Mangos for Delight & for Health

There are many ways to cut a mango, and almost infinitely more ways to  to eat it.  In case the fruit is fresh and has not been artificially ripened, the experience is always delightful. Here, on the west coast of India, mango season is just about to end - and what rich feasts we have had over the past three months: plain fruit, mango smoothies, mango ice cream, mango pulp mixed with kokum (mangosteen) juice: you name it.  Some of the best fruit came from our garden, which has only one tree. We picked the mangos when they were just turning the lightest shade of pink on the outside, wrapped them in newspaper and kept them at a relatively cool dry place, for a few days.  When we took them out, they were just perfect.  It is good to eat fresh homegrown fruit.  And the enjoyment of it all makes it even better - and even healthier.  The healthiest eating experiences happen when all senses are involved  


Therefore at Healthy Healing Center, healthy and enjoyable food habits are one of our mantras.  That’s why the subject for today is not ozone, not chelation, not colon hydrotherapy, and also not supplements - but yet again: mangos, magnifera indica, magnificent MANGOS.  Of course, mangos are now grown in many parts of the world, but India is their home.  Some of the most famous varieties come from the western coastal hills and plains, like the alphonsos.

But, why should one eat mango, if not for the pure juice dripping pleasure?

For one, mangos are rich in anti oxidants.  Many varieties of mango contain 2.3mg to 3mg of vitamin E per fruit.  Foods with anti oxidant content help prevent heart disease, even cancer.  Likewise, mangos lower Low-Density Lipoprotein [or LDL] Cholesterol, which is considered the 'bad' variety.

Several trial studies suggest that polyphenolic anti-oxidant compounds in mango are known to offer protection against breast and colon cancers. Mango fruit is an excellent source of Vitamin-A and flavonoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin.

100 g of fresh fruit provides 765 mg or 25% of recommended daily levels of vitamin A. Together; these compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and are essential for vision. Vitamin A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in carotenes is known to protect body from lung and oral cavity cancers.

As they are saturated with high level dietary fiber, pectin and vitamin C plus digestive enzymes, mangos also support a healthy digestion; the esters, terpenes and aldehydes likewise present, help the process along further.

Mangos, not only the fruit but also the leaves, can help fight diabetes.  A simple Indian home remedy suggests as much as it recommends for diabetics: Before going to bed put some 10 to 15 mango leaves into a mug filled with warm water and close with a lid.  Then in the morning, filter the water and drink it on empty stomach.  Do this regularly.  Particularly potent are newly grown leaves.

If you are tired of coffee as your usual wake up remedy first thing in the morning, try this for a change: Cut a large papaya in half, peel it and seed it.  Then cut into thin slices.  Peel and thinly slice a large mango.   Arrange the fruit on a large platter and sprinkle with the juice of a lime.  Eat slowly, savoring every bite.  


Your day will be different, and soon you’ll forget coffee, at least first thing in the morning.  Papaya, mango and lime together are so much more pleasing to the system – and they actually nourish and support you, rather than shock the system. 

DMSA in Mercury & Lead Detox

In addition to EDTA, at Healthy Healing we also use DMSA in capsule form as chelating agent.  This is helpful as EDTA alone, although it is effective and doubtless the best known and most frequently used chelator around the world, cannot and will not remove all toxins from the body. When it comes to mercury, EDTA is actually ineffective.  However, mercury is almost omnipresent in the modern world, and it is necessary to reduce its harmful impact.

One website dedicated to DMSA as a chelator only states the obvious when it says that "Lead and mercury are two heavy metals that seem to have found their way into almost everyone. Lead and mercury do not occur naturally in the body and as such are very toxic. These two heavy metals are known to interfere with how nerves communicate. Meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is a compound approved in the 1960’s by the FDA for the removal (chelation) of heavy metals. DMSA is considered the preferred agent for the chelation (removal) of heavy metals in both adults and children. Mercury is considered to be the second most toxic substance on the planet (uranium is #1) and the negative effects of mercury exposure are well documented.

Meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is also known as succimer and sold as a prescription under the trade name Chemet. DMSA is also sold as an over the counter nutritional supplement in some areas but it is often very difficult to find and can be very expensive (over $1 per capsule). DMSA has a somewhat strong sulfur like smell. It’s chemical properties make it particularly suited to chelate (remove via excretion) mercury and lead, the two most common toxic heavy metals in people.

One of the main advantages of DMSA is its large therapeutic window. This means there is a wide margin between the amount necessary to produce the intended result and the level that could potentially overload the patient. This makes DMSA exceptionally safe."

Alpha Lipoic Acid in the Treatment of Radiation Poisoning

With several even severe accidents in nuclear energy facilities that have happened recently, and in addition with radiation levels rising due to the use of depleted uranium munitions in armed conflicts around the world, the question crops up as to how can we possibly medically deal with this man-made curse.  In the long run, it will affect us all.  Chernobyl, in 1986, was a disaster.  Fukushima in 2011 was and continues to be a far greater and much more dangerous disaster, on a planetary scale.  It was not a contained meltdown like in Chernobyl, but several complete meltdowns happened in one and the same facility.  An escape or a safe haven from the fallout does not exist, although some politicians may delude themselves that suppressing the free flow of information or the ceasing of measuring radiation levels, will make the problem go away.  It won’t.

Scientists first started to look into the effects of radiation after the side effects displayed by the victims in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and even more so during the long nuclear standoff between the US and the Soviet Union in the so-called Cold War.  Governments funded studies because the wanted to know what possibly could be done, should the cold war ever turn hot.  In the course of their research, scientists discovered that radiation exposure triggers the production of the lethal hydroxyl radical in the body.  Thus radiation poisoning is due an inundation of the system by lethal free radicals, which is how down the road antioxidants such as alpha lipoic acid entered the picture as a form of treatment for such poisoning. 

After the first near meltdown in history in the Ukraine, Soviet scientists found out about the usefulness of lipoic acid in the treatment of radiation poisoning.  Lester Packer of the University of California in Berkeley summed up their and his own laboratory discoveries in his book The Antioxidant Miracle first published in 1999. He therein states:

“Exposure to radiation produces a cascade of free radicals that causes severe damage and can be fatal.  Radiation decimates the body’s supply of glutathione, which allows free radicals to severely damage the body’s tissues and organs.  Several antioxidant compounds have been used to treat radiation damage, with varying degrees of effectiveness.  In fact, virtually every army in the world equips its soldiers with anti-radiation drugs that are similar in molecular structure to two antioxidants – glutathione and alpha lipoic acid.  Recently, researchers at the Russian Institute of Pediatric Hematology and the Vitamin Research Institute in Moscow have found that lipoic acid may prove to be one of the most effective anti-radiation treatments to date.”

“Radiation is so deadly that when animals are exposed to high levels of radiation, only 35 percent of them will survive.  Lipoic acid is so powerful that if the animals are treated with lipoic acid before exposure, the survival rate increases to 90 percent.  Although we don’t know precisely why more mice survive, I suspect it is because of lipoic acid’s ability to boost the immune system, enhancing the body’s ability to fight against disease generated by free radicals.”

“Fortunately, most of us have never been exposed to lethal levels of radiation, but accidents do happen.  The near-meltdown of a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 led to radioactive fallout and massive soil contamination in the surrounding area.  People who continued to live in Chernobyl were exposed to constant low levels of radiation.  As a result, the incidence of cancer is much higher than normal, particularly among children.”

“Researchers examined the effects of lipoic acid treatments on the level of oxidative damage in children living in areas affected by the Chernobyl incident.  The higher level of blood per-oxidation, the greater the sign of damage caused by free radicals.  After twenty-eight days of lipoic acid supplementation, researchers had some extraordinarily good news to report.  They found that in children treated with lipoic acid blood per-oxidation levels had fallen to those seen in normal children.  Even better, the children’s liver and kidney functions were normalized.  Even against the powerful free radicals generated by radiation exposure, alpha lipoic acid was able to hold its own.”

