My Favorite Self-Help Stuff

Hello again. Here’s now the sequel from the previous post: How to treat swine flu?

No big secret: Just like the regular kind.

My self help blog style advice… (remember that I’m not a medical doctor (my doctorate is a Ph.D.), just an alternative health stuff nut.

Then again, in Germany, where I grew up, my father was definitely practicing integrative medicine. So I grew up with herbs etc and Kneipp treatments and all kinds of cool stuff, the specialness of which I only learned to fully appreciate many years later.

So I’m a walking repository of info on alternative treatments of various kinds… and I’m happy to experiment too. Just remember, you might want to check with your doctor before taking any of my advice, which is right below:

First of all, be careful with over the counter meds. Make sure you don’t overdose on taking multiple kinds with overlapping ingredients.

I once found myself fearing for my life when I had inadvertently ingested twice the recommended max dose of some ingredient that caused me to get an extremely rapid heart beat.

It was in the sinus stuff AND in the cough syrup, and i had missed the bit in the cough syrup. Now I read ingredients very carefully, and prefer single symptom remedies with single ingredients (or no more than a couple) and make sure I know what each of them does and that they don’t interact before I combine them.

For the sniffles, I am still a great fan of the “classic” Sudafed that I now have to get from behind the counter. It works like a charm (even at half the recommended dose, so one pack lasts a LONG time) and helps me sleep because it keeps my nose unclogged (usually, and much better than anything else).

Cough: Robitussin DM (I use the sugarfree kind). Learned that in Berkeley from a nurse practitioner in the Student Health Center.

Sore throat: gargling with salt water. Among other things.

Lozenges are great too. My favorite — Olbas Pastilles

And with other meds — be sure to read the ingredients of lozenges and stuff as well — you don’t want to overdose.

And then, the other stuff… Here’s my list of things I did and took that helped me feel and get better:

Your mileage may vary, but heres a sampling:

My power chicken soup. I take organic chicken stock, heat it, mix in some shiritaki noodles, and lots of chopped garlic, ginger, and green onions, plus some cayenne pepper, and some other spices to taste.

Have a bowl of that several times a day. Other than that, drink herbal teas for their soothing as well as medicinal qualities, and take loads of supplements.

Among my favorites: Quick Defense by Gaia Herbs. In fact, that stuff has accelerated the progress of various colds and flus ever since I first discovered it. I now keep it handy just in case because it’s important to take it right away.

Also NAC (N-Acetyl Cystine) and Olive Leaf are great immune system strengthening supplements.

And of course the usual multi and C and so on.

A regular dose of Airborne.

Vick’s Vaporub and essential oils for respiration.

Lots of soup, chicken and otherwise.

And LOTS of sleep.

What helps you? Any secret recipes? Comments?

H1N1 swine flu! What a buzz word, and what a drag! I got it about a week and a half after having just gotten a flu shot to prevent the “regular” flu.

And it’s no fun! It started very suddenly and within a matter of a couple of hours moved from a scratchy cold and chills to a full blown very sore throat.

Then my nose started dripping like mad and I stocked up on the mentholated Kleenex (Puffs, actually) which also have lotion on them.

Good thing I did because I went through FOUR packs in a few days, two of them in ONE day, when it was worst.

And then there was the cough. Ouch! Unusually painful cough. And a total loss of appetite, headaches, fever, etc.

I threw everything at it that I had, and now I’m not sure if it’s because of that or because it simply runs its course more quickly than the regular flu, but the worst was over much sooner than “normal” though I’m still coughing, and not feeling up to speed.

I’m not the person to say anything much about preventing it, but then again, preventing the swine flu is harder than you would like since it’s highly contagious before you even know you have it.

So you cannot know which one of all those people around you might give it to you. But its a moot point anyway.

Anyway, in my next post, I’ll share some of the things that have helped me feel (and get) better comparatively quickly.

Hope you don’t get it. It’s no fun!

For starters, stay away from people who cough.

Elisabeth

If you’ve been feeling tired lately, it may not just be stress. Though stress could be a contributing factor… It could be high blood pressure. Check out this guest post by Jon Benson, fitness author and expert on lowering your blood pressure without drugs. It’s been quite an eye opener:

Jon Benson’s Guest Post:

Have you ever started out to do one thing but ended up doing something different? Night and day different?

Remember how Post-It Notes were invented? Some guy was trying to come up with a “permanent” glue. Obviously he failed… and he considered it a failure… but 3M had another idea.

The guy was all of a sudden Joe Brilliant. Well, I’m feeling a bit like Joe today.

But this is much more interesting to you than Post-It Notes… It’s about s – e – x… sorta.

