Prevention

Maintaining a strong immune system can help prevent sickness and disease. 

According to Verywell health.com there are 6 main ways to improve your immune system:

• Diet
• Exercise
• Stress Reduction
• Sleep
• Hygiene
• Herbs & Supplements 

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Maintain good skin health by using the following tips from NIH: 

• Wash up. Bathe in warm—not hot—water; use mild cleansers that don’t irritate; and wash
  gently—don’t scrub.
• Block sun damage. Avoid intense sun exposure, use sunscreen, and wear protective clothing.
• Don’t use tanning beds or sunlamps. They emit the same harmful UV radiation as the sun.
• Avoid dry skin. Drink plenty of water, and use gentle moisturizers, lotions, or creams.
• Reduce stress. Stress can harm your skin and other body systems.
• Get enough sleep. Experts recommend about 9 hours a night for teens and 7-8 hours for adults.
• Speak up. Talk to your doctor if you notice any odd changes to your skin, like a rash or mole that changes size or color.

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Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce risk of heart attack or stroke. 

According to Vitalplan.com:

"The most obvious ways to improve your cardiovascular health are eating healthfully, being active, and keeping your stress levels down. The most obvious ways to improve your cardiovascular health are eating healthfully, being active, and keeping your stress levels down.

Eating healthfully means eating mostly vegetables, fish, and poultry, and cutting out processed carbohydrates and grain-fed red meat.

Exercising regularly is also important, but from a cardiovascular point of view, a lot of moderate aerobic exercise (walking, biking, kayaking) is much better than a little intense exercise (running, high intensity interval training).

Keeping your stress down will add years to your life. While you can’t eliminate all of life’s stresses, you can learn to live around them.

Outside of changing how you go about life, reaching for certain natural ingredients and herbs can help maintain healthy cardiovascular function."

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Elimating smoking and respiratory pollutants from the air you breathe can help reduce the risk of lung disease and cancer.

According to Lung.org, in addition to avoiding lung damage from environmental irritants, it is also important to exercise regularly and get regular medical check ups. 

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Naturopathic remedies may be used to treat certain skin conditions. 

According to AANMC.org: 

First, find the cause of dermatological conditions 

"Because the practice of naturopathic medicine is rooted in finding and removing the cause of the problem, the issue of chronic and ongoing “flares” and “break outs” may be less common with a naturopathic approach. Utilizing a holistic, whole-person perspective means that the entirety of the individual will be addressed, not just the symptomatic area of concern. Some of the most common ways that naturopathic physicians approach treating skin conditions include:

Support digestion and gut health 

Mounting scientific evidence has confirmed the depth of the connection between the gut and skin, and multiple studies link gastrointestinal health to skin health, particularly for inflammatory skin conditions like acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Naturopathic physicians have long been aware of this link, and will take steps to assess, measure, and treat gut health as part of the approach to dermatological care.

Addressing food allergies and sensitivities 

The job of the digestive tract immune system is to help protect us from the onslaught of microbial invaders. Sometimes the immune system can become a little too vigilant in its protective role, and can mistakenly start to attack normal food that we have eaten, resulting in food allergies and food sensitivities. This immune reaction sets off an inflammatory cascade that can manifest in the skin in the form of various breakouts and blemishes as well as inflammatory skin conditions like acne, rosacea, and eczema. Fortunately, there are blood tests that can assist in the identification of foods that may be causing the body to mount an inflammatory response. Knowing which foods are problematic and avoiding those foods in the diet for a time can help control a variety of skin conditions and allow the skin to heal

Mitigate inflammation pathways

Taking steps to minimize inflammatory activity in the body can be a key component in managing skin conditions. Moving to a more plant-based diet, avoiding food sensitivities, utilizing anti-inflammatory herbs, spices, and other nutrients are all ways that naturopathic physicians seek to curb excessive inflammatory activity.

Balancing detoxification pathways

There are multiple pathways by which the body eliminates waste and toxins. These organs and systems of elimination include the liver, kidneys, GI tract, and the skin. They  must be functioning well in order to ensure proper detoxification of the body to keep up with the accumulation of toxins. When any one of these pathways is blocked or impeded, the others must pick up the slack. The result is that they can become congested and overloaded from managing the increased workload. This can lead to  excess toxins, and blemishes, rashes, acne, and inflammation. Using naturopathy, one may encourage proper and balanced detoxification  through a variety of methods that promote elimination of toxins and toxic metabolic byproducts.

