By Heidi Hoke, BS, NC, MH, HHP

As spring approaches, many of us have an inclination to dig around in the garden, but yet to limit the challenge to a few nice plants for summer harvest. An herb garden is an ideal choice, for not only culinary use, but effective natural therapies, as well. Here are some suggestions and gardening tips for medicinal and culinary herb usage.

Mint

Mint of all species thrives beautifully in east Texas. These perennials should be contained if you do not want them to take over the bed they grow in, otherwise, they will spread and flourish. The green leaves of mint can be harvested when they mature, then cut or crushed for teas, remedies, salads, soups, sauces, jelly, and garnish for desserts.

Mint can be used as an herbal remedy for different ailments. When eaten, it can sooth ailments such as nausea, headaches, digestive disorders, colic, and motion sickness. If you are suffering from flu or fever, mint can be used to help promote sweating to break the illness. A hot tea can be made, as this is the easiest way to ingest mint. For quick response to morning sickness during pregnancy, keep peppermint candies in your purse or bedside. Peppermint essential oil is known for its analgesic, calming, and cooling affect on your body, considered antibacterial in nature, which is great for using on minor infections.

Basil

Basil is a culinary herb typically used in cooking, but has many other more uncommonly known uses. It is an ideal herb to grow in east Texas because of the warm, sunny climate. Basil leaves tend to have mildew if they are allowed to stay wet, so take care that they are planted in an area where they can dry out between watering. Place the basil plants where there is direct sunlight, and well-drained, acidic  soil. Used coffee grounds to a few drops of limejuice can be mixed into the soil at planting to increase the acidic content.

The therapeutic use of basil was adopted by the English and brought from India during the 19th century. Therapeutic use of basil ranges from relief of colds and coughs, high blood pressure, digestive discomforts, female disorders, fever and flu, indigestion, itching, kidney function, and migraines. Basil leaf teas are an astringent and excellent tonic for the skin, relieving itching. Like most herbs, the easiest way to use it for therapeutic use, is to make a tea of hot water over crushed fresh leaves and allowed to steep.

Rosemary

Rosemary is a well-known culinary herb popular for seasoning, soups, stews, meat, and fish.
It is ideal to grow in east Texas, as this perennial withstands all elements of summer heat, direct sun, and winter frost. The rosemary shrub blooms with flowers in the summer and will stay as an evergreen in the winter. In east Texas, rosemary shrubs can last for up to thirty years, as the temperature is ideal for its growth. Rosemary herbs have many uses such as for holiday decoration, cooking, cosmetics, and cancer prevention.

It has been used for many hundreds of years to treat such ailments as digestive disorders and headaches. Recent research has revealed additional benefits, including the prevention of cancer, age-related skin damage, healthy liver function, and as a mild diuretic and anti-inflammatory to help reduce swelling.

Scientists from the department of Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis, Cancer Research Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences have found that rosemary extract can significantly help to protect DNA against free radical damage. Two of the most important ingredients in rosemary, caffeic acid and rosemarinic acid, are both potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents, which may contribute to the prevention of asthma, liver disease and heart disease. Theses antioxidants, monoterpenes, phenolic diterpenes, and flavonoids, in rosemary help to protect the body’s cells from damage by free radicals, slowing down the production of cancer-causing free radicals. Rosemary is also a rich source of vitamin E, another potent antioxidant, which contributes to its enhanced free radical fighting qualities. According to Dr Zhu and colleagues from the Department of Chemical Biology, rosemary helps prevent breast cancer by blocking oestrogen hormones in women that can contribute to breast cancer.

Oregano

Oregano, belonging to the mint family,  is another herb that likes the heat of east Texas. Often mistaken for Marjoram, oregano thrives in warm temperatures and offers a stronger the flavor as the heat increases. Oregano is an excellent food spice, as well as being good to use for landscaping the garden.

Oregano is also extremely rich in antioxidants, higher than in fruits and vegetables. The leaves and flowering stems are antiseptic, antispasmodic, and act as a mild relaxant. Because of its sedative properties, it is helpful to promote deeper, quality sleep. An exceptional use for oregano is muscular pain relief, as the thymol and carvacrol in oregano work as muscle relaxers on the uterus, thus providing relief of menstrual cramps. It is superb for easing indigestion and other stomach upsets, and is helpful in the prevention of toxic bacteria build-up in the digestive track. Oregano also contains Omega3 fatty acids, which supports brain health and fights cancer causing free radicals within the DNA. An adequate dosage is 2 tsp. daily during the duration of discomfort.

