Beneful^® Dog Food Lawsuit

A recent lawsuit against Nestle Purina^® PetCare Company claims Beneful^® dog food is toxic to dogs. The lawsuit claims the ingredient propylene glycol and possible aflatoxins (a mycotoxin) may be harming dogs. While we cannot comment on the merits of this lawsuit, we can offer the best suggestion to prevent such dangers to your pet — STOP feeding dry kibble dog food. In our "wholistic" opinion, dry kibble dog food is the least nutritious form of food to feed a carnivore. Furthermore, a majority of all pet food recalls is with dry food. Canned food, freeze-dried food and raw food have a much lower percentage of recalls.

To read more on our "wholistic" philosophy on pet food, go to the following links:

Pet Food Recall
Holistic Pet Food

For a very revealing report on pet food, click the link:

What Pet Food Companies Don't Want You to Know

 

 

Wholistic Video Lesson

New video on how we were introduced to BioPreparation and BioSuperfood. Recorded at the 2013 BioSuperfood Conference, Denver, CO.

Click on video above Russell Louie, Wellness Warrior

LORAZEPAM: Avoiding Addiction, Part 1
by Russell Louie

The purpose of this article is not to propose a holistic “cure” for anxiety and depression or a substitute for Lorazepam. My purpose is to inform you as to what worked for me in avoiding Lorazepam addiction and educate you on wholistic options. Holistic knowledge is wholistic power.

Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine drug (trademarked as Ativan^TM and Orfidal^TM) used to treat anxiety disorders, insomnia, seizures and to sedate hospitalized and aggressive patients. Because of its high addiction rate, it is only meant to be used for a short 2-4 week period. The drug works by reducing anxiety, reducing agitation, relaxing muscles thereby inducing sleep and interfering with new memory formation. Documented side effects may include:

So why is a wholistic scientist taking Lorazepam? Because of a slip and fall in 2012, I sustained a concussion or closed-head injury. The medical diagnosis is Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). My physical symptoms included headaches, dizziness, nausea, light sensitivity, blurred vision and poor motor skill coordination. My cognitive symptoms included, brain fog, memory issues, difficulty focusing, lack of concentration, slurred speech, easily distracted and slow speed of information processing. My emotional symptoms included a high level of anxiety, irritability and getting easily depressed, all resulting in insomnia. By the spring of 2014, I thought I was at least 50% recovered. Because of a family role change I needed to get more work done, so I decided to skip my daily afternoon nap that I had been taking for the last 1.5 years (as prescribed by my doctor) as part of my mTBI recovery. As an Internet entrepreneur, I also went back to my old habit of getting only 5-7 hours of sleep to squeeze in more work hours in order to keep our Internet business afloat. As a small business owner I had been working 8-10 hour days, seven days per week, before the accident. The combination of the above life style changes produced a sleep deprivation cycle after 2 months that I could not reverse due to the above mTBI symptoms. I was in a downward spiral which all the holistic herbs, natural anxiety/depression remedies, essential oils, and even the coping skills that I learned from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) therapy could not reverse. I was headed for major depression, entrepreneur burn-out and possibly a nervous breakdown. So I asked my doctors what I could do for insomnia to get back on track: they prescribed Lorazepam. Even though we follow a “wholistic” life-style for ourselves and our furry children, there are times when because of acute conditions or debilitating symptoms, Western drugs are necessary. We are not opposed to using Western medicine but we always look for wholistic ways to return the body to balance and reduce or eliminate any dependence on Western drugs. The following is my personal journey in how I avoided Lorazepam addiction and dealt with the accompanying withdrawal symptoms.

I had been getting acupuncture for my mTBI and taking the Chinese herb, Heavenly Emperor (Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan). Heavenly Emperor is used for anxiety, insomnia, emotional instability, irritability, nervousness and palpitations. It accomplishes all this by nourishing the blood, tonifying the heart, calming the spirit, nourishing yin and strengthening the will. While it did facilitate sleep and my afternoon naps, my acupuncturist prescribed the Bupleurum D Formula Chinese herb for daytime use when I started Lorazepam. He uses this herb for anxiety, insomnia and gall bladder support when one is trying to overcome addiction to substances. After balancing my energetic body with acupuncture and using Chinese herbal nutrition to counteract the Lorazepam side effects, I focused on balancing my emotions next.

