What is depression? Is it a passing bad mood or a chronic condition? Does it come on by itself or is it usually accompanied by some other pains or malfunctions that we shake off as something entirely unrelated. Why, when we are suffering from depression, do we not get to the bottom of what that symptom represents, and instead choose to take an anti-depressant to alter our brain chemistry? Did you know that serotonin is not only a brain chemical? Serotonin can be found in the intestines and in the heart. Therefore, could it be so far-fetched to say that if you have a problem irritating your intestines, one symptom of that problem could be depression? Or is depression a vitamin deficiency? Dr. Sherry Rogers, author of Depression: Cured at Last, points out that if you look at the symptoms of any vitamin deficiency, depression is among the top five. Not to mention that using anti-depressants as a solution can go on to cause additional vitamin deficiencies.  Dr. Peter Breggin, author of Medication Madness: a Psychiatrist Exposes the Dangers of Mood Altering Medications states that if you look in the Physician’s Desk Reference at the side effects of SSRIs, you will find that all of them lists depression. In addition, Breggin points out that in order for your body to digest anti-depressants, it needs to deplete certain nutrients, which in the long run causes additional vitamin deficiencies (144) and additional health problems, which you may consider to be unrelated, but are very much indeed a piece of the same puzzle.

Are your muscles sore from working out...or perhaps the cold weather brings out those aches and pains? A quick and easy remedy is magnesium oil. After the shower, rub it into those areas that cause you pain or add four ounces to your bath with some lavender oil or bath salts.

Rebelling against my holistic upbringing for the first thirty years of my life, when the anti-depressant express pulled into town I was all too eager and hasty to jump on. The first couple of years had me feeling great. Gone were all the annoying emotions I spent endless hours battling.  I could finally be me…or a version of me that the pills had me believing was my real self. Stimulated and smiling, I was having too much fun to stop and ask myself: “why—in the first place—are you feeling depressed? After all as Sherry Rogers, MD writes in Depression: Cured At Last, “…depression is not a Prozac deficiency.” However, my psycho-pharmacologist’s level of happiness depended on how many prescriptions for psychotropic drugs he wrote per day, convincing me that my unreliable brain chemistry was craving and deficient in one of the SSRIs he offered.  

Meanwhile, my mother, a follower of everything homeopathic and holistic, kept gently trying to suggest other alternatives. For years, she had been ahead of the health wave, taking vitamins and drinking bran before the rest of us even knew that CoQ10 and fish oil existed. And even though I was a grown woman in my twenties, I still felt the scar left by my fellow grammar school pals, mocking my dark brown seeded bread and strange smelling healthy snacks. I was tired of odorous, green remedies that had to be brewed into a tea or handfuls of horse pills that were detrimental to your immune system. I wanted to feel better, but above all I wanted to be normal like everyone else, ingesting chemicals and medicines.

The U.S. National Poison Data System documents that there was not even one death caused by a vitamin or mineral intake in the year 2007. Published in the journal of CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY: zero deaths reported from intake of B vitamins, A, C, D, E, calcium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron or multiminerals.

Ginger, turmeric, fennel, cardamon, cumin--gifts from our Indian friends. We certainly want to thank our Chinese pals as well for ginger...our Italian and French counterparts for garlic, rosemary, oregano, basil, dill, cayenne and so many others.

Polyphenols, Catechins, Carotenoids.....So O.K., what's with the yard long
words!!??

They describe the magical little phytonutrients (plant nutrients), amazing chemicals that are in plants. They allow the plants to utilize the light of the Sun in the process of photosynthesis to develop their particular and special anti-oxidant properties. Identified by color and taste, they protect the plants from the potential negative aspects of the light of the Sun. Think about it, plants don't get sun-burned, do they?

You can manage any existing health issues as well as prevent new ones by improving your body composition. While research continues to show the advantages of maintaining a healthy body composition, body comp is also gaining further importance in new cutting-edge research. Recently, a three-year study on aging at Tufts University determined that body composition--and more specifcally muscle mass--is the most important factor in determining healthy aging.