250 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition
Early warning signs include broken nails, leg cramps, joint pain, and
restless behavior. More advanced cases will exhibit loss of spinal
movement and a decrease in height. There are machines able to measure
bone density and structure without the use of radiation or a body scan.
The test cost is minimal and involves placing your bare foot on a plate
that is connected to a computer for data processing. The diagnosis is
printed out in two minutes.
- Eat and drink foods rich in calcium and magnesium (refer to chapter
4).
(^) - Cut out coffee and tea.
- Drink superfood on waking and at bedtime.
f Drink nettle leaf tea at bedtime, as bone mass is decreased the most
while one sleeps. Pau d’arco inner bark also contains high levels of
calcium and relieves infl ammatory problems, as does black cohosh
root.
f Herbs to help maintain hormone levels at menopause include dong
quai root, chaste tree berry, black cohosh root, wild yam tuber, hop
strobilus, fennel seed, and many more.
~ Kidney cleanses will help balance calcium and phosphorous levels
better, and estrogen output will remain balanced.
Hormone Replacement Therapy has been shown to increase the likeli-
hood of osteoporosis by causing mineral defi ciencies that, in turn, promote
hormone defi ciencies.
ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and cervical polyps and
cysts
An ovarian cyst develops when an ovarian follicle fails to release an egg as
it should. Instead it fi lls with a clear fl uid and becomes saclike and slightly
fi rm. Cysts are, some say, a defense system against serious toxicity or more
malignant problems; 89 percent of them are benign. Some even suggest
they are more like localized mini livers.
There is a similar view about uterine fi broids (benign tumors), which
grow inside or outside the uterus wall. Very often they remain small, but
they can grow, in which case they will often become painful and even
bleed. If very large, doctors will want to remove them (occasionally they
also remove the womb, but this procedure is becoming more unusual).
Ranking as the most common female reproductive tumor, fi broids affect
one-fi fth of all women. They are almost never malignant (cancerous).
Most fi broids grow inside a capsule, which acts as a barrier between the
diseases 250