Psychotherapy and its Role in Optimum Wellness at Hippocrates Health Institute

Hippocrates Health Institute specializes in optimum health and wellness, employing a wide range of proven techniques and holistic therapies that deal with the ‘whole person’ on physical, mental and spiritual levels. These therapies support and compliment conventional treatments that generally focus on symptoms, while the approach of Hippocrates Health Institute goes deeper to the source or cause of health challenges, and restoring balance through the whole system allowing the body, mind and spirit to function at an optimum level of wellbeing.

There are a number of key areas Hippocrates Health Institute optimize as part of the Life Transformation Program. Hippocrates draws on the wisdom: “food as medicine and medicine as food”, and it is this principal that forms the basis of the Hippocrates lifestyle. After more than 60 years of experience in the field of optimal health, Hippocrates Health Institute understand that consuming mainly raw, living plant foods such as sprouts, wheatgrass juice and sea vegetables brings about the best results quickly and effectively restoring the body to its maximum state of health.

Achieving maximum health must also include two other important factors, exercise and a balanced, peaceful mental state. It is commonly accepted nowadays that one of the key factors in achieving success in any task or endeavor, is to have a positive disposition of mind. When it comes to overcoming and preventing illness, a balanced and positive mental state of mind is crucial to success. Psychotherapy counseling plays a very important role here by spending time to understand a person’s individual mental condition and apply various techniques to bring about relief of distress or mental disabilities.

Hippocrates Health Institute’s resident Psychotherapist Antony Chatham explains in this video his approach and how the techniques he employs helps people deal with even the most serious of health challenges. Antony explains how very often people arrive at Hippocrates Health Institute with advanced stages of chronic diseases and a prognosis of less than a year’s life expectancy, having tried all the conventional treatment modalities without success. The challenge Antony faces is to instill confidence, positive awareness and belief in the ability of the body to restore itself and sustain perfect health.

As a trained Psychotherapist Antony spends time with each person to understand and determine which approach is best for him or her. A common method Antony uses especially in cases where the person has been instilled with the belief that he or she has little time left to live, is to choose a joyous or important occasion in the distant future and then visualize themselves there physically. An example Antony uses is the marriage of a person’s children. The goal is to create a positive will to be there and ‘see’ or visualize themselves as though they are really there enjoying all the sense data and feelings, still alive and in perfect health. Using these creative visualization techniques Antony is able to bypass a person’s limits imposed by others or by a physical condition.

Other methods used by Antony are:

• EDMR or ‘Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing’ which is highly effective in the treatment of post-traumatic stress, panic attacks, phobias, anger issues, addictions and anxiety. This therapy works well when combined with regression therapy.
• Mind/Body Psychotherapy, based on the biological principals of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), uses hypnotherapy, centropic integration, centering and authentic encounter to focus deeply within the body and unlock and safety release past memories, undo negative thinking, and re-center yourself more on joy.

Psychotherapy is one of many specialized therapies to be found at Hippocrates Health Institute. A wide range of other highly beneficial therapies include hyperbaric therapy, cranial stimulation, IV nutrition and antioxidants, advanced diagnostics, biofrequency research, targeted supplementation and thermography, colon hydrotherapy session, non-invasive electro-magnetic therapies, laser treatments and massage.

Protecting And Building A Strong Immune System

Every day at Hippocrates Health Institute we are working with people challenged with all types of ailments ranging from mild health disorders to serious life threatening diseases. In virtually all cases health and vitality can be restored through enhancing the immune system to perform at its full potential. Although this may sound simple, our immune system is highly complex with over two trillion defenders capable of identifying and eliminating alien invaders. There are however some basic fundamentals that when adhered to can go a long way to optimizing and maximizing the potential of our immune systems.

Lets begin with by identifying the main defenders in the ranks of the immune system.

