Memory Loss:  Too often people say that the cause of memory loss is a genetic thing, especially when it is related to Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.  But while we accept that some people have a propensity for afflictions of the brain, and memory loss, as with cancer and other degenerative diseases, much can be done, in my experience, to avoid or avert these conditions in most people, even when there is a genetic weakness.

Candida Infection

A weakened immune system can result in candida, which can cause memory loss.

It is easy to cure candida: The main thing is to starve it of the foods it thrives on, and avoid all those environmental contaminants which encourage it. Periods of detoxification, as in fasting on raw foods, castor oil occasionally, an alkaline diet, avoidance of all toxic herbicides, pesticides and other substances, and a healthy environment is the way to recover your health and naturally improve your memory.

Heavy metal poisoning, asbestos, addiction to alcohol and other drugs, vaccinations and some medications, as well as agricultural chemicals such as RoundUp’s glyphosate, all have the potential to weaken the immune system and incline people to candida infection.

Any of these things, given enough exposure, tend to upset the functioning of the bowel flora, and kill off the very organisms which are there to help digest our food and protect us from sickness.

One incident which caused severe memory loss, and a near physical breakdown, was the poisoning which occurred after I cleared a property of asbestos and toxic ash after a fire. I began to collapse with heavy metals, formaldehyde, and asbestos dust poisoning my system. Lead is one heavy metal which is known to severely affect nervous system, brain function and memory, and combined with all the other poisons in this toxic ash, it  very nearly caused my death. I guessed that if I wasn’t to die of heavy metal poisoning, then I might die of candida.

Candida took over my digestive system to the extent that eating a grain of sugar, or a drop of fruit juice caused an immediate visible reaction in the mouth, which became white with thrush. As long as I did not eat anything which fed the organism, then I was OK. But there was very little food which was safe during this time. Raw lettuce, for instance, was no good, as there are multiple little organisms on lettuce which cause the lettuce to decompose fairly quickly. As my immune system was so incredibly weakened, I had no resistance to the yeasts on lettuce, or the sugars in sweet vegetables such as carrots, or apples, which caused immediate candida overgrowth.

It took a very long while to rid myself of the poisons which were making me ill, and to build up resistance again, but I managed a recovery with castor oil, and a diet which allowed only raw celery and tuna fish in oil, and calcium ascorbate vitamin C. I followed this regime religiously for six months, after which time I was able to eat cooked vegetables again.  After this initial healing period, I still had to follow a strict modified diet using both cooked and raw vegetables, tuna fish in oil, and continue to use castor oil for cleansing at least once a week.

Gradually, memory and physical health was restored.

 

Seven years after this, the oppressive effect of Saturn was upon me again. I suffered a period of chronic depression, probably related to the asbestos, lead, mercury poisoning, as well as my children leaving home. This time I became addicted to alcohol.  Candida loves alcohol. After three years of drinking and isolation, I had virtually no memory,  had forgotten how to speak in coherent sentences, could not recognize familiar faces or voices,  and had forgotten how to perform many simple tasks.

It was imperative that I stop drinking. I joined the local Alcoholic Anonymous group, and began to pay attention to diet, intellectual, and social factors. It took one year for the nervous tremors to stop, and several more years for memory, speech and eyesight to recover normal function.

 

It is probable that vaccinations in childhood play a part in people’s immunity being low and too readily succumbing to candida and other infections throughout life. I believe that childhood vaccinations, as well as flu vaccinations,  could also be one cause of mental deterioration and memory loss in less than old people because of their influence on the digestive and immune systems.

Childhood vaccinations could even predispose us to cancer, obesity, alcoholism, and other addictions later on in life.  See my website article: http://merrilynhope.com/link-between-vaccinations-and-obesity-new-study-suggests-bbc-22-august-2012/

My generation was the recipient of numerous nationwide school vaccinations and innocculations in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  It is no wonder, to me, that so many of my peers have died so young of cancer, and heart and breathing problems, addictions, and that most of us still living have chronic short-term memory loss.

 

Avoid Exposure To Radiation And Electromagnetic Energies:  As stated in the article entitled ‘Improve Your Eyesight Naturally, electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers, ‘smart’ electricity meters, and electricity transformers, can harm brain function very dramatically.

