Category Archives: Heart wisdom

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Turn stress into peace and calm!

     

THE CALM, CONNECT AND COORDINATE SYSTEM       

  You’ve heard of the “fight, flight or freeze syndrome,” haven’t you? That system is turned on by stress, or by reaction to stressors which makes you distressed. Well, the calm, connect and coordinate system is what turns it off, restoring you to a state of calm wherein you can sink back into your skin and reconnect with your body as well as your environment instead of fleeing from them. It also gets the cells of your body functioning as a well-coordinated whole once again rather than galvanized, or frozen, in an isolated state of self-defense. This syndrome is turned on by a rarely talked about and scarcely understood hormone: Oxytocin.      

 Produced in the hypothalamus–a part of the brain that coordinates pituitary hormone production with the central nervous system and with what’s occurring around you–and stored in the posterior pituitary where it is released as a hormone to circulate through the body, oxytocin functions by altering or modulating the activities in other major body systems. It can have very long-lasting effects as these major systems work in a feedback loop and stimulate more oxytocin production. New discoveries are showing oxytocin is produced in many different places, including the heart and blood vessel walls, ovaries, and testes.       

 The hormone, Vasopressin–which stimulates the stress syndrome–is also produced in the hypothalamus and is stored and released by the posterior pituitary gland. Also known as an anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), it functions to maintain the body’s fluid volume and balance. In addition, vasopressin acts to increase aggression, hyper-vigilance, and other fight or flight type reactions.    Our understanding of oxytocin and the calm and connection system is in its infancy. Almost all study has been directed to the fight or flight or distress handling system. Most textbooks still state that oxytocin’s only functions are to simulate uterine contraction and facilitate lactation in females (along with prolactin).     

 In oxytocin producing cells the electric impulses do not occur one by one, but in a cluster. When the cells are powerfully stimulated, as in breast-feeding, (or other oxytocin stimulating behavior) the electrical activity becomes coordinated and the cells act in concert. This is part of the reason large amounts of oxytocin can be released in nursing women.  Estrogen can activate the oxytocin system and prolong its effects. Therefore, at certain times oxytocin affects females more potently than males. Testosterone can activate vasopressin and sustain its effects. Therefore, at certain times, vasopressin affects males more potently than females. Neurons that contain serotonin stimulate the release of oxytocin. This may be part of the mechanism of action of SSRI drugs that affect mood and anxiety levels. (Dopamine and noradrenalin also stimulate oxytocin release.) As you can see by the following list, there are many ways we can foster the calm, connect and coordinate system.     

So, next time you find yourself stressed out over something, start producing oxytocin!      

What stimulates Oxytocin release?  

 Giving thanks, being thankful and grateful, coming into the present moment with unconditional acceptance of things the way they are as being perfect; feelings of security, sensation and pleasure; touch, stroking, rhythmic touch; friendship, closeness, bonding experiences; sexual behavior, sex and intimacy, childbirth (uterine contractions), nursing and sucking (thumb-sucking); thoughts, memories, feelings of all the above; and probably such things as . . .   

 Some types of massage, chiropractic spinal adjustments, acupuncture, and other body-mind-spirit based techniques; energy work, attunement healing (Reiki); laughter and random happiness, deep sleep (delta), deep rhythmic breathing, Yoga, tai chi, and other related practices; rocking, singing, meditation, certain types of music, dance, art, literature, poetry; giving and receiving unconditional love; interaction with animals; a job or activity well done, especially if it benefits many; play and other positive and meaningful experiences. 
 
Isn’t it wonderful how our bodies look after us and respond to our every wish and intention!  The body never makes a mistake.  Everything it does is perfect.  We have every reason to trust it.  
 
 To your health,  
 
 Dr. Tony Palombo  
 References:   Dr. Janet Lang’s Nutritional Seminars, HealthLight Newsletter, Fall 2004   
 

 

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Eat the Whole Egg

The yoke is where the nutrition is.

