Category Archives: bladder

Ghee: Medicinal Uses and How to Make

bladder, bladder pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, ,

Last week I wrote about various cooking oils that when used according to your energy constitutional makeup will bring you closer to balance and harmony  But there is one cooking oil that can be used by everyone anytime (except in moderation for PK people)  This cooking oil comes from unsalted butter, has a very high burning point(technically it’s called smoke point),  and best of all is highly medicinal  As a matter of fact it is a cornerstone in energy science therapies to heal IC bladder pain syndrome, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, and amazingly even vulvodynia

Ghee: A Healthy Home Is Incomplete Without It

Remember when we were young and there was the rare treat of having lobster? Growing up in the Midwest it was an unusual happening but ….

bigstockphoto_Lobster_dinner_5387814What about that golden liquid butter that they served with the lobster for dipping? The menu said it was clarified butter but all I remember was that it was gooood with the lobster  Now the journey with clarified butter has come full circle and I understand it with a different perspective

From an energy science nutritional view clarified butter is named ghee and it’s not just melted butter  The clarification process frees the butter of the harmful fatty acids which are cooked out of the unsalted butter that you begin with   Literally the fatty acids are cooked out and you find them at the bottom of the cooking vessel as a slimy, oily, heavy, static, soft, slow/dull, liquid goo  Why would anyone want to put that into their mindbodies?

But what’s left is actually medicine  A food that is the oily essence of milk and with the fatty acids removed the ama producing qualities of butter go with it  That is, the slimy, heavy, static, soft, slow/dull, and liquid qualities are removed

The medicinal properties of ghee are extraordinary  It stimulates digestive fire, oleates the GI tract hence improving function, penetrates all the tissue layers of the mindbody within twenty four hours, and can serve as an excellent vehicle in proper circumstances to deliver herbs to all tissue layers of the body

The matter science nutritional literature is devoid of understanding the power of this type of food preparation because of its molecular approach to foods and diet  The mindbody is a richer reality than a sophisticated collection of molecules

The Preparation of Ghee

Here’s a link:   http://goo.gl/lJl4oy …… that beautifully takes you through a pictorial step by step process in ghee’s preparation   Pay attention to the last couple of steps so you don’t burn the ghee

But it’s a very simple process to do at home and much less expensive than buying it prepared

The wonderful thing about making your own ghee is that it gets you involved  If you’ve been a member of this energy science community for long you know that I’m all about having you take responsibility for your own healing  Healing doesn’t live in a pill or a magic procedure

No, healing lies in your participation  This is pivotal if you want to heal your IC from an energy science point of view

Detoxification and Ghee

As I have written earlier one of the aspects of healing is detoxification  That is, removing ama from the GIT as well as the peripheral deep tissues and channels  The urinary tract is a channel and as I have alluded to earlier is responsive to detoxification quite easily  Since ghee has similar properties to ama(undigested unprocessed food) which is a result of poor digestive strength(the energy science term for this is agni) when it penetrates tissues energetically it loosens the ama in the tissue and brings it back to the GIT for elimination

So ghee as an internal oleation food is central to the detoxification process if you are so inclined to take on such work  But I would have to say that detoxification is a primary energy science procedure if one is having trouble clearing IC symptoms

To health as a skill  Love DrBill

Cooking Oils: Which Are Best For IC

bladder, bladder pain, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, vulvodynia,

Cooking oil in skilletOils may be overlooked when looking for the “apparent trigger foods” in the IC diet  In the energy science approach there are specific oils that carry the hot quality and these in the end will aggravate the small bowel, the seat of Pitta energy which is as you recall the energy of transformation in the body  These oils if used improperly can produce the bladder pain of the IC bladder pain syndrome

