Foods
for Structure

Ordinary Foods that I have found
make people's muscles
and soft connective tissue healthier

So they stretch further and easier when people
do their stretching and they give way easier,
in a more pleasant, less-painful way
 when they get this kind of Bodywork.
It has also reduced and removed pain and
muscle tightness.

by Lou Gross, Trained & Experienced Natural Health Professional
26 years successful Bodywork track record
louisryoshin@yahoo.com
  321-726-9083  est  gmt-5 hrs
Please email as well as call because sometimes the voicemail
service has message relaying delays.

Contact Lou by phone or E-Mail for
the Fascial Lengthening part

 

Foods For Structure Section

DISCLAIMER & HEALTH ADVISORY
Please note that this information is not meant to
analyze nor treat any disease.  It has simply helped
other people's health and it is offered because it
 might help yours, too.  Please see a doctor if you
 need help with a disease or injury.

The opinions and information offered on this web page
are derived mostly from my repeated observations
& from my own physical experiences.  It is also from
my studies of experts and the information received from
Licensed & Degreed Health Professionals.

Please take responsibility for your own health
and for what you put in your own body.

In my role here as a health reporter, I can't and don't
take any responsibility for any use you or anyone else
makes of this information.  I've included a caution for people
taking cumidin & also a precaution for candida.
But since I'm not a doctor and don't know about many
conditions people could have, I strongly urge everyone to
know about their own condition & even try the things
they think are OK, just a little at a time to start with.


Foods for Structure
Here are the fundamentals.
Based on my 26 years experience, it helps if we do
two major things

by Lou Gross, Trained & Experienced Natural Health Professional
26 years successful Bodywork track record
louisryoshin@yahoo.com
24 hr Voice Mail:  1-321-726-9083, 310-285-8132
Please email as well as phone for more immediate reply
because sometimes the voicemail service is delayed in sending messages.

1.)  Increase the natural food nourishment.  People in pain all seem to have depleted nutritional stores, especially minerals.  Eat foods that are highest in vegetable-source calcium, magnesium and potassium, with complementary elements, and high in tissue healing vitamins beta-carotene and C-complex (including bioflavinoids).  B-Vits (see next paragraph) & Vitamin D from sunlight also seem to help a lot (just as it says in the books we buy).
     Muscles need cal-mag-potassium to function and a depletion makes the muscles tight, even when the fascia isn't bunched up. Sunlight has been shown to increase calcium absorption & even increase the amount of muscle development through exercise.  Tight neuro-muscular activity during the Bodywork manipulations creates pain and not as much tissue spreads.  It also helps to add foods that are high in vegetable-source  B-Vitamins.  Among other things, they're great for the nerves & liver, and they help with digestion and the assimilation of magnesium (B6).  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Liver Organ "System" includes the muscles & tendons.
     There are key inexpensive supplements to take including herbs that I include in my personal consultations.

2.)  Remove the wastes in the tissues. Clean the old wastes out of the interstitial fluid of the fascia that's in between the muscle fibers, and also clean the internal cellular fluid. This also requires cleaning up and nourishing the lymph and blood streams.  And it all works better when people have clean colons and livers as well.
      As far "back" as 1980, a massage therapist wrote in his sports massage book that waste products in the muscles create pain, and massaging them out removes the pain.
      Use herbs, etc, to cleanse for parasites.

      I personally benefit from using cleansing herb teas for, say, liver, lymph, blood, intestines, and a LOT of water for much of a day or much of a few days.  I get more flexible and lighter.


ALSO *****- If you have been strained or stressed from the pains and tightness & trying to get well, your adrenals & inner energy system is also probably low.  That is, Stressed out. 

Stress, and especially pain and tightness also uses up calcium and magnesium stores and the information below helps rebuild in this regard.

Besides the dark green leafy vegs and seaweeds described here, I personally use Dr. Christopher's Adrenal Formula, and some others, Kidney Yin & Essence Chinese Tonic Herbs. This adrenal formula also has herbs for the heart, pituitary & a stress adaptogen.  There are websites & the Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop that can tell you what is in this and other of his formula.  Dr. Christopher also has a thyroid maintenance and pancreas formula that I, personally also get benefits from.  Ask them for details at the shop.  I like to test all the supplements I take with a pendulum and/or muscle test, and even with an Intero or other electronic acupuncture point testing machine.

The adrenals also like B and C vitamins.  I even take Vit B-5 capsules, pantothenic acid, to increase my cortisol and calmness.  Cortisol is also needed for carbohydrate digestion.

I cannot vouch that any of these will help you nor can I vouch for any product or person you contact.  These are just information and product resources I have told people they can look into if they want, so I am including them written so I don't have to keep saying it.

Perhaps the most commonly used kidney yin tonic herb is prepared Rehmannia and while I buy it bulk and eat pieces, I have also taken the 2000 year old Rehmannia 6 formula which has three herbs to cleanse each of the kidneys, liver and spleen and three herbs to tonify each one.  I recommend contacting a Dr of Oriental Medicine, or acupuncturist, or Chinese Tonic Herb store such as Dragon Herbs in Santa Monica, CA, where I have personal experience with some of their people who are herbalist and/or Dr of Oriental medicine themselves.

The owner, Ron Teeguarden, has had decades of experience in the Chinese Herb field and was trained in China by an expert.  He had a book published some years ago called Chinese Tonic Herbs I can recommend for good information and I have seen other good Chinese Medicine and Herbal books even on Amazon.