Here’s to the faithful breakfast egg!  I found a great article on the nutritional qualities of the egg on Facebook and thought I would share it with my blog readers. 

You’ll find it at this link: http://www.truthaboutabs.com/whole-eggs-or-egg-whites.html

Here’s an excerpt:  “This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!

“By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you’re essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain so many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients… it’s not even worth trying to list them all.

“In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.

“Even the protein in egg whites isn’t as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

“Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).”

My tip: The harder the egg white, the more work it takes in the stomach to break it down.  The amino acids bond more tightly together with heat, as is the case with all cooked proteins.  Better to eat the egg white raw in a health drink.  The next best way to eat it is poached, soft-boiled, or soft-scrambled in a little olive oil and butter.  Yummy!  Add some chives or green onions, and a clove or two of garlic, and you have a tasty and healthy brunch.  And don’t forget the salsa!  Ummmm good!

“And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg…

“But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through the roof”

Click on the link and find out the truth about the egg and cholesterol.

To your health,

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Miracle in the Gulf of Mexico!

“Where has all the Gulf oil gone?”

I love it when Mother Nature shows us that she knows how to deal with eruptions from her bowels, as this news headline celebrates. 

“Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast. And the small cleanup army in the Gulf has only managed to skim up a tiny fraction of the millions of gallons of oil spilled in the 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon rig went up in flames.”

“Perhaps the most important cause of the oil’s disappearance, some researchers suspect, is that the oil has been devoured by microbes. The lesson from past spills is that the lion’s share of the cleanup work is done by nature in the form of oil-eating bacteria and fungi. The microbes break down the hydrocarbons in oil to use as fuel to grow and reproduce. A bit of oil in the water is like a feeding frenzy, causing microbial populations to grow exponentially.”

Read more details at:        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_sc3270

Comments:

These microbes have shown up in every oil spill since man has been able to detect them.  This wonderful planet has multiple ways to deal with everything that happens to it, just like our bodies.  I guest these things are the white blood cells of the planet.
 
Thanks for the link,
David
Our God is a mighty God and He made the earth to care for itself.  If only His people would heed His council.  We were just talking Tues night about this very thing. 
Thanks for sharing.
“T”
Dr. P.
Having worked for Exxon I’d heard of the microbes in relation to the Valdez spill. This is the first I’ve heard in relation to the GoM spill. Thanks for sending this reminder that God created our planet with the same self-healing properties He instilled in us. It’s encouraging. I will continue to pray for the people, animals, and their habitats, but now I will do so greatly encouraged.
Louise
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Facts about Agave

Oh No!!!  Not Agave too!!!

Well,  just when I thought it was safe to sweeten my coffee with Agave, unfavorable facts about this high fructose sweetener surfaced through all the false and misleading reports put forth by the producers and distributors of this nectar of the agave plant. 

I developed a high sensitivity and intolerance to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) over the years, which very quickly landed me in the hospital under the heart-surgeon’s knife.  The inflammatory process, triggered by the presence of artery-damaging corn protein in my blood , resulted in high-cholesterol production by my liver to patch up the eroding lining of my coronary arteries.  You see, I’ve had a sweet tooth since my childhood years.  With the introduction of HFCS in nearly everything I liked to eat and drink, my heart didn’t stand a chance against arterial blockages.  I had six bypasses in 2003 right here in Fort Collins, Colorado.  The cardiologist and heart surgeon attributed my high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease to hereditary factors, which apparently account for 5% of  cardiovascular cases. My dad and his Italian forbears had it, so I was destined to have it too.  Or so I was assured.

Well, I didn’t buy into this common explanation, and went in search for the real cause. My search led me to a clinical nutritionist in Houston, Dr. Stuart White of Whole Health Associates, who uncovered a food-intolerance related to corn and all corn-derived products, which he attributed to my European background.  Europeans, he explained, and their progeny appear not to have sufficient reserves of the kind of enzymes that break down the protein in corn, just as  Native Americans and their progeny don’t have the enzymes to break down the protein (gluten) in wheat.  If you remember from your American history, the Europeans died after eating corn the indian natives gave them in exchange for their wheat, and the indians died from eating the Europeans’ wheat.  So, depending on what your hereditary background is, you may have an intolerance to either wheat or corn — or  both if you have a mixture, which many living on this melting-pot American continent have.   

