Digestive Distress

Step 1: Collect Information

As the mix of hormones in your blood changes during your premenopausal years, you may notice the effects on your gastrointestinal tract both directly - estrogen is a gastrointestinal stimulant and varying levels may swing you from loose stools to dry ones - and indirectly, as the hormonal load places ever heavier demands on the liver.

Hormones have a strong effect on the motility of the intestinal tract. When your levels of estrogen and progesterone change (as they do throughout menopause, during pregnancy, and before menstruation and birth), your bowel patterns change, too.

Your liver is, among other things, a recycling center. It breaks down hormones circulating in the blood when they are no longer needed and makes their "parts" available for the production of more hormones. During the menopausal years some hormones (such as LH and FSH) are produced in such enormous quantities that your liver may struggle to keep up with its recycling work, and have little energy left over for digestive duties. Help yourself with these Wise Woman Ways.

Step 2: Engage the Energy

• Bless your food out loud before you eat; say grace; thank the plants and animals who nourish you; breathe in and feel grateful.

• My mother's favorite way of preventing digestive distress and ensuring regularity is to eat at regular times and go to the toilet at regular times. You'd be surprised how effective this is.

  First thing in the morning, get yourself a cup of hot water (or herbal tea) and bring it back to bed. Sip it slowly, and gnaw gently on your bottom lip. Then lie on your back and bring your knees up, feet flat on the bed; place your palms on your belly and breathe deeply. Gently begin to rub your belly (in spirals): up on the right, across the middle, and down on the left. Soon you will feel the movement gathering momentum. Sit up slowly and head for the toilet.

Step 3: Nourish & Tonify

• Yellow dock root vinegar or tincture is a wonderful ally for menopausal women with digestive distress. Daily doses of 1 teaspoon/5 ml vinegar or 5-10 drops of tincture eliminate constipation, indigestion, and gas. Yellow dock is especially recommended for the woman whose menopausal menses are getting heavier.

• Dandelion is everyone's favorite ally for a happy digestive system and a strong liver. It relieves indigestion, constipation, gas, even gallstone pain. How to use it? Have a glass of dandelion blossom wine. Eat the omega-3-rich leaves in salads. Enjoy the phytoestrogenic roots as a vinegar or tincture (a dose is 1-2 teaspoons/5-10 ml vinegar or 10-20 drops tincture taken with meals) or as a coffee substitute.

• Any rhythmical exercise, especially walking, relieves digestive gas and improves intestinal peristalsis (the movement of feces). Oriental wisdom says the liver loves movement.

• Motherwort, fenugreek, vitex, or black cohosh tinctures, taken daily, strengthen digestion and ease menopausal digestive woes. Or try a cup of garden sage tea.

• If constipation occurs due to a lessening of the moistening, lubricating cells in the colon, slippery foods such as slippery elm bark powder, oats, seaweed, flax seed, and seeds from wild Plantago (or cultivated psyllium) are wonderful allies. Adding a teaspoon/5 ml of any, or better yet, all of them to a cup/250 ml of rolled oats and cooking until thick in 3 cups/750 ml of water is a delicious way to prepare this remedy.

• My favorite remedy to relieve digestive and gas pain is plain yogurt. Sometimes even a tiny mouthful will bring instant relief. Acidophilus capsules work, too. I use both when dealing with chronic constipation or severe diarrhea.

Step 4: Stimulate/Sedate

• White flour products slow the digestive tract; so does too much grain-fed meat. Whole grain products, well-cooked beans, wild meats, and cooked greens speed it up.

• Add more liquids and soft foods to your diet - applesauce, yogurt, nourishing soups, herbal infusions - to help relieve constipation. Chew your food slowly and savor it. Drink lavishly between meals.

• Menopausal women will want to avoid the use of bran as a laxative, as it interferes with calcium absorption. Instead try prunes, prune juice, rhubarb with maple syrup, or figs.

• Ginger tea with honey is a warming, easing drink when your tummy is upset. Ahhh. Try the fresh root grated and steeped in boiling water, or put a tablespoon of the powdered stuff from your spice cupboard in a cup of hot water and enjoy.

