Dragonfly News

The Official Monthly Newsletter of Song of Health
April, 2007

March 07 Newsletter
May 07 Newsletter

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The Healing Process
By Dr. Letitia M. Watrous, N.D.

A patient of mine called me at the clinic today in distress. She had been feeling great after nearly 10 constitutional hydrotherapy treatments and avoiding her food intolerance for 2 months. Suddenly last week her sinuses began draining clear fluid, as were her eyes, and yet she felt good! She didn’t understand why she was sick. Then she fasted a day for religious reasons, drinking only water. About mid-afternoon she ran a fever of about 102 degrees. The fever broke the following day. Now she called feeling exhausted and wondering what was going on. She had never been ill like this before. It was unusual for her because she actually still felt well during the process.

This is a very common occurrence in natural therapeutics, one that has been written about since Hippocrates. It is a healing reaction, the simple cleansing of the body. When the body is given the chance and the power to detoxify, it will.

Healing reactions can take on many forms. All of the ways the body can eliminate toxemia are possibilities. A chronic asthma patient may have sinus drainage for a week. A person with a long-standing dermatitis may have a day or two of diarrhea, and then the skin begins to heal. A child with allergies may run a fever, vomit, and return to normal the following day. These are all responses expected from the vital force of the body.

In Naturopathy, we know “Hering's Law of Cure,” which states that the body heals 1) from inside out, 2) from top to bottom, and 3) in the reverse order of the way the disease progressed. The sequence isn’t always a clear path, but it can often be traced in this way.

A child with ear infections and eczema is treated with antibiotics, steroid creams for the skin and antihistamines. The child will probably also receive a fever suppressant, such as Tylenol. These medications are chosen to suppress or stop the symptom, but in doing so, they stop the action and wisdom of the vital force. The vitality of the patient is always striving for balance and healing. The symptoms are simply a manifestation of the prime cause – toxemia. The blood in the body must be pure to sustain life. The suppressant therapies therefore force the body to accept the poison into the blood, into the cells and into the organs. Whatever tissue is not strong enough to resist the poison will be affected by it. This sets up an inflammatory response, which now becomes deeper than an ear infection or skin inflammation. It becomes asthma. The asthma can then degenerate further into pulmonary fibrosis or emphysema.

Even many years later, this now chronic degenerative disease, can heal. With proper diet, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, homeopathy, etc., the Vis, or vital force, can regain its wisdom. It begins on a cellular level “from inside out”, from deeper organs to more or less life-sustaining or critical organs. So, the emphysema becomes asthma. The asthma becomes a skin condition and ear infections. And then we see the skin heal from “top to bottom”. All of this occurs in the “reverse order of the way the disease progressed”.

Many times during a series of constitutional hydrotherapy sessions patients will tell me “I have this pain just like I used to years ago,” or “I remember that I had this before,” and I will ask, “How old were you then?” It may be that it was 5 years prior…or 35 years prior. It doesn’t matter. The body remembers because the insult to the cells is still there until the vital force can move it out and heal the injured parts. This takes an immense amount of energy. The power behind this can be scary at times to those unaware of the healing process. That is when a patient will worry and think they have to take an aspirin or some medication to stop what is occurring. It is so important here to trust the Vis. Trust the wisdom of your body. It wouldn’t start something it wasn’t ready for.

Even though the healing reaction may come on quickly, it will not last as long nor be as severe as the initial symptoms or infection. You can and will get thru it. Again, you must trust your body. If in doubt, call your Naturopath and you will be directed as to a homeopathic remedy or hydrotherapy to do to get you through the process. You will come out on the other side healthier and feeling better than you have in years.

Dr. Dick would say, “ It takes a month of healing for every year you have had the condition.” This can be accelerated by constitutional hydrotherapy which “changes the very constitution of the cells,” according to Dr. O.G. Carroll.

You can heal. You will heal. Don’t be afraid of the power of your intelligently designed body. A fever is the cure.

In Health,
Dr. Letitia Watrous
4/1/07

SHARING EXPERIENCES
By Sandra Strom, CEO

The Grieving Process - Giving up what we love to eat - A New lifestyle

“Please Doctor, don’t tell me I can’t have potatoes.”

“Potatoes,” he replied.

What a shock! Might as well have euthanized me. Life as I knew it was over. Oh, but that wasn’t all. “You can’t have fruit with sugar either,” he finished.

I was doomed. I wouldn’t get well if I continued to maintain the eating lifestyle to which I was accustomed and I was sure I would die from starvation if I listened to him.

That was in the late ‘70’s; “the good doctor” was Dr. Harold Dick, N.D. in Spokane, Washington, who had worked with Dr. Otis G. Carroll, perfecting the now infamous Carroll Food Intolerance Test.

I became a classic case of suffering through the Grieving Process:

First I went into denial. I just did not want to accept that I had to give up what I loved and I didn’t want life getting any harder for me than it already was. I didn’t know how to live without potatoes and strawberry cream pie.
I believe there should be a twelve-step group for people who learn of their food intolerances. “Hi, I’m Sandy and I’m a recovering food intolerant person.” The old-timers can support and teach the newcomers how to live food-intolerant-free.
I had to admit I was powerless over potatoes and my life had become unmanageable.