Why would the small bowel be the focal point of transformative energy?  It’s in the small bowel that foods are literally transformed from a vegetable, say broccoli…. and that piece of broccoli is transformed into molecules that can be used by your body for repair or energy to do things  So when oils heat the small bowel they increase the energy pattern of Pitta which is responsible for the burning on urination as well as the pelvic burning that is associated with IC, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, and vulvodynia  IBS is also associated with diarrhea due to the hot quality in the small bowel  The heat of GERD happens in the stomach

Oils That Heat the Small Bowel

Almonds are actually seeds and in the skin of the almond are numerous enzymes that produce transformation so the almond can reproduce itself into another tree  If the skin of the almond is left in place during the production of the oil then the oil will be heating  The same is true for almond butter

Apricot, corn, mustard, safflower, and sesame round the list of oils to avoid

So you should think twice about fried foods in restaurants since you have no control over what kinds of oils are used

Cooling Oils

You may remember that castor oil is heating internally but when applied to the skin it has a cooling effect  This particular fact can be utilized as a treatment effect in terms of utility in the management of IC flares as I’ve written earlier

Coconut and avocado oils can be used like castor externally due to their cooling effect but unlike castor they also have too much of a cooling effect internally so should not be used in cooking  Hence routine use of coconut oil internally, even though the rage from a matter science view currently, is not a good idea as it will disrupt agni which is extremely important for health and improving your chances of healing IC

Sunflower, ghee, canola, olive, soy, flaxseed, primrose, and walnut are most suitable in descending order….so sunflower is the most cooling and walnut the most heating even though it has a cooling effect to the small bowel

So armed with this information you can begin to make better energetic choices around the choice of cooking oils in the kitchen

A Word About Ghee

Ghee or clarified butter is an excellent cooking oil(high burn point)  because not only does it cool the small bowel but its qualities are those of our digestive fire

Said another way, many who have IC have poor agni, ie poor digestive strength  Using ghee on a regular basis helps promote strong digestion and in an indirect way begins healing IC

Anyone with IC should use ghee on a regular basis  In our next post together we’ll discuss how to make this amazing cooking oil

 

Acid Indigestion and IC: 3 Ways to Manage

bladder, bladder pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, vulvodynia, ,

TomatoYou would do anything to deal with the pain of IC especially when flares occur so it would stand to reason that using an antacid of some form would be appropriate since for some it gives them relief of their heartburn but has also been anecdotally reported by some to help with their IC symptoms  But interestingly disease labels such as IBS, fibromyalgia, and even vulvodynia share the problems of too much heat in the physiology

Interestingly acid indigestion(heartburn) and GERD are strongly associated with IC  In an online survey done by the ICA:

559 respondents to the diet survey 

84% found diet helped reduced symptoms

59% used Prelief (OTC antacid)             ICA Update  April/May 2004  p 15-16

Perhaps because this was an online survey the results are not available for search at the ICA site any longer but the survey obviously underscores the importance of nutrition and shows the interesting correlation with acid indigestion and IC   From our previous blog discussion this correlation would be expected as the hot quality in the gut moves to affect the urinary system

Some foods to avoid are obvious such as cayenne pepper, chili pepper, and horseradish  But other foods such as tomatoes, salt, and grains like buckwheat and corn are below the radar screen  There is a compounding effect in the energy science discipline of healing  Over time these foods effects mount up and then produce symptoms  So the lesson is to avoid these cumulative effects to begin with by watching what you take in the first place

From an energy science point of view the tastes that carry the hot quality are sour, salty, and pungent  It’s often difficult to know which foods carry the subtle tastes that can affect the GI tract so that’s why nutritional formats are so important

 

Two Bowls of Ice Cream and Pharma

My father in law didn’t have IC pain and lived a relatively comfortable life except for anxiety now and then  He had an interesting habit that I think is germane to our discussion today

As a matter of evening routine he would sneak into the kitchen late at night to have his two bowls of Hagen Daz ice cream after which he would take his cholesterol lowering pills(maybe two for good measure!)  Comfortable that he had done his ounce of prevention he would then trundle off to bed

I think most would feel that taking two Lipitor after eating ice cream is …. well not preventative  But isn’t that the same thing we are doing with antacids?  Prelief  is an antacid like many OTC antacids to help with the stomach symptoms of heartburn GERD  Even Tagamet has been used off label for IC    But isn’t that the same thing?

