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Raw Food Ideas

May 12th, 2009 by Dr Dzung Price

If cooked food is so good for you, why do we often feel so tired after eating it, and head for the couch?

The main reason is that cooked food can take much longer to digest, and our bodies have to work harder to process it. That’s because cooking kills off the enzymes in plant foods that help digestion. Our bodies can’t produce these enzymes, so if we don’t get them from our food or destroy them with high heat, our digestive system has to work that much harder.
Slower digestion means that more food can collect in the folds of the intestinal lining and ferment there. That’s bad news. If you’ve ever taken spoiled food out of your fridge, you have an inkling of what it looks and smells like when it’s been collecting in little pockets in your gut where it’s warm and moist.
Aside from giving you lots of the plant enzymes you need, raw food has many health benefits:
·         Raw foods scrub your system clean of accumualted toxins and waste
·         You get heaps more energetic
·         You are eating live, nutrient-rich good rather than dead, over-processed food
·         Foods moves through your body faster (cooked food can take around 72 hours, and can start fermenting in the gut)
·         Your weight naturally stabilizes
·          You get healthier red blood cells that transport oxygen more efficiently
·         Your tissues and organs (including liver and heart) are healthier
·         Your mind becomes sharper and your emotions more balanced
 
You don't have to eat only raw foods to reap enormous benefits. If your idea of daily raw food is a small lettuce salad, then you might aim to add a bigger variety of raw vegetables to your salads and snack on raw veggies, fruits and nuts instead of baked or fried stuff. If you're ready for a big change,  be more adventurous. Try new vegetables, sprouts, and nuts. Aim to make raw food 25% then 50% of your diet.
Here are a few recipes to get you started, and to give you an idea of the different ways you can add more raw foods to your daily diet.
Breakfast: Soak 1 cup of barley in water overnight. Mix together the soaked barley, 1 cup of almond milk, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 1/2 cup fresh raspberries, 5 tables agave nectar and enjoy.
Fruit Jam: Blend together 2 cups of good quality dried fruit and 1/3 cup of water. You can use this with any dried fruit. Adjust water to make a thick mixture.
Underground salad: Finely chop fresh fennel, a small piece of fresh ginger. Grate a rutabaga, a turnip, 1/2 cup celeriac and 1 daikon radish. Mix the vegetables with 2 tablespoons olive oil, juice of 1/2 an orange, and salt to taste, and serve.   

 
 
 
Tahini spread: Blend some raw honey into a jar of tahini.  

Cashew dessert: Blend together 1 mango, 1/3 cup raw cashews, and 1 teaspoon honey.
 

 

 

Are Allergies Behind Your Child's Emotional or Learning Difficulties?

May 12th, 2009 by Dr Dzung Price

I talk to many parents who know that allergies can affect their child’s behaviour, moods and ability to learn. However, many people, including doctors and teachers are still not aware that allergies can have significant psychological effects, especially on children.

As far back as 1998, research at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in the U.S. showed that a child with allergies is 10% more likely to have behaviour or psychological problems such as aggressiveness, depression and irritability than children without allergies (www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/1998/09/980929111523.htm). Now, the figures seem to be even higher. I’d say that around one third of the children I see for allergies experiences some psychological or behavioural effects.
Patrick Holford, Director of the London-based Mental Health Project, says that “allergies to food can upset levels of hormones and other key chemicals in the brain, resulting in symptoms ranging from depression to schizophrenia”. However, the effects of food allergy may not be dramatic, and may appear up to two days after the culprit food has been eaten, so the relationship between food and behaviour is not often noticed. Yet according to a survey sponsored by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (2008), allergies interfere with school performance in at least 40% of children. 
These psychological and behavioural effects can have a negative ripple effect on other aspects of the child’s life as well, especially when the allergies have not been diagnosed. Children whose allergies affect their mental performance can be labelled as  ‘difficult’, ‘backwards’, even ‘retarded’ when their school performance and classroom behaviour deteriorate. They may have trouble forming and keeping friendships, and have strained relationships with long-suffering parents. The child’s self-esteem can suffer.
Even if the allergies are finally identified and treated, it might take a child a long time to recover a sense of worth and competence, and gain the self-confidence to realise his or her full potential.
I’d be very interested to hear from parents out there whose kids are emotionally or behaviourally affected by allergies. Your stories might just be a lifeline to other parents who are struggling to understand what’s going on with their child.

