|
Television,
radio and the print
media are saturated with advertisements for medications. Each comes
with a list
of cautions and side effects. We are not going to discuss this type of
side
effect.
Most
people try alternative
treatments when they have a problem or issue and have given up on the
medications and surgeons. Often they turn to the alternatives when the
“main
stream” solutions have had devastating side effects. The
natural treatments normally
have no adverse side effects, but the often do have beneficial side
effect.
Many
years ago we started to use
Native American spirit flutes. We, like many people, find them to be
very
calming. At the end of a busy day, playing the flute calms and restores
us.
There
are several side effects,
or side benefits, to playing the flute. One of the most obvious is that
playing
the flute is a great lung exercise. It helps to increase lung capacity.
Others
are less obvious. Playing
the flute in our yard we had neighbors coming from blocks away,
following the
sound. At events, we are asked to play the flute at the drumming
ceremonies.
The flute reaches out and brings community.
Many
of the natural products are
taken for one purpose and have other beneficial side effects. The most
basic
natural product that is taken is water. Most weight control diets
specify that
water needs to be taken as part of the diet.
An
increase in water intake will
reduce or eliminate dehydration. Carbonated drinks, alcohol, many
herbal teas,
coffee and other drinks that contain caffeine are diuretics, cause
dehydration.
Headaches, Charley horses and many other symptoms are associated with
dehydration.
Exercise
is another of the
natural treatments that many people take. It has a great number of side
effects. Although the health of the cardiovascular system or weight
loss are
the reason most people start exercising, exercise increases the energy
level,
better than Red Bull or coffee. The increase of energy that comes from
exercise
continues while the energy drinks only last for an hour or two. The
roller-coaster ride of the sugar and caffeine reduces the bodies
ability to
regulate itself.
Exercise
also tones the muscles.
Exercise along with re-hydration tightens the skin. The side effect is
that the
person who exercises usually looks younger and acts younger. With
exercise and
water movement becomes easier and more fluid.
Many
years ago there was a comic
who was very overweight. She walked onto the stage of one of the talk
shows.
The host looked at her walking onto stage and, as soon as she sat down,
said
"Have you lost weight." She responded "No, I walk thin." He
stammered for a few seconds and them asked her what she was talking
about. She
then got up walked off stage, turned around and waddled back onto the
stage and
flopped into the chair. His eyes grow wide because she look twenty
pounds
heavier by waddling, as many "fat" people do instead of walking in as
a thin person.
Exercise
and re-hydration help
people move more smoothly. In the first days of most exercise programs,
muscles
are built and muscle is heavier than fat cells. In the beginning of an
exercise
program the weight may go up and yet the better deportment will allow
the
person to look thinner. Many of the people who start on an exercise
program
over-exercise. Being in pain causes stiff motions or limping. Neither
helps the
way the person looks when they walk.
We
love licorice tea, more for
the flavor than anything else. As an herb licorice has long been valued
as a
demulcent (soothing, coating agent) and expectorant (rids phlegm and
mucous
from the respiratory tract) and continues to be used by health care
professionals today to relieve respiratory ailments (such as allergies,
bronchitis, colds, sore throats, and tuberculosis), stomach problems
(including
heartburn from reflux), inflammatory disorders, skin diseases, stress
relief,
and liver problems. It has a strange side effect. After drinking
licorice tea,
even with no sweetener, everything else tastes sweeter. The licorice
stimulates
the taste receptors in the tongue. That is how it got the name sweet
root.
Home
cooked meals are often
taken as a method of better nutrition. Most processed foods add one
seasoning
to increase the flavor. As we all know, profits and not health drive
the food
company's decisions. So they use the cheapest additive that increases
the
flavor, salt. In home cooking the amount of salt is usually much less.
Likewise, when people stop drinking pop and bottled fruit juices and
start to
drink water and use a juice extractor, the amount of sugar or
artificial
sweeteners are reduced. High blood pressure and regulating blood sugar
(diabetes or hypoglycemia) are more easily regulated. After weeks of
having
foods with reasonable levels of salt and sugar the processed foods
start to
taste like salt or sugar and the other flavor fade by contrast. Real
food taste
much better than processed food, after just a few weeks, and it is hard
to go
back.
When
a person starts to
meditate, the calm that shows in the face helps to calm others. The
calm from
others helps the person who meditates stay calm. Meditation lasts
longer than
medication and helps the person who takes it and also the people
around.
This
type of side effect can be
easily tested. Go to any store and keep a smile on your face. When you
are at
the checkout counter talk pleasantly to the clerk, do not hold up the
line.
Watch the reaction of the people. The clerk will start to smile and the
next
person in line will smile back at the clerk. Next time try a frown.
Like the
smile the frown will continue. It is much nicer to go around in a world
of
smiles than a world of frowns.
The
better you feel the easier
it is to smile. The more you smile the more those around you will
smile. The
more they smile the better they will feel. The better they feel the
better you
will feel and the more you smile the better the world becomes.
Here
are some of the alternative
treatments that have large beneficial side effects: walks in the wood,
holding
a child, watching a bird, listening to a brook, eating a fresh piece of
fruit,
etc. You might want to make up a list of your favorite alternatives.
Then list
the side effects that you see or hear or taste for each of these.
Side
effects should be
beneficial. If the side effects are detrimental than new treatments are
needed
to offset the side effects. If the side effects are beneficial than
other
treatments can be set aside.
Your
goal
should be to return your body, mind and spirit to a natural state of
health.
You should, without thought, be self regulating. Let all of your side
effects
be beneficial to yourself and those you come in contact with. In that
way we
all have a hand in healing the world.
.
Return
|
