Digestive Disorders

We've all had occurrences of digestive disorders at one time or another. However, chronic digestive disturbances can create deficiencies and more serious problems down the line. In order to maintain health at all levels, our ability to digest and absorb our nutrients is essential.
The liver, gall bladder, stomach, spleen, kidney and bladder are all body parts that play a role in our digestive processes. If any of these body parts are not functioning properly, digestive disturbances can occur. In order to maintain these organs in a healthy state, certain foods should be avoided. To make this simple, let's take one body part at a time.

The Gall Bladder seems to be America's number one digestive problem. The great American diet puts this organ under the greatest stress. The gall bladder begins our digestive process by breaking down fats and producing the bile necessary for proper digestion. When our bile is out of balance, food will feel as if it gets stuck between the rib bones. Burping, belching or reflux can occur as well as problems with the bowel system. During extreme cases, the lower back may experience pain and can be a direct result of gall bladder imbalances. In order to begin healing the gall bladder, certain foods must be avoided including fried food, hydrogenated oils, pork and cow cheese. These will prove heavy to a gall bladder already under distress. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (either from Italy or Greece are our favorites) is a wonderful oil to use and will not cause distress to the gall bladder. Soy, Rice, Goat or Sheep cheese can be substituted for cow cheese. Foods should be boiled, broiled, baked or roasted and only using olive oil. Hydrogenated oils are found in most packaged goods. Read all labels and avoid all foods that contain this product. The body does not have a clue how to digest it.

Dandelion is one of my favorite herbs that is helpful to clean up a problem gall bladder. Mother Earth grows dandelions everywhere for a very good reason. We are supposed to use them often to keep our system cleansed. This is one of America's best kept secrets. I believe if we were taught to use dandelion tea from the time we were young, we could help eliminate a number of diseases we create as we age. Dandelion is a gentle cleanser that helps to keep our entire digestive system clean.

The more abuse we have put our gall bladder under, the more potent the herb we can try to help do a deeper cleansing. The herbs I use for deeper digestive issues include burdock root, yellow dock root, red clover and milk thistle.

The gall bladder holds the emotion of fear of failure or fear to make a mistake. It is the area where we hold our confidence and self esteem. When someone speaks badly about us, it is the area that will manifest pain or symptoms. So chronic digestive problems in the gall bladder area may be speaking to us to learn that mistakes are a way of life. They happen for us to grow and become stronger spiritual beings. We cannot move forward if we stay stuck from fear of making a mistake. And that mentality goes against everything our spirits stand for which is change and experience. There are a number of fear flowers but the one I see often specifically for fears of failure or fears of mistakes is the flower called Larch. Larch is the flower that helps us become more confident and enhances our self-esteem.

The other fear flowers include
Mimulus - Frequently shortchange yourself from full experiences of life .. isolating yourself due to nagging fears or worries. Paralyzed by annoying doubts, fears or worries, hypersensitive, frequently troubled or uneasy even when encountering ordinary or daily activities.

White Chestnut - Mind is an echo chamber, constantly replaying bits of conversations without resolutions. Mental agitation or racing thoughts, often resulting in insomnia and general restlessness. Difficult to experience inner state of calm objectivity or inner peace.

Aspen - Anxious & fearful, experiencing nightmares. Easily registering impressions for unseen or unknown sources. Aspen is the fears that speak to "what if this happens, what if this doesn't happen.." The aspen personality will worry over things that have not yet happened and may never happen.

Rock Rose - Nightmares that bring a sense of terror or deep emotional disturbance. Life threatening or destructive situations.. no courage in stressful situations.

Cherry Plum - Great deal of pressure & stress resulting in enormous emotional or physical tension.. fear of loss of control.. temporary insanity, suicidal or destructive impulses.

Star of Bethlehem - Deep trauma or assault, which never allowed you to regain your vitality and strength.. lack of inner peace do to stres and trauma.. prolonged state of spiritual stress.

Larch - Stifling creative expressions. Self doubt, lacking confidence to take risks or be spontaneous. Fear of failure or expectation of criticism from others hold you back. Difficulty in speaking or presentations even when prepared.

Red Chestnut - Worry or concern about others welfare.. living their lives rather than your own.. hard to trust in your children's or close friend's life events.