You can also contact Western Herb stores where the owners have taken in depth herbology training.  In my town of Melbourne, Fla is Herb Corner (speak with Cecelia) and in Indian Harbour Beach is Mama Jo's Sunshine Herbals (speak with Johanna).

Dr. Schulze's Product, "Superfood" (which is noticeably different from all the "greens" formulas sold elsewhere & works especially for energy & frazzly-burn-out. It contains a lot of B-vitamins, some C-vitamins and minerals and protein.  It is made of natural food substances rather than being an extract of chemicals and so forth in a tablet or capsule. If I take a lot, I also feel my body relax in the muscles - it comes in bulk powder, tablets and travel powder packets to mix in juices, too.  I also have had some of my in-person clients & stretching DVD clients try some & they all have gotten benefits.  Dr. Schulze's free on-line catalog-book & to some degree, his staff in the store in the L.A. area, can give you info.  They might also be able to send you the catalog-book and other little books and the periodic newsletter in your order package.

So in my experience, certain formulas help internal organs and therefore help with energy and some looseness, but now I want to share what specific kinds of foods I have found to consistently, in the last 25 years, enable many people I have had person experience with, to have softer more spreadable and stretchable fascia, and less structural pain and tightness.
  

Specifically from a natural food aspect, my experience suggests we eat a few bunches a day of dark green leafy vegetables and their juices, maybe 1-2 quarts a day even.  Use organically grown if at all possible.  Otherwise wash it in Dr. Bronner's sal suds or hand soap, or use veggie washes.
         Kale, Collards, Dandelion Greens, Beet Greens, Comfrey leaves, Spinach, Chard, Parsley, Cilantro, Celery Tops, then romaine or arugula, basil leaves.  Wild & farm greens like alfalfa (excellent), plantain, dock, nettles, etc.
          Two friends of mine, just in 2005, stopped their significant chronic pains with greens' juices and stretching.
          If you don't like the bitter taste of organically grown dark leafy greens, I usually tell people to use whatever relatively healthy dressing they like, including fresh lemon or lime juice and dill with garlic, etc.  My idea is to get as much in as the body can possibly use.
          (Same is true for the seaweed I talk about below.  I might dunk it in healthy salad dressing, like a dip, along with leafy and hard raw vegetables.)
          These foods and their juices have been known by experts to both cleanse and nourish.  Chlorophyll has been known to be both an excellent tissue cleanser and rebuilder as well.  It contains a lot of magnesium which, as I point out elsewhere, is very important for the liver.  One American Acupuncturist told me years ago, "The liver likes things that are green."  The liver is a primary organ that cleanses the blood.  It also is a major part of us for creating & spreading energy thoughout the body.  Magnesium is also good for the heart.  
           And let me repeat what I say elsewhere, that both the calcium and Magnesium and other elements in these vegetables make the tissue much easier to stretch and do Bodywork on, massages push out more fluids easier & in general, I feel more relaxed in my structure.
           Carrot juice fresh is good or mixed with greens. Again, be-ware of the sugars if you have fungal infections. 
           However, according to my own experience and that of some naturopathic experts I read, natural whole-food sugars are not necessarily the cause nor aggravators of fungal infections.  There is a lot of info on this subject but it's not for this article.
            I had a client who began drinking 1-1/2 pints of half green and half carrot juice, per day made for him at the local health food store.  Within a week, his tissue became much softer to the touch and he could stretch farther and easier.
            I suggest getting the book, Mucousless Diet Healing System by Prof. Arnold Ehret for just $4.95 plus shipping - from Health Food Stores or the Arnold Ehret Health Club website.  Use the table of food acid-alkaline values in it to increase your alkaline vegetable amounts.
            I also like Paul and Patricia Bragg books & their website, especially the Miracle of Fasting Book & the video of Paul Bragg on their website.  Their Bragg Healthy Lifestyle book is a good general guide, and according to the Arnold Ehret Health Club website, the Braggs were allowed to use Prof. Ehret's Mucousless Diet Healing System under their name, The Bragg Healthy Lifestyle.
            Dr. Norman Walker DSc is known as a Father of the juicing practice. I recommend to people his book, "Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices, What's Missing in Your Diet."  In it he explains in plain language what elements are in many different vegetables, and what their juices help us with.  You can find this book (and his others) through all major outlets, even those on the internet that can be found by putting Dr. Walker's name in a search.
            Gary Null is a well known contemporary health expert (including being a marathon runner) and I read in his big book that his health went up significantly when he added raw, organic green leafy vegetables and their juices to his already very healthy and raw food program.
            Raw food is best, but people with diets primarily made up of cooked fruits and vegetables also had very easily manipulatable tissue.  And the treatment felt good to them.  (Note:  People taking "cumadin" medicine should work with their doctor and adjust the dosage to the amount of greens they are taking.  I am told people can eat greens and coordinate their dosage appropriately.)


Please note that connective tissue manipulation - spreading Bodywork and my self-help "Bodywork" stretches & self-help hands-on opens the fascia very deeply and pushes out waste products while also actually improving the consistency and health of the tissues, so that more nutrition will go in and more waste products will come out.  I had Olympic & other serious athletes immediately perform at higher levels, including that their recovery time after practice and competition was greatly reduced.  
            One 28 year old dentist - lifelong athlete - said his recovery time after a marathon went from 2-weeks to literally 2-days after 10 hrs of the Bodywork throughout his whole structure, fairly deeply.  He said he could go out and play golf in 6-hours and he said he could pass other runners, going up hill, at the END of a race.

