[chachaheels]

http://www.homeopathy.org/members_by_state/minnesota.html

This is a good place to start to find a qualified homeopath, in your vicinity.
My suggestion is to find the ones closest to you in the directory and give them each a call, ask them about their hours, location, rates, and methods of practice. Ask about anything that comes up--the idea is to get a feel for the practitioner, see if you would like to work with them (because this is what you're really going to do, work with the practitioner). Take note of whether or not the practitioner herself/himself speaks to you directly (or has a receptionist do it); trust your impressions of the practitioner. Go with the ones you find approachable and empathetic.

Naturopaths aren't the same thing as homeopaths, though some Naturopaths do become registered members of NASH and they do undergo the CCH examination process if they've specialized their medical training in homeopathy primarily. If you google a state organization of Naturopaths you'll be able to find a similar listing in your area--the same thing applies, though, about choosing one from the many. Give them a quick "interview" and choose the one you think you'll work with best.

Good luck!

[lunasol]

Hey, does anyone have any suggestions on finding a good naturopath or homeopath in my area? I'm in Minneapolis.

[rubberdollz]

Yeah there are supposed to be a ton of vendors/booths and then me and 2 friends signed up for these lectures. I'm really excited to go and see what is available in Michigan. I'm sure not much is going to be local since I don't really live around farms but hoping to find out some more info!

[stargazer]

i feel like i haven't been in this thread in forever.

i think i need to do a cleanse. in the past month, my eating has been out of whack. lots of emotional eating in the past month and no yoga makes for an upset digestive system.

chacha, do you have any recommendations for a cleanse at home? drinking kombucha (sp?) while in boston seemed to work for my digestive system and feel regular. i know that what i eat definitely has an impact on my energy level and mood. i just want to feel like i did a couple of years ago when i was seeing a naturopath.

[chachaheels]

Sounds very interesting--probably a great way to find out where to get what's really good, locally.

[rubberdollz]

So I found out from a friend that there is going to be a Growing Connections Conference and Organic Harvest Festival here in Michigan!!! They say the Healthy Traditions is the Metro Detroit Chapter for the Weston A. Price foundation which is great!!! There are going to be lectures, vendors and children activities.

Ooohhhh.... I'm excited!!! If anyone is from the Michigan area is planning on going please let me know!

[olivarria]

Chacha, i think you might be right (as usual). I have a history of depression, and at times I can get a really "numb" or "empty" feeling that I will do anything to get rid of. A lot of times coffee really helps to make me less empty and dead inside if I'm feeling that way. Starting my new eating program, I was drinking green and black tea in the morning, because it seemed like everything I read advised to drink tea for the health benefits, but even after drinking 2 cups of black tea in the morning, I still don't have that same jolt. It's very hard to give up, and in the morning I can be so grumpy i just want to give the whole world the finger if i haven't had my coffee! but after the coffee, I am very agreeable and sweet to everyone.

I have one cup in the morning, sometimes two if I have a major test in school. I put sweetener in it my whole life, and only recently begin putting only a little milk or half and half, no sweetener, and it's a lovely cafe con leche color. The result is that I can actually taste the flavor of the coffee since it's not covered up with sweetener! I try a different flavor everytime I go shopping. Right now I am drinking Snickerdoodle Cookie flavor, but there is no sugar in it. I like Pecan flavor too. My family is Cajun-French, and thickened chicory coffee is a tradition in our family. My most creative times are during my coffee, right as I'm drifting off to sleep, and also during rainstorms. My synapses are going off in my head like fireworks! Nice for studying and writing stories.

[pepper]

figures. everything that seems like bunk is.

as for coffee... you addict you.

[chachaheels]

MMS--is almost 1/3 salt water.

Salt is a mineral, it's true...

Anyway, if you are really mineral crazy biochemical tissue salts work better and faster than any undiluted and unsuccussed form of mineral ever made. And they generally cost a lot less, too.

Anything else you can get from your food, if you eat well.

[chachaheels]

Olivarria--that's wonderful news. I'm so glad to hear you're doing well with the dietary changes, and I want to encourage you to keep it up, keep exploring too. As for the coffee thing--I remember when I first started studying homeopathy I started to work on occasion with a Naturopathic doctor, just doing odd things around her office and observing the way she looked after patients and such. She treated me for free, consultation wise, because that was one of the benefits she offered. One of the things she focused on in my diet was the fact that I drink coffee.

