Candida and Its Effects On Your Overall Health

Candida and Its Effects On Your Overall Health

Candida is a common condition but is also less well known. Many bodily disorders are associated with Candida, so it is important to recognize if you do have it.

Candida is yeast overgrowth and it can affect many different areas of the body. Yeast overgrowth emits toxins into the body that result in chronic illness and causes a variety of symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, and ‘foggy’ brain.

If you have Candida, don’t fret. We will go over how to test for it, understand its causes, recognize the symptoms, and offer holistic care options available to you for treating it.

Testing for Candida

A simple way to test whether you have a yeast imbalance is to take the spit test. This is something you should do first thing in the morning without having put anything in your mouth yet.

You will need to grab a clear glass and fill it with distilled or filtered water. Do not use tap water as it may contain many impurities that will affect your test. Collect saliva in your mouth with your tongue and spit it into the glass. Observe what happens to your spit for 15 minutes to see if yeast colonies are present in your saliva.

Yeast colonies are present if you see:

  • Saliva stays at the top and you see thin strands that look like strings or spider legs extending downward
  • Saliva floats to the bottom and looks cloudy
  • You observe little specs floating in saliva

Symptoms

Candida can affect all parts of your body as it doesn’t discriminate. Here are different areas of the body that Candida effects and their symptoms:

Head: dizziness, fatigue, mood swings, anxiety, depression, insomnia, bad breath, migraines, headaches, poor memory, brain fogginess in the morning, cravings for sugar, earaches, sinusitis, poor vision, floaters, and learning disorders

Body: joint pains, fibromyalgia symptoms, muscle weakness, rashes, itching, eczema, chronic fatigue syndrome, sore throat, flu-like symptoms, muscle pain, digestive problems, insomnia headaches, fever, swollen glands, exhaustion, swollen body and weight gain

Digestion: abdominal gas, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating after eating, constipation, diarrhea, cramping, GERDS, indigestion, vomiting, and stomach pains

Genito-urinary: Vaginal yeast infections, premenstrual syndrome, infertility, impotence, prostatitis, jock itch, diarrhea, constipation, cramping, and acid reflux

Causes

The most common type of candida involves gut flora.  The health of intestines is key to the overall health of your body. When your gut flora is unhealthy, you will usually suffer adversely. Several other factors that influence yeast overgrowth in the body are:

  • Antibiotics – One or more cycles of antibiotics is enough to weaken the digestive system.
  • Regularly eating refined sugars, starches.
  • Regularly drinking soda or alcohol.
Candida and other intestinal conditions affect your holistic health

Curing Candida with Holistic Care

If any of these observations occur, don’t panic as Candida and most diseases of the body can be easily addressed!  It takes just a little guidance and a bit of willpower for 3 months to rid oneself of unwanted yeast. You may need to change your diet as well as consider holistic care options such as acupuncture.

Our Relax Holistic Acupuncturists can address concerns of symptoms you may have arising from yeast, with acupuncture treatments that correct yeast imbalance and dampness in the body.

Relax Holistic has three convenient locations in West Hollywood, Marina del Rey, and Culver City. Call for a free consultation and they will be happy to discuss any health concerns with you.

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Start A Meditation Regimen Today, You Will Not Regret It!

Start A Meditation Regimen Today, You Will Not Regret It!

Meditation is defined as the mind and body connected through breathing. Meditation is not only relaxing but can also help you become more attuned with your body and the environment around you. It is a highly enjoyable activity and there are so many variances to how you can practice it.

As a holistic care option for stress relief, meditation is wonderful. The emotional effects of sitting quietly and going within are profound. The deep state of rest produced by meditation triggers the brain to release naturally occurring neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. Each of these brain chemicals has been linked to different aspects of emotional well-being. This means you’ll be happier and less stressed as a result of meditation!

Here are several ways you can include meditation into your daily life as well as benefit from its wonderful health effects.

Yoga and meditation. Silhouette of man in moontains.

Meditate on the Breath

This is a method that will come more naturally to you as you continue to practice and become more comfortable with it. Start with 2 minutes a day and gradually increase from there as you adjust meditation into your daily routine.

You will need to choose a peaceful environment to practice, such as space outdoors surrounded by plant-life or in a quiet room with a large window.  Begin by focusing on your intentions for the day. Take a deep breath and inhale for 4 counts. Hold your breath for 2 seconds, then release for 4 counts in your exhale. Make sure to hold and extend your exhale.

You can also use visuals while breathing and this will help you to become calm. As you inhale, imagine your breath circulating along the back of your spine to your 3rd eye chakra. On the exhale, imagine a blue light filling up you solar plexus chakra, located just below the belly button. You can use various visual exercises while meditating. Over time you will be able to utilize favorite visual meditations as you observe what works best for you.