 

Beat Fatigue and Strengthen Immunity with Healthy Adrenals

Mar 17th, 2009 by Dr Dzung Price

I’ve just finished a morning session of Qi Gong by the river after a good night’s sleep, and now I’m sipping my nutrient-packed green smoothie, already feeling super-energized for the day. Rest, relaxation, good food and exercise are absolutely essential to the health my adrenal system.

Sitting just above our kidneys, our little powerhouse adrenal glands release the important hormones that our bodies need to sail through daily stresses and cope with more serious stresses or traumas. These hormones - including cortisol, DHEA, adrenalin, testosterone and estrogen – help us manage the stresses of difficult situations, deadlines, exercising that little bit harder, responding to emergencies, or getting the kids to school on time. Our body also needs these hormones to repair damaged tissues; control inflammation; regulate blood sugar, sodium and potassium and body fluids; keep our heart and blood vessels well-toned, and to rejuvenate our cells to keep us youthful.
 
Yet most of us give no thought at all to our hard-working adrenals until they become over-stressed and exhausted, resulting in a condition called Adrenal Fatigue (sometimes called Adrenal Exhaustion). Because our hormones play a vital role in so many body processes, adrenal fatigue can create a wide range of health problems. These include:
 
-nervous disorders and depression
- low immunity and increased susceptibility to colds and flu
- hypoglycemia  and sugar cravings
- weight gain
- decreased sex drive
- increased PMS or menopausal problems
- light-headedness or dizziness
- allergies
- extreme fatigue and tiredness even after adequate sleep.
 
While Adrenal Fatigue has been recognised and treated for years, many doctors still know very little about it. Some of my patients came to me after doctors had dismissed their strange collection of symptoms as “all in the head”, and a few had even been prescribed anti-depressants or sedatives to help them cope with their ‘psychological’ problems. But if your adrenals are exhausted, the constant feeling of unwellness, fatigue, physical weakness, which are often accompanied by pain in your joints and muscles, are very real and can make every day an ordeal.
 
Yet adrenal fatigue is no mystery. It’s simply a result of stress overload. Your adrenal glands can become over-stressed and exhausted from things like stimulants in coffee, many soft drinks and energy drinks; toxins including heavy metals and excess copper; working too hard without getting enough rest; not enough sleep; poor diet; alcohol and drugs; emotional or psychological stresses in our personal or work life; fear and anxiety; physical stress, or physiological stress from illness, parasites or infection (especially Candida).
 
So you see, it’s not so hard to keep your adrenals healthy. It’s just a matter of adopting a more balanced, healthier lifestyle; eating well and reducing the stress in your life (not always so easy).
 
 
 
Here’s what I do to keep my adrenal system healthy
 
Even if you adopt just a few of these practices, you will help to keep your adrenals functioning well, giving you more energy, better immune resistance, increased youthfulness and vitality, and greater enjoyment of life.
 
Eat lots of raw vegetables, nuts, fish, tofu, and more low GI carbs, and avoid processed or junk foods
 
Eat small frequent meals (3 meals a day plus healthy snacks such as a handful of nuts and raisins, fresh fruit with yogurt, a smoothie, hummus on rice crackers etc)
 
Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, or 9 if I need more (Many people do)
 
Take Asian ginseng to improve adrenal function and aid with stress management
 
Practice meditation, deep relaxation, Tai Chi or Qi Gong daily to energize the body, balance my energies, and release accumulated stress
 
Take daily supplements to maintain optimal levels of adrenal-supporting nutrients.  Most people do not get enough Vitamin C, and many are low in B vitamins such as Vitamin B5 and B6, which play a major role in the production of adrenal hormones. (We can help you determine just what supplements you need)
 
Boost my energy levels after a particularly hard or trying day with a half-hour session of Mind-Body Balance Therapy at my clinic (Renew You Centre for Wellbeing and Longevity). So refreshing!

 

Fatigue, Weight Gain and Your Thyroid

Mar 17th, 2009 by Dr Dzung Price

There are many possible causes for chronic low energy, including overwork, lack of sleep, boredom, stress, depression, anemia (which results in decreased supply of oxygen to your cels), nutrient deficiencies (which can starve your cells of essential nutrients), chronic infection, disease, and sometimes, an out of balance thyroid.

