Inflammation Relief - A New Supplement
Patients come to Healing Arts with all sorts of health concerns. Headaches, bloating, acne, constipation, insomnia, fatigue, infertility, eczema, brain fog, the list can go on and on. My answer is always the same, muscle test the body to see what toxins the body is holding in order to reduce inflammation. Inflammation in the head is a headache or migraine. Inflammation in the joints is pain. Inflammation in the gut is bloating and so on. The root cause of all dis-ease is inflammation. What we find with the muscle testing is why. Is the reason for the inflammation heavy metals, heavy chemicals, bad flora, parasites, or a food sensitivity? I fell in love with the technique of muscle testing because it is so fast and noninvasive, giving me and my patients answers.
When starting to detox and supporting the body with the right nutrition it takes time to get the inflammation down and yet I want patients to get symptomatic relief as soon as possible and I have noticed throughout the years I would have to give 2-3 different anti-inflammatory supplements to do the job so I decided to make my own supplement, called Inflammation Relief, that contained everything to help lower the inflammation. It contains Curcumin, Pepperine (Black Pepper), Fenugreek, Gotu Kola, Quercitin, Boswelia, Bromelain, and Magnesium lactate.
Curcumin is a well known anti-inflammatory. It is the active ingredient in turmeric and works ten times better with black pepper so add both to your cooking every chance you get or buy in supplement form. Make sure the supplement has black pepper in it too. I do about a teaspoon of turmeric in my superfood protein shake with a pinch of black pepper every morning. Curcumin specifically is great for reducing inflammation in joints, lungs and brain. For the brain it works by encouraging the immune system to send white blood cells called macrophages to the brain in order to destroy any abnormal proteins, restoring proper brain function. Now the reason I added fenugreek to the supplement is because fenugreek helps curcumin absorption into our bodies. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756464616000426
So black pepper helps curcumin work and fenugreek helps it’s bioavailability.
Magnesium is another great supplement to help with inflammation. Magnesium can help with lots of different things including sleep and bowel movements. It helps with those things because it lowers the inflammation.
Boswelia also known as frankincense is amazing at reducing inflammation especially in joints with cartilage breakdown, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and osteoarthritis (OA). It’s also used to treat symptoms of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and inflammation in the gut in general.
Bromelain is an enzyme find in pineapple that breaks down protein and has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects comparable to NSAIDs. It too can help with bowel inflammation and help boost up the immune system and fight bacterial infections . When the immune system is stronger it can fight or get rid of whatever is causing the inflammation in the first place.
You’ve heard the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Today, researchers in the field of antioxidants and the effects of micronutrients are beginning to explain why this old adage is more scientifically true than we may have thought. Apples, as well as many other colorful fruits and vegetables, contain a rich amount of a particularly powerful antioxidant called quercetin. Onions have the highest known quercetin content. Other common foods with significant levels of quercetin include:
• Apples
• Cauliflower
• Grapes
• Nectarines
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Tea
• Tomatoes
Although quercetin is commonly found in many of the foods included in a healthy diet, I use it in this supplement at a therapeutic dosage because it’s such a strong antioxidant.
Quercetin has potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, antiviral, immune-boosting, and other biological properties. Quercetin works in multiple ways to help prevent or alleviate the symptoms of a variety of conditions, including:
• Cancer
• Canker sores
• Heart disease
• Herpes
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Nasal allergy relief
• Respiratory infections
Quercetin’s antioxidant properties also appear to offer sunscreen protection against damage to the skin from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
Gotu Kola is great for improving circulation which of course, the more blood flow the less inflammation. Studies suggest supplementing with gotu kola may help you improve your blood circulation. A study conducted on 87 participants diagnosed with poor circulation showed noticeable improvement when given 30 to 60 milligrams two times a day for 60 days. Additionally, eight more studies reported gotu kola effectively improved circulation while alleviating poor circulation symptoms, including pain, heaviness in the legs and swelling. Gotu Kola also helps reduce chronic inflammation by triggering antioxidant activity within the body.
