Archives for November 2020

Carob – Little Gems for Good Nutrition

November 27, 2020 by Esther Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

Sweet things are part of our life, but chocolate has a bad reputation. Therefore, diet-conscious people resort to carob. But carob can do much more than just replace cocoa powder. Studies have shown that this natural substance can be used in the prevention and treatment of elevated blood fats and the metabolic syndrome.

I don’t believe my eyes. Some cows are standing under a 10 meter high tree with widely spreading branches. Again and again they stretch their necks and tear long, brown pods from the tree with their mouths. Then they grind the pods slowly and with relish in their wetting mouth. I’m in Spain near the coast of Costa Blanca. There is no doubt this is a carob tree. I know carob as a cocoa substitute, but that the cows like it so much, amazes me.

Botanic and Habitat

The carob tree is an evergreen tree. It is very heat and drought resistant. He doesn’t like frost. That is why he is only found up to an altitude of about 500 meters. The tree belongs to the legume family, botanically called fabaceae. Like our beans, it lives in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria. You don’t have to fertilize it, on the contrary: it enriches the soil with nitrogen from the air, making it ideal for organic farming. The tree is getting very old. It also has no natural pests.

A lage Carob Tree in Sardinia, Italy — Carob tree by Giancarlo Dessi via Wikimedia CC 3.0 BY

It blooms for the first time after about six years. After pollination, the flowers develop into thick pods that are about 1 inch (2 cm) wide and 2 – 8 inches long (6 – 20 cm), straight and later often curved. First they are green, then they become leathery, brown-black and hard. They hang on the tree for up to a year. These pods are called “Kharub” by the Arabs, hence the name Carob. Locust bean is another name for the carob pod. John the Baptist has probably eaten the pods of the locust beans, but it was transcribed erroneously to locusts in the bible account. The botanical name is “Ceratonia siliqua”.

The wood of the tree is very rot resistant. Therefore, it is suitable for fences and wood floors, for walking sticks and tool handles. Charcoal made from the carob tree burns for a long time. The tree was probably first cultivated in Egypt. There is evidence that pharaohs used wood as construction timber. With the Romans, the tree then traveled to Greece and later to all the Mediterranean coastline. Emigrants eventually brought the tree to Australia and South America. The main growing areas for the industry are: Portugal, Italy, Spain, Morocco and Cyprus.

Harvest and Processing

From August to October the pods are knocked off the tree with sticks, similar to olives. You shouldn’t wait until they fall off the tree by themselves, otherwise the natural moisture will make them moldy very quickly. The juice (caftan) is pressed from the green, fleshy pods. You can also use it to make caftan honey. It is thickened into syrup or fermented into alcoholic beverages. In areas where the carob tree grows, the pods are consumed fresh or dried as a whole. You can’t peel them. They have a peculiar sweetness because they contain a lot of simple sugars. The well-known carob powder is obtained by grinding the dried and roasted pulp. For high-quality powder you only use the middle part of the pod, because the ends are usually bitter. The seeds are also removed and processed separately.

Ripe Carob pods on a tree — Carob pods by Chixoy via Wikimedia CC 3.0 BY

The carob powder is fine as flour. Depending on roasting it is light to dark brown. It shouldn’t be too dark, otherwise it will taste bitter. The tart, aromatic taste is not quite the same like chocolate. The pure powder smells and tastes just as bad as cocoa powder. The pleasant taste develops only when mixed with other ingredients, and you need normally only small amounts to develop the taste that resembles somewhat to chocolate. As long as being dry and in a well sealed container, the powder can be stored for years because it contains hardly any fat. You can sometimes buy whole, dried pods in the health food store around Christmas time.

Carob Advantages

Carob is a valuable, hardly processed natural product. Due to the high proportion of natural sugars, it is a source of energy, but it hardly contains any fat. 100 g powder contains around 200 mg fat and provides 255 kcal; Cocoa powder on average around 470 kcal. Due to the high fiber content, especially pectin and tannin, it promotes digestion, whereas cocoa tends to constipate. Carob is free from the stimulating theobromine and caffeine, which are found in cocoa. It contains important vitamins like beta-carotene, and riboflavin; also minerals such as iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium. However, this should not be overestimated, as the low intake levels are hardly significant. Carob is used more like a spice.

Usage

Carob can be used as a substitute of cocoa powder in recipes. It is suitable as a coating of pastries, cakes and coated nuts. You can mix the powder into cake batter. Carob goes very well in homemade ice cream and drinks. Mixing it with cane sugar, it makes an excellent chocolate drink substitute. You can mix it with yogurt, cereal and milk. Ingenuity has no limits. It is also processed to a coffee substitute, the carob coffee. The glue industry processes carob, and it is also mixed into animal feed.