Located in your throat, your thyroid gland is like your body’s cruise control, keeping your body running at an even speed.  When your thyroid’s out of whack, your body either speeds up or slows down, either way, upsetting its healthful energy balance.
Too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism), and your cells speed up. At first, you seem to have more energy, but all this hyperactivity soon uses up your body’s stores of proteins and fats, speeds up your heart rate, your brain, your bowels…everything. Before you know it, you’re in continual overdrive: irritable, hungry, overheated and sweating, losing weight no matter how much you eat, and chronically exhausted.
Too little thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism), and everything goes into slow motion: your heart, your brain, your metabolism, your bowels and your cell function.  Your sleepy cells now use up less energy, so more is stored as fat and you gain weight no matter what you eat. Your heart slows down. So do your circulation and your lymphatic system, your body’s drainage system. As a result, you start feeling cold. Your cells become depleted of oxygen and nutrients, and water-logged with undrained fluids, so you look puffy and swollen. Your clogged, starved brain makes you depressed and you just want to sleep.
Natural Ways to Keep Your Thyroid Healthy
Nutrition is one key to thyroid health. If your thyroid is overactive, eat broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, spinach, turnips, soy beans, and mustard greens, as they depress thyroid activity. If your thyroid is underactive, avoid these foods.
As a general rule, avoid refined foods, sugar, dairy products, wheat, caffeine, and alcohol because in addition to causing much other harm, they upset the body’s hormonal balance.
Eat more foods containing essential fatty acids, because they are inflammatory and necessary for the production of hormones.  Oily fish, flaxseed, flaxseed or fish oil are beneficial.
Talk to your practitioner about how much calcium, magnesium, iodine, zinc and selenium you need, and whether you need supplements.  
Herbs can also help. Lemon balm helps normalise an overactive thyroid. The spice tumeric and ginger also possess very good anti-inflammatory properties. An underactive thyroid can benefit from horsetail, oatstraw, alfalfa and gotu kola.
Exercise improves your circulation, helps flush out toxins, and promotes lymphatic draining, all of which help keep your hyroid healthy.  Do stretching exercises every day, and take a 30- 40 minute walk.
yoga-edited.jpgYou might also try the yoga shoulder stand, which is believed to be good for the thyroid. I’ve been doing this for years, and have never had thyroid problems, but I am convinced that this pose is also wonderfully rejuvenating, and it is also very energizing as it bathes the brain in fresh, oxygenated blood.
Rest allows your body to recover from daily stresses and return to a state of balance, making you more resistant to all kinds of disease, including autoimmune diseases and candida which have been associated with thyroid disorders.  
Seek Appropriate Health Care
Once your thyroid is out of balance, professional care is generally needed to restore your thyroid and body to health. Thyroid disorders are relatively easy to diagnose, though they can sometimes be missed. If you ignore your symptoms and do not get help, you run the risk ofdeveloping even more serious problems like thyroid lymphoma, a pernicious form of cancer. Fortunately, once diagnosed, thyroid problems can often be quickly remedied.

 
 

 

7 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Allergies

Dec 21st, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

This is the first of a series of articles full of useful tips to help relieve your child’s allergies.

Part 1: Clear the Air In Your Home
Air quality inside many homes is often even worse than outside. The average home contains toxic fumes from gas stoves or heating, varnishes, carpeting, plastics, perfumes, air fresheners, household cleaners, disinfectants and chlorinated water, all of which can cause respiratory and nasal allergies, especially in children, whose nasal and respiratory passages are smaller and not fully matured. Mold can also cause a range of troublesome, often serious reactions, including decline in mental function, chronic flu-like symptoms, or neurological problems. Cigarette smoke increases risk of childhood asthma, sensitizes children to airborne allergens like cat dander and dust mites, and also leads to food allergies (study by Swedish Karolinska Institute published in medical journal, Thorax).
Irritants from outside such as pollen and pollutants and irritants from outside get inside the home, carried on our hair, clothing, shoes, or pets. Environmental pollutants such as traffic exhaust and pesticides used by most city councils come in through our windows and doors. Germany’s Helmholtz Research Centre for Environment and Healthpublished in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, June 15, 2008). found that children living less than 50 metres from a major road had a 50% higher risk of allergies, eczema and allergies than children living farther away (
All these irritants can be trapped inside the home, leading to higher, more harmful concentrations and poor air quality. No wonder so many children are affected!
To clear the air in your home, you can:
  • Get an air purifier (such as the HEPA filter) to filter out airborne allergens.
  • Avoid chemical cleaners, including many so-called ‘green cleaners’, and use white vinegar and baking soda instead. With a little muscle, they serve the purpose very well.  
  • Reduce dust collectors in your home – Furry toys, frills, cushions, carpeting, fancy drapery and too much clutter are dust traps. Get rid of them or keep them to minimum, especially in bedrooms. Wash curtains and bedding weekly in hot water. Dust and vaccum weekly (being careful not to stir up dust).
  • Get a chlorine filter on showerhead or bath taps. When heated, chlorine releases toxic fumes, and easily enters through the skin.
  • Filter pollutants from heavy nearby traffic with a high hedge of low-allergen shrubs or lots of trees.
  • Leave outer clothing and shoes outside the door when entering the house, and wipe down pets before they enter, especially in pollen season.
  • Don’t use plastics, kitchenware, toys, or furnishings that have a noticeable smell. The smell means the item is releasing fumes, carrying chemical molecules into the air where your family breathes them in.