These vibrations and radiations affect the central nervous system, which runs on its own series of electrical impulses. The nervous system’s energy circuit is very sensitive to the stronger rays from things like cell phone towers and electricity meter boxes, and the result of prolonged exposure is that the organs suffer. The brain, eyes, ears and heart, which are all connected to the nervous system,  are especially vulnerable to these toxic energies.

 

These radiations and electromagnetic fields can also cause candida, as they have the ability to kill off the ‘good’ bacteria in the bowel, to the advantage of the ‘bad’ bacteria and other parasites.

Anti Candida Diet Improves General Health And Memory

Important: If you feel at all unwell whilst you try this anti-candida diet, then quit the diet and go back to see your health adviser. However, it can be rather trying at the beginning of the diet, as the candida yeast will demand those sugars and foods which feed it, especially when you are starving it of these items. If you can resist the temptation to eat those foods which candida loves, then after a week or so on the diet, your candida infection should be more or less under control.

The best way to combat candida and rebuild your immune system is to starve it of all sugars for a while. This means adopting a very radical approach which involves more than being gluten-free. You need to cut out all wheat flour products – no bread,cake or pastries, as these are all converted to sugar too quickly: wheat flour, and many other flours, can cause the candida to thrive whilst your immune system is poorly functioning.  Cut out sweets, including all sweet drinks, juices, fruit and honey for a time. Dairy products are also best avoided; the lactose in milk, including soy milk, also feeds candida. All leafy greens are just great, as are most vegetables, but cut down on those potatoes and kumara, or sweet potato, and carrots for a while, as these carbohydrates are converted to sugar very quickly in the digestive system, and this gives the candida plenty to thrive on.

Brown rice is generally good; however, if your condition is chronic, then you will need to exclude all grains until you improve. Taking olive oil, rice bran oil or some other good quality cooking oil with your brown rice, and poured over your salads and cooked greens, helps slow down the process of sugar conversion in the body: it is nourishing, and inhibits the candida, because candida doesn’t like oils.  Taking garlic with your brown rice and oil also helps inhibit candida overgrowth. Use garlic and oil at every meal until you are better. Even after you are better, good oils,garlic, brown rice, salads, and cooked greens should form the bulk of the diet to avoid getting a candida imbalance which causes memory loss.

Protein and Vegetable Oils: A protein-rich diet, and the use of good quality oils such as virgin olive oil, is very effective in combating candida infection. Candida does not thrive in protein-rich diets, and vegetable oils. You must have adequate protein in the diet – candida sufferers are often on vegetarian or low-protein diets where grains are used to substitute real protein. Try to eat protein at every meal. Oily types of fish are just the very best – salmon, mullet, sardines, tuna, but free range eggs, almonds, free range chicken and beef, are all good sources. Nuts are sometimes best left until you begin to recover, but you can experiment with these after you have given yourself a week or so without, to see what their effect is. Once you have followed this anti-candida diet for a few days, you can recognize what foods are best to avoid when you try them again, as you usually get symptoms of candida fairly soon after eating them.

Avoid taking protein foods such as soy bean tofu, soy bean miso, and cheese, as these are all fermented foods which encourage candida.

Eat salad foods at every meal. Celery is very effective in helping to combat candida, as it has plenty of roughage to cleanse the bowel. It is a very alkaline food which makes for a healthy body and immune system. It also has an antiseptic effect which inhibits candida and other bacteria. Celery is a great cleanser and helps to build healthy blood, whilst being excellent for the brain. Sprouts are a great food, but you have to be careful with these as yeast begins to grow on the sprouts while they are germinating: they must be washed well – I think these are best left out until you have recovered somewhat. Lettuce must also be washed well. Avoid tomatoes for a while – they are just too sweet. Avocado is best avoided for the first few few weeks until you have strengthened your immune system, as they begin to ferment very quickly and therefore feed the candida if they are overripe.

The other thing which you must starve the candida of is any food or drink which contains YEAST. Candida is a yeast, and it gets a huge boost when you feed it things like alcohol, or vinegar, or sauces, or even vegetarian products like soy bean miso, tofu,or  soy sauce: all these are fermented. Just a taste of another yeast really sets off the candida growing again. Mushrooms need to be avoided, as the yeast on mushrooms encourages candida overgrowth in your intestines.

If you suspect that candida albicans might be the cause of your memory loss, then the above suggestions should be helpful. Remember to eat enough while you are on this diet.  There is absolutely no need to go hungry. Have a salad ready, maybe with boiled eggs or fish added to it, and some brown rice, already cooked, which you have put in the fridge. You can snack on these super healthy foods, throw a few almonds in with cooked broccoli or spinach, throw on a bit of olive oil, a taste of garlic, and you are ready to go.