Our sense of smell is part of our primordial instincts needed for survival. Primitive humans needed to react quickly to the scent of fire or a saber-toothed cat (tiger). The amygdala gland is the gatekeeper through which all sensory data to the brain are processed first before going to our logical/analytical mind. The sensory data goes to the amygdala gland where it is determined if this data needs to be sent to the adrenal glands first, for fight or flight, or on to the brain for further processing. It essentially processes knowledge about stimuli and situations that are of special importance to our survival. The amygdala gland is programmed to react without benefit of input from the thinking part of the brain. So, when we experience a traumatic situation, fear or any other unpleasant circumstances this is recorded in the amygdala gland first and then sent to rest of the body (for example, adrenal glands or thinking brain) to be processed. Studies at New York Medical University proved this gland does not respond to sight, sound or touch but does respond through the sense of smell. Through our sense of smell we now have a way to release stored emotional trauma in the amygdala gland and the rest of our body.

I first started using an essential oil supplement called Sleep Essence^TM. It contains the calming essential oils of lavender, vetiver, valerian, and Ruta graveolens, in addition to melatonin, a well-known sleep-producing hormone. While this helped with my insomnia, I also needed more emotional support during the day due to the high level of anxiety from the mTBI. I next added the Stress Away and RutaVala^TM essential oil blends when I woke up in the middle of the night. This helped to calm my thoughts and facilitate getting back to sleep. Because of the stress of running a growing Internet business, I still needed even more assistance during the day. So to help balance my anxiety/depression during the day I added the essential oils of RutaVala^TM, Joy, Hope and Valor^TM. The RutaVala^TM seems to work immediately by passing a wave over my body and sweeping all negative thoughts towards the ground. The Joy, Hope and Valor^TM (instills courage) blends accomplish just what their names suggest. I finally had natural remedies to help me cope with daily anxiety and depression so I would not have to rely on ever increasing doses of Lorazepam. When the benefits of Lorazepam started to wear off in the early evenings, I applied the RutaVala^TM, Joy, Hope and Valor^TM essential oil blends to ward off the negative thoughts instead of taking another Lorazepam pill. To further accelerate my mTBI recovery I turned to flower essences next.

Flower essences are a gentle, natural way to assist with healing emotional imbalances. They are a form of vibrational medicine, created by infusing water with the energy from flower blossoms. They help restore balance and harmony, thus promoting healing on all levels. Flower essences were first developed by bacteriologist and homeopath Dr. Edward Bach in the 1930's. The Bach flower essences are 38 different remedies that cover the spectrum of emotional issues. Since they do not contain any physical substance from the flower, unlike herbal medicines, they are completely safe to use, with no side effects. I first started with White Chestnut, which is used when “thoughts keep going around and around the world.” When this seemed to help I asked Margaret to pick some more flower essences that seemed appropriate for me. I used the following:

I made a dropper bottle mixed with all the above (5-7 drops of each flower essence in spring water). I squirted this flower essence mixture 3-5 times per day into my mouth. Because there is no real substance and only energetic qualities of the flowers, there are no side effects and one cannot overdose on them. The more frequent one takes them the more energetic support one gets. Some of the symptoms of mTBI’s are there are no filters and it is difficult to prioritize. A simple disappointment, like a restaurant being out of what you wanted, can feel just as catastrophic as your car not starting in the morning. This helped me neutralize the ups and downs I experienced daily. The more balanced my emotions were during the day, the less depressed I got by evening.

One of the final TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) therapy tool I used to avoid Lorazepam addiction was daily coping skills I learned from TBI workshops and seminars. One needs to literally rewire the brain to develop new habits for dealing with daily stress. Part 2 of this article will discuss the nutritional support I used to rebuild my brain cells and the horrible withdrawal symptoms I encountered when I decided to get off Lorazepam before I became addicted after 6 months (this is much longer than medically recommended).

Summary of my tools to avoid Lorazepam addiction:

1. Acupuncture

2. Chinese herbs

3. Essential oils

4. Flower essences

5. TBI coping skills