Ground Up Strength

Baking Soda and Vinegar for Bee Stings: It Works! But not Really.

You got stung by a bee, put some baking soda and vinegar on it, and ten minutes later the pain was gone! It worked. OR, maybe there is another explanation. Maybe you are not allergic to bee stings, had a minor local reaction, and the pain simply went away on its on. I personally seldom have the pain from a bee sting last longer than 10 or 20 minutes and I forget all about it. Yep.

Continue Reading » Baking Soda and Vinegar for Bee Stings: It Works! But not Really.

Alternative Medicine (CAM - Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

Alternative Medicine, otherwise known as Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a group of diverse medical health care systems, products, and practices that are presently not considered to be part of conventional medicine. Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine and alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. (source: NCCAM)

Continue Reading » Alternative Medicine (CAM - Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

Misconceptions About Food Nutrients, Toxic Plant Compounds, and Nutrition Information Versus Alternative Medicine

In my post Homeopathy Is Not a Drug and Other Babbles I had quite a rant, albeit a very informative one, about some idiotic things a NaturalHealth.com article said about homeopathy and about homeopathy quackery in general. If you read that you will be more in flow with what is to follow. Cuz I'm not done!

Much of that post concerned chemicals. The food faddist or the homeopathic zealot, when he hears the word chemical, cries "POISON!" Yet, chemicals are what our food is made of and the term toxic chemical, taken by itself is meaningless.

Continue Reading » Misconceptions About Food Nutrients, Toxic Plant Compounds, and Nutrition Information Versus Alternative Medicine

Structural Integration Therapy

Dr. Ida P. Rolf (1896-1979) developed a body of work that was concerned not so much with the alleviation of symptoms, but with the potential of human body.

By all accounts a formidable woman, as evidenced by a PhD. in Biochemistry (1920) and a position as a research fellow at the Rockefeller Institute (until she left to raise her two sons in 1929), Ida Rolf encountered Osteopathy, as well as Homeopathy and Yoga through personal and family health issues, and took her interest from the theoretical (to which she brought her considerable scientific powers), to the empirical and practical.

Continue Reading » Structural Integration Therapy

The Craniosacral Placebo Effect

The original model of cranial osteopathy belief is that intrinsic rhythmic movements of the human brain cause rhythmic fluctuations of cerebrospinal fluid and specific relational changes among dural membranes, cranial bones, and the sacrum. CST Practitioners believe they can palpably modify parameters of this mechanism to a patient’s health advantage.

Continue Reading » The Craniosacral Placebo Effect

Homeopathy: What's the harm?

When critics point out to politicians or regulators that homeopathy is not backed by any good evidence and is just a placebo, one response is "What's the harm?". In other words, if the placebo effect is positive and the side effects are zero, then what's wrong if people want to waste a bit of money on sugar pills? But is homeopathy really safe?

Unfortunately, homeopathy can have surprising and dangerous side-effects. These have nothing to do directly with any particular homeopathic remedy, but rather they are an indirect result of what happens when homeopaths replace doctors as sources of medical advice.

Continue Reading » Homeopathy: What's the harm?

Cam Domains (Categories of Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) divides CAM practices into four broad domains; it is recognized that there could be some crossover among the CAM domains. NCCAM also studies CAM systems that cut across all four domains (they are called whole medical system).

The four domains are:

Continue Reading » Cam Domains (Categories of Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

Homeopathy is Not a Drug and Other Babbles

Recently I published some information on homeopathy from the 10:23 Campaign. This is a group that has staged some public mass homeopathic drug "overdoses". Don't worry it ain't no Jim Jones thing. It's a simple demonstration of the fact that no amount of a homeopathic drug can harm you because there is simply nothing in it but water and sugar.

Continue Reading » Homeopathy is Not a Drug and Other Babbles