NAET Overview

What is NAET?

OVERVIEW

NAET® was discovered by Dr. Devi S. Nambudripad in November of 1983. Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques, also known as NAET, are a non-invasive, drug free, natural solution to alleviate allergies of all types and intensities using a blend of selective energy balancing, testing and treatment procedures from acupuncture/acupressure, allopathy, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine.

One allergen is treated at a time. If you are not severely immune deficient, you may need just one treatment to desensitize one allergen. A person with mild to moderate amount of allergies may take about 15-20 office visits to desensitize 15-20 food and environmental allergens.
Basic essential nutrients are treated during the first few visits. Chemicals, environmental allergens, vaccinations, immunizations, etc. are treated after completing about ten basic essential nutrients. NAET can successfully alleviate adverse reactions to egg, milk, peanuts, penicillin, aspirin, mushrooms, shellfish, latex, grass, ragweed, flowers, perfume, animal dander, animal epithelial, make-up, chemicals, cigarette smoke, pathogens, heat, cold, other environmental agents. It may take several office visits to desensitize a severe allergen.

Holistic Family Nurse Practitioner, Martha Bray, received her training directly by Dr. Nambudripad and has taken many andvanced training courses offered by Dr. Nambudripad. Please continue reading the following explanation of NAET by Dr. Nambudripad herself:

Allopathy & Western Sciences

Knowledge of the brain, cranial nerves, spinal nerves and autonomic nervous system from Western medicine enlightens us about the body’s efficient multilevel communication network. Through this network of nerves, vital energy circulates through the body carrying negative and positive messages from the brain to each and every cell in the body and back to the brain. Knowledge of the nervous system, its origin, travel pathway, the organs and tissues that will benefit from its nerve energy supplies (target organs and tissues) and its destination, helps us to understand the energy distribution of particular spinal nerves that emerge from the 31 pairs of spinal nerve roots.

Kinesiology

Kinesiology is the art and science of movement of the human body. Kinesiology is used in NAET to compare the strength and weakness of any muscle (also known as neuromuscular sensitivity testing (NST)) of the body in the presence and absence of any substance. A measured weakness in the presence of a substance is due to the effect of an allergy to the item the person is touching. This simple method can be used to detect your allergens.

Acupuncture /Oriental Medicine
Yin-Yang theory from Oriental medical principles teaches the importance of maintaining homeostasis in the body. According to Oriental medical principles, “when the body is in perfect balance, no disease is possible.” Any disturbance in the homeostasis can cause disease. Any allergen capable of producing a weakening muscular effect in the body can cause disturbance in homeostasis. Hence, diseases can be prevented and cured by maintaining homeostasis. According to acupuncture theory, acupuncture and/or Acupressure at certain acupuncture points is capable of bringing the body to a state of homeostasis by removing the energy blockages from the energy pathways known as meridians. When the blockages are removed, energy can flow freely through the energy meridians, thus bringing the body in perfect balance.

Nutrition

You are what you eat! The secret to good health is achieved through right nutrition. What is right nutrition? And how do you get it? When you can eat nutritious foods without discomfort and assimilate their nutrients, that food is said to be the right food. When you get indigestion, bloating, or other digestive troubles upon eating the food, that food is not helping you function normally. This is due to an allergy to the food. Different foods react differently in different people. What is food for some may be poison for others. You've probably heard the expression, “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” So it is very important to clear the allergy to the nutrients. Allergic people can tolerate food that is low in nutrition better than nutritious food. But upon clearing the allergy, you should try to eat more wholesome, nutritious foods. You should avoid refined, bleached food that is devoid of nutrients. Many people who are feeling poorly due to undiagnosed food allergies, may take vitamins or other supplements to increase their vitality after they get treated for the specific allergy. If they happen to be allergic to the nutritional supplements they are taking, this can actually make them feel worse. Only after clearing those allergies, can their bodies properly assimilate them. So nutritional assessment should be done periodically and if needed, appropriate supplements should be taken to receive faster results.

Disclaimer
NAET does NOT claim to cure allergies or food, chemical and environmental sensitivities. NAET does not support the use of lasers in lieu of acupressure and acupuncture modalities. Do-it-yourself, at-home type kits can be extremely dangerous or harmful. Laser devices to treat allergies are currently being investigated by the FDA for inappropriate activities and claims. NAET is not responsible for any damage that is done by the use of such devices attempting to mimic NAET techniques. Any and all allergy treatment must be supervised by an approved and licensed health professional. Practitioners and programs that use words such as “distance treatments”, “JMT”, “BioSet”, “ByeBye Allergies”, “Berg technique”, “Advanced Allergy Elimination Technique”, “Allergy Pathways”, “Allergy Elimination Technique”, “the allergy kit”, and “A/SERT” do not perform Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) and are not sanctioned by NAET. NAET cannot be held responsible for any harm that may come from receiving such treatments or techniques that mimic or try to copy NAET.