Freedom: But At What Price?

We all want our freedom of choice and the energy science of Ayurveda does not say “Never”  It says that we all have free choice but we don’t have a choice about the consequences of our choices

Drugs and nutraceuticals are not meant to cover over poor food choices that cause the pain of IC which can be managed more successfully without the use of pharma

Of course there is the sentiment “My life is over  All of my favs taken away from me!”  These energy science nutritional formats are not an “all or none” proposition but the more closely you adhere to the format the better you will feel  And after a while you’ll get tired of taking in foods that make you feel sick

In the end the energy discipline can help us with a qualitative scientific assessment of what foods are best for our mindbody energy makeup

Three Ways to Manage Acid Indigestion

Go to foodsheal.com right now and take the quiz    Then choose the appropriate nutritional format and print the pdf format off so you have it to follow

Read the incompatable food combination list and print off that file as well and post both on your refrigerator so you can reference them regularly

Use aloe vera gel(not the juice) on a regular basis (2T three times per day)   Take it to work, travel with it, and make a ritual out of its use

To Health as a Skill          Love DrBill

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Restoring Biological Innocence and Healing Disease

bladder, bladder pain, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, vulvodynia

Three year old portrait of innocence outdoor in the sunlightThe energy body is composed of three types of energy using the energy science model of Ayurveda  As I have talked about in the past how it is articulated in other models such as the Traditional Oriental Medicine discipline is different but in essence it’s the same, the mindbody is being seen as an energy field, not a matter field

The three energy patterns in the Ayurvedic model are Vata(energy of movement), Pitta(energy of transformation or metabolism), and Kapha(energy of stability)  You need all three to function but they are expressed in degrees in all of us  Someone may be born Vata 3 Pitta 2 Kapha 1 while her friend might be V1P2K3

As we talked about before the diseases of the IC bladder pain syndrome are a result of imbalances of the energy patterns of VP  Hence such problems as IC, IBS, GERD, fibromyalgia, chronic prostatitis, and vulvodynia are patterns of imbalances where there is too much V and P

Innocence and the Energy Science Model

The energy patterns described in the Ayurvedic energy model simply are  They are mental constructs created by healers 1000’s of years ago in order to make sense of what they were observing in themselves  They had no microscopes, MRI’s, or Xray machines  They only had their powers of observation  They saw that there was movement around them and they saw movement in the healthy body and so they called this Vata and we now term it a biological energy  Similarly observations in Nature showed the transformation and stability was seen and those were also observed in the human body and these energy patterns were called Pitta and Kapha  But Nature Herself is innocent and so are the energy patterns that make Her up….she simply exists

These energy patterns are simply expressions of Nature herself  So there are Pitta dogs, Kapha type cats, Vata like birds  And our mindbodies are expressions of Nature as well  This is the basis of understanding the energy model as it applies to us as biological energy patterns

Disease:  The Loss of Innocence

Disease in the energy body occurs because we make unconscious choices that cause these energy patterns to become more active than they should be  If we run, run, run….eventually we run out of energy…..we deplete the body because by all that running the energy of movement gets so active in the body that it causes depletion

So disease is typically a depletion of the energy body due to poor unconscious choices that we make  The energy patterns are innocent  They’re just being part of Nature…it’s our mind and its choices that go against Nature that produces disease

Working the night shift might seem like a way to make a living but it goes against Nature’s intelligence which sleeps at night….She’s not working

Healing:  The Restoring of Innocence

So when we make choices that restores these energy patterns back to balance, back to the times when they were not provoked(when we were children) then healing occurs  This is the healing is seen in the energy science at least