There are endless options for fresh herbs, but if you chose not the grow your own, these herbs are readily available in your health food store in the form of extracts for equally effective preventative health use.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to replace the advice of any physician. Do not rely upon any information to replace consultations or advice received by qualified health professionals regarding your own specific situation.

Heidi Hoke has earned a BS degree in Holistic Health as a Nutritional Consultant, Master Herbalist, and Holistic Health Practitioner, in addition to earning required qualifications as a Dementia Care Specialist from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA). She presently continues her graduate work toward a MS degree in Homeopathy followed by a Ph.D in Naturopathy. For more information, please visit her website at www.life-balanced.org

Herbal Gardening Tips

Compiled by Heidi Hoke, BS, NC, MH, HHP

• Choose a gardening space that gets at least six hours of full sunlight per day, as recommended by the National Gardening Association.
• Choosing a garden location that is easily accessible from the home kitchen, to make it easy to run outside and pick some herbs while cooking.
• Herbs prefer rich soil, so add in organic compost to the planting site. This will improve the texture of soil and add nutrients that will slowly release over time.
• Plant the herbs as deep in the ground as they are in their starter pots.
• Water the herbs immediately after planting with organic fertilized water mixture.
• Apply a layer of mulch over the surface of the soil to help hold moisture in the soil and to keep weeds from sprouting up and competing with the herbs for soil nutrients and moisture.
• Water the herbs regularly with good drainage until thoroughly soaked, then allow to dry out before watering again. Daily watering may be required in very hot weather.
• Fertilize the herbs lightly with organic, vegetable/herb fertilizer in mid-summer.

To learn more visit her website:  https://heidihoke.com/

The post Herbs for Healthy Living appeared first on Alternatives for Healing Articles.

April 10, 2014

Dear Ms. Pierce,

I wanted to write you to express my appreciation for your book Outsmart Your Cancer.

I bought the book and read about Protocel as recommended by a doctor friend of mine. Another doctor also called me to recommend the same book and gave me his personal history of overcoming his prostate cancer.

I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July of 2012 and had a Whipple surgery on August 6, 2012 at the Mayo Clinic. The official diagnosis was “Locally advanced pancreatic head adenocarcinoma, Stage 3.” They also informed me that it had spread to the intra-abdominal area. So they removed 1/3 of my pancreas and 1/3 of my stomach. During the surgery, they found cancer in my lymph system as well.

I learned that once pancreatic cancer has metastasized to the lymph, a person usually has only about 3 months to live. Because of this, follow-up chemotherapy and radiation were recommended. But when I asked about how those treatments would affect my life expectancy, my oncologist told me that in my case, even with chemo and radiation, I would only have about 6 to 7 months to live!

So I declined radiation and chemo treatments and started searching for a complimentary treatment. I decided on Protocel and have been taking it ever since.

My primary doctor was very helpful. He ordered CA 19.9 and CEA monthly blood tests for 6 months and then every 3 months. It is now almost 1 3/4 years since I was told I’d live only six, maybe seven months, and I feel fine. As of now, there are no indications of any recurrence or any clinical symptoms. Life has been wonderful since after the surgery.

Thought you might like to know.

Thank you for your help.

Stephen Hwang, DDS

——————-

This and more stories can be found at OutsmartYourCancer.com

The post Letter from Retired Dentist with Pancreatic Cancer appeared first on Alternatives for Healing Articles.

[ This remarkable success report came in by phone in early 2014. ]

Mr. H was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer called “Urachal Cancer and Peritonneal Carcinomatosis.” He was only the 12th case of this type of malignancy that his doctor at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston had ever treated.

Mr. H and his wife moved to Houston to be close to MDA for treatment for 3 years. Surgery was not recommended, nor was radiation, and the oncologists gave him a 2% chance of survival. Mr. H didn’t seem too bothered by that and the doctor thought he didn’t understand. But Mr. H’s upbeat answer was, “Yes, I understand. But with God’s 98% and MDA’s 2% – that makes 100%. I’m still a believer and I’m gonna keep fighting.”

So they put Mr. H through lots of chemo and experimental clinical trials. Unfortunately, none of this stopped the cancer and Mr. H kept going downhill. Both Mr. H and his wife say MDA treated them great and they would recommend this facility to anyone fighting cancer. But after 3 years of the best treatments MDA could offer, Mr. H was finally told he had only days, maybe weeks to live because of a heart condition and a partial blockage in his intestines. The doctors were at this point, just trying to stabilize him enough so that he could go home to die. Mr. H was only 65 years old at this point.

As Mrs. H tells the story, “The Lord intervened.” She relates how her husband’s niece came across the book Outsmart Your Cancer and Mrs. H says, “That was the beginning of new hope.”