Pineapple and other fresh fruits help most people, too.  They cleanse the tissues and organs but they don't add anywhere near as much cal-mag as the dark leafy greens.  Recently, I have found raw papaya is very cleansing, and energizing, and pineapple helps the lungs.
        Eat fruits alone or with raw nuts & seeds.  Get Ann Wigmore's books for food combining tables or ask in the health food store for charts and wallet size cards.
        Maybe be aware with fruits if you have fungal or mold infections.

        It also means eating lots of sea vegetables. (This was recommended to me years ago by an older woman who had been executive secretary to Michio Kushi of Macrobiotic fame.)
        Sea vegetables are exceptionally good for bones, muscles, and other structural pats of our bodies  They contain a lot of all kinds of minerals.  I recently read that the interactions between the trace minerals are still being discovered.  The company, Trace Minerals Research in Northern Utah, gets mineral nutrition for a number of its products from the Great Salt Lake.  They have some information on line.  There are also companies who offer nutritional supplement products made from Ocean water.
        But I find that the actual sea vegetables, or seaweed as they are more commonly known are the most potent.
        One woman I worked with added a bag of washed, inorganic spinach to her diet daily, and in just one week, her emotional demeanor calmed down noticeably.  Later, she healed a slightly cracked rib in two weeks by eating a lot of sea vegetables.
         Another person, a yoga teacher and recreational athlete with a vegetarian and partially raw food diet, stopped her daily pains by adding a number of kelp capsules to her daily diet. She had very malleable tissue that spread very easily, but also had pain from even my mild pressure.  She had "clean" tissue, but her cells were undernourished.
         Kelp, (Kombu) in hanging plastic bags in health food store seaweed racks .  Seems to have the most calcium in easy to use form.  Also has sodium alginate which is anti-fungal.  Also Wakame or Alaria.  Dulse for more iron, as well, but kelp has iron in it, too.  Stores usually have Eden & Maine Coast Sea Vegetables brands.  Maine Coast products (Franklin, Maine, & on the Web.) can be purchased from directly & shipped to you.  Sea Lettuce could be good.  Powdered kelp, flaked dulse & Irish Moss flakes from Frontier Natural Health Coop in Iowa, or thru the health food store, are good to all.  Ito brand Wakame in Korean oriental markets gives strength but is different from what I get from these other two companies.  Sodium Alginate is anti-fungal.  Seaweeds contain even up to 20% protein.  I use ALL of the above.   And I often carry a bag of the Ito Wakame in my car, to munch on as I go throughout the day.  I do indeed feel stronger and even more emotionally confident when I eat a lot of seaweed.

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When you get Kelp - get powder or whole sheets - to eat directly - versus granules - as I find granules are hard to eat - hard to chew up.  Dulse powder is OK - flakes are more nourishing, gives me energy - whole dulse is good but more expensive.  
Irish moss powder or flakes - the whole is impossible to soften to chew for me, even soaking it did not soften it up.

If you don't like the taste of seaweed, too fishy or slimy or salty, then what you can do is get kelp, dulse and Irish moss powders, they come in one pound bags from Frontier & various sizes from other sources, and mix them in equal parts in a small bowl, then encapsulate the mixture yourself.  You can also buy kelp capsules only in Nature's Way & some other brands in a health food store or supermarket that carries these products. 

As I say elsewhere, Irish Moss almost always has to be special ordered, but you can start on the encapsulation right away if you find a health food store selling powdered kelp in bulk jars and flaked dulse hanging in 4 oz bags where the other seaweed bags are hanging.  Then encapsulate the dulse with the kelp.

If you are iron deficient, and many people are without knowing it and without showing iron deficient anemic on a blood test, then dulse might be helpful since it contains 2-3 times the iron that kelp does, whereas kelp contains 2-3 times the calcium that dulse does.
I have usually felt stronger when I am eating a few kinds of seaweed in the same day.

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           If you go to the Ann Wigmore style Living Food Centers in Michigan (Creative Health Institute) or Puerto Rico (The Ann Wigmore Institute) you'll most likely be served powdered dulse and Kelp is nowhere to be seen.  But that is the personal preference of the people running the programs, for taste and/or their own physical conditions, and from my own observation from when I was at both places, these folks do not do as much self experience with seaweed as I have.  Kelp is great for bodies and even packs a bigger punch than the dulse. 
           The famous Dr. Schulze's Superfood (which I have recommended to people) also contains dulse and NOT kelp.  I think it is because he found that kelp was distasteful to the people he was trying to get to eat the Superfood.  I knew a medical doctor who worked for Dr. Schulze's company and I encouraged her to eat a lot more seaweed than what was in the Superfood she was getting some good benefits from.  She chose to eat more dulse and not kelp, but even with that significant increase in dulse, she said she was feeling noticeably better.  (www.herbdoc.com     1-800-herb-doc)
           People seem to need a lot more of this seaweed stuff than the people running various living food centers and those making even good products, are giving us.  When people tell me they take a small kelp tablet each day or that their multi-Vitamin-Mineral tablet contains kelp, I point out that they should try out eating kelp and dulse or other sea vegetables as a big part of their FOOD diets and not just as a tiny supplement in a pill.
          Usually, the kelp in a multivitamin-mineral pill or capsule is included for the iodine content, useful for the thyroid function.  And it only requires a small physical amount of the seaweed to get the minimum recommended dose.   But what I am reporting here is that the minerals, proteins and vitamins in these seaweeds, in larger amounts, seem to make a lot of people feel and function healthier.
          If the kelp and wakame sticks in the packages from the health food and oriental stores are two salty or two hard for you, what I do is soak them in a glass or bowl of drinking water for 10-15 minutes and the salty taste is greatly reduced and the pieces are softer and easier to chew.  The water re-hydrates the dried seaweed from the packages and it swells up.  When I eat it dry, I try to be careful if its very hard, to not damage my teeth nor wear down the enamel.  The salt on it is not like table salt I am told, but rather has multiple minerals as found naturally in the ocean.  And I have to drink a lot of water as the dry seaweed will absorb the water in my body when it gets to my stomach and intestines.
          Since the organs are made of what is called smooth muscle tissue then I would guess that they, too, benefit from the nutrients in the seaweed as do the structural muscles that are made of what is called striated muscle tissue.  Even the heart and lungs, specifically, as I mention later, require a lot of calcium and magnesium.
         I read that there are 160 known things Magnesium is used for in the body.  I read a small book that said it helped many people's structural conditions that included many that were lumped together under the name fibromyalgia.
         