Meditate on the Chakras

While meditating on the chakras you will need to visualize the same color as the area of body you are concentrating on. Visualize your breath along with the chakra color. You will begin with the heart and move up and down the chakras.

Take 3 breaths in and out for each chakra. Inhale for 4 counts, hold breath for 2 counts, exhale for 2 counts while extending your breath. Start the cycle over again for each chakra.

Chakras are characterized by color and different areas of the body:

  • Violet –  top crown of your head
  • Indigo – third eye
  • Blue –  throat
  • Green – heart
  • Yellow-   pancreas solar plexus
  • Orange  – sexual power
  • Red  –   root end of the spine- survival

Moving Meditation

Meditation doesn’t have to be sedentary. Many forms of meditation also include movement while breathing. Tibetan Rites is a great moving meditation that utilizes all aspects of the body to move and communicate together. Tai Chi has similar meditational benefits.

A simple way to practice is to find a space outside and walk at a slow or medium pace while focusing on your feet. Notice when your toe touches down on the ground, when your foot is flat on the ground and when your toe points back upward. Feel the roll of your foot and observe sensory details.

Healing Benefits

Meditation is one of the best holistic care tools that has been around for millennia. It helps to counter the brain’s negativity bias, releases stress, fosters positive intentions, and helps one enjoy the peace of present moment awareness. A large body of research has established that having a regular meditation practice produces tangible benefits for mental and physical health, including:

  • Decreased blood pressure and hypertension
  • Lowered cholesterol levels
  • Reduced production of “stress hormones,†including cortisol and adrenaline
  • More efficient oxygen use by the body
  • Increased production of the anti-aging hormone DHEA
  • Improved immune function
  • Decreased anxiety, depression, and insomnia

As researchers have found, meditation can help you tap into your brain’s deepest potential to focus, learn, and adapt. While scientists used to believe that beyond a certain age, the brain couldn’t change or grow, we now know that brain has a quality known as plasticity, enabling it to grow new neurons and transform throughout our lives. Meditation is a powerful tool for awakening new neural connections and even transforming regions of the brain.

Improves Negative Thinking and Boosts Creativity

We each have an estimated 50,000 thoughts a day—unfortunately, many of these thoughts can be repetitive and negative as our brain naturally wants to find problems with things.  The mind tends to get stuck in thought loops that make it hard to be creative or inspired.

Regular meditation will help with acceptance and is a powerful practice for going beyond habitual thought patterns and into a state of expanded awareness.

Continued Peace of Mind

Having a regular meditation practice will continue to benefit you and your well-being.  A regular practice will lead to peace of mind, improved sleep and focus throughout the day. You won’t regret it if you just try it!

Relax Holistic can provide other great holistic care suggestions and practices to improving your life on a daily basis. Visit us today, we have three convenient locations in the Los Angeles area!

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Is Your Body’s PH Balance Optimal?

Is Your Body’s PH Balance Optimal?

You may have heard of pH Balance and wondered what all the hype was about. The body’s pH balance has a great impact on your overall health. PH stands for “power of hydrogen”, which is a measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in the body. The total pH scale ranges from 1 to 14, with 7 considered to be neutral. A pH less than 7 is said to be acidic and a pH greater than 7 are alkaline. The ideal pH for the body is slightly alkaline, between 7.3-7.45.

The body will usually regulate this naturally, but at times we may need help if our body is compromised by poor diet or excessive stress. There are many holistic care options for treating the body’s pH balance, here are a few different methods to start getting your body’s pH balance on track.

Begin By Testing Your Body’s pH Balance

You can begin by seeing what your own body’s pH Balance is by using a testing strip with both saliva and urine samples. Using a test strip should be done 60 minutes before eating a meal and again 2 hours after eating to give a more accurate range of your body’s pH levels. Testing a few times in a week will provide more accurate results as well.

  • Testing the pH of your urine for a healthy range should be between 6.0 and 6.5  in the morning, and between 6.5 and 7.0 when you test in the evening. If the pH is not within these ranges, it may show that your body is having trouble removing acids and maintaining optimal amounts of minerals meant to protect over-acidity of the body. You can improve your urine’s pH by taking supplements of sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.
  • Testing the pH of your saliva should show a pH level between 6.5-7.5 at all times. This will also show digestive enzyme activity in the body. Be sure to cleanse your mouth as well as wait two hours after eating or drinking so that food matter will alter results.

Change Your Diet

One of the most convenient and effective ways to reduce the body’s level of acidity is to hydrate first thing in the morning and throughout the day with an alkalizing drink. Lemon juice added to water provides alkaline minerals and bicarbonate precursors in the form of citric acid.

Certain food groups are also crucial to controlling pH balance in the body and are considered acidic, alkaline or neutral. It is good to change your diet to include more alkaline foods than acidic foods.

Here are a few examples of differing food groups and their pH levels:

  • Acidic: Meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, grains, and alcohol.
  • Neutral: Natural fats, starches, and sugars.
  • Alkaline: Fruits, nuts, legumes and vegetables.

