Sep 12, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
Every night you voluntarily allow your body to shut down. You lie down, close your eyes, and slow your breathing. It’s paradoxical that we as humans will fly across the room to plug in our phones in order to prevent it from shutting down, yet one of the biggest facets of human life is the concept of shutting down. Sleep is a wonderful thing, it is a time in which our thoughts become dreams, and our bodies remain a vessel. See the other great benefits sleep can provide to your brain and body…
As much as anyone loves sleep, doesn’t everybody hate that fifteen minute period when lying in bed trying to go to sleep?
There are many factors in our everyday life that can affect the way we sleep, and by lessening their influence an hour before bedtime we can avoid the trouble of falling asleep.
Light is one of biggest the factors that give us the most trouble when falling asleep.
There are two ways in which light can affect our sleep. One way is when we are falling asleep and there is a light staring into our eyes. This is a very direct way because we can simply shut off the light and find our way to bed. Another way in which light affects our sleep is when we are already sleeping. If a light were to emerge from your phone, or from the corner of your window and make its way to your eye it can mess with your internal clock. A beaming light in your eye will convince your body that it is daytime and that you must wake up right away. Exposure to light while sleeping throws your internal clock into a jambalaya and wreaks havoc on your sleep patterns, so if your sleep is in your best interests you may want to sleep with your phone far away and all your windows shut!
Jet lag and shift work also play large roles in the way we sleep.
This is because we mess with our internal clocks. There is something called the circadian rhythm which is a very important timeline for the body to perform certain jobs – e.g. detoxing, digesting, laying memories and so much more.
If you work a night shift or have jet lag then you may suffer from excessive sleepiness, but also research has found it can slow you down mentally by affecting your memory and reaction speed. Even things like diabetes and heart disease have been linked to this now…
Now comes the big one: Stress. Stress can affect your sleep big time.
Your body is programmed to react to a stressful situation by waking up / being ready for action. This makes deep sleep very hard to achieve if you have a high level of stress. Someone with high stress levels, or depression, experiences more REM sleep rather than deep sleep and that doesn’t allow the body to truly rest. If this is the case for you, maybe take a spa day and go get a massage, or meditate to get rid of that unneeded stress. Another stressor is not just our environment but also what we feed ourselves – specifically caffeine. Do you like to sip on some black tea or soda before you go to sleep? Well if you enjoy sleeping you should stop because the caffeine levels in soda and tea are high and caffeine stimulates your nervous system making your body more responsive and less relaxed.
Now how does sleep help with detox and what is sleep actually good for?
When you sleep your brain has an extremely unique way of removing waste through the Glymphatic system. During sleep your brain releases toxins which include harmful proteins that have been linked to brain disorders as well as Alzheimer’s. An even crazier concept is that during this time your brain cells shrink by sixty percent so it is easier to seek out the harmful toxins. The Glymphatic system is just like the Lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is responsible for removing toxins in the body, but the brain is a closed organ so it has to have its own way of removing waste. The ‘G’ in Glymphatic stands for Glial cells.
Ugh so much big science talk, just bear with me, please. These cells manage the system.
Glial cells flush the waste from the brain to the circulatory system where it is eventually circulated to the liver where it is eliminated. Basically now you know how your brain detoxes itself! Your brain actually performs its own colonic!
It is actually found that your Glymphatic system is ten times more active at night than it is during the day. Therefore, without even being aware that you are detoxing, your brain is doing it for you! Now when you dream about the Vegan summer rolls and vegan lasagna that Susana makes here at Santosa, wake up thinking about all the detoxing your brain just did for you! Your brain just does it at night to keep it classy. Always stay classy and Beautiful.
There are five stages of sleep, and each is pretty interesting.