Let me repeat about the capsules of herbs because a number of people just do not like the taste.

          Nature's Way capsule herb products, found in some health food stores and even some supermarkets that carry health food products and organic produce, has kelp capsules.  I saw another brand, too.  Unfortunately, Frontier Natural Foods Coop, that I mention in this article, no longer sells Kelp in capsules, just in the bulk powder or granules.

          If you can obtain bulk seaweed powder you can also get capsules and make your own seaweed capsules.  Frontier sells them and I have see reasonably priced gelatin capsules at the local coop health food store for about $10-$15 for 500.  (I get 1000 for $20 at my local herb shop and Frontier also sells them.)  A small capsule maker manual machine costs about $20.  So you can get dulse and irish moss seaweed powder to go along with the kelp powder, mix them in maybe equal parts, and make your own super-seaweed capsules.  I and my friends find this more strengthening than kelp capsules alone.


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          How do I know when I have had an adequate amount of seaweed minerals get into my structure?  I feel lighter in my arms and legs, and I feel more solid in my body.  Plus, when I am sensitive enough, I feel more "substance" or something, going into my teeth. 

          Also, when I bang myself I don't feel as much hurt and the sensation stops very quickly.  Also, when I get blood drawn from a vein in my elbow, for medical testing, with more calcium from seaweed in my body, I barely feel a stick if at all.  With low calcium from seaweed I usually feel a little pain from the needle stick-in.

          With a combination of green juices, kelp and wakame seaweeds, a lot of vitamin C and a lot of the adrenal formula I can actually move my arms and legs around faster and lighter, and it's a "fun" feeling.

          And my stretching goes much further, easier, and more pleasantly.

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This section in smaller type includes more benefits of the seaweed, especially the non structural ones I have read and found out about. and the relative cost from the store vs ordering from Maine Coast.

For Bulk Seaweed you may also contact Lou but Maine Coast can send it directly to you.   It reduces pain & gives muscular strength for many people.     A couple of my friends' dogs liked it, too.  Seniors, Athletes, Back & Pain Issues, Soft tissue & Bone Injuries, all seem to benefit from it.

I even find for myself that the kelp makes my brain function better.  I usually become more awake and alert and have a more confident and positive outlook.  I also think faster and can handle more input from around me.  And i am more outward going.  I read that many of the neurotransmitters made by the brain and of course, the neurons themselves, require the body to have these minerals to manufacture  them and keep them in good condition.  Seaweeds also have vitamins and, I read, about 15% or a little more protein.

If you have iodine or cumadin issues, please check with your doctor.

It does seem to help my own thyroid function, as you can find info about this all over the internet.  But in this article I am informing you of my own structural muscle improvements & those of my friends.  I have also felt improvement in muscular strength from the red seaweed, dulse, in flakes, and it has a lot more iron in it whereas the kelp-kombu has more calcium. 

I also read that L-tyrosine, zinc and selenium are helpful for proper thyroid function and when I take them I do feel more energy in the throat area.

I have had very good results with powdered irish moss.  I ate a lot for a few days and was able to bike ride 6 miles in one day (a lot for me then).  And eating a lot when doing Bodywork, I felt my energies deeper inside my structure and I had more endurance.  (see more info below)

Kelp, Bladderwack and perhaps other seaweeds are said to have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties due to the sodium alginate in them.   I've experienced this myself.  The info is available on line. 

I eat a few different kinds of seaweed in a day.  Different ones seem to give me different kinds of strength.

I recommend you first try some locally & you can - To tell you how to eat it to make it more palatable if you do not like it at first, the big pieces can be made soft and dunked into a favorite salad dressing.  Or cut it up, soak it, and put it in soup after the soup cools to eating temperature, so you don't kill the enzymes in the seaweed.

You can buy 2.1 oz bags for $5 in the health food store, less in an oriental market, & 1 lb bulk from Maine Coast Sea Vegs is at this writing $26.-$27 a pound incl shipping - retail - see info in text, then if you like it, you can get bulk in 5 lbs amounts from Maine Coast and if the procedure is the same as before, shipping is then free.   You can mix different kinds of seaweed and I can suggest different ones - you can see in this info article.  Maine Coast has some info about their product line.

          Here is a link to an article about seaweed and its benefits, including some ancient historical uses.  Maine Coast Sea Vegetables also has info on their website.  www.seaveg.com

http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/dynamicContent.aspx?loc=644&subloc=1&menuId=592&mc=6441


You can get decent quality Kelp-Kombu  and Ito wakame from Wang Globalnet  foods - in KOREAN Oriental Food Markets.  To see if they will shop, contact Hyundai oriental Foods in Melbourne, Florida a/c 321.