In part 2, you get practical tips to detoxify your child and your child's environment. Toxins are a major cause of allergies and other diseases.

Your Health Journey Starts Here!

Nov 23rd, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

As a health practitioner with enormous faith in the body’s natural ability to maintain and heal itself, I am still surprised to find how many people don’t recognise illness or unwellness in its early stages, when the problems are small and easily taken care of. Instead, they wait until their condition interferes with their lifestyle, or causes significant distress, then rush to the health practitioner looking for answers.

Most people, including most doctors, only pay attention to health after illness has set in. This is really the worst time to do it, because by that time, many things have gone wrong inside the body. By the time they get your attention, symptoms can occur far away from the source of the problem, so you might, for example, get heart palpitations when the real problem is infection deep within your gums.
To know that you are not healthy, you must first have an idea of what it is to be healthy.
So what is health?
Health is a state of homeostasis or balance. Changes occur in the body as part of everyday life, then things settle down. Tissues are damaged or worn out, and are repaired or replaced. Hormones and other chemicals are rushed to parts of the body where they are needed, then they are eliminated safely when they have done their work. The body corrects or eliminates some problems with a temporary fever, inflammation or brief illness, then brings itself back to a healthful condition. All this happens quite naturally in a healthy body, without any conscious effort on your part. In an unhealthy body, the balance is not restored, and small changes grow into problems.
A healthy body can easily recover from negative influences, such as stress, illness or normal amounts of toxins. If your body is not able to regain its balance or cope with outside influences, the result is illness or disease. Sometimes, the body eventually recovers without assistance, though soemetimes, even a healthy body needs our assistance to bring it back into balance. An unhealthy body, on the other hand, will not bounce back or recover on its own.
Health is a state of balance between body and mind.Your thoughts and feelings have a profound effect on your physical health, and the other way around. If the mind is out of balance – too stressed, overly negative, or carrying harmful beliefs (such as ‘I’m a sickly person’, ‘Illness is an inevitable part of aging’, or ‘I don’tdeserve happiness’) – then the body falls out of balance, and illness occurs. If you are often unhappy, depressed, anxious or angry, you can be sure that either something is out of balance in your body, or soon will be, so you should seek help.
What Must You Do to Be Healthy?
If you want to achieve glowing health with energy to spare, and maintain your vitality and wellbeing well into old age, you and your health practitioner must do three things:
1.   Recognise unwellness and identify just what is preventing you from healing naturally
2.   Remove the obstacles to your healing that so your body can get back onto its natural healing path
3.   Maintain health by supporting and strengthening your body’s natural healing and recovery processes, and protect it from harmful influences.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But even the first step can be quite a challenge.
For one thing, illness and dis-ease can arise from many different causes, and those causes are often hidden, or may seem to have nothing at all to do with your problems. Even after a diagnosis is made, it often requires great persistence, open-mindedness, and good powers of observation to finally pinpoint just what’s causing the problems.
For example, allergies and sensitivities can go unrecognized for decades of a person’s life because no one has recognized the link between symptoms such as irritability, digestive problems, or immune malfunction, and food or chemical allergies. The implications of this can be enormous.
On the other hand, it may only take the decision to find out what’s wrong to open your eyes to problems that you never noticed or just accepted as part of life or growing older, such as sudden mood swings, bloating, or aches and pains.
Start From Here…..Where is Here?
To begin the wellness journey, you must know where you are at now (experiencing symptoms of unwellness), and where you want to be (without those symptoms and feeling radiantly healthy). In other words, before you actually begin the wellness journey, you must first identify your starting point and your destination. The destination may change over time, but without a clear sense of direction and a target, you and your health practitioner might as well be shooting in the dark.
This preliminary stage can require a lot of patience. The symptoms that force you to seek professional help are often just the tail end of the development of illness, which could have been going on for years, unnoticed. People can be very astute concerning their own health, but for persistent problems, it usually takes the help of an experienced health practitioner to uncover the real, and often, multiple causes. A good practitioner will draw on the patient’s own observations and history as well as testing and other diagnostic tools.
For example, even if you already know you have allergies, you will need testing to identify exactly what substances are causing your allergic reactions. I find that many people are allergic or sensitive to more substances that they realise because many allergies are ‘hidden’. That is, the symptoms can occur many hours or even days after contact with the allergenic food, chemical or substance, so the person never associates the allergen with the symptom. Many food allergies are of this kind.
Once you know where you are now, your course of action will depend largely on your chosen destination: whether you just want to relieve your symptoms or correct the underlying causes, or also build future resistance to disease and illness, or achieve the kind of health that also prolongs youthfulness, enhances your natural beauty, and gives you loads of energy to live a full, active, joyful life.
At the Renew You Centre for Wellbeing and Longevity, we believe that you, not your health practitioner, should choose your destination. We’ll do all we can to help you get there. All we ask is that once you and your practitioner have agreed on your health goals, you take the steps needed to get you there. That takes a commitment to yourself. Aren’t you worth it?
For more information about Renew-You’s totally natural health programs and services, visit www.renewyoujourney.com or email info@rycentre.com.
To read more on allergies, visit www.freefromallergies.com

