If the holiday season is something you feel you have to survive every year, this issue of Pacific Naturopathic Newsletter is about uplifting and transforming your experience.  If the holidays are something you enjoy and look forward to, then this issue offers strategies for enhancing your experience.

We find it significant that when simply given the theme of "Celebration," many of our writers chose to focus on the mental, emotional and spiritual health aspects of the holidays.

Dr. Connie advises that we look at the holidays as "holy days" as the first step in reframing our experience.  Dr. Marcel suggests that if we are traveling, especially by plane, staying healthy is one of the keys to unrestricted, joyful participation in social and family events. Dr. Corrine presents an integrative East/West approach in finding balance during the festivities.  Dr. Connie then offers healthy, delicious, celebratory recipes that will please the inner and outer palates.

Nicole writes of consciously attuning to the cycles of the season, Jane suggests another perspective on how to transform the holidays and Carlene brings it all home with the importance of expressing gratitude in every single moment.

At Pacific Naturopathic our health care focus has always been on transformation. Yes, we do stress mental, emotional and physical freedom as channels to change, but our hearts have always been in line with what is moving on the spiritual level.  To us, trans-formation has always meant that the closer we get to realizing our true natures as spiritual beings, the happier we will be and the less our physical woes will interfere with our experience of life.

Finally, if you find yourself wanting to experience a truly profound and transformative connection this holiday season with the Light that Christ brought to Earth, please join Dr. Connie and Dr. Marcel for Christmas Eve service at 7:30 PM at the Ananda Sangha.  Please see details below. 

We wish you the happiness that comes from continuous transformation, not only during holiday season, 

but for the rest of your life.

 Be Well.

Dr. Connie, Dr. Marcel and your care team at Pacific Naturopathic and the Hernandez Center for Adjunctive Cancer Care

Economic collapse, government gridlock, climate disasters, senseless violence, pervasive corruption. Protests, anger, disillusionment, despair.

Against this background, fictional journalist Juliet Palmer, an investigative reporter specializing in stories that expose corruption, receives an unusual (and unwanted) assignment from her boss at Profiles magazine:  she'll visit a spiritual community in northern California that has developed alternative solutions to the world's problems for nearly half a century. While at Ananda World Brotherhood Village, she'll interview its visionary founder.

With a fair portion of skepticism and a dash of curiosity, Juliet embarks on a professional and personal journey that will open her eyes and change her life.

Filmed on location at the Ananda communities in California, Italy, and India, Finding Happiness follows Juliet as she talks with the real residents of Ananda, who answer her questions and welcome her to a reality she had never imagined possible.

We'll mail "Finding Happiness" to you for $25, tax and postage included.  Just $21 for each additional DVD if bundled in the same order. Please phone: 650-917-1121.

Staying Healthy While Flying

*

(A True Holiday Celebration)

 
 Yes, I know my topic isn't exactly celebratory, but it is seasonal because if you can stay healthy over the holidays while flying you will be able to celebrate the various events you attend without the encumbrance of physical symptoms.  

Most readers of Pacific Naturopathic Newsletter know that Dr. Connie and I fly to our Hawaii retreat center every five or six weeks.  We have had ample opportunity to develop our preventive health care strategies.  The suggestions that follow are applicable to anytime you get on a plane (or train or bus), not just over the holidays.  It is just that travel at the end of the year has people from many different environments in the world crossing paths in a variety of places and situations.  So a little travel consciousness can contribute to a positive experience over the holidays.

Sanitize your environment.  As soon as you get settled in your seat, pass disinfecting wipes over all surfaces that are routinely touched by previous passengers -- the armrests, the tray table and latch, the air vent, the window shade handle, the light switch and your seatbelt buckle.  Recent studies have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria (MRSA) on airline tray tables. EO sanitizers and hand wipes are effective alternatives to chemical sanitizers. Remember to re-sanitize your hands before and after a bathroom visit.