We restore this innocence by making choices that do not aggravate the energy patterns in our body  For example by following the nutritional formats we avoid making food choices that lead to imbalances in the body that eventually lead to disease  And as you know nutrition is the cornerstone to dealing with your IC

So here’s to restoring innocence        Best DB

The Benefit of Detoxification in the IC Bladder Pain Syndrome

bladder, bladder pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, CPPS, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, vulvodynia, , , , ,

mental energyIn the last couple of months I have written intermittently to you about the energy science’s understanding of toxic load(called ama) that occurs with all disease  Since this kind of thinking is completely foreign to those of us following the matter science medical model, it represents a radical departure as to how we think about the origin and treatment of disease

The bladder pain syndrome is such a complex of physiologic imbalances composed of CPPS(chronic pelvic pain syndrome), fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, and vulvodynia that are all associated with ama

As I have said from an energy science perspective ama or this toxic moribund substance is the byproduct of poorly functioning metabolism   Again  the energy science describes poor metabolism as a result of low agni(digestive strength, power, or fire)  This agni is in part the digestive capability of the entire GIT that we are all familiar with  The agni in this part of the body is comprised of all the enzyme systems from the mouth to the rectum including all the bacterial systems as well

But there are other agnis in the body that are involved with the metabolism of the tissues and excretory functions  And most importantly agnis that help us digest thoughts, feelings, and emotions  When you digest well psychologically the result is mental clarity

From an energy perspective the primary purpose of any detoxification protocol is to improve agni or the capability to digest(physical food, thoughts, feelings, emotions)

Physical Detoxification

If you’re tired you rest IF you’re listening to your body  As you know there are many people who don’t listen to their bodies and that’s literally the first step to disease  Eventually you have to listen because the body essentially gives out with resultant disease

If your agni is laboring, not up to par, and as a result your body is producing ama, then it makes sense that one of the first things to do is to give your agni a rest One of the simplest things to do is a monodiet

A monodiet is a certain type of food that is done over a period of time  The type of food chosen for the diet is not as important as the consistency to do the monodiet for the period of time   Some would call this a “fast” and it is in the loosest sense of the term but it’s essentially giving your digestive system rest  Why?  Because you’re using only one group of enzyme systems to digest the same thing over and over again  The monodiet could be fruit, could be rice and yogurt, could be fruit juice  The point is that it doesn’t matter what the monodiet is, as long as it’s repetitive for a period of time

How long?  It depends  If you are Pitta Vata at most 7 days  If PK then 14 days

Psychological Detoxification

I’ve divided the body and mind apart for discussion purposes but we should be clear here that from an energy science perspective the mind and body are intimately spliced  They’re one and the same  What is mind is body and what is body is mind  You can’t separate them  As a matter of fact detoxification of the physical body does psychological detox and psychological detox does physical detox  That’s how intimately spliced we are

Detox of the mind reduces mental ama and involves a form of monodiet as well  But this monodiet is in the form of reducing mental activity  The energy science is very clear that in order to remove mental ama some form of activity that reduces mental activity is most important

Why?  Since we want to improve psychological agni we want to fast from thoughts  The best way to do this is by meditation  There are many ways to meditate  The simplest is probably the most effective and involves watching the breath  If you want you can add a mental instrument to trap the mind’s attention using SO HUM  SO on inhalation and HUM on exhalation

Breathing exercises can be meditative as well as yoga posture practice if done properly

The Benefits of Detoxification

When we improve agni there are great gifts  Probably the most important is mental clarity and therefore peace, less emotional turmoil  When the GIT is given some time off there is improved digestion and elimination  We simply digest food and emotions better  Here are some benefits from improving your agni

Loss of cravings              Feeling of lightness after eating           Good taste perception

Steady weight                  Normal GI elimination                             Vigor vitality strength stamina

Healthy glow                    Mental clarity                                              Sound sleep

Alertness                         Discrimination, intelligence                     Direction  determination courage