Locust Bean Gum

The carob gum must not be confused with the carob powder. It is obtained from the separately ground kernels. It’s a light-colored, almost tasteless powder that consists almost entirely of indigestible fiber. As E number 410, it is an important additive in the food industry. As a little processed, natural thickener and as a stabilizer, it is used in baked goods, gluten-free bread, confectionery, puddings, jams, ice cream, in beverage production, for soups and sauces. 1 gram of locust bean gum binds around 50 milliliters of liquid when cold and up to 100 milliliters when heated. Locust bean gum itself is not a gelling agent, but it does improve the gelling effect of agar-agar, carrageenan and xanthan gum. Therefore it is often used together with these.

Health Potential of Carob Gum

Acute digestive disorders such as vomiting, diarrhea, colitis or celiac disease are areas of application for the administration of diet products made from locust bean gum. Studies also show it can be used to treat high cholesterol and triglycerides. This effect is due to the dietary fiber, which consists mainly of galactose and mannose. The polyphenols in the carob also play an important role, lowering the glycemic index of foods and having anti-inflammatory effects. This is especially important for people with metabolic syndrome. People who suffer from this syndrome have impaired glucose and insulin metabolism, combined with high blood pressure and high fat and cholesterol levels. This usually results also in obesity. In a study, volunteers with this syndrome were given 15 g of a carob fiber supplement in the form of breakfast cereals, fruit bars and powdered drinks to eat every day. After six weeks, it turned out that the total cholesterol and LDL dropped significantly.

On the Gold Scales

Incidentally, the word “carat” comes from the carob tree, which is called “ceratonia” in Latin. The seeds almost all weigh exactly the same, about 0.2 g, i.e. one carat. In ancient times, the seeds were used as weights for gold and precious stones.

Carob is really a little gem with the worth of gold. Don´t be shy to include it more regularly into your diet!

Recipes

Peanut Nutella

You have a hard time to try out alternatives to the spreads you are used to for such a long time? Check out if that is not tasty, and done quickly as well!

½ cup water
1 cup unsweetened peanut butter
½ cup honey
1 tablespoon carob powder
1 pinch of salt

In a blender first put the water and then the other ingredients
Blend everything together and then place in a glass jar with a lid

Spread

American

Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Carob Balls

1 cup of raisins dates (figs or apricots)
½ cup of nuts of your choice
3 tbsp. sesame
2 tbsp. grated coconut
2 tbsp. carob powder

Crush the sesame seeds and nuts
Beat the dried fruit in a food processor (or in a blender with a little water).
Add the other ingredients to the food processor and form a homogenous paste.
Form balls and cover with grated coconut.

Dessert

Carob Mousse

1 ripe avocado
2 very ripe bananas
1 spoon of grated coconut
1 spoon carob powder

With a fork mash the avocado and bananas
Mix in a processor and serve soon

Carob Brownie

2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup crushed almond or hazelnut
1 cup of pure sugar-free peanut butter
3 tablespoons carob powder
1 pinch of salt
1 ½ cups water

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Pass the dough to a greased form and bake (preheated) for about 20 minutes at 450F (230ºC).
Take it out of the oven, wait for it to cool and enjoy =)

Dessert

American

Carob Sweet Potato Ice Cream

What a tasty, creamy and healthy popsicle !!!

2 cups of boiled and peeled sweet potatoes
1 cup and a half of almond milk
6 tablespoons carob powder
4 tablespoons of organic sugar

Mix all ingredients in a blender until creamy.
Pour into a bowl or popsicle mold and freeze for at least 3 hours.
Remove from the freezer and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Get ready. It’s delicious!

Dessert

American

Carob Clusters

3 cups carob chips
½ cup peanut or almond butter
2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup raisins

Roast almonds in a 300°F oven for 10 minutes and let cool
Put first 2 ingredients into a saucepan and melt on medium heat with frequent stirring
Pour over the rest of the ingredients and mix well
Form tablespoon sized clusters on a greased cookie sheet
Refrigerate until firm
Store in the refrigerator or freezer

Dessert

Carob Pudding

3 tbsp carob powder
3 tbsp honey
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp maple extract or a few drops peppermint extract
1 tbsp water
12 oz firm tofu

Put all ingredients except tofu in a food processor and mix well
Add tofu and blend well
Pour into dessert dishes and refrigerate.
Serve chilled

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Protein – Too Little or Too Much?

November 20, 2020 by Esther Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

Proteins play an important role in many physiologic processes of the body. They occur in the genetic material, the hormones, the enzymes, in the hemoglobin as well as in the bones, the hair, the nails in every cell of our body. They are responsible for many allergies, but at the same time essential for the immune system to protect us. They work as a means of transport for the absorption of vitamins, minerals and fat.