Brain Health

While cognitive decline and diminishing brain function may or may not be inevitable as we age, there are fortunately many lifestyle choices we can make that translate not only to healthier brains but also brains that may be better able to heal from damage caused by brain trauma and injury.
For instance, evidence is overwhelming regarding exercise’s ability to increase brain neuroplasticity and offset cognitive impairment in aging populations. The same can be said of diets that emphasize fresh vegetables and fruits, with some plant derived compounds demonstrating specific brain protective properties.
Among the various aspects of the pathophysiological cascade of post traumatic brain injury, magnesium depletion “ …has been correlated with post-injury neurologic deficits, and pretreatment to restore magnesium levels results in improved motor performance in experimental animals.”
Functionally, magnesium plays a vital role in nerve transmission, neuroplasticity and cognitive performance. As we age, brain levels of magnesium decline, exacerbating the erosion of synaptic function in the hippocampus region of the brain, for instance, which has a primary role in the formation of memories.
A unique and highly effective form of magnesium
Magnesium repletion then, especially as we age, is of vital importance. Unfortunately, magnesium from both food and supplementation has not been proven to elevate brain magnesium levels adequately enough to produce a therapeutic effect. One form of magnesium though, magnesium threonate, has been found to significantly increase brain levels of magnesium leading to improvements in synaptic plasticity, memory, cognition and learning.
The disruptive power of oxidative stress
The pathophysiological cascade of events that occur immediately following traumatic brain injury (TBI) include the creation of high levels of cell membrane damaging oxidative stress. Beyond cell membrane damaging lipid peroxidative action, oxidative stress “can cause a number of deleterious effects in cells including inhibition of DNA synthesis, disturbance in calcium homeostasis, and inhibition of mitochondrial respiration.”  Cell membrane disruption together with subsequent pathophysiological events will cause cognitive deficits that may manifest themselves as learning difficulties, memory loss and decreased synaptic plasticity.
 The benefits of curcumin
Cerebral edema is another common consequence of TBI. Dietary polyphenols like curcumin, the polyphenol found in turmeric, has been shown to have utility in brain disease, injury and cognitive function. Curcumin’s powerful antioxidative properties has been shown to be effective in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and was shown to attenuate the severity of edema and hematoma in animal models of brain injury. In the preceding study, supplemental curcumin was also shown to improve brain cell membrane homeostasis and stability, neuronal signaling and cognitive deficits in animal models of traumatic brain injury.
Neurodegenerative diseases have a similar albeit slower progression of events including excitotoxicity, leading to neuronal cell death. Excitotoxicity is a pathological process by which neurons are damaged and killed by the over activation of receptors for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. This leads to the activation of a number of enzymes, which go on to damage cell structures such as components of the cell membrane and DNA. Excitotoxicity is involved in not only stroke and traumatic brain injury, but also neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease.
Green tea and brain health
Green tea consumption, with its plentiful concentration of polyphenols or more specifically, its green tea catechins, like curcumin, possesses brain protective properties which include its ability to increase neuronal viability, improve mitochondrial function and act as a powerful antioxidant. Iron in excess can be powerfully oxidative and has been shown to accumulate in specific parts of the brain like the hippocampus, again a vital center of cognition and memory formation. Green tea has iron chelation abilities that may offer addition brain protection and disease protection.
Finally, polyphenols from grape extracts were shown to decrease DNA damage in animal models of ischemic brain injury.
These examples just scratch the surface of the plethora of lifestyle, dietary and nutritional choices we have, many of which have been convincingly associated with major health benefits related to brain and cognitive health.

Tags: green tea, grape extracts, brain health, curcumin, oxidative stress, magnesium

Compliments of Michael Fuhrman D.C., Designs for Health 

Martha's Minute: Heart Disease Prevention Tips

MARTHA'S MINUTE - WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE HEART
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Heart disease prevention tips save US lives - study

Prevention efforts such as losing weight, kicking the smoking habit, lowering cholesterol and taking an aspirin a day could cut heart attacks in the United States by 36 percent and strokes by 20 percent in the next three decades, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

"It's literally millions of lives saved," said Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, chief science officer of the American Heart Association and co-author of the report, which appears in the journal Circulation.

"The results show not only can we prolong peoples' lives but we can really prolong quality life by preventing these things from happening," Robertson said in a telephone interview. Robertson said 78 percent of U.S. adults aged 20-80 could benefit from at least one of these prevention activities.
The report was based on a mathematical model that used data from a national survey of health and nutrition to project the effects of prevention efforts on the entire U.S. population over a 30-year period. It is a joint effort of the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.

It builds on a wealth of studies that suggest people can make changes to improve their health and prolong their lives. A team of British researchers recently found people who drink moderately, exercise, quit smoking and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables each day live 14 years longer than people who do none of those things.

AN EXTRA YEAR OF LIFE
Robertson and colleagues looked specifically at ways to prevent heart disease. They found that if followed to their full potential, 11 prevention measures could add 220 million years of life to the U.S. population over the next 30 years, or an average of 1.3 years of life expectancy for each adult in the United States. "If every individual achieved 100 percent adherence with all the clinical prevention activities for which they are candidates, then heart attacks would decrease about 63 percent and strokes about 31 percent in the next three decades," Robertson said in a statement. Knowing that 100 percent adherence was unlikely, the researchers also calculated what would be feasible based on what has been achieved in clinical trials. "Under those conditions, heart attacks would drop by 36 percent and strokes by 20 percent in the same period," Robertson said. People with diabetes would benefit the most from these prevention strategies, the researchers found.

Strategies with the biggest heart health impact come from taking low-dose aspirin, controlling pre-diabetes, weight loss in the obese, lowering blood pressure in people with diabetes, and lowering low-density lipid cholesterol, the so-called "bad" cholesterol, in people with existing coronary artery disease.
The researchers said the findings suggest more resources need to be focused on prevention efforts. "The benefits are too important to be ignored," Robertson said in a statement.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes, which is the seventh-leading cause of death.

Last Updated: 2008-07-07 16:22:20 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Julie Steenhuysen