millie says open the flood gates

open the flood gates with me. an emunctory is one of 5 organ systems (skin, lungs, kidneys, lymph, liver and colon) which serve to carry off excrementitious matter. as age looms its cloth within its fibres are chemical allsorts, an accumulation of cellular debris and a self laundering system progressively in need of a kickstart, dry from all the suppressive decongestants, anti-histamines, bouts of constipation, corticosteroids, birth control pills and shots, blah blah. our corporal appliances are constantly working to utilize nutrition and eliminate waste. so help them help you by cleansing sluggish purification pathways and preserving their youthful ability by first opening the internal conduits to cleanliness.

april 1st is the official start day to my bi-annual detox. join me in the upcoming weeks in opening the internal sewer system and allowing it to run clear so you, the host, can flow better all through the year. whether you clean up the diet or not, steer from stimulants’ way or remain a java luva, opening the emunctories is an excellent exercise for spring, as nature’s corridors are clearing, the yukon river is about to break in dawson city, ante up your fluid!
tomorrow: the lungs.

http://www.ak-prepared.com/riverwatch2001/images/eaglevillageice2.jpg

xox dr millie lyte nd

millie says lost sleep losses are steep

lost sleep losses are steep. our body and mind shows signs of sleep deprivation, lack of concentration, poor memory, mood lability and lowered resistance to infections when shuteye has passed-by. sleep hormone melatonin is increased with a pitch black room and the presence of tryptophan, an amino acid building block for melatonin. Available in capsule form melatonin and 5HTP can cause excessive drowsiness and potentially habit forming. interestingly tryptophan has been shown available in certain foods in high enough doses to bring on sleep and treat depression in 3 servings per day of high source foods. so before turning to sleeping aid try some of these foods in your diet to prevent or treat sleep onset or sleep maintenance insomnia.
a snack before bed could be: a handful of pumpkin seeds, yogurt, figs, whole oats. dinner may include: cooked soybeans, carrots, mustard greens, spinach, tofu, raw mushrooms, steamed or boiled shrimp, cod, yellow fin tuna, snapper, halibut, chicken breast, scallops, turkey, lamb, beef tenderloin, salmon, calf liver.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says heap up on herbal helpings

heap up on herbal helpings before cough cracks ya. what do buckley’s mixture, loquat and fritillary, coltsfoot and black cherry bark, cider vinegar water and mustard plasters all have in common? they are effective natural remedies for cough and bronchitis. for centuries in every part of the world there have been herbal cough syrups, teas and plasters used to clear congestion, dry mucus and expel phlegm from the throat and bronchial tree. although cough and cold suppressants mights get you through the day, they have been shown to cause harm and even death to infants and toddlers, have not been shown to shorten the duration of colds and flues nor increase the immune sytem, for armoring the body’s defence systems to fight off the next round. grandma’s home recipe, wherever she come from, is cheap, effective, safe and delicious. try your recipes here.

http://www.make-stuff.com/formulas/cough_cold.html

xox dr millie lytle

millie says dont do diet drinks

dont do diet drinks. for a couple of decades north america increased its weight and diabetes skyrocketed like a elevator to epidemic proportions under the guise that diet pop was making them thin. if the outdated and thoroughly misleading word “diet pop” still makes you think you’ll somehow be thinner with it then think again. not only do studies show that that consuming sweet drinks with meals do not decrease overall calories consumed at that meal but even more baffling to the nutrition-starved mind is that drinking diet drinks (crystal light, diet pop) though no-cal in name stimulate the body to produce insulin and increase cravings for more sweets. although the drink itself doesn’t provide calories, the body is starving from missing calories it thought it was receiving and subsequently encouraged to find more, usually it will do this by engaging in binges, chip raids and carb loading. as opposed to losing weight with artificial sweeteners, in fact, “overweight risk soars 41% with each daily can of diet soft drink taken daily”. so dont drink dat, pure water is the best healthy calorie free drink.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says stress not watch not

stress not, watch not. north america’s number one past-time television watching, though colloquially referred to as flaking, chillin’, zoning out to the boob tube, idiot box, gogglebox rather than relaxing, is a taxing physiological event. what seems to be a passive activity and an excuse to sit or lie down before bed, watching the telly in fact creates the opposite for our brain. loud sounds, moving pictures and dramatic tension increase cortisol secretion, our body’s major stress hormone. by creating an enervating event particularly at night when cortisol ought to be low, sleep hormone melatonin production is interfered with, potentially reducing the quality of one’s slumber. in the long run, disquieting ourselves with hour- upon-hours of channel surfing fatigues the body, wires the mind and lowers the immune system. this kind of fatigue that comes from television watching discombobulates the endocrine system also causing weight gain. not just because being a couch-potato hobbyist replaces hours of time that could be filled with productive activity but because the more cortisol secreted the higher the appetite. so by stressing yourself out watching television you’re conning your endocrine system into thinking it’s starving for carbs and fat and responds by storing energy judy in case a tiger will come and attack you. .. it doesn’t realize that you’re watching national geographic television.

image: black line represents cortisol, dotted line represents melatonin. they dont come together.