Anti-Oxidant Nutrients in Integrative Healing

The following excerpt taken from Lester Packer’s bestselling book The Anti Oxidant Miracle is actually already twenty years old as it was written in 1992, but it hits the point home that I am trying to make, and elegantly; more elegantly perhaps than most of the more recent publications.  After all, throughout his teaching and writing career at Packer Labs at the University of California in Berkeley, Lester Packer was and still is worldwide the leading authority on anti oxidant nutrients.  He is an eloquent speaker, yet very matter of fact, and so is his writing.  Very few scientists share the same communicative abilities, and with these, he can teach us much.  Unfortunately, too few doctors know about his work – or about the role of nutrition and micronutrients in maintaining health and preventing disease.

The fact is and increasingly so that, in the present day environment, the human body has to suffer the onslaught of more and more free radicals due to pollutants in air and water – and, the food that we eat.  Although our life expectancy is higher than that of our forefathers, very often today, the quality of life drastically diminishes in our waning years.  We do not really live longer, in the true sense of the word – in many cases we only vegetate longer.

However, with the right kind of preventive measures, it is now possible to live a long, high quality life in a strong vigorous body – as the ancient Greeks used to say’ “To die as young as possible as old as possible.”  Which is definitely one of the goals that integrative medicine wants to achieve for its patients.

Given the amount of available data from research that has already been done, there is no explanation for the lack of knowledge in general medical circles, regarding  the beneficial effects that anti oxidant nutrients have on the body in general, and on slowing down the aging process in the cells, in particular.

In June 1992, I helped organize a meeting of seventeen of the world’s leading scientists at the village of Saas Fee, Switzerland, where the air is crystal clear and the skiing is magnificent even in June.  In that idyllic environment, this group of researchers, who have dedicated their professional lives to studying antioxidant and free radical biology, examined and celebrated some startling new discoveries about the role of anti oxidants and free radicals in the prevention and treatment of many chronic and degenerative diseases.

In the Saas Fee meeting, we studied the overwhelming body of evidence that shows that if used strategically, antioxidants can help maintain health and vigor well into our seventh, eighth and ninth decades, and perhaps even longer.  With great excitement we listened, as our colleagues reported on groundbreaking research that will profoundly affect the way medicine will be practiced in the twenty-first century, which is right around the corner.  Eager to generate greater scientific and public interest in the field of anti oxidants, eight of the conference participants (including me) composed and affixed our signatures to a document we called the “Saas Fee Declaration”.  The essence of the declaration is that the scientific evidence that anti oxidants play a pivotal role in maintaining health and preventing disease is now overwhelming and incontrovertible, and that scientists, health care professionals and government have a duty to inform the public about this.

After the meeting, we circulated the “Saas Fee Declaration” among our colleagues around the world, and it has since been signed by hundreds of others.  In fact, the response of the international scientific community has been so overwhelming that we have run out of room for signatures!   I would like to share the “Saas Fee Declaration” with you here so that you can begin to understand what the excitement is all about.

Saas Fee Declaration

On the Significance of Anti oxidant Nutrients in Preventive Medicine

1.     The intensive research on free radicals of the past fifteen years by scientists worldwide has lead to the statement in 1992 that anti oxidant nutrients may have major significance in the prevention of a number of diseases.  These include cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, some forms of cancer, and several other disorders, many of which may be age-related.

2.     There is now general agreement that there is a need for further work at the fundamental scientific level, as well as in large-scale randomized trials and in clinical medicine, which can be expected to lead to more precise information being made available.

3.     The major objective of this work is the prevention of disease.  This may be achieved by the use of anti oxidants, which are natural physiological substances.  The strategy should be to achieve optimal intakes of these anti oxidant nutrients as part of preventive medicine.

4.     It is quite clear that many environmental sources of free radicals exist […] such as forms of radiation, smog, dust and other atmospheric pollutants.  The optimal intake of anti oxidants provides a preventive measure against these hazards.

5.     There is a great need for improvement in public awareness of the potential preventive benefits of anti oxidant nutrient intake.  There is overwhelming evidence that the anti oxidant nutrients such as vitamin E, vitamin C, carotenoids, alpha-lipoic acid, and others are safe even at high levels of intake.