Avoiding all yeast foods and sugars will help your memory loss if candida, or sluggish bowels, is the problem. The bulk of salad foods, cooked greens and brown rice which you eat with your protein will provide good roughage to get your bowels clear of effete matter, get them functioning normally again and provide the very best nutrients to feed your body and your brain.

Calcium Ascorbate, or Ester C are the non-acidic Vitamin C types you should look for in treating candida. These are the most effective of all  available supplements which counteract candida albicans, and thus they are helpful in  restoring your memory. They also help keep an alkaline state in the body which is another  important factor in treating candida. Do not use the ordinary, sour tasting Vitamin C, as this does not help candida, but actually feeds it. Calcium ascorbate in doses of 1000mg can be taken once, or twice, or even three times a day to combat candida and help your memory grow strong. Cut the dose back after a few days, once the bowels have been cleared.

Acidophilus: This is the name of one of the beneficial bacteria in the intestines. Acidophilus helps keep the candida in check, so it is very useful in tackling the cause of your memory loss. Having a healthy amount of acidophilus in your bowel also helps you to process your food more efficiently, thus more nutrients are provided to the brain, helping to counteract memory loss. It is important to find a product which is suitable for candida sufferers, though. Make sure there are no added sugars or lactose added to the acidophilus which you buy. Otherwise it is best to do without

Epsom Salts For Magnesium:  This is very helpful in clearing out the bowel of toxins.  The extra magnesium can also boost your brain function.  Take a dose several times a week, or as needed.

Bowel Cleanse or Colonic Cleanse: It is a good idea to go to a colonic clinic to get this professionally done at first. After that, you can learn how to use an enema so that you can clean out your system regularly. This is especially important in the beginning of treatment, when toxins will be released from the liver because of the healthy change of diet you have implemented. Washing out the colon is an important measure to take in getting rid of all the gunk in your bowel: keeping the bowel clean is a priority in helping to build a good memory.

Candida does affect very many people, and most people, given the quantity of processed food which we all consume, have sluggish and clogged bowels. These things are probably the most common causes of memory loss, so the above dietary and cleansing suggestions  really are worth a try.

Some other causes of memory loss are:

Emotional exhaustion, lack of sleep, anxiety, and depression: these can all contribute to a state of memory loss. Good nutrition, such as the basic wheatless anti-candida diet outlined above, should help most people with these conditions. Also, Yoga Nidra, deep relaxation and yoga breathing are useful in minimizing these negative mental states. See the chapter at the end of the book on how to practice Yoga Nidra.

Radiation from cell phone towers, cell phone use, electrical transformers which are too close to your house, overhead power lines near your house, radio transmitters, even TV aerials above your sleeping space, can all affect your memory and your nervous system generally. Having a radio close to your head at night will interfere with your brain patterns and affect your memory: I read once that Paul Simon won’t sleep with a radio or a TV anywhere near his bedroom, even if it they are not going. He recognizes the negative effect radio and TV waves have on the brain and memory function.

Alcohol and marijuana addiction: the effect of both these drugs is well known to be deleterious to the physical health, and to the mental health. Marijuana has a potent weakening effect on memory.

 

Allergy to denture plastic or acrylic:   Many people are sensitive to  plastic materials: these materials, which are prolific in our environment, are one major cause of memory loss in my experience. Unfortunately, many people wear plastic in their mouths, in the fabric of their denture. This plastic starts to break down after a couple of years or so, and chemicals from the plastic denture are absorbed into the body. This affects the brain and is one of the probable  causes of memory loss in people who have dentures.  Also, candida yeasts and other bacteria can thrive in the denture plastic, especially when it becomes older, and these bacteria also cause  memory loss.  Read the article on Dentures which appears just before this article.

Lack of certain essential elements in the diet such as iron, B vitamins, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, Vitamin A,Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, iodine, silica, manganese, selenium to name a few of the important ones.  These are all essential to keeping a well functioning memory and a healthy brain.

 

 

 

 

 

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What Happens When Your Vitamin D Levels are Low

from Canon 266(1)Dramatic Photo By Lachlan

So – What happens when your vitamin D levels are low?

Vitamin D Deficiency can result in diarrhoea, insomnia, anxiety, nervousness and muscle twitches.