Suddenly, it was like she discovered the devil in all my details. The coffee was the target of her wrath. She declared that I was suffering from adrenal insufficiency, I was hormonally impaired by the coffee, I was suffering particularly because of that drink. I told her I had been drinking coffee since my early childhood, and I really liked it, I didn't want to stop drinking it entirely. She smarmed back that if I'd been drinking it since I was a small child, I'd had enough for one lifetime. So I gave it up for a while. That was one miserable while, if I may say so. I decided to have some after giving it up for 2 months or so, loved it again, and stopped listening to the Naturopath's advice about it. While she gushed about how improved I'd become on her regime, and wagged her finger at me about how right she was about coffee being the evil of all sin, I just nodded and smiled. I learned two things from her: her beliefs on that drink were pretty faulty; and I would hate to have me as a patient.

You know what? Coffee is a substance that enhances lively and creative thought. It's a substance around which the entire concept of conviviality and social exchange has been built and maintained, for centuries (ever had Ethiopian coffee service? They invented coffee, they've been growing it for almost a thousand years, and the coffee ritual is something you must experience to understand the drink). It is, yes, produced abusively but less so these days than it used to be, mostly because of its growing popularity and our growing awareness of the people who produce it and their conditions, their struggle to make that more fair everywhere. Sharing coffee with others--it was never meant to be taken all alone, you know--is a means by which we create joy, a means by which we're stimulated to encourage each other to be more creative, more socially engaged, more lively, more harmonious.

In homeopathic provings, coffee produces a kind of creative, sparkling thought--people become mentally active with good ideas, spontaneously. The ideas can be carefully planned out, too; and since the coffee is taken in company, and conversation also bubbles up from the ritual, people work together on those creative thoughts, enhancing or critiquing and refining them. There is an oxygen bar in St. Catharines which actually makes drinks from unroasted or green coffee, and one day a group of friends and I were out exploring the new eateries in the area and we decided to stop in on that place, where the owner gave us samples of the green coffee drinks. We loved the samples, drank them, and then continued on in our visit like we normally do--but the difference that day was that we all started to talk about really imaginative ways to sell teaching modules we would create, on all kinds of topics (all of us were students at the time, working on an education degree). The ideas were breathtaking, they made so much sense and they were so creative! When this was going on I remembered the coffee provings I studied when I was learning to become a homeopath, and I realized that my friends and I were actually experiencing proving symptoms of the green coffee, first hand. It was a kind of joyous, brilliant exchange we don't usually have with other people, where you're suddenly brainstorming and working together passionately. I'm not saying we were manic--I'm saying the quality of the ideas in terms of being well considered, generously offered, implementable, creative was unusual, and working on them together was really joyous.

So unless you're not picky about the coffee you have, or you're just drinking it mindlessly as a vehicle for milk and sugar, or you're drinking so much of it it's making you sleepy and jittery at the same time, what the hell is so bad about it?

Get the best you can afford (get even better to serve your guests, when you entertain), drink in moderation, and stop feeling guilty about it.

[olivarria]

I kept reading and reading about this "oil pulling" and found people swearing by it, but could not for the life of me find scientific evidence or think of how swishing with oil, even 20 minutes, can rid someone of "toxins and parasites" just through saliva - most parasites are in the intestines and blood silly! But it picqued my curiosity - I try to take all therapies, Western and alternative medicine alike, with a grain of salt....or a big salt shaker! Sometimes i think people are desperate for cure-alls and put all their hope into one thing. the only thing I imagine oil pulling could do for you is maybe clean your teeth and cause a placebo effect? One of the downsides of the internet is that people can post whatever claims they want, and people believe them with no science (or common sense) to back it up. i read some of Wiley Brooks' breatharianism website and laughed so hard i snorted! He thinks Diet Coke and MacDonalds is healthier for you than water and fruit juice...."In order to understand why I have chosen these foods you must first know how the human bodies descended into the 3rd dimensional world in first place. This is not our natural home." whoo---eee---oo....

I looked up this castor pack thing and read claims that castor oil can be absorbed up to 3 inches in the body, so it is sometimes used to reduce uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts. I don't see how castor oil can reach your internal organs through the skin. Even if it did, can castor oil have any positive affect on the ovaries or uterus anyway? So if I put castor oil on my forehead, does that mean brain absorbs it? Oh, yeah I forgot, my skull covers my brain, duh!

BTW, Chacha, you would be so proud: I've eating lots of avocados and nuts and eggs, whole grains and fruits for breakfast, veggies, good cheese, and lean protein. Sadly, I am unable to give up my morning cup of joe, but I stopped putting sugar in it - now only a bit of milk. i just bought coconut cream and milk, and it looks delish. I feel really good and I think my butt looks smaller! My mom even said I look great, and my ice-cream and sugar cravings are gone. I have my pelvis ultrasound Wednesday to check for cysts and fibroids, and I made an appt. with a top endocrinologist so I can get off this synthetic thyroid shit and get on Armour. Still planning on seeing a naturopath, I just need more time to get money together. Thanks for your help and I'll keep updating and bugging you with questions as I make progress!

