An Alternative Approach to Autoimmune Diseases

An Alternative Approach to Autoimmune Diseases

An autoimmune disease is due to a dysfunctional immune system that attacks its own cells, mistaking them for foreign invaders. For example, an autoantibody attack on the receptor responsible for the communication between the nervous system and voluntary muscles triggers the onset of myasthenia gravis, which is one of the many autoimmune diseases. One of the hallmark characteristics of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness, which results from the miscommunication of the nervous system and voluntary muscles.

Any autoimmune disease is problematic in that its cause is relatively unknown. In general, there are multiple causes of autoimmune diseases.

Environmental agents can trigger the onset or deterioration of an autoimmune disease.

Another important factor in the causes of autoimmune diseases is the genetic factor.

Lifestyle and diet may also initiate an attack or worsen existing conditions. For example, insufficient vitamin D from the sun may be implicated in the disease; however, too much ultraviolet from the sun may not be beneficial to the immune system. A diet rich in gluten, which is a protein, may cause inflammation in the small intestine, resulting in pain, and thus blocking the absorption of nutrients.

According to conventional medicine, there is no cure an autoimmune disease because it is caused by not just one factor but a combination of several factors. Due to the complexity of the disease, it is important to have a holistic approach to treating the autoimmune diseases. Using medications alone is an inadequate approach to autoimmune diseases. 

A holistic approach means an alternative approach to disease. In the past two decades, many people have sought alternative medicine after they have exhausted all treatments of conventional medicine with respect to autoimmune diseases. Thousands of research studies on plant nutrients and herbs, and vitamins and minerals performed in university laboratories and clinical settings have attested to the effectiveness of alternative and complementary medicine. 

To cure any autoimmune disease you may have, you must empower yourself with knowledge and information before you can embark on a holistic and alternative approach to your health and wellness. Do not just think out of the box; create your own box. 

Your Golden Years and Santa Claus shows you how to live your everyday life coping with your health issues, especially in your golden years.

Stephen Lau 

Copyright © by Stephen Lau

Anger in Daily Living

According to NBC News, in Chicago, there is a place called “Anger Rooms,” where guests can unleash their anger by smashing and destroying objects like glass or a TV. Of course, you have to pay a fee for that. The room can also be set up to look like an office or a kitchen so that guests can experience this one-of-a-kind therapeutic experience to release their frustrations.   

Donna Alexander, the creator of the Anger Room, first thought of the idea as a teenager living in Chicago, She said that after she had witnessed domestic violence and fights at school as a teenager, she wanted to create a space where anyone can lash out without serious consequences. 

The 30-minute session in the Anger Room, where you could literally destroy everything in the room in order to de-stress yourself is not a therapy; it is absurdity. The reason is that it may de-stress you during that session, but it does not address the stress issue itself, which is the origin of your problem. So, what would you do the next time you find yourself in a similar stressful situation—destroying your own room like you did before? Stress comes from the ego-self. Get rid of your ego, and there will be no stress. 

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Wisdom of Letting Go

The Wisdom of Letting Go

What Is “Letting Go”?

“Letting go” literally means releasing your close or tight fist in order to abandon or give up something that you are holding in your hand. If you are close- or tight- fisted, you also cannot receive anything. “Letting go” is detachment.

The opposite of “letting go” is “attaching to” something that you are stubbornly holding on to.

The Wisdom in Asking Questions

There is an old proverb that says: “He who cannot ask cannot live.” Life is all about asking questions, and seeking answers from all the questions asked, including questions about “letting go.”

To live well, you need to ask yourself many self-probing questions as you continue on your life journey in order to find out: who you really are, and not who you think or wish you were; what you really need, and not what you want from life; why certain undesirable things happened while certain desirable things did not happen to you. Without knowing the answers to those questions asked, you can never be genuinely happy because you will always be looking for the unreal and the unattainable, just like the carrot-and-stick mule forever reaching out for the unreachable carrot in front.