          Irish Moss is not easy to find on a store shelf or even in the Frontier Herbal Jar section.  One usually has to special order it through the health food store that carries Frontier Brand herbs and seaweeds.  Also see www.frontiercoop.com.  They are Frontier Natural Foods Coop in Iowa and they also ship products.  They carry powdered kelp & powdered & flaked dulse as well, organic.  

From Maine Coast,  http://seaveg.com/index.php, you can get products wholesale from them if you are a professional and sell it, or get 5 pounds at a time for a discount below what you'd pay in the store in those 2.1 oz bags.  I have found getting my own clients & friends eating this, even just kelp, their pains diminish & even stop, and the pains in their massages and workouts diminish & they also do better athletically.

        I find their organic flaked dulse is comparable in price to the bags of flaked dulse hanging in the health food stored bagged seaweed rack.
        Big stores that carry a lot of bulk might have large sticks or pieces of seaweed in bulk bins and retail wise, they are less expensive than the bagged products.  Santa Monica, CA Food Coop has these from Eden foods brand, a good quality, & comparable in price to getting it in 1-4 pound bulk from Maine Coast.

        Irish moss is very good for the lungs and it has a lot of magnesium as well.  I even read that it has the 18 elements that are found in all cells. When I have eaten a lot of Irish Moss as well as other seaweeds, my athletic endurance has increased significantly.
         It has a lot of magnesium which is good for the heart and liver as well as over a hundred different processes in the body, I have read.  It helps clean out the waste of Candida.
         I prefer getting it as flakes or, for encapsulation, powder,  because the whole is very hard to break down to become soft in water and I found it impossible to chew up.  The flakes are a little crunchy and a little chewy at the same time.
        However, I like to make a mixture of one third each of powdered kelp, flaked dulse and powdered irish moss.  Both my close friend and I find this much more energizing than powdered kelp alone. 
        We even have encapsulated it for convenient taking when we are out.  Note:  Vegetarian capsules are supposed to be healthier than the gelatin ones that are not only made from animal product (in case you eat vegan)  but I read it also has a toxin in it.  Usually, the bags of empty capsules I have seen in health food stores are gelatin ones.   But Frontier has the vegetarian ones, so a local store can order them for you or you can get it direct from them.


        Please eat seaweeds raw.  It gives you their enzymes and more of their vitamins and minerals.  I have also read that heating foods above a certain temperature also changes the chemistry of their proteins.  I read that Kelp is 20 percent protein.
        To soften them, soak in drinking water 5-10 minutes.  This also removes some of the salty taste, the salt being a lot of minerals from the ocean, not refined table salt.  And soaking makes them a lot softer if you find them hard right out of the package.  If you want to add them to soup, I suggest softening them in their own water first, then putting them in the soup at the end of the cooking.
         (Again, if you're taking "cumadin," check your "OK" list & adjust your medicine amounts to your food amounts, with your doctor.)
         When I say seaweeds, some people respond by saying they take algaes like spirulina, chlorella and super-blue green brand.  If you find they help you, who am I to give an opinion. You know the facts.  In fact, spirulina & chlorella have a lot of good benefits for the body.  I eat them myself and get the highest energy, non pesticide brands i can find.  You can do a search on the Web & get a lot of info.  But they are NOT the same as the seaweeds.  We're looking for the enormously high mineral content.  I take both.
         Some people eat sushi with Nori seaweed wrapping it, that flat sheet seaweed.  If you like it and feel stronger from it, enjoy it, but in my recommendations, it doesn't count toward eating the seaweed I am recommending in this article because has a lower tested nutrient amount from what I have read and in my own experience, it does not give me anywhere near as much strength and the other benefits.   My suggestions are in the ones I listed above and I feel I get more strength from it.  Also hiziki and arame are good, and hiziki, although much more expensive than the kelp, kombu and wakame, is exceptionally high in calcium.  I take a bunch of the little pieces and put them in water to soak so they become soft and chewy.  You can also get actual raw and unprocessed Nori.

         There are four minerals it helps to know something about, structurally.  One major one for structure is Calcium, which makes the muscle fibers stronger and the cell walls stronger.
         The other two major ones are magnesium and potassium.  Magnesium makes muscles softer and is needed for calcium to work.  Potassium helps the nerves relax, they are used to turn off the "synapses" whereas sodium activates them.  When you have coffee, for instance, it tends to wash out all of these minerals.  And you won't be as relaxed mentally and physically, besides what the activation of the organs and glands are doing.  If you're already juicing and eating raw foods, a quart of carrot juice could help relax and center of you.
         Key is that magnesium and potassium alkalize the tissues, which is good.  They open the cell walls so nutrients go in and go better.  But without enough calcium from vegetables and seaweeds, I have found that I, and a few other people, are more environmentally sensitive, to electrical radiation from copying machines to people coming over with chaotic energies, and to smog.
           You also want organic sodium that's found in vegetables.  (Not sodium chloride as in refined table salt.)  It helps with calcium metabolism. The sodium helps manufacture digestive juices & helps the liver function.  Celery has organic sodium and so do many other green vegetables.  Sodium & Zinc (also found in seaweeds) and the calcium, magnesium & potassium, are what are known as the alkaline minerals.  See the table in Ehret's Book above and books like Acid & Alkaline and Alkalize or Die.