6.     Moreover, there is now substantial agreement that governmental agencies, health professionals and media should promote information transfer to the general public, particularly when evidence exists that benefits for human health and public expenditure are overwhelming.

Igor Afanas’ev, Moscow, Russia

Julie E. Burning, Harvard, USA

Anthony T. Diplock, London, England

Charles H. Hennekens, Harvard,USA

Bodo Kucklinski, Rostock, Germany

Mathilde Maiorino, Padua, Italy,

Lester Packer, Berkeley, USA

Mulchand S. Patel, Cleveland, USA

Karlhinz Schmidt, Tuebingen, Germany

Clincal Effects of Ozone Therapy According to the State Medical Academy, Nizhny Novgorod, Part II

This two-part post was written and published with the sole intent to dissolve any doubts regarding the sufficiency of the amount of research material presently available on ozone therapy.  Plenty of research has been done, especially in the last 25-year period, in the course of which the world has seen more virulent viruses emerge almost in regular intervals – as well as mutations of existing viruses.  Naturally, much more research could have been completed, as the motivation for it clearly existed, were it not for the forces motivated to sabotage any such attempts, especially in the English- speaking world. 

This does not change one iota of the truth that by now, we basically know how ozone works, why it works – and why for some pathologies it is such effective medicine.  Many good things in this world are open secrets, even if only relatively few people know about them.  The clinical and therapeutic effects of ozone are among these.  The ignorance of the many does not prove the proven insights of the few wrong.

So, now lets get back to Oleg Maslennikov’s, Claudia Kontorshchikova’s and Irina Gribkova’s wonderful ‘Ozone Health Manual’, 39-pages short, but filled with very valuable and condensed research information.  Besides the list of four effects mentioned in Part I of our post, ozone has four additional clinical effects.  They are:

·      “Activation of oxygen-dependent physiological processes – Ozone doses, however low they are, cause an increase in free and dissolved blood oxygen, with rapid intensification of enzymes that catalyze aerobic oxidation of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, with formation of ATP energy substrate.  Of great significance in this, is the mitochodrian activation of H-ATP-ase, responsible for conjugation of respiratory processes and oxidative phosphorylation resulting in ATP-synthesis.

·      Optimization of pro- and anti-oxidant systems – This is regarded as one of the main effects of systemic ozone therapy.  It happens through ozone’s impact on cell membranes and bringing to balance the levels f lipid per-oxidation products and of the antioxidant defense system. In response to ozone, there occurs the compensatory increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes-superoxidismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathio-peroxidase.  Due to restored aerobic metabolic reactions there is the accumulation of NADH2 and NADH2_ , which function as proton donors to restore the oxidized components of the non-enzymic antioxidant system (glutathione, vitamin E, ascorbic acid etc).  The use of exogenic antioxidants with preliminary calculated dosage is obligatory when high ozone concentrations are used.

·      Haemostatic effect – Which is dosage dependent.  High concentrations administered for external use cause evident hyper coagulation, while parenteral administration of low concentrations is characterized by the decrease in thrombocytic and coagulative levels of hemostasis, as well as by an increase in fibrinilytic activity.

·      Immune Modulation – Which is based on ozone’s interaction with lipid structures of cell membranes, and depends on the dose administered. –   Low ozone concentrations promote the accumulation of ozonides on the membranes of phagocytic cells – monocytes and macrophages.  Due to ozonides, these cells then stimulate the cytokines synthesis of different classes.  Cytokines being biologically active peptides, contribute to the further activation of the non-specific defense system (rise in body temperature, generation of acute-phase peptides in the liver0, and, apart for this, they also activate cellular and humeral immunity.  Together, they facilitate the treatment of secondary immune-deficiency.  – High ozone concentrations aggravate the processes of lipid per-oxidation in the cell membranes of the same phagocytic cells, with the accumulation of the toxic and hard products of lipid per-oxitation (malon de-aldehyde and Shiff bases), which inhibit cytokines synthesis, and thus prevent the activation of T-helpers, lymphocytes, aimed at regulating immune globulin generation by B-lymphocytes.  The effects of high concentration are thus put to use in the treatment of patients with auto-immune pathologies such as rheumatoid disease, disseminated sclerosis and sclerodermia…”

We apologize for the ‘medical Chinese’ (or should we say ‘Russian’) in which most of the presentation is written.  However, it seemed important to also include the background information on why ozone exhibits virucidal, analgesic, or anti-inflammatory properties.  Lists of its therapeutic effects have been published before.  But in themselves these lists are not convincing to the educated reader.  With the background information, they may be.