Smallest Building Blocks

Proteins are made up of so-called amino acids. We know 20 amino acids, which we take in through different protein food sources and convert them to the body’s own protein. These 20 tiny building blocks can be assembled in countless combinations to form chains and intertwined structures. Assuming we were assembling a chain of only 10 out of these 20 different parts, this would give 10,240,000,000,000 different possibilities. Human proteins, however, consist of 50 to 1000 or more amino acids. This is the source of the infinite variety, and God created every human being with its own personal protein pattern. But here lies the problem of organ transplants. A transplanted organ is rejected as foreign by the immune system, since it has a completely different protein composition. This needs to be resolved with rigorous compatibility tests and the application of immune depressing drugs after the operation.

Sources of Dietary Proteins

Plants are the only ones able to produce protein from inorganic compounds, such as minerals from the soil and gases from the air. Animals and humans assemble their own body protein from amino acids found in plants: legumes, fruits, vegetables, seeds, herbs and grasses. The protein that humans take in from animal nutrition such as milk, eggs and meat are originating the same way from plants. But this detour is an enormous waste. Because from 100 grams of ingested vegetable protein, the animal can only produce 8 to 10 grams of meat protein. Truly a waste of raw materials when we think of the steady increase in the world population.

Chart of the energy efficiency in the production of animal protein

The question now arises as to which protein is more valuable, that of animals or plants? Which one is utilized better by the body? The value of a food protein is traditionally determined by its amino acid pattern. The better the pattern corresponds to people’s needs, the higher the value. This in turn is determined by the quantity of each of the essential amino acids a food contains.

Essential Amino Acids

The body can build some of the 20 amino acids on its own. Those he doesn’t necessarily need to get through his diet. There are nine amino acids he is not able to produce, but they are vital to our health and must be supplied through our diet. A protein that contains all essential amino acids in sufficient quantity is considered a complete protein.

The protein contained in meat is considered to be a complete protein. The protein contained in eggs and milk is superior to meat in terms of digestibility and value. Grains have a low value because it contains little of an important essential amino acid called lysine. However, this is not a problem, because we do not only eat cereals for a meal. Combining our grains with legumes, this deficiency is made up and all essential amino acids are present in sufficient amounts. We combine all kinds of foods and so we get all the important amino acids with a varied diet.

In addition, the body itself provides important protein. It recycles cells that are being renewed, as well as hormones and enzymes that have performed their function. The body is very economical with this protein. Little is excreted in the stool and urine, but a large part is broken down into the individual amino acids and goes into the storage pool, from which new protein compounds are built up. So we don’t need to worry that we might be missing an amino acid in a certain meal, since the body has enough protein storage for 2 to 3 days. A purely plant-based diet can provide us optimally if we put together clever combinations. Very valuable combinations are, for example, lettuce and potatoes, or legumes and cereals. Nuts and seeds also provide valuable protein and can be incorporated very easily. It doesn’t have to be meat. The consumption of animal protein goes hand in hand with an increased consumption of cholesterol, fat and purines, all risk factors for diseases such as gout and cardiovascular diseases.

Excessive Protein

Excess fat is deposited in the fat cells. Excess carbohydrates are converted into glycogen, stored in the muscles and the liver; when these stores are also full it is converted into fat and stored in fat cells. Excess protein cannot be stored as such. It has to be metabolized. When protein is broken down, ammonia is produced, which is a cell poison. The body immediately converts it into urea, which can then be excreted through the kidneys. This process puts an extra burden on liver and kidneys. The increased uric acid levels will increase the risks of gout. The scientific literature also describes an increase in the excretion of calcium via the kidneys. This has a negative effect on calcium balance and can lead to osteoporosis. The risk of calcium oxalate stones forming in the kidney also increases with an increased protein intake.

Another problem of excess protein is heart disease. Interestingly, animal protein is able to raise cholesterol levels, while plant protein can lower cholesterol levels.((Van der Meer, R,, Beynen, A.C.. 1987. Species-dependant responsiveness of serum cholesterol to dietary proteins.
J.Am.Oil.Chem. Soc. 64:1172-1177; Sanches A., Horning M.C., Shavlin G.W., Wingeleth D.C., Hubbard R.W. 1985. Changes
in levels of cholesterol associated with plasma amino acids in humans fed plant proteins. Nutr.Rep.Int. 32:1047-1056.)) An important factor that differentiates animal from plant protein is the ratio between the amino acids arginine and lysine. For the same reason, animal protein is responsible for the development of cancer, while certain plant proteins can have even a protective function.

Excess protein can have a negative influence on endurance. It is interesting that the majority of high performing athletes are nowadays vegetarians, loading up on complex carbohydrates for optimal performance. This makes sense, since carbohydrates are the best energy source, while the protein demands to promote healthy muscle growth are actually quite moderate.