If Vitamin D levels are low over a long period of time, then you could risk becoming alcoholic, or drug-dependent, or suffer hypothyroidism or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Your Vitamin D can come from the sun’s rays, or from the food you eat. Supplements may be necessary in some cases.

Too Much Vitamin D Is Harmful. Be aware that too much Vitamin D can result in the same problems as those related to Vitamin D deficiency. You won’t get too much Vitamin D from the sun, as the body will only process what is needed from the sun.  But be cautious if you are taking supplements,  and follow the recommended dosage.  Vitamin D is stored in the body.  Too much can result in liver and kidney damage.

Vitamin D is necessary for healthy thyroid functioning. When the thyroid is iodine-deficient, or Vitamin D deficient, then mood swings can result.  So to keep balanced mentally and emotionally, we need a helping of Vitamin D.

Excessive weight gain and heart problems could result if  your Vitamin D levels are low.   The sun’s rays help us to break down cholesterol.  Avoiding the sun completely can result in a build up of cholesterol which can cause us to  put on weight.

You might avoid skin cancer if you avoid the sun:  People with low Vitamin D levels have a lower risk of skin cancer than do people who get plenty of sun. However, there is a catch-22 with this.

Low Vitamin D Is Related To Internal Cancers: Research shows that sun lovers with a higher Vitamin D get fewer internal cancers  than the people with the low Vitamin D count who avoid the sun. You are more likely to develop breast cancer, or another internal cancer, if your Vitamin D levels are low.

Can coffee deplete Vitamin D levels?

This is a commonly asked question. The answer is yes.  Too much coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, and many medications can lead to Vitamin D being leached from the body.

Bones and teeth and Vitamin D Deficiency.  On-going deficiency of Vitamin D and other nutrients can cause rickets in children, and osteoporosis in adults. Weak, chalky and sensitive teeth might be what happens if  your Vitamin D levels remain low over a period of time. Vitamin D helps us to assimilate calcium: even if your dietary intake of calcium is adequate, the calcium will not be absorbed in the body if your Vitamin D levels are low.

Arthritis and Osteoporosis Can Occur With Low Vitamin D Levels: If  Vitamin D levels remain low over a long period of time, the body will start to leach the calcium it needs from the bones.  The outcome of this depletion is arthritis and osteoporosis, and chalky teeth too.

Vitamin D is also essential  for healthy hair growth.

Other Necessary Minerals: For healthy hair, bones, teeth and nails, heart and brain function, we need a balanced diet which includes the trace elements of

Iodine, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese  and Selenium.

Be careful of the sun in the North Island of New Zealand.  It has become dangerously hot here since around 2011, the time of the dreadful Japanes tsunami and nuclear disaster, and many of us cannot go out into the sun for more than a few minutes at a time now.

I believe that radioactive particles from the Japanes nuclear disaster are now all over the world, high up in the atmosphere. Wherever the ozone layer is sorely depleted, more of this radiation is brought down to earth with the sun’s rays, which poses a risk of a form of radiation sickness.  Sensitive people will be prone to it. This could be a good reason to move to cloudy Dunedin, I feel.  Spending even 15 minutes in the North Island summer sun these days can result in headaches, sun-stroke or radiation sickness for me. Symptoms can last for several days.  I am very sensitive to radiation, so I expect that my reaction will not be a general one, although quite a few of my friends are now complaining of the same symptoms after several minutes of summer sun exposure.

The ozone-layer, which is sorely depleted in parts of New Zealand, means that we burn very quickly. If you live in North Island NZ, then before 9 am or after 5 pm is the safest time to take a short sun-bath for the purpose of absorbing Vitamin D.

Do not wear sun-block when you are taking Vitamin D into the body for health purposes. Sun-block will block the Vitamin D from being absorbed into the skin. Remember that if your skin is slightly oily, then you will absorb more of the vital sun energy – Vitamin D. So it is best to take your sun-bath several hours after showering, to give your skin a chance to restore some of the natural oils to the surface.

Applying a little olive oil, or avocado or grape seed oil, can be useful in restoring oily moisture to the skin before you take a sun-bath. Also remember not to wash directly after the sun-bath: the oil on the skin is still processing the Vitamin D from the sun for several hours after the sun-bath. Leaving your shower or swim for a bit will help the skin to absorb the valuable vitamins being processed.

The foods which contain high amounts of easily assimilated Vitamin D are fatty fish, fish oils, eggs, liver, and butter. Sardines, tuna, mackerel, and especially salmon, are all good sources.