The Two Main Causes of Allergy

Nov 23rd, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

Have you ever wondered why we are witnessing epidemic increases in allergies, poor health and chronic medical conditions? After years of clinical practice and research, I am convinced that there are two main reasons for this: chronic stress and toxic overload. 

Nowadays we are faced with an increasing amount of stress in our lives. From unresolved past issues, to the fast-paced technological pressures of 21st century living, financial challenges, work stresses, family pressures and relationship problems, we are increasingly required to cope with so many more demands in our lives. To make things worse, our bodies are exposed to an increasing barrage of toxic chemicals, poisons, pesticides, pollutants, and electromagnetic pollution found in our water supplies, food, personal care products and the air we breathe. It is no surprise that we are experiencing worsening ill-health today. 

All these challenges stress our bodies every day, forcing our bodies into constant fight-or-flight mode. This means that our growth systems and immune systems are shut down as our bodies assume an almost chronic state of emergency. The body is over-taxed, and no longer able to heal itself and do the daily repairs it was designed to do. No wonder so many of us develop allergies!

Allergy Is the Result, Not the Cause
There is never just one cause of allergy. Rather, it is the result of pre-existing problems and a stressed immune system. A healthy person with a healthy immune system does not develop allergies. Once it begins, though, the allergy cycle just gets worse. Continuous exposure to the allergen will lead to chronic inflammation, which further stresses the immune system that is already struggling to defend the body. The end result? A cycle of inflammation, damaged tissues, further weakening of the immune system, and a host of health problems. Now, the body’s energy is directed away from healing processes to defense.
Any healing that fails to address these two powerful influences on our health - toxins and stress – will not have lasting results. Or even if the current condition is improved through good nutrition, accumulating toxins and chronic stress will still continue to erode the person’s health and disrupt normal, health promoting biological and neurological processes. Sooner or later, the effects will be felt as new symptoms emerge, warning the person once again that the body-mind is out of balance and on a downward spiral to illness.

As you can see, many factors contribute to allergy, including toxin overload and stress. These two factors alone can place such a burden on the immune system that it finally goes a little crazy and begins to over-react to ordinarily harmless substances. If the problem is compounded by infections, medications, nutrient deficiencies or digestive problems, well, the poor immune system doesn’t stand a chance.

Even if allergies are treated, if your body is still struggling to cope with toxins and chronic stress, you may not get the lasting relief you want, or you can get new allergies …or even an autoimmune disorder…down the track. That's why detoxification and emotional work should be key elements in any allergy program that aims to treat allergies in the long term.

Allergies Can Make You Fat

Nov 17th, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

If you can’t budge extra weight, or find yourself gaining weight no matter what you do, it could because of inflammation due to allergies and toxins…and your allergy medicines may just be aggravating the situation. This is the conclusion from two studies proving that toxicity and inflammation from food allergies are major underlying causes of obesity and illness.