There are several high protein diets that are being promoted for several reasons. Bodybuilders are using protein shakes to promote muscle growth, while others are opting for high protein diets to achieve weight loss. All of those high protein diets will show though a heavy toll on our health.

How Much Protein?

Experts recommend an intake of 0.8 g protein per kilo of body weight per day, which is around 56 g for an adult weighing 150lb (70 kg). These recommendations have already a generous safety margin.

Yet as you can see from this illustration, the average person eating a westernized diet is eating twice the recommended amount, and often even more.

Three meals of a typical animal based diet resulting in 185g of protein.

Just 3 meals of these commonly eaten foods contain over 180 grams of protein! The protein excess is the cause of many so-called lifestyle diseases.

Switching to a plant based diet, protein consumption is normally closer to the recommended amounts. Eating a variety of unrefined plant-based foods, will be sufficient to meet or even exceed the required daily amounts, without creating any excess in protein.

Three meals of a typical plant-based diet resulting in 70g of protein.

Protein Deficiency

Developing countries have often problems with protein deficiencies. Growing children need more protein than adults. Therefore, young children are particularly affected by protein deficiency. The growth is slow, and muscle loss occurs. The liver is often enlarged. Water accumulates in the tissue, leading to the formation of edema, hence the distended bellies of malnourished children. Skin and hair change. It often leads to diarrhea. The immune system is weakened. It comes to hormone deficiency. In western countries, those protein deficiencies are extremely rare.

A Whole Food Diet with Variety

A variety of foods is contributing to our protein requirements. There is no need to cover all the required amino acids in every meal. This could put too much strain on our digestive system. The diversity should be achieved over a longer period of time. If one meal is protein deficient, the next one can make up for it. Since animal foods are very rich in protein and have other disadvantages, a maximum of one-third of the total amount of protein should come from such foods. At least two thirds should come from plant sources. But even a strictly plant based diet, in which animal products are completely avoided, covers the needs of all essential amino acids, when you maintain a healthy variety.

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Hydrotherapy – A Versatile Treatment

November 15, 2020 by Martin Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

Have you ever heard about a hot foot bath, a steam inhalation, or a hot compress? Yes, we are talking about a number of different hydrotherapy treatments. But how can the simple application of hot and cold water cure pneumonia, relieve the swelling of arthritis, alleviate menstrual cramps, speed up recovery from a sprained ankle, decrease dangerously high blood pressure, and give relief from a headache? Read on to find out!

What is hydrotherapy? It is the application of hot and cold water in liquid form, steam or ice, in order to increase circulation, alleviate pain, strengthen the immune system and cure diseases.

But how is that all working? The body has incredible mechanisms to regulate temperature within our organism, and we can make use of that for therapeutic purposes.

Just before we go into details about that, let’s speak a bit about the amazing properties of water. It is the most abundant liquid on planet earth, and for good reasons, about 70% of our body is made up of water. It has a quite impressive quantity of latent heat, being able to transmit heat to your body without cooling down rapidly. Water has at the same time impressive heat transmission properties. That is why on a humid day the heat feels more intense than in dry climate.

Next, we need to explore a bit the caloric properties of steam and ice. You probably remember from physics that temperature is nothing more than a vibration on a molecular level. The higher the temperature, the more vibration is happening.

Now inside an ice cube, water is organized in a crystal-like structure, thus being solid. With movement increasing, the crystal structure is broken and water liquifies. Just to break down the crystal structure, the energy of 80 calories is needed, the same energy that will heat up a liter of water from 32 °F to 176 °F (0 °C to 80 °C). For this reason, an ice cube can keep our water cold for a long time, being a great ally in the application of cold treatments.

At the temperature of 212 °F (100 °C) water vaporizes, expanding greatly in volume. At this moment, the latent heat((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heathttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat)) of about 530 calories is needed to make the transition. Conversely, steam that is condensing will release this enormous amount of energy. That´s why a steam fomentation will stay hot for so much longer, and a steam sauna is so efficient in making us sweat.

Effects of Hot and Cold

Let’s get back to the temperature regulation mechanism of the body. Maintaining the right body temperature is essential for survival and the body has specialized mechanisms to control that. If the weather is hot, the body breaks out in a sweat. The water droplets at the skin need 530 calories to vaporize and are cooling down the body in the process. Some toxins are eliminated together with the sweat, and sweating a little is actually pretty healthy.

Now with the skin being cooled down, the body opens up the arteries of the skin, so that the blood can circulate and cool down the rest of the body. For this reason, the application of heat leads to vasodilation and increased blood flow.

This increased blood flow is beneficial in many ways. There comes in the famous phrase: “Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation”((E. G. White. Healthful Living. p. 31)) Everything in our body is transported via the blood. The oxygen we breathe, the nutrients we eat, the soldiers of the immune system, all of them are depending on proper blood flow.

