Natural Medicine and Essential Oils

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Ann Bartlett

In the last couple of years, essential oils have been making a comeback in many massage therapy practices. Essential oils – also known as aromatherapy – have been used to bolster the relaxation effect, but some practitioners take it to higher level of healthcare. They see essential oils as medicine.

Today, as I write I can reach into my purse for citrus and mint blend. Next to my bedside table, I can reach for Clary Sage if I am struggling to sleep. My “medicine kit” is comprised of essential oils and various blends. There is not a day that I do not utilize essential oils in almost everything I do. They support me in my writing, teaching, and healing work. They assist me as I manage the physical and emotional needs of my day. They play a central role in how I clean and purify my home.

Illness and pain, whether acute, chronic, or fleeting are usually attempts that beg us to slow down and to attend to ourselves in ways that are necessary to our growth. Illness and pain are calls to exceptional self-care. How we empower ourselves to find health and a comfortable, happy place within ourselves can come from the essence of the world around us.

Essential Oils in Medicine

Among the NIH research on tea tree oil, one article stated:

“A paradigm shift in the treatment of infectious diseases is necessary to prevent antibiotics becoming obsolete, and where appropriate, alternatives to antibiotics ought to be considered. There are already several nonantibiotic approaches to the treatment and prevention of infection, including probiotics, phages, and phytomedicines. Alternative therapies are viewed favorably by many patients because they are often not being helped by conventional therapy and they believe there are fewer detrimental side effects. In addition, many report significant improvement while taking complementary and alternative medicines. Unfortunately, the medical profession has been slow to embrace these therapies, and good scientific data are still scarce. However, as we approach the “postantibiotic era” the situation is changing. A wealth of in vitro data now supports the long-held beliefs that TTO has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Despite some progress, there is still a lack of clinical evidence demonstrating efficacy against bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. Large randomized clinical trials are now required to cement a place for TTO as a topical medicinal agent.”

2 Essential Oils For Specific Health Conditions:

Tea Tree oil. According to a study, Tee Tree oil is used as an adjunctive treatment to kill certain bacteria, namely MRSA – a type of skin infection that can be very antibiotic resistant.

Have young children? Consider the combination of tea tree oil and lavender for treatment of lice and dust mites. For a natural treatment, add 10-15 drops of tea tree to shampoo to naturally kill lice.

Lavender “A surprising, small study in Unbound Medlinelooked at Lavender oil for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, inclusive Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The goal of the study was to look at the therapeutic effects of lavender oil on mice suffering with acute colitis caused by a bacterium called citrobacter rodentium. The study concluded that the lavender oil promoted the probiotic microbiota and increased bacteria and the intestine’s cellular activity to fight infection. Lavender has been regarded as an essential oil that encourages the relaxation response, but scientific research that tested the theory was inconclusive. However, I believe that it’s a balancing act. Sometimes that added smell of something sweet or floral coupled with a massage teaches the body how to relax and through the senses adds memory for the body to know lavender is about relaxing.

Begin your living-well journey with something fragrant and healing.

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Where Have All The Honey Bees Gone?

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Ann Bartlett

Are you a honey fan? Honey is one of the natural sweeteners everyone thinks to use. But honey has been hit by bad business and bees have also been hit by something sinister.

Recently, a client started beekeeping and owns King Street Bees. In talking to my client, I learned that honey, locally grown, is where I need to spend my money…. Honey! (Couldn’t resist)

European_honey_bee_extracts_nectar

Some facts have come to light about honey, and all who buy supermarket honey be warned, it’s not the honey your mom used to buy.

In 2011, Food Safety News tested US grocery store honey and found that it wasn’t exactly honey. Honey has become highly filtered, thus removing the pollen that makes it possible to determine where the honey came from. By removing the microscopic pollen, the honey failed the quality test needed to meet the standard for food safety division of the World Health Organization.

Under the guidelines of the WHO food safety division, if there is no pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from a legitimate and safe source. The FDA has said “Ultra filtered honey, that contains no pollen, is no longer honey.”

To add to the concern, some highly filtered honey goes through a procedure where the honey is heated, then forced through small filters to remove the pollen. This is a spin off of a technique refined by honey manufacturers in China, and who have dumped tons of their honey into the US market containing some illegal antibiotics. To read the complete article, click here.

Buying from a local beekeeper is a great option, plus supports your local economy. However, our beekeepers are struggling with another problem, one that feels far more sinister.

A new movie called More than Honey examines a curious and serious worry for beekeepers. It is the disappearance of honeybees. As a kid, I remember have a bee sting almost every summer.  Now I almost never see a bee to even think about that problem.

Over the last 15 years, the US estimates that a total of 1.5million, out of 2.4million hives have disappeared. Numerous bee colonies have been decimated around the world with no evidence of the cause. Depending on the region, as much as 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic continues to spread from beehive to beehive. No bodies can be found and no predators involved.