• Crushed hemp seed (Cannabis sativa) tea - rich in essential fatty acids - is a specific against menopausal constipation.

• Herbal laxatives such as aloes, cascara sagrada, rhubarb root, and senna are addictive and destructive to normal peristalsis. Except in rare cases (such as relief of constipation for a ninety-year-old woman confined to a bed), I do not advise their use.

Step 5a: Use Supplements

Constipation and digestive distress are common side effects from taking iron supplements. A spoonful of molasses with 10-25 drops of yellow dock root tincture in a glass of warm water is a better way to increase iron, and improve elimination.

Step 6: Break & Enter

Enemas and colonics are last-resort techniques. They do not promote health and may strip the guts of important flora. Regular use of enemas is highly habit-forming. For the sake of your health, avoid them.

Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to replace conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, condition or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other qualified healthcare practitioner with a specific formula for you. All material contained herein is provided for general information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self-empowerment by seeking a second opinion.

Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at http://www.susunweed.com

---

Google News Updated : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:08:19 GMT Health Highlights: Sept. 6, 2008 - Washington Post Seattle Post Intelligencer Health Highlights: Sept. 6, 2008 Washington Post - 3 hours ago On the heels of the huge nationwide salmonella outbreak that caused more than 1400 illnesses from Mexican peppers, a regional Oregon alfalfa sprout distributor has recalled its product in Oregon and Washington state after the sprouts were linked to 13 ... Salmonellosis outbreak prompts sprout recall Forbes Salmonella outbreak traced to alfalfa sprouts Seattle Post Intelligencer TheMedGuru - Seattle Times - eFluxMedia - HeraldNet all 81 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:31:13 GMT Michigan spared sting of West Nile - Detroit Free Press LAist Michigan spared sting of West Nile Detroit Free Press - 12 hours ago BY SHERI McWHIRTER • RECORD-EAGLE • September 7, 2008 TRAVERSE CITY -- West Nile virus hasn't seriously bitten Michigan this year and seems to have spared the state's northern reaches. Yes, the mosquitoes were nasty this summer Yakima Herald-Republic Aerial survey being conducted to find mosquito breeding grounds San Jose Mercury News Lower Hudson Journal news - San Francisco Chronicle - Shelbyville News - Los Angeles Times all 361 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:53:44 GMT Spa Update: Hamilton Penalty Hands Win to Massa - AutoWeek Times Online Spa Update: Hamilton Penalty Hands Win to Massa AutoWeek - 1 hour ago By NIGEL ROEBUCK A drive-through penalty is the punishment for almost causing a collision in the pits. We know this because Bruno Senna was thus punished in the GP2 Series race at Spa-Francorchamps, and it cost him the race. Massa declared winner of Belgian GP The Associated Press Raikkonen's title hopes doused by Hamilton at Spa Motorsport.com International Herald Tribune - The Canadian Press - BBC Sport - CNN International all 2,193 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:46:22 GMT India a step closer to nuclear trade - Christian Science Monitor Washington Post India a step closer to nuclear trade Christian Science Monitor - 3 hours ago The Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed Saturday to lift a 34-year ban on selling nuclear technology to India, even though it hasn't signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India secures controversial access to nuclear technology Telegraph.co.uk US Congress signals it will clear N-deal Times of India Hindu - Reuters South Africa - Washington Post - BBC News all 2,295 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:01:15 GMT Hurricane, at Category 4, Heads Toward Cuba - New York Times Canada.com Hurricane, at Category 4, Heads Toward Cuba New York Times - 3 hours ago By MARIA NEWMAN Hurricane Ike grew into a bigger threat to Florida and the Gulf Coast Sunday as it roared through the Bahamas mid-morning, with forecasters expecting it to gain in strength as it approaches Cuba. Video: Raw Video: Ike Pounds Turks and Caicos AssociatedPress Powerful Hurricane Ike looms as trouble for Gulf The Associated Press AFP - Forbes - Los Angeles Times - Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck all 4,192 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:52:07 GMT Side events bring out celebs in advance of VMAs - The Associated Press Washington Post Side events bring out celebs in advance of VMAs The Associated Press - 57 minutes ago LOS ANGELES (AP) - Though the MTV Video Music Awards are the main event in town this weekend, some celebrities are satisfied enough with the side activities connected to the extravaganza. Britney 'Getting an Opportunity to Start Over' at VMAs People Magazine Brand and Spears have been promoting the awards on MTV BBC News Access Hollywood - Hollywood Today Newsmagazine - eFluxMedia - Los Angeles Times all 1,761 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:10:38 GMT 'Wrestler' takes top honors at Venice - Variety Variety 'Wrestler' takes top honors at Venice Variety - 1 hour ago By NICK VIVARELLI Darren Aronofsky drama “The Wrestler,” starring Mickey Rourke as washed out pro wrestler Randy (the Ram) Robinson, in comeback mode both on and off the screen, pinned down the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion. Is Evan Rachel Wood dropkicking Marilyn Manson for Mickey Rourke? Los Angeles Times A Glance at 'The Wrestler' Cinematical Washington Post - Hollywood Reporter - eFluxMedia - San Jose Mercury News all 671 news articles Publ.Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:55:44 GMT RSS feeds Web Site Traffic

