The Danger of Parabens in Skin Cream

 

Avoid this Topical Toxin: Parabens (methyl, propyl, butyl, ethyl)

By: Ashley Ryan

These chemicals act as preservatives, extending a product’s shelf life by inhibiting bacterial growth. They’re used in tens of thousands of products, and are found in many cosmetic and toiletry items, and even some processed foods.

Why are Parabens potentially harmful?

Their chemical structure is strikingly similar to the hormone estrogen. When paraben-laced products are applied to your skin, they’re absorbed into your body through the pores, into the bloodstream and may be mistaken for estrogen, disrupting the hormonal system. Too much estrogen can cause big problems, including weight gain, fluid retention and depression. Parabens have been linked to several hormone-related diseases, including breast cancer, abnormal fetal development in pregnant women, and abnormal development of male reproductive systems. In 2004, researchers in the United Kingdom detected parabens in 18 of 20 breast cancer tumors they studied, suggesting a link between parabens and breast cancer. These disruptors interfere with your body´s endocrine system–your hypothalamus, your ovaries, your thyroid—virtually every system in your body.

We’ve searched high and low to find skin care that is paraben-free. There aren’t many. And of the few natural lines that are, we’ve found they are too ineffective for us to stand behind. That is until we found Wu Skin Solutions. An extremely pure and unique skin care line, made with the highest quality ingredients you can find. Many of which are organic and fairly traded.

Keep the Vampires Away this Christmas

Italy’s Favorite Herb and Transylvania’s Least….GARLIC

By: Dr. Roxanne Chabidon

 

Like all natural medicine, garlic’s strength is in preventing illness from occurring. So instead of lining up at your doctor’s office this fall waiting for your annual flu shot, try stocking up on garlic from your local farmer’s market. Garlic has been proven to have strong antibiotic properties. It has direct influence on the lungs, making it a key expectorant in all formulas used to treat coughs, colds and nasty lung infections.

 

Not only will its hot and pungent nature keep you warm during cooler weather, but it’s also great at improving circulation. Its therapeutic range includes prevention of heart disease, cancer, and lowering high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It helps prevent heart disease in several different ways: reducing plaque buildup in the arteries and veins, reducing blood cholesterol levels, inhibiting vascular calcification and reducing free radical stress.

 

Worried about your breath? Excess consumption of garlic can show up not only on your breath but through the skin as well, which is great if you’re trying to repel mosquitoes and vampires, but not so great for your social life. My suggestion is to take some parsley with or directly after your garlic intake. You can also take a high potency enteric-coated capsule that releases its contents strictly in the digestive tract. If you’re using garlic to enhance your circulation, try adding cayenne and parsley to your formula for an excellent full-spectrum blood cleansing formula.

Don’t forget though, that no matter how great your diet and supplement program is, it’s always a good idea to get an acupuncture seasonal tune-up at least 4 times a year.  Even if you are completely healthy, acupuncture will keep you that way!  If you haven’t been in in a while, or feel like you could use a boost, call us to book your appointment.  At 613-216-2135.  WE’RE OPEN DURING THE HOLIDAYS.  Check out our hours here. 

PROTECT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Ginger-Ginseng Tonic

Enhances Physical Endurance and Mental Vitality

• Delivers finest American ginseng extract for
  maximum adaptogenic effects
• Endurance effects enhanced by ginger’s synergistic phytonutrients
• Appropriate extracts for daily tonic support

Ginger offers numerous health benefits that have been demonstrated both historically and scientifically. Because ginger contains 180 times the protein digesting power of papaya, and stimulates fat digesting bile as well as the growth of healthy intestinal flora, ginger restores balance and potentiates proper digestive function.* These benefits contribute to ginger’s ability to enhance the utilization of other dietary supplements and herbs. Additionally, ginger contains at least 12 antioxidant compounds and recent research in India, Denmark and Japan suggests that ginger modulates prostaglandins thereby promoting circulatory health and balancing the inflammatory process. Our ginger juice is a full spectrum, organic extract from ginger grown on a farm in Costa Rica.

