Hello Friends:
My wellness journey has taken me into the Medicare and health insurance experience. There are many variations and confusing information. After spending the time to learn and still learning, I have decided to help others by becoming a Health Insurance Agent specializing in Health, Long-term Care, and Senior Insurance. I will be posting what I’ve learn to help those who are interested.
Your friend,
I have just read a book that explains Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clearly that you may find useful. The book is “Total Health, the Chinese Way” by Esther Ting PhD and Marianne Jas, MA. Here are some of the chapters: Understanding how your body works, Strengthen your defenses, Move and Breath…
Dr. Ting practices in West LA.
Your friend,
How to Recognize and Beat the Winter Blues
As the weather changes from warm and inviting to cold and distant, some people are affected by bouts of sadness, usually referred to as seasonal affective disorder. If you or someone you know seems to have the blues when the weather changes, here are ways that you can work to overcome it.
Sometimes seasonal affective disorder is equated with depression but they are two very different things. For one, seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, occurs at certain times of the year, usually when there is limited amounts of sunlight. Sunlight assists in increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain. It is a neurotransmitter that affects mood. When levels drop, changes in your behavior and feelings can result.
The blues can jump the gap and enter into the realm of depression. If you have a history of depression in your family, you are more at risk to bridge that gap. Also, not addressing the reason for the blues or if it lasts longer than the season, that could reflect some sort of further chemical imbalance in the brain at work.
So, how do you know if you have the winter blues? Because it is thought to be a mild form of depression, some of the same symptoms apply. There is irritability, loss of appetite or increased appetite, loss of energy, lack of motivation and sadness.
By using techniques to try and treat your symptoms, you can tell if you are experiencing seasonal affective disorder or a more serious form of depression.
* Exercise – Exercise is not just for weight loss but also mental health management. Endorphins are released during exercise that can elevate your mood. For those who suffer from stress, your enhanced mental state can help you to work through those problems more clearly, reducing your stress level.
* Meditate – When the feelings of sadness hit, try and relax. Take time for yourself and go someplace quiet. Practice deep breathing techniques to increase your oxygen consumption. Listen to music in those moments. Music does have the ability to change the way that we feel simply by using different rhythms, notes and chords.
* Get moving – The winter may not seem so long if you get involved. Try to spend time outside with your kids playing in the snow. Try a winter sport as a form of exercise.
* Use light – The level of natural light available may decrease as you go up in elevation. You may need to use light boxes to simulate natural light. Spend at least 30 minutes a day using it to see if it increases your mood. A therapist can perform the light therapy for you to be sure you get the right amount and length of time.
Are you facing a winter of sadness? There are ways that you can learn to deal with it and come out on the other side.
Your wellness friend,
I believe that love, joy and appreciate are part of your wellness that will help your body heal. I refer you to Hiromi Shinya’s book, “The Enzyme Factor” to learn from an outstanding MD his keys to a long and healthy life.
In a previous post, “Music and Sound Helps Your Body Heal Degenerate Disease” This post is about how music helps your brain and mental health issues. A musician from the LA Philharmonic tells the story of his connection with “Nathaniel Ayers”. This is what music did to help a mentally ill person that was better than the previous medical treatment of the mentally ill experienced. It is awesome.
Your wellness friend,
Are you so full of knowledge that you are an expert and can tell everyone how much you know? Here is a story of a monk that knew it all.
In China, scholarly monks sought teachers and asked to be their students. One brilliant young monk keep doing this and showing up his teachers with his knowledge. The monk learned of a master known throughout China as the “Master”. So he sought him out to become one of the master’s students. Finally he gained an audience with master to ask to become one of the master’s new students.
The interview was mainly the monk telling the master how brilliant he was and how he showed up many teachers. The master just listened. He asked the young monk if he cared for some tea. The monk said yes, thinking that he had impressed the master and would be asked to become his student. The master kept pouring the tea until it overflowed the cup, spilling and burning the young monk. The monk jumped up and exclaimed, “what are you doing”?
The master smiled and merely replied, “You are like this teacup. Overflowing your ignorance and too full to receive any teachings. Go and do not come back.”
Are you like the monk, so full of knowledge and yourself that you can not receive anything? Your mind is full and closed.
Please empty your teacup and open your mind to receive.
Your friend and teacher,
Murata Sensei
PS: If your teacup is empty, please contact me for help at (714) 784-0474 or E-Mail: Arlan@muratasensei.com
According to Dr. Dean Ornish, Clinical Professor and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute… “Your Body has a remarkable capacity to begin healing itself, and much more quickly than people had once realized, if they simply stop doing what’s causing the problem. And so, really, so much of what we do in medicine and life in general is focused on mopping up the floor without also turning off the faucet”
Here is a remarkable 17 minute video by Dean Ornish that is worth more than the time to watch it.
I agree with Dean Ornish and believe that you control your wellness. His presentation drives the point home. What you feed your mind, body and spirit/soul, network (social) and finance determines your wellness. Do you feed your mind hate, get even, envy, etc? Do you feed your body diet cokes, drugs, alcohol, processed foods, tobacco, etc? Do you tell yourself that I’m too tired to walk or not today to a swim?