[pepper]

hey, what do you think of this? MMS
i don't know what to make of it... it was recommended by a poster on the raw foods website. i just have a hard time believing in any product that has the word "Miracle" in it's name, you know?

some things are interesting (neti pot, castor packs), some things are bizzare (urine therapy), and some things are just ridiculous (breatharianism). you know, it can be so hard to peg stuff sometimes!

[chachaheels]

Oil pulling is not for me.

Maybe I'm just fearless about those toxic "first stage microbes" living in my mouth. Maybe I'm just more afraid of "refined" oils.
Maybe the idea of swishing refined, hexane laced, bleached, deodorized, and scented supermarket brand cooking oils in my mouth for fifteen minutes or so before breakfast is enough to make me want to spew. I don't know.

[pepper]

that oil or oregano-on-the-floss trick is excellent! i'm going to try that.

ok, oil pulling. please chacha, try not to hurt yourself laughing .

[chachaheels]

Oil pulling! Yikes! What is that?

My dentist told me many eons ago that your mouth will always always always have bacteria in it. It must have that bacteria in it, it is vital to our health and our digestion, vital to the health of the teeth too. If you limit your intake of sugary foods, keep your mouth clean by stimulating the gums, brushing, and flossing, and try not to leave foods to decompose in between the teeth for too long, your teeth should stay strong and healthy and cavity free all your life--bacteria and germs and all. Your mouth will also stay infection free as long as you do these small things repeatedly.

I've heard of people putting a drop of oregano oil on dental floss so that it acts as an antiseptic on the gums and in between teeth. Some have said it's helpful in treating gum inflammations.

But what the heck is oil pulling?

[pepper]

it's a load of bunk as far as i'm concerned. i mean, try it and see if it makes you feel any different but all the real proof i've read is against it.

[olivarria]

I was wondering if anyone has tried the "oil pulling" method or if anyone has found valid scientific research about it? I have been reading about the virtues of oil pulling, and it has been described as a panacea for everything from gingivitis to cancer to acne, but I'm very skeptical of medical "cure-alls." It's basicaly swishing oil, like sesame oil, in your mouth for about 20 minutes then spitting it out, and from what I read "the oil pulls all mucous, bacteria and toxins from your body through your saliva, inclusing parasites." Does anyone know anything more about this?

[pepper]

it did go away but it was very persistant, i had to do an extra day of the treatment and appy it 4x's/day instead of 3 (with pharmacists advice of course, i didn't just go upping it on my ownsky!). i will pick up some eyebright drops next time i am near a health foody place, she is forever sticking her lunch in her eyes, silly thing. she was ok with me putting the drops in after the first couple of times, she is such an accomodating little thing. she's my angel baby, i'm telling you!

[chachaheels]

Hi!

I think as she gets stronger she'll be less susceptible to infections in general, even if she insists on applying food facially. The old precaution of keeping hands and face clean after playing is a simple and effective one. Did the infections go away with the prescription drugs? Other options to try for keeping the infections in the eyes to a minimum are eyebright drops--but there is always the problem of her not wanting to put drops in her eyes.

I haven't heard of people having the same problems with corn starch based powders as opposed to talk--so I think it's safe to use and it will keep her skin dry and comfortable. Talc's difficulty comes from it being a bit too gritty and fine a stone for us to take into our bodies safely--it can cause some nasty and enduring illnesses. It really shouldn't be used cosmetically anymore.

[pepper]

inneresting chacha, i wonder about the strangeness that happens to baby skin sometimes. i think every strange thing that happens to babies is totally normal, they are strange at first! but people freak out over cradle cap and baby pimples even though they are both just fine to leave alone and do nothing about.
what do you think about that corn starch baby powder for keeping the small people dry? my gf is using aveeno diaper cream for her girl but i thought an unscented powder applied just on the bum cheeks (avoiding the kootchie area) might be a good thing for her.
my sweet girl had a double eye infection a bit ago, i ended up having to use prescription drops as it got pretty bad, poor thing! she has a habit of rubbing her meals all over her face and into her eyes though, they get irritated quite a bit. this was a big ole red infection though. anything i can do to prevent it from happening again do you think? i mean aside from keeping the avocado out of her peepers that is, ha ha.