When we bruise or cut ourselves, the damaged cells need to be repaired. Injured cells need to be removed, and nutrients for new cell formation needs to be transported to the site. The immune system will be on alert to control any infectious agent that may be entering through the wound. All of those processes are happening via the circulatory system, and by increasing circulation, we can speed up the healing process. Hot water can be a powerful therapeutic agent in these cases. And the application of heat can be very relaxing to tense muscles as well as reduce the stiffness and swelling of arthritic joints.

Nevertheless, we need to be cautious with heat and bleeding. When increasing circulation, bleeding will intensify, as well as internal hemorrhagic processes. Inflammation and swelling of edemas will increase as well, that is the reason we apply ice for the first 24 hours of any bruise and sprain.

The reaction of the body to cold is heat conservation. The arteries are constricted to reduce blood flow and conserve the heat inside the body. So by the application of heat or cold, we can easily control the circulation of the entire body.

Effects of hot and cold on circulation - vasoconstriction and vasodilation

So we may conclude that hot treatments are the most effective way to increase circulation, but it is actually not quite this way for prolonged heat. After a while, the nerve endings sensing heat will get used to the temperature, and the circulation boost will be moderate. To resolve this problem, we will utilize alternating hot and cold treatments.

Most alternating treatments will use a cycle of 3 minutes of hot and 30 seconds to 1 minute of cold. The brief cold application will reset the response of the nerve endings, and the achieved contrast will boost circulation even more than just a prolonged application of heat.

Fever – Good or Bad?

Most people are used to fight off a fever with Tylenol, ibuprofen or another antipyretic drug. They treat fever like an enemy, but they do not realize that fever can be the best ally in our disease recuperation process.((Juliet J. Ray and Carl I. Schulman. Fever: suppress or let it ride? J Thorac Dis. 2015 Dec; 7(12): E633–E636.))

Fever is actually nothing more than the reaction of the body to an infectious process that is getting out of control. By increasing body temperature, the immune system is put into an alert state,((Silke Schmidt. Fevers can have some cool benefits. ScienceNews for Students, March 20,2019))((Elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better, evidence suggests.ScienceDaily, December 13, 2011)) while it may reduce the activity of some microbes.((Fever. MedlinePlus)) So the best treatment of a fever is to go to bed and let it run its course.

Moderate fever should be cured in bed - Photo by cottonbro at Pexels

If the fever goes very high, it may need some intervention in order to prevent seizures. The first approach would be a cold cloth or an ice pack to the forehead. If needed, you can take a cold shower. An otherwise healthy person normally should tolerate fever well unto a temperature of 105 °F (41 °C).

There are treatments that can create an artificial fever and give an enormous boost to the immune system. One of them is a hot full body bath. Several studies showed its efficiency in significantly boosting the immune system.((Conti C, et al. Antiviral effect of hyperthermic treatment in rhinovirus infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1999 Apr;43(4):822-9.
Santoro G, Amici C, Rossi A. Role of Heat Shock Proteins in Viral Infection. In Pockley AG, et al. Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Heat Shock Proteins in Infectious Disease. (51-84). Springer Science+Business Media(2010) )) The immune system boost can even help in cancer treatment.((Burd R, et.al. Tumor cell apoptosis, lymphocyte recruitment and tumor vascular changes ar induced by low temperature, long duration whole body hyperthermia. J Cell Physiol. 1998 Oct; 177(1):137-47.
Sakaguchi Y, et al. Apoptosis in tumors and normal tissues induced by whole body hyperthermia in rats. Cancer res. 1995 Nov 15;55(22):5455-64.
Robins Hl, et. al. Cytokine induction by 41.8 degrees C whole body hyperthermia. Cancer Lett. 1995 Nove 6;97(2):195-201
Pettigrew, RT, et.al. Clinical Effects of Whole Body Hyperthermia in Advanced Malignancy. BJ, 1974 Dec; 679-682.
Atanachovic, D, et. al. 41.8C Whole Body Hyperthermia as an Adjunct to Chemotherapy induces Prolonged T Cell Activation in Patients with Various Malignant Diseases. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2002 Oct 18;51:603-613)) A more rigorous treatment should be done under the supervision of an experienced therapist, checking pulse and body temperature on a regular basis, and maintaining a cold cloth on the forehead. Doing it right, you can maintain body temperature elevated around 103 °F (39,5 °C) for 20 minutes.

A steam bath is another treatment that is able to raise the body temperature, and even a hot foot bath or a contrast shower can give a significant boost to the immune system. Even ending a shower with cold has been shown to be beneficial.((Buijze GA, et. al. The Efect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial. PLoS One. 2016 Sep 15;11(9):e0161749)) Getting 20 to 30 minutes of rest after those treatments will multiply the immune system boost of these therapies.