Liver and Spleen
Symptoms of a clogged liver and spleen show as inability to think or focus, pain, rash or infecion. We treat these two filters basically the same way. In order to stop aggravating our filters, we need to remove ourselves from chemicals both in our food and in our environment. The places we eat chemicals the most in the American diet include city water, artificial ingredients including artificial sweeteners and dark colored sodas. I have many people call me to say they can't eat anything they have in their home. Consequently, we have to ask ourselves, "just what have we been eating?". Naturally, no alcohol is best to heal a liver or spleen, but if you choose to drink, always drink the best and never put cheap alcohol in your body. A real body deserves and insists on real food. Foods that are laden with chemicals have to be filtered first by our filtration system. This will put the liver and spleen under great stress.

The next step in the process is the clean up the liver and spleen using herbs that help to detoxify these systems. My favorite herb again would be dandelion if these body parts have not been abused for long periods of time. Deeper cleansing herbs for abused livers and spleens would include yellow dock root, burdock root, red clover and licorice root. Many times you can find a formula that contains all or some of these herbs and is considered a liver cleansing formula.
Milk Thistle is a wonderful herb that I like to strengthen the liver after it has been cleansed, especially in the liver where chronic abuse is evident.

Both the liver and spleen hold the emotion of anger, just different types of anger. The liver is where frustration is held. So it is the first body part that will be affected when our anger becomes evident. The spleen holds the emotion of resentment, usually resentment of others. So if we store anger toward another being for any length of time, the spleen will become affected. Just as in the physical body, the emotional aspects of these organs support one another. Our spiritual job is to practice transforming our frustrations and our resentments back to what brings us joy.

The anger flowers are as follows
Agrimony - The agrimony personality makes light of issues instead of facing them. They tend to become the addictive personality type using drugs, alcohol, chocolate, sugars, carbohydrates, gambling, shopping, etc. The agrimony is always looking outwardly for something to make them happy as they have not dealt with the issue of their happiness from inside.

Vine - Demand obedience or allegiance from others.. control and direct. Assertive to point of aggression.. my way or no way. Strong willed that overpowers others.

Water Violet - Aloof and socially distant.. measures others according to social status, economic background.. may not want to associate with those beneath you. Easily annoyed when working with others. Leave me alone!

Willow - Hold on to past injustices or misfortunes.. bitterness & resentment. Victim role.. always being persecuted or unfairly punished.. emotionally inflexible.. difficult to forgive others or be accepting and yielding.

Impatiens - Tense, irritable, easily impatient and argumentative. Take over for others, finish their sentences or complete tasks because others are too slow. Rushing ahead of experience, not able to enjoy or pay attention to the present.

Beech - Set high standard for others.. critical or judgement toward behavior & performance of others or oneself.. must be surrounded by perfection.

Holly - Feelings of jealousy, rivalry, suspicious or vengefulness. Loss of feeling of compassion for others.. Feelings of alienation, mistrust or hostility. Struggle or compete in order to receive love or recognition, feeling it is rightfully yours.

Stomach
The stomach holds the emotion of nervousness. Again, this is a fear layer and the fear flowers noted above should be considered. It is important to eliminate all caffeine from the diet including teas, coffee, and chocolate. Oranges and orange juice can also play havoc with a stomach issue. The physical symptom I see most often is usually associated with too much acid in the stomach. This can cause flatulence and heartburn. The mental torment that comes with an agrimony layer can affect the stomach. Remember that the agrimony personality hides their feelings and creates their mind to go to the "would have", "should have", or "could have" said or done something different mentality. This is mainly because the agrimony does not speak their truth at the time it is happening. Instead they choose to stuff their feelings until these feelings turn to anger in the system. In reality, the agrimony is only angry with themselves for not being true to their own feelings. So even though Agrimony is not listed as a fear flower (because this torment turns to anger), it can affect the stomach area of the body.

There are a number of supplements that can help calm an acid state in the stomach. The most commonly used is Aloe Vera Gel, which comes in liquid or capsule form. A capsule or tablespoon before each meal will help calm the acid condition and bring about healing. Marshmallow root can also be helpful and can be found most commonly in tincture or tea form. Marshmallow root will also coat the stomach and help heal and acidic condition. Natrum Phosphate is the tissue salt that is the acid balancer of the body.

For more information on fear flowers, link on: http://healingyou101-emotions.blogspot.com/2008/12/fear-flowers.html

For more information about anger flowers link to: http://healingyou101-emotions.blogspot.com/2008/12/anger-flowers.html