1. Phagocytes – These are cells that behave like scavengers consuming dead cells, inanimate rubbish, and large numbers of invading microbes. They also manufacture enzymes and antimicrobial agents, and act as communication links between other immune cells and the brain.
2. MHC (major histocompatibility complex) – Serve as badges on the surface of cells so the immune system can identify them as non-alien.
3. Helper T-Cells – These cells play a vital part of the immune system, identifying enemies and triggering the production of other immune system warriors. They call macrophages (white blood cells), other T-cells and B-cells to action, and stimulate the production of plasma cells.
4. Lymphokines – Act as protein mediators directing communication and signaling between immune cells.
5. Killer T-Cells – These identify and destroy cells harboring viruses and microbes, and can eliminate cancerous cells by punching holes in their membranes. 
6. B-Cells – These cells receive help from T-cells to create antibodies that stick to the surface of antigens on the surface of germs. These form into clumps that alert the body ‘s phagocytes to engulf and destroy the antibody-covered intruders.
7. Plasma Cells – A type of white blood cell that produce antibodies by the millions.
8. Antibodies - Proteins that travel throughout the body identifying and neutralizing bacteria and viruses, by clumping them together and attracting phagocytes to come and consume them. The also work with complement proteins to devour invaders. 
9. Complement Proteins – After the antibodies have clumped the invading antigens (bacteria and viruses, etc.) together, complement proteins arrive and destroy it by injecting liquid into the clumps causing them to burst. 
10. Suppressor T-Cells – Once an infection is neutralized and the immune system has won, these cells signal the system to stop all immune responses.
11. Memory Cells – Lasting many years these cells retain memory of previous invading microorganisms and will immediately recognize and destroy them again should they happen to enter the body.

This powerful system requires our help if it is to function as nature intended and keep us in a perfect state of health. Without going into too much detail lets summarize the external man-made causes that can weaken and compromise our immune system.

1. Lifestyle – This is an area the Hippocrates Health Institute has worked hard on over the past 40 years by promoting healthy eating, exercise, and positive thoughts. Imbalance and stress in any of these areas weakens the immune system that leads to illness and the development of disease.
2. Environment – Humans have polluted the planet to the brink of ecological collapse in many areas. Living in these polluted areas we become affected by toxic water, air, and even electromagnetic fields.
3. Chemicals – Artificial man-made substances are to be found everywhere in our food, bathing and drinking water, medicines, supplements, etc. that have exponentially added to the load on our immune system. This leaves our immune systems exhausted working constantly to fight an overload of toxic invaders.
4. Poor Agricultural Methods – In recent decades modern agriculture practices have resulted in soil trace mineral depletion, and contamination from chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As a result the plants grown in this soil become less nutrient dense, which our immune systems depend on to restock and rebuild itself.

Hippocrates Health Institute has witnessed great success in helping people strengthen and maintain a healthy immune system over the past decades. The following 12 guidelines are simple and powerful tips that will enhance and strengthen your immune system.

1. Receive direct sunlight for 20 to 30 mins a day (avoiding peak-strength sun in hotter regions). The sun is one of the most powerful immune system builders.
2. Consume more oxygen! Get out into forests, by the sea, and streams or into a greenhouse and learn to breath deeply. Ideally eat plenty of oxygen-rich foods such as raw leafy greens. Oxygen-producing air purifiers are great if you spend most of the day indoors. Many indoor plants also can help to oxygenate your home or office.
3. Drink clean and pure water that has been distilled or filtered by reverse osmosis. Ensure you are drinking an adequate quantity of water.
4. Remove all animal derived foods from your diet (meat, dairy, eggs), and ideally replace with at least 75% raw vegetables, such as sprouts and leafy green veggies. This is a process that you can develop over time and enjoy increasing vitality and wellbeing on the journey.
5. Drinking fresh green juice from sprouts, greens and wheatgrass twice a day. This is the fastest way to ingest high quantities of immune system enhancing nutrients from nature’s most healthful source.
6. Consume blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella (green algae). These are high quality natural and whole super-foods. 
7. Remove/reduce immune suppressing foods from your diet: processed salt, refined sugars and flours, dairy products, vinegars, heated oils, and foods containing artificial preservatives and colorings.
8. Don’t eat foods that have been fried or are heated in microwave ovens. There is much research linking these foods to various cancers and heart diseases.
9. Avoid alcohol (toxic to the body and destroys healthy cells), and only take drugs that are absolutely necessary.
10. Engage in exercise for 20 to 30 minutes at least three times weekly, such as stretches, aerobics, and resistance work.
11. Rest and relaxation – besides getting adequate sleep, fasting occasionally gives the body a ‘complete rest’ and allows the immune system to detox and recharge. This could be spending one day a week consuming only fresh juice and water.
12. Smile and be happy! A positive happy attitude is proven to contribute massively to maintaining health and maximizing wellbeing. The power of the mind on our state of health is incorporated into all the programs at Hippocrates Health Institute and should not be underestimated.

