by Melanie Grimes
http://www.healthnews.com/blogs/melanie-grimes/natural-health/alternative-medicine/homeopathic-remedies-gallstones-3710.html

Gallstones are of one of the most painful medical conditions, with surgery often required. Homeopathy offers a unique way to dissolve gallstones, especially if the condition is not critical. Homeopathic remedies can prevent stones from forming or help in the elimination of smaller stones. 

The liver secretes gall to aid digestion, and the gall is stored in the gall bladder. Gallstones are formed when there is an obstruction of the bile ducts or a build-up of bile. There can be one or multiple stones in the gall bladder, and they can vary in size from a grain of sand to over an inch. Smaller stones will pass easily, but larger ones can become stuck, blocking the flow of bile and causing pain in the bile ducts. An abdominal X-ray is used to diagnose and detect stones. Symptoms that can arise from gallstones include jaundice, bilairy colic and fever. Urine can turn green or brown. Pain may radiate to the shoulder of the back, or across the entire abdomen.

There are a number of homeopathic remedies available to treat gallstones:

Chelidonium is a remedy used for many types of liver distress. The person needing Chelidonium will experience pain in the area of the liver as well as over the right scapula. The soft stools can be bright yellow or there can be constipation. Even the skin may develop a grey or yellowish tint.

Podophyllum is another remedy known to be of great use in liver complaints. Watery, profuse stools are a keynote of this remedy, and the color can be changeable: from yellow to green. The tongue of a person needing this remedy can be yellow as well. This remedy picture also included nausea, vomiting, burping, and gas, along with alternating diarrhea and constipation. This person is better during cold weather and worse when the temperatures turn warm.

Carduus Marianus is used as a homeopathic remedy and an herbal remedy to heal the liver. The person needing homeopathic Carduus has liver enlargement and jaundice along with the gallstones. They may vomit up green acid-tasting bile. Carduus is also used to treat jaundice and gall bladder enlargement.

Lycopodium is used as a homeopathic remedy to treat various types of indigestion. It is commonly used to treat flatulence. Because of the digestive disturbances, those needing this remedy can be underweight. They wake with a dry mouth or a sour, burning sensation. They can have an acid stomach and many attacks of hiccups. If they don't eat regularly, they will feel poorly. On breathing in, they may experience a stitching sensation in the region of the gall bladder, under the ribs on the right side. Those needing Lycopodium usually suffer from chronic constipation and either love to eat oysters or are upset by eating them.

Calcarea Carbonica is a common remedy used to treat many constitutional and chronic illnesses and is also a useful remedy for gallstones. This person can experience shooting pains over the liver and an inability to wear tight clothes. The abdomen may feel cold as well. They can have stomach cramps at night and in general, they crave eggs. They will experience constipation or smelly, stools with diarrhea.

Colocynthesis pains are better when bending forward and by heat. The cramping is very marked in those needing this remedy. Spasmodic pain accompanies the liver colic.

It is important to seek medical attention if a person experiences pain, especially severe pain, so that a proper diagnosis can be conducted. If surgery is needed, the new methods are usually minimally invasive, via laparoscopic surgery, and the patients frequently return home to same day. If surgery is not needed, homeopathy can help dissolve small stones and prevent larger ones from forming.

An international consortium of experts on the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has issued a statement condemning the FDA's insistence that the chemical is safe.

"It is becoming undeniable that BPA is dangerous," said Laura Vandenberg of Tufts University. "The FDA's standard for safety is reasonable certainty. It is no longer reasonable to say that BPA is safe."

BPA, used to make plastics hard and transparent, is commonly used in everything from baby bottles and water bottles to CD cases, eyeglasses and the resin that lines cans of food and infant formula. Yet research has implicated the substance as an endocrine disruptor that mimics the effects of estrogen in the body, leading to health problems including developmental and reproductive defects, hampered immune function, brain damage and disease, diabetes, and heart disease.

The chemical is considered a major public health threat due to its prevalence and to the fact that it builds up in the bodies of humans and other animals. Children in particular have trouble filtering the toxin out of their bodies. High levels of BPA in the body have been shown to interfere with the effectiveness of medical procedures such as chemotherapy and liver tests.

In the past 10 years, 130 different scientific studies have linked BPA to health problems, even at doses far beneath the levels considered safe by the FDA.

Yet the FDA continues to insist that the chemical is safe, based only on two industry-funded studies. The European Food Safety Authority has also relied on these studies to give BPA a clean bill of health.

According to the international consortium, however, these studies failed completely to examine many of the more serious dangers of BPA. Even the studies' author, Rochelle Tyl, has criticized the FDA's reliance on them.

