GHS Natural Health Blog

Aloe vera juice is the liquid that comes out of the aloe vera plant when cut or squeezed. For hundreds and probably thousands of years, it has been used medicinally as a soothing balm for burns, cuts and scrapes. Today it is used for the same purposes, and also many more. I love aloe vera juice or gel for sunburn treatment, and I also find it makes a great skin protector to be used after shaving or on dry patches of skin.

Aloe vera juice has more recently become very popular as a drink and for use internally. By drinking 2-4 oz twice a day, aloe vera juice can alleviate or eliminate your constipation. It is a strong laxative when used in strong concentrations. You can also help your constipation when taking it in capsules. Look for aloe capsules or drinks that have other herbs to tone down its strong effect in the colon.

Aloe is also packed with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients. This array of nutrients gives it its natural healing power. There are some aloe vera juice and herbal combinations that you can drink to help soothe an upset stomach. Since aloe is good for skin repairs it is also good for internal tissue breaks. If you have an ulcer or tissue breaks in the esophagus or stomach lining, using aloe will probably give you a little bit of pain until it heals that area.

Most of us know that aloe vera is excellent for treatment of minor cuts and scrapes, burns and also sunburn. It is used in all kinds of cosmetics and I like to have a bottle 99% pure aloe for emergencies and of course to apply on my face and hair before bedtime.

If you drink aloe vera juice, here are some of the benefits you can expect:

• Good for blood circulation
• Benefits and regulates blood pressure
• Good for disorders of the bones and joints
• Benefits the immune system
• Defends the body against hostile organisms
• Provides exceptional nutritional value for health and energy
• Excellent for healing tissue damage inside the body

Using aloe vera juice for stomach problems is a wise idea. It has a long history of helping people with a variety of skin and internal problems. Its use for skin repair is one of its major properties. Aside from juice, aloe is also available in powder but it is not recommended since its nutritional is decreased. When you buy aloe, you only want 100% stabilized aloe gel drinks, which are packaged in containers that block light. Light and oxygen deteriorate the properties of aloe.

Check your aloe label to see if it has been manufactured in your country. In the US, those products manufactured outside of the US do not always have good manufacturing practices and produce aloe of lower quality and of questionable value.

Use a good quality aloe that only contains the gel centre of the plant and not the whole leaf. If you have constipation then drinking the juice, or adding some gel to your smoothies, or taking capsules of aloe will quickly give you relief. If you take to much aloe, you may experience some cramps, so just back off on the amount used and try again.

Reference: Rudy Silva

Shea butter is an extract from the shea nut seed of the tree called shea or karite tree. This tree matures in twenty years, but its full production doesn’t come until it is forty-five years old. The shea tree can produce harvestable nuts for 100% shea butter even if it is already two hundred years old. The natural ingredients in shea butter are the reason for its effectiveness.

Shea butter is currently available in an organic, unrefined form and refined form. Despite both being pure shea butter, the difference lies in the way they are produced. The refined shea butter has no natural fragrance and natural color. On the other hand, the organic, unrefined form of shea butter is in its natural state. Research has concluded that the refined form of shea butter is not as effective as the organic, unrefined one.

Major Uses

The primary use of pure shea butter is as a moisturizer and as an emollient. Many products carry shea butter but not pure shea butter due to its expensive cost. Many cosmetics mix other ingredients to the shea butter to cut expenses. Pure shea butter has been found to be very effective in fading scars and stretch marks. This in itself is one reason why so many women buy 100% shea butter. Other benefits of shea butter are keeping the skin elastic and supple.

Raw shea butter in shampoos and conditioners also help brittle hair regain its softness and elasticity. It can revitalize and prevent further breakage of the hair. Pure shea butter is also used for tribal ceremonies in Africa where the trees are common to. Other uses for raw and pure shea butter are as cooking oil and conditioner for leather and wood. 100% shea butter is claimed to have anti-inflammatory properties, and has a reputation of helping lessen irritation from psoriasis, rashes and other skin disorders.