Vitamin D is stored in fatty tissues, which means that it is stored in the body. Care is needed, therefore, not to overdose on Vitamin D through supplement additions to the diet.

The recommended dose varies depending on whether you get enough sun, how good your diet is, and what conditions you are treating, but a safe dose seems to be about 400IU daily for most people.

Some sources give between 400IU and 800IU per day, but it is better to be on the safe side. A large dose of Vitamin D over a period of about six months or less will cause many of the symptoms which you experience when your Vitamin D levels are low. Do not over-do Vitamin D.

Risk of Using Rat Poison

Read merrilyn’s  ‘Organic Rat Poison’ for a homemade rat poison idea.  This post gives some organic solutions to  the problem of rats and mice.

About a week ago I saw a commercial pest eradication van leaving our hotel grounds in Glenfield. I hadn’t seen the driver at work, so I wasn’t sure what he was up to. Was it going to be a fumigation of our rooms, or was he here to lay poison for rats. Either way, I thought it would mean trouble. After a few days I could taste poison  around the hotel. My vision was affected. For days it was blurred and my eyes bloodshot and burning. I had terrible pain in the heart when lying down. This, for me, is  always a symptom of  chemical poisoning, usually rat poison. I had a serious headache, nausea and a runny nose. I also had several days with diaorrhea, brought on by the intestinal flora being upset and the acidophillus being killed off. My joints seemed frozen when I went to do my piano playing jobs. My mental function was also impaired. I could tell because piano pieces that I normally play well were a struggle to perform. The slowed up mental state and the frozen nature of my fingers and arms really was a big concern.

The poison  seemed to be everywhere – in the kitchen, and even out in the garden. I did my yoga-breathing exercise on the lawn- actually to alleviate the severe depression which had hit me this week. But yoga on the lawn, rather than improve the state of depression, was more effective in pin-pointing the reason for the depression which had come on for no apparent reason: No doubt now – this was for sure a chemically-induced state of depression due to  rat poison. I could taste it on my clothes.I could smell it on my hands. Touching my face after doing the yoga on the lawn caused a burning sensation on the face. Then I realized there were plastic containers which contained rat poison, in the garden, all about the property. One was situated only about 20 feet away from where I had been lying on the lawn for yoga exercises. I had seen a dead rat lying a few feet away from one rat-poison recepticle near the kitchen.

I showered and changed all my clothes immediately, although they were fresh just before doing the yoga. Now they were contaminated. I kept them apart from anything else I might touch or wear. Shoes were the vehicle for the transportation of the pesticide right through the hotel. After realizing this, I removed these before entering my room to avoid contaminating the carpet and everything in the room. Many people live here and walk to and fro the kitchen and other facilities, so before long, traces of the poison had been tramped all over the premises. Only a trace is needed for depression to set in.

I took care not to walk near the rubbish collection area – that seemed to be one of the worst places affected by the poison. I could taste it strongly in this area. Either there was more bait put around this area which I could not see, or rats were carrying the stuff here when they came about their inspections for the night.

Cats must surely be affected as they walk bare-foot over this territory. Birds must be afftected also, as they eat worms off the grass.

My guess is that many people have been suffering depression in our hotel this week. I have noticed that the mood generally hasn’t been as jolly as it usually is.

Now, about five days after putting up this post, I am sure the rodent man has put insecticide around the utility areas as well, which compounds the rat poison problem. These days, unfortunately, poisoning such as this is quite common in New Zealand;  Warehouses, shops, storage facilities, hotels, and other places of accommodation often use drastic methods  to kill insects and this outside method to kill rodents and insects as well.

I encountered  poisoning  such as this when I was in Australia, but at the time, New Zealand definately seemed cleaner and ‘greener’ as far as rodent killer and domestic insecticides went.  However, sadly, I think many Aucklanders  have become increasingly more like the Aussies in their widespread use of rat poison and ant and cockroach killer. We are conditioned by advertising on television and  the very existence of these chemical killer companies. The ‘spray and walk away’ approach teaches us to be generally uncaring and insensitive to our surroundings, our environment, and all the creatures who live in it. As I write this, people are hacking  out beautiful gardens and lopping down trees around Auckland to make less work for themselves and control nature, completely oblivious to the fact that the birds’ habitat is being destroyed and the wonderful colour of a garden is turned to dust. This kind of attitude seems to go hand in hand with toxic chemical usage.
Wellington, by comparison, seems to value its gardens and surroundings. While I was living in Wellington over a three year period, I never encountered problems with toxic chemicals. The cooler climate has something to do with it, but Wellingtonians do seem to be a more gentle, milder-natured lot who just love their city and its surroundings.

