Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion, Fourth Edition (76 page)

Over time your needs may increase but then substantially decrease as repair occurs.

“If the sauna, schnapps, and tar don’t help, then the illness is fatal.”

—Old Finnish adage

Low-temperature saunas or steambaths are useful to eliminate fat-soluble chemicals from our systems. They are commonly used to help detoxify those who have had high exposure to pesticides, solvents, pharmaceutical drugs, and petrochemicals. Slow, steady sweat encourages the release of fat-soluble toxins through the skin from their storage sites in our tissues. Saunas increase our peripheral circulation; decrease circulation to our muscles, kidney, and organs; increase our metabolism; and increase oxygen utilization, blood pressure, and heart rate. In the process, we lose sodium, potassium, and chloride via our sweat, so remember to rehydrate and replenish with vegetable juice or diluted fruit juice. Taking saunas increases hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline, growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and prolactin. It ultimately opens up our lungs, relaxes our muscles, makes us more flexible, and thins synovial fluid in our joints. It also gives us a good cardiovascular workout, similar to doing moderate to vigorous walking.

Saunas help us to release xenobiotic toxins from our fat cells. Many compounds have been reported to be released, including minerals, urea, drugs, and polychlorinated bromines (PCBs). In addition, hyperthermia is well known to help with cancer treatment and is being used in some oncology centers in the United States and Europe.

Most saunas and steam baths are set at temperatures too high to accomplish the full detox potential, so be sure a dry sauna is set between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit and a steam bath is at 110 degrees Fahrenheit so you can stay in for at least 45 minutes without getting too hot or chilled. It is best to spend 30 to 60 minutes in a sauna or steam three to five times a week. Releasing toxins cannot be accomplished with higher heat or shorter amounts of time. The object is to sweat slowly and steadily.

After you are done sweating, you must shower immediately, using a glycerin-based soap such as Neutrogena. It will wash away the toxins and keep you from reabsorbing them.

Saunas are contraindicated in women who are at high risk for pregnancy and for people with aortic stenosis, unstable angina, and recent heart attack. If you have extreme toxicity from environmental chemicals, you’ll need to detox under the supervision of a physician. The temporary release of toxins into your circulation can be quite severe and debilitating. Some clinics specialize in using saunas for medical detoxification. In her excellent book
Poisoning Our Children
, Nancy Sokol Green describes her experience in a detox clinic in depth: “On the fourteenth day of detox, I started experiencing allergic symptoms, such as eyelid swelling, while I was in the sauna! … I was actually beginning to reek of the pesticides that had been sprayed in my home. … Several of the patients at the clinic who were sensitive to pesticides had to stay away from me as I triggered adverse reactions in them.”

Saunas are a useful detoxification therapy when used preventively and therapeutically. If you are using a sauna therapeutically, do so under the supervision of a physician who can guide you through the process. And next time you get into your car that’s been warmed by the sun, spend a few minutes basking in the glory of the heat. You have your own infrared sauna!

“Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist.
It is just like the roads across the earth.
For actually there were no roads to begin with,
But when many people pass one way a road is made.”

—Lu Hsun, 1921

Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” I hope that these pages will help you to know better so that you can do better.

Part IV provides a comprehensive list of self-care ideas for the most common digestive problems. We start our journey at the mouth and move south. Some of the following ideas alleviate symptoms, while others work to help your body heal the underlying cause. The remedies are mostly nutritional and herbal because those are the fields I know best; I have included other modalities whenever possible. The most important ones are listed first. Read each section that applies to you, find the remedies for your symptoms, and try those recommended more than once first. Also try the remedies that make the most sense intuitively.

In all cases begin with the DIGIN model for optimal healing then look for specifics in these chapters.

Each herb or nutrient is listed separately, but often they can be found in combination supplements. You’ll notice that specific recommendations are repeated for many problems. Although each health condition has its own unique properties, many have similar characteristics that respond to similar treatment programs. You’ll probably want to work with a health professional to tailor a program that will best suit your needs.

Health care is both a science and an art. You may need the science in the form of lab testing, diagnosis, and evaluation of your needs. Your clinician will order the
customary lab work. I have included information about functional lab tests that are most likely to reveal new information; these tests will probably be unfamiliar to your physician. You will find a resource directory of suggested laboratories and supplement companies online at
http://www.digestivewellnessbook.com
.

The art of healing comes into play when determining which paths to follow, which ideas have the most merit, and which dosages are appropriate. Healing often happens in layers. Sometimes you try the right thing at the wrong time. Later, you try it again with great results because the initial obstacle has been removed. If the first program you try doesn’t work or works only partially, try another. You can feel better when you are persistent and patient. Remember, our symptoms are our body’s way of telling us to pay attention, that something is out of balance. By listening, we often have the inner wisdom to know exactly what we need.

Begin your program by taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement. Think of a multivitamin with minerals as inexpensive health insurance, and arm yourself with an excellent supplement. Your diet is likely to be deficient in several nutrients that supplements can provide. Because minerals are bulky, you’ll find yourself taking anywhere from two to nine pills daily. Read the ingredients on the label carefully. If a product contains artificial colors, preservatives, shellac, or carnauba wax, put it back on the shelf and keep looking. Also, look for an expiration date and batch number. Although I love food-based supplements, if you have a lot of food sensitivities or allergies, think twice about taking one. It’s likely that one of the foods that’s in the supplement may be one that you react to. Look for a multivitamin and mineral supplement that contains at least the following:

Recommended Multivitamin with Minerals

1,000 mg of calcium

400 to 600 mg of magnesium

400 IU of vitamin D

At least 100 IU of vitamin E

At least 250 mg of vitamin C

200 mcg of chromium

200 mcg of selenium