Prebiotics, Probiotic and Fermented Foods to Keep Candida in Control

Candida Albicans

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Candida albicans is a yeast that belongs to a persons body’s normal flora. Flora are the microbes that normally reside on a person’s body, including Yeast, bifidobacteria and also the lactobacilli. Yeast is generally kept in balance with a healthy human body's defence mechanism, “good” bacteria in normal body flora, and occasional levels of moisture in a few limbs, like the skin, since Candida needs moisture to cultivate. Candida has two forms that it could take: a harmless yeast as part of the normal flora or being a harmful fungus. Unfortunately, Vaginal yeast infections sometimes decides to look wild and infect certain parts of the body in the fungal form, specially in women. This may be caused by a few factors, including illness, a pH imbalance in areas of the body, taking antibiotics, eating an increased sugar or high carbohydrate diet, or using chemicals of the epidermis. Strategies you could keep up with the balance of your respective normal flora which will help prevent the opportunistic fungus from getting out of hand. They are prebiotics, probiotics and fermented foods.

Prebiotic Foods/Supplements and Candida 

Prebiotics do not contain any live bacteria, or bacterial cultures. Prebiotics foods are abundant in soluble fiber. Unlike insoluble fiber that helps keep the bowels moving, soluble fiber is fuel for your “good bacteria” that live in the human gut. Fibers contains these compounds: inulin, lactulose, oligofructose, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactooligosaccharides (GOS) along with other oligosaccharides. These prebiotic molecules within foods promote development of probiotic bacteria within your colon whilst keeping any unwanted organisms under control. Consequently, maintaining healthy intestinal flora can help keep Candidiasis at bay within you. Some prebiotic foods that contain high amounts of fiber content include: greens, legumes, raw artichokes, oats, garlic, raw asparagus, barley, acacia gum, chicory root, leeks, whole wheat, wheat bran, flax seed, brown rice, rye, psyllium, and raw onions.
Some additional important things about adding prebiotics on your diet are:

• Optimize the absorption of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium
• Prevent and/or control occasional diarrhea or bouts of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Alleviate occasional constipation
• Supply approximately 10% of daily energy requirements
• Surge in bioavailability of minerals, for example magnesium and calcium
• Promote fullness to help in healthy weight loss

As well as prebiotic foods, these day there are a number of prebiotics supplements open to consumers. These supplements could have a mixture of soluble fiber from different sources, plus some insoluble fiber. Also, some prebiotic supplements are not listed as “prebiotics”, and can offer the names from the compounds stated earlier, so you may have to read labels carefully. Some more commonly known prebiotic supplements are: flaxseed, wheat bran, garlic, and acacia gum. Currently there aren't any specific guidelines regarding volume of prebiotic supplement to adopt for optimal benefits. Research has suggested that 25-30 grams of prebiotic fiber total per day, with 5-10 grams from a supplement, is sufficient provide the full-benefits of prebiotics.

Probiotics and Candida

Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain live bacteria or bacterial cultures that conserve the body. Yogurt is certainly a familiar probiotic food which has lactobacilli cultures. Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are two kinds of bacteria that play an essential role in healthy digestion and so are considered “good” bacteria for the body. These “good” bacteria can also help to keep Yeast manageable as well as prevent yeast infections. Even though yogurt can be a tasty method to obtain probiotics, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria can be found in much greater quantities probiotics.
Taking probiotic supplements will suppress Candida overgrowth often: they correct the acidity level within your stomach they boost your immunity system: as well as the bacteria actually crowd out the yeast. However, not all probiotics are top quality so it is very important know what forms of probiotics are best against Candida infections. Optimal supplements contain specific strains of bacteria that were verified as effective. These bacteria will have names with some letters or numbers to point a certain strain. Two most effective strains are Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 and Lactobacillus GG. There must be no less than 500 billion organisms per gram. The capsules, powders, or tablets should stored in dark bottles to prevent deterioration by heat and, and they ought to be trapped in a refrigerator. Dosage is dependent upon the consumer product, so refer to the instructions around the label on an appropriate dose.
An all-inclusive set of probiotic supplements are available at the following link: List of probiotic supplements

Fermented Foods and Candida

Eating certain fermented foods also can help out with controlling Candida overgrowth and stalling a infection. They act like probiotics in that they contain high numbers of beneficial bacteria. The effectiveness of fermented foods against infection lies in the fermentation process. In the process called lacto-fermentation that develops in many foods, including cabbage and yogurt, two bacteria, Lactobacillus acidophilus and plantarum prey on sugars found in the foods. Because Candida only survive on sugars, this doesn't really enjoy the fermented results. Also, these bacteria are probiotic anyway, hence they help re-establish the balance of ordinary flora in your body.
Along with their probiotic action, these types of food contain high amounts of vitamins essential for a healthy immune system. Foods like sauerkraut and kimchi are an excellent source of vitamins C and B12. Yogurt can be a “fermented” food that has lots of calcium and protein. There are numerous other fermented foods that have the same nutrients and vitamins as yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi, yet no too known.
Here are some more anti-Candida foods: fermented probiotic foods list

Prebiotics, probiotics and fermented foods are the defenses against a Candida infection. By providing the body with immune-boosting nutrients, beneficial bacteria, and fuel for all those bacteria, these three natural fungus fighters will help return your body’s flora towards the balanced state which help take care of the Candida rolling around in its harmless yeast form. Keep in mind, view your doctor before beginning any new food, supplement or diet program to tackle any health concern or serious infection.

How to Do Legs Massage

Legs Massage - Total Relaxation

Legs are one of the greatest places to get a massage. The legs and feet are some of the most used body parts, and anything that makes the relax will feel amazing.
The legs have the body’s most powerful muscles and relaxation massage will always be of a great help. Sports massage is another modality that focuses on legs. Thai massage has also a special section for legs. The great thing about legs massage is that you can do almost any technique. The not so great about it is that with hairy legs you are limited to a certain degree in terms of the techniques used.

Effleurage On the Thighs

This leg massage assumes that your subject is lying face down, (prone position). When starting your massage the whole body should be covered with a blanket to keep the body warm.
Start by uncovering one leg and perform a moderate pressure effleurage on the thigh. You can hold your palms flat or you can form a circle with both of your palms and massage the thigh with this circle. The effleurage is meant to push the blood around, so your strokes need to go from knee towards the inguinal area. I the subject lays on the abdomen, you can also do the same technique on the calf.

Kneading the Thighs

After the effleurage, when the adjustment period is finished, you can do a petrissage, the milking technique on thigh. Do not massage the knee area. Use only the palm when you milk, this way your thumb will not hurt muscular tissue.

Cross Fiber Friction

If your patient has painful areas on the legs, doing a cross fiber friction will help your patient by increasing locally the blood flow. Make sure there is no inflammation in the painful area, and if it is, don’t do the cross fiber. This technique is very good for the heavily used muscles in this area, especially when the muscles are injured.

Deep Effleurage on Thighs

Do a deep effleurage on the whole thigh continuing to buttocks. When you reach the buttock, your palm can turn into fist to apply more pressure on the massive muscles on the bum.

How To Do Calf Massage

You can start massaging the calf now, and you will start with a medium pressure effleurage, starting from the foot up to the popliteal area, (the back of the knee).
Perform kneading on the calf muscle. The kneading can be any of the Swedish petrissage techniques. The objective is to alternatively squeeze and release the muscle.

Other Massage Articles

• How to Do a Self Head Massage
  Head Massage is one of the best and easiest natural ways to maintain a good health. Head massage does not require privacy, and we can keep all the clothes on during the massage. The best thing about it is that you can give yourself a head massage any time.
  
• How To Do Feet Massage
  Feet massage is probably one of the most condensed massage techniques. By working on an small area, you will not only relax and invigorate the feet muscles, but the whole body will get the benefits of a feet massage because of the high number of reflexology points.

Physical Therapy Marketing - How to Build a Web Presence

Do you need a website for your physical therapy business? 

Learn what you need to be present on web.

Today, any services business needs a website. The first choice for most of the people, when searching for services, is the Internet. Nobody uses the Phone Book to search for a massage place anymore. Everybody looks for services on Internet. If you are not present on the Internet you are missing a lot of clients.
A website is not only a way to be found on Internet, is also a way to make the first contact with your potential clients, make known your mission statement and educate clients. Your website is the most important way of promoting your business.
To start a website is not expensive at all, contrary to a popular belief. Look at this webhost review. The prices are really low as you will see. If you are a technical inclined person any of these webhosting offers come with a free domain name and many choices of Content Management Systems that you can install automatically, (no programming needed). You can install Wordpress or other CMSs. You just need to start building your content.

If you only need a static website, that is also very simple to setup.

Why is a CMS better than a static website? Because it gives you the option to create dynamic content such as online booking and online payment. You can setup so that your new content is automatically posted to your Twitter or Facebook account, and many other things that could potentially pick-up your business.

What to Publish on Your Website

Great Marketing Tools To Have on Your Website

You can integrate online scheduling into your webpage so that people will not have to call in.

• Have a contact form where people can send you emails.
• Post testimonials.
• Educate your clients with massage and wellness related articles. 
• Promote marketing campaigns.
• Present yourself.
• Setup membership with logins for your clients.
• Count the number of visitors.
• Change the look of your website without modifying the content.
• Aggregate related news-feeds content for your visitors.
• Many other dynamic actions, such as serve different pages depending on the landing page or other criteria.
• A video is a very good idea. Think about your video as your first contact with your clients.
• Informative and educational articles, are a very good way to promote your website. If you are talented write an article every so often, you might need quite little more at the beginning. You can always hire someone to write articles for you if you don't have the time or writing is not one of your greatest skills. People and search engines love information.

Social Media for a Massage Business

Facebook and Twitter are good places to interact with your possible clients.
Use Facebook to promote your website and your massage business. Here are some of the best tips and tricks for making Facebook work for you to get new massage clients and to get repeat massage business:

• Create a fan page or profile page.
• Get people to Like your page or become friends with you by giving incentives, such as 5-10% discount. This will build upon your Facebook page and website.
• Connect Facebook to your website and Twitter feed.
• Write often on your Wall. People will not join your fan page unless they know you, or you give them something, such as a discount or useful information. Give discounts on twitter, people will follow you and you will have the option to fill in any gaps in your daily schedule.

Make Your Website Popular

Popularity of Your Website

Get listed with any other local businesses, any local groups, the Chamber of Commerce. This is called link building, and you need this if you want your website to be found on search engines. Other ways to build links is to participate to forum discussions, comment on blogs and share your expertise. There are many benefits gained by discussing on Internet, you get to publish one link every time you participate to a discussion, you establish yourself as an authority, the links you publish will get you additional traffic on your website, more traffic translates into more clients.
The clients for a massage business are local, so build up on local traffic. Don’t try to bring traffic at any cost, you need targeted traffic not just any traffic.
Create profile pages with other massage websites and link to your website. You have a couple of advantages of doing this. Your profile page it's treated as related content and is giving a boost of popularity to your website, this way you get more visitors to your website.

Start Small or Big

How Much Do I need To Spend for My Website?

If you are not comfortable spending any money start with a few free profile pages, on massage websites. A good start is this website, create a massage therapist profile and start writing about your massage business. As a matter of fact, you could run your web presence of of Zujava.
On the other hand, if you can invest a bit, having your own massage or physical therapy website, creates an image to your business, and it is the best way to start.

What Is the Income for Registered Massage Therapists

How much do massage therapists make?

The income potential for Licensed Massage Therapists (RMT, LMT) varies depending on the years of experience, the nature of employment and location.
The average salary for a typical Massage Therapist in the United States is around $43,000 according to salary.com. Keep in mind that this is an average where all range of massage therapists are included. There is no distinction between geographic locations, the experience of the massage therapist and the type of employment. In a spa environment there is potential for big tips, which sometimes don't count as salary.
Hourly rates for a massage session range from $40 to $110, depending on the region of the country, the experience of the therapist and the location in the city.
Depending on the type of your employment, you could be paid as little as $15 per hour as a beginner, or you could make as much as $110 as a self employed in great location in one of the big urban agglomerations. Of course as a self employed you have expenses to deduct but you will still make a great income.
There is a great income potential as a massage therapist, however if you got into massage just for the money and not because of a sincere desire to help other people, you will be unhappy.
On the other hand if you love what you do, you have good skills, and the determination to achieve success, you will be successful.
Remember, there is no typical salary for a massage therapist, the income can range from just scraping by to up to $200,000 per year.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, massage therapists earn an average of $42 an hour, (including tips). They charge an average of 60$ per hour of service with a billing range between $15 and $110.

Why such a big difference?