Stay hydrated. The pressurized, low humidity environment inside an airplane cabin dries out mucous membranes, increasing our susceptibility to infectious micro-organisms floating around in the re-circulated air.

Also, avoid alcohol and coffee.  Alcohol and caffeine are drying and contribute to dehydration.  Sip slowly and frequently on water throughout the flight. 

Move your body.  One of the most dangerous events that can occur in the air is clot formation in your legs (DVT) from prolonged immobility in a cramped environment.  Get up and move at least once an hour and take natural anti-clotting agents, like natto kinase (available in our clinic) and fish oil, before and during each flight. Compression stockings, found in most drug stores, also help prevent clot formation.

Use noise-cancelling headphones.  We discovered these a few years ago

Noise-cancelling headphones -- a real stress buster.

on a trip to Thailand.  Noise, even subliminally, contributes to immune-system-lowering stress. Noise-cancelling earphones provide a blissful, almost noise-free experience and are especially useful in listening to movies or music at close to normal volume levels.

Avoid sweets on flights.  There are already enough immune system assaults in airplane cabins and airports without the major immune system negative impact of sugar.  It is not a coincidence that colds and flus are rampant in January after weeks of "sugar blues."

Is this food?

Say no to airplane food and snacks.  High sugar, trans fats, artificial flavors and colors, preservatives and five and six syllable chemical compounds are rampant in prepared foods.  Bring your own food and snacks: fruit, good cheese, a nut mixture, a whole-grain pita stuffed with turkey and sprouts or roasted vegetables a Greek yogurt and protein bars are infinitely better than anything offered while in the air.

Try to nap.  I'm in dreamland as soon as the plane starts pulling away from the gate.  Dr. Connie cannot sleep on planes.  Trans-Pacific flights are a lot shorter for me than they are for her.  Sleep allows the body to restore balance and helps with jet lag.

If you can think of other ways to stay healthy while traveling, let us know and we'll pass them on to our readers.

Dr. Connie has offered natural medicine guidance to her Bay Area patients since 1993.

 Yes, it is possible to feast on healthy foods. For many people these days, healthy means gluten free, dairy free, often vegetarian (although bone broth and other pasture fed and finished meats, and wild caught fish are in current favor).  Holiday feasts also require that food be pleasing to the eye, and somewhat special.

Celebratory drinks are easy to come by. Start with tart black cherry juice, pomegranate juice or cranberry juice. Add sparkling water and a twist of lemon, lime, orange and/or mint. Or click here for ideas for more "mocktails."  If you are avoiding after dinner caffeine, but wanting something a little bitter, try roasted ground dandelion root tea, which was served as a coffee substitute throughout the

Dandelion root tea

70's. Or indulge in one of the many exotic caffeine free herbal teas. Licorice spice is a favorite.

Salads can be dressed up by adding dried cranberries and shelled pistachios or pepitas for a festive look. We like very finely chopped cabbage or grated carrots with a dressing of 1:1 olive oil to lemon juice. If you're looking for a very simple but different green salad, try chopped watercress with the same olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

A richly flavorful vegetarian paella

For a one dish meal, our family enjoys gathering around the table and enjoying a vegetarian paella. Paella is beautiful to behold and surprisingly easy to make. It lends itself to endless variations, and brings the table together in shared experience, as it is served at the table from the paella dish. Click here for a Vegan Paella recipe.

Creamy coconut kabocha pie

As the holiday season is in full swing, it feels like there is constantly something or someone to celebrate - there's a party to go to, or a service to attend, or a gift to buy. Come the end of the year, celebration might actually begin to feel more like obligation. How often do you notice yourself, or someone else saying, "I have to show up at this Christmas party," or, "I need to buy that person a gift..." In today's world of over-indulgence and material consumption, the simplicity of celebration seems lost.  All too easily, we're swept into the compulsory festive madness of wintertime, forgetting that there is so much value in simplicity!