Honey, one of nature’s best energy foods with soothing properties, forms a perfect combination with ginger. Our honey is low-heated to optimize preservation, enzymes and flavor.

Call us today to get your immune shield tonic at 613-216-2135

Winter and Your Kidneys

The kidneys are associated with the winter according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  The kidneys store what is called “essence”.  This essence is what keeps your whole body going.  Picture it like battery juice.   According to TCM, each organ has an emotion connected to it.  For the kidneys it’s fear and fright.  Too much fear can injure the kidneys, and too much fear during the winter time can injure them even farther.

Chinese medical theory is rooted in observing the seasonal and rhythmic laws of nature.  Just as the natural world falls into a peaceful and tranquil sleep as the landscape is blanketed with a soft and cold white snow.  It is said that winter is a time for tranquility and introversion for humans as well.

It’s recommended to avoid excessive emotional excitement or activities and keep our minds’ calm and tranquil.  Although these recommendations sound great.  For most of us, it’s unrealistic.  Not only do we have to contend with busy and stressful lives.  But on top of that most of us drive through winter traffic, which can be anything but calming and tranquil.  Not to mention the stress of Christmas that most people experience.  Christmas and New Years is often a time of extreme emotional excitement.

If you do experience a busy and stressful holiday season you’ll deplete your kidneys’ strength.  Top it with a stressful job, family situations, and winter driving, you can seriously deplete your body.  The result will often be adrenal fatigue as well as weakened kidneys.  According to TCM, your immune system is rooted in your kidneys.  So the more you overdo it in the winter, the more susceptible you are to catching colds and the flu.

Winter Kidney Boosting Tips:

1.  Rest as much as possible – take naps on the weekends, go to bed early
2. Take a winter kidney tonic – such as “Stamina Ginger Tonic”
3.  Exercise – but don’t over do it, and avoid exercising outside in strong winds, extreme colds, and heavy snows.
4. Keep yourself in a happy mood – spend time with good friends, watch comedies, do fun things
5. Get regular acupuncture to boost your kidneys

Book your Acupuncture appointment today.  Call 613-216-2135

Can That Nightcap: How Alcohol Disturbs Sleep (and your skin)

Since sleep and rejuvenation of the skin and the entire body go hand in hand. It is essential that we do whatever we can to enhance your sleep experience. One important way to do that is to make sure you never drink alcohol on an empty stomach and that you remain properly hydrated before bed.

A few alcoholic drinks in the evening may initially make you drowsy, but eventually the alcohol precipitates a burst of noreepinephrine, a hormone-like neurotransmitter secreted in response to excitement or stress. Hours after taking a drink, a burst of noreepinephrine can disrupt your sleep cycle or even cause you to wake up. This not only causes a poor night’s sleep, but will also leave your skin looking molted and dull the next day.

Bone Health From Whole Food, NOT Limestone

 Rocks aren’t part of your diet, so why feed your body limestone found in most calcium supplements?

Evidence suggests that calcium from whole food sources may produce more favorable effects in bone health than isolated calcium supplements.* Similar to most nutrients, the body can utilize calcium much more effectively when it is paired with its natural co-factors such as magnesium and other trace minerals.

Lumina Rejuvenation Clinic  is proud to carry a calcium complex derived from whole food that delivers these key essential nutrients in their safest, most active form within the infinite complexity of whole food.

The most common form of calcium supplement today is derived from limestone. You don’t eat rocks as part of your balanced diet, why would you choose to supplement your bone health nutritional needs with limestone?

Our bodies understand and seek whole food sources of nutrition, not rocks, which is why New Chapter formulated this product with a whole food plant source of this important nutrient complex. As whole food, it’s easy on the digestive system.