The Cost

The unrefined version of shea butter is more expensive than the refined version. This is because organic products take more time to process and produce compared to those products that are refined and process without any regard for safety. The price for 100% shea butter usually depends on the demand and the supply of the product. The uniqueness of the product means that it will always have a high demand and lesser supply since it takes seasons to grow the nuts and prepare the cream.

Wholesale

If you need large quantities of shea butter for your cosmetics business, you need to find a wholesale shea butter source. Today’s consumers are very demanding about how the products they buy not only affect their bodies, but the world. When buying your wholesale shea butter, make sure the suppliers offer only fair trade unrefined shea butter. By insisting on fair trade wholesale sheabutter, you not only make your company look good to concerned customers, but you are investing in making the crops of shea nuts you depend on more reliable, since the workers have more of an incentive to keep working.

Reference: Shea Butter

Alternative medicine has risen so quickly in popularity that many forms of alternative medicine treatments have been brought into the spotlight. The alternative medicine massage treatment is among these.

Massage is a great way to relax the body and take away the stress and problems of the day. The more common reasons that people get an alternative medicine massage is to rid their body of kinks and to feel refreshed afterwards.

The History of Hilot

Hilot as an alternative medicine massage originated from the Philippines. There are several varieties of this kind of alternative medicine massage. It has been a useful way of treating so many things from the flu to sprains and even dislocations. It is embedded in the culture of the country and there are, up to this very day, a few people who practice this type of alternative medicine massage.

The mang-hihilot or masseuse tends to guard their secrets methods of kneading and herbs that this is now uncommon to get a person who is skilled at it. Due to the close guarding of the trade secrets of the masseuse, they only teach their close relatives this art of alternative medicine massage in order to keep the family line going. It is uncommon today to actually have a Hilot that is performed by someone with ancient heritage.

Hilot goes as far back as the 5th century in the tribes of the Filipino people. It is unfortunate to note that there are no written facts or documents regarding the exact ways of this alternative medicine massage. What has been handed down from generation to generation of mang-hihilot contains variations added or subtracted by the current masseuse.

Uses Of This Alternative Medicine Massage

The hilot type of massage is often used to alleviate aches and pains due to overwork or stress. It is also common for a hilot masseuse to attend to a pregnant woman during birth or to change the position of the baby.

Other hilot massages also help to ease the pain of a sprain or a dislocation. These massages can be painful therefore the person giving the hilot usually asks the individual to chew on some leaves or to take a brew which can alleviate pain. Although the pain can be very intense to begin with, many claim that the medicinal value in the future fare outweighs the temporary discomfort of the treatment.

This form of alternative medicine massage is very effective especially for the stress related aches and pains. Many of todays clients of hilot massages are doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and real estate brokers. These high stress jobs require a release of stress and many have found that massage is the perfect way.

It is typically done with the accompaniment of virgin coconut oil to rub or knead at the muscles. After a hilot session, you are usually warned not to bathe for approximately twenty four hours. This is because the special oils used in the hilot session are rumored to only work if given enough time to soak in though the skin.

Reference:-  Hilot massage

Women who live in urban areas have denser breasts, making them more likely to develop breast cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“Women living in cities need to pay more attention to having regular breast screening,” said Nicholas M. Perry, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.R., director of The London Breast Institute at The Princess Grace Hospital in London, U.K. “Currently, women who live in urban areas are known to have lower attendance for breast screening programs than women in outlying areas.”

Breast tissue in women may be fatty or glandular or a mixture of both. Women with more glandular breasts show denser tissue on a mammogram and are known to have nearly four times the risk of developing breast cancer than women with fatty breasts. Dr. Perry and colleagues set out to determine if there was a relationship between breast density and area of residence.