As one who often feels stressed and bothered throughout the holiday season, I have spent the last several years reflecting on these feelings of mine.  If this is the cherished time of year to celebrate, gather, and rejoice, why do I feel so stressed, rushed, and broke?  Shouldn't I feel gracious and fulfilled? When I moved away from home and started to merge the holiday traditions that I inherited with the lifestyle that I created for myself, I really began to understand more about these undesirable feelings that would creep in as the holiday season ramped up.

I have realized that what I appreciate most about celebrations of any kind is simplicity.  So many of us are conditioned to participate in festivities that might be meaningless to us on some level.  In an effort to dissolve the negativity I used to experience during the holiday season, I really honed in on ways that I could make the most of every festive situation, which for me, is achieved in uncovering what is most personally significant. I no longer feel obligated to attend events that I simply don't want to attend. I don't feel plagued by what gift, or how many gifts to buy somebody, as I simply think about what I can share that would be personal and meaningful to somebody else. A simple act done with intention in your heart is enough!

As I continue to develop my personal celebratory traditions, I am keen on honoring the solstice.  The solstice is a beautiful time to appreciate the cycles and seasons that create the dynamic flow of life of which we are all a part.  Although it's the year's shortest day, the winter solstice also promises the gradual return of the Sun.  Honoring this particular phase in time, gives me the opportunity to feel present and create centeredness.  Whether I choose to celebrate internally, or socially; perhaps by taking a yoga class, cooking a nourishing meal, lighting a candle, or going on a walk, I achieve fulfillment in celebrating life with meaning and simplicity.

Nicole Noceto offers Nutrition Education for people 

meeting the challenges of diabetes and cancer.  In January, 

she will begin offering yoga therapy programs.

Please phone 650-917-1121 to schedule.

 This time of year means so many different things to different people. Whether it's parties, shopping, eating, Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, New Year's - there's so much to celebrate. Yes, it can be fun and heartwarming but who could deny that it is also stressful?  As we experience the season we are also reliving memories from the past, some good, some bad, some sad.  The movie, It's a Wonderful Life, encapsulates that so well and really brings out the truth about how much more is underlying our lives than what we are consciously aware of.  George Bailey felt worthless and was ready to end his life until the angel showed him how his deeds had bettered the lives of so many people in his town.  Because of the collective cultural consciousness about this season, we all get swept up in the swirl of events and activities - whether we want to or not.

Many people want to hide or run away during this time of year. It's not easy to feel that you want to say Bah Humbug to the whole season, yet it may be what you truly feel, and it's quite common. So what can be done to get through the holidays and maybe even enjoy them? 

Since you can't change everything that is going on around you, how about changing parts of yourself so you are not as bothered or even find enjoyment? Oh yes, you are probably thinking, "I am who I am". Sure, that's true, but it is entirely possible to change your perspective so that you cope better with the stress. And that includes ALL kinds of stress. You can do this with hypnotherapy. There is a tremendous freedom when you learn to control how you react to your life and the stresses and anxieties which affect you. When you experience the changes you can make to your inner mind, the programmed subconscious that is bumming you out, it is like Spring has arrived early. 

So, if you are eating too much over the holidays because of stress or bad habits, you can control it without having to rely on will power.  Or let's say that you aren't making time for walking or working out, you can change your mind so that it gives you great joy.  Maybe you're down on yourself for having a short fuse with your mother, spouse or children.  Or perhaps you're procrastinating something important that needs to be done. With hypnotherapy there is a place of calm that you can access whenever you need to. It's really amazing and you don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.

Hypnotherapy has been around a long time now and the amount of case studies which verify its validity would fill volumes. With hypnotherapy you become more open to positive suggestion so that your thinking and behavior can be influenced in many ways.

So, consider what it is you really want and how you want to feel. It's all within your reach. Now, that's something to celebrate.

Read more about Jane Hernandez's transformative work HERE

Elijah Free's approach to helping his patients deal with physical pain has been described as bordering on miraculous.  Elijah is also a Master Herbalist who designs and produces all of his own herbal products for his healing practice. He is an herbal product designer for Ridgecrest Herb Company. 

