supplemental arsenal: Ayurveda

On how to help prevent and repair adrenal fatigue:
***
In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha is called the "King of the Herbs" and is the herb of choice for restoring the adrenals to their natural state.
Ashwagandha works by delaying release of cortisol by the adrenals. This helps to prevent the adrenals from becoming exhausted and aids in the repair of the gland once it is already exhausted. Ashwagandha is also know to have a sedative effect thus calming the nervous system. Ashwagandha may very well help to reestablish a good sleeping pattern which is often interrupted by long term caffeine use. It has been found that Ashwagandha increases the number of immune cells known as T cells and B cells which are critical to fight infection. Triphala can also be taken to help the body eliminate the toxins stored in the colon. You may also feel that you need to cleanse the blood. You may want to consider taking Neem or a product containing Neem to help further your clean your system of the toxins.
You should start feeling better within a few weeks, but it may take three to four months for the body and the Adrenal Glands to return to a normal state of health.
***
from tattvasherbs.com.

The main point of the article was to explain how horribly toxic and addictive caffeine is. While I respect the opinion, I have difficulty accepting this as fact. I drink green tea and take Yerba Mate capsules (I will never again drink the tea), which are both extremely good for the body in many ways (fact), and which contain small amounts of caffeine. I see no problem with small amounts. Large amounts, yes. Bad. Addiction? Absolutely possible. Bad effect on the adrenal glands? Sure, if it is abused.
I am not addicted to caffeine. I don't have an insane urge for coffee any time of the day. I have gone weeks and even months with no coffee. I do not drink soda or soft drinks of any kind. Yes, I adore chocolate reverently and will spend days craving plain solid chocolate either milk or dark; but I will not experience profoundly ill effects if I cannot get some. The word "addiction" may be poorly used here, and the word is also often thrown around too much. Addiction is a very, very powerful thing. If you are truly addicted to caffeine, there is a problem.
If I like to have a cup of coffee on weekend mornings and Mondays and Fridays, good for me. If I cannot get coffee, it is not the end of the world.

It's wonderful that people want to ultimately change how everyone else lives (eat certain foods, don't eat certain other foods, exercise one way but not the other, live a certain lifestyle, avoid certain activities). However, I really feel that our personal lives, and the way we care for our bodies and brains, are up to us. Not some guy who wrote a book, not a celebrity chef, not a personal trainer, not a talk show host, not a group of people with certain lifestyles and health preferences, not a scientist, not a doctor. The advice and help of all these people can be incredibly, wonderfully useful, and should be definitely considered at length. But in the end, they cannot force us to be or do anything we don't want to do. I don't want to give up red meat, I don't want to make my house "green," I don't want to give up chocolate, I don't want to stop taking my prescription drugs, I don't want to give up caffeine. And that is my choice, my choice alone.

Other than that, I will happily read and research and listen until I am full to bursting with knowledge and experience. But it will become mine, and I will do with it what I will.

supplemental arsenal: Ayurveda

On how to help prevent and repair adrenal fatigue:
***
In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha is called the "King of the Herbs" and is the herb of choice for restoring the adrenals to their natural state.
Ashwagandha works by delaying release of cortisol by the adrenals. This helps to prevent the adrenals from becoming exhausted and aids in the repair of the gland once it is already exhausted. Ashwagandha is also know to have a sedative effect thus calming the nervous system. Ashwagandha may very well help to reestablish a good sleeping pattern which is often interrupted by long term caffeine use. It has been found that Ashwagandha increases the number of immune cells known as T cells and B cells which are critical to fight infection. Triphala can also be taken to help the body eliminate the toxins stored in the colon. You may also feel that you need to cleanse the blood. You may want to consider taking Neem or a product containing Neem to help further your clean your system of the toxins.
You should start feeling better within a few weeks, but it may take three to four months for the body and the Adrenal Glands to return to a normal state of health.
***
from tattvasherbs.com.