Not dirty, I’m talking about couple’s stuff here. My new book just came out today about it. But it didn’t start off that way at all.

In fact … get this… I was co-writing a book with medical researcher Frank Mangano on lowering blood pressure without meds… really.

So how did this big U-turn occur?

I read this article from a medical journal about how “lowering blood pressure would help sexual-performance-problems.”

Ding. The lightbulb went off in my head.

You see, lowering blood pressure is probably the most healthy thing you can do for yourself. But face it — it’s really, really BORING.

I mean, who really cares about their blood pressure unless their doctor says, “Look, lower your blood pressure or you’ll die in six months.” Then you care.

I ignored my own blood pressure for years until it hit stroke-level back in my 30s. Then I could no longer ignore it.

I found every natural alternative possible… which led me to Frank’s books… and they are the BEST.

So Frank comes to me and asks me to contribute to his very popular on-the-shelf book “The Blood Pressure Miracle” –

… and I said, “Hey, guess what I just read?” Since he’s the researcher, I said, “Go see if there’s any truth to this.” The results BLEW MY MIND.

Not only is there truth to it — that, yes… lowering blood pressure not only extends your life but also extends your sexlife as well — but WOW… it’s a major player in everything from male-ED to females feeling “out of the mood.”

It’s crazy, but it’s true. It makes sense once you read this:

http://www.lowpressuresex.com/go/selfhelp1 <--- Low Pressure Sex-System

Andi t gets even better...

So Frank digs up article after article on the subject of high blood pressure and LOW sexual-energy and performance... and we have a much more compelling reason to want to lower our blood pressure, now don't we?

But we wanted more.

I said, "Look Frank, I get a lot of emails about sex-after-30... people who want to feel more kick, more alive in that area of their lives... and above all, closer to their mates."

So... we decided to add another book on TOP of our book...

... a book on improving sexual-pleasure for couples only. "RevolutionarySex" is the name of it. My friend Alex Allman wrote it...and just like that we had two books instead of one.

But that's not all... ( told you... this story is interesting... ; )

THEN my friend Jeff Anderson comes out with his "homemade V" -- and guys, we know what "V" stands for.

Listen: V (little blue things) is really dangerous stuff. It really is. It RAISES blood pressure for one thing. For another it can cause addiction and memory loss.

But Jeff's version is all-natural, cheap (we're talking pennies instead of dollars per "pill" to make) and above all... SAFE.

So all of a sudden... THREE books (plus an audio)... so... It became a System, not a book. And the topic went from "lowering blood pressure" to ...

... How you can completely solve your sexual-performance-problems and increase your pleasure all by lowering blood pressure naturally without meds."

What a concept...and it WORKS.

http://www.lowpressuresex.com/go/selfhelp1 <--- Low Pressure Sex-System

Here are the advantages...

1. If you take blood pressure meds... and a lot of you do... your "kick in the stick" suffers. A lot. Some men suffer all the way, which lead them to taking the V stuff...

... and that stuff 'raises' blood pressure.

Bad, bad combo. Our System gets you off of that dangerous and expensive cycle of drugs and on to a natural, easy approach that also adds pleasure to your relationship.

2. Cheaper... by far... than meds.

3. Something you can read and do as a couple or as a single person.

4. You get healthy and you get your vigor back at the same time. Ladies too.

5. It's guaranteed-to-work... 60 days on us.

I'm very proud of this System. We put a lot of time, research and effort into it.

If you want a life freee from high BP and sexual-performance-issues and better health, then go here:

http://www.lowpressuresex.com/go/selfhelp1 <--- Low Pressure Sex-System

P.S. There's even more to this story --

We created an "Advanced Health and Relationship-Saver Kit" that comes with the most awesome self-hypnosis audios to help you relieve stress, lower pressure, increased your "drive", and more.

You can get the starter Kit or the Advanced Kit here:

http://www.lowpressuresex.com/go/selfhelp1 <— Low Pressure Sex-System

Here’s to your health… and your increased pleasure and enjoyment.

Today, I want to tell you about Quantum Touch. I just remembered that I had neglected to update my contact information in my practitioner bio, and decided to get it fixed. And then I thought, hmmm, I’ve never written a post about this. So I better do it right now!

Especially considering the title of my blog: My FAVORITE self-help stuff! And Quantum Touch has literally transformed my life (along with EFT). So it’s high time that I write about it.

What is Quantum Touch?

It is an energy healing technique that you can use both on others and on yourself.  And this particular (very powerful) energy healing approach was developed by Richard Gordon (or maybe discovered…  you have to read his story).