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says begin bio k

begin bio k on special occasions. daily ingestion of healthy bacteria, prebiotics, probiotics, FOS, microflora has established itself as a self-care routine tops for maintenance of intestinal terrain. having helped everything from diarrhea, constipation, weight problems, yeast and candida, frequent colds and flus and even depression, these little critters ought to be daily consumed to maintain digestive best, immune improvement and to quell yeasty nasty quotient. such mainstream info is so that conventional yogurt activia etc with probiotics are moving up in the food marketplace. other less trendy but equally viable sources are vinegar-free sauerkraut, kimchi, cider vinegar, unpasteurized miso and and certain monestery beers. in supplement form for therapeutic resolution, capsules containing strains from algae and fermented foods, spore varieties derived from the soil, lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus which are derived from milk or cultured with non-dairy contained in a little white powder. but the mother of all mothers is bio K plus; for major probs try this humdinger of a food supplement for 2 weeks. super distilled patented potent lactobacillus strains will ease digestive struggles within a few days. I was once a bio K sales rep carting the product through loblaws, giving out free sample to anyone brave enough to take it. that was in teh 90s and though I can’t remember the spiel at a time when no one had heard of probiotics but the super conscious health freaks seeking out billions of live cells to counter the effects of antibiotics and birth control yeast. yowzers now we know better. give to little ones, there’s dairy free, fruit flavored and original. suprinsingly delicious.

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says face the bore-dome to leave it behind

face the bore-dome to leave it behind. a friend told me recently that being bored is the worst thing he can imagine. I on the other hand dont get bored. I get restless, anxious, un-motivated, sad, depressed, mellow, relaxed and zoned out. so I looked it up. Boredom is defined as “an unpleasant, transient affective state in which the individual feels a pervasive lack of interest in and difficulty concentrating on the current activity”. problems with engagement of attention arise due to the individual being prevented from engaging in something, forced to engage in an unwanted activity or at a time when one cannot, for no obvious reason, muster engagement in any spectacle. contrary to some belief it seems that boredom is not just a state of not doing enough, one could be doing plenty or doing too much or running away from self by fearing boredom. in fact philosopher bertrand russel claims that half the sins of mankind result from fear of it, so christians battle it with work to overcome it. buddists say make love to it; look that boredom in the eye and embrace it and growth will result.

Buddha says “Sitting silently, doing nothing, The spring comes And the grass grows by itself;”

Boredom Proneness Scale (http://uwf.edu/svodanov/boredom/bps.htm)

The statements can be answered using a true-false response (the original format used) or with a 7-point format from “1″ (highly disagree) to “7″ (highly agree) used in recent research.

_____ 1. It is easy for me to concentrate on my activities.

_____ 2. Frequently when I am working I find myself worrying
about other things.

_____ 3. Time always seems to be passing slowly.

_____ 4. I often find myself at “loose ends”, not knowing what to do

_____ 5. I am often trapped in situations where I have to
do meaningless things.

_____ 6. Having to look at someone’s home movies or travel
slides bores me tremendously.

_____ 7. I have projects in mind all the time, things to do

_____ 8. I find it easy to entertain myself.

_____ 9. Many things I have to do are repetitive and
monotonous

_____ 10. It takes more stimulation to get me going than most
people.

_____ 11. I get a kick out of most things I do.

_____ 12. I am seldom excited about my work.

_____ 13. In any situation I can usually find something to do
or see to keep me interested.

_____ 14. Much of the time I just sit around doing nothing.

_____ 15. I am good at waiting patiently.

_____ 16. I often find myself with nothing to do, time on my
hands.

_____ 17. In situations where I have to wait, such as a line I get very restless.

_____ 18. I often wake up with a new idea.

_____ 19. It would be very hard for me to find a job that is
exciting enough.

_____ 20. I would like more challenging things to do in life.

_____ 21. I feel that I am working below my abilities most of
the time.

_____ 22. Many people would say that I am a creative or
imaginative person.

_____ 23. I have so many interests, I don’t have time to do
everything.

_____ 24. Among my friends, I am the one who keeps doing
something the longest.

_____ 25. Unless I am doing something exciting, even dangerous, I feel half-dead and dull.

_____ 26. It takes a lot of change and variety to keep me really happy.

_____ 27. It seems that the same things are on television or the movies all the time; it’s getting old.

_____ 28. When I was young, I was often in monotonous and tiresome situations.

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says neutralize the new nervosa

neutralize the new nervosa. whereas anorexia is a term that means “lack of appetite”, orthorexia can be broken down to root words “correct or right appetite” due to a mood disorder causing belief that certain foods or food groups are unhealthy.

the pros and cons of orthorexia as I see them.