Just how one can educate people into respecting the beautiful environment we have here in Auckland, to take care of the gardens, instead of cutting them all out, for the benefit of all;  into not using poisons such as rat and ant and cockroach killers because of  detrimental effect on bird, animal and human life, is something which cannot be achieved in a day. Where are you, Helen Clarke?

Giving Up Smoking

Why You Should  Quit Smoking: Of course smoking is very bad for the health. You might get less colds and flu and enjoy a socially more active life while you are a smoker, but giving up smoking will give you benefits to your health which will far outweigh any positives for remaining a smoker. For a start, your life-span will surely be extended.

DSCO 1536

Smoking damages your eyesight. All that smoke drifting up past the delicate eye membranes actually causes damage to the nerves and the lens of the eye. The sinuses and ears are affected, and you lose your sense of smell.

Chronic Lung Disease results from long term smoking.  Apart from the obvious  damage to the lungs, the heart is affected, your veins get clogged, your blood pressure rises, you run the risk of getting arthritis if you do not already have it, and you are more likely to get cancer anywhere in the body than people who don’t smoke. If you smoke and also work in a toxic environment or use  herbicides and pesticides, then you are more at risk of getting lung cancer, emphysema,  melanoma, heart disease or some other degenerative disease than are non-smokers.

But giving up smoking can be so, so, difficult. Here are some suggestions which might be helpful in getting you on your way to recovery from smoking.

First, you need to change your mindset. Breathing exercises and meditation can help with this. Alternate Nostril Breathing is very good for people giving up smoking. This exercise, while being relaxing, oxygenates the blood and helps clear the lungs of toxins. Deep relaxation exercise such as Yoga Nidra is very good for the general physical and mental health, but also gives you the opportunity to visualize the  improvements and changes you wish to make in your life while you are in a deeply relaxed state of mind. Regular, daily practice of yoga nidra where you state your affirmations to yourself, will really help you in giving up smoking. Other types of meditation are also helpful, as is regular prayer.

See my post on YOGA NIDRA and post on YOGA BREATH and SLEEPING WELL

The best thing is to give up drinking alcohol at the same time, or even before, you plan on giving up smoking. The two go together like a horse and cart. If you continue to drink, you will always feel there is something missing each time you have that glass of wine or that beer. But the other reason is that all alcohol is acid-forming and an acid body makes it very hard to give up smoking. This can be a good part of the reason we become addicted to alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs. Changing the diet to an alkaline one, which includes most fruit and vegetables, is very helpful.

People with hypoglycaemia, that is, fluctuating blood sugar levels, might  find it difficult to give up alcohol and smoking. A diet devoid of sugar, wheat  and yeast products including bread, and dairy products is important in the case of people with low blood sugar levels. Yeast foods are problematic and are best left out of the diet as they contribute to people getting candida. Yeast foods include all alcohol, vinegar, tomato sauce, soya sauce and bread.

Brown rice should be substituted for bread. Rice  is absorbed as sugar more slowly into the bloodstream which means that the blood sugar remains more constant. This is favourable to your health and your emotional state, as you will not feel so tired, depressed or inclined to take a cigarette. Another point in favour of substituting rice for bread, and other wheat-based foods like pasta, is that rice, especially brown rice, is less likely than wheat to make you fat.

Eat plenty of green vegetables, root vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, eggs , fish,whole grains like buckwheat and rice, and meats in moderate amounts. Eat at regular meal-times. Snack on nuts, almonds and a little dried fruit, or fresh fruit, raw carrots and celery during the day. Almonds are a good quality protein: half a dozen a day is a good amount to begin with, then you can increase the amount to about ten.  The combination of nuts and fresh and dried fruits, carrots and celery, can be eaten whenever you have a craving for a cigarette and will not cause you to put on weight, so long as you are avoiding sugars, wheat and dairy products. Eating nuts and fruits etc during the day will help you prevent low-blood sugar  which will help you in giving up smoking.

A diet insufficient in the essential vitamins and minerals can also make us less inclined to give up smoking. Insufficient intake of the essentials can leave us with a semi-permanent state of depression which alcohol and cigarettes – and coffee – temporarily relieve.