Master Cleanser Shedding Habits and Excess Weight

Soon, I am going to start my second master cleanse in two years.  I am not doing it solely in order to lose weight.  I am going to do it in order to again shift gears, in this case drop the all too common mixed carbo- and protein based diet and go back to healthier eating habits that still will include all there is to eat, but in the right combination.  No matter what some say about it, if you are basically healthy and strong, the master cleanse is a great way to initiate the change from unhealthy to healthier food habits.  In itself, it does not do the trick because the pounds you lose you will quickly re-acquire and then some... But it serves well as a jump-starter for more far-reaching lifestyle adjustments.  At least, that is what I experienced after my first master cleanse last year.

The results for me were not as spectacular for Beyoncé Knowles who quickly needed to lose 20 pounds in order to be a star in the movie DREAMGIRL – and she did lose these pounds; or for the performing artist Teron Beal; or for Kacy Duke who is the personal trainer to several celebrities, including Denzel Washington, who also did the Master Cleanse fast and came to love it.  Same for Gwynneth Paltrow, whose photo appears on google in the context of sharing her positive experiences with the fast.   But, what did they do?  What is the Master Cleanse, anyway?

According to an article in the New Your Times, …”Master Cleanse remains a perennial favorite, a kind of folk regimen that owes its popularity to word of mouth and the internet.  Created in the 1940s by a nutrition guru, Stanley Burroughs, to treat ulcers and other internal ailments, the fast enjoyed a vogue in the late 70s after the publication of his book “THE MASTER CLEANSER”.”  Now, as demonstrated in the above examples, most celebrities don’t do the Master Cleanse because of health reasons.  They do it in order to lose weight.  Then, why did I do it?  And how?

The main reason for me was to use another method of detoxification in order to supplement my chelation sessions and colon hydrotherapy cleanses of the previous months.  I still felt somewhat sluggish, and although perfectly healthy, not vital enough.  I missed my spunk, that extra spark that makes life and work so much easier, and I wanted to get it back. – I had done fasting before, but never the Master Cleanse, mostly 5 to 7 days of vegetable juice diets.  Freshly pressed vegetable juices were out of the question this time, as it is almost impossible to get good carrots, beet and celery in Goa, full of raw live enzymes.  Especially in monsoon when the European run organic farms are closed, the vegetables on the market all come from the neighboring state of Karnataka and are therefore devoid of important nutritional value when you buy them.  They are simply already too old for juice fasting.  In the rainy season, carrots are also often slightly rotten at the core.

The Master Cleanse offered an easy alternative.  All I had to do was prepare three times daily half a liter of lemon water (2 ½ lemons per ½ liter), add 2 ½ Tbsp of Maple syrup (preferably Grade B, which I did not have and thus took Grade A Dark) and a pinch of chili powder, or Cayenne pepper.  This gave me six glasses of Master Cleanse solution.  According to Stanley Borroughs, lemons and maple syrup are used because they are a rich source in vitamins and minerals.  Many in alternative medicine consider lemons a cleansing, healing food.  Whereas the high sugar content in maple syrup acted as the ‘brain food’, and kept me completely functional for the duration of the fast.  Chili powder acts as an irritant for the bowels.  It is a necessary ingredient.  Drinking this stuff is easy.  In a way, it is one of the best tasting nimbu pani, or lemon waters you can imagine.

