DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

According to this article, Asian herbs can help you fight diabetes, cancer and other illnesses

For centuries, it has been common knowledge that Asians have one of the longest life expectancies in the world, and for decades, researchers have been searching for the reasons behind that phenomenon.

Many believe the secret lies in their diet, which consists largely of fish, poultry and the vegetables grown in the region, but Dr. Nathalie Valkov — an expert in Oriental medicine and author of the book “Cordyceps: Treating Diabetes, Cancer and other illnesses” (www.ttphc.com) — believes the secret lies in an Asian herb that is just now getting noticed by Western medicine.

“While it is commonly acknowledged that some of the best medical care in the world can be found in the United States, we have to remember that our medical culture is barely a couple of centuries old,” Valkov said. “Asian medicine has been around for thousands of years, and since people from the Far East tend to live much longer than we do in the West, it’s not a stretch to say that there may be some ancient secrets hidden in their diet and medicines that may help us unlock the keys to longevity and good health.”

Herbs can provide essential nutrients that are good for the body and the mind, as this article explains.

Herbs are a powerful and effective remedy for just about every type of ailment or malady you can imagine. Your local health food store is full of them, but which ones are right for you?

Everybody knows about certain herbs, like Gingko Biloba for better memory, Ginseng for stamina and the like but there are hundreds more you may never have heard of. If you walk into anyvitamin store, you will find herbs are mainly in pill form. While convenient, they do not give anywhere near the benefit of the actual herbs themselves. Most health food stores sell them in liquid form, which is both a convenient and effective way to administer the remedies.

You won’t get recommendations for herbal remedies from your doctor or clinic. Holistic medicine is not something they want to promote. They are looking to cure you pharmaceutically, which sometimes is not the best choice for your greater health.

A few essential herbs to keep on hand are:

American Ginseng which is good for energy and stamina. It is much more effective than the other varieties of Ginseng from abroad.

Gingko Biloba which is great with Gotu Kola for memory, concentration and mental focus.

Arnica in liquid form is not for ingestion as it is poisonous but when placed on a wound will heal it up very quickly. It’s been called “Soldier’s Root” because they used to put it on wounds in wartime.

Saw Palmetto promotes urinary health.

St. John’s Wort is an effective mood enhancer and will bring balance and harmony.

How Chinese tea can bring coolness and calmness to your life and provide vitality and energy.

Even with such a whistle-bait figure, Bianca Gonzalez has never actually gone to the gym to workout. For most of her 27 summers, the bubbly TV personality actually admits to eating anything, has never been weight conscious and admits to running in their village and occasionally engaging in yoga as the only things that passes for a workout regimen for her.

That was until recently.

“I don’t think it’s in my genes to gain a lot of weight no matter what I eat,” she says. “But that’s also the case for most young people. No matter what I eat, I never get sick, I never get fat. But as I get older, I realized that I eventually start feeling the effects of what I’m eating.”

Gonzalez admits to a certain feeling of “heaviness” after eating certain kinds of food. The way she tells it, she seems to be experiencing something that the Chinese traditionally believed to be a condition called “internal heat.” This is what happens when hot, fried and spicy food causes imbalance in the body that eventually results in sickness.

To counter this and other health ailments and conditions, the Chinese came up what is now known as traditional medicines based on the primary guideline of the yin yang concept. The way the Chinese believe it, yin yang is based on complementary opposites within a greater whole as manifested in natural dualities like dark and light, female and male, low and high, cold and hot.

In other words, it’s all about balance. And because yin yang is also a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and yes, exercise, the Chinese do believe that good health begins by maintaining balance in the body.

“To control internal heat in the body in particular, the Chinese drink what is called a cooling tea,” adds Dr. Homer Lee-Lim. “This counters the bad effects of all the hot food that we eat.”

Chinese wolfberries are used by a Kansas State University research for type-2 diabetics.

A Kansas State University researcher is exploring the use of Chinese wolfberries to improve vision deficiencies that are common for type-2 diabetics.

Dingbo “Daniel” Lin, K-State research assistant professor of human nutrition, is studying wolfberries and their potential to improve damage to the retina. His findings show that the fruit can lower the oxidative stress that the eye undergoes as a result of type-2 diabetes.

“I would not say that wolfberries are a medicine, but they can be used as a dietary supplement to traditional treatments to improve vision,” Lin said. “Wolfberries have high antioxidant activity and are very beneficial to protect against oxidative stress caused by environmental stimuli and genetic mutations.”

Lin has experience in biochemistry and eye research, and he wanted to bridge his current work in nutrition with vision. In a conversation about the eye and phytochemicals Lin had with his father, a traditional medical doctor in China, Lin decided to explore the use of wolfberries for vision improvement.