Note:  The undigested protein from corn or wheat finds its way into the bloodstream through the lining of the gut.  Here is where the inflammatory process kicks in to deal with undigested food matter, such as corn protein and wheat gluten.  With chronic inflammation comes irritable bowel syndrome (ibs) and Crohn’s disease, which leads to what is called “leaky-gut syndrome.”  The eroded lining of the gut allows protein molecules to enter the blood sream.  This triggers an immune response of histamine production to literally flush the protein out of the blood through the mucous membranes of the lungs and sinuses. Thus we have what are often called “food allergies” but are more accurately called “food intolerances.” Much of what is back of  “COPD”, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, which is really a chronic cough, is a food intolerance triggering histamine production that congests the bronchial tubes, resulting in a chronic cough to get the protein-laden mucous up and out. 

So, the cardiologist was accurate in attributing my cardiovascular disease to genetic factors, only the genes responsible are not cardiovascular genes, as though my body was programed genetically to have coronary heart disease.  It is rather that my European genes lack the factors that help produce enzymes to break down protein in corn, which can lead to inflammation – which can lead to erosion of the inner lining of blood arteries – which triggers  cholesterol production in the liver – which can lead to plaque in the arteries to prevent them from leaking – which can lead to heart-attack and bypass surgery.  In short, I did not inherit heart disease from my father.  I simply inherited his European genes with their shortcomings in digesting corn protein.  What an important revelation!  Thank you Dr. White!

Today one of my associates forwarded the following to me and I found it so important that I felt I should pass it on to my readers.  Needless to say, after reading this, I’m back to using raw sugar in my coffee instead of Agave!  All things in moderation, of course. 

 

Is this Popular Natural Sweetener Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Posted By Dr. Mercola | July 03 2010 | 155,922 views

By Dr. Mercola

Many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer “natural” sweetener. They want to avoid well documented dangerous sweeteners like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but are unaware that most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS.

Once I realized this, I wrote a special report on agave to inform the public of this danger. I was somewhat surprised that the report would prompt such a firestorm of debate within the industry.

A number of natural agave manufacturers and health conscious consumers still proclaim agave is a safe, all-natural sweetener that is good for everyone.

Some have even criticized me for having ulterior motives. But nothing could be further from the truth. Although I do offer natural health products for sale on this site, I sell no competing products to agave.

Rather, I recommend other options such as stevia products. You can also use xylitol in small amounts or glucose, which is sold commercially as dextrose, and can easily be purchased on Amazon for $1 per pound. I do not sell any of these products.

My only purpose for sharing this information is to help people understand the truth about health. In case you haven’t noticed, we have an epidemic of obesity in the US and it wasn’t until recently that my eyes opened up to the primary cause — fructose.

Yes, it is all about freedom of choice. It is hard to have freedom if you aren’t given the entire story, and up until now that has been the case with agave.

Read more on his website:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/03/can-this-popular-alternative-sweetener-spike-uric-acid-into-the-danger-zone.aspx

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Era of Peace

 
     
     Reading the pulse of public forums like Facebook, there appears to be a rising divisive wave of hatred globally. President Obama is a convenient target because he represents government, and people are frustrated with government. He’s also offering solutions to age-old problems facing us all, individually and globally. Half the population like the solutions; half don’t. The fact is, any solutions to our problems only create more problems, as we are witnessing. Makes one wonder about the real meaning of “problems.” Perhaps they are simply lessons that need to remain until we change what caused them: our behavior. 
 