Precautions

There are a few precautions to consider with all hydrotherapy treatments. Diabetics have a decreased sensibility and reduced circulation, both are factors that will reduce their capacity to react to heat and increase their likelihood to get burned. Be very cautious to adapt the water temperature accordingly for diabetics or any other person with impairments of circulation or sensory nerves. For vigorous treatment like a sauna or steam bath you need to consider the constitution of the heart. And for cancer patients alternating treatments and most hot treatments are discouraged, since they increase circulation and increase the likelihood for cancer cells to spread. An exception is a hot bath which is strengthening the immune system.

The therapist should have some understanding of the proper procedure and their right application, since doing it wrong can possibly annulate the efficiency of the therapy or cause some other unforeseen problems. For example, doing a treatment in a room with drafts can have detrimental effects on the treatment.

Considering these precautions, the application of hydrotherapy is very safe and will cause no negative side effects for the patient. Unless many other conventional treatments, it is working together with the innate healing mechanism of the body, just strengthening the immune system, circulation and other mechanisms to give the body a helping hand to heal itself. Now let us look at some specific treatments and their benefits.

Hot Foot Bath

This is one of the most versatile hydrotherapy treatments. It consists in immersing the feet of the patient in hot water while wrapping the entire body inside a blanket. This will raise body temperature and induce sweating. An interesting fact is that circulation in the feet is larger than in any other part of the body (that’s why it is essential to keep your feet warm), and applying hot water to the feet will influence circulation of the entire body.

The hot foot bath is an excellent treatment to apply at the first sign of a cold or flu. Since it is inducing sweating, it can help to clean impurities and bring great benefits in smoking and caffeine cessation for example. Since it facilitates circulation in the entire body, it can be very helpful in treating headaches, menstrual cramps and other forms of congestions in the body. It relieves fatigue and relaxes, being very efficient in anxiety and other nervous conditions. It even helps to alleviate pain in the body.

Steam Bath

A steam bath is kind of an intensified version of the hot foot bath. Sweating is intensified as well as the immune system boost. This makes it an ideal treatment for colds and flues. The detoxifying effect of sweating is another interesting application. It is very relaxing and therefore helpful to combat stress and anxiety. Since it increases metabolism, it can complement a diet and exercise program for weight control. It can control pain and swelling in case of gout and arthritis. The sweating opens up the pores and cleans the skin. The heat helps to relax tight muscles and speeds up a workout recovery.

A Russian Steam Bath can be improvised with an electric heating plate and a pot of water that is brought to a boil and creates steam. Everything is covered by a blanket, creating a steam tent that warms up the body. There are nowadays affordable portable steam saunas available. We have some options for you to acquire your own unit.

You should avoid applying a steam bath in persons with heart problems like angina, pacemaker and others. Be cautious on very high or low blood pressure, diabetes and during pregnancy. Apply a cold cloth with ice water to the forehead throughout the entire bath.

Contrast Shower

An alternating hot and cold shower can give an incredible boost to the circulation of your entire body, helping in the recovery of various conditions. It boosts our immunity, being again helpful in colds, flues and various other infections. It helps also to prevent muscle soreness after vigorous exercise.

The treatment is simple, you start with 3 minutes of hot water, as hot as you can comfortably tolerate. Afterwards you switch to 30 seconds to 1 minute of cold. Switch back to hot, just increasing temperature for a little bit more. You will see that your tolerance increases with every change. Go for up to 3 cycles and end with cold.

Contrast Baths

This treatment consists of a localized bath of either hands, feet or the face alternatingly in hot and cold water. You ever had a sprained ankle? It happened to me already several times. The first time I had no clue of any kind of treatment and stayed at home for 2 weeks, and afterwards continuing to walk with crutches for another month. The second time it happened, I had just finished my natural remedies course and was preparing to travel home. For the first day, I applied plenty of ice, and I even asked for a bag of ice cubes during the overnight flight on the airplane. Coming home, I started a daily contrast bath to the feet, and after a week I was back to walking normally again.

Besides a sprained ankle, a contrast bath can speed up the healing process of any lesion, infection or edema. I have seen the healing of a diabetic foot, that did not heal for years (applied with caution about proper temperatures of course). If you have a fractured leg, you can do a contrast bath at the opposite leg and have a beneficial effect on circulation on both legs, speeding up the healing process. A contrast bath to the face is an excellent treatment for sinusitis, showing rapid results like nothing else. A contrast bath to the pelvic area can be used for urinary infections.

Hot and Cold Compresses

For areas that cannot be treated with contrast baths, a compress can be applied. You would use hot compresses for muscle relaxation. A hot compress over the spine is an excellent preparation for massage and can be doing wonders for backaches.

