Chia seeds are very cool. These tiny seeds pack a wallop of Omega 3 fatty acids, fiber and antioxidants.
I get mine from VitaminShoppe.
A great way to eat these is to mix a tablespoon in a liquid. The seeds quickly form a gel. There’s a tonic from mexico that calls for these seeds in water with some lemon and honey. Strain the seeds if you wish for a refreshing tonic.
Another smart way to eat these is to mix the seeds with almond or coconut milk. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours for an awesome low calorie pudding. If it doesn’t gel enough, add more seed.
I’m forming a theory that foods that create gels like Irish Moss (Sea Moss), Sea Cucumber, Agar and now Chia Seeds are good for the joints and are an overall jing tonic. Of course, I have no scientific evidence for this observation, but it’s something interesting to note.
Try it and see what you think.
Beautiful Thinking is important
It’s important to be aware of your habitual thoughts. Images in the mind can trigger a cocktail of chemicals into your bloodstream. As mentioned in the e-book, ‘Beautiful Thinking’, some women will release oxytocin if they think about a hungry and crying baby. It triggers an instinct to nurse. Growth hormone release has been linked with positive emotions. The other day, I realized that the opposite must also be true. If we imagine bad things happening (the typical worry wort) we must be flooding our systems with bad chemicals. If we become addicted to imagining the worst outcome or brooding over what happened or what could have happened, it’s like having a diet heavy in junk food..or worse. We depress our immune systems with chronic bad thoughts.
How simple it is to simply choose to have some positive thoughts..daydream! It will extend your life. Create happy thoughts like you would take vitamins. Our bodies create the chemicals and tonics we need. We don’t have to get substances from the outside. The Beautiful Thinking ebook may seem very simple or very obvious, however it’s probably the single most important thing you can do for great health and to stay young.
Do we really need to age or are we ‘hypnotized’ into believing we have to get old a certain way? Interesting thoughts to ponder. In the meantime, take some time to send your cells and organs some beautiful mental images.
Beautiful Thinking Ebook Available! Using Mental Imagery for Lasting Youth
Here’s a very cool e-book with a simple program you can follow to activate your mind’s ability to influence your body chemistry to create a state of lasting health, youth and beauty. It’s a simple idea leveraging things we already know about the power of the mind to regulate our hormone levels, muscle performance and immune system. Everyone knows about Norman Cousins and the power of laughter. Everyone knows about the use of mental imagery by elite athletes. Did you know that practicing a skill and mentally lifting weights will make your muscles stronger? Did you know you can secrete more testosterone by certain visualizations? This book gives you simple ideas you can use everyday for a week to align your mind with your body. Try it!
TDP Lamps for healing
A couple years ago, I purchased a Teding Diancibo Pu (TDP) Lamp for personal use. I was intrigued by it when an acupuncturist I visited used one to heat up my lower abdomen and the needles in my dantian area. He said it would help “increase chi”. Acupuncturists have been using various forms of heat for thousands of years to make the therapy more effective. These new heat lamps (purportedly invented in the 80s) are yet another way to introduce focused heat into the body. The literature on the net indicates that this heat lamp using a special ceramic plate that has minerals on it. It looks like this:
I currently am using it to help heal a sacro-iliac injury. 20 minutes into the heating session, it feels pretty good. I’m doubling up with a chinese patent medicine called “Touku Wan” which has a plethora of herbs for pain and healing. A quick scan shows such notables as Frankincense and Myrrh, Cinnamon, Licorice and Notopterigyii Root. The formula, however, is different than what I’m used to in the past. I’m not sure why the ingredients change so much.
I also purchased some fresh notoginseng root. I’ll write more about notoginseng in the future. Many people have never heard of this fantastic healing herb.
Ginger — An easy way to boost testosterone
Ginger is making the rounds as a powerful testosterone booster. In addition, evidence is showing that ginger will increase the weight and size of the reproductive glands.
In this study, testosterone levels doubled by taking ginger:
Ginger Doubles Testosterone Levels.
A martial arts master I knew told me that it’s very important to crush the ginger to release it’s healing potential. He believed Ginger could cure just about anything!
If you are having trouble finding good quality ginger, this powdered version from SWAD works great:
Manuka Honey — Sore Throat Killer
Last week I woke up with a slight fever and a sore throat. Found this at the vitamin shoppe:
Manuka honey is found in Australia and New Zealand and is considered one of the strongest in terms of antibiotic activity.
It soothed my sore throat immediately but I still felt it every few hours and would take a little more.
I thought I would have to make a trip to the doctor for some antibiotic or to make sure I didn’t have something like strep.
After about 2 days of this treatment the sore throat was gone! Just luck? Not sure, but I’ll definitely try it again at the first sign of a sore throat.