* * *

Elijah Free is a healer, specializing in pain elimination of all types, both mechanical and metabolic. He is a master medical herbalist with numerous specialties, a researcher and product designer for his own label; Earth Friend Herb Co. 

Elijah is the author of "Apprentice to Angels," and a U.S. patent holder for a formula to eradicate fibromyaligia. He was recently granted a 501-C3 from the IRS as a medical study, something almost exclusively for institutions such as Stanford, hospitals or pharmaceutical companies.

Bringourvetsallthewayhome.org is all about Elijah's work with an herbal formula for PTSD that restores the lives to veterans and anyone else with this condition. A documentary video will be available later this fall about this project. A video on fibromyaligia can be seen at rapidpainelimination.com

A recently publicized report confirms what we have always assumed to be true, that yoga, meditation, and guided imagery are effective tools for relieving anxiety and depression suffered by cancer patients. Guidelines for analysis of efficacy were put together by integrative medicine specialists including both naturopathic doctors and conventional cancer doctors. 

Read the report here. 

In the two years we have been offering adjunctive cancer care, only two people are no longer in their bodies.  One person, I'll call her Maria, had stage 4 colon cancer.  She came to us after her oncologist told her to get her affairs in order because the end was near.  

After starting our program, Maria lived for another eight months with a quality of life high enough that she was able to enjoy normal, precious time with her large, lose-knit family.

The other person, Rosa, had stage 4 ovarian cancer and she was stable and doing remarkably well on our program with her tumor markers in remission. Then she had two rounds of a chemotherapy regimen that didn't work; in fact, the chemo caused her tumor markers to spike higher than they have ever been. Rosa was unable to return to her pre-chemo state of health and passed away last week, more than a year after starting her adjunctive care with us.

In both cases, their families recognized the efficacy of our adjunctive therapies and thanked us profusely for the part we played in helping their loved ones maintain  a high quality of life right until the end. And that is the point of this article.

We cannot promise a cure with the therapies  we employ in the Hernandez Center. But we can say that we will help maintain a high quality of life for as long as we are able -- whether it is a week, a month, a year or longer. Our job is to help keep our patients healthy for as long as we can.

Many people have already heard about intravenous vitamin C as a complementary cancer therapy to help stimulate the immune system as well as being directly cytotoxic to cancer cells. We are often using this therapy at the Hernandez Center for our cancer patients. What people may not know is that we also have many other IV therapies that are also very helpful in supporting our cancer patients depending on their symptoms and what they need. 

We often give a nutrient IV in between IV vitamin C sessions, which helps to provide more energy and rebuild our patients that may be feeling fatigued or have low blood counts. 

We also have other anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer therapies like IV curcumin (turmeric) or IV silibinin (from milk thistle). 

Another IV treatment that can help cancer patients from losing more weight or to help them gain weight is an infusion that includes a variety of amino acids. 

These are just a few of the protocols we have for our cancer patients. For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact us at the Hernandez Center at (650) 917-1121.

* * *

* Dr. Connie muses on the Holy Days

 * Dr. Marcel: Staying Healthy While Flying

* Dr. Corrine: Yin and Yang of the Holidays

* Dr. Connie: Celebratory Food and Drinks

 * Nicole: Celebration vs.Obligation

* Jane: 'Tis the Season to Need a Reason

* Carlene: Celebrate the Moment

* Breast Health Celebration 

* Hawaii retreat: Celebration in our Small Town

Hernandez Center: News and Commentary on Cancer Topics

 - - - 

* Dr Connie: Yoga, Meditation and Imagery in Cancer Care

* Dr. Marcel: What We Can Say and Not Say In Treating Cancer

 * Dr. Corrine: other IV therapies offered in our clinic 

The Hernandez Center 

for Adjunctive Cancer Care

2570 W. El Camino Real, Suite 111 Mountain View, CA 94040

650-917-1121

 www.HernandezCenter.com