Alternating hot and cold compresses can be applied to increase circulation, and the same way like a contrast bath it can speed up wound healing, as well as help with infections and edemas. It can help sometimes with neuralgic pain. Furthermore can you apply alternating compresses to certain organs to improve their function. Pancreas and liver are good examples. Compresses in the middle of the back, at the upper side of the kidneys can help to lower blood pressure in an acute situation. The adrenal glands are responsible to produce the hormones regulating blood pressure, and applying compresses will show immediate results.

In case of respiratory problems like a cough, bronchitis, pneumonia or asthma, hot and cold compresses to the chest can be speeding up the healing process. There is a modality called revulsive treatment, where you apply a hot compress to the back, an alternating hot and cold compress to the chest and a hot foot bath, all at the same time. This treatment needs though a bit of practice in order to be done right.

A Variety of Treatment Options

We have covered here just a few of the most important treatment modalities. We would still need to cover about a heating compress, a wet sheet pack, a steam inhalation, a cold mitten friction, an ice massage and a few other options. I think it was though sufficient to exemplify the variety of applications that hydrotherapy can have to cure diseases and recuperate our health. Proper knowledge and practice can multiply the efficiency of those simple water treatments. Everybody should know about the right application of those treatments that can turn out to be essential for yourself or one of your loved ones.

A steam bath - the head is kept outside the steam chamber

My friends at the LIGHT training institute have assembled an excellent hydrotherapy training course. It will train you in the proper application of 12 different hydrotherapy procedures, together with its indications and contraindications. You will see in 11 videos step by step how the treatments are properly applied. They have packed into the course over 75 years of practical experience, gained at Wildwood Lifestyle Center, in the application of hydrotherapy treatment for various health concerns. Start today to learn these essential and versatile treatment modalities for yourself.

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Stress-Induced Insomnia – A Vicious Cycle

November 8, 2020 by Martin Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

Lack of sleep caused by stress is a combination that can literally kill you. Relaxation and sleep are two things that can truly make a difference in how your body and mind react to stress. Just if you are stressed, sleep may be coming more difficult. And the insomnia will drastically increase your stress levels. This can lead to a vicious cycle that can easily lead to a collapse.

Stress-Induced Insomnia - A Vicious Cycle

It does not matter what you are fixing first – the stress or the insomnia, but unless at least one is fixed, they will both get worse. The effects of stress on your body and mind can slow your productivity and make your life much less enjoyable.

Stress can be fixed if you have a commitment to seeing it through. After the stress factors are reduced, sleep should come more easily.

Causes of Stress-Induced Insomnia

Too much stress in your life may cause insomnia and vice-versa. When you try to get through the day without getting enough sleep the night before, your efficiency will suffer and you will drag through the day, just increasing your stress again.

Sleep times vary from one person to another, but most adults should get 7 to 8 hours per night to keep up energy levels, keep up mental acuity to be able to get through the work day and maintain a good quality of life.

You may experience a short-term bout of acute insomnia that lasts for only a few days. A stressful event in your life might trigger this type of insomnia, but if you experience it for more than a month, you need to take immediate action.

Stress-induced insomnia may be caused by worrying or serious concerns about your health, finances, work or loved ones. You may also experience stress-induced insomnia if you’ve just gone through a divorce or lost a loved one.

Insomnia can be caused by various other motives as well, like medications, certain diseases, an irregular sleep schedule, a disruptive sleep environment, or a number of other lifestyle habits. It is always good to deal with the real cause in order to tackle the problem head on.

Symptoms of Stress-Induced Insomnia

Dealing with the symptoms of stress-induced insomnia can make you feel disconnected from most everyone and everything. You’re not as mentally alert and you might also be irritable and anxious.

Depression may set in and cause other problems such as fatigue and inability to focus on anything. You may never feel well-rested, even when you think you get a good night’s sleep.

Mood swings are also symptoms of stress-induced insomnia. Tension headaches and aches in the shoulders and neck are caused by stress and can keep you from getting a good night’s sleep without help from medications or relaxation techniques. If you’re finding it difficult to be around people, this may be another warning sign of insomnia taking its toll.

Tension headaches can be caused by stress-induced insomnia / Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Stress-induced insomnia will increase your risk of developing chronic diseases. Heart disease, diabetes, premature aging and even an early death are just a few of the issues that could be caused by stress-induced insomnia.

This type of insomnia can also cause people to eat more and gain weight, drink or take drugs and exercise less. Those are all actions that cause negative consequences to our health. One of the most common risks of long-term, stress-induced insomnia is catching a common cold or any other virus coming around.

Weight gain can also be a health issue related to stress-induced insomnia. When stress hormones are released into the body, your preference for unhealthy foods containing sugar, fat and refined carbohydrates is increased. If you haven’t had enough sleep, you get a double dose of stress hormones which can lead to binge eating.

