Foods That Can Help or Hinder

When dealing with a condition involving an excess of mucus, such as bronchitis, it is wise to remember that sugary foods and dairy products cause excess mucus production in many people. If you are one of these people, avoiding those products until you are well again may aid your battle.
My most revered teacher, Dr. Bernard Jensen, says that carrot juice is one of the best foods to eliminate mucus from the body. It works great for me, and carrots are rich in beta carotene, which feeds the skin and soft tissues of the body, too. Drink your carrots!

Fenugreek: Nothing to Get Choked Up About

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) has been an excellent remedy for bronchitis because it not only kills infections and fights against viruses, but also works as an expectorant to help push mucus out of the body. For that reason, fenugreek is great for any type of mucus condition of the respiratory tract. Fenugreek works well with thyme to discharge mucus from the lungs and fight infections. Thyme is also thought to be good for the thymus, which is the seat of your immune system. In addition, lobelia and mullein can work to ease bronchial spasms and eliminate mucus and coughs. Beta carotene feeds lung tissue and will help boost your immune system and soothe lung tissue. Magnesium is helpful because it is a muscle relaxer to the body and can help lessen a coughing. Zinc boosts the immune system, and vitamin E may assist in the fight against bronchitis.

Bronchitis: Coughing Up a Solution

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucus membranes of the bronchi, tubes that branch off the trachea leading to the air sacs of the lungs. Symptoms include spastic mucus-filled coughs usually accompanied by a general sick feeling, a fever, and general lethargy. An airborne virus or bacteria causes bronchitis.
Bronchitis is generally caused by inhaling toxic vapors including cigarette smoke. A cold or other upper-respiratory infection can also lead to bronchitis. If you are prone to bronchitis, don’t smoke, avoid chemical exposure, smog, and traffic pollution and beware of breathing in cold, wet air (not an easy option for skiers, is it?). Keeping the bowel clear is always helpful when you are suffering from any type of respiratory congestion; make sure you are not constipated.
Use herbs to relieve constipation, or use an enema to fix this problem. Enemas work well for small children, too. Let me briefly explain how a clogged bowel can hinder your respiratory system functions. The lymphatic system is a small filtering system running alongside our arteries and veins and runs throughout the entire body. This filtering system will dump its excess waste materials into the bowel, but if the bowel is clogged, there is no room for the lymph to dump. Since it is overflowing, its waste materials will be squeezed back into your mucus membranes—creating more mucus and making you vulnerable to future infection. Cleaning the bowel will not only help when you have respiratory congestion of any kind, but will help prevent a problem in the first place.
Diffuse pure eucalyptus oil in your room to help with recovery and help protect others from the airborne viruses and bacteria.

Other Things You Probably Already Knew About Low Blood Pressure

Exercise will help get your blood moving and your heart pumping, which can have an effect on overall blood pressure. Deep-breathing exercises help to bring more oxygen into the blood stream and can help regulate many disorders of the body. Here’s a breathing exercise to try. This might make you dizzy, which is why I suggest you try it sitting down.
Breathing Exercise:

1. Sit up straight.
2. Breathe in through your nose, open up your throat to get more air, and concentrate on the air filling the bottom of your stomach first, then your abdomen, then your diaphragm, and, finally, the lungs, from the bottom up. (This full inhale should take approximately 8–12 seconds to complete.)
3. Hold this full breath for as long as you can.
4. Then push the air out of your body forcefully in three or four exhales; repeat.

Try this exercise, and take your blood pressure before and after to see if it makes a difference for you. I find it energizing and stimulating, especially when I have been at my computer writing all day!

How Low Can You Go?: Low Blood Pressure

At the other end of the pendulum swing is low blood pressure, which is not the best thing to have, either. Low blood pressure can signify hormonal under-activity, and many people with this condition have thyroid problems. Symptoms of a low thyroid include fatigue, depression, cold hands and feet, and coarse hair or skin. If the thyroid is underactive, it may need nourishment. The thyroid likes iodine, and one of the richest foods in iodine is kelp.

Kelp grows in our oceans and is packed with many trace minerals from the sea. Other tonics for the glandular system include licorice root, which helps tone the adrenals, and ginseng, which is an all-around tonic for the entire body.
Ginkgo biloba and hawthorne both work well together to bring blood pressure back up into balance. Add a trace mineral supplement and some capsicum, and you will have a remedy to boost you. All these foods and herbs will also help feed your entire circulatory system; a weakened heart can be the cause of low blood pressure.

More Pressure, More Supplements

Beating high blood pressure involves many factors, so you might want to take several herbs and remedies to bring it back down. Here are a few to try:

• A mixture of hawthorn, capsicum, and garlic will support the entire circulatory system.
• Cornsilk will support the kidneys, which are usually involved in high blood pressure.
• Chamomile will sooth the nerves and stress usually associated with the problem.

Non-herbal support that works to balance the blood pressure includes coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is a co-enzyme factor (a compound that works together with your body’s enzymes to help them function) essential to the health of all human tissues. Its purpose is to increase the efficiency of cellular metabolism. Trace minerals are often lacking or out of balance in people who have high blood pressure. Try a trace mineral supplement, or take alfalfa or liquid chlorophyll for natural supplementation. Daily Omega-3 oils and a B-complex vitamin are also useful in bringing down the pressure. All my condolences for all those bad cholesterol that eadicated from your body.

Garlic: Help from a Bulbous Friend

Good old garlic (Alium sativum) is great for so many things, and it seems to have an affinity for helping the circulatory system, too. In fact, this would be my choice if I had only one herb to help bring blood pressure into balance.
Garlic is high in phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and zinc, and it has an affinity for the lungs, sinuses, circulatory system, and digestive system. It has been known to dissolve cholesterol, which can contribute to high blood pressure, and helps remove it from the arteries. If you have high cholesterol and begin to take garlic, you should also add milk thistle and a bowel cleanser (a mixture of psyllium hulls and cascara sagrada works well), to help the cholesterol exit the body through the bowel. Garlic also is a natural antibiotic, and it makes a great remedy for killing parasites and fungus.
Garlic capsules can be taken if you’d rather not chew on raw cloves. Some are coated with chlorophyll to help odor, and some are enterically coated, which means that the capsule or tablet will break down in your intestines, not your stomach.
The oil of garlic contains the same properties and can be rubbed on the chest for respiratory infections. Take enough pills to equal at least three cloves daily when fighting hypertension. Unfortunately, much of garlic’s medicinal effects are contained within the compound that gives it its strong odor. If you don’t have a raw garlic capsule, make sure the manufacturer did not remove the allium. If they did, your garlic won’t be effective.