Joy cheerfulness           Contentment                                               Affection  enthusiasm

Patience                          Longevity                                                     Confidence

All because we have given our mindbody a break and improved our agni

To Health as a Skill  DB

 

 

incompletely digested impressions, feelings and emotions

 

 

due to nutritional and lifestyle choices that we make

Compounding Choices: Why They Count in Your IC

bladder, bladder pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, vulvodynia, , , , , ,

Eliminating Foods From DietDoing energy science work to heal is different than what you’ve been exposed to as you’ve wandered through the matter science world of medicine and nutrition  This is because it does its science differently but its recommendations are at least grounded on a system of thinking that spans thousands of years, not just decades  This approach to IC(interstitial cystititis….bladder pain syndrome), IBS, GERD, fibromyalgia, chronic prostatitis, and vulvodynia exposes us to a different way of thinking

Fad Diets

Rumor has it that there is no specific diet for IC  That’s true if the only diet you’ve been exposed to is based on fad  We hear the term “fad diets” these days but what constitutes a diet as fad?  The origins of the word “fad” comes from different sources and some are interesting; a hobby or pet project, from the early 1800’s; perhaps 18th century term, fiddle faddle, implying fashion or craze; from the French, fadaise meaning trifle or nonsense; unltimately from the Latin, fatuus meaning stupid

Whatever,  we don’t take a fad seriously A passing fancy as implied  But currently a fad is only a fad after we have experienced that there is no truth in its approach  I would purport that a nutritional fad is grounded on the following:

No test of time to establish validity or that it actually helps with IC(is there still confusion in the ranks of IC patients?)

Guidelines are based on hearsay (Mary said that this was bad for her IC and corroborated by many other IC patients in a survey)

Based on a particular food(certain fruit, berry etc)

Based on a type of food(carbohydrate, protein)

Elimination of food types until there is nothing left to eat

Based on measurement(number of calories consumed, number of pounds lost)

Intuitively claims cannot be believed(in six weeks you’ll lose 30 pounds!)

No nutritional system supports the overall process(employing scientific concepts…..not molecular information)

This first and last guideline are the most salient because(and this seems like heresy) they place our current matter science nutritional model as suspect as fad

Why? Because there is no nutritional system that supports the underlying tenets of its dimension Therefore I would have to term our current molecular nutritional system as fad and I believe that’s why we fall for all the fad diets; we don’t have a system of nutrition that isn’t fad

How in the world could we know the difference between what is quality and real and fad when we have only been exposed to fad?

Energy Science Medicine and Nutrition:  The Nature of Compounding Qualities

If you’ve read my books you’ll understand that nutrition is different than diet  Nutrition focuses on how food qualities lead to disease  Stay with me here  Just because this may sound confusing doesn’t mean it should be discounted  As the phrase goes, “how’s what you’re doing with diet working for you?”  The energy science says that nutrition should take into account who the consumer is  What a concept!  You mean if I’m a Pitta Vata my food choices would be different than a Pitta Kapha?

In the energy science of healing if you take in the HOT quality in the form of a tomato, then go out on a HOT summer day and enjoy the hot sun(putting on sunscreen of course….hint sunscreen doesn’t negate the hot quality), come inside and have a HOT pepperoni pizza(with some incompatible food combinations….cheese and meat), and the next morning have your routine fruit smootie that you have everyday that is loaded with incompatible food combinations  With this scenario you have just compounded your chances for having a HOT flare sometime in the near future (I know, this may seem like a fictitious scenario that you wouldn’t do….I made it up to make the point about compounding quality…but nonetheless compounding happens in each one of our lives if we just pay attention)
But because we all live in this bubble of convincing molecular dietary fadism, you cannot believe that the moment to moment choices that you make in the day have anything to do with your IC  As a matter of fact you are told by the “authorities” that there is no specific diet for IC so live it up and journal!!
So if you’re caught in the net of dietary fadism, find a hole and swim out   There is a better way             Love DB