Vegans and Meat Eaters Having Same B-12 Defficiency

Over the years at Hippocrates Health Institute many hundreds of blood profiles of people have been analyzed to check among other things the level of B-12 also known as cobalamin. As far back as 2005 Hippocrates began using urine and cell-specific analysis for B-12 deficiencies, as it was known to be far superior to the standard method of testing. The test results showed that well over 50% of the hundreds of people tested were shown to lacking B-12 irrespective of whether they were vegan, vegetarian or standard meat eaters.

In past studies at Hippocrates Health Institute on people who were consuming a living food diet of vegetables, sprouts and limited fruit for a period of no less than 18 months, results showed less than a 5% deficiency in B-12. The same group when re-tested to a leukocyte (white blood cell) analysis, where B-12 absorption within the cell is recorded and the results showed a drastic increase to 65% deficiency of bioactive B-12.

It is often believed that foods such as blue-green algae, green algae, tempeh, etc. contain the soil based bacteria cyanocobalamin 4 that produce bioactive B-12, and consumption of these foods would provide one with this essential nutrient. However studies have indicated that the human body is unable to absorb B-12 from plant sources. Hippocrates Health Institute has also found that the same B-12 deficiencies also appear in people who consume meat and dairy diet as those on vegan and vegetarian diets. It seems that processing and cooking of meat and dairy render the B-12 produced unusable or not bioavailable to the body. So although we may have plentiful amounts of B-12 in the body, our cells are unable to absorb it and prevent diseases mused by B-12 deficiency.

This unusual finding caused intrigue into what was going on inside the gastrointestinal tract where B-12 is stored. The Hippocrates Health Institute researchers began with delving into past medical archives dating back as far as 1700 and found sketches of the colon. Comparing sketches and Hippocrates Health Institute researchers surmise that prior to the disappearance of this protruding pocket, B-12 was digested and absorbed by consuming naturally organic foods, free of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.  This pocket stored B-12 cultures and acted as an organic ‘fertilization factory’, facilitating re-culturing of the nutrient in a sustainable and adequate form and maintain appropriate and sufficient levels of B-12 in the body. Since this culturing facility has all but disappeared, we are faced with B-12 shortage and are vulnerable to diseases related to B-12 deficiencies.

This unusual finding caused intrigue into what was going on inside the gastrointestinal tract where B-12 is stored. The Hippocrates Health Institute researchers began with delving into past medical archives dating back as far as 1700 and found sketches of the colon. Comparing sketches and photographs at 50-year intervals up until 2008 revealed a continuous decrease in the size of the pocket protruding just below the Ileocecal valve in the colon. The earlier sketches show this pocket as quite defined and quite protruded, until its near absence in the early 20th century.

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Fortunately for both vegans and non-vegans B-12 supplements are available that are digestible and provide bioavailable B-12 the body can use. LifeGive B-12 Forte formulated by Hippocrates Health Institute is a soil-based supplement recommended for those on any diet.

Sea Vegetables, a valuable Source of Important Nutrients

For most of us when we think about sea vegetables, food is not the first thing that comes to mind. Hippocrates Health Institute have long recognized the valuable contribution sea vegetables can make to maintaining health by implementing a wide range of these vegetables of the seas into their signature Life Transformation Program. However sea vegetables such as kelp, nori, wakami, and

dulce contain a rich source of many essential vitamins, minerals and trace elements not found in land-based vegetables.