Utilizing herbs and supplements 

The internal and external use of nutrients can  be an important part of the management of skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and acne. Vitamins such as A, D, and E play crucial roles in skin health, integrity, and immune function. Low levels of some vitamins, such as vitamin D have consistently been observed in serious skin conditions like psoriasis. Omega 3 fats have been shown to mitigate inflammatory pathways in the skin and aid in balancing an overactive immune response in cases of psoriasis. GLA is found in high concentrations in evening primrose oil as well as borage oil.  GLA supplementation has been shown to result in significant improvements in eczema severity scores.

Many minerals are also important for skin health. Deficiencies in zinc, copper, selenium, and iron may result in cutaneous abnormalities. For example, scientific research has revealed a correlation between low serum zinc levels and the severity and type of acne lesions. Further research has shown that zinc and selenium deficiencies may make eczema lesions worse.

Herbs can also play a vital role in supporting skin health. Studies of multiple botanical acne remedies have shown positive results, and several have resulted in equal or superior benefits compared to conventional therapies.  Herbs like Curcuma longa have also been found to significantly inhibit inflammatory processes  as well as reduce T cell proliferation in psoriasis. Studies have shown topical application of Mahonia aquifolium, indigo naturalis, and Aloe barbadensis to be among the most effective in the treatment of psoriasis lesions."

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Men may improve their health through naturalistic means. 

According to Sassyholistics.com:

Basic Health Suggestions 

"Just like with everyone else, foundational care is crucial for men too.  Foundational care includes healing the gut, liver, and adrenals plus working on nutrition, underlying issues (infection, traumas, etc), and reducing stress overall. For basic health  it would be reasonable to recommend starting with gut and liver support. If you’re dealing with bloating, food intolerances, constipation, insomnia, hair loss/thinning, or mood issues then you should definitely start with some basic gut and liver support:

Basic Gut and Liver Support 

• Apple cider vinegar is one of the easiest and most popular ways to help increase stomach acid and utilize your nutrients better. Most people dilute 1-2 Tablespoons of ACV in 4-8 ounces of water about 15 minutes before meals. This helps prep your stomach for incoming food, and it will help with digesting your food better immediately. 
• Bitter Herbs stimulate the production of stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile flow! We have bitter taste buds on our tongues for a reason- we are meant to use bitter foods to aid our digestive processes.

Dandelion root decoctions or tea– One of the easiest ways to help the liver is dandelion root tea. Use the root for longer term use though, not the leaf (leaf is the majorly diuretic part of the plant). Dandelion can help those healing from cancer, infections, hepatitis, and its main purpose is to help cleanse the body.  It can be helpful for hypoglycemia, UTIs, blood pressure regulation, acne, weight loss, anemia, jaundice, constipation, and more. Dandelion cleans toxicities from the blood, lymph system, kidneys, liver and urinary system.  Since dandelion is a bitter herb, it is amazing for digestion. 

Hormonal Balancing for Men 

Women are copper dominant, but men are zinc dominant. Copper is essential for estrogen balancing and zinc is essential for testosterone and progesterone. Men are also at risk for having an imbalance with copper and zinc thanks to our modern world. We need healthy adrenals and a strong liver to balance copper and zinc. For many people, we have to balance copper first before zinc normalizes since copper is a main reason why zinc levels are lower.

Balancing Copper and Zinc

Everyone needs the same basics when working on copper and zinc balancing: work on minerals, support the adrenals, and work on liver healing. You may want to get a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) and a blood panel for copper serum, ceruloplasmin, and zinc plasma/serum to help with determining the exact issues going on with these minerals. HTMA is useful because it will help to show the strength of your adrenals and we can get an idea of how stressed out your liver is too.