I recently bought some raw Buckwheat honey because it was shown to increase antioxidant activity in the body. You can find the study here.
Here’s the abstract:
“Honey has been known to exert significant in vitro antioxidant activity, in part due to its phenolic content. However, conclusions that the antioxidants in honey are or are not efficacious in the human body cannot be reached if its antioxidant action is not assessed as part of a human study. In the present study, the acute effect of consumption of 500 mL of water, water with buckwheat honey, black tea, black tea with sugar, or black tea with buckwheat honey on serum oxidative reactions was examined in 25 healthy men. Antioxidant capacity of human serum samples was measured using different methods: the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, ex vivo susceptibility of serum lipoprotein to Cu(2+)-induced oxidation, and the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay. The results showed that the serum antioxidant capacity determined by ORAC increased significantly (p < 0.05) by 7% following consumption of buckwheat honey in water. No significant changes in serum antioxidant capacity could be established after the consumption of any of the other beverages. Ex vivo serum lipoprotein oxidation and TBARS values were not significantly altered after consumption of any of the five beverages. This study provides primary evidence of the in vivo antioxidant activity of buckwheat honey. However, long-term studies and epidemiological data are necessary to investigate whether honey consumption can exert overall antioxidant-related health benefits."
Ginseng Royal Jelly for Super Power
This tonic was a nice surprise. It’s a staple in most asian grocery stores and I never thought much of it. I started reading up on the amazing benefits of Royal Jelly–the food that makes a Queen Bee a Queen Bee (more details to come in a later post).
After drinking a few vials, I felt a sudden increase in energy and strength. This is good stuff–and without side effects. You can take it right before bed, it doesn’t make you jittery or nervous.
Try it before working out!
Check out this interesting study showing that royal jelly can increase testosterone and sperm production (in rabbits)
Vitamin D3 Testosterone Booster
I found out that Vitamin D3 is actually not a vitamin per se, but a hormone!
Wikipedia has alot of great things to say about this important substance.
Scientists are finding that we need a lot more vitamin D3 than previously estimated. People are taking 4,6,8,10000 or more units daily. Some estimates indicate we make up to 20000 units when exposed to UVB rays from the sun for a 1/2 hour or more.
If you live in the north and/or don’t get much sun, you need to include this in your supplement portfolio.
Pu-Ehr — My favorite tea
It turns out my favorite tea, Pu-Ehr tea, is not only an enigma, it’s fermented! Who knew?? I learned this tea is not green and not black, it’s specially prepared and fermented to produce unique compounds that helps to burn fat! Wikipedia has good information on it, but here’s a pretty good summary:
Good Pu-Ehr Tea Article.
Pu-Ehr tea often comes in tightly packed ovals or balls that is often hard to break apart. It has an earthy favor that is absolutely delicious.
This special tea is believed to improve digestion and to clear toxins from the body, especially when the toxins come from too much drink.
Try it the morning after imbibing a few guiness stout with raw egg!
Lucid Dreaming — The Possibilities
Many people are unaware that it’s possible to ‘wake up’ within a dream and become fully conscious that one is really asleep. While in the dream and conscious, you can have varying degrees of control over the dream. With practice you can fully control the dream in all aspects. For example, suppose you wanted to fly up into the clouds or practice a skill. You can be anything you want to be.
I believe it’s possible to change our physical bodies via a lucid dream. While I don’t have any double blind studies available to prove my belief, my thought process is as follows: If it’s possible to affect positive change in our bodies through mental imagery and other visualization techniques, imagine how powerful it is to actually be what you want for awhile. For example, instead of seeing yourself whole in your mind’s eye, imagine the power of actually being whole in your dream. The mind can’t tell the difference between a dream and a physical experience. If you sit on a chair in a dream, it feels exactly like it does in waking life. If you bump against a wall in the dream, you’ll feel it. Except in the dream, you can walk through it.
The examination of what is possible in the dream world is an interesting exploration of what could be possible in the real world.
The most common technique for lucid dreaming is to get into the habit of questioning yourself periodically if your are dreaming or awake. Eventually you’ll dream this question and realize you’re really asleep.
Many people are waking up at 3 am after a few hours of sleep and taking a supplement like galantamine with choline to induce extremely vivid dreams.
These highly vivid dreams increase the odds of becoming aware you’re dreaming.
Look for any supplement or food that increases acetylcholine in your brain, and you’ll find a potential dream enhancer.
DailyNudge is a great site to send yourself a daily reminder to ask yourself if you’re awake or dreaming. It’s free.
It would be great to hear about your dream explorations here..
Dream On!
Probiotics — For Life!