The first stage of sleep is our lightest in which we can be woken up, and most likely a person being woken up then will wake up by saying, “I wasn’t sleeping.” He/she was sleeping, but only in stage one sleep. An interesting thing about stage one is that this is when you experience the sensation of falling. Not in deep sleep, but in the lightest of sleep! Stage Two is a slightly deeper sleep in which eye movement ceases and brain waves become slower with occasional rapid bursts. In stage three sleeps your brain waves become extremely slow and have adopted the name delta waves and are interspersed with some fast waves. In stage four sleep the delta waves are not interspersed with faster waves, and your brain solely produces delta waves. If you’re an occasional bed wetter, it’s ok. Sleep walking, bedwetting, and night terrors all occur during stage three and four of sleep which is considered deep sleep. When you’re in deep sleep you’re a hard person to wake up, your eyes are still, and you have no muscle activity (Besides your cardiac muscles which regulate your blood, and create heartbeats).
The final stage of sleep is the REM period.
During this time your breathing intensifies, your eyes begin to jerk, and your limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed. During REM sleep your brain waves increase to a level as if you are awake. Blood pressure rises at this point as well as your heartbeat. This all sounds scary, but don’t worry: it’s normal.
The normal human being experiences three to five intervals of REM sleep a night. The reason these scary things happen during REM sleep is because this is the same time you dream. These are the dreams that you can actually remember.
It all sounds pretty hectic but it’s all completely healthy, and is important for maintaining homeostasis (balance in the body), and high energy levels! Sleep better, detox better!
Jun 8, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
You have Parasites. It’s a given. Do you eat unwashed raw food? Do you cuddle with your pet or other animals? Do you sometimes skip washing your hands after a toilet break? These are all possible ways to contract parasites. It’s not hard and most of the time we live with them in harmony – they are a part of life. But what if they get out of hand and wreak havoc on your system?
Some of the symptoms you have when parasites are raging war in your body are…
Digestive issues such as:
Constipation and/or diarrhea, gas and bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, loss of appetite, bad taste in the mouth, vomiting (may return several times a year), sugar craving , weight gain OR may have trouble gaining weight, children especially and long-term presence may contribute to the development of food allergies
Physical symptoms such as :
painful menstruation, joint and muscle aches, skin conditions – mostly irritation/itching at nose, ears, eyes, anus – but also potentially rashes, hives, eczema. Also anemia, teeth grinding, headaches, runny nose, blisters on lower lip inside mouth, tumors, acne, sudden fever, dark areas under eyes, allergies and recurring yeast/candida infections
As well as other symptoms such as:
nervousness, sleep disorders, hyperactivity, anxiety, chronic fatigue, fuzzy thinking;
Pfew that’s quite a long list!
What is a Parasite exactly?
“A parasite is a tiny organism that lives on or in another host organism and is fed at the expense of its host. In other words the parasites that live inside us use up our vitamins, proteins and all other nutrients. Not only do they do this, they also do their “business” inside us releasing their toxic bacteria and viruses inside us.” – Dr. Hulda Clark. While they are often fond of the colon, this is not the only place parasites can be found. Any part of your body is vulnerable to infestation: the lungs, liver, esophagus, brain, blood, muscles, joints, skin…and even your eyes.
What can we do about Parasite infestations?
First you need to weaken them by starving them of their favorite food – refined sugars found in bread, pasta, white rice, chips, cookies, sweets and sweet drinks.
Detox is a phenomenal way to kill these little critters.
While you are fasting or eating healthy, light natural wholefoods the parasites get weakened.
Especially beneficial foods against them are pumpkin seeds, raw garlic, pineapples, papaya seeds and dried figs.
While you are weakening them with food (or lack thereof) killing off the adult specimen as well as the eggs and larvae is important. This is done with special herbs that kill these creatures at different stages.
Also Garlic Colonics are very effective for the removal of these unwanted residents.
It is quite an involved process and can get quite unpleasant when the parasites start to die off as they release toxic gases that can give us all sorts of symptoms such as headaches, nausea, diarrhea, cramps even fever can occur.
It is an important part of detoxing and the benefits are huge!
If you are eating healthy, exercising well, laughing, loving and taking care of yourself but still feel like something is “off” or you are not as healthy as you feel you should be – it’s time to do a parasite cleanse.