Then I got really angry and stayed there for quite a while. How could Creator do this to me? How could potatoes do this to me after making me love them so much? It was all the doctor’s fault. How come he didn’t make it easier for me? I went into withdrawal, detoxing from my “drug,” and because I was “hurting” I threw fits of anger – look out husband, kids, mother and father…and friends. I stomped around like a child and fought the entire concept of needing to change. I had choices but I hated all of them: Continue to eat the foods I was intolerant to and continue feeling lousy, or change and feel lousy. No matter which way I turned, life was lousy.

I also carried resentments, mostly against potatoes. I was really miserable…and scared. Fear of change was driving me insane. I was scared I would fail. What if…I couldn’t do it? What if…I accidentally ate the dad-gum stuff? The what ifs were innumerable. I was stuck in my own mire. Dr. Dick had given me tools for recovery: A list of foods that contained my personal poison, possible substitutes, hydrotherapy treatments to release the toxins, and so on. All I had to do was give in. So simple – not so easy.

I tried to bargain with Creator, begging for mercy. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Help me and I’ll be good to my family, I’ll stop yelling, I’ll pray more. Then the prayers turned to “help me to get well.” It was all pretty much about me at this point.

I found myself going through states of depression. I was giving up, too tired to fight anymore, but there wasn’t one thing about this predicament that I liked. I wanted to run away, mostly from myself. I felt alone, weird and unable to go to a restaurant and eat like “normal” people. From now on I had to read labels, become a scientist in the field of food, become a short-order cook in my own kitchen. And here came anger rearing its ugly head again, and again. This was really becoming a pain in the…neck.

Someone once told me, “Nobody said you have to like what Life dishes out, you only have to accept it.”

Eventually, after struggling and going down fighting, I came to a place of acceptance. I finally let go of my old, antiquated concepts and decided to look at my life with renewal and rebirth, and then I realized that I was actually feeling much better physically. The stomach aches, bloating, headaches, sluggishness, – the symptoms of disease – dissipated and I was being blessed with the results of self-control. Making the necessary changes and going through the tunnel of fear and struggle was definitely worth it.

Today, after all these years, I still find myself having to explain to family and friends why I can’t eat their awesome potato pancakes or blueberry pie loaded with sugar. My own mother is in denial of my food intolerances. It would be easy to succumb to the pressures of eating all the foods people shove in front of me. But the trade-out isn’t worth it. Not having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical treatment, being healthy enough to do what I want, not suffering – all exceptional reasons for turning down that fleeting moment of weakness. Today I know what is best for me and that’s the path I choose to follow.

May you be blessed with great health, great life in this great month of April.
Sandra Strom

NEW RECIPES

CUSTARDS AND PUDDINGS

CHOCOLATE PUDDING
(Contributed by Cheryl Haynes, Subscriber)

2 avocados (pitted and outer skin removed)
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup cocoa powder or carob powder
 

In a food processor add avocados and process until smooth.  Add maple syrup and cocoa or carob powder and process until very smooth & blended. Scoop into bowls and refrigerate until ready to eat. 
 

MAIN DISHES

VEGETARIAN KIELBASA, YUCA AND CABBAGE
(OR SUBSTITUTE USING KIELBASA SAUSAGE AND POTATO)
(Contributed by Sandra Strom, CEO Song of Health)

1 large yuca (cassava) root
2 Tofurky brand kielbasa sausage
2 cups cabbage, quartered or cut in big pieces
2 cloves garlic (or more if desired), minced
¼ cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. butter

Peel yuca root. Cut in half and remove woody core. Cut in pieces about 1 inch “square.” Place in boiling water and cook until just tender. Drain, immediately return to burner on warm and add cabbage. Heat just until cabbage is barely tender.
Meanwhile, cut sausage in 1” pieces. Clarify butter by slowly heating in frying pan. When the fat has separated from the oil, skim off with a spoon. Return to heat, add olive oil, then sauté sausage and garlic together, until lightly browned. Add to yuca and cabbage mixture. Mix well. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 2.

SOUPS

FIERY LAVA SOUP
(Contributed by Cheryl Haynes, Subscriber)

1-½ cups fresh carrot juice
1 Tbsp. mint leaves
1 tsp. minced jalapeno
1 tsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. olive oil
1-½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. basil leaves

Process above ingredients in a food processor for 50 seconds, until creamy. Pour into soup bowls and garnish (below) with avocado, mint, bell peppers, and scallions. Ready to eat!
Garnish:

2 Tbsp. avocado, diced
2 tsp. fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 tsp. diced red bell peppers
2 tsp. scallions, chopped

A special thanks to all our contributors this month.

Together, we strive for. . .
GREAT HEALTH - GREAT LIFE!

Song of Health Webmaster