However, being a fast, the Master Cleanse does not only require nutrition so that who ever takes it stays functional, but also elimination.  This is the less fun part.  In order to make sure that old dross is released from the system, I had to drink one liter of salt water (2 heaped tsp of sea salt, or pure rock salt on 1 liter of water), first thing every morning.  It tastes plain awful!  You inevitable gag and ask yourself if you will vomit.  But then, if you have a little courage, it takes only a minute to drink the concoction.  Inevitably, twenty to thirty minutes after I had my salt water, I needed to run to the bathroom a few times.  But reports that one has to do so throughout the day are pure fantasy, according to my experience.  Once the salt water had worked its way through the system and expedited old residues out of the small and large intestines, I did not have to visit the toilet for the rest of the day, except to pee.  And as in between the lemon water, I also drank plenty of pure spring water and some herbal teas, I had to pee a lot.  In the end my pee had a faint smell of lemon, which felt fresh and clean.  Regarding stools, they were watery throughout the process, not pure water however.  An interesting phenomenon occurred: Although they were mostly watery Day 3 through Day 6, on Day 7 through 10 quite a bit of solids were eliminated with the water, which means that old stools from the small and large intestines had been liquified.

Some detox reactions occurred.  On Day 3, I was very tired and slept a lot.  On Day 5, I suffered a slight headache for a few hours, which did not incapacitate me at all.  And on Day 8, to my great surprise, the most violent detox reaction came up, which I considered rather late in the game.  I had to vomit a lot of water and herbal tea, together with my lemon water and was attacked by a violent headache in the evening, which, however, disappeared overnight.  On Day 9, right after the attack, I felt particularly strong and vibrant.  This overall feeling that has continued ever since, even now that I have stopped fasting and am slowly easing my way back into my normal food habits  - although I may make a few modifications. 

I feel stronger and more alert after the fast – and rejuvenated.  I also have lost 6 lbs (3 Kgs) in the course of the 10-day adventure.

Now, for those who feel inspired and want to follow my example, one note of caution: If you have no prior experience with fasting, please consult someone knowledgeable, who can guide you.  If you have health problems, don’t fast without consulting your physician or naturopath before you begin.  The Master Cleanse is a great tool for detoxification and weight loss, but there are some contra-indications.  Respect your body’s limits, which are not the same as my body’s, or some other body’s limits.

The Therapeutic Benefits of the Ozone Steam Sauna

The steam sauna is one of the preferred methods in which ozone is delivered, in the context of both pure medical as well as medi-spa applications. It is an affordable and effective form of treatment.

One of the ways in which it works, is by creating an artificial fever within the body. This in turn causes the body to produce more white blood cells. Along with this, the ozone in the steam sauna enters the blood system through the skin’s pores and when in contact with a fluid such as blood, starts to work according to its inherent healing properties.  Other postings on this blog explain the mechanisms in greater detail.  If you are interested, search on this site for: http://healthyhealingcentergoa.blogspot.in/2011/01/how-ozone-steam-bath-workspart-i.html

Thus it can serve as an adjunct measure in the treatment of wide range of conditions such as, herpes, hepatitis, mononucleosis, cirrhosis of the liver, gangrene, cardiovascular disease, arteriosclerosis, high cholesterol, cancerous tumors, lymphomas, leukemia, rheumatoid and other arthritis, allergies, multiple sclerosis, ameliorates Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, proctitis, colitis, prostate, candadisis, trichomoniasis, open sores, eczema, fungus, Raynaud’s disease, stomatitis and phlebitis.  Available documentation menations all of the above indications, and more.  Naturally, miracles cannot be expected to happen overnight.  Any serious condition usually requires and integrative approach and several treatment series involving various methodologies.

One of the great advantages of the ozone steam sauna is that it is by no means limited to treating diseases.  It can also be simply enjoyed as a great tool to stay healthy; to clean the skin of surface toxins, which we take on for example through exhaust fumes, and to subsequently making it look and feel more radiant and alive.  This is actually the best use we can make of it.  Prevention requires shorter time and is less costly than cure.  As a preventive measure, usually three to five treatments once or maximum twice a year will go a long way in maintaining good health

However for the therapist or doctor it is important to observe that in no instance should the temperature inside the sauna cubicle be allowed to rise above the 104°F (40°C) threshold, as higher heat would break up the ozone molecules, thus rendering the treatment useless.

At Healthy Healing Center here in Goa, we have used the ozone steam sauna both as a therapy and a beauty aid.  It is a wonderful tool and very versatile in its applications.