Vitiligo – Is full healing possible?
Have you been told that you can’t heal from this condition?
Has this condition had a major impact in how you live your life?
When you look outside of Western medicine, not only is there promise of healing, but many people have actually reversed this condition. If you or someone you know has this condition, this series may shed new light on how healing can occur.
Vitiligo (vit-ih-LIE-go) is a chronic skin condition that is reflected in changes in the pigmentation of the skin. The most well known case of Vitiligo was with singer Michael Jackson. When this occurs, patches of skin will lose color and this can occur in any part of the body. In Western medicine, no known cure exits. Studies suggest that autoimmune issues, genetics, stress and viral causes are the most likely factors behind this condition. Therapy includes steroids, immune suppressive drugs, and phototherapy.
In this four part series, let’s look at this condition from a whole different perspective, one that gets at the root cause and seeks to provide the body with what it needs so it can heal itself. Let’s address four different areas that can help you to not only understand but also to possibly heal from this condition.
- Lifestyle factors. Certain lifestyle factors will increase your chances of not only getting Vitiligo, but it also becoming a bigger problem.
- Whole food supplementation. It is of prime importance that the body is getting the basics it needs to fully use the raw materials to produce pigment.
- Chinese medicine has had phenomenal results with this condition. We will discuss the patterns, formulas and topical ointment used in this process.
- The Consciousness factor. This is perhaps the most important part of healing. Every health problem has consciousness associated with it. Here consciousness means that every health problem has general emotions, thoughts and belief systems that are associated with this particular problem. We will explore these as well.
Lifestyle Factors
Immune challenges, genetic expression and viral causes are most typically attributed to this health condition. Fortunately, many things can be done to strengthen the immune system naturally, turn off genetic expression that may contribute to this problem and give the body the resources it needs to fight any pathogen on its own. What things can we do that will give your body a stronger immune system, with good genetic expression? Here are some of the most important modern factors.
- Avoid sugar at all costs. Let’s not sugar coat this (pun intended), sugar destroys the immune system and the body. It is one of the most harmful substances in the modern diet that is damaging our bodies. We profoundly weaken the immune system every time we eat processed sugar or anything with processed sugar in it. Even many organic products today have sugar in them in order to “taste” good. Sugar takes nutrients away from the body; it literally leaches nourishment from the body. Your body needs good nutrients to be able to provide good raw materials to make pigment for the skin. Sugar is quite literally the cocaine of our day. It is highly addictive and has very similar effects on the brain as actual cocaine. Amazing books and resources exist that can help you to detoxify from sugar safely.
- Eliminate Dairy Consumption. In his book “There is a Cure for Diabetes”, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD says that “Children with diabetic genetic tendencies who drink cow’s milk have an 11-13 times higher rate of juvenile diabetes than children who are breastfeed by their own mothers for at least three months.” He goes on to say that more than 100 antigens are found in milk and milk products, cross reacting with the beta cells in the pancreas, creating inflammation and scarring. Not only is it a terrible food for youngsters, it is just as bad for adults. The pancreas not only makes insulin, which is necessary for glucose to enter into our cells for energy, it also damages the pancreas’ ability to produce digestive enzymes, which are needed to break down food so we can get all the nutrients from our food. All milk and other milk products (except butter) including yogurt (for many) are toxic and should be cut from our diet. Make your own nut milks (like almond milk) at home with recipes easily found on the internet.
- Eliminate White GMO Wheat products. Breads, bagels, pastries, cereals and many more products are made from wheat. Many people have reported amazing changes in health after eliminating all forms of wheat from their diet. Wheat has zero nutrition in it. The bran (which has all the nutrition) is removed during processing and synthetic vitamins are later added back in. This is not what we should be eating.
- Use Coconut Oil or Butter to cook. All polyunsaturated fat oil such as corn, soy, safflower, and canola should be avoided. Even though odorless for the most part, they are rancid and promote free radical destruction in the body. Tropical oils such as coconut and palm, along with other saturated fats were denounced in clever adds by the paint industry in the 1940’s and 50’s, when people began to paint with petroleum and not vegetable oil. Faced with serious profit loses, sneaky marketing campaigns were launched convincing the American people that saturated fat was bad for health. The exact opposite is true. Organic cold pressed olive oil is good if it is used cold, as on salads. Otherwise, avoid olive oil for cooking as well. Avoid fried foods. In order to combat free radical destruction, antioxidants are needed, which come from fruits and vegetables.
- Eat 6-8 servings of organic veggies and fruits per day. Eat two times as many veggies as fruits. Veggies are the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and most Americans are in very short supply of these critical nutrients. I personally prefer to juice rather than eat my veggies. Every day I make fresh squeezed grapefruit juice in the morning and I make a green juice at night. Using a masticating juicer (which is what I recommend), I use 1 head of romaine lettuce, 2-4 carrots, 1 green apple and a thumb of ginger root as my base. I add remaining amounts of kale, swiss chard, bok choy, collard greens, beets tops (leaves), beet root, red cabbage, watercress, arugula, parsley or cilantro. Green veggies cleanse the body of toxins and powerfully replenish our nutrient reserves.
- Miscellaneous things. So many other things can be mentioned, but here are a few other things that are powerful promoters of health. Exercise 3-5 times per week. This promotes intake of oxygen (which the Chinese called qi), which is a critical part of health. Avoid packaged foods and learn how to cook. Get chiropractic adjustments regularly. Meditate regularly. Use organic skin products only (shower soap, shampoo, deodorant, cologne, etc…). This will help reduce exposure to toxic chemicals that damage health in the long run. Drink plenty of filtered water per day. Filter your shower water from fluoride, chlorine and other toxins. Reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption.
These are some of the most basic things that are needed if you wish to have a chance of healing from vitiligo. Again, these are the basics. Give your body what it needs to have a fighting chance. Healing is a total commitment to having a healthy body and mind. These are a few of the things that must be in place in order to establish a firm foundation upon which to begin healing.
How are you doing with regards to the above issues? Do you eat sugar, milk or wheat daily? Do you eat 6-8 servings of organic veggies and fruits per day? Do you cook with or consume foods made with polyunsaturated vegetable oils?
These changes alone may prove to have very powerful effects on your health. In addition to these basics having a tremendous benefit to the health of your body, a basic whole food supplementation protocol exists that can address the physical factors involved in the pigmentation process.
Part 2 – Whole food supplements for vitiligo
Part 3 – Chinese medicine – healing vitiligo with ancient wisdom