IC and Toxic Load: Where Does It Come From? 5 Things To Do

bladder, bladder pain, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, vulvodynia, , , , , , , , , ,

FireIn the energy science of Ayurveda there can be no disease without the presence of toxicity  In this discipline it’s called AMA(this doesn’t stand for the American Medical Association) which means undigested, unprocessed food  Hmmm, if I have unprocessed, undigested food hanging around in my GIT(GI tract) that must mean that my digestive capability is in some way impaired?  Bingo

Toxicity and Disease

So in the end the root cause of all disease is the presence of bodily AMA  And to heal any disease whether it be the IC(interstitial cystitis) bladder pain syndrome or CPPS(IC, IBS, GERD, chronic prostatitis, vulvodynia, fibromyalgia) or any other disease I must address AMA in the body

AMA physically is a substance that is thick(dense), sticky, heavy, slow to move, cold, slimy, and gross(meaning easy to spot in the body)  Think of a thick plaque in a vessel wall that obstructs blood flow and you have a good idea of what AMA is  And just like that plaque impairs flow of blood to the tissues that it supplies, energetically it impairs the flow of energy in the body

When there is energy stagnation in the physical or mental body there can be pain, either physical or emotional

So when you have pain from a bladder flare it implies that there is energetic stagnation and the free flow of energy has been disrupted

The Importance of Digestive Fire

So if all diseases have AMA and my digestive fire is weak, then if I want to clear the diseases such as IC then I should work on improving my digestive power or agni(the words fire, power, strength, and agni are all used interchangeably here)  This is a radical departure from current medical thinking since the models are so different  But then again that’s why the energy model can be successful since it understands the origin of disease from an energy science view

So the first item on the agenda in healing IC is to improve digestion, absorption, and assimilation of the GIT

1 CCF tea  Cumin, coriander and fennel tea is elemental to improve digestion because it stokes agni  That’s why sipping on this tea all day, everyday is helpful for clearing AMA

2 Stop putting wet logs on your digestion  When I entertain foods that don’t resonate with my energy makeup(Pitta diet or VP diet) or use IFC(incompatible food combinations) it’s like dampening my agni which is all the enzyme systems of the GIT from the mouth to lower rectum including the bacteria which are also part of agni

3 Using other agni enhancers  Fresh ginger tea with a dash of cayenne(agni tea), cardamon, vanilla, cinnamon, turmeric are all excellent agni enhancers that I can use in my cooking or beverages to enhance agni

4  Breathing techniques(pranayama)  Interestingly the yoga tradition has many different ways to physically enhance agni  These breathing techniques can change the course of IC due to the power of clearing AMA

5  Yoga postures  The digestive system is represented in the space of the abdomen and when you do postures that engage this area you literally engage agni and improve it  From a molecular point of view this cannot be understood but energetically it makes perfect sense

So there you have it  A starter sequence that can get you on your way to healing IC   Oh, BTW, people have AMA and because they feel OK, they don’t think they have toxic load  They’re only fooling themselves  Everybody has it, it just depends where it’s going to show up

Another thing  The AMA that occurs in the urinary tract channel has a good chance of getting cleared  When the AMA starts showing up in other places (like fibromyalgia) it’s more difficult, doable but harder

Saltwater or Freshwater Fish for IC?

bladder, bladder pain, chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, vulvodynia, , , ,

bigstock_Rainbrow_Trout_Closeup_1591390

IC with its associated inflammatory disease labels such as acid indigestion, GERD, chronic prostatitis, IBS, fibromyalgia, and vulvodynia all have one thing in common  Inflammation so it behoves those to stay away from inflammatory foods  To figure out which those are, the energy scince looks at tastes

In energy science nutrition there are six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent  Three of these are inflammatory  Can you guess which ones they are?