In many ways, the human brain is like a computer program. Your whole being is like the computer hardware with the apparatus of a mind, a body, and its five senses. The lens through which you see yourself, as well as others and the world around you, are the software that has been programmed by your thoughts, your past and present experiences, as well as your own desires and expectations. In other words, it is you—and nobody else—who have programmed your own mindset. All these years, you may have been trapped in a constricted sense of the self that has prevented you from knowing and being who you really are. That is to say, your “conditioned” thinking mind may have erroneously made you "think" and even "believe" that you are who and what you are right now; but nothing could be further from the truth.

By asking relevant questions, you may have the human wisdom to "change" that pre-conditioned mindset, and thus enabling you to separate the truths from the half-truths or even the myths that you may have created for yourself voluntarily or involuntarily all these years.

The important thing in questioning is to experience everything related to all the questions you ask concerning yourself, others, and the world around you. Live every question in its full presence.

Always ask yourself many “how” and “why” questions regarding whatever you may do, say, and want in your everyday life and living. Ask questions not just about yourself, but also about all those around you, whether they are connected to your or not.

Be patient toward all those questions that you cannot find the answers right away. Enlightenment may dawn on you one day when you ask fewer or even no more questions, because by then you may already have got all the answers; that is your ultimate self-awakening to the truths.

Empower your thinking mind to increase its wisdom by asking questions to initiate its intent to learn, to discover, and then to change yourself for the better.

Ultimately, you will self-intuit the wisdom of letting go, which plays a pivotal role in how you are going to live the rest of your life.

To get your copy, click here.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Knowledge and Wisdom to Heal Autoimmune Diseases

If you or your loved ones have been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, it must have been a devastating experience, especially if the neurologist has said that there is no known cure, except using medications to control and manage the many debilitating disease symptoms associated with myasthenia gravis.

A traumatic experience may have a prolonged effect on the human mind: having overwhelming negative emotions; feeling numb and unable to experience pleasure or even pain over a long period of time. The ultimate impact is that it may affect how you think, feel, act, and react in every aspect of your daily life and living.

To heal yourself of myasthenia gravis or any illness, you must be both knowledgeable and wise.

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge comes from how your mind perceives and processes any information available. Wisdom, on the other hand, is how you apply the knowledge acquired to cope with any disease and disorder you may have, as well as your everyday life and living. The important implication: being knowledgeable may not  necessarily make you wise or wiser.

The bottom line: you need both knowledge and wisdom to heal yourself of myasthenia gravis.

Given that both knowledge and wisdom come from the thinking mind, your brain is, therefore, the most important of all your body organs. With its billions of brain cells, your brain is not only most complicated but also major source of all your health issues and problems related to myasthenia gravis.

So, it is important to keep your brain healthy as much as possible in order to be capable of acquiring the knowledge and attaining the wisdom to heal your myasthenia gravis.

The Healthy Brain

This is how you may keep your brain healthy:

·      Keep yourself hydrated because 80 percent of your brain is water. Drink at least 7-8 cups of water per day.

·      Keep healthy gums, and floss your teeth regularly to prevent any gum disease.

·      Enhance and improve blood flow to your brain with your 30-minute exercise at least several times a week.

·      Eat a healthy diet: high-quality lean protein; low-glycemic and high-fiber carbohydrates; natural and not processed foods.

·      Avoid inflammation and the formation of free radicals in your body.

·      Avoid sugar and sugary drinks, including all sodas and diet sodas.

·      Quit smoking, and limit your alcohol consumption to no more than 5 glasses per week.

·      Manage your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

·      Maintain healthy levels of nutrients, e.g. vitamin D and omega-3s.

·      Maintain healthy hormones of the thyroid and the testosterone.

·      Promote good mental health, and avoid anxiety and depression.

·      De-stress yourself with correct breathing and daily meditation.

·      Get quality sleep of at least 7-8 hours a night without the help of medication.

·      Develop meaning and purpose in your life.

In addition to having a healthy brain, you must learn how to empower your thinking mind to seek and acquire the knowledge to heal your myasthenia gravis.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

To download the e-book, click here; to get the paperback copy, click here.

The TAO to Heal Autoimmune Diseases

The Healing Journey

One of Lao Tzu’s famous sayings is “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” The TAO journey of healing myasthenia gravis, or any autoimmune disease, is a great undertaking: every step is as important as the first; and each step is as firm as the previous one. The Chinese often like to say “feet stepping on solid and steady ground.” Your healing journey is the sum of all the steps you are going to take.