A booster of B complex vitamins is important to help with general health and improve your stress levels. Take the stated dose. Niacin is very good, but you do need to talk to a health professional about this one, as it can cause a sudden but temporary  rise in temperature  in some people. If you are able to take it, then it is very good for flushing toxins out of the brain: this effect also helps counteract depression and helps with memory loss.

1000mg of vitamin C morning and night is a good and safe detoxifyer as well as a mild sedative which will help counteract the desire for tobacco. If you do not have candida infection, then standard Vitamin C is fine, but calcium ascorbate is the best form to take, because it is alkaline.

Zinc, magnesium and selenium in moderate doses, all help to counteract stress, depression and the desire for a cigarette.

Homeopathy may be of help.  Read about one remedy which has helped many people http://merrilynhope.com/homeopathic-remedy-to-reduce-craving-for-tobacco/

NOTE: Talk to your health professional to make sure these supplements are not conflicting with any other medication you may be on before you add these to your anti-smoking regime.

Richard Webster has devoted many years to helping people with behavioural problems, including people’s addiction to smoking. He published a booklet which accompanied some tapes  called ‘Ezi-Stop’. This was published by Prestige Marketing 1995.

Richard recommends baking soda to keep the body alkaline. You can brush your teeth with it: a small amount is absorbed through the tissues of the mouth and into the bloodstream. This helps the body towards sustaining an alkaline p h level. Richard recommends putting a dab of baking soda  onto the tongue whenever you have a craving for a cigarette. This helps negate the craving for nicotine.

NOTE: Richard also warns that baking soda should not be used by people who have high blood pressure or who are on low sodium diets. Baking soda is a salt and should not be used in these cases.

So, you are about to give up smoking, maybe for the umpteenth time. Richard recommends signing a contract with yourself- you agree with yourself, that on a certain day, at a certain time, you will throw the rest of the cigarettes away and become a non-smoker.
Make a list of all the benefits to your health and your budget.
Make a plan of what you will eat for breakfast, lunch and tea. Do not leave anything to chance, as you really need to take care of your blood sugar levels and make sure they do not fluctuate. Ensure that you have enough protein included in the diet and eat plenty of cooked greens, raw and cooked fruits, nuts and brown rice.
Eat at REGULAR times of the day – proper meals – sit down to eat, give thanks for the food and give thanks for being a non-smoker.
Eat your healthy snacks between meals -nuts, dried and fresh fruit and vegetables. DO NOT eat any sugar, wheat or dairy-food (butter is usually ok)during this period. It is best to cut these foods out for good. In my experience, it is when my health recovered after following such a diet for many years, that I relaxed my rules and let these problematic foods into my diet because I thought I was “cured” – not so – this caused a drastic decline in my health and I became addicted to alcohol and cigarettes. These days, I am following the old rules again – no sugar, bread, dairy products, except for butter.Consequently, my health is great, and praise God – I am neither a smoker or a drinker.
COFFEE – beware of drinking too much coffee, especially while you are giving up alcohol and cigarettes. Coffee is also addictive. Drinking too much coffee will dehydrate you and deplete your body of the much needed vitamin B and other vitamins and minerals which help you cope with stress. Excess coffee will give you bad skin as well as weaken your kidneys. Dehydration will make you inclined to drink alcohol and to smoke, both of which compound  dehydration of the body tissues

DRINK PLENTY OF WATER while you are giving up smoking. Herb teas and green teas help with detoxifying, and make a pleasant and refreshing change to coffee and tea. Ceylon tea is an antioxidant and is good for the health in moderate amounts – but try to avoid putting milk into the tea. Milk in tea and coffee is possibly the most toxic way we take milk, as the milk solids are rendered indigestible by tannin. Tea with milk puts a strain on the liver because the livercannot process the plastic-like protein which results. Toxins then form in the intestine and are absosrbed into the bloodstream. The poor old  liver then has to try  to remove them.. This  condition of perpetual poisoning can give us addictions to alcohol and cigarettes because these things temporarily disguise the symptoms of stress originating from the liver.

Remember your affirmations, your agreement to yourself and your YOGA NIDRA practice. Eat well. Sleep well.
Good wishes for your giving up smoking – don’t be discouraged if you “fall off the wagon” – simply start again being a non-smoker. Think of how great you are going to feel being a non-smoker. Think of the benefits to your life which you are already beginning to experience. Cut down – cut down – cut out.