           While all these land and sea vegetables I mention have all of these calcium, magnesium & potassium, sodium minerals and more, the seaweed, kale and collards boost up the calcium a lot, the dandelions and beet greens especially have a lot of magnesium.  As I mentioned above, Seaweeds have a lot of salty taste, but soaking them first - if in strips or sheets, will reduce it somewhat as I said.  Also as I said, that is a salty multi-mineral part of the food, and is not table salt.  Also, the potassium to sodium ratio is very high; seaweeds have a lot of potassium. 
          I read in a book by a Cancer Researcher from the University of Texas that people with cancer they saw all had an excess of sodium to potassium.  The green leafy vegetables put in a lot more potassium than sodium and I read they make more of an alkaline residue in the tissues than the seaweed.  (Again, see the table in the Mucousless Diet Healing System book, and it has also been published elsewhere, including in a pamphlet many years ago by Hansen's Juices.)  I find the fresh greens sometimes help me form a "base," and from that taking the seaweeds.
         When I say minerals, some people say, "I take liquid minerals, or a pill, or capsule from a good brand."  People I have known, as well as myself, had used mineral supplements for years, but these foods did a much better job for all of us.
           Sugar, coffee, female hormone supplements, and even milk products, have been known to drain calcium out of the body.  Magnesium is needed to carry away Candida fungus, and it's also needed for proper functioning of the liver (along with B-vitamins) and heart.  Medical science discovered that irregular heart beats are often due to a lack of magnesium.
           Any acidic condition in the body, from eating a lot of animal flesh or drinking a lot of coffee to being very busy and stressed, causes the body to pull all these alkaline minerals out of storage to balance out the condition to restore alkalinity to the tissues.  Eventually, we use up our reserves.
           I have found that people with chronic tightness and chronic pain benefit a lot from eating large amounts of these Foods for Structure.  Their bodies seem to need a lot of calcium, magnesium, and so forth.
           Remember that teeth also need calcium.  I am sensitive to my body areas and I can tell you that when I am very low in calcium, like with a longer term infection, my teeth even start to hurt, but they are not decayed.  (I had dentists check.)  And when I then eat a lot of seaweed I even feel it go into my teeth as well as more and more of my arms and legs.

           Physical, structural positions are determined by inner organ strength and structural muscle strength.  And inner organs are also made of muscle tissue, as are the blood vessels and the heart.  So your calcium levels, in almost all your cells, from the skin down through the organs and bones, will determine your physical and psychological feeling of well being.
           In fact, medical studies have shown that people who have depression or anxiety are low on calcium and magnesium, and they often need to take up to 4000 mg of calcium supplement a day.  I might eat a half to a whole big bag of seaweed in a day.  The studies also showed that anti-depressive medications drained even more calcium and magnesium out of the body.  These facts agree with experience of my clients who were on the medications and also agree with my non-clinical level feelings and behaviors in myself and in many people I've observed.  People I know feel a lot better eating seaweeds and organic dark leafy greens.
           The heart and lungs require calcium as well as our digestion.  So, it was explained to me by a Naturopathic Doctor - expert, when our bodies get low in Calcium, our innate programming brings calcium out of the storage areas which are typically the bones (and teeth), through the bloodstream, to the heart and lungs.  Of course, he said, the Body's programming knows it can live crippled, from broken or weak bones, but it can't survive without the heart and lungs working.  Thus, people can develop bone calcium loss.
         Calcium can positively affect digestion.  I have noticed that when eating bread (which I'm not supposed to have) I might get a feeling of it not digesting.  And then I'll eat a bunch of seaweed and that uncomfortable belly feeling gets erased.  I don't know if it is because of the calcium or of the iodine increasing the function of the thyroid, but it has worked the same way on a number of occasions when I tested it.

         In my hands-on Bodywork experience, I have noticed that vegetarian diets consisting mostly of cooked grains, even organic whole grains, create tissue that's rubbery and somewhat tough all the way down to the bones, layer after layer.  A number of people on this kind of diet have come to me with structural pain and a lot of tightness.  When we have more vegetables and fruits in the diet, tissue spreads better, and goes further and easier when we stretch.
         Note that junk food diets make the tissues the tightest and they hurt the most when they're pressed on. Two of the tightest people I worked on who had the most pain in the session were two teenagers whose diets consisted of mostly pizza and chips and salsa.  One also had a lot of lower back pain and the other had regular muscle cramps.  Their diets caused a significant calcium and magnesium deficiency and the interstitial fluid in their muscles had a lot of waste products in it.
         Herbal programs that clean and strengthen the body structure and organs are also effective in making the structure healthier.  But from my experience, there is no substitute for the better diet as a foundation.  And that diet enables the herbs, and also homeopathics, to create more benefits.

        Coffee, milk products, female hormone supplements and sugar all are said to drain calcium from the body.  Animal flesh foods also use up calcium stores because they are rather acid and thus the body has to use its alkaline stores to balance it out. I don't say just go cold turkey on any of this unless you want to, because the body often needs to have a substitute for the benefits one gets from the items. 
        So I tell people, I'm not the one to tell you what to do for this aspect, but I am one to tell you how you can balance things out and keep replenishing yourself with certain foods.  I can also tell you that I and some of my friends have gotten to the point that for the most part, we find things like dark green organic leafy vegetable juices, carrot juice and seaweed give us more power and make us feel better overall than the foods we have been using for stimulant.

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One other nutrient I emphasize for myself is Alfalfa.  I get the tablets - about 1000 for $11.  It also comes in bulk powder when purchased from Frontier, and in capsules from Nature's Way and maybe other companies.  When I lived in Michigan, I ate and juices alfalfa leaves picked by me from my friends' fields.  While some wheatgrass advocates say that fresh wheatgrass heals and strengthens the liver more than alfalfa, I find that alfalfa is a strengthening supplement for me and some of my friends and clients.