Aside from the fact that we may jump for joy at not having to worry about bee stings, there is a serious environmental impact. Roughly, 80% of plant species require bees to be pollinated. Without bees, there is loss of pollinization and the potential loss of fruits and vegetables could become catastrophic.

Scientists have given the phenomena a name "colony collapse disorder." They believe that it is a combination of factors causing the demise of bees. Pesticides, parasites, EMF that disturb the magnetite nanoparticles found in a bees belly, and travelling stress, which all of these have reduced immune function for bees. (Reduced immune response? Sound familiar?)

Albert Einstein crystalized the relationship of bees and humans in this comment: "If bees were to disappear from the globe, mankind would have 4 years left to live." Let's hope beekeepers, who tend to hives, can find a way to stop the colony collapse disorder and bring bees back to healthy productive levels.

To try an amazing honey taste try, the one and only, Tupelo Honey.

To understand more about bees and their colonies: Marla Spivak: Why Bees Are Disappearing

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How to Choose A Style of Massage That Is Best for You

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Ann Bartlett

Style is something that is a personal preference, and like fashion, different body types need a certain style, and this is true of massage, too.

massage therapist getting under the shoulder blade.

massage therapist getting under the shoulder blade.

Most of my clients, who come in for the first time, often choose Swedish/therapeutic. But what does that mean? Then they explain, they are in agony from a workout! Muscles are cramping and suffering deep fatigue from not sleeping well. In my mind (and experience), those two comments would warrant another choice, something that would be deeper and more penetrating to the muscles. The reason is that a cramp needs direct pressure to stop it, if you have a Charlie horse in your foot would you take a feather to relieve the cramp? No! In most cases, you are jamming your toes on the floor trying to stretch the bottom of the foot to relieve the cramp. Basically, deep tissue massages do the same thing.

In choosing a massage, I think a great place to start with is your head. Mental stress sometimes requires a lighter touch, while physical fatigue needs more deep penetrating pressure and most therapist can bridge those two needs.

How to determine the styles on a menu

Swedish/Therapeutic Massage – Therapeutic is the most common style of massage of all that are out there. Swedish involves soft strokes and kneading strokes in rhythmic motion, with light tapping on the top layers of muscles. There are four strokes that make up Swedish massage:
“¢ Effleurage: a smooth, gliding stroke used to relax soft tissue.
“¢ Petrissage: the squeezing, rolling, or kneading that follows effleurage.
“¢ Friction: deep, circular movements that cause layers of tissue to rub against each other, helping to increase blood flow and break down scar tissue.
Tapotement: a short, alternating tap done with cupped hands, fingers, or the edge of the hand.
Every nationally certified massage therapist has been trained in Swedish/therapeutic. Certifications for other styles come under their own certification process.

Deep Tissue Massage – This, by far, is the most popular style at Body in Balance Center. Deep tissue is not a certified style, like Swedish, but it is really applied to amount of pressure. This request is best for those who have “trouble spots.” Pressure is applied slowly with deliberate strokes that focus on the areas of tension, or chronic pain.

Sports Massage is a certified style of massage. It is usually done with clothing on and without lotion, or with very little lotion. Sports massage is usually available at larger events and is very helpful post race, when muscles are more likely to see injury, or small tears. Products like tiger balm, or biofreeze to help manipulate the muscles to release.

Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) – Like deep tissue massage, NMT uses pressure, but specifically looking for trigger points to release the muscle. Once a trigger point is located in the muscle, pressure is placed on the TP, and held, until the point softens. Strokes are used to help with nerve compression, postural issues and repetitive movement injuries. It’s more medically oriented then other forms of massage and the results can be astonishing! Neuromuscular Therapy is a certified style.

Rolfing Structural Integration is a form of bodywork that focuses on the connective tissue, called fascia, of the entire body. Named after its founder Ida Rolf, Rolfing works on the web like complex of connective tissue to help release and realign and bring to balance the body’s structure and soft tissue to improve movement and restore flexibility. It should be noted that Rolfing is deep and can be uncomfortable at times, but the results can be amazing for something that has been a chronic problem!

Thai Yoga Massage is performed fully clothed and done on a mat, or futon. The client lies on the mat and the practitioner places the client into stretches, or poses, and then applies hand pressure to gently stretch and lengthen the body. Fabulously relaxing for body and mind. Over the last 8 years, Thai Yoga Massage has become very popular and more places are offering it. Don’t be shy to try it!

Like clothing, the best way to find your style of massage is to try it on.  Some you’ll like, some you’ll love and some won’t be a fit at all.

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Make Water More Appealing And Defy Aging

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Ann Bartlett

When we are young we want to be grown up.  When we reach a certain age, we want to be young.  And for some, the youthful look” is bought.