Before you take your first step, ponder on this reality: in life, all humans have two desires or pursuits—happiness and healthiness, which not only often come with many delusions and illusions but also always are unattainable and unsustainable. But the TAO may give you self-intuition and self-enlightenment to help you along your own journey of healing myasthenia gravis.

The Step of No Desire and No Intent

It is your healing journey, and only you can take your first step. So, you must choose to take your first step to go on that healing journey.

To continue on your journey, paradoxically, you must show no desire to heal and no intent to reach your destination.

But why?

The desire for good health may be difficult to sustain for someone who is currently confronted with the many health issues related to myasthenia gravis. It may seem not only difficult but almost impossible for that individual to restore natural health and get well again. Worse, ill health may even make that individual feel depressed and forget to take care of the body, and thus allowing the body's malfunctions to continue and deteriorate further.

A wise traveler on a long journey has no fixed plans, and is not intent upon arriving the destination within a certain time frame. But that traveler is ready to use all the situations and all the people encountered to help him along the long journey.

               

Likewise, healing is a long, on-going process, and not a destination. With innate and inexplicable power, it may appear that everyone and everything along your journey are also playing a part in facilitating in your favor all your endeavors in healing your myasthenia gravis.

The bottom line: take your first step of no desire and no intent for healing so as to change and to overcome any attitude of confusion and even despair related to the trauma of your myasthenia gravis diagnosis. On your healing journey, with no intent upon arriving at the destination any time soon, you will continue to keep yourself moving forward, and you will then go the long distance on your long healing journey.

The TAO

According to the TAO, being free of desires is your path to detachment, and thus giving you clarity of thinking to start your own healing journey.

Paradoxically, if you have no desire to desire for change or healing, there is stillness, in which you may see yourself gradually changing for the better in order to slowly heal yourself:

“To live a life of harmony, we need letting life live by itself. . .

So, follow the Way.

Stop striving to change ourselves: we are naturally changing.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 57)

“Accordingly, we do not rush into things.

We neither strain nor stress.

We let go of success and failure.

We patiently take the next necessary step, a small step and one step at a time.

We relinquish our conditioned thinking. Being our true nature, we help all beings

return to their own nature too.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64)

According to the TAO, a good traveler neither has fixed plans, nor shows any effort to arrive at the destination:

“The softest thing in the world

overcomes what seems to be the hardest.

       

That which has no form

penetrates what seems to be impenetrable.

That is why we exert effortless effort.

We act without over-doing.

We teach without arguing.

This is the Way to true wisdom.

This is not a popular way

because people prefer over-doing.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 43)

Begin your healing journey, and take your first step with effortless effort and humble simplicity:

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

To download the e-book, click here; to get the paperback copy, click here.

Holistic Weight Management

Holistic Weight Management

Change the Subconscious Mind to Change the Conscious Mind to Change Life Completely

The art of living well is wisdom in living. Living well does not require abundance, but a healthy body, a sound mind, and a joyful spirit are requisites for holistic living.

Everything in life begins with the mind--your thinking mind--because it affects your decisions and life choices, precipitating in your actions and their respective consequences, which then become your life experiences. So, how well you live is contingent on how well you think. In other words, your thoughts create your personality and henceforth the raw materials, the building blocks with which you build your own life.

But the mind is not independent of the body and the spirit; as a matter of fact, they are interrelated, and hence the importance of holistic living in the art of living well. Accordingly, the mind is significantly affected by the body. A healthy body constitutes a healthy mind; what is good for the body is also good for the brain, the hardware of your thoughts. A healthy mind breeds a joyful spirit.

Your body weight is often a good indicator of your physical health. As a matter of fact, your body shape may be a reflection of your current health conditions. To illustrate, if your body shape is like that of an apple, with extra weight in your midsection, you may have a higher risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, among other health problems. The explanation is that the abdominal fat stored in a beer belly is more likely to be converted into cholesterol, causing heart problems further down the road. On the other hand, if your body shape is like that of of a pear, with extra weight around your hips instead of in your midsection, you may be less at risk for diabetes and stroke. Therefore, you cannot be healthy if you are obese. If you have heart problems with constricted blood vessels, your brain may also be affected due to restricted blood flow that carries oxygen and nutrients to your brain cells. To conclude, a healthy brain requires a healthy body with optimum body weight.