PURIFICATION  UNDERWAY
 
      The hate wave arising in the world gives evidence of a deep purification process underway of the collective unconscious. Just as clean water flowing into a dirty cistern pushes out the filthy water as it replaces it, so is the in-filling current of love in the heart of humanity from within pushing out the hate. Behind it is the cool, clear water of the truth of life, which is oneness born of love. Love is striking at the feet of the biblical “great image” in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, made of a mixture of iron and clay, I speak of in my book, Sacred Anatomy.” — the great imagination we have about government and its “promise” to solve our problems. Why? So that we might survive our not-so-promising harvest?   Here’s the excerpt from my book:  

      The dream itself was of a great image that was fashioned of various ores. His head was made of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron and his feet, interestingly enough, were made with a mixture of iron and clay. What likely troubled king Nebuchadnezzar so was what happened in his dream to this image when a stone, “cut out without hands,” smote the image upon its feet. The feet mixed with iron and clay crumbled and the whole image came tumbling down and all that the image was made of: the gold, ther silver –the brass and the iron mixed with clay–was blown away by the wind so that nothing was left of it anywhere.  But the stone becamne a great mountain which filled the whole earth[Babylon, as you may recall, is now Iraq, and Persia is Iran.]  

 The Feet represent understanding, and iron and clay are two substances that do not bond or fuse. The image we hold in consciousness of government, of our economy, of our way of life, is crumpling, and it is manifesting as a last-ditch effort on the part of the collective human ego to survive, or at least stave off, its inevitable demise. The story as I use and interpret it in my book is, as I said, remarkably pertinent to the times and very worth reading. It’s a bit of a read, but a most engaging and captivating one.

Daniel interpreted the dream as a prophetical outworking that would see the rise ad fall of several empires, including Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire, which Daniel said was represented by the head of gold. There would be other empires to come after the Babylonian empire, such as the Persian, the Grecian and Roman empires. All would rise and fall. The stone represented the kingdom of Daniel’s “God of heaven” which would be established during the reign of these kings and would remain to fill the whole earth after these other kingdoms had passed away. This, of course, related to the Nation of Israel which came up largely right under the noses of the rulers of these empires. .

This may also be seen as relating to any spiritual body of people who are drawn together by love to give collective presence of and expression to the Spirit of God. Such gatherings start out very small and, to the extent they are consistently true to their purpose in spirit, bring a powerful focus of spirit to bear in human consciousness that has the ability to bring about change in the collective body of humanity and in the natural world.

[If you want to read a fascinating story with a remarkable parallel to current events, click on this link:  Story of Daniel  Cut out without hands, an excerpt of Sacred Anatomy.]

The Spirit of Purification at work

This could be a gathering in virtual space, such as on Facebook.   Hate and love do not bond together in any forum.  Such a forum will eventually crumble if it doesn’t clarify so that only love – or hate – remains.  I note an effort on the part of many on Facebook to negate and obliterate the presence of those who bring the wave of hate to the forum.  This gives evidence of the natural working of the spirit of purification.  When something is being purified out to clarify any substance, it pubbles to the surface where it can easily be skimmed off and thrown out, the energy that gave it substance having been resorbed into the whole.   

Historically, when something is passing away it is being replaced by something else. In this case true divine ego, or identity, emerging in quiet waters through the hearts and consciousness of increasingly greater numbers, is replacing false human ego. The false ego wants a confrontation, because that’s what it knows and does best: fight for its “rights”. We are wise to take our leave of confrontational forums and rise to a higher level.  As Albert Einstein reminded us, problems are not solved at the same level as the problem but at levels above. There are those who have the following and voice to offer salve and wisdom into the pool of conflict. 

The wave comes, the collective unconscious is purified of all that hate and fear, and the wave collapses, but not without taking out vast numbers who are caught up in the confrontation. I’m reading in “Three Cups of Tea” of the horrors innocent women and children have suffered at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan . . . and the horrors of war continue. Take heart, for this too shall pass. Believe it or not, we have entered an Era of Peace. Peace is replacing war and those who war are simply resisting peace. Those who hate are resisting love.