First, her husband tried Essiac Tea as discussed in the book, and that kept him alive for about 1 1/2 months. This alone was a victory. But it was a lot of trouble to brew the tea, so he decided to switch to Protocel Formula 50. He took just 1/4 teaspoonful of the formula in water every 6 hours, every day. After just a couple weeks, he started feeling energy again.

Mr. H is now 67 years old. He has not been back for any checkups since he was sent home 2 years ago with only days to live. He just keeps taking Protocel and living his life in faith. Mr. H. says, “Protocel worked for me and I recommend it to anyone.”

Mrs. H finishes commenting on her husband’s amazing recovery by saying: “The staff at MDA called a year ago and asked what my husband’s status was.” She answered, “Well, his status is that he’s outside mowing the lawn!” They called again this past month – on his 2 year anniversary since coming home on Hospice. They again were shocked to hear that he was “STILL ALIVE AND DOING WELL.”

Because of God, him leading us to the book, “Outsmart Your Cancer”, and Protocel, we truly are living a miracle!!

This and more stories can be found at OutsmartYourCancer.com

The post M.D. Anderson Only Gave Him 2 Weeks To Live appeared first on Alternatives for Healing Articles.

by Nand Harjani, Creative Life Sciences

A number of years ago, a gentleman in Northern Europe contacted a student of mine in Asia. I learned from my student that this fellow’s significant other, a female in her late forties, had been diagnosed with cancer, and was, at that point in time, almost at the fourth stage.

This gentleman (he was both a gentleman and a gentle man) informed my student that his significant other’s condition was, according to her doctors, very severe, and that she was in much physical pain. There was not much else they could do for her. My student suggested contacting me to see if there was anything that could be done.

When that gentleman and I connected, I came to understand that the tumors, which had started in the woman’s lower body, were growing throughout her body, and were now also in her lungs.My first question to him was did the woman believe in the type of work that I do? The answer was “no”. She was very religious, and believed anything outside the accepted medical profession was to be ignored. But he believed in energy balancing and hoped that she would have an open mind. He added that his beliefs came from personal life experiences and he wanted to give her every opportunity to live.

I do not take my work lightly, so I felt that there were a number of issues and concerns that I, as an energy balancing and intuitive master, had to overcome first before accepting this assignment. These concerns and challenges included: did this woman really want to be healthier, or was it that her significant other wanted that for her; and was this case past a point of help, seeing that it was almost at the fourth stage? There were other concerns, but the two preceding ones were my main ones. With these in mind, I informed them that I would need to meditate on this matter in order to understand if I was the correct person to help her, and would get back in touch by the next day.

By the following day, the conclusion was to move forward as I had the woman’s permission via her “Higher Self”, and that it would likely take about four or five separate one-hour sessions. These sessions would include: (1) stopping the pain; (2) stopping the spread of the tumors; (3) shrinking the tumors; (4) making sure that her own bodily defenses would “kick in”, and to provide assistance and support for this aspect of the process; (5) following up and making certain all the work was done completely and permanently.

Further, and to ensure that we had quick results, I asked my student in Asia to help with a component of the work, so I could more fully focus on my protocols. Thus began the process.

The first session was conducted on the telephone. Basically, her entire body was in much physical pain in addition to the cancer. This first session was the critical one because if the pain could not be stopped, then I could not proceed with the remaining components.

I started the first session with a question. I asked the woman, “Would you like me to fix you?”, to which she replied “yes”. This is what her Higher Self had said would happen and there it was. As I began, I could sense the fear in her, along with the past life connections to her illness. (I believe that we don’t just positively affect the body in this realm, but in many realms.)

As I continued to sense her fear, I informed her that she and/or her significant other could ask as many questions of me as they needed to about what I was doing. I further explained that these were her sessions, and I am of the mindset that my clients need to know what is going on in regards to my work for them. This helped calm her fear.

As we began, she asked what she needed to do. I explained that I would request that she do certain things, which would provide me with feedback on the work I would be doing for her. For the next forty odd minutes we went through her chakra systems.
During this session, I worked on her chakras, both major and minor. Those forty minutes were very intense in terms of the Energy flow going through her body. My protocol required simultaneously monitoring the physical, as well as the ethereal body, and based on feedback modifying the Energy-flow to suit the work. The Chakra work, I have found, has to do with cross lifetimes energy balancing. This was done to make sure that I getto the problem’s point of inception, the one that influenced the (in this lifetime) cancer. Simultaneously during that time, there was focused energetic work addressing the pain in her body. For the remaining twenty minutes I enhanced and focused the Energy towards the remaining pain in her body.