I will take it further and say that most of the practice of Western Medicine is treating the symptom with surgery and drugs that are controlled by powerful groups. In Japan, rated by the United Nations World-Wide Life Expectancy Survey as No. 1. The United States is rated No. 38. The medical practice in Japan is orientation to find the cause and addressing that, not the symptoms.
What do you believe about your wellness is the key. Have you experienced a person that by all odds should be dead but has an undying belief that he will get well and fights to get well? Or watched someone just gave up on losing some weight?
Please think, believe and achieve your wellness as you control it, no one else really cares and does.
Yours in wellness,
Arlan
Do you realize that billions of dollars are spend each year convincing, manipulating & even seducing you into making some or all of your health choices, right or wrong?
Food & beverage (F & B) companies are paying billions or more to advertisers that really know how to push our buttons. These companies know that many of the food & beverages make us fat and are not good for us. They don’t want to change the products or marketing strategies they have created over the last century. Since the bottom line is profit, these companies are overjoyed that the products they’ve been promoting are cheap, profitable & addicting to the human bodies.
So how do we keep healthy for life?
Carbohydrates, sugars & a condition called insulin resistance. We all are eating meat, fresh & saltwater fish, lots of vegetables, fruits and grains. Our bodies work with a combination of these foods. This is called calibration. Just like a car engine that has to have its fuel calibrated or it won’t run smoothly. It would run rough or give off nasty exhaust, sound familiar? In the car we adjust the fuel flow. Our bodies on the other hand are the opposite. We are hard-wired genetically & we can’t change that, our calibrations are fixed. Since we can’t calibrate the body, we need to calibrate the fuel, food, we eat. Most of the commercially prepared foods are not properly calibrated for us. This is why processed foods wreaks so much havoc on our weight, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, etc.
As Pogo says, “I have met the enemy, he is me”. Just like smokers who keep smoking and drinkers who keep drinking, we keep eating these commercially processed addictive foods, even though it is slowly killing us.
F & B companies were lucky in hitting on what people want, convenience and fast. Peoples lives have changed from our ancestral days of intensively physical lives to a much more sedentary life. We have to think about exercise. Human metabolism is how the body’s chemicals work together in processing the fuel, foods, it needs to run efficiently. This process is calibration.
Complex carbs such as ones found in whole grain raise blood sugar very slowly, which is how our blood sugars intake should work. Historically, we ate unprocessed grains. Today, they are processed – we want white bread so we buy bread that has the brown bran, the part that contains fiber, oils, minerals and vitamins, taken out.
Simple carbs get into the blood stream, they spike the blood sugars very fast and forces the body to compensate with a burst of energy, then crash. This is why you feel great for a short while but then are tired and want more fuel. Then you stuff your self with these simple carbs. All the carbs that aren’t used are stored as fat in our bodies, which is why people are overweight.
So why hasn’t things changed, since we know this? Although some companies try to make healthier products, but continue to make “metabolic addictive” cheap refined ingredients and foods because of the profit they make. People get hooked and some food companies are hooked on the profits. Thus, no matter the consequences on people’s health, they keep doing it.
When will people deal with the messed up food addictions they don’t know they have, thousands of advertising impression every day, the illusion that cheap foods are actually valuable, stimulate drinks loaded with sugar and alcohol loaded with calories, and tobacco loaded with nicotine.
Thoughts to ponder from David Macallan, N.M.D, in his book, “The Silhouette Solution”
• Different kind of doctor
• It’s not all my fault
• Don’t believe the ads
• Knowledge is power
• Carbs have consequences
• Leave miss-calibrated foods alone
• Break free
If wellness is your interest, please subscribe to my newsletter below or contact me at (714) 717-1652 or email arlanmurata@gmail.com
There is more to physical wellness than drugs and surgery. Here is an alternative to consider
What is Superbrain Yoga? Will it really help your brain? http://bit.ly/9JlTGD
More to come.Posts
PHYSICAL WELLNESS
Your body is a wonderful and amazing being that GOD created. As you were created, life should be a wonderful and exciting experience because of a vibrant functioning body. Treat it well and allow the body’s magnificent healing power to work as it should.
Your body consist of mind, body and soul. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” You are responsible to exercise and feed your mind, body and soul. A mind full of worry, hate, bitterness, jealousy, loneliness, regret and fear; a body full of fats, and grease, refined sugars, white flour and starches; a liver filled with alcohol, caffeine, colas, and chemicals; lungs filled with carbon monoxide, exhaust and toxic fumes can not and will not deliver wellness and health. Only when we accept responsibility for our own physical, mental and spiritual health will we be well.
“Wholesome nourishment of the physical body, daily exercise and nourishment of the mind and soul are the key ingredients to vitality and long life. Above all, to renew the spirit by giving up mental anguish of hate, hurt, fear, anger, jealousy, worry, regret and bitterness to accept and embrace love, understanding, hope and forgiveness is the real secret to recovery and wellness. You need to regain the faith, love and appreciation within yourself to trigger your body’s magnificent healing powers.” Ed Foreman
Exercise: A program is best setup with a fitness coach to help you achieve the goal of your exercise.
Nutrition: More Coming
Mind: More Coming
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