Tuesday, February 26, 2008

NaturalNews.com printable articleOriginally published February 25 2008
Brenda Cobb: 4 Reasons People Get Sick and Healing Through Thoughts by Kevin Gianni (see all articles by this author)

(NaturalNews) This is an excerpt from Brenda Cobb's interview for the Raw Summit, a complete interview encyclopedia of cutting edge living and raw food knowledge. You can find the complete transcripts and audios at (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com/). In this interview, Brenda Cobb, author and founder of The Living Foods Institute in Atlanta, GA, gives the 4 reasons why she feels people get sick and the emotional component to healing.

Raw Food World Summit Interview Excerpt with Brenda Cobb, Kevin Gianni: When you talk about illness and you talk about people who have disease and who can heal themselves, it's more than just food, correct?
Brenda Cobb: It really is. I believe that it's much more than the food. I think that's one of the reasons that the program that I use now, developed over the nine years of having been doing this, is so effective to the health of people - because we look beyond the food. Now, we certainly do use a 100% organic, the raw food and the living food.The way we describe raw food and living food is raw food, we believe, is fruits, vegetables and not seeds that have not been cooked. We believe a living food is a sprouted food, something that's growing when you eat it; among them bean and lentil sprout and sun flower, and buckwheat sprout. And so, that certainly is a part of the program.

But we believe there are really four main reasons that people get sick. The number one reason we believe is because of how people think, we think it's more important than what we're eating; and part of that number one reason is emotional stuff because most everybody, and you can hardly avoid it if you go through the human experience on the planet earth, is going to have emotional stuff sometimes that has been buried so deep that they don't even really it's there. And so it's good to work on the emotional stuff and clear that out, there is sometimes issues with forgiveness - forgiving yourself or things or somebody else who has maybe done you wrong and really letting go of those things. And then another part of that number one reason is stress because the world we are living in is stressful. It's never what happens to you, it's always you're reaction to what happens to you and you can stress yourself out or you can learn how to deal with stress so that it becomes constructive rather than destructive. So that's the first area we help people with.

The number two area we help people with is toxicity because there's toxins that have built up over years of breathing the air, drinking water that is not pure, of eating processed foods with additive colors, chemicals, dyes, maybe foods that have been genetically modified, hybridized, taking prescription and over-the-counter medications, drinking alcohols, smoking cigarettes, whatever it might be. Toxic relationship, toxic job contributes to toxicity in the body. So, we believe you have to get all the toxins that are already in there out so the body can do what it was created to do in that field itself.

The third reason we think people are getting sick is because of their decisions and we are believing that a lot are deficient in vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Now, we are doing our best to get these through good nutrition, but also realize that the soil today is not what it was in great, great granddaddy's day and that there is not as much of the mineralization and so forth in the soil. So, there are some super foods and algae and some products that we used that helped to boost that along with the good nutrition. But we do believe that you cannot take a product in place of good nutrition. You've got to have good nutrition as your foundation and then if you want to do any supplementation, I like the supplement only with food sources, you know, a raw food powder or an algae and we also use herbs and essential oils to help the body to cleanse and detox and nourish. We found that to be very effective.

And then the fourth thing that we found make people sick is the dirty, toxic impacted colon. So our program also focuses on cleansing the colon, getting out the impacted waste, mucoid plaque, worm, parasites. You know, from years of eating maybe foods made with flour and water that makes a glue or a paste and people get that gunk and that sticky stuff inside of their colon and it sticks in there and sometimes it can become really hard and there's a barrier between the good nutrition, even if you're eating good food. You've changed your ways and now you're eating raw and living food. If you got a lot of plaque built up in the colon, you can't really assimilate the nutrients as well. So, we like to simultaneously be putting in the good food while we are also getting out the bad stuff and then when we do all of it together, we really feel that, that's supporting the body, the mind, the spirit, the mental, the emotional, the physical, the spiritual, and that the body can bounce back from most anything.

Kevin: Let's talk about number one. How are some of the ways that someone can deal with the way that they're thinking or not even deal but free themselves of some of the stress and some of the emotional issues that they have?

Brenda: Well, first thing is a lot of times we are thinking thoughts that we don't really even realize are negative. Many people, if you talk to them about negative thinking or negative speaking and you ask them, "Do you speak or think in a negative way?" Most people will say, "No, I don't." But then when you really kind of get down to how they are talking to themselves, you will see that the way that they're talking is not really positive, that they are meaning to say something positive but they're saying it in a negative way.
So that's the first thing, it's really just kind of teaching people to unprogram themselves; you know, it's kind of like when you were a child and you're sad, you're told, "Don't speak unless spoken to," you know or "Don't talk to strangers," and then you grow up and you're in a job, you're in a sales position, you've got to speak and you've got to talk to strangers. So, now what are you going to do? So, it comes just as a part of reprogramming some of those old tapes that we have heard and how to talk about ourselves positively.