May 18, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
Becoming a mother is one of the most magical transformations in a woman. At Santosa, we provide yoga and meditation private classes to future “Moms”. What can we do more to be ready? We are delighted to share more tips here.
Educate Yourself
There’s a lot of fear of the unknown as to what happens to our bodies during pregnancy and labor. The more fear we have, the more anxious we become and the more stress hormones are released, thus making labor, in itself, more painful. As you ease your mind–empowering it with information about what to expect throughout pregnancy and labor–the intensity of pain lessens.
Don’t panic
Pregnancy takes time for a reason. The gradual process gives you time to plan! So you have time to get things ready before you go to your birth place. Have fun with it, don’t panic, enjoy this moment with your partner and your other kids.
Tap into the Power of Prenatal Yoga
In a prenatal yoga practice, there’s a lot of emphasis on breathing, especially through the difficult poses. Through working with our breath, we are able to relax more in uncomfortable moments. Our breath will allow us to remain present and ground us during these times, as well as give us a break in tough times.
By practicing the poses common to most pregnancy yoga classes, you will learn how to release lower back tension, and open up your chest, shoulders and hips. All of these muscles can hold tension during pregnancy and labor, so learning how to release this specific tension is very helpful.
Santosa can offer private Prenatal Yoga classes upon request…
Just breathe
The most important thing to do is just to breathe deeply and naturally like you would if you were exercising. Focus on breathing OUT any tension that you may have. It sounds crazy but it works. A good birth can be as simple as mastering the breath.
Make Time for Meditation
A meditation practice puts your body and mind into training enabling you to sit be with discomfort at times. The deeper we are able to go into a practice, the more objectively we are able to observe everything around and within ourselves, rather than reacting to it. It will allow us to remain present with everything.
Eat Nutritious Food
Almost all pregnant women need to get more protein, increased amounts of certain vitamins and minerals such as folic acid, iron and calcium, and they require a higher calorie intake to keep up their energy. If your diet is poor to begin with, making the transition to eating nutritious meals is one of the best things you can do for your baby’s health. A healthy diet includes proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and plenty of water. But eating better doesn’t mean eating more – or rather, not much more.
We can’t control everything
Some women give birth exactly as they had planned, but many don’t. You can have a great empowering birth, even if things did not go exactly as you had planned. Both natural and surgical birth can teach us an important lesson for being mothers: that we don’t always get to pick how things go, and sometimes just need to surrender.
Becoming a mother is one of the most magical transformations in a woman. Enjoy the journey and remember to treat yourself well.
May 15, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
In case you want to do a fast at home, you will need to do some preparation. The first and foremost is preparing your mind for the practice. Fasting requires discipline but also involves getting to know about yourself. One of the reasons it is part of numerous religious traditions is that fasting is a great way to discover things about yourself and your beliefs.
A normal human body can go for weeks without food. Nevertheless we are all unique. Two people can be subjected to the same conditions and their reactions can be quite different. If you have a serious illness or contraindications such as any kind of deficiency diseases you should not take up long term fasts.
Plan
Select a length of time to do your fast. While many regular fasters can do a fast from 3 to 30 days, beginners should experiment by trying several shorter fasts first to see how their bodies react.
Plan your fast for a period during which you will not be under a lot of stress or during which fasting might interfere with your daily routine.
Pre-cleanse
If your diet consists of a lot of meat, processed foods, and you drink coffee and smoke it may be quite a shock to cut any or all of these things out of your diet. Not drinking coffee, for example, can induce headaches if you are used to having caffeine every day. Cutting back and altering your diet several days before you fast can help your body’s detoxification process be less of a shock once you get into your fast.
Prepare mentally
You will need to begin to learn how you respond mentally to not eating. Sometimes the mind can throw up lots of pent up emotions from the past which are stored in the subconscious mind. The important thing is to understand that being emotional and more sensitive are normal reactions. Keep the mind as peaceful as possible. Maintain a witness attitude during this time. Practice slow deep breathing to make the mind steady and peaceful.