To understand why sea vegetables are highly rated as part of the optimal health diet at Hippocrates Health Institute, it’s important to know why some of the nutrients they provide are not available in most land-grown vegetables. Since commercial farming practices began over the past decades they have contributed a great deal to land erosion and depleting our soils of many essential nutrients that would otherwise have made it into our foods. The oceans however are abundant in naturally occurring minerals and vitamins that become part of the sea vegetables.

 Although Hippocrates Health Institute always encourages organic produce; many people still eat non-organic vegetables that have been treated with chemical fertilizers. While fertilizers contain minerals essential to sustain plant growth such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and magnesium, these minerals have been chemically processed.  Nitrogen for example is gassed at high temperatures and pressure to produce ammonia. Phosphorus and potassium are treated with acids forming granules designed to dissolve in order to reach plant roots.

Hippocrates Health Institute regard the following list of nutrients found in sea vegetables highly beneficial for maintaining good health if consumed on a regular basis: dietary iodine (one of the best natural food sources of iodine essential for healthy thyroid functioning), potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, nitrogen, iron, zinc, boron, copper, manganese, chromium, selenium, bromine, vanadium, and nickel. In all sea vegetables contain 56 minerals and trace elements required for biological functions in quantities greatly exceeding those of land plants.

Most people are familiar with or have eaten sushi, and will know that the green wrapping on the outside, is a sea vegetable or seaweed. This is in fact called nori and is probably the most commonly known sea vegetable. Other edible sea vegetables, a lot less well known include dulse, kombu, wakame and kelp, and even less known is - how to eat them. At Hippocrates Health Institute all of these vegetables are used to dress salads and flavor sauces adding colors such as red, brown, blue and various shades of green.

The most popular seaweeds used in the Hippocrates’s kitchen are:

Nori
This is a dark green, sometimes reddish sea alga, most commonly dried into sheets and used for

sushi. Nori is one third protein and high in dietary fiber. Nutritional values vary, but typically a 100g serving of dried nori contains about 40g of protein, 36g of dietary fiber and 3g of zinc. It also contains high levels of iodine, carotene, vitamins A, B and C, as well as significant levels of calcium and iron.

Dulse
This purple-red alga, has a strong salty taste and can be dried and eaten like a cracker. When hydrated it can be used as a flavoring in soups or tossed over a salad adding an extra dimension of color.

Kelp

Kelp has a brown color and is commonly found on tidal shores growing up to 6 feet in length. Its best-eaten fresh in soups or over salads, but can also be dehydrated to make a crispy garnish for grain or pasta dishes. Kelp is a highly nutritious super food with the best quality to be found in Iceland. Icelandic kelp can be sourced in supplement form.

Kombu
This sea vegetable is harvested in deep waters where it clings to rocks, and when dried appear almost black on color. Loaded with minerals, vitamins and trace elements, especially iodine, calcium, potassium, iron, carotene, and Vitamin B, they have a slightly sweet taste, and are helpful in dissolving mucus and regulating blood pressure.

Wakame

Also known as alaria, this sea vegetable grows in thick beds in shallow waters, and contains high levels of fuxcoxanthin, which helps to burn fats.
It is also an excellent source of omega-3 oils, calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin. In Asian medicine wakame is used to purify blood, and for strengthening the intestines, skin, hair and reproductive organs. Korean mothers traditionally drink wakame soup to help fortify their milk during nursing. In japan miso soup is not a true miso soup without wakame!

Dr. Tung’s Earth Day Giveaway

As we pause to celebrate the importance of Earth Day and honoring our environment today, Hippocrates Health Institute are excited to partner with sustainable dental health products company,
Dr. Tung’s, for an exciting giveaway on this holiday!

Dr. Tung’s commitment is to offer our customers natural, more effective, leading-edge oral care products. Good oral health is an integral part of overall health, and they integrate modern and traditional knowledge to produce highly effective products for you and your family. They use only natural ingredients and flavoring, and have a long-term commitment to recyclable and biodegradable materials.

Hippocrates Health Institute proudly carry four Dr. Tung’s products in our store:

● Ionic Toothbrush – Unlike regular toothbrushes which try to force plaque off the teeth by friction, the IONIC brush makes the teeth let go of plaque, like turning off a magnet! A recent independent report showed that ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSHES, including SONICARE and ORAL-B, do not remove significantly more plaque than a regular manual toothbrush! Yet the Ionic toothbrush has been clinically shown to remove up to 48% more plaque than a manual brush!