 The first study reported in 'Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology and Diabetes' in December 2007 found that obesity is caused by allergies, not the other way around, as was previously assumed. A second study published in ‘Diabetes' in July 2007, reported that leaky gut was responsible for triggering a system-wide immune response that caused inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation leads to insulin resistance, resulting in higher insulin levels that cause you to store more fat (and lead to heart disease).
 
Leaky gut is a condition where the gut lining is damaged by irritation and inflammation, allowing particles to escape from the gut into the blood stream. The immune system responds to the perceived threat with inflammation, which can result in allergies. Common causes of leaky gut are medications such as antibiotics, steriods, anti-inflammatories, and acid blockers; foods high in fats, sugars and refined carbohydrates; digestive problems; alcohol; stress, and toxins, including food additives and pesticides.
 
The leaky gut-inflammation-weight gain pattern is a common factor in allergies and can lead to a vicious circle of increasing inflammation, worsening allergies, and spreading symptoms as the immune system struggles to cope.
 
Below is a testimonial from a client who asked that her name be withheld. I include it here because it illustrates the often complex link between inflammation, insulin resistance and allergies.
I had hidden sensitivities and allergies to many foods, including sugar and insulin. I followed the programme… and with the right nutrition, allergy reprogramming, emotional support, my sugar levels just kept dropping consistently, and I lost weight and felt so much better in myself with a few months. In fact, the weight just fell off me – I didn’t even have to try, and my health and energy overall has so much improved. I lost about 20kgs without trying“.
 
When your allergies are treated, inflammation subsides, normalizing your insulin levels. Not only can the weight start to drop off; you can also prevent heart disease from hyperinsulism.  However, if the gut is not healed, inflammation is always a distinct possibility, and can lead to more allergies or other immune problems …and weight gain….down the track.
 
 

 

Foods that Actually Help Shed Excess Weight

Nov 17th, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

Going hungry because you're trying to lose weight? Statistically, that makes you much more likely to get off track and start eating more than you should. Eating less will certainly help you lose weight, but you don't have to go hungry. Instead, eat more of the foods that actually help flush fat and toxins from your body, and clean your cells. These include dark green vegetables, dark leafy greens (eg. turnip greens, radish leaves, dandelion leaves, swiss chard, bok choy etc), squash, carrots, sea vegetables, onions, green onions, and fresh herbs. Eat as many of these as you can raw. Raw plant foods are rich in enzymes, little proteins that help digestion and help remove toxins.

Also eat high quality protein with every meal…small quantities of lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu.
 
Here is a simple recipe from a Master of Medical Qi Gong Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine, who uses food as a key element in his healing programs. He says this recipe helps prevent fat from accumulating in the body. He also uses it to lower cholesterol and treat hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and edema, and to help clear congestion.
 
 Kelp Egg Drop Soup
 
Serves 3
 
1 cup of soaked kelp (dried kelp soaked in water)     ½ cup fresh coriander
2 eggs                                                                                 3 teaspoons of green onion pieces
1 tablespoon sesame oil                                               2 tablespoons soy sauce
7 cups of chicken broth                                                   ½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white cooking wine                               1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup cooked white rice
 
Cut the kelp into short strips (approx 2 x 3 cm)
Roughly cut the coriander
Beat the eggs well
Heat sesame oil in wok or deep pan over medium heat; slide in green onions and stir fry for 10 seconds
Add in soy sauce
Pour in broth and bring to a boil
Add kelp and salt
Add cooked white rice and coriander, and bring to boil
Add in whipped eggs and mix well
Sprinkle on cooking wine and pepper
Remove from heat and serve.
  
 

 

 

 

Reply re allergy-emotions-hormones connections

Oct 22nd, 2008 by Dr Dzung Price

Hello Elizabeth.  I may not have made myself quite clear. I do not say that symptoms of hormonal change are emotional and not physical. Of course they are physical, just as hormones are physical entities. But our emotions CAN be affected by hormonal changes..and that's in both men and women, so I do not agree that to say so is at all sexist. PMS is just one example of this (or do you think that's all in the head?). And there is enough research to show that emotions can worsen allergies…again in both men and women(eg. recent press release from Ohio State University on 11 Aug 2008 reporting on study showing that 'Stress, Anxiety Can Make Allergy Attacks Even More Miserable, Last Longer"). It is not easy, probably impossible, to isolate precise causes of worsening allergies during menstruation, but it would also be negligent to ignore possible emotional factors.