Alfalfa is a specific for strengthening the adrenals, pituitary, and heart.  I can feel it in my own body when I take them, swallowing 5-10  with water, with or between meals a few times a day.  I have also found it somewhat anti-fungal, as I have read on the internet.  And it has minerals, although I have read it is not the total and best mineral mix for our bodies, when taken only by itself.  It also contains some B vitamins and Beta carotene, the precursor to vitamin A.

Here is an excerpt from a multi-herbal list at
http://www.healthyhealing.com/InfoAndArticles/detoxmateriamedica.aspx#Alfalfa

A highly nutritive herb, rich in vitamin C (can even counteract scurvy), carotenes, vitamin K, amino acids, octacosonal and a full spectrum of minerals and trace minerals; an excellent source of fiber and chlorophyll with a balance of elements almost identical to human hemoglobin. One of the world's richest mineral foods, pulling up earth sources from root depths as great as 130 feet!

Alfalfa binds and neutralizes a wide range of carcinogenic agents in the colon, and is a proven nutritive for colon cancer protection.  As a green Superfood, alfalfa helps neutralize allergens, overcome anemia and jaundice, and balance over-acidity.

It is used therapeutically for arthritis, bursitis and gout, stimulating removal of inorganic mineral deposits from the blood. As a blood clotting agent, it counteracts internal bleeding from ulcers. It is an estrogen precursor for menopause.

Alfalfa is beneficial for indigestion, in reducing blood sugar levels, in lowering cholesterol and in the prevention of tooth decay. It is a healer for a wide range of intestinal and skin disorders, liver problems, breath and body odor, even morning sickness.

With pau d' arco and mineral-rich herbs like carrot root to help detoxify, rebuild and restore foundation body strength.
With dandelion for better digestion and to detoxify the liver.
With yucca to help relieve pain and inflammation of arthritis.

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Now I want to mention some things about the abdominal organs and how their condition affects the structure.

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NOTE

As always, check with a physician before taking anything, and/or test them with a simple pendulum, muscle testing or a Vega or Intero or similar machine to make sure the item is compatible for your body. 

And if you are on medications like Cumidin, please be careful and especially check with your doctor when taking alfalfa, which, containing vitamin K, affects blood consistency as do other leafy green vegetables.

My descriptions here are for educational purposes only and I am explaining what I do for myself and what helps some of my friends.  I am not suggesting to be curing any medical disease or ailment.

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Now I'd like to repeat some of what I said about the adrenals and Dr Christopher's Formulas at the beginning of this article, and add some more about herbs I use.

          Many people have low adrenal function, often called Adrenal Fatigue.  And I can refer you to the book and their website with the same name.   It'll tell you how to test for it and what to take to improve their functioning, as will other websites as well.  I use the book as a frequent reference.  It even explains how to notice during the evening if you are low in thyroid as well as adrenal, which is very common.

I have found that stronger adrenals (along with the sea and land vegetables) makes the neuro-muscular function faster and my mental alertness and endurance increases.  I suggest people look up the hormones that come out of the adrenals and see what they can do on their own to strengthen all of these.

Adrenal, liver and spleen formulas in large quantities opens up my midsection, the upper abdomen just below the ribs, where these organs are located, and I actually stand taller and my chest, neck and head are automatically uplifted.   So for purely structural purposes, i am describing some things for them here.

I have found that when I took a lot of Adrenetone, my lower back lengthened and I was standing more upright.  When I take the Panc Tea for pancreas I feel the left side of my body go more energy upward.

===================

PLEASE be careful with increasing cortisol and other adrenal functions as they can raise blood pressure.  Mine tends to be lower because my adrenals have been weak, but you should monitor it.  Pharmacies sell home units and many also have a free machine to check it when you go in, even without buying anything.

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I will repeat and add to what I said in the first part of this article.

B-vitamins and C-vitamins are especially important for the adrenal functions, pantothenic acid (B-5) being a primary one, but B-2 & B-3 are also mentioned.   See their website and look at their formulas' ingredients.  Also do a little research on the internet.

A good supplement for the Adrenals is Dr. John Christopher's Adrenal formula available from the company or its individual distributors only, including its outlet store, The Herb Shop in Springville, Utah, on line "Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop" and not through health food stores. You can see what is in each formula on the website and buy capsules and bulk herbs and as with the seaweeds, even make your own combination capsules. 

The company says all its herbs are organically grown and have no pesticide sprays on them.  And they are not sold in Health Food Stores, only from them and individual distributors. (I am one.)  The store sells both capsules in bottles and bulk herbs in 4 oz packages.  This formula has cayenne which is spicy hot and the other herbs taste pretty bad so although I have taken this formula by the teaspoonful, it is more palatable when I encapsulate my own.

Nature's Way brand used to have a license to market the Christopher formulas, but no longer has it.  Yet the formulas are sometimes similar.  Their ADR-NL is similar to the adrenetone but lacks some specific elements.  I have used it in a short term while waiting for my Adrenetone to come in the mail.