● SmartFloss – Smart Floss dental floss is clinically proven to be more effective than regular floss. It has been shown to remove up to 55% more plaque than some of the most popular flosses, i.e. regular waxed and un-waxed flosses and PTFE monofilament floss (compare to Glide). The floss is lightly waxed with a natural blend of vegetable and beeswax (no petrochemical wax) and has a natural cardamom flavor. It also comes in a biodegradable container.

● Stainless Steel Tongue Cleaner – Used and recommended by dentists and hygienists, Dr. Tung's cleaner is the leading tongue cleaner in the health market and is sold in health stores and dental offices around the country.

● Snap-On Toothbrush Sanitizer – The Snap-On Sanitizer is a REVOLUTIONARY product that releases all-natural, anti-bacterial vapors to kill germs and safely sanitize your toothbrush between brushings. The new pack with Snap-In refill now gives 6 months total protection per pack - this is 50% more than the old pack. Plus it saves 46% plastic over the old one.



Hippocrates Health Institute is giving away one of each of our Dr. Tung’s store products to TWO winners - PLUS a friend - in honor of Earth Day and practice conscious consumerism!

To enter, visit Hippocrates Health Institute's Facebook Page  

Terms and conditions
The Dr. Tung’s Giveaway begins April 22, 2015 at 9:00 AM US Eastern Time and ends April 25, 2015, 11:59:00 p.m. US Eastern Time ("ET") (the "Contest").   By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to the Official Rules and warrants that his or her entry complies with all requirements set out in the Official Rules.  This is a chance-based contest and chance along with completion of rules plays a determination of winners.

WHO MAY ENTER – Official Rules  
Contest is open only to individuals who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry and who do NOT reside in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan or Syria. Employees of Hippocrates Health Institute, and its subsidiaries and affiliates, and their immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, whether or not related are not eligible.

CONTEST IS VOID IN CUBA, IRAN, NORTH KOREA, SUDAN, SYRIA AND WHERE PROHIBITED.

1). Fully read this blog post about Dr. Tung’s mission to provide sustainable, holistic dental products to make our mouths (and, thus, our total health!) happy and healthy.

2). SHARE with us on Facebook in the comments below how you are a conscious consumer and celebrate Earth Day every day, TAG a friend, and TAG the @Dr. Tung’s Facebook page.

3). For additional entries be sure to Like the Dr. Tung’s Facebook page. (If you do so please indicate this in your comment below in the Facebook post)

The Importance of Choosing Organic and Natural Clothes

In recent decades the mass-produced clothes has controlled clothing industry providing cheaper and cheaper clothes from high-end designer branded items to non-brand bargains. But if we stop to think – are we really making a saving or are we paying an even greater cost when we look at the larger picture? At Hippocrates Health Institute we consider all aspects from environmental impact, to the health implications when it comes to what we recommend to our guests.

Author Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute

In the recently published book Killer Clothes written by Brian and Anna Maria Clement, directors of the Hippocrates Health Institute, the effects on our health from the clothes we put on our bodies is examined in great detail.  The largest organ in our bodies is our skin and it absorbs to some degree everything that touches it. This includes the toxins found in the vast majority of mass-produced clothes: toxins within the fabric, the dyes, the finishes and even the smell. We are absorbing these toxins every day and even washing our clothes still leaves massive quantities of toxins retained.

Brian Clement’s research at Hippocrates Health Institute can on the effects of toxins found in clothing be found in his latest book Killer Clothes, revealing that toxic dyes have been linked to a number of serious medical conditions such as chronic skin rashes, respiratory disease, neurological disorder and cancer. Many countries regulate the use of formaldehyde, as it’s a dangerous toxin that attacks the throats, lungs and respiratory tract, but the United States is not one of these regulatory countries. The most common materials used in clothing manufacture are polyester, acrylic and nylon, which are created using hundreds of chemicals.