Society
There will also be external challenges. As you move through your day you will inevitably come across food. This is true whether you stay at home, go to work or are on vacation. Anyway, you will find yourself in different social situations. These may be interactions with your family, co-workers, and people that are part of the social communities that you have in your life. Interactions that you have with others can be a challenge because many social interactions involve food. It is good to have some idea of what you might want to say if you get into a situation where others are eating while you, conspicuously, are not. Besides a few people you trust and find supportive, you should consider limiting who you tell. People will ask or tell you all kinds of things about food, nutrition and religion when you mention you are fasting. Realize that there is nothing wrong with saying you do not feel like eating, rather than feeling like you need to tell everyone you are fasting.
Energy level and exercise
Get plenty of rest during your fast. You may experience a drop in stamina and energy during this time. Don’t overexert yourself. Maintain healthy sleep patterns. Fasting is all about rest – physical, emotional, sensory and physiological.
Avoid intense exercise during this time. Instead, try Yoga or Tai Chi. It must be a quieting restorative exercise. A calming way of stretching the body’s muscles is what a fasting body needs. You may also do light walking to keep your muscles strong and to aid in the detoxification process. And you can do resistance training. Working your muscles against a resisting force, helps flush out toxins and waste through the lymphatic system. Lymphatic fluid is only moved by muscle contractions.
Perform enemas
The body has a natural mechanism to throw out toxins from the body during the healing process. These toxins are mostly thrown out through digestive system into the intestines. At this time, one gets a thick white coating on the tongue. The coating may remain even after scrapping the tongue. This is a sign that the toxins are being eliminated.
Within a short period our body turns from burning the usual fuel of food and drink to metabolizing matter already present in our body. This process is called autolysis where a huge amount of morbid matter, fat cell debris, so-called ketone bodies, dead cells and diseased tissues are burned up; and the toxic waste which has accumulated in the tissues for years, causing disease and premature aging, are loosened and expelled from the system. The digestion and elimination systems are the main pathway by which these toxins are thrown out of the body.
As during fasting, the natural bowel movements cease to take place, the toxic wastes would have no way of leaving the system, except with the help of enemas… All this can cause headaches, weakness, dizziness, bad mood. Enemas during fasting will assist the body in its cleansing and detoxifying effort by washing out all the toxic wastes from the bowels.
The toxins may also get removed through the lungs. At that time one may get foul breath which may last for a day or two.
Breaking the fast
Breaking the fast is equally important as the fast itself. When the body goes without food for several days, it sort of gets used to it. The digestive fire goes down meaning the stomach lining is more sensitive and your body is not producing as many digestive enzymes. At that time, one cannot eat or digest large quantities of food. It will be like a shock to the system, if you consume solid food. So one has to gradually increase the digestive fire and bring it back to normal. Start with fresh juices and smoothies and then add soft raw fruits and veggies for the first few days. Begin with frequent small meals, every 2 hours or so. Then progress slowly toward larger meals with more time in between until you reach a ‘normal’ eating routine such as 3 meals a day. Wait at least 1-2 weeks before you consume any form of dairy, red meat, grains, beans or baked goods, coffee and black tea.
Enjoy your fasting at home! Or if you feel it’s too hard to detox at home by yourself, you are more than welcome to join one type of detox program in Santosa Detox & Wellness Center.
May 5, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
Cortisol – what really happens to your body when you are under STRESS!?
Let us break this complicated topic down for you into a few simple steps.
First we will look at the physiological effects of stress and cortisol on the body.
Secondly we will look at how that affects us daily and thirdly we will check out what to do against the damaging effects of stress….
Cortisol is a stress hormone that is very important to the body and our survival.
What happens when we are under threat (real or perceived) the body will produce Cortisol and Adrenaline to prepare the body for action.