The main point of the article was to explain how horribly toxic and addictive caffeine is. While I respect the opinion, I have difficulty accepting this as fact. I drink green tea and take Yerba Mate capsules (I will never again drink the tea), which are both extremely good for the body in many ways (fact), and which contain small amounts of caffeine. I see no problem with small amounts. Large amounts, yes. Bad. Addiction? Absolutely possible. Bad effect on the adrenal glands? Sure, if it is abused.
I am not addicted to caffeine. I don't have an insane urge for coffee any time of the day. I have gone weeks and even months with no coffee. I do not drink soda or soft drinks of any kind. Yes, I adore chocolate reverently and will spend days craving plain solid chocolate either milk or dark; but I will not experience profoundly ill effects if I cannot get some. The word "addiction" may be poorly used here, and the word is also often thrown around too much. Addiction is a very, very powerful thing. If you are truly addicted to caffeine, there is a problem.
If I like to have a cup of coffee on weekend mornings and Mondays and Fridays, good for me. If I cannot get coffee, it is not the end of the world.

It's wonderful that people want to ultimately change how everyone else lives (eat certain foods, don't eat certain other foods, exercise one way but not the other, live a certain lifestyle, avoid certain activities). However, I really feel that our personal lives, and the way we care for our bodies and brains, are up to us. Not some guy who wrote a book, not a celebrity chef, not a personal trainer, not a talk show host, not a group of people with certain lifestyles and health preferences, not a scientist, not a doctor. The advice and help of all these people can be incredibly, wonderfully useful, and should be definitely considered at length. But in the end, they cannot force us to be or do anything we don't want to do. I don't want to give up red meat, I don't want to make my house "green," I don't want to give up chocolate, I don't want to stop taking my prescription drugs, I don't want to give up caffeine. And that is my choice, my choice alone.

Other than that, I will happily read and research and listen until I am full to bursting with knowledge and experience. But it will become mine, and I will do with it what I will.

supplemental arsenal: Ayurveda

On how to help prevent and repair adrenal fatigue:
***
In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha is called the "King of the Herbs" and is the herb of choice for restoring the adrenals to their natural state.
Ashwagandha works by delaying release of cortisol by the adrenals. This helps to prevent the adrenals from becoming exhausted and aids in the repair of the gland once it is already exhausted. Ashwagandha is also know to have a sedative effect thus calming the nervous system. Ashwagandha may very well help to reestablish a good sleeping pattern which is often interrupted by long term caffeine use. It has been found that Ashwagandha increases the number of immune cells known as T cells and B cells which are critical to fight infection. Triphala can also be taken to help the body eliminate the toxins stored in the colon. You may also feel that you need to cleanse the blood. You may want to consider taking Neem or a product containing Neem to help further your clean your system of the toxins.
You should start feeling better within a few weeks, but it may take three to four months for the body and the Adrenal Glands to return to a normal state of health.
***
from tattvasherbs.com.

The main point of the article was to explain how horribly toxic and addictive caffeine is. While I respect the opinion, I have difficulty accepting this as fact. I drink green tea and take Yerba Mate capsules (I will never again drink the tea), which are both extremely good for the body in many ways (fact), and which contain small amounts of caffeine. I see no problem with small amounts. Large amounts, yes. Bad. Addiction? Absolutely possible. Bad effect on the adrenal glands? Sure, if it is abused.
I am not addicted to caffeine. I don't have an insane urge for coffee any time of the day. I have gone weeks and even months with no coffee. I do not drink soda or soft drinks of any kind. Yes, I adore chocolate reverently and will spend days craving plain solid chocolate either milk or dark; but I will not experience profoundly ill effects if I cannot get some. The word "addiction" may be poorly used here, and the word is also often thrown around too much. Addiction is a very, very powerful thing. If you are truly addicted to caffeine, there is a problem.
If I like to have a cup of coffee on weekend mornings and Mondays and Fridays, good for me. If I cannot get coffee, it is not the end of the world.