Getting Zinc in Your Diet 

Zinc is a critical nutrient that many people are deficient in. Zinc is needed for hundreds of enzyme reactions in the body and is extremely important for our health. It is very easy in this day and age to become zinc deficient because of a few factors. We tend to “waste” zinc while we are stressed, so we burn through it quicker. Vegetarian and vegan diets are very low in zinc, but the SAD diet is also very low in zinc. We need sufficient stomach acid to even digest and utilize zinc, so even if people are getting enough of it they might not be absorbing it well. Although even with sufficient stomach acid, we do not absorb zinc very well. So this is why working on gut and liver healing is CRUCIAL if you want to actually fix your nutritional deficiencies. Supplemental zinc can cause issues for many people. Too much isolated zinc can actually create a copper deficiency over just the span of a few weeks. There are many ways to get a good amount of zinc in your diet (and remember- working on gut is essential so you can utilize your zinc!). You can find zinc in oysters, beef and lamb, wheat germ and pumpkin seeds. Look for the best quality beef, lamb, and oysters that you can find. Grass-fed beef is a lot easier to find these days luckily. 

Herbal Support for Men

There are many herbs that are amazing for men’s health. 

1. Oatstraw Herbal Infusion 

Oatstraw is an infusion that is high in magnesium and zinc, helps with detoxing heavy metals, and is amazing at healing the nervous system. 

2. Oat Milky Seed Tincture

Oat milky seed has many of the same benefits of Oatstraw, just in tincture form. Infusions are best used for the action of the herb PLUS you get a very high amount of minerals and vitamins. Tinctures are more for the action of the herb. But oat milky seed is the BEST herb out there for restoring the nervous system, building up energy stores, and it can also well known for supporting men’s hormonal health (and increasing libido). 

3. Saw Palmeto

Saw Palmetto is a popular herb to use for prostate health. It’s main use is to help with Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. Because it is great for the prostate, it actually can help with preventing prostate cancer as well! Saw palmetto can help with holding onto testosterone better in the body, and it can also support the health of the male urinary system in general. 

4. Nettle Root 

Nettle leaf is amazing on its own and is great for nearly everyone, but nettle root is more specific for men’s health. Like saw palmetto, nettle root is great for supporting a healthy prostate." 

Learn more here and BE WELL! 

You can improve the health and function of your kidney and bladder through the use of certain supplements and dietary changes, as well as specific targeted exercises and therapeutic modalities. 

According to Mountsinai.org:

"Holistic methods may be used to treat a wide range of urological conditions, including:

• Urologic oncology:
  • Prostate cancer
  • Bladder cancer
  • Kidney cancer
  • Testicular cancer
• Male urinary conditions:
  • Chronic prostatitis (CP)
  • Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS)
  • Other lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or overactive bladder such as urinary urgency
• Female urinary conditions:
  • Female pelvic pain and vulvodynia
  • Interstitial cystitis and painful bladder syndrome
  • LUTS related to overactive bladder or urge urinary incontinence
  • Urinary Incontinence
• Fertility and sexual function (male and female)
• Supportive care/Symptom management for patients with any type of cancer
• Musculoskeletal complaints including low back pain, neck pain and joint pain
• Pain and headache
• Cardiorespiratory and metabolic health
• Wellness and rejuvenation (male and female)

Treatment Modalities 

Integrative urological medicine incorporates the use of a variety of Western and non-Western practices and treatment modalities into patient-centered care plans, which may include, but are not limited to:.

• Acupuncture and traditional Asian medicine
• Botanical and dietary supplement consultation
• Diet assessment, consultation and coaching
• Mind-body medicine (Qi gong, meditation)
• Movement, exercise and physical assessment and coaching
• Tui na and manual (massage) based therapy
• Wellness and lifestyle consultation and coaching

What Each Modality Does 

Different integrative modalities are effective for specific conditions. Below is a list of approaches and the conditions that they treat.

Acupuncture and mind-body approaches are effective for chronic prostatitis, chronic pelvic pain, flank and groin pain, lower back pain, and male and female lower urinary tract symptoms such as urinary urgency and frequency (commonly related to conditions such as BPH, interstitial cystitis, painful bladder, and pelvic floor dysfunction).