While the matter science nutritional format only sees four of these, the pungent and astringent tastes are important from an energy science perspective   And yes, you’re right the pungent taste is inflammatory, composed of the elements of fire and air  This makes sense since our experience is of the hot quality when we take  in hot chiles, horseradish, salsa, or cayenne

The other two tastes that are inflammatory because they are composed of the fire element are sour and salty  As you would expect if the taste is composed of the fire element it would necessarily carry the hot quality

The Inflammatory Nature of Saltwater Fish       

With this background we are lead to the conclusion that meat that has spent its life in the saltwater would not only be  inflammatory but would provoke IC if used consistently

I think the word “consistently” is important here  Many of our readers are from coastal areas such as Florida where seafood is abundant  For them with a steady diet of saltwater fish this  issue of seafood could be problematic

As I have talked about in the past any food can be an IC problem if the agni(digestive fire) is low  So eating occasional seafood once a month would not be a problem but “consistent” use of seafood would clearly lead to flares

Often a condiment that is served with saltwater fish is lemon  Of course the lemon is sour and from the above it carries the hot quality  A substitute is the immature lemon, the lime that can be used without a problem

But what about the omega fat value of seafood? How can we give that up?

Freshwater Fish

Molecular studies of freshwater fish show that they are as equally rich in the good omega fats as seafood  So no problem there

In the Midwest of the US , land locked so to speak, fresh water fish is relatively abundant  Trout, bass, perch, walleye and a particular favorite of mine, tilapia are available  for our palate

But again stay away from the lemon and use lime in moderation(3x per week)

Energy Science Nutrition

Some writers on the IC subject in the community have suggested that there is no specific diet for IC……that is, there is no specific  information that can give you guidelines as to what to eat  And that’s true if the recommendations are based on hearsay

This particular topic gives you just a small inkling as to the efficacy of the energy science nutritional approach It shows how choices of foods should be based on the disease process, such as in IC  Avoiding the hot quality avoids the foods that produce flares

Now I think that can be useful for the IC community

All the best in your healing journey  Love DB

Antiinflammatory Care for IC: 3 Things

bladder, bladder pain, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, chronic prostatitis, GERD, IBS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized

slide-rheu-photoThe pain of IC is related to pelvic inflammation particularly of the bladder   The flares that occur are related to the episodic increase in intensity of this inflammation So it stands to reason that the treatment for such a chronic disease would be antiinflammatory(AIF)   This is not rocket science, folks!   And there is a wide host of naturally occurring AIF   For example, tumeric is commonly used in cooking and is a well understood AIF which when used with black pepper is potentiated even further in terms of its AIF effectNow the well respected National Institutes of Health(NIH) published a year ago(October of 2011) a review article on antiinflammatory therapies using the energy science Ayurvedic formulary   This article essentially says what I have been advocating for the last 5 years:  that we need to marry the matter science discipline of the West(so called matter science healing) with the energy sciences such as Ayurveda and the traditional Oriental Medicine(TOM)   An East meets West in healing traditions

Importance of the Study

This may not seem like a big deal to a casual observer but as an interested clinician involved in the treatment of such chronic diseases as IC this type of article is landmark  The event metaphorically states that even a conservative government agency such as the NIH is willing to review, endorse, and support the use of natural therapies of the energy science of Ayurveda, recognizing them as not only safe but efficacious

In the health arena it is very normal and expected that the consumer with a painful bladder is timid about trying “new therapies” that can potentially help them because nobody in the medical establishment has condoned their value   Further the allopathic(matter science clinicians) tradition are reticent to support the use of such therapies since they are not “tried and true” and supported by evidence based medical(EBM)review Because of this there is a tendency in the current medical profession to stonewall articles that speak to the use of natural remedies to help with painful bladder syndrome because they are not consistent with the status quo and EBM