No tonic blog would be complete without a mention of probiotics. Almost every culture has a fermented food product that is considered a staple. These fermented foods mean bacteria in the gut that are producing vitamins and protecting us from bad bacteria. These “good” bacteria in our gut also provide protection against viruses. Korea has kimchee, japan has natto and miso, china has a variety of fermented bean and soy products. Europe and middle east have yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut. If you look closely at any culture, it will have a ‘culture’ that confers health benefits.
Probiotics are becoming trendy and there is a lot of hype. I’m not sure exactly why we need to take supplements that survive the stomach acid if people have been eating foods for years without this problem. Nevertheless, the proponents of supplements say that you should look for a guarantee of potency through the expiration date and not the time of manufacture. You also want to get as many cultures as possible. Look for a good balance of names with “L” for the small intestines and “B” for the large intestines. You need to get both for optimum results.
An interesting side effect? Extremely vivid and intense dreams. Many have reported this side effect. I think that since we have ‘brains in our guts’ this side effect is interesting and should be studied.
Sea Cucumbers!!
My latest food adventure is preparing a dried sea cucumber I bought in a Chinese Herb shop. Sea Cucumbers are very expensive, slightly disgusting looking, very tasty and sought after for their reputed tonic effects. They are often eaten at Chinese weddings and other special occasions in the East as a delicacy.
Sea Cucumbers can be bought already cleaned and soaked but the most common way to find them is dried. They resemble rocks or what you would imagine a petrified cucumber to look like. This picture is a dried one next to one that has soaked for one day:
Preparing them is a time consuming process. I haven’t been able to google a good procedure for preparing them. I’ve been told to boil them with ginger daily and let them soak all day, changing the water once or twice daily. After it softens a bit, slice them open to remove the innards. The sea cucumber must be scrubbed and rinsed daily.
This is another shot of the sea cucumber getting ready to be boiled with slices of ginger:
I know it looks disgusting, but after several days of soaking, boiling, and cleaning, this gelatinous and phallic culinary item will taste delicious.
I plan to saute it with some mushrooms and oyster sauce!
Chinatown Herbal Shops…buyer beware!
Recently I posted about a great Chinese Tonic Patent Medicine I found called Gejie Bushing Wan.
However, you have to be aware of a big problem if you’re not careful in Chinatown. I’m finding more and more instances of knock offs and counterfeits. If you don’t check your ingredients, you’ll learn the hard way. For example, the Gejie Bushing Wan I mentioned above was about 6 bucks and had a plethora of tonic herb ingredients. I found a two dollar version that looked exactly the same, why would I think the ingredients were different? Of course, the cheaper version was missing all the active herbal ingredients.
Be careful with Shou Wu Chih too. I get a lot of hits for Shou Wu Chih on this site, so there’s alot of interest on it. However, read the ingredients!! There’s a knock off version out there that doesn’t have the full ingredients.
Someone joked that “made in China” is becoming the ultimate warning label. I hope this will not become a truth, however, I’m going to have to stop recommending Chinese herbs if problems continue with counterfeits, fakes, contamination and other problems stemming from greed and carelessness. What makes this tragic is that people turn to Chinese tonic herbs to improve their health and well being.
Nitric Oxide From Vegetables
Looking to boost your nitric oxide levels? Then eat your vegetables, especially root and green leafy vegetables. We always knew eating vegetables was good for you, but now studies are showing why. Roots and Green Leaves are high in nitrates. These dietary nitrates will increase your nitric oxide levels. If you suffer from stomach ulcers, heart disease, baldness, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, certain immune disorders, slow healing or are interested in boosting your athletic performance, then you want to pay close attention! Beet Juice is one of the easiest ways to boost your nitrate intake–and it tastes great.
I googled around found this juice online. You can read about it on this blog:
Biotta Juice Blog.
Try making your own juice with beets, carrots and spinach.
Here’s an article on how it increases athletic performance:
Athletic Performance Boost from Vegetables.
Now it makes sense to eat and drink your veggies everyday!
Of Geckos and Contaminants
Good news and bad news. First the bad news. Be very careful taking chinese patent medicines from the herbal shops. Many of these supposedly “safe” herbals are contaminated with prescription drugs and worse — toxic metals like Mercury and Arsenic.
Read this good article that mentions many popular medicines and what problems were found: Patent Medicines and Contamination .
Now with that out of the way, I did find a cool one that is on the good list. It’s a “kidney nourishing” tonic made from gecko and other nitric oxide potentiating herbs. It’s called Gejie Bu Shing Wan and looks like this:
Here’s what a gecko looks like if you got it in your herbal prescription from an herbalist:
Typically you would boil one of these with your other tonic herbs in a tea or a soup. Bon Appetit!
Pumpkin Seed Powder — What?