One way we do it is to teach people some very simple affirmations; even though they may sound very simple, almost too simple and people will say, "Gosh, it seems so easy, how can it work if it's so simple?"Well you know, anytime you say the words, "I am" and then you feel that blanking with another word, you're saying the most possible, positive or powerful three words that you can say. So if you say, "I am healed" then you're going to create the energy of healing. But if you say "I am sick" you're going to continue to create the energy around sickness. So, that's one thing, really being careful when you say "I am". You know, let's say you work really hard all day and you're tired, so you're saying "I am so tired". Well, the more you say it, the more tired that you get.

Instead, if you go out and take a little walk around the block and say, "I am energized, I am enthusiastic, I am excited to be alive," you begin talking to yourself in that way, breathing the fresh air, getting the body moving a little bit, you'll see that at the end of that 20 or 30 minutes, you are actually feeling better. So, that's one thing.

Now, as far as emotional stuff, really we like to help people to understand what are the emotional components that are related to the disease or symptom that they've manifested. I used a couple of books that I really like for that. I used a book called Feeling Buried Alive Never Die by Karol Truman and I used a book that a lot of people have heard of called You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay and then I used a book called Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping and we really study those levels of "okay, first let's get real about what is that emotional component and does it ring true for you and sometimes people will say, 'Wow, I cannot believe how much that is like me, what you're telling me, this emotional thing.'"All the times people will even be in denial more and they'll say, "Well no, I don't think that's it, I don't see how that could be causing my problem." So we just gently and lovingly work with people to get them more aware.

We have specific exercises that we do in our emotional healing classes to help people to be able to see within themselves and, you know we get them to face some of the things, you know, asking them questions like "what is it about yourself that you would like to see change" and "you know, how do you think that the way you've thought in the past has impacted you and do you think that you are fulfilling your mission in life" and just get people dialoguing and thinking, you know when you start talking among yourselves, you can even create a wonderful mastermind group and all of the sudden just from hearing what other people are saying, many times we get our own answers. We're not looking to somebody else to figure it out for us, you know we can figure it out our self but it helps to be able to discuss it with others.And so that is also a part of the way that we help people through emotional healing. Now, with stress, we are doing breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, stretching, yoga, you know helping people to learn how to relieve stress that gets impacted in their self and in their organs, in their glands. Most people don't breathe to their full capacity, that shallow breathing, and they find that when they really use more of their lungs and breathe in deeply, that itself can relax.We talk and teach about meditation and how just to be free of thought for a little bit, don't even think about anything and, you know something Kevin, that's more challenging than it sounds. So, just not focus on thinking about a particular thing and to rest the mind and I think all of those things put together can really impact the person in a positive way.

To read the rest of this interview please visit (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com/) . This is just an excerpt of over 14 hours of cutting edge living food, raw food or health information revealed during the Raw Food World Summit.

About the authorKevin Gianni is a health advocate, author and speaker. He has helped thousands of people in over 85 countries learn how to take control of their health--and keep it. To view commentary on natural health issues, vegan and raw food diets, holistic nutrition and more click here.His book, "The Busy Person's Fitness Solution," is a step-by-step guide to optimum health for the time and energy-strapped.To find out more about abundance, optimum health and self motivation click here... or you're interested in the vegan and raw food diet and cutting edge holistic nutrition click here.For access to free interviews, downloads and a complete bodyweight exercise archive visit www.LiveAwesome.com.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Rhodiola Herbal Extract Found to Fight Off Depression

Rhodiola Herbal Extract Found to Fight Off Depression
by Michael Jolliffe

(NaturalNews) A new clinical trial has found that an extract of the herb Rhodiola could be a useful treatment for cases of mild to moderate depression.

The study, published in the Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, involved 80 participants, aged between 18 and 70, who were divided into three groups. The first received 340mg of Rhodiola extract daily, the second twice as much, and the third two capsules containing a placebo.

The results revealed that only the groups taking Rhodiola had found benefit, with particularly significant improvements in insomnia and emotional instability, and no adverse effects.

Rhodiola is thought to work against depression in two ways. Firstly, researchers believe the herb blocks the enzyme monoamine oxidase in a manner similar to the early drug anti-depressants such as amitriptyline, which helps the brain to retain levels of 'feel good' neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine. Rhodiola is also believed to calm a part of the brain known as the HPA axis, which connects the brain to the adrenal glands. High levels of adrenal stress hormones have consistently been found in individuals suffering from depression, but Rhodiola may address this imbalance and help to restore normal levels.

The plant has a long history of traditional usage associated with improving strength, motivation and resistance to stress and fatigue. Early records suggest that civilisations as old as the Vikings have prized and cultivated Rhodiola. It was equally prized by Soviet researchers during the Cold War, who successfully tested its application with both athletes and astronauts.

Experts have commented on the promise that this latest research holds for the treatment of depression. Dr. Richard Brown, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and one of the world's leading experts on Rhodiola, called for additional studies 'to explore and establish the potential applications of the herb', but stated his belief that both sufferers and researchers should be 'encouraged' by the results.

About the author
Michael Jolliffe is a health writer, and an expert on nutritional and environmental influences on health and disease. He is a member of the British Association for Nutritional Therapy, International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine and the Life Extension Foundation.