Health & Nutrition Consultations with Modern Hippie - What do you get?

Modern Hippie's Health & Nutrition Consultations are being scheduled now. Sounds nice, but what does one receive with this service? This service includes Muscle Response Testing (MRT), the method of using the body's natural responses to determine what systems are out of balance.  I'll suggest minerals, herbs and homeopathic remedies to support these systems.  I'll do pH analysis of the body which indicates how your body is functioning on your current diet. Measuring pH is a strong indicator of health or lack therof, as the body must maintain a specific pH for survival. Keeping the body just slightly alkaline instead of acidic can help insure longterm health. Click HERE to find out more about why pH balance in the body is important.  I'll also take a look at the markings in your eyes (Iridology) which are strong indicators of health in the body.  The eyes don't lie! Lastly I'll prioritize all of my recommendations into a report including the Top 5 Priority Changes to be made, with long term goals that we can work towards gradually.  

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Homeopathic Remedies for Croup~ Safe For All Ages!

There are 3 Homeopathic Remedies for Croup that come to mind: They are all available at a health food store near you! You'll find them available usually by the brand Boiron, in blue tubes.  See the photo to the left for reference.  They are sublingual, meaning that they dissolve under the tongue making them perfect for babies and children, they are side effect free, and do not contraindicate with other medicines.   

1.)Aconite 30C:  Used for the onset of Croup; the cough is dry, loud and barking, and the child is very restless and anxious; the child often wakes very late in the night with the cough. Tell-tale sign that your child needs Aconite is one of the child's cheeks is RED and the other is PALE.  The child's temperament is fearful. 

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Cranberry Juice is Good For a UTI/Bladder Infection, Right?

Well not exactly.  Cranberry Juice (even if it's organic & natural) is a temporary fix & doesn't get to the heart of the problem. PLUS Cranberry Juice is very acidic, helping to form Uric Acid in the body which is BAD for those with fibromyalgia, gout, arthritis, & kidney stones.  Stick with freshly juiced juices instead for maximum benefit to kidneys, bladder & the whole body! :)

And for UTI's, I recommend drinking MORE than half your body weight in ounces daily & the herbs Parsley Leaf, Marshmallow Root, Pau D'Arco & Black Walnut tinctures combined, 20 drops taken 2X's Daily!  Go to your nearest health food store and check it out! :)

Also rubbing the reflex points to the kidneys and bladder shown in the photo above will help those areas of the body to function properly.  Use the thumb to massage these areas from every direction each night before bed for best results. OR email me for pricing on my reflexology sessions.  It's very relaxing and benefits ailments like these GREATLY! 

Feel free to comment or email me with questions at desiree@modernhippie.org. 

Update on Monday, April 16, 2012 by Desiree Winans

I'd like to post a follow up on this entry. I recently learned alot about chronic UTI's working with my Sister. Here's her story, my regiment for her and more. Feel free to reach out to me anytime on this topic. 

This is the regiment that I used for my sister 3 Sundays ago. She was in great pain, during urination, her bladder felt distended, her lower back and kidneys were aching and we knew that the infection was spreading. She was very weak, feverish and completely miserable. She probably would have ended up going to the hospital because she was in so much pain. She has been getting UTI's regularly for years but after getting a course of antibiotics 6 months ago, they have become worse. She has had them every 6 weeks since. 

She didn't want to do the antibiotics this time because she felt that long term, it would do her harm. So below is what I did for her. My recommendation to you is to use HIGH DOSE probiotics for 2 months. 30 billion at least a day. Ideally you would be shooting for 50 billion. Here's a brand that I love: Renew Life, Critical Care. You can get this at many different health food stores but should be bought refrigerated to maintain potency.  You can open the capsule and use powder and put it in water for her with a small amount of freshly juiced apple juice. 

Obviously the doses below are for an adult. If she is around 30lbs, I would quarter the dose ever 4 hours until the symptoms subside. You will want to continue for at least 3 days after the symptoms subside and continue with the probiotic for a month. After that she can take a less potent probiotic for maintenance. 