"There were errors and inconsistencies in the 2008 report that the FDA used as the foundation for its findings," Tyl said.

Sources for this story include: www.newsinferno.com.

Permaculture is a way of living; it involves sustainability, ethics, community living, harmony with nature, appropriate technology, organic living, organic farming, etc. It is a way to integrate nature and people in the most sustainable way. This word, permaculture (that was originally derived from permanent agriculture), was originally coined by two Australians named David Holmgren and Bill Mollison in response to the challenges related to our survival.

In permaculture, ethics and design principles are used to help us make good decisions for the people and the environment. Permaculture itself is an ethical design system and can be applied to both the home and the community. Also it can be applied in rural and urban areas. Permaculture also involves three aspects which can be briefly described as follow:

Care for the land: Actions to protect the environment and improve it. Earth should be seen as a whole.

Care for the people: It involves the physical and psychological aspects, for example providing food and shelter, natural medications, reduce daily hard work, and provide equal opportunities for all people.

Care for the future: It is very important if we want to conserve our resources. Some of the aspects that it involves are recycling, planning, cooperation not competition, supporting local economy, and the use of renewable energy and resources.

The application of permaculture concepts helps us in reducing costs if we implement different alternatives that allow us to maximize efficiency and production. For example you can plant vegetables in an area where water drains from the sink (as long as you use biodegradable dish washing soaps that are harmless to the plants), this way reducing your plant watering time. While using this concept you save time that you can use for other tasks or for recreation, this way increasing your quality of life.

When working with permaculture you apply also design principles. For example, you can start plotting what you originally have in your home (for example recreational areas, gardens, unused areas, etc.); then, you can make changes in your drawing for the desired areas according to your ideas. For example, you can take into consideration the times when the sun rises and falls so you can plant according to the intensity of the sun received in the area. Also, you can verify which areas are the best for planting different kinds of vegetables, and then strategically locate the plants.

In permaculture design, zones are used to specify the areas where you are going to accommodate plants, animals, recreational areas, etc. These zones can be identified with numbers, for example from 0 to 5, and can be thought as concentric circles, each one representing a zone where the first one can be used for the area that is more concurrent, like the house. The last zone can be used for the least used area, this way maximizing efficiency and production.

When we practice permaculture we are building a natural capital that yields benefits for today and for the future.

When it comes to health care reform in America, if we hope to make real progress, we've got to consider safe, affordable solutions that really work to prevent disease. There's hardly a better example of this than cinnamon and its ability to help regulate blood sugar and prevent diabetes.

Here, you'll find an amazing compilation of expert quotations and testimonials about cinnamon, as published in some of the best natural health books ever written. Perhaps this information should be read by someone in Congress, huh? Enjoy this collection of research... (and pass it on)...

About 5 years ago, we heard from a reader that cinnamon might help lower blood sugar in someone with type 2 diabetes. That was news to us, but a little sleuthing did turn up some interesting animal cell research. Studies showed that cinnamon made cells more responsive to insulin, which theoretically would lead to better glucose control. Since then we have heard from many readers that a little cinnamon does indeed help them keep their blood sugar in check.
- Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy by Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.

Cinnamon lowers blood sugar and cholesterol. People usually enjoy the taste of cinnamon when it's added to apple cider or baked goods. Putting a small amount of cinnamon in foods or taking cinnamon in capsules can significantly improve blood-sugar levels. Be warned, though: eating a Cinnabon, which has 144 grams of sugars and carbs and 730 calories, won't do anything good for you. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and their counterparts from Pakistan tested the effects of cinnamon-containing capsules on 60 people with diabetes.
- Stop Prediabetes Now: The Ultimate Plan to Lose Weight and Prevent Diabetes by Jack Challem

Cinnamon has been shown to reduce lipids and have anti-inflammatory and platelet-adhesion properties. The results of a study demonstrated that intake of small amounts of cinnamon per day (no more than six grams or one-fifth of an ounce) reduced serum glucose, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes. In an animal study, male rats who were given an extract of cinnamon had lower blood glucose levels. A human study found that giving cinnamon extract to type 2 diabetics significantly reduced their blood sugar levels.
- 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! by David W. Grotto, RD, LDN

Cinnamon is an insulin substitute in Type II diabetes. Cinnamon itself has insulin-like activity, increasing the effectiveness of insulin. Cinnamon also has a bio-active component that has the potential to prevent or overcome diabetes. It also increases vitality, balances energy, improves the digestion of fruits, milk, and other dairy products and helps reduce bloating and gas. Where to buy it: At the grocery store. If you have access to purchasing on line, you can purchase cinnamon in bulk very inexpensively. My favorite is www.mountainroseherbs.com.