Alternative Medicine: What is Holistic Gynecology

Holistic medicine is an alternative branch of gynecology that uses massage, nutrition, biofeedback, acupuncture, herbs and other natural therapies to treat a variety of gynecological conditions. Holistic gynecologists believe that every person is a unique individual, rather than an example of a particular disease. Conditions like infertility, premenstrual syndrome (or PMS), menopause, HPV (human papillomavirus), and others – are understood to be the result of physical, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental imbalance. For that reason, most holistic gynecologists perform a thorough evaluation of a patient's diet, exercise habits, health history, occupation, family and life history. And, as strange as this might sound or as hard you might find it to believe in the 21st century, it usually works!

That is because many of the aforementioned gynecological and sexological problems or others like urine incontinence, chronic pelvic pains, vulvodynia, and lack of lust, excitement, and orgasm are resistant to standard medical treatment. Holistic Gynecology believes that vaginal acupressure, or Hippocratic pelvic massage, can help some of these problems. Technically, it is a very simple procedure as it corresponds to the explorative phase of the standard pelvic examination, supplemented with the patient's report on the feelings it provokes and the processing and integration of these feelings.
Such procedures helped patients to become present in their pelvis and to integrate old traumas with painful emotions. Holistic gynecology and sexology can help the patient to identify and let go of negative feelings, beliefs, and attitudes related to sex, gender, sexual organs, body, and soul at large. Shame, guilt, helplessness, fear, disgust, anxiety, anger, hatred, and other strong feelings are almost always an important part of a sexual or functional problem as these feelings are "held" by the tissue of the pelvis and sexual organs.

However, have in mind that acupressure through the vagina/pelvic massage must be done with great care by an experienced physician, with a third person present, after obtaining consent and the necessary trust of the patient. Which means that, if the holistic gynecologist is a scammer or has no idea what he or she does, you'd better avoid it as it can do more harm than good.

Three easy ways to fight against extra weight

Let’s face it! Obesity is a problem nowadays and, as unpleasant it is for me to say it, I deal with the same problem: I am overweight and I’m always searching for a weight loss method. Although we all know that exercising and a healthy diet is the perfect thing for a healthy, supple abdomen, it is always good to have a few quick alternatives at hand, right?

While stumbling the internet in the search for diet recipes (yes, it’s that time of the year when I MUST lose weight) I found a website offering some diet pills that seem to be really interesting. I have never tried such things so if you know anything about them, it would be great to hear.

Because from what I see, they look quite promising. For example this Xenical pill I first found – it’s a pill that helps your digestive system to filter fats faster, therefore forcing our organism to start burning that extra fat we all have round the belly. This does not appear to be one of the dangerous “faster metabolism”, so I found it really interesting.

So I kept digging through the website and found that there are more pills there – all seeming to have the same use: helping people like me lose weight fast and without problems. Reductil for example is another of their products, this time one that does not help eliminate fat faster, but gives you an overall satiety level, therefore reducing the amount of food you eat. Acomplia was another product they offered.

So now I wonder if I should start an order or go back to my exercising… pills are faster and more effective, though. Tough…

You Love to Eat, Don’t You?

If you’re starting to read this, one thing is clear: you just LOVE to eat, just like I do and just like at least half of the population of the globe does. Unfortunately, our love for food means we are prone to getting overweight, eating all sorts of unhealthy foods and eventually bombarding our body with toxins and all sorts of nasty stuff which, in the end, can have some really bad effects like gastritis, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive system related diseases. So… what can we do, if we still love to eat?

Well, the first thing to do would be to “grow up” and stop eating all those tasty but unhealthy stuff – you know, the fast food type of stuff, the oily stuff and so on. But this is totally out of question (presuming that you’re not like me, already suffering from IBS which takes each and every tasty food from you). So… what to do?