Find attunement with Love

The coarser and destructive vibrations do not feel the influence of the finer vibrations. But they will be resolved by them into Oneness, simply by reason of the fact that the finer essences penetrate the coarser substance, but the coarser cannot rise to hurt or nullify the finer.  Attunement with love is the only thing left for us. How blessed we are to know that we have the freedom and awareness to find attunement with love and then let love radiate into the mix of mounting chaos and dissonance without concern for results, knowing that love renews that which it touches.

I rather suspect that those who conduct social programs such as Facebook gain some satisfaction from the warring factors and hate waves that arise in the participants. There’s a great deal of force in hate, albeit destructive. There’s no real power to be gained in it however. There is only one power on the move, and it’s love. Or is it rather that the power of love is misinterpreted as hate? What is love, then?  I have to keep revisiting this mystery myself . . . daily.

Peace be in your heart . . . and in your mind,

Anthony

  

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The Heart Knows Best

    Welcome to Lifting Tones, my newest blog.  My name is Dr. Anthony Palombo.  I am a retired chiropractor and alternative healthcare practitioner from Louisiana up here with my wife to be with the grandchildren and to enjoy the Rocky Mountains and the blue Colorado skies.  I finally left the confines of the office after 43 years.  I continue to offer my expertise in clinical nutrition as a health coach.  If you wish to consult with me, send me an email at drpalombo@bellsouth.net and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  There is not a single health condition that would not benefit from nutritional and herbal therapies.  

The sacred healing art of Attunement has held my deepest interest over the years, and I continue to offer this service when and where there is a need and a request, even long-distance.  To set aside a time for sharing attunement long-distance, simply drop me an email with your telephone number and I will call you.  I love doing this kind of sacred energy healing more than anything else.  I have learned the benefit of using sound in my healing  work as well and teach a workshop intensive in Attunement with Sacred Sound.  You can visit my website for more information. My website is  www.healingandattunement.com .

To visit my first blog, go to:  http://www.attunementwithsacredsound.wordpress.com

Special request:   Please go to http://NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=512 and vote for my book, Sacred Anatomy-where spirit and flesh dance in the fire of creation.  Your vote will help greatly in moving my book toward a plublishing contract with Hampton Rhodes Publishing and getting this important message out to the world.  Thank you, and thanks for asking your friends to vote for me as well. 

Now to the main purpose of this new blog (which I invite you to subscribe to and follow).   During the last fifteen years of my professional carreer, I published a newsletter.  HealthLight was its name, and it was true to its name as a beacon of light shining upon a path to health and wholeness which I myself traversed for many years; still do.  It isn’t the traditional path of healthy diet and vigorous exercise – although it included a moderate amount of such essential ingredients.  My philosophy has always been:  eat for your heart’s  health eighty percent of the time and for your soul’s health twenty percent.  “Soul food” is often more beneficial than “health food.”   It is rather an internal path based more on spiritual values and perspectives than on physical values – more a spirit-based model of healing and wholeness (body-mind-spirit) than a medcal model of “fixing” health problems and issues.

Several fans of my newsletter have asked me – since I stopped publishing it when I retired two years ago – to bring it back, or at lease make some of the best and most inspiring and educational article available on the web.   So, what better way, I thought, than via a blog?! 

Now I need to do a little digging through my filing cabinet back home in Louisiana, and see what I have saved on CD’s, before I start sharing these morsels of wisdom with you . . . but I will do it.  So bear with me . . . and follow me.  (I like that word  “follow” we bloggers use, although I encourage my fans to follow no one but their own heart and gut.) 

Perhaps this little morsel of wisdom from one of my last newsletter will give you enough food for thought and meditation while I compose my next post.  Here it is.  Read it deeply –  with your heart as well as with your mind.

“No, you’re not going crazy.  Life is intensifying.  You’re simply going through transformation — from being ‘only human’ to discovering your divinity — from a state of needing to understand with your mind to one of knowing in your heart.  The heart knows and understands.  Listen to your heart. Welcome change.  Enjoy the mystery of life. Live well!”

Take care of your heart.  Till I see you again,

Dr. Anthony Palombo