The AIF Nutritional Format

But what about just regular food?   Hippocrates, said to be the father of Western medicine, wrote that “Food is medicine and medicine is food”   We have been so ingrained traditionally to believe that food is just something we put in our mouths and takes care of our appetites that it doesn’t really have a medicinal effect to help a painful bladder But let’s rethink this  If you take in 3T of salt you know that there will direct and distinct physiologic consequences   You’ll pee more, require lots of water, maybe get acid indigestion, have tight feeling skin, have excess hot sensation in the body   All because you took in some food in this case salt The energy science perspective is that foods can be inflammatory and that’s why they lead to symptoms of pain   So a well delineated energy science nutritional format can be AIF with no grey areas   It won’t lead you astray   Coupled with the incompatible food combination list which is basically a group of foods that when joined together produce inflammation you have a way of using nutrition in a AIF way There are three things you can do right now to help yourself with IC pain 1 Go to the above links and begin following the nutritional formats 2 Begin using the AIF cocktail we spoke about in an earlier blog 3 Begin using cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, tumeric, and cardamon in your cooking   All are AIF Until next week                          Love DrBill

Fermented Foods and IC: 3 Things To Do

bladder, bladder pain, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, ,

Brewer standing in his brewery and is examining the beer for itsIt’s clear that foods can heal but the converse of this statement is also true:  Foods can make us sick  But why is it that Molly can eat certain foods and you can’t?  It has to do with the qualities that increase in Molly and the qualities that increase in you AND which qualities bring about balance for Molly and which cause imbalance for you

We are all uniquely different and what brings about the painful bladder syndrome of IC(interstitial cystitis) is different for each of us  The bottom line is that once the imbalance of qualities becomes apparent you have to do something about it and the first thing to assess is what foods are causing this imbalance

Fermented Foods and Imbalance

As I have written about in previous blogs the most important quality that causes IC is hot  Along with the mobile quality these two cause the predominant symptoms of IC  So from I’ve just said it behooves us to look at those foods that carry these qualities and produce the imbalance

Anything that’s acidic carries the hot quality  It’s not the only way to get this quality but it’s a predominant one because the sour taste is the acid taste in Nature(fyi, the bitter is the alkaline taste in Nature)  So any foods that create acidity are bound to effect an imbalancing change in the body with respect to the hot quality

Foods that carry the sour, salty and pungent tastes will give us the hot quality in certain measures so should be avoided in the IC bladder pain syndromeYogurt or yoghurt in clay pot

So you can see that fermented foods in your nutrition would be  problematic but also the foods that can be fermented when they enter the GIT(GI tract) are also an issue  When you follow the nutritional format at icdiet.com(called a Pitta pacifying diet because it reduces that hot quality) or the one at foodsheal.com you’ll automatically begin removing the hot quality from your nutrition  As I’ve written about before, homemade yogurt is alright in moderation unless you have severe symptoms(that is, NO store bought yogurt) or you have a Kapha constitution

This removes the difficulty in deciding what is safe and what is not  For example, lime doesn’t carry as much of the hot quality as its mature fruit the lemon, so lime is safe and lemon is not

Foods That Ferment Within Us

What about foods that are not fermented outside but when we bring them inside out GIT they become acidic and produce the hot quality?

A beautiful example of this process is fruit when added with other foods  Fruit by itself is innocent but when added with other foods can produce the hot quality(increasing acidity)

But there are many examples that don’t include fruits, such as beans with meat and cheese (taco, enchilada, etc), eggs with meat or cheese(that’s an omlete), and milk with fruit(the morning smoothie)

All of these incompatible food combinations are deadly traps for the IC patient because of this internal fermentation process that occurs in all of us

3 Things To Do

Here are three things to do to get appropriate guidance with this whole fermentation nutritional business

1  Eat according to the above nutritional formats at icdiet.com or foodsheal.com(be sure to take the quiz before selecting the format for yourself)

2 At foodsheal.com there is a section on incompatible food combinations

3  Do breathing exercises to reduce acidity in the body (I’ll cover these in my FREE upcoming webinar) where I’ll talk about ways that you can cool off using yoga as therapy

All the best in your healing journey  DB