So those are the details of why I put those ingredients in my third personally formulated herbal supplement. With the right nutrition the body truly can heal. To purchase the Healing Arts supplement, Inflammation Relief, https://healingartsnyc.com/shop/inflammation-relief
Our Favorite Coffee Alternatives
Coffee is one of the vials we test for in our food test kit. Due to the acidity and making the adrenals push out more adrenaline than necessary it definitely isn't a healthy drink for everyone. We also test caffeine in a separate vial to see if the sensitivity is to both or just one or the other. We know coffee can be extremely hard to quit and you may even go through caffeine withdrawal with a 3 day headache with it FINALLY being okay on the fourth day. So we wanted to take the time to give you some coffee alternatives.
1. Golden milk
This drink does quite the opposite of coffee for it helps you relax and is a good drink to have after dinner to relax. For all my nondairy drinkers out there, don't worry, you can use seed or nut milk instead of regular milk. Dr. Armitstead's favorite way to make golden milk is with coconut milk. But first, here are 9 reasons to start drinking golden milk or turmeric lattes:
Turmeric helps build immunity
Helps sleep
It is a good remedy for digestive problems.
It supports the liver.
Helps fight cancer
Clarifies the skin.
Gives relief from autoimmune diseases
Good for the brain and fighting Alzheimer's disease
Is anti-inflammatory
When adding it to your diet you need to know that adding black pepper to it helps turmeric become more bioavailable. Which is another way of saying your body can absorb more turmeric if you add black pepper with it. Drinking golden milk before bed can help sleep because turmeric reduces inflammation, lowers your blood sugar levels, helps your liver to detoxify, boosts your immune system and eases your digestive system – all of which help you to get to sleep faster, to sleep better, and to wake up feeling refreshed.
How do you make golden milk?
Serves 2
Ingredients
½ cup warm water
1 cup coconut milk (or any milk you prefer)
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp virgin coconut oil
½ inch ginger knob, peeled and grated
1/4 tsp. black pepper or 2 black peppercorns, crushed
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder
¼ tsp cardamom powder
*Optional 2 tsp raw organic honey or pure maple syrup for the vegan version
Preparation
Whisk coconut milk, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, honey, coconut oil, black pepper, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan; bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavors have melded, about 10 minutes.
Make ahead of time. Golden milk can be made 5 days ahead and reheated.
Golden milk powder with the exact ratios of spice can be bought here at Wellbends. Just add a teaspoon to simmering milk and you're done!
A great place to buy a turmeric latte with almost any type of milk you want is at Gregorys Coffee with the closest one to the Manhattan office being on 40th St. and Madison Ave.
2. Mud/Wtr
Is a spin of Golden Milk with a little caffeine and health benefits of mushrooms. All organic ingredients with 1/7th the caffeine as a cup of coffee, you get focus, energy and immunity without the jitters, crash and dependency. Ingredients: Cacao, Masala chai, Turmeric, Himalayan salt, Cinnamon, Chaga, Cordyceps, Reishi, and Lion’s mane. The mushrooms boost your immunity in a way that Golden milk does not but it is missing black pepper for the turmeric to be better absorbed. It can only be found online here.
3. Teeccino
Is a dark roast of chicory and barley with other plants that make it taste good and is actually like a dark tea. It is the darkest hot drink we can find other than coffee and does not have any caffeine. They have over 20 different flavors however not all flavors are organic. Some flavors include mushrooms. A great one has dandelion in it to help the liver detox. Teeccino can come in tea bags or like ground coffee depending on how you would like to make it. It can be found at health food stores, local grocery stores and online. Flavors include Chaga Ashwagandha Butterscotch Cream, Chocolate Raspberry, Dandelion Coconut and so much more!,
Anti-inflammatory Teas Now at Healing Arts Wellness Center
Everyone enjoys a good cup of tea or at least I do! The comfort and the taste is something I look forward to daily. I have enjoyed herbal teas for years and was just enjoying it for the comfort and taste when last year I started using herbal teas medicinally. When I say medicinally I mean I started to actually think about the tea I was drinking for the health benefits of the herbs. When I did this I saw my energy which was already good, skyrocket! My digestion improved and the slight swelling I would get time to time disappeared. I was definitely less inflamed overall. I learned so much and using this knowledge I was so excited to open up the Tea Bar at the Healing Arts Wellness Center three weeks ago!