Holistic weight management is a holistic approach to weight loss. Effective weight control is more than just about weight--just as Oprah Winfrey told "People" Magazine: "My greatest failure was in believing that the weight issue was just about weight." Oprah was right: weight loss is about the body, the mind, and the spirit, not just the body weight. That explains why many have failed in their fight against weight gain and obesity. To lose weight permanently, you need holistic weight management, which begins with the mind.

First and foremost, there must be the intent to lose weight. Some people simply have a couldn't-care-less attitude towards their health, not to mention their weight problems. The intent empowers the mind to find out everything about weight loss: the body's metabolism, the calories, the digestive system; the buildup of fat, among others. The road to weight loss is paved with hurdles and obstacles that have to be overcome with discipline from the mind. Weight control is mind over matter. But your thinking mind can be your asset or liability. To illustrate, you want a piece of cheesecake, but you strongly believe that it will make you fat. So you may have second thoughts about eating it. But, unfortunately, your mind has created what you do not want--that is, getting fat--and you will attract what you do not want, which is gaining weight,through the Law of Attraction. Remember, your thoughts create your own reality--sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The human thoughts generate energy, and negative energy attracts negative energies. Likewise, obsessing with what you do not want will, ironically enough, get you what you do not want.

Once you have control over your mind, you can also have power over your body with reference to diet, exercise, and lifestyle that will facilitate weight loss. A healthy mind and body cherishes a joyful spirit that focuses on who you are, rather than who you want to become, and thus taking away the stress that comes with self-image in the process of weight loss.

To lose weight naturally and permanently, you need to know about how to successfully manage your weight. through your mind.

Stephen Lau

Copyright©by Stephen Lau

Cancer Treatment Options

To be diagnosed with cancer is a traumatic experience in life. Out of desperation, a cancer patient often immediately turns to different cancer treatment options. However, there are many cancer cure choices. Due to the array of cancer treatment options available, both conventional and unconventional, it may be stressful for a cancer patient to make a wise choice.

  

First of all, empower yourself with cancer information. To fight cancer, more is better: you can do only too little, not too much! But do it the natural way to control cancer, if not eradicate it! Is it possible to heal cancer yourself? Irrespective of what cancer treatment you decide on, empowering yourself with information about different cancer treatment options is the first step.

Conventional cancer cures generally include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Cancer surgery is an invasive procedure involving the removal of a cancerous tumor. Doctors generally recommend surgery if the cancer is operable, if it is in its early stage, or if the tumor is localized, that is, without spreading to other parts of the body. There are four stages of cancer: the first stage being the early development stage, and the fourth stage indicative of advanced cancer. The problem with cancer surgery is that it may sometimes be difficult to determine the exact stage of cancer development.

As with all types of surgery, cancer surgery is not only invasive but also traumatic--that is, causing cancer stress. Specifically, cancer surgery may predispose the patient to recurrence of cancer because cancer stress reduces the body's resistance to cancer. In addition, surgical biopsy may actually contribute to the spread of cancer, according to some studies.

Chemotherapy, another common cancer treatment, involves the application of chemicals not only to shrink the cancer but also to annihilate any cancerous cell that may remain hidden in the body after all visible cancer has been removed during the cancer surgery.

The problem with chemotherapy is that these chemicals are extremely toxic not only to cancerous cells but also to nearby healthy cells and tissues. These toxic chemicals suppress bone marrow, which may lead to low immunity to infections due to reduction in white blood cell production. Infection could be a major cause of disease in patients who are already weak in immunity. To compensate for the adverse side effects of chemotherapy treatment, the cancer patient may be given other pharmaceutical drugs, which may have long-term effects on the overall health of the patient down the road, such as damage to muscles of the heart, loss of fertility, and risk of developing a second cancer. Loss of appetite, diarrhea, fatigue, and nausea are some of the other unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy is the use of high-intensity X-rays to destroy cancerous cells. Essentially, radiation therapy damages cells by destroying the genetic material that controls how cells grow and divide. Radiation therapy is based on the theory that radiation is much more harmful to cancerous cells than it is to normal cells. While both healthy and cancerous cells are damaged by radiation, the goal of radiation treatment is to destroy as few normal, healthy cells as possible during the radiation therapy process.