The calcium complex in Bone Strength Take Care™ is derived from a special form of plant called Algas Calcareas (AlgaeCal®) that is harvested from the pristine shores of a protected national reserve park in South America. Much like the vegetables from an organic garden, the algae is harvested live and then cold processed to retain its nutritional value.

Calcium must be completely dissolved in order to be absorbed. The plant-based calcium found in Bone Strength Take Care is porous, which dramatically increases the calcium’s surface area. Stomach acid can then come into greater contact with the calcium, making it easy to dissolve.

In addition to the whole-food source of calcium and magnesium, we have also added other bone-nourishing nutrients to complete the food complex.

Vitamin K is an essential co-factor in calcium absorption and retention. Human cell proteins that don’t get enough Vitamin K can’t hold onto calcium, causing this critical nutrient to drift away from the bone. Vitamin K2 (MK-7), sourced from fermented whole food, gently redirects “lost” calcium back into the bone bank.

Vitamin D3 completes the complex. Numerous studies have found that Vitamin D aids bone support and function

Call us today to order yours at 613-216-2135.  Or e-mail an equiry

Acupuncture Fights Colds and Flu

The art of fighting colds and flu has always been filled with contradicting theories, tips, old wives tales, and worries. The fear of widespread antibiotic resistance has many people avoiding the doctor altogether when they get sick. Using over-the-counter medicines to treat symptoms. This does allow you to continue working or going to school, but the downside is that it often can take up to two weeks for a cold to resolve. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are invaluable in the prevention of colds and flu. Not only to help you recover from them quickly and easily – but also to avoid them all together.

Prevention is the best medicine

Using Chinese medicine to prevent the infections of colds and flu altogether is your wisest choice. That’s why during the month that precedes Christmas, it’s important to come in for acupuncture treatments as often as you can. At least every two weeks. Christmas can be an extremely stressful time. Combining that stress with viruses and bacteria that are breeding in closed buildings is a recipe for disaster.

Studies have shown that certain acupuncture points are effective in boosting the immune system. Herbal medicine can also be prescribed to enhance your immune system. When people around you are getting sick, receiving acupuncture treatments and taking preventive herbs will increase your ability to fight off illness and remain healthy. Also, if you feel yourself beginning to get a cold, acupuncture can often help to resolve it much faster.

Treating the bug

If you catch a cold or the flu, acupuncture and Chinese herbs help to lessen the severity of the symptoms and increase your recovery time. By visiting us at the first signs of a cold or flu, such as sore throat, earache, fatigue or body aches, we can give you treatment and herbal medicine that can help to relieve symptoms and repair your immunity so that your body can fight off the infection. Acupuncture treatments and herbal formulas are tailored to your individual symptoms no matter how severe, preventing the illness from going deeper into the body. Also, if an illness is lingering, frequent and regular treatments (twice a week for one to two weeks) will help stop the pattern of re-infection and weakening immunity so that you can finally get over your cold or flu.

Your Recovery

Chinese medicine understands that it is possible to recover from an illness stronger than you were before. Using acupuncture and Chinese herbs during the recovery stage of infection is a good way to ensure you are completely over the infection. And that your immune system is intact and you’re ready to fight off the next bout of viruses or bacteria that makes its way through your home or work environment. Two or three weekly treatments after an illness will help to restore balance in your immune, respiratory and digestive systems. Symptoms like lingering cough or phlegm or irregular bowel movements are common complaints after a severe bout with the flu.

The Best Omega from Skin Hydration

By: Dr. Allan Fradsham

 

WHAT’S THE BEST OIL TO KEEP YOUR SKIN HEALTHY N’ HYDRATED?

 

Let’s first look at the anatomy of the skin… Each skin cell is wrapped with a bi-lipid layer. (That’s doctor talk for a fat bubble!) This fat is comprised of Omega-3 fatty acids. The fat layer serves as a barrier to keep all of the nutrition and fluids within the cell. One of the key roles of this fat layer is to keep your cells hydrated.