If you don’t sleep well at night, you may be tense and feel back, shoulder and neck pain when you get up in the morning. Stress during the day at work or home may make the pain worse or cause inflammation that makes it more difficult to heal. Seniors suffering from stress-induced insomnia may experience a slower healing process from medical procedures or surgeries.

Treatments for Stress-Induced Insomnia

If there are worries that keep you awake at night, you need to start working on controlling your thoughts. Cognitive-behavioral therapy may have some interesting tools for you. One of these methods is thought challenging. If a negative thought comes to your mind, you simply challenge it. Is it really true? If not, just discard the thought that was coming to your mind.

Some people are getting all wrapped up about what may happen to them tomorrow. They tend to get worried about things that never may happen at all. Jesus gave some interesting counsel about that:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? … So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-27 & 34

There are cases you need to make provision for something, and if it is for a good reason, go ahead and do what needs to be done. But to worry about something that probably never happens, or when it really happens you cannot change it, does not make any sense. If you believe in God, the best thing to do is to turn over your problems simply to Him, because He is able to take care of it all. And simply stop worrying, because it is probably not going to help you in any way.

You can find peace of mind by committing yourself to God in prayer. In order to do that, speak to God like a friend. Present him your worries, your struggles and your cares. Be honest. Tell whatever is on your heart. There is nothing too great for Him to carry, and nothing too small for Him to note. The more you are able to honestly express, the more you will be able to let things go.

Be confident! After having done your part, commit yourself into His hands, and accept whatever the outcome may be. We can conquer the stressors around us through the power that God is giving to us.

If you still have trouble falling asleep you can try a relaxing tea at night. Valerian and Passionflower are some herbs that can help you fall asleep easier.

A relaxing tea can help to fall asleep. Photo by Mareefe from Pexels

Sleep studies are done if nothing seems to help your insomnia or control your stress that’s keeping you awake at night. You’ll spend the night at a sleep center and during that time, your breathing, heart and brain waves and eye and body movement will be monitored.

If you’ve tried everything else but just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep you may need to resort to meds for a short period, because the side effects of lacking a good night’s sleep are various. Just work on resolving quickly the underlying problems that caused your insomnia, so that you do not create a dependency on those medications.

Prevention Techniques for Stress-Induced Insomnia

After you get into the vicious cycle of stress-induced insomnia, you may have a long road to travel before you get back to a normal sleep pattern. The best thing you can do for yourself and your health is to prevent it from happening. But even if you are in the vicious cycle already, taking care of those basic measures will be fundamental to improve your quality of sleep.

One thing you can do if you suspect that the stress-related insomnia is caused by work is to set boundaries such as letting you spend time with family or relaxing in the evening without answering calls or emails.

Don’t get roped into so many requests that you can’t handle them all without acute stress. Just say no to the ones that aren’t that critical. Don’t check your email every few minutes. Designate a time during the day and let it go in the evening so your distractions are lessened.

Schedule the things you like to do in the evening hours. Other requests from friends or organizations should be secondary to what means the most to you and how you can unwind in the evening.

When you are at home and relaxing before bedtime, put your cellphone away. Take time to relax or converse without distractions – including television. After you watch a show, turn off the television and avoid watching it just before bedtime or especially in the bedroom after you go to bed.

News is stressful to watch any time during the day, so limit what you watch that makes you stressful to 30 minutes or less per day. The same with your computer – don’t have it on and blinking at you when you’re trying to relax. Allow for no screen time for an hour before going to bed, be it computer, cell phone or TV.

During the daytime hours it’s important to stay active. Exercise helps to reduce stress so it doesn’t bother you at bedtime and promotes a great night’s sleep. You’ll also want to plan the bedtime hours to be consistent from one day to the next – even on weekends when possible.

Avoid caffeine or alcohol and kick the smoking habit, if necessary. These substances can make your nerves jittery at bedtime and keep you from getting the required amount of sleep.

A bedtime ritual can help over time to relax your body and mind and ready it for a good night’s sleep. A warm bath, soft music or a few minutes of reading can go a long way to calm nerves and make you sleepy. Deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation may help you to relax. Make it a habit to commit yourself to God in prayer.

A relaxing bath can help wind down after a busy day. Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels

When insomnia makes it difficult for you to function during the daytime hours, it’s best to see your doctor. A sleep disorder may need special treatment other than the type you purchase over the counter.

You should be as committed to getting the full amount of restful sleep you need as much as you are to a healthy diet and exercise to keep your body in shape. You could suffer a poor quality of life for an extended period of time unless you get the stress – and the sleep problems under control. It is true especially with stress control: A healthy sleep is the best preparation to face the problems of tomorrow.

In order to help you with the best strategies to get your stress under control, we have prepared a free guide for you. A good stress management strategy needs to use an all inclusive approach, including lifestyle changes, emotional control, and time management strategies. Download the Ten Minute Guide to Stress Control and start today to develop proper coping skills for your stress.

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