Adrenal formula, which used to be called Adrenetone, contains, among other herbs, Licorice for the adrenals, to produce cortisol, and it also is a good lung tonic; Gotu Kola which nourishes the pituitary gland, the master endocrine gland that sends hormones to the adrenals & pituitary; Hawthorne which strengthens the heart and herbalists like Stan Malstrom (Own Your Own Body) say to also tonify the heart when taking herbs to strengthen the adrenals; and Siberian Eluthero also called Siberian Ginseng, but it is not a true ginseng, just gives more energy.  Eluthero tonifies the adrenals and acts as an adaptogen, making the body able to handle stress without getting stressed as much.  It also was studied in the Soviet Union in a multi year, multi-person study to make people immune to viruses.

If you can't get the Adrenetone product, you can make a substitute by getting individual capsules of the above herbs and taking them together.  But I have found that this is not as strengthening as their formula.

I try to buy the individual herbs bulk from my local herb store and encapsulate them.  In larger quantities, this is less expensive.

Hawthore is an excellent herb I have found to take ongoing, for my heart. There are other heart herbs, too, and Dr Richard Schulze has a tincture formula (www.herbdoc.com) and 1-800-herb-doc.  I even get bulk whole Hawthorne berries from the herb store and even the Chinese ones that are bigger in size and come in packages thru my oriental food store.

Another good herb for the adrenals is Ashwaganda, available from herb shops.  Alfalfa is a specific tonic for adrenals, pituitary & heart & also provides minerals and is supposed to help clean the colon.

"The Little Herb Encyclopedia" is a fairly inexpensive book that tells a lot about a number of these herbs.  I also look up herbs benefits on the internet.

The thyroid affects both immediate and long term energy levels in the body.  And the thyroid and adrenal are mutually supportive.

         I take the Dr Christopher thyroid maintenance formula powder, and mix it with the adrenal formula and, for me, the pancreas tea formula.  And I feel much more energy and balance in my body than with the adrenal formula alone. Often I will encapsulate some of each and take them throughout the day.  I also like the herbal thyroid which is different.  I prefer to take a lot of the maintenance formula.

The thyroid also needs nutrients of L-tyrosine amino acid, zinc and selenium as well as the iodine from the kelp.  L-tyrosine is also an immediate precursor to the brain making Dopamine which helps you think stronger and helps the heart, and Norepinephrine that helps the adrenals.

I also take the Dr Christopher Hormonal Changese for the testosterone increase and estrogen decrease in my hormones that were out of balance - and they say it does balancing for women as well.  You can call and talk to them.  For me, in my condition, it gives me more energy along with my other nutrients.  Maca herb is also strengthening for the endocrine glands and even is said to nourish the hypothalamus.  You can buy it in capsules and less expensively in bulk, even organically grown.  It does seem to help my adrenals.

For Growth hormone nutritional supplementation, I have used Primo Plus AM/PM from ISS Research, on the internet and at 1-888-231-2684 in North Carolina, USA.  They can tell you in which stores to get it near you, or just search the Internet.  I get mine locally from Physical Addictions Health Food Supplement Store which also specializes in supplements for Body Builders.  They are on the internet under the same name and you can call and talk to them.

         Cubeb berries, which are little black peppercorns from India, also help the adrenals.  See the book Herbal Defense which is another herb book I often recommend as it helped me a lot.  Cubeb also strengthens the immune system and lungs, and I can attest to that in my own body.

        Cubeb berries are a little hard to find.  They are usually from India and my usual source, Herb Products Company in North Hollywood, CA (near L.A. A/c 818 and 800) has had it and I have seen them on the internet as well.  Google search is a very handy tool for all these items i am mentioning.

         Both chiropractors and some natural health doctors have used cow adrenal tablets to increase the adrenal function and its rebuilding.  I have used both of these methods and gotten some good results as well.  Health food stores also carry glandulars.
     
         I have taken glandulars in the past but did not get as much strengthening as I do with the herbal formulas from Dr Christopher's, but Chiropractors and Naturopaths I have known really like them.  A key point in favor of glandulars is that the people who recommend them say it stimulates the body to build more of that organ when we take them.


         The adrenals are part of the Kidney Yang function and underlying it is Kidney Yin, which is the foundational energy system in the body in Tradition Chinese Medicine.  Rehmannia 6 is the classic herbal remedy to take for both kidney yin and spleen deficiency, which might be a universal deficiency in the majority of people's organs.
         When I have taken a lot of Rehmannia 6, my lower back also straightens up.   You can get Rehmannia in bulk as gummy food to eat and that will rebuild the inner energies, & clean the blood, (build the blood I am told).  It helps me a lot to replenish.

          Increasing Liver strength and clearing it also has helped my structure get more erect.  One of the most effect remedies or treatments for that, for me, has been eating a lot of raw, organically grown dandelion greens.  My whole midsection just under the ribs has opened up and the top part of my torso, in the ribcage, just lifted up.  Dandelion is also good for the pancreas and spleen which is why the rib cage lifted up and not just on the liver side. 
          Milk Thistle and some Chinese Herbs are also very good for the spleen-pancreas as well as the liver.  But I, personally, have never taken enough at one time to lift up the rib cage, even though I did feel the organs get more relaxed and somewhat larger.
         When I have eaten foods and herbs for both the front and the back, the whole rib cage has lifted up more.  Lots of dandelion greens right out of the ground have lifted up the front.

         These experiences have shown me how much our organs can be nourished more than we are usually doing.

          Thanks for reading this - I hope it helps.  Remember, I am not suggesting this info treats any kind of disease.
          See your doctor for that. 

          This info has simply helped mine and other people's health and might be able to help yours, and it's aimed specifically for helping people have less painful, more easily stretchable and spreadable soft tissues. 

           PLEASE, take responsibility for your own well being and for what you put into your own body.

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