 

To keep this layer of fat in good health, you need to take in a high level of Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. These can only be taken in through diet. The body can’t make them. So you should eat foods high in these fatty acids such as fish, flax, and hemp. However, I would say that even a balanced diet isn’t enough to realistically fulfill your body’s daily Omega requirements. That being said, I highly recommend taking a supplement, and the best that I know of is Krill oil (Antarctic shrimp). It has a very high amount of beneficial oils and is highly absorbable by the body. The only caution with Krill oil would be for people who are allergic to shellfish.

 

The main thing that weakens your cellular fat walls are free radicals. Although Krill oil is the best thing to build up the fat walls, you also have to minimize the damage. The best way to do that is by taking in a lot of antioxidants, which help to battle and neutralize free radicals. Antioxidant-rich foods include green tea, turmeric, pomegranates, fresh berries, leafy greens, and other brightly coloured vegetables and fruits. But again, it’s hard to get a high enough dose to really help with serious free radical damage, so a supplement is very beneficial to help you get the levels of antioxidants that you require.

At Lumina, we have a few that we have found to be of very high quality, and we’re happy to tell you about them if you’re interested in finding out more. Call us at 613-216-2135

Microcurrent Facial Rejuvenation

Microcurrent Facial Rejuvenation is a revolutionary anti-aging treatment that’s exploding across North America. Already mainstream in Europe, Hollywood celebrities are now embracing it due to its remarkable results, all of which are achieved without invasive methods and are free of pain, downtime, or harmful side effects.

 

In fact, more celebrities than ever are publicly confessing to be regular clients of this natural anti-aging treatment. The list includes Goldie Hawn, Jamie-Lee Curtis, Mel Gibson, Liv Tyler, Meryl Streep, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelly Ripa, Sandra Bullock, Susan Sarandon, Rene Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jane Fonda, Kate Winslett, and many more.

 

This technology is inherently based on the science of traditional Chinese medicine. It involves the delivery of a microcurrent into the face and body through specially designed conducting wands that are applied at specific areas using specialized techniques. The treatment is described as wonderfully relaxing and euphoric, causes no pain or swelling, and the age-defying results are immediate and remarkable.

 

Not to be confused with microwaves, Microcurrent is a form of electricity measured in one-millionth of an ampere. It’s the closest known electrical current that can be delivered on a nearly identical level as the electrical current naturally produced by the human body. There is absolutely no pain. Microcurrent has been traditionally used in the medical field for over 60 years and is physiologically safe and free of harmful side effects.

Treatments cost from $95 to $145

The Power of Pears

By: Dr. Blaise Ryan

 

Pears are the best fruit to eat in the fall. In Chinese medicine, autumn is the dry season, and it’s associated with the lungs, your skin, hair and large intestine. And when the humidity drops and the air becomes drier, your lungs, skin, hair and large intestine are the first to be negatively affected. That’s why it’s common for people to experience dry throats, coughing , allergies, dry lips, constipation, dandruff, and dry skin during the fall.

 

Pears are incredibly moistening and rehydrating, and according to Chinese medicine, they moisten and nourish your lungs primarily. They are also cooling in nature, which means they are good at reducing inflammation. And as you may or may not know, inflammation is one of the main causes of aging and wrinkles, not to mention 95% of all health problems.

 

So eat a lot of pears. The juicier the better. If you’re feeling dry – dry skin, throat, eyes, nose–then eat 3-5 pears per day. This is especially the case if you get a dry cough – just keep eating them! You can eat them raw or even steam them. When they’re raw, they’re better for reducing inflammation, and when they’re steamed, they’re better at hydrating your body.

 

A few more moistening and hydrating autumn foods are:

· Rice or oat gruel, sesame seeds, carrots, soy milk, weak green tea, and sweet potatoes. Also, ask one of your Lumina doctors for a special fall herbal tonic to help you prepare for the approaching winter.