In mainstream cancer treatments, more than half of the patients receive some type of radiation therapy to kill cancerous cells. Radiation therapy may be used before surgery to shrink a cancerous tumor, during surgery to direct large doses of radiation at a tumor, or after surgery to inhibit the growth of any remaining cancerous cells. Radiation therapy may also be used with chemotherapy not only to destroy cancerous cells, but also to shrink tumors in order to decrease the pressure, pain or other symptoms they may have caused.

Unfortunately conventional cancer cures remove only the symptoms without eradicating the root of the problem.

Can cancer be cured through the mind?

Congratulations! You’ve Got Cancer

This 132-page book is about what to do when one is diagnosed with cancer. The author is neither a doctor nor an oncologist. He is simply showing the power of the mind not only in coping with the traumatic experience of cancer but also in overcoming the disease itself. In addition, he presents detailed information on what an individual must do on the cancer journey of cure and recovery. A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Rather, it is an opportunity for growth and development. Harness mind power to combat cancer.

  

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Daily Living Wisdom to Delay Aging

Aging is a steady decline in health, which is instrumental in shortening lifespan; and the aging process is the duration during which such changes occur. Aging occurs throughout most of lifespan. Such a process is an accumulation of changes, which may be subtle or even drastic, that progressively lead to disease, degeneration, and, ultimately, death.

Aging is difficult to define, but you will know it when you see it or experience it yourself. Scientists have come up with different theories explaining why and how you age. Daily living wisdom is an understanding of the theories of aging so as to defer and delay your own aging process.

The free radical theory of aging

This theory is based on the damage of cells due to cumulative free radicals, leading to disease and, ultimately, death.

Free radicals are molecules within the human cells. Due to regular oxidation (e.g. breathing), and other environmental factors (e.g. tobacco smoke), these molecules become damaged and unstable, and begin to affect other healthy cells close by, creating many more similar unstable free radicals, and thus initiating a chain reaction of cell damage by free radicals.

Damaged cells lead to disease and ultimate death.

This theory implies that antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, and E, which reduce the formation of free radicals, not only slow down the aging process, but also prevent disease.

The genetic theory of aging

This theory is based on the pre-programming of human genes to induce aging and death—your Creator ensures that you will not be immortal. Therefore, aging is not the consequence of wear and tear over the years. The fact of the matter is that you are not meant to live forever.

Other than disease and other environmental factors, there is no great variation in the lifespan of humans, and this may partially explain the role of genes in aging.

The hormone theory of aging

This theory is based on the gradual changes in the human body due to the decline and degeneration of the endocrine system, which is responsible for producing hormones to regulate many body functions and processes. Changes in the human hormone production, such as menopause, account for the changes responsible for aging.

There is no scientific evidence that hormone replacement will in fact increase human lifespan. So, think twice before you decide on a hormone replacement therapy.

The immunity theory of aging

This theory is based on the failure of the immune system to give adequate protection against contaminants, viruses, and stress, among other agents contributing to a weakened or compromised immune system.

This theory attests to the important role of the immune system in longevity health and overall wellness.

The rate of living theory of aging

This theory is based on the rate of breathing: faster oxygen metabolism leads to a shorter lifespan. In the animal kingdom, rodents, with the fastest heartbeats have the shortest lifespan, while tortoises with the slowest breaths live the longest.

This theory vindicates that breathing right is one of the key factors in longevity in humans. Learning to breathe right is critical to remaining younger and healthier for longer.

To sum up, the human aging process is best explained not by one single theory but by a combination of these theories.

You may live to 100 and beyond, if you just don’t die! But no matter how long you may live, learn the art of lifeand living and live as if everything is a miracle.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau