Iridology

So, as some of you know, I finished my course in Iridology. Which is the study of the iris to reveal the health of the body. Of course, I just read the book, so I don't have a lot of actual experience, but I appreciate those of you who have guinea pigged your eyes for me to study!

Above is a picture of my left eye. According to Iridology, a healthy person's eye will be all one color, usually blue or brown, have tightly woven fibers, and not a lot of spots, yellowing, or "lesions" (those oval shaped "holes"!). As you can see, I have some work to do. The interesting part is that Dr. Jensen talks a lot about toxicity, and how it can settle into our weakest parts. In my eye, you can see that I have two ovals, between 2 and 3 o'clock, which correspond to my neck and shoulder (on the left side, because it's the left eye).

Since I left New York, about 2 months ago, I hadn't really had any alcohol to drink, until Halloween. I didn't have very much, a little whiskey (my usual) and some wine. I felt it a little bit, but I didn't feel an especially low tolerance at the time. Then, the next day, I woke up with a headache, and for the next few days I had a sort of underlying headache and a large rope-like knot going from my neck down into my shoulder on the left side. Right where those ovals indicating a weakness are in my left eye. Maybe it's a coincidence, but suddenly it felt like some things were coming together.

The funny thing about healing is that it seems to come in stages. You can't detox and rebuild before your body is strong enough to handle it, and if you're in the middle of one of those stages, I suppose the worst thing you could do is purposely give your body extra poison/toxins (alcohol) to neutralize and get rid of. So, no more alcohol for me until I've had some serious detoxing and rebuilding happening. Which, besides feeling, I will hopefully see in my eyes. To that end I've been thinking about the other things I have done differently since the move.

Things that have changed since I left NYC:

I get more rest. (This was one of the main things I was missing, and the first thing that seemed to go in nyc. Although, I can't totally blame the city, I think I've had this underlying "fatigue" thing happening since I was a teenager.)

I have less physical stress(though I enjoyed parts of it a lot, the physical stress of my previous job constantly wore me down to nearly nothing.), and virtually no work stress.

I drink no alcohol.

I have almost no refined sugar or flour.

I take vitamins A, B-complex, C and E everyday, and a vegetarian supplement which includes extra fiber and enzymes to help with the detox process (because if your body is using the regular avenues of elimination: liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, it's less likely to resort to using your skin. Although I'm still getting some chin pimples. Chimples?)

I have at least a heaping teaspoon of coconut oil each day. (It's supposed to have many amazing properties, including boosting metabolism and your immune system)

I drink supergreens most days.

I wouldn't say I'm "energetic", but I think I have more energy. (When I first got here, afternoon naps always sounded like an excellent idea, now, not so much. Small victories!)
I get to think about, study and research things that interest me all day.

I move less, which has affected my circulation (poorly!).

I still have emotional stress from my new environment/slightly vague plan for the future...

I eat more meat(mainly turkey) on salads and sandwiches.

In the near future I'm probably going to start on some herbal remedies, and/or homeopathics. I feel okay most of the time, but my body is very sensitive to too many things, and I get run down much too quickly. And sometimes I feel like death when I wake up in the morning, although I think that's happening less. Bottom line is, I don't feel like I can help others until I have helped myself. And I think my eyes are supposed to be a nice, tightly woven blue.

Natural, Normal and Necessary

One of the books I read as part of my correspondence course (Health and Wellness, by Dr. M. Ted Morter) made the very helpful distinction between three words and what they should mean with regard to our health and wellness.

Natural, in this context refers to the state of a healthy body, without any conditions, or ailments, functioning the way it was meant to- healthy!

The next distinction is normal. What is "normal" these days is not necessarily natural, in any sense of the word. Examples of this would be the idea that urine is supposed to be yellow (it should be almost clear-unless you're taking b vitamins, or something else that changes its color); or being on blood pressure medication at age 35 (or younger). These are things that have become accepted as "normal" because they happen so often, not because they are natural occurrences.

The word "necessary" in this context refers to what the body can and will do to keep you alive. A good example of this would be developing osteoporosis...or having a weakening in the teeth. We don't want to think of this as a natural occurrence, and an Allopathic (Western medicine) view of the body would see this as a malfunction. But if we know that there is an innate wisdom in the body, we know that a problem is occurring because the body will do everything in its power to stay alive, and its priorities are in order. Number one is : keep the blood clean. If there are toxins, or acids in our bodies (and therefore blood) because of our environment, our food consumption or our emotions, our body will buffer it and eliminate it. If it doesn't have enough organic sodium (not table salt!) to buffer, the second best thing to buffer the toxins is calcium. Guess where we keep our calcium? That's right, teeth and bones. So on the surface of the situation, we see a problem with our teeth and bones weakening, but the body sees it as doing job number one: keeping the blood clean.

This is true for so much of what we call disease. If we never trace a symptom or symptoms back to its origin, and instead call that group of symptoms some disease name, how can we expect the body to properly heal?

Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

I was prompted to look up exactly how prescription drug commercials are regulated, because I noticed that each of them includes some different elements these days. It struck me that, while we used to hear a long list of possible side effects by a fast talking male voice(sometimes including "death"!), now, more often, there is a lovely woman doctor, talking to a patient about the possible "risks" involved with taking the certain drug. It's much easier to swallow that way (no pun intended)...

The FDA allows this because (according to Carol Rados) "Recognizing the time constraints of broadcast ads, FDA regulations provide that a broadcast advertisement may include, instead of a brief summary, information relating to the major risks." Okay. There's really no good way to go about this, and it is definitely controversial to advertise on television at all. This article on the FDA website is actually really interesting, and shed some light on how it all works. And it tells you the three different kinds of ads, each with its own set of restrictions (or lack thereof). You can find it here.

I know, not everyone can stop the medications that they are taking, and no doubt there's something to be said for prescription drugs at certain points in certain peoples lives, but my question is, at what point in medical school do future doctors get taught to ignore the fact that all drugs are poison? If drugs weren't toxic they would have no side effects, and all drugs have side effects. Scientists have been working very hard to build "better" drugs that "outsmart" the body instead of trying to work with the body to promote healing. Unfortunately the end product of that is we are left with a series of chemicals that mask the problem, and the cause of the problem stays hidden.

The body has an amazing capacity to heal itself when given what it needs. We need to come back to that faith in it. Not just faith, it IS scientific, all the body systems interact with one another, so isolating them and treating parts(with toxins/poisons), naturally would work against healing. Maybe this is obvious to most of you, maybe I'm feeling the need to rant. But if we are going to get some sort of truly affordable healthcare now, I think it should absolutely include a preventative system. That means covering non-invasive so-called "alternative" treatments before our bodies are further poisoned by drugs or surgeries to remove organs that have very specific and important jobs to do (contrary to popular belief, the gallbladder is not just an evolutionary relic)!

We can all change the way health is handled by taking an active interest in our own. That includes talking to your doctor about ALL the options available, and being up front about what you are okay with and what you aren't. They have years of training, yes. But you are the one who has to live (literally, live IN the body) with the treatments they prescribe. They are not the only authority, and there is no magic pill.