Electricity Transformers, Cell-Phones and People

Auric Body Affected By Electricity and Microwaves:  I have always been sensitive to electricity, however, excessive wine-drinking had severly undermined my health in the three year period prior to 1998, so I guess at this time I was  very fragile, more vulnerable to bad influences, and that my judgement was impaired.

I bought not one, but a second house in a gold-mining town. This did my health no good at all because of the high electro-magnetic energies at this location.

Even when I had stopped drinking, whilst living in this town, my health contined to deteriorate rapidly. This deterioration was noticeable after living with a friend who had a transformer in the front of her house: I stayed there for three months, after which time I was so ill with bone pain, depression, blurred vision and all the classic symptoms of radiation sickness from an electrical transformer, that I was forced to move away. Three months of living in Hawkes Bay at the beach cured me, after which time I returned, unwisely, to the gold-mining town, to the second house I had bought there.

This house was a disaster – I hardly got to live in it at all, because the transformer which I had judged to be a sufficient distance away, was not far enough away for me, and because two cell-phone towers which I had not taken into account when I bought the house, were placed on the hills nearby.

The section was large and beautiful, with many fruiting and exotic trees. Iat was possible for me to move well away from the force-field of the electrical transformer by pitching a tent down the back of my garden and live with nature. One would have expected good results for curing electricity sensitivity with this approach: the more you “earth” yourself, the better; the fewer electrical disturbances about you, the better. But, while being outside in the garden drew me away from the transformer, I could do nothing about the cell-phone towers and their harmful energies, nor the energy below me which seemed to suck out my life force: this second house was on the opposite side of the mine to the first house, and was very much worse than the first, being closer to the perimeter of the mine.

My health continued to deteriorate. My hair was falling out by the handful. Sharp, stabbing pains in the skull accompanied by an intense burning sensation over the skull, dizziness,  “white-outs” in the brain, which affected my ears by simply shutting down the hearing facility for seconds at a time, and heart palpitations, all became more regular. This continued all the while I remained at this location.

I would escape by getting further into the country and spending a couple of nights in the car. Miraculously, all symptoms would disapear and I would feel great. Then I would return to the house in the town by the gold-mine only to have these troubles start all over again.

Consequently, I never stayed longer than a week or two at this house, with most of the nights spent sleeping in the car.

There were two other reasons which I suspect heightened my electricity and cell-phone sensitivity, apart from the fact that I was being zapped by excessive amounts of both:

Any gold-field has a high aura of energy about it because of the magnetic quality of quartz crystals and other minerals which accompanies gold in its natural state.

These energies, I believe, can be healing in small doses. Many people from the city go to a town such as this one, to heal themselves or undergo some sort of personal transformation. I needed both. However, in my experience, it was imperative that, once the healing had occurred (i.e. quitting alcohol, thanks to the many friends who had helped me there), that I should move on. By staying, I was continuing to expose myself to natural energies that were of such a high frequency and dynamic force as to be damaging in the long term.

The second suspected reason for chronic electricity and cell-phone sensitivity developing whilst living in a gold-mining town was this: A relatively new “technology” had been developed to make mining gold more economical, in terms of expenditure of money and time, over finding the gold lines underneath the ground. This technique was being used in this town at the time, and was written about in the local paper. It involved the electrifying of the underground to trace the gold. Huge bolts of electricity were sent along underground, their paths would track the gold, and so the mining company had half of their work done. Too bad that houses were built right around the perimeter of the gold-field and the area which was being considered for mining. Incidentally, some of these houses, about the same time, actually collapsed because the earth under them caved in, and one whole street next to the mine was vacated permanently and bought up by the mining company.

Had any consideration been shown as to the effect these massive bolts of electricity might have on the people living above the gold? Was a resource consent used? Were people warned when this might be done?

I suspect “NO” to all of these.

(Another downside to living in this mining town was the cyanide pond not too far away)

I finally abandoned this house – nobody else seemed to want to live there either, and so it was difficult to rent or sell it. I figured the Angels had something else in mind for me, and so I quit the house at a loss, with not a bit of regret. One’s health is more important than property ownership, and if you must abandon your possessions for health’s sake, or peace of mind, or for the further development of mind and soul, then you’d best get on and do it, I thought.

N.B. see article “Ridding the Body of Electro-magnetic Energies” and other related articles on this web-site for more information.