Not sure what to give this holiday season?

Give a gift from the heart and let them decide!

Throughout December, buy any La Casa Spa & Wellness Center gift certificate and get the second 50% off.

You can even purchase over the phone by calling 

(212) 673-2272.

From all of us at La Casa, we wish you the

Happiest of Holidays!

THE BEST SALTS FOR YOUR BODY/BRAIN

Contrary to what you may think, the best salt is not Himalayan, nor Celtic. It’s a salt you have not yet heard of: Himalayan Black Salt. It’s pink in color. Just because the salt that you see at the store may be black in color, don’t be fooled into thinking that it is the same as Himalayan Black Salt. The only way you can tell whether it’s the real thing is by opening the jar. The smell will be so awful and strong that everyone nearby will ask where that terrible stench is coming from. That stench is your new, healthier-than- any-other salt.

You’ll recognize the smell. It’s sulfur. You know, that old rotten egg smell.
 

The salt is brought in by my friend, Adiel Tel-Oren, directly from the Himalayan mountains. Adiel, or Dr. T. as he is known, sponsors an orphanage in Nepal, and takes people trekking in the Himalayans. You can order the sale from a clinic he is associated with, Ecopolitan. 

We all know the need for high levels of oxygen in our bodies. Many of us know the connection between low cellular oxygen and disease, and most especially cancer (as per Nobel Prize winner, Otto Warburg’s discovery). As it turns out, sulfur and oxygen have a love affair with one another going on in our bodies. Sulfur binds with four molecles of oxygen. SO4 (Sulfate) is a major molecule that delivers O2 to red cells. They talk to each other. The oxygen molecule finds a sulfur molecule, and says to it, “Hey buddy, how ya’ doing? Hey, I have a present for you. Here’s a little O2 for you. It’s my gift to you.”

Sulfur has a host of functions in the body and it is an essential mineral that most of us are deficient in. 

• Essential for on-going detoxification
• Iron/sulfur proteins live in the mitochondria, the energy factory of cells
• Assists in glucose metabolism, thus reducing inflammation
• Necessary for proper enzyme functioning
• Gives connective tissue and cartilage flexibility, appropriate elasticity to prevent sagging and wrinkled skin
• Gives keratin (hair and nails) strength

Besides liberally salting my foods (because this salt REALLY IS good for you), my favorite way of replenishing my body with sulfur is to take a floatation session at La Casa. The float chamber has 800 pounds of Epsom Salts.

I have covered the benefits of Epsom Salts previously in Musings, when I talked about the benefits of one of the ingredients of Epsom Salt: magnesium. Indeed,

Epsom salt is made up mostly of magnesium, and thus we get the very profound relaxation response to the float experience, as well as reduced pain and muscle cramping. Magnesium is great. But Epsom Salt is also made up of sulfur and oxygen.

Sulfur deficiency has been implicated in the diseases of autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis and chemical sensitivities. Without sufficient sulfur, the detoxification pathways of the body cease to function

properly. This can result in a level of toxicity that makes foods high in sulfur not easily tolerated. If you have a negative reaction to the high sulfur cruciferous veggies—broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, bok choy, as well as the alliums of onions, garlic and leeks—then it is likely that you have a sulfur deficiency.

Sulforaphane is one of the primary substances in cruciferous veggies, and it is this that makes them smelly, as well as conferring an anti-cancer effect. Sulforaphane increases the liver’s detoxification enzymes that provide protection from cell mutations, cancer and a whole host of other harmful conditions that these toxins are involved in.

Although I am about 95% raw, I do cook my broccoli for two or three minutes, though not to a boil. Compared to slightly steamed broccoli, raw broccoli actually gives you a diminished amount of sulforaphane. There is a heat-sensitive protein—epithiospecifier—that is in love with destroying sulforaphane. So slight cooking is important in order to eliminate this protein, and enables the broccoli to retain the enzyme myrosinase, which then converts to sulforaphane.

La Casa Spa & Wellness Center recently participated in Piers Gelly’s wonderful podcast, Cellar Door, in which he explored the benefits of floatation. It’s really such a fascinating listen—well worth the few minutes it takes to hear it. He himself is speaking, and he has a great voice, with lots of enthusiasm. I highly recommend spending a fun few minutes with Piers. You can find the Podcast, Cellar Door, in the panel below.

Gelly notes: “Jane is a psychoanalyst. For Jane, the most valuable feature of floatation is that it approximates dreaming, letting the mind wander while allowing the floater to observe the course of those wanderings with more clarity than during sleep. In that particular train of thought, Jane sees the murky contours of the subconscious. In this way, floating’s not unlike psychoanalysis… I hadn’t considered the analogies between floatation, talk therapy, and radio until I spoke with Jane.”

You can listen to the podcast, or read the full transcript of the show, by clicking HERE.

Jane’s latest book, My Mother, My Daughter, My Self recently made it onto a wonderful Christmas Book Gift Guide from Yellow Days. You can see the full list HERE.

The book currently has a rating of 5 stars on Amazon, thanks to reviews like these:

“Love this book! It embraces all facets of being a woman, a mother and a daughter. I highly recommend this book to all women!”
                                   -C.Reed

“This is a very touching, warm and insightful memoir. It is also a deep examination of the relationships between mother and child and is replete with very useful information both psychologically and sociologically. It’s about birth, life and death. It’s about children of all ages and their relationships.
As I read this book, there were many times where I stopped and said to myself “God, I wish I’d known this at the time!”. I didn’t get as misty as some of my friends did while they were reading it, but this is a very special read.
Do yourself a favor and get this book. It will touch you, it will reach you, it will teach you. If I had my way, this would be required reading for all parents and adult children.”
                                               -A.J.

“This extraordinary book successfully manages to explore every facet of mother-daughter relationships in a manner that will simultaneously move and educate the reader. Essentially, it’s an intimate memoir that happens to be imbued with powerful psychoanalytical insights, thanks to the fact that author Dr. Jane Goldberg has worked as a psychoanalyst for decades. Thanks to Goldberg’s lyrical and elegant writing style, you’ll learn a wealth about intimate family relationships, without ever struggling to process the more academic information peppered throughout. A unique and truly fascinating read.”
                                              -R.N.

We were very pleased earlier this month to see Dr. Mercola getting behind the concept of hormesis – a subject Jane has been talking about for a decade, as evidenced by her 2014 book, The Hormesis Effect. 

Jane is frequently at the forefront of ideas that are documented and proven for their efficacy, but not yet well-known – and hormesis is one of those concepts.

You can see the full Dr Mercola report HERE.

An excerpt is below.

Hormesis and Polyphenols: Why Are They Important for Your Mitochondria?

“There are special types of non-typical antioxidants that produce their effects through a process called hormesis – a term we use to describe health benefits from taking low doses of something that is otherwise toxic, or even lethal at higher doses.

For example, many of the fruits and veggies you eat are loaded with natural compounds called polyphenols. The plant produces these polyphenols to ward off pests and predators.

“The polyphenols are toxic to the predators, but since we are much larger, and we take them in far smaller doses, they actually cause our body to develop a protective response that makes us stronger. This brings me to one of my new passions: you can improve mitochondrial dysfunction by taking advantage of these beneficial polyphenols.
And one very special type of polyphenol is called resveratrol, which is extracted from Japanese Knotweed Root.”

 ———————————-

 The Hormesis Effect is availble to purchase HERE.