Periodically, during that hour, I asked questions for verbal feedback on how she was feeling. Among various types of indicators that can typically happen during a session, there were temperature changes that she could feel, and a vibrational sensation that went through her body. Those, and other indicators, told me how much Energy was appropriate for her and her situation.

During the last twenty minutes of that first session, her pain began to dissipate. To her su the end of the hour there was almost no pain in her body. That success made her eager to go forward. I explained to her that her body needed to become accustomed to that energy and wed down for a twenty-needed to move slowly. I explained that if the pain were hel four hour period, we would reengage and proceed to the next step.

The following evening we used Skype, so we had visual contact. With confirmation that the pain had not returned, we began the second session. With the ability to visuallysee her, I was able to energetically sense her lungs, her body, and her feelings even more directly. My goal for the session was to contain the tumors to one section of her body. About fifty five minutes into the session I sensed we had achieved our goal.

I believed that the work I had done would impact the tumors, begin to stunt the growth and possibly begin to shrink the tumors.
Although the doctors had given up on curing the cancer, they were still monitoring the growth of the tumors. Her next appointment for the physicians to measure the size of her tumors using an ultrasound device was scheduled for one week later. All of us felt we should wait a bit before moving forward with a third session.

The day of her doctor’s appointment we connected through Skype. I could tell immediately that her energy level had increased and her coloring had improved. She told me it was a miracle, not only had the tumors not spread, they were contained back to their original area in the lower body, and they had shrunk. This was the result that showed in the ultrasound examination.

When I asked if there was confirmation from the doctors of improvement in her condition, she said with the pictures the doctors could measure the tumors. She said that the tumors had shrunk enough that there was a measurable difference in their size from those taken previously. The physicians couldn’t understand why, and not surprisingly, they didn’t give her a reason, and also they did not ask if she had done anything different.

In the third session my intent was to shrink the remaining tumors. As I worked on her, I asked a lot of questions, that to her were simple yes and no answers, but they gave me guidance on where best to direct the energy balancing efforts. I also made sure that all her chakras, all the way down to the minor ones were clean.

Her next doctor’s appointment was three weeks after our third session. The next evening after her medical appointment, we met on Skype for our fourth session. During this session, she told me that the tests showed no tumors. Thinking their machine was malfunctioning the doctor had moved her — still no tumors.to a different machine and ad the tests redone From our first phone conversation, when I had observed an energetic sense of death within her, to her fourth session, her life force had come back. During that session, I once again, went through her physical and ethereal bodies making sure that he cancer was “gone”, and that there were no further energetic connections remaining that might bring the cancerback. If there were any such energetic connections to her ethereal body, then that would have meant the energy balancing had not been completed, and then the cancer could therefore return again. This was a very humbling experience for me. We kept in touch for about a two year period, during which there were no signs of cancer returning within her.

a Creative Life Sciences, LLC article.  www.creativelifesciences.com | 800-813-5888

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by  Alternatives for Healing Founder 

I wanted to share my personal experiences with illnesses which were caused by such factors as stress, nutritional deficiencies, toxic foods, emotional trauma, and physical/energetic blockages and weaknesses.

 
As a child, I was diagnosed with Allergies, Ulcers, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. For years I followed conventional medicine with no relief.  In fact some of the medications the doctors had me take were making me even more sick than before taking them!

 
My healing story started when I turned to holistic treatments and alternative medicine to get to the root of the illnesses through a combination of holistic therapies, such as Nutritional counseling, Acupuncture, Meditation, Hypnotherapy, Reiki  and other Energy Healing therapies.  Along the journey I learned a lot about the mind-body connection, herbs and food as medicine, lessons of the soul, and so much more.

As time went by, people around me noticed that I was getting healthier, and I started getting phone calls from people I did not know – asking me if I knew a practitioner, therapy or product to help them or a family member overcome their illnesses.  Over the years I collected business cards and any information I could find on natural therapies and treatments.  I was getting so many phone calls for help- that I decided to put together a website that people could use as a resource to help themselves find holistic options to actually overcome an illness or condition, instead of just dealing with it… or masking it. This is why Alternatives for Healing got started.

For me, the healing journey has been very empowering and enlightening, just as it has been for many of those that list with us.  I have heard wonderful stories from practitioners and product companies who are listed with us, who started as clients themselves.  When they saw their progress, noticed their healing, and then emerged so much healthier and happier- many of them decided to get certified in that specific therapy or market that product so that they could then help others.

As the journey continues, I still learn something new every day!

Thank you for coming to Alternatives for Healing.  May these healing stories inspire you, give you hope, and awareness that there may be options to dealing with your situation that you had not considered before. We wish you great success on your healing journey.

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