When Cortisol is flooding the body it breaks down proteins and converts them to glucose aka sugars in the blood stream. It does this so enough energy is available to the muscles to react quickly to any given situation. So your blood sugar rises and your body is ready for action.
But ….What if there’s no “action” the way our body is anticipating it?
When this happens all the sugar in our bloodstream now gets converted to fat and stored – mostly around the midsection.
There’s that wonderful muffin top for you….
So how do we stop this vicious cycle of getting stressed over our everyday business?
Well for one – don’t take everything so seriously.
When we worry about our mortgage, stress about traffic and business deadlines or get otherwise upset, the body actually reacts the same way as if we were being subjected to a physical threat.
So calm down – the first step is to notice when you feel stressed, step away from it and take a few conscious deep breaths.
Meditation is an amazing tool in combating stress.
Also Exercise is a winner – remember all that sugar waiting to be used up by the muscles as energy? Well why not just let them do what they are supposed to do! You don’t have to go to Boot camp – Even a brisk walk around the block really helps when you’re stressed.
Detox is also a great way to create space. Once in a while it is good to detach from the ordinary, get away to a tropical island and take some time for yourself… Santosa Phuket will always be waiting for you with open arms when you need some downtime…
Apr 28, 2015 | Detox & Wellness
As we learnt in the last Blog Post how important the Liver is, today we will look at a home detox protocol for the liver.
There are many, many Liver detox out on the market and here at Santosa we incorporate a gentle Liver Flush on the 4th day of your detox to assist your overall experience.
Yet the one I am about to describe is a detox that I have done consistently over the years and have seen amazing results from reduced muscle & joint pain, migraines disappearing, digestion improving and losing weight and improving skin – just to name a few.
Do you have a deeper interest in clearing out your liver of thousands of toxins?
Read on and do this Amazing Liver Cleanse.
This Cleanse helps you eliminate the toxins that are supposed to be transported out of your body through your bile but have turned into “stones” of various sizes.
If our Liver and Gallbladder are congested with these stones it can be very painful and these organs cannot perform their usual functions. And as we learnt in the last post they do a lot for your body!
The Amazing Liver Flush Protocol
The liver cleanse requires six days of preparation,
This is followed by 16-20 hours of actual cleansing.
Things you’ll need:
- Apple juice 6 x 1-liter containers (fresh pressed is even better but for convenience organic store bought works well too)
- Epsom salts – 4 tablespoons dissolved in three 250ml glasses of water
- Virgin olive oil, cold-pressed One-half glass 125ml
- Either fresh grapefruit (pink is best), or fresh lemon and orange combined
Enough to squeeze 2/3 glass of juice (160ml)
- 1 liter jar and a small (250ml) jar with a lid
*Look for oral Epsom salts – not bath flakes!
*Don’t worry if you can’t find grapefruit – the other citrus fruits have the same effect!
Six Days Preparation period
- Drink 1 liter of apple juice per day for a period of six days. (You may drink more than that if it feels comfortable). The malic acid in the apple juice softens the gallstones and makes their passage through the bile ducts easy. Drink the apple juice slowly throughout the day, between meals (avoid drinking the juice during, just before and two hours after meals, and in the evening). This is in addition to your normal water intake.
- Dietary recommendations: During the entire week of preparation and cleansing, avoid taking foods or beverages that are cold or chilled; they chill the liver and, thereby, reduce the effectiveness of the cleanse. All foods or beverages should be warm or at least room temperature. To help the liver prepare for the main flush go vegan so try to avoid foods from animal sources, dairy products and fried food items. Otherwise, eat normal meals, but avoid overeating.
Day 6 of drinking apple juice:
If you feel hungry in the morning, eat a light breakfast, such as a hot cereal or fruit.
Avoid sugar or other sweeteners, spices, milk, butter, oils, yogurt, cheese, ham, eggs, nuts, pastries, cold cereals – basically stay vegan and eat whole foods!
For lunch eat plain cooked or steamed vegetables with white rice and flavor it with a little unrefined sea or rock salt.
