A Tale of Two Feet

Frank is a very physically active 43 year old, who does not always make smartest choices regarding footwear. One day while playing soccer in very worn out shoes, he noticed a painful tearing sensation in heel of his left foot. Next morning, he could barely walk. Being an avid user of oils, Frank started applying Peppermint and Wintergreen to his sore foot.

He also went to his doctor, who diagnosed his condition as Plantar Fasciitis. The doctor told him to take mega-doses of Ibuprofen for his foot pain and come back in 6 months for surgery in case Ibuprofen did not work. Feeling that destroying his liver with mega-doses of Ibuprofen might be less than stellar advice, Frank ignored doctor and kept on applying oils each day. After 3 months, pain was gone completely and Frank returned to his active lifestyle, though a little bit wiser regarding his choice of footwear.

Frank has a former neighbor named Cathy, also an active 43 year old. Cathy is on her feet all day, running a rescue kennel for abandoned dogs. Cathy also was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis around same time Frank was. Cathy elected to follow her doctor's advice. The Ibuprofen did not help overcome her foot pain, so she elected surgery.

The doctor warned her that surgery was only successful half of time. He was not kidding. Cathy was off her feet for over a month after first surgery. This was followed by a second surgery. The foot worsened. Cathy went back for a third surgery, now off her feet for most of a year. This time Cathy contracted a Staph infection that almost killed her.

Do math; two bottles of Peppermint and Wintergreen versus three extended hospital stays, medication, specialists and a year of lost productivity. How much cheaper would all of our insurance premiums be if health care profession opened their minds to plethora of health promoting, non-invasive modalities (such as essential oils) that exist today?

The above is a “story” received over internet and I do not vouch for its accuracy, but it does tell a similar story to my own. What follows is real and true: it is my life and my sweetie’s life. My “sweetie” is my wife, my soulmate, my best friend, June, whom I met in 1952. I consider myself to be luckiest of men as I am still married to first love of my life.

We freely use essential oils in our home and we use them for many things, cuts, scrapes, burns. I love them, particularly Lavender, but several others as well. They have a pleasing odor. And in case of Lavender, a healing, non-scarring result for my sweetie in case of three recent severe burns she received on her arms from oven of our stove. For me it smells good, feels good, but doesn’t do anything particularly beneficial; for my wife it heals rapidly and prevents scarring.

Thieve’s Oil has a profound calming and pleasing effect on my sweetie; I just like smell it gives off. There are several others which we use as ingredients in body lotions. Some are calming, some are sensual, some are relaxing. And that’s way they work for her. I just enjoy smells, but otherwise feel no beneficial effects from essential oils.

Your body is under constant attack--not only from pathogens of all kinds--but also, at molecular level, from "free radicals." Free radicals are unstable molecules that result inevitably from oxidation of nutrients in your body to produce energy. If they are not effectively counteracted, they systematically damage cells of your body. This accelerates aging and can ultimately lead to many chronic degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cataracts, and arthritis.

Just as your immune system defends your body against various kinds of pathogens, your main defense against free radical damage is antioxidant defense system. This consists of a group of compounds that effectively disarm free radicals before they attack your tissues.

They accomplish this disarming action by engulfing free radicals and then joining their molecular structure. Although this results in new molecule becoming a free radical itself, it is much weaker than original free radical and is, thus, much less likely to cause harm to cells of your body. So this is a classic instance of "when you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Dr. Lester Packer spent his entire career researching details of this process. He, along with a team of colleagues and other scientists, have established that it involves a dynamic interplay among five key antioxidants: vitamins C and E, Coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid, and glutathione. These key substances work together in such a way that they bolster each other and maintain a balance of overall system that they comprise. By systematically rejuvenating each other, they are said to work "synergistically." Collectively, they are called "the antioxidant network."

You can read about all details of how free radicals--if they are not quelled--damage body, and also learn specifics of how antioxidant network works to protect you in Dr. Packer's recently-published, enlightening book, "The Antioxidant Miracle."

One very important conclusion of his work, which is stressed in his book, is that modern diet does NOT provide an adequate intake of key antioxidants and that it is, therefore, crucially important for EVERYONE to supplement their diets with high quality antioxidants in order to slow down aging and help prevent development of degenerative disease. As he points out very cogently, research evidence indicates that some of these diseases, such as cataracts, can be prevented COMPLETELY through effective supplementation.

How To Get The Most Potent Antioxidant Available