Depression: Helping Yourself Through

Depression is a cruel disease. Other illnesses simply don’t rob you of your very motivation to get better the same way that depression does. You feel that nothing will ever change, so there is no point trying. One of the key things to understand is that depression can be caused by simple imbalances in your hormones and the nutrients within your body … while it makes life at large seem idiotic and pointless, your life isn’t usually the cause of your depression. If drugs only make you feel worse (as they do for many depression patients) and you're undergoing natural treatment of depression, today we are looking at some strategies to help make this period of your life nothing but a memory.

Early treatment

This is critical … while we hear this about many illnesses, it is especially true in depression. When you think or feel a certain way, neuronal pathways in the brain are activated. The longer they stay activated, or the more repetitively they are activated, the easier it becomes for signalling to work on that pathway in future. If you fail to get help early, you are literally teaching yourself to be depressed. If you know what the doctor is going to say and you don’t like it, there are plenty of natural treatments for depression that you can try.

Nutritional Supplements

When you are depressed, you don’t necessarily eat right -- and this only contributes to the cycle. Break it with effective nutritional support for depression.

Do something you love

Depression takes all the color out of activities, I know… I've been there too! But it is essential when you are feeling depressed to do things that you like doing, that once inspired you and energized you. This is a key step in the natural treatment of depression.

Set realistic goals

Understand that you are ill -- although it might not have been caused by a virus, the way your body reacts is not completely under your control when you are depressed. If you can’t do the ironing AND make dinner, don't stress. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it -- that's what loved ones are there for.

Avoid alcohol and drugs

The term "self-medicating" is very much a misnomer with depression. Alcohol frequently makes the problem worse -- when you are hung over the next day, it often triggers a massive bout.

Exercise

Exercise is one of the most potent natural treatments of depression -- it is both preventive and cure. Make sure it is an activity you like -- take an mp3 player walking, go swimming and enjoy the calm and quiet underwater, or find a nice outdoor spot for some individual yoga.

Why Your Adrenal Glands Could be the Cause of Your Weight and Mood Problems

Okay, I'd just like to qualify the above statement a little. Your adrenal glands aren't actually tiny villains sitting above your kidneys, plotting to make your life hard! However, when we expose our adrenal glands to constant stress (from our environment), adrenal fatigue can result. If you've tired the poor little guys out, you are probably experiencing poor concentration, low moods, low tolerance to noise and stressful situations, and often difficult to shift excess weight. We explain the process of adrenal fatigue, and look at alternative health products and lifestyles to cure it.

What do the adrenal glands do?

The outer layer of the adrenal glands produces cortisol. The center of the gland produces adrenaline.

These hormones help our body go into a fight-or-flight state when faced with a stressful event. However, this state takes precedence over all other metabolic functions -- basically, if your stress hormones are constantly kicked in, they prevent the rest of your body from working properly.

Events that affect your adrenals

The stressful events that trigger the adrenal response (and overtake all your other functions) are prevalent in modern life. This is why there have been plenty of alternative health products developed to compensate! These events can include:

• Death of a loved one
• Relationship troubles
• Work stresses
• Financial trouble
• Reliance on stimulants like caffeine and sugar
• Skipping meals
• Illness and infection

The functions these events impair

We mentioned that other metabolic processes are shunted to the side when stress occurs. These processes can be things like:

• Normal healing
• Bone growth
• Hormone production, including melatonin, serotonin, dopamine, thyroid hormone, etc
• Digestion
• Mental function -- electrical transmission in the brain
• Immune function

DHEA - Where alternative health products come in

DHEA is the antidote to cortisol, if you will. It is the hormone that helps us calm down after something stressful occurs. When cortisol is produced in large amounts, consistently over time, we lose the ability to make normal levels of DHEA. Taking an alternative health product containing DHEA can help you overcome low mood and energy levels, decreased sex drive, anxiety, weight that can’t be shifted (a stressed body wants to hang onto its energy stores!), and even allergies.

Inflammatory Depression

Depression is now seen to be in the top three illnesses affecting the aging population. The leading cause of death people younger than 35 in some areas of the world, according to a recent Australian study, is actually suicide. Untreated chronic depression is linked with a whole host of other diseases, including dementia, Alzheimer's and coronary heart disease. New schools of thinking are starting to suggest that inflammation could play a part in developing depression. Today we are looking at the rationale behind that thought, and the alternative health products that can reduce inflammation in your body to help reduce your risk of becoming depressed.

Chris Meletis, a naturopath, points to a growing body of evidence that the natural mood enhancers that are often prescribed to treat depression (Specific Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs, for example) also have anti-inflammatory properties, and these may actually be the reason that people feel better after taking them.

Evidence for the above

Male patients with increased early life stress have shown an enhanced inflammatory response to psychosocial stress later in life. (Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2006)

Patients with bipolar disorder were also found to have higher serum levels of the inflammation marker C-Reactive protein. (Published in the Programs of Neuropsychopharmacological Biological Psychiatry October 2006).

Possible remedies through alternative health products

Melatonin is a critical part of this equation, and alternative health products that provide glandular support to the pineal gland may be of special use in treating depression. We know that going without sleep makes us feel depressed, and we also know that going without sleep decreases our melatonin levels. It is a fact that melatonin is involved in regulating the anti-inflammatory response, as well as being responsible for circadian rhythms. Alternative health products that provide the support the pineal gland needs to function properly could help depressed patients feel better with much more natural substances.

Drug free treatment of depression

You can give those alternative health products a boost along their way to your better health by doing the following:

• Stop eating foods that produce an inflammatory response -- trans fats, refined carbohydrates and gluten are the number one offenders. For some people, dairy, eggs, soy and nuts may also be.
• Eat plenty of essential fatty acids -- if you don’t eat fish, get these through a natural health supplies store.
• Eat plenty of fruit, vegetables and fresh herbs and spices such as garlic, oregano, turmeric, ginger and green tea.

Oo, Baby! Five Benefits of Colostrum

Colostrum is a yellowish, thin milky substance produced by new mothers of every mammalian species in the first days after they give birth, before their breast milk comes in. It is enormously rich in immune factors and growth factors, and packed with nutrients. We don’t need to stalk new mothers in hospital and replace their babies with ourselves, however -- sources from goats and cows are almost as effective as human colostrum. Today we are looking at five of colostrum nutritional supplement's most significant benefits.

Warding off colds, flus, irritable bowel syndrome and diabetes

Research by Immuron, an Australian company, is showing promising early results that suggest that hyper-immunized colostrum nutritional supplements (which are available when the cow has been immunized against certain pathogens), could help prevent diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes and even the gastrointestinal consequences of AIDS.

Athletic ability

Double blind studies at the Australian Institute of Sport by trainers (as reported on science program Catalyst) have shown that athletes who take colostrum increase their muscle strength by 5-10% over those taking a placebo, recover faster, and also miss fewer days of training due to minor illnesses like influenza.

Gastric diseases

Colostrum has been found by some studies to be especially effective against gastric diseases, especially bugs like Escherichia coli, salmonella, helicobacter pylori, and others such as clostridium and staphylococcus.

Potential stress effects

Some studies have suggested that colostrum can also have an effect on the brain for natural treatment of depression and low moods -- lambs that were tube fed colostrum as compared to saline (directly into their stomach, so taste was not a factor) reduced their distress bleating. The effects of colostrum can be seen in the hypothalamus, the insular cortex and amygdale.

Proteins and Vitamin A

Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant, and this natural source is one of the best ways to ensure you have enough of it. Protein is one of the most useful ingredients in milk itself (the fat we can live without!), meaning that colostrum nutritional supplements has a high concentration of what we want from milk, but not what we don't.

5 Kids That NEED Nutritional Supplements -- 3 That Don't

The debate over children's vitamins and minerals has raged over the past 15 years, since figures about the widespread use of children's vitamins have come to light. Not all kids need multivitamins, or even supplements of some minerals. However, there are some situations where the modern convenience of vitamins and minerals in pill, powder and liquid form really are necessary. We look at five types of kids who need nutritional supplements, as well as three types of kids that shouldn't necessarily have them.

1. The lactose intolerant child

Calcium is an essential mineral during childhood, when teeth and bones are being formed … and also when their strength is being tested by falls off fences! If your child gets an upset tummy from drinking milk or eating dairy, like many do, then calcium supplementation is appropriate.

2. The rainwater kid

If your family lives on well water, you must be enjoying the delicious taste of water straight from the ground! However, well water is not fluoridated, so cavities are a risk. Fluoride nutritional supplements can be inexpensive alternatives to fluoridated bottled water.

3. The hydroponic garden kid

Growing our own vegetables is becoming more common, with hydroponic bench-top setups making plenty of veggies tasty and easily accessible. However, if many of your vegetables come from hydroponic sources then you and your kids will be missing out on important minerals that usually come from the soil.

4. ADD kids

There is increasing evidence to show that an omega-3 rich diet can help with attention deficit disorder. If you want to support your child's brain naturally, omega-3 supplements like fish oil are a quick and easy way to do that.

5. Bedridden kids

If you have a chronically ill child, then the last thing they need is a vitamin deficiency to play further havoc with their health. We normally get Vitamin D from sunshine -- if your child doesn't get 10 minutes of sunshine a day for a few days, then vitamin D supplements may be appropriate.

Kids that don’t need nutritional supplements:

• Kids that don’t like some fruits or vegetables -- they'll get plenty of nutrients from others, or from juice, without nutritional supplements
• Children that have fluoridated water for drinking -- excess fluoride can cause tooth staining.
• You have a fussy eater aged over 4 -- kids over 4 are old enough to learn that if they don't eat their vegetables, they don’t eat anything.

Natural Goes Mainstream

Here’s something you simply can’t ignore…

As advocates of the natural health movement, we’re always on the lookout for pertinent information that supports our agenda. Well, you can imagine how our ears perked up when we read this article posted by Fox News. And because we’re always interested in getting natural medicine to go more mainstream, this one goes way up there on our “that’s WAY UP” list!

The following news report was written about Reiki Therapy…

At one of the top U.S. trauma hospitals, a nurse circles a patient's bed, humming and waving her arms as if shooing evil spirits. Another woman rubs a quartz bowl with a wand, making tunes that mix with the beeping monitors and hissing respirator keeping the man alive.

They are doing Reiki therapy, which claims to heal through invisible energy fields. The anesthesia chief, Dr. Richard Dutton, calls it "mystical mumbo jumbo." Still, he's a fan.

"It's self-hypnosis" that can help patients relax, he said. "If you tell yourself you have less pain, you actually do have less pain."

Alternative medicine has become mainstream. It is finding wider acceptance by doctors, insurers and hospitals like the shock trauma center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

People turn to unconventional therapies and herbal remedies for everything from hot flashes and trouble sleeping to cancer and heart disease. They crave more "care" in their health care. They distrust drug companies and the government. They want natural, safer remedies.

"Herbals are medicines," with good and bad effects, said Bruce Silverglade of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Fifteen years ago, Congress decided to allow dietary and herbal supplements to be sold without federal Food and Drug Administration approval. The number of products soared, from about 4,000 then to well over 40,000 now.

Ten years ago, Congress created a new federal agency to study supplements and unconventional therapies. But more than $2.5 billion of tax-financed research has not found any cures or major treatment advances, aside from certain uses for acupuncture and ginger for chemotherapy-related nausea. If anything, evidence has mounted that many of these pills and therapies lack value.

Yet they are finding ever-wider use…

There’s much more to this story yet to come…stay tuned for our next posting to learn more about Reiki Therapy and its use at mainstream hospitals!

Testify for Natural Health

For many years, alternative health care was considered inferior to standard practice. However, over the past several decades, alternative health care has become widely accepted as a legitimate and highly beneficial approach to wellness. In fact, clinical studies in scientific research have proven that many alternative healthcare treatments are just as beneficial, if not more so, than standard synthetic drugs, and without the side effects. What does this mean for you? Well, the answer is fairly simple. It means that you can treat your body well, use natural and homeopathic ingredients and treatments, and still reap the same or better benefits you would if you paid a fortune to a pharmaceutical company.

You'll be astounded at the many benefits your body can reap through the intake of natural supplements. And because not all supplements are created equally, settling for second-best shouldn't be an option. Shop online for the best and most successful natural supplements on the market today, you’ll be feeling great in no time (and you’ll probably have saved some money to boot)!

There are countless testimonials proving people who embark on a holistic regimen for healthcare experience a dramatic increase in vitality and a decrease in symptoms. But you don't have to take our word for it. If you're interested in experiencing the benefits a natural approach to health care can have on your current state of mind and state of physiology, consider embarking on an alternative supplement intake program.

In the past, we’ve also discussed the fact that you can use alternative medicine, holistic approaches to healing, and all natural supplementation in the prevention of disease as well. In short, you don't have to wait until you're sick to begin a holistic supplement preventative program. As such, you should consider spending some time researching the many available holistic approaches to health and well-being.

If you've reached the point in your life where your health is becoming issue, or perhaps you've tried all the other approaches and nothing seems to work, consider changing gears and looking into the natural alternatives. You'll be astounded at the many benefits your body can reap through the intake of natural supplements.