• I did Meadowsweet (tincture) first for pain, about 60-90 drops (we repeated this at least 3 times in one day)
• A dose of arnica montana (homeopathic remedy) 10M for pain (i had it so I went for it) You could use a 30C which is available at health food stores
• 8 capsules of Olive Leaf (for infection)
• I combined cornsilk, parsley, marshmallow root, pau d' arco tinctures for the renal support
• I gave her another dose of cantharis 30C, (homeopathic remedy) I repeated this every 2 hours, alternating with arnica 30C, waiting an hour in between each. (homeopathic remedies by Boiron are available at most health food stores. 
• I made her parsley tea with peppermint leaf and marshmallow root.( See vitacost.com for teas.)
• She took 6 capsules of olive leaf ever few hours too (a liquid may be taken instead)
• I also kept her taking the tincture of cornsilk, marshmallow and pau d' arco ever few hours too. Buy these in the brand Herb Pharm.
• Gave her a big dose of probiotics today and last night too, she will continue this and most of the regiment for the next few days heavily and then back off a bit.  See probiotic link above.
• We also did a castor oil pack on the kidneys last night with heat which was amazing. 

ALL LIQUID HERBS MAY BE COMBINED WITH RAW HONEY OR MAPLE SYRUP IN WATER TO MAKE THEM TASTE BETTER. 

I hope this helps you. I suggest seeing a naturopath as soon as possible to find out what the underlying cause is. It could be bacteria, candida, or parasites causing this recurrence. LOT's of healthy bacteria for long periods of time is the only way to build you immune system and fight these off. Antibiotics will undermine this. If you've been on regular antibiotics this recommendation for healthy bacteria is even MORE important as it's likely killed off much of your beneficial bacteria. Yogurt alone is not enough. 

Let me know if you have questions. Sissy is doing well now. It was a difficult 10 days or so as the infection had moved up into her kidneys and she was in great pain. It was difficult for me to see as she is my little sister:( Abstaining from antibiotics and attacking this full on naturally to bring balance back to the ecology of the gut is (in my opinion) the only way to correct this permanently .  She is studying to be a nurse and so she is well aware of the protocol of MD's for UTI's, she was under much pressure from school mates and teachers to go get on an antibiotic. She knew that it would temporarily ease the pain but she decided that she needed to go a different route. 

Please let me know if you have questions.

Best to you,

Desiree the Modern Hippie:)

Herbs aren't Drugs, They're Food!

The Majestic Mullein Plant, Lung Support Herb & Much More!A friend reached out to me today & asked me if herbs were standardized.  Standardization takes place in laboratories; isolating compounds from substances so that they can bottle it and make the potencies all the same.  My friend is in nursing school and they mentioned this in class. Very interesting.

When people make the statement, "Herbs can't be standardized; This month you buy a bottle & it's one potency & next month you buy a bottle & it's totally different" is a misunderstanding of herbs entirely. 

One that would make this kind of statement thinks of herbs in terms of pharmaceuticals.  Herbs aren't drugs, they are food. Parsley has a action on the kidney (diuretic), is parsley a drug? No, It's a food.  Same with garlic, & many more foods. My response to this sort of thinking is; Can you standardize an apple?  No.  And no one would ever expect to have standardized apples because apples are food.  Although they do vary in fiber, sugar, minerals & so on based on where they are grown, how good the soil is how long the season was, etc.  Herbs are food too; & yes they will very slightly from crop to crop.  

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Herbs & Natural Dietary Suggestions for Kidney Stones

Kidney stones can be a real pain in the, well- Kidneys!  Renal calculi (a.k.a. kidney stones) are typically lodged in one of the ureters (tube connecting kidney to bladder).  This can block the flow of urine and be very painful.  For some people they experience no pain but the stones can become quite large and must be dealt with as if they continue to grow, they could cause a blockage and become painful down the road.  If the blockage becomes really bad the urine backs up in the kidneys and can cause serious kidney damage. 