Diet, lifestyle, and exercise consulting is helpful for prostate and genitourinary cancer patients. Our consulting helps with:

• Preparing your body for surgery and/or lose weight through:
  • Diet
  • Exercise
  • Meditation and stress reduction
  • Body based therapies for relaxation including acupuncture, acupressure and manual therapy (massage), reflexology
• Providing active surveillance:
  • Optimize health outcomes for patients on active surveillance through diet and lifestyle
  • Exercise
  • Holistic treatment of other conditions and wellness
• Optimizing health for patients after surgery and/or radiation
• Creating long-term health and wellness goals
• Offering supportive care in urologic oncology
• Providing symptom management for patients with advanced cancers including:
• Fatigue
• Pain
• Hot flashes
• Neuropathy
• Digestive problems"

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The following supplements have shown some benefit in improving the symptoms of autoimmune disease, as discussed  below on top10homeremedies.com"

1. Turmeric 

Turmeric contains a substance called curcumin that suppresses inflammation-boosting enzymes in autoimmune diseases like arthritis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

2. Ginger

The anti-inflammatory properties in ginger can also help in dealing with autoimmune diseases. It helps reduce inflammation which is a common problem in autoimmune diseases.

3. Coconut oil

Virgin coconut oil is especially high in anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) properties.This makes it a highly effective treatment for inflammatory autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and spondylitis. This makes it a highly effective treatment for inflammatory autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and spondylitis. Coconut oil contains lauric acid that fights this inflammatory and disease-promoting bacteria buildup in these diseases. Furthermore, coconut oil contains fatty acids that promote metabolism in patients with Hashimoto thyroid.Coconut oil contains lauric acid that fights this inflammatory and disease-promoting bacteria buildup in these diseases. Furthermore, coconut oil contains fatty acids that promote metabolism in patients with Hashimoto thyroid.

4. Aloe Vera 

Aloe vera contains lupeol and salicylic acid that have an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect, as well as certain chemical compounds, such as fatty acids that have an anti-inflammatory effect in arthritis. Furthermore, aloe vera helps regulate metabolism. Hence, it may prove effective in Grave’s disease and Hashimoto thyroid.  Note: Since increased consumption of aloe vera can upset the gut, it is important to consult your doctor to determine the quantity of aloe juice you can consume daily.

5. Pineapple 

Pineapple contains a class of enzymes called bromelain that has terrific anti-inflammatory properties. Some patients with ulcerative colitis whose disease had remained largely unaffected by conventional medical therapies have reported remission when they consumed a daily dose of pure bromelain. The bromelain found in pineapples has also provided relief in other inflammatory autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and spinal spondylitis.  Note: If you have stomach ulcers and or take blood-thinners (aspirin, warfarin and others), avoid consuming pineapple or pure bromelain extract as it could interact with these drugs.

6. Fish oil

Fish oil contains essential fatty acids with anti-inflammatory benefits. It alleviates joint pain and stiffness and even reduces dependency on medication in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Spinal spondylitis patients can also benefit from it. 

The use of fish oil also has anti-inflammatory benefits in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, although it does not maintain their remission. 

7. Cayenne Pepper 

Cayenne pepper contains a pain-relieving substance called capsaicin. When you consume cayenne pepper or apply it topically, the capsaicin inhibits the activity of a chemical in your body responsible for transmitting pain signals to the brain. For this reason, cayenne pepper is effective for rheumatoid arthritis and spinal spondylitis pain. It also improves overall blood circulation that further lubricates the stiff back and joints. Note: Although it is anti-inflammatory, capsaicin increases intestine permeability and makes it easier for bacteria to enter the gut, making its consumption harmful for those with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.

8. Apple Cider Vinegar 

Apple cider vinegar is also beneficial for autoimmune diseases. It contains vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) that helps reduce swelling and inflammation. The calcium, manganese, potassium and phosphorus in it further eases joint pain. Apple cider vinegar also accelerates metabolism, thereby proving beneficial for people with Grave’s disease.

9. Cinnamon 

Although it is popularly used as a remedy for diabetes and high blood pressure, cinnamon is also good in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Sri Lankan cinnamon is one of the most potent varieties, and regular cinnamon is an effective anti-inflammatory remedy in the treatment of chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Furthermore, cinnamon contains powerful antibacterial properties that suppress the activity of the excess bacteria that line the gut in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease patients, which promotes the disease and exacerbates inflammation

10. Oregano Oil 

The anti-inflammatory properties of oregano oil also make it an important treatment for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and spondylitis. Note: Because of its highly potent nature, consult your doctor before adopting any oregano-based health regimes.

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