What do we really know about defying age?  Age is far more than skin deep; and, what I mean by that, is beauty starts within the cells.  Cellular activity adds to aging.  As we get older, our cells age and just aren’t able to regenerate as quickly. They don’t rebuff our physical insults (aka, intense exercise, rich foods, alcohol and other excesses) as well.

But what if I told you there was a magic pill, one that is free, healthy and helps to eradicate our indulgences? Know what it is?  Water. Agua. H2O. Believe me?

Our blood is comprised of 83% water, our brain is comprised of 74% water and our bones are comprised of 22% water. A 1% loss in body weight is due to loss of water, or dehydration.  And more than that you suffer serous illness.

The skin craves water.  With proper hydration, the skin looks healthier by reducing wrinkles.  Just like a plant, if skin does not have enough water, it withers. It helps to increase natural sweating, which clears the pores and helps to detoxify the skin from normal cell debris.

Water is also a appetite suppressant. Water helps the body metabolize fat better and naturally suppresses hunger. Weight watchers is an advocate for drinking more water.  They encourage one gallon a day to help decrease appetite.

But many hate the plain taste of water.  And plain may even be an exaggeration! Adding lemon can help, but suppose lemon isn’t your flavor.  What to do?  This summer, I came across this fantastic invention: Fruit Infused Water Pitcher from Prodyne, and I love it!!!

 

This pitcher allows you to choose the flavor of the water.  So ingenious! There is a central perforated tube that attaches to the lid that allows you to load in fruits, or any natural food idea you have and let the water steep.   We tried lemon, the obvious first choice, but we did raspberry and concord grape, watermelon, peach and concord grape, and orange.  The best tastes to me have been the citrus because they are more pungent, but the berries and peach, while  less intense, are just lovely.  I bought my pitcher on amazon.

I want to hang on to my inner health, so that my outward appearance looks radiant.  Age is mind over matter, in addition to being well hydrated.  I’ll drink to that!

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Combat Your Sugar Cravings!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Ann Bartlett

Update 11/12/2015 – FDA has recently updated their recommendations for sugar, click here to read, and at the G20 meeting, diabetes experts pushed global leaders for a tax on sugar to save lives, click here to read NYTimes article.

Do children miss anything by having limited sweet choices?  I think the obvious answer is no, but so many parents go through the emotional rollercoaster of dealing with forced denial and children go through what should be an easy indulgence that has to be denied. I thought the development of taste buds might be a great thought starter for how everyone should look at food choices.

In utero, babies develop their sense of taste at 21 weeks, and baby learns about flavors through the amniotic fluid that flows in to nourish them and to teach them to swallow.

From day to day, the amniotic fluid differs in taste depending on what mom is eating. If mom eats a wide variety of flavors, then baby has a better chance to develop a wide palate for different foods.  Chances are you can offer your child a great head start to loving asparagus if you eat it while you are pregnant.

But what about developing a taste for sweets?  When amniotic fluid builds up, moms are injected with a sweet substance to get babies to drink more of the amniotic fluid. In truth, babies prefer sweet tastes, and in some cases sweetness eases pain through a natural analgesic effect in the body. So a desire for sweet is  something we learn before we breathe air.

But sugar has an addictive quality. In April, 2012, Dr. Sanjay Gupta did an interview with Dr. Robert Lustig on 60 Minutes called Is Sugar Toxic? (A must watch!)

A study out of University of California gave evidence that increased sugar in the diet showed an exponential increase in LDL and other measures for heart disease.  According to Dr. Lustig, a pediatric endo and expert on the subject, this new evidence is alarm for concern.  Dr. Lewis Cantley, the head of Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, also sees the “sugar concern” for cancer patients because sugar increases insulin, which can be a catalyst to certain types of cancer.

The average American eats roughly 130 lbs of sugar a year, which breaks down to about 1/3 of a pound per day.  If sugar is risky to our health, then what are the AHA guidelines on sugar?

Last October, the AHA finally offered guidelines. Added sugar should be no more that half of your discretionary calories per day.  For the average American woman that means no more than 100 calories per day or 6 teaspoons.  For men, it's 150 calories per day or about 9 teaspoons. “Added sugar” means sugar that is added to foods, like high fructose corn syrup and other refined sugars that are not naturally occurring sugar found in the food.

How much sugar do you consume?  Every time I have a Starbucks grand mocha with whip at Starbucks, my discretionary sugar intake from that drink is 40 grams, or 160 calories.  (Here’s a site to help figure out grams to calories) My mocha has already given me more than my day's allowance of discretionary sugar!

Taste is an important driver to enjoying eating, but it can be tempered and our tastes expanded more than we think.  Variety is important and trying something multiple times in different recipes offers us the chance to find new choices and better health.  Be creative and make it a fun food experiment!

 

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