It's wonderful that people want to ultimately change how everyone else lives (eat certain foods, don't eat certain other foods, exercise one way but not the other, live a certain lifestyle, avoid certain activities). However, I really feel that our personal lives, and the way we care for our bodies and brains, are up to us. Not some guy who wrote a book, not a celebrity chef, not a personal trainer, not a talk show host, not a group of people with certain lifestyles and health preferences, not a scientist, not a doctor. The advice and help of all these people can be incredibly, wonderfully useful, and should be definitely considered at length. But in the end, they cannot force us to be or do anything we don't want to do. I don't want to give up red meat, I don't want to make my house "green," I don't want to give up chocolate, I don't want to stop taking my prescription drugs, I don't want to give up caffeine. And that is my choice, my choice alone.

Other than that, I will happily read and research and listen until I am full to bursting with knowledge and experience. But it will become mine, and I will do with it what I will.

and it still makes my heart melt

I was reading a random LJ from a guy who fell in love with a girl across the sea (America and England), and now they live together, engaged. He said that years before he met her, he was drawing a woman who he didn't know, and as it turned out, she looked just like the girl he fell for.
It made me remember.
When Adam was a teenager, he had been drawing the face of a woman, whose face was vague but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. I am a dead ringer for that imagined woman.
When I was a teenager, I had been having dreams about a man, whose face was shadowed but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. Adam is a dead ringer for that imagined man.
For both, it was the eyes, and the hair, and the cheekbones, and the curves of the lips, and most uniquely, the philtrums.

Given that we began our relationship over the phone, over three hundred miles, and the photos didn't do justice, neither of us realized the connections.
There were many things that made me fall in love with him. His voice, his personality. And then his face and the way he looked at me in the airport. It was love at first sight, because we had already been in love. However, it was deeper and stronger and more intense, and it just keeps happening.

Mmmm, marriage to your best friend and soul mate.

and it still makes my heart melt

I was reading a random LJ from a guy who fell in love with a girl across the sea (America and England), and now they live together, engaged. He said that years before he met her, he was drawing a woman who he didn't know, and as it turned out, she looked just like the girl he fell for.
It made me remember.
When Adam was a teenager, he had been drawing the face of a woman, whose face was vague but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. I am a dead ringer for that imagined woman.
When I was a teenager, I had been having dreams about a man, whose face was shadowed but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. Adam is a dead ringer for that imagined man.
For both, it was the eyes, and the hair, and the cheekbones, and the curves of the lips, and most uniquely, the philtrums.

Given that we began our relationship over the phone, over three hundred miles, and the photos didn't do justice, neither of us realized the connections.
There were many things that made me fall in love with him. His voice, his personality. And then his face and the way he looked at me in the airport. It was love at first sight, because we had already been in love. However, it was deeper and stronger and more intense, and it just keeps happening.

Mmmm, marriage to your best friend and soul mate.

and it still makes my heart melt

I was reading a random LJ from a guy who fell in love with a girl across the sea (America and England), and now they live together, engaged. He said that years before he met her, he was drawing a woman who he didn't know, and as it turned out, she looked just like the girl he fell for.
It made me remember.
When Adam was a teenager, he had been drawing the face of a woman, whose face was vague but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. I am a dead ringer for that imagined woman.
When I was a teenager, I had been having dreams about a man, whose face was shadowed but who had certain distinct features, hair, coloring. Adam is a dead ringer for that imagined man.
For both, it was the eyes, and the hair, and the cheekbones, and the curves of the lips, and most uniquely, the philtrums.

Given that we began our relationship over the phone, over three hundred miles, and the photos didn't do justice, neither of us realized the connections.
There were many things that made me fall in love with him. His voice, his personality. And then his face and the way he looked at me in the airport. It was love at first sight, because we had already been in love. However, it was deeper and stronger and more intense, and it just keeps happening.

Mmmm, marriage to your best friend and soul mate.