The plant-based diet advocated by Hippocrates Health Institute is one of the leading ways to help the environment, but did you know that even the clothes we wear could be detrimental to our planet’s delicate ecosystem? The manufacture of clothes emits thousands of toxins into the air and water supply, and subsequently as we wash our clothes more toxins are released as the non-binding chemicals from the finishes are washed away.

Natural Organic Fibers

Hippocrates Health Institute strongly promotes switching to Organic and natural fibers such as organic cotton, organic hemp, organic wool and blends as a healthier alternative. Not only are these fibers more breathable, resist bacteria, offer better UV protection, but they are also biodegradable and harmlessly returns to Mother Earth.

By choosing pure, clean natural and healthy clothing you will protect your health, and the environment, and increase the demand for quality goods. Ideally choose organic, but also check the labels to see if the fibers are natural (created from plants), and wash everything before wearing. At Hippocrates Health Institute we go the extra length to ensure even all the towels and bed sheets we use for our guests are made from organic cotton and are chemical free. We urge you to take the time when you are shopping and make wise informed choices when it comes to the fabrics will be in contact with your skin.

In Food We Trust

Healthy Eating at Hippocrates Health Institute

Over the last 60 years people from all over the world and from all walks of life have come to Hippocrates Health Institute seeking wellness and optimum nutrition, arriving with all sorts of food and eating related issues. It has become increasingly apparent to us people are not just looking to change what they eat, but also their relationship with food.

While this is a noble pursuit, to change ones relationship with food is quite a fundamental lifestyle undertaking and involves a great deal of soul searching and dedicated effort. This is why Hippocrates Health Institute places at the core of its program, both psychological and emotional support. We understand that eating is a highly charged emotional activity and nobody consumes food in a robotic manner without any feelings. Food also tends to be deeply linked with our past, be it family life, holidays, or good - bad memories. ‘In food we trust’, that comforting, soothing and securing best friend.

Our earliest experience with food was before birth in the womb. Our nutrition came from the mother, and from this sprung our deepest sense of well-being. Once we are born food is consumed orally and is more sensual and associated with closeness to our parents. If we feel hungry we don’t like it and cry, and our parents know to feed us, and so begins the pattern of ‘food-as-comfort’ and the associations of food as nurturing, food is love, food makes us feel better.

As we grow up our environment and family situation begin to bear upon us. If for example we suffered from severe food shortages as a child, this might influence our relationship with food as an adult whereby we over stock the cupboards or cook extra large meals for our own family. The act of cooking a dinner could become a powerful act of ensuring survival, equating eating with security driven by memories of fear and shortages.

We are constantly meeting guests at Hippocrates Health Institute who share with us their personal relationship with food, and very often it’s associated with love and fulfillment, comforting and suppressing negativity. The strong urge to eat in order to live elevates food to an almost religious status in our lives. For many people culture dictates food choices giving us a feeling of oneness with other people as well as our heritage.

Our approach at Hippocrates Health Institute is to encourage people to have self-control and not be dictated by habits, especially if those habits contribute to deterioration of health, and making choices that are centered on what’s best for wellness. During this process people often encounter insecurities or feelings of un-fulfillment emotionally or spiritually that they cover up with food. The journey to a healthy relationship with food involves us to re-center ourselves psychologically and emotionally, and to have a more authentic and healthful relationship with what we eat.

During the Life Transformation Program guests at Hippocrates Health Institute often go through a period of deprivation - staring at the raw food salad spread before them - like an addict going through withdrawal symptoms their bodies are detoxing as they struggle with uncomfortable emotions, yearning for the good-old-days of carefree, unconscious eating. At Hippocrates we have powerful tools to help them move forward, such as group support, individual counseling, and classes on how to live and eat healthily, instilling a new psychological approach firmly based on nutrition. By the end of the 3-week program at Hippocrates Health Institute the fog does finally lift (often by the end of the first week) and the light from ‘happy living-foods’ shines through, and feelings begin to soar. The burden of years of unhealthy eating and built-up toxins are removed and a new person is revealed - one that will be self-caring, self-nurturing and self-loving.

Believe in yourself and in the process and you will see what we experience all the time here at Hippocrates Health Institute. In living-foods we trust!