One of the safest ways to keep your body and digestive system ready to battle the caloric bombs and the toxins of everyday’s food is a 5 day diet with fresh fruits and vegetables – apparently, this “living food”, often mistaken with “green food” means that you eat healthy for five days per week in order to keep your body up and running, help it detox and win a few more years for you to continue eating like hell. No, really!

So this diet I’m talking about consists of eating only fruits for short periods of time, along with vegetables – none of these being cooked. You’ll love them raw and your body will love them, too! Also, instead of water or the nasty sodas, you should drink tea, digestive tea, diuretic tea and avoid coffee at all costs. You can do that!

Following these short periods of time of eating living food (vegetables and fruits) it will be easier for your body to detoxify itself. But please, have in mind that, even though this kind of diets is better than nothing, it does not stand for a healthy living style that will be a pure heaven for your digestive system. So please have in mind to keep fats and unhealthy foods as low as possible, otherwise you might get to a point when you will regret. And that’s not nice at all! So stay healthy and IBS-free!

What to Eat if You Have Gastritis - 7 Day Plan

I have talked earlier about what you are allowed to eat if you have gastritis, now it's time to get a bit more specific and try to find a seven-day plan to have some varied foods (because you probably know already that having a gastritis doesn’t allow you to eat the most varied things). So, here is my homebrew, tested, personally designed 7 day plan to offer a calming, great diet for your gastritis (with an emphasis on homebrew – it’s based on medical gastritis fact, but it’s not made by dieticians) :

DAY ONE
Breakfast: A glass of milk and five digestive biscuits.
Mid-morning snack: One apple
Lunch: 2 medium-sized steamed potatoes, one slice of cheese, two slices of bread if you can’t without it. Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before lunch.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat a yogurt and 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: A large bowl of cabbage salad with dressing of lemon juice and olive oil (extra vergin), and two pieces of toasted bread.

DAY TWO
Breakfast: Four digestive biscuits together with one big juicy apple
Mid-morning: One banana
Lunch: Grilled chicken breasts with two steamed carrots and two slices of toasted bread.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: Fresh home-made cottage cheese with 3 slices of toasted bread.

DAY THREE
Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 slices of bread
Mid-morning: Half a can of pineapple compote
Lunch: A big bowl of Caesar salad, without any spices.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one banana.
Dinner: Steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, celery, cabbage) with 2 slices of toast bread

DAY FOUR
Breakfast: One big grape, and three-four digestive biscuits
Mid-morning: One yogurt with dried crackers
Lunch: Pasta alla carbonara, without any spices. You should also use low-fat meat for preparing it.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one big juicy apple
Dinner: Hummus and two-three big slices of toasted bread

DAY FIVE:
Breakfast: One bowl of hot oatmeal porridge
Mid-morning: One banana
Lunch: Vegetable soup with some low fat steamed meat (chicken, low fat pork) and two-three tortillas
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat four digestive biscuits
Dinner: Potato salad with hard boiled eggs and toast bread if necessary

DAY SIX:
Breakfast: A glass of milk and five digestive biscuits.
Mid-morning snack: One big grape
Lunch: Tuna fish salad (without any spices) and three slices of toasted bread
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one banana.
Dinner: Hummus and two-three big slices of toasted bread

DAY SEVEN:
Breakfast: Fruit salad (apple, orange, grapes, pineapple).
Mid morning: One yogurt with dried crackers
Lunch: Ravioli with spinach.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: A large bowl of green salad with dressing of lemon juice and olive oil (extra vergin) with feta cheese and two pieces of toasted bread.

Please note: As soon as you wake up, you can (and should) drink a glass of water with a few drops of squeezed lemon and a spoonful of honey. Also, before going to bed (at least 30 minutes before) you can drink a glass of fresh milk and eat an apple, as they will calm down your abdominal pains and gastritis symptoms. Of course, the dinner should be consumed at least 2 hours before going to sleep, or else your digestive system might not have time to digest and will not help your gastritis problems.