PARLOT::Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

That Popeye Knew a Thing or Two!

For a few weeks the lumps in my throat were... Read More

Alternative Medicine vs Conventional Medicine - Pt 2

In Part 1 we discussed the fact that alternative medicine... Read More

Treating Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Without the Use of Antibiotics

What is a urinary tract infection (UTI)? A Urinary Tract... Read More

Alternative Health Practitioner, How to Pick the Perfect Help for You

Therapists, physicians, acupuncturists, massage therapists, body workers and energy workers... Read More

Full Spectrum Daylight Bulbs ? Simply Light Years Ahead!

Sunlight is a vital nutrient, which regulates the activity of... Read More

The Safety of Natural Therapies

Just because something is labeled or deemed "natural' does not... Read More

What Is A Holistic Practitioner?

Holistic Practitioners are holistic healing professionals with a gift in... Read More

Quit Smoking With Nature?s Help

Smoking is very dangerous to your health. Most smokers feel... Read More

Taking Control of Your Health & Well-being

Taking Control of Your Health & Well-being ... Read More

The Importance of Touch

Through the simple process of touch, Reflexology is so effective... Read More

Does A Compulsive Gambler Really Want To Stop Gambling?

This question most gamblers ask themselves when they begin to... Read More

Healing and Transformation

Every symptom has a certain way of being with which... Read More

Alzheimers Disease: Notes from a Medical Intuitive?s Casebook

In my medical intuitive practice, I have often been consulted... Read More

Why Most People Dont Really Want To Heal (Part 1)

I recently attended a metaphysical lecture facilitated by Guy Williams,... Read More

Bois De Santal: The Source of Tranquility

The near extinct bois de santal has a sensual and... Read More

Natural Pain Management!

Life in today's hectic society is going more and more... Read More

Emotrance & Well-Being

Are you ready to easily release worry, pain or fear... Read More

Natural Remedy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADHD

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurobehavioral disorder of... Read More

Beating Your Neck, Back and Shoulder Pain

Suffering from neck, back and shoulder pain? If you are,... Read More

Top Ten Reasons Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy Works

Studies and research show natural HRT really works. By using... Read More

Feeling Helpless in the Face of Pain?

Here Are 4 Ways That Visualization May Be Able to... Read More

Six Smoothie Recipes for Constipation and Acne Relief

I recommend drinking a morning smoothie if you have constipation... Read More

Sweet Sustenance

"The difference between sugar addiciton and narcotic addiction is largely... Read More

Stopping Colds in Their Tracks

We all know the nasty sensation of coming down with... Read More

Holistic Medicine

Holistic Medicine involves natural treatment options like holistic nutrition, herbology,... Read More