Understanding the Healing Crisis

Starting Your New Herbal Program and Lifestyle Change

Many people are caught off guard and fail to understand and interpret the symptoms and changes, which follows an adjustment to a healthier lifestyle. Many of these symptoms and changes are unpleasant but they are short in duration and are a sporadic and necessary part of the healing process. There are several reasons why this happens:

1# The body and mind begin to show changes because the new quality of nutrients coming into the body is of higher, quality than the old tissue. The body begins to discard the lower grade materials and rebuilds superior material.

2# Indigestion, bloating, heartburn and belching usually starts soon after you start herbs and raw vegetables. This happens because your body is not used to digesting these nutrients, which often indicates that you have been deficient of these nutrients for a long time. Digestion will quickly rebuild and these foods and herbs will start healing your body.

#3 Suppressed body functions are being stimulated to detoxify the body, sometimes inducing colds, diarrhea, fevers, swelling, acne, boils and vomiting. All of these were lying dormant in the body waiting for opportunistic times to rare. Cleansing and purging them intentionally, will cause them to be less of a problem to you. This is temporary and is part of the healing process. The body will return to at least the same level of health as before if not superior health UNLESS you do something to suppress this progress. Try to help this process along, rather than suppress it.

#4 Nervousness, headaches, fatigue, irritability and depression often happen when you cut out any artificial stimulants such as sugar, chocolate, coffee, tea, soda, tobacco, caffeine or recreational drugs. You will not get the desired result if you substitute one artificial stimulant for another. Cutting out excitotoxins such as aspartame and MSG will cause side effects of their own. The key is – keep on going until you pass through this crisis. Your body is healing by cleaning house.

It is important during this cleansing to rest and sleep more. Once the artificial stimulants are eliminated, then the body is ready for the building process. The energy of a healthy, well-nourished body is superior to any artificial stimulant.

#5 Moderate weight fluctuation often occurs (either weight loss or weight gain). If you continue the healthier lifestyle the weight will stabilize. Your body will become the weight it is meant to be.

#6 Skin eruptions, warts, boils or acne. The skin is the largest eliminating organ, so the concept of toxins coming out through the skin is easily understood, even if it is hard to face. Dry Skin brushing can help speed up this process of elimination through the skin.

#7 Aches, pains and arthritis will often get stirred up temporarily, even if you haven't been suffering with it for years. This happens because uric acid and toxins aggravate these conditions as they are cleansed from the body. This is Herrings law of cures. The body healing in reverse order.

This may sound discouraging, but the healing crisis doesn't last very long and the benefits of cleaning the body of these toxins and disease elements are vitally important. These bacteria, virus or toxins lying dormant in your body are going to show up sooner or later in a chronic form. You can either have a healthy body handle them on your terms now, or they will come out when it overpowers your weakened body. It is better to go through a small healing crises than a full blown health crisis.

When you experience a healing crisis, there are a few things you can do to lessen any discomfort. Try some of the following:

Drink more water. Water can flush toxins out. This will help them eliminate quicker and rid some effects of the crisis.

Nausea. Try some peppermint or ginger tea to soothe the stomach.

Headaches. Try the herb white willow bark (Don’t use this herb if you are taking chemical blood thinners or kidney or liver bleeding disorders – or any aspirin allergies.) This is the herb aspirin was originally made from. It is great in ridding inflammation, pains and headache. Drink a lot of water to flush out the toxins and hydrate the cells.

Irritability. try relaxation thorugh guided imagery, meditation or even taking some herbal helpers such as passion flower, valerian root, or hops. Reflexology or a Massage is very helpful for Irritability.

Diahrreah. You can neutralize this with the herb burdock root. Also, take slippery elm and marshmallow root herb. Drink more water and take 4 capsules of bifodophilus. Diahrreah is your body's way of eliminating a lot of toxic material very quickly. However, you do not want to lose electrolytes, so you do not want diahrreah to go on more than a day. Or if you have a lot of loose stools in a row, take some of the herbs above to slow it down. Replace electrolytes by taking sea silver foundational health or liquid minerals in your water.

Sweet Poison is a must-read for anyone consuming food or drinks containing aspartame. It will open your eyes to what you're putting into your body and may save your life or the life of someone you love. Don't pick up another diet drink without reading about the "sweet poison." Author: Dr. Janet Starr Hull, Ph.D., CN