How did I first find out about it?

I first discovered it a little over four years ago at an alternative health fair.  At the time, I was suffering from extreme stress and had a lot of physical symptoms that went along with it, including severe back and neck pain.  I went to my chiropractor two or three times a week, something I couldn’t afford, and was STILL was in pain.

When I read about Quantum Touch in the event brochure, I was skeptical.  “You can heal with your hands” it said.  Yeah, right! I had to see what that was all about…

What happened next?

It was pretty boring to watch.  The expert held his hands lightly around the area that the “patient” had said was hurting, and did what looked like a bit of special breathing.  After a few minutes, the “patient” said her pain was gone.

It doesn’t always work as dramatically, I have found out since, but it almost always reduces the pain significantly.  As for me, once I discovered that I could work on myself and could learn how to work on others, I decided to give it a shot. I figured, if I could cut down on my chiropractor visits even by 50%, the workshop would be paid for within a month or two. As it happened, it got way better than that.

How well does it work?

After my first workshop, I was encouraging enough that I decided to explore further, and it took an advanced workshop (Super-Charging) to really make a difference, but after that, I was thrilled to discover that it really worked.

I worked on my own back, and on my persistent insomnia that had required major artillery including prescription drugs, aromatherapy, hypnotic sleep-inducing music, herbs, and a bunch of other tricks, all at once, and sometimes I still couldn’t sleep.  Now I used a little aromatherapy, a small dose of calming herbs if needed, and Quantum touch.  And slept better than I had in many years.

My chiropractor thought I had started seeing a colleague because I changed my schedule to once every three to four weeks, feeling better in the meantime than I had before.

I love it.  I worked on friends, and then people I didn’t know, and eventually became certified as a Quantum Touch practitioner.

How does Quantum Touch work?

How does it work?  The basic idea is that when something is wrong with your body, its vibration has a very slow frequency.  However, when someone vibrates with a higher frequency and holds her hands around the part that hurts, the hurting part’s vibration will start to adjust to the higher frequency  and allow it to heal itself.  That’s the theory behind it, or at least part of it.

Want to find out more about Quantum Touch? 

Just go to their website at www.QuantumTouch.com for lots more information.

You can also read about it:

Richard and his colleagues have written three books (the third one will come out in January):

Quantum Touch

Super Charging

Core Transformation

The first one is the introduction and the basic Quantum Touch technique. The second one provides some powerful add-on techniques, and the third one will turn the entire process on its head. I can’t wait to read it. I took the Core Transformation workshop, which must have been the most relaxing thing I’ve ever done, but I had tons of questions afterwards, so I look forward to filling in a few gaps.

Can you learn to do it too?

Yes. The coolest thing about Quantum Touch is that it’s really not that hard. You can literally start doing it after just reading the book, though a workshop is of course very helpful because you get to practice on others and can watch others do it too. In fact, that was one of the coolest things about the workshops: people all work on each other. So after I got home, I felt wonderfully realigned.

Well, that was a long post. I hope you all have a very relaxing weekend, and if you have pain of any kind, do consider checking this out for yourself.

Elisabeth, also known as Dr. K

Some people suggested I start using “Dr. K”!  I’m not a medical doctor — my Ph.D. is in linguistics, but a doctorate is a doctorate.

What do you think?

Well, October, National Breast Cancer Month, is almost over, and I realize I should post at least ONE post on the topic…

I just went over to my Breast Cancer Survivor’s blog and posted something there, and I thought, hm, I think you all might like a comment too.

You see, I’m a huge fan of Lawrence LeShan’s, who wrote “Cancer as a Turning Point,” and I have to say that his book was MY turning point in life.

Did it make life easier?  Not always.  Actually a bit more complicated.  But I had more fun!  And was happier.

LeShan calls cancer “despair manifested on a cellular level.” His rationale is that if we are so miserable that we don’t feel there’s much to live for, our immune system will be happy to help us on your journey out of this world.  Now if we don’t want to take it that far, we better shape up.

His book is all about how to do that. And I made it my bible.  Together with an amazing set of cassette tapes by the late Roger Mellott: Stress Skills for Turbulent Times.

If you can round up a copy, get it.  It’s rapidly disappearing, but you may be able to still get a used copy on Amazon.com or Ebay.

Do try to get the real thing, i.e., “Stress Skills for Turbulent Times,” not the other one.  The first one is MUCH better and more fun to listen to, though if you can’t find it anymore, the alternative version, which I think is called “Stress Management for Professionals,” will also work.

Of course you can also get MY stress relief ebook   Just click on the pretty book cover on the top right.

And find things that make you happy.  Then do them!