The tea menu I created lists all the herbs that we use but I wanted to write this blog post about the anti-inflammatory teas we have and can blend together for you. Yes, that’s right. We use muscle testing to test what 3 herbs you need in your tea and make the personalized blend right there for you. Since I muscle test supplements for people all day long it was easy for me to think about muscle testing tea too. The creativity came in when I didn’t just want to give a person one type of tea but create a medicinal synergistic affect with a few teas together and create their own tea blend. We have 25 different teas to choose from. Imagine how many combinations of blends we can create with that! You can get one cup of tea or we can make a container for you that is 12 servings.
One reason why anti-inflammatory teas are so important to have at the tea bar is because I think the foundational problem of why dis-ease starts in the body is due to too much inflammation. My goal with every nutrition program is to help the patient reduce inflammation so the body can heal itself. Inflammation is a reaction the body has when trying to put itself into balance or what doctors like to say, homeostasis, against any pathogen or toxin. These toxins can be food, physical injury, heavy metals, emotional stress or heavy chemicals. These toxins create free radicals which cause cellular damage. With enough injured cells inflammation starts to build up. Acute Inflammation is mostly handled by the expansion and activation of blood vessels. Inflammation is commonly associated with the formation of new blood and lymphatic vessels from the pre-existing vessels that got damaged. Interestingly, while the activation of the blood vasculature has been reported to increase inflammation, lymphatic vessels generally appear to exert beneficial effects, by improving the clearance of excess fluid, thus reducing swelling and levels of pro-inflammatory cells as well as a number of immune cells. So keeping the lymphatic system healthy to keep inflammation down is key for a healthy body.
When acute inflammation occurs the chances of it turning into chronic inflammation is dependent on the lymphatic system and that’s why the Healing Arts Wellness Center offers lymphatic drainage therapy. Lymphatic drainage therapy is done by a massage therapist with a machine called Lympstar that uses electrons to attract the sluggish lymph and help it move through the body. All lymph fluid travels to the collar bones where it gets dumped back. Into the blood and lymphatic therapy can help with that movement.
We have been experimenting for months and came up with some great blends when muscle testing for helping with inflammation. Here is the list of teas we have that reduce inflammation and have other healing properties as well.
Cinnamon Blood sugar, anti inflammatory, lower cholesterol (for more on cinnamon, click here)
Echinacea Immune booster, respiratory health, digestion, anti-inflammatory, brain health, skin, anti-aging
Ginger Digestion, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss, women’s health, pain relief, heart support
Green Tea Heart support, anti-aging, weight loss support, immune support, brain health, anti-inflammatory, blood sugar
Holy Basil Digestion, blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss support, skin support, respiratory support, eye support, detox
Lemongrass Pain relief, sleep support, brain health, anti-inflammatory
Nettle Blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, pain relief
Peppermint Digestion, respiratory, anti-inflammatory, brain health, pain relief, sleep support,
women’s health, weight loss, skin support, immune support, relaxation, brain health
Sarsaparilla Anti-inflammatory, immunity booster, skin support, liver support
Turmeric Pain relief, eye support, immunity booster, brain health, lower cholesterol, anti-inflammatory (for more on turmeric, click here)
We also have blends for digestion, energy, women’s health, brain health, high blood pressure and more. So if you haven’t tried a personalized tea blend yet you must at your next visit!