I found an interesting tonic in a local supermarket. It was a bag of pumpkin seed powder. Since it was only about $1.20, I decided to throw it in the basket and try it out. To my surprise, it tasted delicious. It’s a taste that’s hard to describe, obviously nutty like peanut butter, but oddly foreign. It’s dark green in color too. Weird but good.
I always knew pumpkin seeds had the reputation for boosting testosterone and libido (commonly thought to be because of it’s high zinc content) but I was surprised to find that there is much research regarding pumpkin seeds and urinary incontinence and for a healthy prostrate. The bladder control is due to pumpkin seed being able to boost nitric oxide levels. Read this:
rabbits and pumpkin seeds.
Try this stuff out and let me know what you think!
Shou wu chih for sleep?
So, it’s official. Shou wu chih is great for sleep! I’ve been taking Shou wu chih on and off for a long time. I started to suspect that it helped deepen sleep last year. I can say every time I drink Shou Wu Chih I get a great night’s sleep. I’m not really sure what the reason is for it, but it works. As I mentioned in previous posts, there is a version with alcohol out there. Drinking a few ounces of this will definitely make you sleepy, however you should wake up refreshed. Regular wine doesn’t have this effect on me, but shou wu definitely does.
Hmmm, does it contain melatonin?
Stout and Eggs
Here’s a cool one for you..try Guinness Stout with a raw egg. I first heard of this in the Caribbean where it is reportedly a natural viagra. It’s popular especially in Jamaica. However, a quick google search will show you that many cultures around the world drink Guinness with a raw egg in it. I have some ideas concerning why there would be such virility enhancing effects of this drink. 
First, the real stuff is infused with Nitrogen to create the distinct head. When I hear nitrogen, I automatically think there must be some kind of nitric oxide related connection. Then of course is the alcohol content that helps boost circulation. Anything that boosts circulation is usually linked to enhancing nitric oxide. Last, the raw egg is full of choline and lecithin. Legend has it that Casanova frequently dined on raw eggs and oysters to enhance his prowess.
Try it out..it’s good stuff.
Resveratrol — Say Yes to more testosterone
So Resveratrol has gotten a lot of good press in recent years. If you’ve been buried under a rock or just came out of a coma and don’t know what it is, it’s a substance found in red wine and peanuts that supposedly can switch on your longevity genes and counteract the bad effects of a high fat high calorie diet. You heard of calorie restriction? This stuff is suppose to mimic all the good effects without the dieting.
Read this because I don’t feel like rehashing the same information over and over. Suffice to say, this stuff has great potential. Unfortunately, it’s crazy expensive too.
I found a good source of a highly pure powder at this place: purebulk.com.
You’ll find 50% and 98% pure powders. The 50% powders are cheaper but taste pretty bad and are brown in color. The 98% pure powders are expensive, but are white in color and the taste is mild.
I can’t say it’s tasteless, but you can swig it down with some Orange Juice or water.
I have to say I feel pretty good on this stuff. I’ve been taking about 300 mg of it 2 times a day. I think it’s an obvious choice for a tonic because it can not only slow down aging, but it helps increase testosterone levels by blocking estrogen production. It also helps keep your arteries flexible and clear by enhancing nitric oxide production.
I’d like to find some better deals for this stuff. Please let me know if you know a good source for 98% resveratrol and I’ll post it here.
Chinatown Liquor Stores
Manhattan’s chinatown has at least 3 liquor stores that I’m aware of and probably a lot more. What makes chinatown liquor stores special is that they carry an assortment of chinese medicinal wines. There is one popular wine called Lu Wei Ba (I can’t seem to find a good picture of it anywhere). It’s basically an alcohol extract of deer tail. Deer tail is used in traditional chinese medicine as a tonic. It strengthens the lower back, legs and knees. I’ll publish a recipe soon for Deer Tail Soup, which I found to have a super tonic effect on me that lasted throughout the next few days. I especially noticed my legs felt like they had twice their normal strength after drinking this soup.
A few weeks ago, I found a chinese wine called Chang Chun Yao Chiew from Royal King. Unfortunately, the ingredients were not listed and apparently it’s a secret formula. The word “Yao” gives a clue, “Yao” usually refers to the waist (which means the lower torso and upper legs. This is supposed to be a kidney/liver tonic. Since it came from Royal King, I was comfortable buying it. Royal King is a reputable herbal tonic company. I can’t say I felt a super tonic effect, but I can say the nights I took it, I slept very well. I went through a 750ml bottle fairly quickly. I think this is something that should be taken for awhile to feel it’s effects. In the meantime, I’ll try to hunt down the formula for this tonic.
Browse a chinatown liquor store. Many of these tonics come in attractive bottles. Ask for one called ‘three whips’..i’ll explain that one in another post!