Stones are a sign that the body is not in mineral balance.  Since the stones are made mostly of Calcium, this tells a bit about what is happening in the body.

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Want to Detox Your Liver? Start Making Green Drinks with Dandelion Leaf!

A friend on Modern Hippie mentioned wheat grass today and I LOVE wheat grass; it's just not always the easiest thing to come by.  You usually have to get it at a health food store and it's about $3 for 1 ounce! It's tough to make at home, unless you are super dedicated,  live near a whole foods, and have a masticating juicer.  So all these stars don't align for everyone all the time and I'd like to talk about the next best thing, Green Drinks! 

Green drinks only require greens (maybe a piece of sweet fruit), distilled water and a blender.  Distilled water is important as it pulls minerals from the veggies your blending and deposits them into the distilled water which is naturally mineral free.  This is also why drinking distilled water for long periods of time can lead to mineral deficiencies as it will pull minerals from your body! Not good!

What I like to do is get me some nice romaine, green leaf or red leaf lettuce; use about 5 leaves.  Then I pick up something really nice and bitter like Dandelion greens.

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No Matter How Clean You Are, You Can Still Get Lice. Here's How You Get Rid of it Naturally.

A ridiculously common yet still often terribly embarrassing problem is lice in your kids hair- OR in your hair. Here's what to get & what to do. 

Here's your Natural Lice Eliminator Check List:

FIRST; Take a DEEP BREATH! Lice is common, easy to get & nothing to stress over.  You can get this under control & taken care of with the right tools.  Here's the tools you need.

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Dear Modern Hippie, I Want to Do a Quick & Easy Cleanse...

My recommendation would be to do an "Elimination Diet".  If you're already a person that enjoys fruits and vegetables it won't be too hard for you.  If not-so-much, this will be difficult BUT still entirely worth doing:)  

My Elimination diet is all about removing (one day at a time), the foods that create acid in the body and are more difficult for the body to process.  This gives your body a break from the "heavy lifting" of digesting meats, breads, dairy and other acidifying foods and beverages.  When you give your body that "break", it can focus on other tasks at hand, like cleaning out the colon, purging the liver, or cleansing the pores of the skin.  The body knows best and if you give it a chance to heal, it will! 

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Apple Cider Vinegar & It's Relevance to Natural Health

Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar is a health food store staple and my preferred brand.  It's unfiltered, containing what is referred to as the "Mother" that contains healthy bacteria, enzymes and living food. Always look for the "Mother" in any Apple Cider Vinegar that you purchase and preferably buy an Organic variety. Among other benefits it is a fermented beverage which supports healthy bacteria in the intestines, supporting digestion.  

Many people use it with success to combat acid reflux.  Acid reflux isn't a condition of too much acid; it occurs when the stomach doesn't have enough acid when food enters the stomach.

The food sits in the stomach for too long without adequately produced acid.  It then passes partially digested into the small intestine.  Finally, the stomach gets around to producing acids but it's too late, the food has moved on! Too much acid produced in the stomach when there is no food in it, causes stomach upset, erosion of the lining of the stomach, and acids launching up into the esophagus (acid reflux). Food passing partially digested into the small intestine creates malabsorption of nutrients.  The small intestine should only be receiving digested food or "chyme" from the stomach. 

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Why the Federal Government/Monsanto Revolving Door is BAD.

Why is this this revolving door between the Federal Government & Monsanto Corporation a BAD thing?

Because Monsanto controls the majority of the seed patents, they control a vast majority of the food supply. The Federal Government should be regulating (with the FDA & the EPA) the quality & safety of the GMO food grown from Monsanto seed.

Instead of being objective as they should, these Federal Agencies are strategically populated with individuals that have either worked for, consulted for or were board members for Monsanto Corporation interests.

This is a HUGE conflict of interest.

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