Have a happy day!

Elisabeth

Want to know my favorite secret flu fighting weapon. The thing that has finally unclogged my sinuses, barely in time for my next round of flights tomorrow morning?

Several rounds of one of my favorite flu remedies: Tom Kha Gai (sp?), also known as Thai Coconut Chicken Soup. It’s chicken soup on steroids. Buy it by the bucket, and repeat. It works wonders!

If you don’t have a Thai restaurant nearby and don’t feel like recreating the recipe, use any kind of chicken soup and add some finely chopped ginger and garlic and if you can handle it, a bit of cayenne pepper or chile.

Another one: horseradish and/or wasabi. In a word: Sushi, heavy on the wasabi. That too helps. Have some miso soup with it. I think the warm liquids are really an important ingredient.

Of course, I hope you won’t need this advice. And now that I’m back in the Northern hemisphere, I guess this is not particularly seasonal. But it will be before you know it. And of course if you’re from down under, you can put it right to use

Well, I’ll be darned! Here I was a bit hesitant to even publish this article about my experience with something that seemed to have made my hair stop falling out, and now it has had more views at ezine articles than ALL of my other 9 articles combined! Wow!

And what was the big news? That I have started avoiding shampoos that contain sodium lauryl sulfate and my hair stopped falling out. A friend had the same experience — which is what got me started on the experiment. So now it’s strictly all-natural shampoos for me!

I think I’ll have to write some more pieces on hair!

If you want to know all the details, the article is right here.

But be sure to come back here when you’re done!

So now I’m trying to come up with more related topics… I think I’ll write about frugal hair-coloring tricks next, and about how to make the most of whatever hair you’ve got.

Note added in January: I’ve written two more ezine articles on hair and one of them has found even more readers! Go here to check it out.

Foreclosure? A scary concept, and very big trouble, bigger than most people even realize. Obviously, it’s something to be avoided at all costs.

With the mortgage crisis being all over the news, and self-help being my mantra, I thought that even though this is topic is a bit different from my usual upbeat prosperity focused themes, I would devote an entry to it because…

I just came across a fantastic resource for anyone who is sweating about their Option ARM mortgage (that’s an adjustable rate mortgage where one has the option to pay less than the interest, for those of you who are blissfully unfamiliar with that particular item). It may have seemed like a good deal (or a lifesaver) while home values were rising, especially in hopes of big future raises, but when those raises don’t come through and home values are dropping: big trouble!

Tamera Aragon has written an outstanding resource manual for anyone who needs help or even knows someone who could use some help: “Avoid Foreclosure with SMART STEPS.” I heard her and her business partner Michelle talk about it in a teleseminar and just checked out the book. It’s terrific! Both of them really know their stuff.

Not that they are lawyers — they are both real estate investors and both of them know much of that subject from previous personal experience. So they’ve been there, and their mission is to help other people avoid that painful experience.

So if you know anyone who could benefit from this information , check out their SMART STEPS.

I just have to tell you about Jim Katsoulis and his very cool program for weightloss, excess weight release, addictive slimness or whatever you want to call it. He calls it the Thin Formula, and it’s a comprehensive program that changes one’s entire mindset and is also fun, entertaining and attitude changing beyond just the thin thing. Also great for “simply” maintaining one’s goal weight without that constant struggle. Highly recommended.

Home
Well, actually, the thin formula, while excellent, is just the short version of his program. There’s also a bigger version, which involves mini talks, teleconference lessons and interactive Q & A, some hypnosis, mediations, visualizations, daily motivational emails, and lot more. The program is HUGE, and anyone who has a medical condition that could be helped by weightloss (diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) can even get their flexible spending plan to pay for it, maybe even their insurance).

Have I lost a lot of weight on this program? Not a huge amount yet, I have to admit, but I have lost a few pounds, and without much of an effort. Even better, my attitudes towards food and exercise etc. have changed a lot, so I look forward to losing a lot more as time goes on. Especially over the holidays, where every pound lost actually counts double because normally I’d put on weight over the holidays, and so now…

I basically feel much more optimistic about the future state/shape of my physical self. Of course, it would also help if I listened to the mp3’s a lot more often. Which isn’t exactly a chore because…

…the man has a VERY nice voice. He’s kind of cute too

So do yourself and/or someone you love a favor and check it out and/or pass it on to someone who would benefit. You can sign up for a free e-zine (and I promise you — Jim’s e-zines are very cool) plus a free hypnosis session, so you get to check it out and actually benefit from Jim’s program before there’s any need to buy anything. I think that’s how I ended up getting mine.

Enjoy the free hypnosis session which you can get here.