Mind Health

Coconut oil for alcoholism

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A former alcoholic who researched a solution to the unbearable cravings for alcohol that ruined his personal life, Dr. Robert Hershline, found relief from a simple, natural nutrient.

“He started taking coconut oil daily and within four days experienced the same sense of relief from symptoms that he got from alcohol.”

In his book, The Coconut Oil Miracle, he shares his insights into the conversion of medium-chain fatty acids (essential to brain function) in coconut ketones into fuel for the brain. Through the regular consumption of coconut oil, “the brain’s conditioned dependence on acetic acid and desires for alcohol can be broken”.

In a recent study review in The Well Being Journal, Bruce Fife, ND and certified nutritionist, stated that blood ketone levels can be raised to therapeutic levels by taking 5 to 6 tablespoons of coconut oil daily.  Consumed with foods, three 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons doses could be consumed daily.

Consumers of coconut oil stress that one should look for extra virgin, cold-pressed, organic coconut oil. Try coconut oil spread with nut butter on sprouted bread or on steamed carrots, added to a smoothie or used in low temperature cooking to saute vegetables.

References

1. Hershline, R. Why Do I Drink?: The Role of Brain Metabolism, Published by Robert Hershline, Hilton Head Island, SC 2013

2. Fife, Bruce. “Coconut Ketones: A New Approach to Alcoholism“.  Well Being Journal, November/December, 2013: 9-14.

Kids, Mind Health

Psychosis – Is Early Childhood Bullying a Cause?

Children who are bullied or who are bullies themselves may be at greater risk of becoming psychotic as adults. Psychosis usually occurs in the form of hearing voices, seeing things that no one else can see and many other alterations in reality caused by the brain malfunctioning. From a study done at the University of Warwick in the UK, researchers found that some children were almost 5 times more likely to suffer from psychotic episodes by the age of 18 if they were bullied. This increased percentage occurred even if other factors such as home environment or behavior problems were taken into account. It occurred at 4 and 1/2 times the normal rate if children were the bullies themselves.

Researchers found that there was increased risk of psychosis when the bullying happened for brief periods as well as when children were bullied over a prolonged period of time. Psychosis is often diagnosed as schizophrenia and/or paranoia. It is usually treated with medication. Some people experience psychosis only when under extreme stress. Some experience it chronically and for some it is not known what triggers their psychosis or when it may be triggered. There is some thought that increased tendency to psychosis occurs due to genetic factors, brain allergies, chemical exposure and/or vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the diet.

This study highlights the importance of getting adults involved in preventing bullying of children and making sure your children are not bullies.

Source: University of Warwick (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/childhood_bullying_shown/)

Kids, Racism/Diversity

For Black Girls, Teenage Behavior is Criminal

From TakePart.com

We all watched in horror, the video of South Carolina school resources officer,  Ben Fields, of the Richland County Sheriff’s office, as he flipped  a black teen on her head and dragged her across a classroom floor as if she were a piece of trash. This because she began using her cell phone in a math class, against her teacher’s instruction.

This brings into question the kind of reality that a person in authority has in mind when a classroom disruption becomes criminal behavior requiring physical force.  She did not have a weapon. She was not threatening anyone. She was not following directions in a way that is pretty typical of teen in the throes of hormonal flux or any child, for that matter. We can think of all sorts of reasons that she did not comply instantly. It seems that this lack of instant submission that police officers seem taught to expect is a central factor in many of the police abuse cases that have been in the news lately.

As we work hard to raise our children and get them to adulthood safely, the school should be the one reliable safe place. It should be the one place that understands children, how their minds work and how their behavior varies with their humanity. It is not so anymore.  And it is especially not so for African American children. More……

Books We're Reading, Kids, Racism/Diversity

Between the world and Ta-Nehisi Coates – Every black mother should read…..

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Between-the-World-and-Me-Random-House“Crazy”….is what people feel when their reality doesn’t match that of the masses. “Crazy” is what many black folks have been made to feel upon entering the wider American culture. In many parts of the US, whites make blacks look and feel crazy because of their denial of racism.

“Between the World & Me” is a new, non-toxic, natural antidepressant. A balm of words, concocted by a master pharmacist of the black experience, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly. Ta-Nehesi puts racism on a glass slide and puts the slide under a microscope that not only magnifies for dissection, the pathogen thereon,  but allows one to verify the feeling caused by that pathogen.

This is a book that every mother, actually every black person, should read. It helps gel those streams of hurt, embarrassment, anger, disgust, frustration, sadness, reactive paranoia and as he points out, fear, that roll constantly off black people’s backs. In more solid form, one can more closely examine them and then toss them away. Or one can examine them, identify them and set up preventive barriers.

Kids, Racism/Diversity

“Carrying On” What did Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis teach their children about racism?

Carrying On
by Hasna Muhammad

(from Sankofa.org)  To see very touching photos of their mother-daughter experiences go to crumbnavigation.com

My parents, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, are needed in times like these. They would join the voices of folks like Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, and Alicia Keys to carry on about the resurgence of police killings of unarmed black and brown people; this Strange Fruit refrain. My role as a literary and visual artist and social activist begins at Sankofa.org, the place where dedicated, like-minded people are helping today’s artists use their influence to bring necessary attention to this and other grassroots movements.   More…

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