Also note: This is not a lose-weight diet! This is a suggestion of what one person should eat for gastritis problems, in order to have as varied meals as possible. When I had gastritis and ulcers problems, I used to eat something like that and it calmed me down. If any of the foods in this diet will make your abdominal pains more intense, DO NOT eat them again until you have cured your gastritis. Of course, you can use other foods if you don’t like any of those posted here, with a focus on hummus, spinach and green/cabbage salad. Good luck with your gastritis recovery!

If you are interested, you can also read my general post “What Should You Eat if You Have Gastritis”.

What Should You Eat if You Have IBS

Unlike the diet for gastritis, the irritable bowel syndrome died is quite tricky. Especially because, as I said before, there are two types of syndromes (diarrhea or constipation) and practically each person has a specific reaction to the same type of food. So it would’ve been better if you did everything you could to prevent it… but you are here now and you have to deal with it, right?

As I said, te influence of diet is unique to each individual and there is no generalized dietary advice that will work for everyone, unfortunately. A doctor can take a brief dietary history and with a 2-3 week diary of dietary intake, symptoms, and any associated factors (like daily obligations, stressors, poor sleep, medications etc) can help identify dietary and/or other factors that may impact symptoms.

Usually, there are a few rules of thumb when it comes to the irritable bowel syndrome diet:

Eating too much of some types of sugar that are poorly absorbed by the bowel can also cause cramping or diarrhea. Examples include sorbitol – commonly used as a sweetener in many dietetic foods, candies, and gums; and fructose – also used as a sweetener and found naturally in honey as well as some fruits.

Also, meals that are too large or high in fat, fried foods, coffee, caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes will never help improve your colon condition and ameliorate the IBS symptoms, so you’d better cut them off completely until you get the chance to go and see a medic to discuss with him about your diet. Keep your chin up and stay healthy!

What Should You Eat if You Have Gastritis

I have generally talked only about irritable bowel syndrome until today and I think we should take a break from it and focus on other abdominal problems. We’re keeping in the same area and today are talking about gastritis.

There are two types of gastritis – low acidity and high acidity and obviously the treatment and diet for each is completely different. Since my gastritis is caused by high acidity, that’s what we are going to talk about right now – diet and permitted foods, to be more specific.

Unlike diets for colon related problems, diets for gastritis are pretty permissive. There is a general rule of thumb here, though, which is usually ignored by the busiest doctors: there are different types of food which could do wonders for some patients, while others might feel sick after consuming them. So the basic idea is that if you feel that your pain is getting worse after eating a specific product, don’t eat that anymore until your gastritis is gone, even if your doctor told you it could be a good thing to eat.

For example, I ate milk and other milk-based products and had no problems (they even calmed my abdomen), but other people I know having gastritis have a bad reaction to milk consumption. So always test before you stock and be ready to listen to your body.

However, there are some things (just like milk) which generally are good for fighting against gastritis. As I said, just to make things clear: these types of food should NOT be used in fighting against the irritable bowel syndrome!

You can usually eat any of the following: tea, milk, dry biscuits (digestive ones are even better), a little butter, egg yolk (very, very healthy), steam vegetables or meat, different kinds of soups, pasta, all sorts of purees (excluding spinach). Coffee drinking is, but no more than one cup a day.

You should try to avoid eating fresh bread, cakes shaped, oily meat, cabbage, prunes, strong tea, cocoa, spices, salt, grapes and other citric fruits or things like French fries, hamburgers or other junk food, peas, beans or other things that lead to constipation. Cabbage could also harm you and alcohol is a big No-No.

When you have problems with gastritis, the best thing to do would be to always carry dry biscuits with you and whenever you start feeling the burning down your throat or inside the stomach, eat no more than 2-3 pieces. That should calm you down and help reducing the acidity in your stomach. And also be prepared for seasonal pain: I have bigger problems during spring and autumn. Stay healthy!

Note: If you are interested in a seven-day diet plan for gastritis, please check my Gastritis Food Program.