Pros :

• certain foods are unhealthy, and this whole freakin’ blog is about this fact
• people without orthorexia do not discriminate food choices based on health, therefore the average mainstream north american is 20- 30 pounds overweight, depressed with growing concern for diabetes. who wants that?
  
• people with mild orthorexia have educated themself to eat a full complement of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, carbohydrates and proteins 3-6 times per day and are using food as medicine.
  

Cons:

• an eating disorder and a mood disorder
  
• a person suffering with severe orthorexia nervosa would omit any food based on delusional fear it will make them sick or contaminate them resulting in health consequences
• eg: might opt out of all fats in the belief they would become fat; strike conventionally raised meat because it’s contaminated and improperly raised; omit conventional dairy because it contains antibiotics; cut out fish because it’s full of mercury. if these categories were not replaced with organic, wild or properly farmed, it could become a nutritional problem
• orthorexia nervosa is technically an obsession-compulsive disorder with healthy eating to the point it interferes with self-care, work, social and family life
  
• orthorexia might turn into anorexia if enough foods were restricted and the mood disorder heightened.
  
• People suffering from this obsession may display the following signs
  • Spending more than three hours a day thinking about healthy food
    
  • Planning tomorrow’s menu today
    
  • Feeling virtuous about what they eat, but not enjoying it much
  • Continually limiting the number of foods they eat
    
  • Experiencing a reduced quality of life or social isolation (because their diet makes it difficult for them to eat anywhere but at home)
    
  • Feeling critical of others who do not eat as well they do
    
  • Skipping foods they once enjoyed in order to eat the “right” foods
    
  • Feeling guilt or self-loathing when they stray from their diet
  • Feeling in “total” control when they eat the correct diet

warning of bias: all information in this blog comes from a categorical professional orthorexic who believes she’s balanced.

xox dr millie lytle nd

millie says beware hidden salt

beware hidden salt. i once asked my high school biology teacher the difference between table salt (iodized salt, kosher salt, sodium chloride, NaCl) and sea salt. he could not answer me then but i’ve come to learn the former is a synthetic, bleached, excoriating (burning), blood-pressure-raising, dehydrating, mineral- depleting, awful-tasting chemical and the latter a naturally-derived, mineral-rich health supplement. though not all sea salts are created equal. in fact the bleached white sea salt on store shelves or in bulk may not cut it either though it does contain natural iodine whereas table salt is iodiZed in order to keep we landlocked creatures from developing thyroid illness.  too bad NaCl contributes to other problems such as heart disease and obesity.

when you want salt think whole sea or mined salts which have a variety of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium as well as sodium and chloride to keep mineral levels balanced and regulating blood pressure. minerals are colorful so think off white, pink, grey, black and brown, fleurs de sel instead of bleached white poison.

hidden sources of the white stuff here:

• Baked beans
• Dry Breakfast cereals (especially corn flakes)
  
• Bread products such as crumpets, bagels and ciabatta
• Cooking and pasta sauces
• Chips and crackers (fried or baked)
  
• Pizza
• Ready meals
• canned soup (tomoto, chicken noodle, cream of mushroom)
  
• oxo bouillon (and MSG)
• chocolate pudding
  
• Sausages
• Tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and other condiments
• soy sauce

xox dr millie lyte nd

millie says feed your inner leprechaun

feed your inner leprechaun. green: the catchword of the year, if not the decade, equivalent to being environmentally-friendly, eco or a plain ol’ responsible citizen, should be painless now. when I was a kid and my dad made it my job to take the decomposing organic matter from the kitchen to the worm filled backyard receptacle i wouldn’t have imagined it would be the new cool for each family to contribute towards a mountainous compost heap, and that by not having one every individual in the saviest and most rural parts of north america could be the weird one. outcast: the way i felt at twelve disposing of coffee ground, rotten egg shells and carrots peels into a smelly heap but by everyone knows the greener the more environmentally friendly the better person you are…brownie point toward a more evolved species at reincarnation time? the elite of green canadians, david suzuki has challenged us to get curb-side trash down to less than 1 bag a month or something. what about incandescent lights versus flurescents, carbon load versus water waste, organic versus local, bottled versus tap. biodegradable is there such a thing, reduce-reuse-recycle, what in the heck is the liner on the inside of sigg bottles? with so many wrong options is it easy being green?

visit this site, take this quiz to work it out

http://www.thegreenguide.com/quizzes/greenIQ

xox dr millie lytle nd