Alkaline foods include green juice, vegetable juice, fruit juice, garlic, berries, oranges, bananas, figs, kale, pumpkins, squash, peas, green tea, and most other fruits and vegetables. However, avoid processed fruit juice and some fruits that are quite acidic, e.g. cranberries, plums, rhubarb, blackberries, and prunes. Great alkaline protein sources include almonds, but avoid most meats and dairy for their high acidity.

Check Your Medications

Certain medications can cause your pH balance to be acidic. If you are not sure, speak to your doctor. If the medication is necessary and you cannot avoid it, you may help combat the acidic pH by eating more alkaline foods.

Monitor Your Stress Level

If you made dietary changes and included less acidic foods in your diet and still notice a high acid pH balance, stress could be the culprit. Stress does things to your body that you may not be aware of, including altering your pH balance.

Reduce stress by incorporating meditation, yoga, or Tai Chi into a daily routine. Other holistic care treatments such as acupuncture, and stress reduction techniques will be helpful in reducing stress and acidity.

Benefits You Can See!

Having optimal pH balance of the body will be noticeable. Health benefits include neutralizing free radicals, reduced sick days, stronger bones and teeth, reduced inflammation, and increased energy levels.

Chiropractors and acupuncturists are available at Relax Holistic to address any dietary concerns you may have and help you with holistic care options for balancing your body’s pH levels. They can help and are knowledgeable in health regimens, diet, nutrition, and exercise!

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TMJ Shows Us That Everything In Our Body is Connected

TMJ Shows Us That Everything In Our Body is Connected

You probably have heard the statement about your body that ‘everything is connected’. The ligaments, the muscles and the joints of the body all work together in harmony so that your body is healthy and in peak performance. When something is disjointed within this system, it can greatly impact your health and well-being. TMJ is a perfect example of this.

TMJ, also known as TMD, refers to Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. The Temporomandibular Joint connects your jaw to your skull. This joint affects a lot of your daily activity. It affects the ability to open your mouth, chew, speak and the overall health of your cranial muscles.

You may experience problems with this joint if the muscles or ligaments that control its movement are having issues. Many people may dismiss the symptoms early on and may not realize they have this condition. By recognizing the symptoms and causes of TMJ, you can revive the health of your temporomandibular joint with many holistic care options such as acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments.

Common Symptoms

Do you or someone you know regularly grind their teeth? You may even notice that you wake up in the morning with jaw pain. These can be common symptoms of TMJ. Other symptoms can involve different areas of your body other than the jaw including ear aches and headaches. Over time, these symptoms cause damage that may include erosion of the joint, improper alignment of the joint, or damage of the joint cartilage.

Common symptoms include:

  • Pain in your jaw, cheek, teeth or front of the ear when you chew or yawn
  • Clicking noises in the jaw
  • Jaw Lock when opening your mouth
  • Poor occlusion of the teeth
  • Headaches
  • Symptoms relating to the ear, including hearing issues, dizziness or earaches

Causes

Common causes of TMJ disorder include serious jaw trauma, dislocation or dental work.  Maybe you have experienced head trauma that now affects this joint. Even physical or emotional stress can cause TMJ. Emotional stress at work or within your daily life can lead to teeth clenching or grinding. Mineral deficiencies may be another cause.

Statistics show that women are three times as likely to suffer from TMJ as men. Scientists are now studying how female hormones might be correlated with this disorder.

Treatment & Relief

Acupuncture is a great method of relief from TMJ. Acupuncture provides short-term relief from painful TMJ disorder symptoms.  Our Acupuncturist will determine the cause of TMJ by focusing on the meridians of the body. Meridian imbalances are related to other organs in the body. Treating areas of the body with needle pressure can rebalance the body and provide some relief of symptoms.

Massage is effective in relieving TMJ pain. Some massage therapists specialize in TMJ and even work on the muscles inside the mouth to release tension surrounding the jaw.

Chiropractic care treatments may alleviate some of the symptoms of TMD through manipulation of the jaw and muscles surrounding the temporomandibular joint. This can be a huge relief from tension and pain.

You Don’t Need to Suffer from TMJ

TMJ can end up being very uncomfortable to live with without treatment. With holistic care treatments, such as acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and other non-evasive treatments, you will be able to find relief from TMJ. Once your practitioner confirms the diagnosis, you’ll be given a treatment plan based on the specifics of your situation.

The health care team at Relax Holistic will diagnose the cause of your discomfort by looking at the upper cervical vertebra, cranial bones and reviewing your nutritional status. Treatment at Relax Holistic may include holistic care options such as chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, and massage.  Treatment could also include ultrasound, specific cranial adjusting, or even physiotherapy which manipulates the muscles in the mouth. Contact them today at any of their three convenient Los Angeles locations for relief from your TMJ symptoms!

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