i need advice - Alternative Medicine Message Board

joshesmommy · 01-29-2004, 11:38 AM

Hello!
I am new to all of this alternative medicine. Can anyone tell me what supplements I need to take and what all I need to do to have a healthy body and lifestyle?
Thanks so much in advance!
PS I am female, white, 24yrs old and very prone to melanoma

Bob2 · 02-03-2004, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshesmommy

Hello!
I am new to all of this alternative medicine. Can anyone tell me what supplements I need to take and what all I need to do to have a healthy body and lifestyle?
Thanks so much in advance!
PS I am female, white, 24yrs old and very prone to melanoma

I'm sorry to hear you are prone to melanoma. I'm not sure there is much of anything to help with that. Alternative medicine is such a broad topic that you can't just jump into it. You need to find a good herbalist to consult with. Possibly, you might be able to find a naturapathic doctor in your area. You need to be very careful, particularly with herbalists. Some of them appear to think they know more than they actually do. My niece has type one diabetis and a herbalist she consulted told her to stop taking her insulin and gave her herbs to use. To make a long story short, she ended up in a diabetic coma in the hospital, and had a stroke besides. She has been on insulin since she was a baby because her pancreas does not produce insulin. The herbalist was plain crazy to think herbs would suddenly make eveything okay. I'm not trying to scare you away, but you should be careful. I'm 61 years old and take several herbs. I take dandilion root capsules because it keeps my hemroids under control. I take hawthorne standardized to 1.8% vitexen because I have veinous insufficiency in my legs and the hawthorne helps with circulation in my legs so that I can take my 2 mile walk every day. I take turmeric standardized to 95% curcumin because I have osteoarthritis in my knees and that is an excellent anti-inflammatory which keeps my knees from hurting.

You might consider getting some books about herbs. One that isn't to big and covers several herbs to consider is a book by Dr. James Duke named Essential Herbs. May be more in the title than that. That book is a good starter book for beginning to learn.

NerfHead · 03-08-2004, 09:41 PM

Hey There,

If I were you here is what I would do.

1) Eliminate all the bad stuff from your diet: ALL sugar, candy, soda, ALL fried food, cookies, cake, ice cream, french fries, potato chips, white rice, pizza, bacon, donuts, canned foods, boxed foods(macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper, etc...)

2) Include in your diet: 7-10 glasses of water, raw vegetables like they are going out of style(carrot/celery sticks, salads, sliced tomatos(technically a fruit), radishes, spinich, cucumber slices, etc..), skinless chicken breast, fish, unsalted nuts, fruits(apples, oranges(no more than 1 per day), grapes, apricots, plums, papayas, melons, bananas, and pears, steamed veggies, brown rice.

3) Take a daily multivitamin, I like the Vitalogic brand because it's all natural(no synthetics used!).

I think this is a great way to start. Also, stay with us on the boards here and learn and share as much as you can.

NatApoth2003 · 03-09-2004, 06:44 AM

Nerfhead, I don't know if you are aware of it, but the product you mentioned might need further scrutiny. In taking a look at their products I noticed that just about every one of them (with the exception of the oils) uses double and triple the gliddants. If you read the "other ingredients' you'll see magnesium sterate and stearic acid both being used. These are ingredients used by many manufacturers to keep the machinery flowing smoothly. Good for the production line, bad for the consumer. These slicks as they are also called, inhibit the absorption of the nutrients. Many, many compaies use slicks, most have to to keep the equipment from jamming, but when you see two or three in a formula that is a big red flag, usually meaning their blending times are too high which also inhibits absorption. Even what may look like a good formula can be rendered useless. I noticed the forms of some of the nutrients are not very well absorbed to begin with, i.e., B-12 (cyno rather than methyl). I don't mean this to pick on you...it's just that most consumers really don't have much knowledge on how to decifer a "good" supplement from another. This is just one more thing to add to the checklist. M

NerfHead · 03-09-2004, 08:05 PM

Hey Hey,

No vitamin supplement is perfect nor was it intended to be, I'm aware Vitalogic contains Magnesium Stearate/Stearic Acid, and your concern over cyanocobalmin is well placed, (coenzyme)Methyl-Cobalmin IS a better form of B12, the Cyano form has been used for years and does break down into Methyl in the liver. Nonetheless, I do enjoy Vitalogic vitamins, and it should be noted that vitamin supplements are just that, SUPPLEMENTS. Better advice would have been to cut out the "bad foods" from the diet, add the "good foods", and juice organically grown veggies!(I do this daily by the way, I use my vitamin as a "SUPPLEMENT")

I hear what your saying Marie, it's excellent advice