The researchers analyzed digital mammograms of 972 women from urban, suburban and rural areas. They discovered that women who lived in London had significantly denser breasts than those living outside the city. The risk of increased density was twice as great in the 45- to 54-year-old group. Age-specific analyses suggested that overall differences by area were more pronounced in women under age 50.

Dr. Perry cautioned that more research is needed to determine the precise reason for this phenomenon, taking into account lifestyle factors, stress, workplace and other possible contributors, but he advised that all women maintain a recommended breast screening regimen, and that women with dense breasts be screened with digital mammography, which is more effective at detecting cancer in dense breast tissue.

“Regular breast screening with mammography saves lives,” Dr. Perry said. “Access to breast screening for women living in cities must be prioritized.”

Co-authors are P.C. Allgood, Ph.D., S.W. Duffy, M.D., S.E. Milner, B.Sc., and K. Mokbel, M.D.

Another study presented at RSNA 2007 looked at the influence of the Western lifestyle on breast composition. Miriam Sklair-Levy, M.D., and colleagues from Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem compared breast densities of Israeli women and Ethiopian women who immigrated to Israel. The study found that Ethiopian-born women who have immigrated to Israel had significantly lower breast density than did Israeli-born women. In addition, past Ethiopian immigrants who had begun to adopt a Western lifestyle (decreased number of children, change in diet or increased hormone use) had significantly higher breast density than recent immigrants.

Reference: Marv

An aromatherapy bath is a great way to relax and heal both the body and the spirit. Using just the right essential oil can help remedy skin ailments, promote relaxation and even set the mood for a romantic evening.

1. Rosemary Oil: Rosemary essential oil is great to use when one is looking to relax achy muscles. It is also good for dull skin, gout, tiredness and poor circulation.

2. Geranium Oil: Geranium essential oils are good for treating acne, cellulite, oily skin and even menopausal symptoms.

3. Jasmine Oil: Jasmine essential oil is really good for helping to lift one’s mood. It is also good for treating dry and sensitive skin, tiredness and labor pains.

4. Linden Blossom Oil: Linden blossom essential oil is good to use to ease headaches, migraines and to manage stress. It is also great to use when one is having trouble falling to sleep.

5. Lavender Oil: Lavender essential oil is very popular and perhaps the most well known out of all of popular essential oils. It works well in helping to relieve acne, various allergies, athlete’s foot, headaches, insect bites, stress and scabies.

6. Mandarin Oil: Mandarin essential oils are appropriate to use when one is suffering from acne, oily or dull skin, stress and wrinkles.

7. Peppermint Oil: Peppermint essential oils help individuals who suffer from asthma, headaches, sinuses, vertigo and headaches.

8. Pine Oil: Pine essential oil is great when you need a pick me up. It helps to energize you.

9. Basil Oil: Basil essential oil helps you become or stay mentally alert. It is also very soothing and helps relieve feelings of nervousness.

10. Eucalyptus Oil: Eucalyptus essential oil is really good for helping one breath clearly.

11. Clary Sage Oil: Clary sage is really good for lifting one’s mood.

12. Jasmine Oil: Jasmine is good to use when one is mildly depressed. It also helps to promote feelings of confidence.

13. Orange Oil: Orange is another essential oil that is great for lifting one’s mood.

14. Chamomile Oil: Chamomile essential oil works very well when one is looking to relax and feel calm.

All of the essential oils listed above are fantastic choices when one is looking to create an aromatherapy bath. There are many more essential oils that can be added, many which can help treat some type of ailment, body or mind. Below, I am going to provide an essential oil, aromatherapy recipe to make your next bath relaxing, soothing and therapeutic all at once.

Simple Bath Oil

- 2oz of some type of carrier oil. Sweet almond works well.
- 20 drops of essential oil. Try lavender.

Blend together and store in an amber glass bottle. Place a few drops in the bath before you hop in and get ready to enjoy. If you are bathing small children, be sure that the oils that you use, are safe for children. You will also need to reduce the amount of oils that you place in the bath.

 
Reference: George Key