To repeat, do not eat any protein foods, butter or oil, or you might feel ill during the actual cleanse.
Do not eat or drink anything, except lots of water after 2PM, otherwise you may not flush out any stones!
Follow the exact timing given below to receive the maximum benefit from the liver flush.
The Actual Cleanse (day 6 of drinking apple juice) Evening
6:00PM: Add four tablespoons of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to three 250ml glasses of filtered water in your 1 liter jar.
This makes four servings, ¾ glass each. Drink your first portion now.
You may take a few sips of water afterwards to get rid of the bitter taste in the mouth or add a little lemon juice to improve the taste.
Some people drink it with a large plastic straw to bypass the taste buds on the tongue. It is also helpful to brush your teeth afterwards or rinse out the mouth with baking soda. One of the main actions of Epsom salt is to dilate (widen) the bile ducts, making it easy for the stones to pass. Moreover, it clears out waste that may obstruct the release of the stones.
8:00PM: Drink your second serving (¾ glass) of Epsom salts.
9:30PM: If you have not had a bowel movement until now and not done a colon cleanse within 24 hours, take a water enema; this will trigger a series of bowel movements.
9:45PM: Thoroughly wash the grapefruits (or lemons and oranges). Squeeze them by hand and remove pulp. You will need ¾ glass of juice. Pour the juice and ½ glass of olive oil into the small jar.
Close the jar tightly and shake hard, about 20 times or until the solution is watery. Ideally, you should drink this mixture at 10:00PM, but if you feel you still need to visit the bathroom a few more times, you may delay this step for up to10 minutes.
10:00PM: Stand next to your bed (do not sit down) and drink the concoction, if possible, straight. Some people prefer to drink it through a large plastic straw. If necessary, take a little honey between sips, which helps chase down the mixture. Most people, though, have no problem drinking it straight. Do not take more than 5 minutes for this (only elderly or weak people may take longer).
LIE DOWN STRAIGHT AWAY! This is essential for helping to release the gallstones! Turn off the lights and lie flat on your back with 1-2 pillows propping you up. Your head should be higher than the abdomen. If this is uncomfortable lie on your right side with your knees pulled towards your head. Lie perfectly still for at least 20 minutes and try not to speak! Put your attention on your liver. You may even feel the stones traveling along the bile ducts like marbles. There won’t be any pain because the magnesium in the Epsom salts keeps the bile duct valves wide open and relaxed, and the bile that is excreted along with the stones keeps the bile ducts well lubricated (this is very different in the case of a gallbladder attack where magnesium and bile are not present). Go to sleep if you can.
If at any time during the night you feel the urge to have a bowel movement, do so. Check if there are already small gallstones (pea green or tan colored ones) floating in the toilet. You may feel nauseous during the night and/or in the early morning hours. This is mostly due to a strong, sudden outpouring of gallstones and toxins from the liver and gallbladder, pushing the oil mixture back into the stomach. The nausea will pass as the morning progresses.
The Following Morning
6:00-6:30AM: Upon awakening, but not before 6am, drink your third ¾ glass of Epsom salts (if you feel very thirsty drink a glass of warm water before taking the salts). Rest, read or meditate. If you are very sleepy, you may go back to bed, although it is best if the body stays in the upright position. Most people feel absolutely fine and prefer to do some light exercises, such as Yoga.
8:00-8:30AM: Drink your fourth and last ¾ glass of Epsom salts.
10:00-10:30AM: You may drink freshly pressed fruit juice at this time. One half-hour later you may eat one or two pieces of fresh fruit. One hour later you may eat regular (but light!) food.
By the evening or the next morning you should be back to normal, and feel the first signs of improvement. Continue to eat light meals during the following days. Remember, your liver and gallbladder underwent major surgery, albeit without harmful side effects.
If you want to know more – read the book ‘The amazing Liver Cleanse’ by Andreas Moritz where you can find more detailed information. This cleanse should be done every 3 months until no more stones appear. Then a bi-annual cleanse is recommended.