First of all some massage therapists like this career because it gives the flexibility and their ultimate objective is not to make a lot of money.
As I mentioned before, the geographic location will determine how much can a massage practice or a therapist can charge for a session.
The practitioner's experience is a big factor. As a newly graduate expect lower income.

Benefits of Indian Head Massage

Head Massage is Nonintrusive and Convenient

Indian Head Massage is a practice based on the Ayurvedic techniques and involves work on the upper back,
shoulders, neck, scalp and face. Champissage, as it is also known, was brought to the west by Narendra Mehta.
It is gentle, safe and non-invasive and just about anyone would benefit from a treatment.
Head Massage, is administered fully clothed, therefore many people find it less intrusive than a full body massage. This therapy is also known as Chair Massage, or Office Massage, and is very convenient since it can be performed virtually anywhere.

Benefits of Indian Head Massage

Indian head massage promotes relaxation and is particularly beneficial in treating stress, tension, fatigue, insomnia, head-aches, migraine and sinusitis, increase mental clearness.  Head Massage is especially helpful to people who are 'desk bound' and experience pain and tension in the upper body.
It is also useful for relieving: Tension headaches, eyestrain, ear problems, insomnia, neck and shoulder stiffness, hair loss, hair thinning, scalp tension, mental tiredness, and anxiety.

A Powerful Preventative Practice

Indian head massage is a deeply relaxing practice. As a relaxing technique is a powerful preventive instrument in today’s stressful lifestyle. Indian Head Massage is most powerful when used as a preventative tool, but it is extremely helpful even as a treating method.

Tissue Manipulation and Chakras balancing

Head Massage, works in two modes: on a physical level, by manipulating skin and muscle tissue and on a psychological level by working on energy channels.
The tissue manipulation has all the benefits of a regular massage session such as lymphatic drainage and elimination of toxins, blood circulation improvement, spasm and tension relieving, muscle strength, better brain oxygenation, etc…
The energy channels handling uses accupressure points, named Marmas, which are in abundance on the head and neck region. Marmas are little gateways to the nervous system, and they are extremely responsive to various stimulus including compression, touch, heat and cold, etc…
Indian Head Massages utilize 'Marmas' which are acu-pressure points located on the head, neck, shoulders,
arms, hands and face to stimulate circulation, rebalance energy and release blockages which cause stress
and strain.

Hair Loss and Hair Thinning

Champissage is known in India for a long time and practiced on large scale. It is practiced by almost every family as a grooming ritual and as a hair and scalp care. The increased blood circulation strengthens the hair root and promotes health. The use of special oils feed the scalp and the hair with necessary nutrients. Champi as it is known in India is a head massage practice found in every Indian barber shop and it is extremely common to have one with a hair cut or even with a morning shave.

Weight Control

Many times overweight is a result of stress. Stress can impede a proper digestion and as result incorrect food absorption occurs.
Head Massage, by its extremely relaxing qualities, can help you assimilate food properly and, as a result, prevent weight gain and can help you lose weight.

Head Massage encourages natural healing capabilities

As a treatment, Indian Head Massage helps to restore a state of balance and bring back its natural healing capabilities, encouraging the body's own healing processes. Once the body is "attuned", it is wise to have regular treatments to help maintain a state of balance.

Head Massage fights Stress and prevents illness

Champissage is an extremely efficient tool to fight against stress. Since the majority of the modern’s life conditions are related to stress, Champissage can be extremely helpful for maintaining a good health.
It is very difficult to renounce our chaotic lifestyles because there is no reference point around us, having a Head Massage gives you this moment of bliss, which you can always refer to when you are stressed.

Neck massage against CCSVI (MS)

There has been many reports of CCSVI patients whose condition improved by massaging the neck. There are no medical studies to sustain the anecdotical reports, and a missdiagnosed CCSVI or incorrect massage could do even more damage to the patient's condition. However, if all the precautions are taken this might be a way to cope with CCSVI.

Prevent and Lower the Knee Swelling

Knee inflammation is a very common problem, especially in people over 40. People stop exercising because of the knee pain, but doing this will only worsen the knees' health. Here a few tips to lower the swelling so you can resume you day to day activity, and keep yourself active.

• If you have knee inflammation or pain that lasts over 2 days, or is accompanied by extreme discomfort or a temperature, you need to seek out medical assistance where the right diagnosis can  be made and any underlying conditions ruled out.
• Prevent applying weight on the sore, irritated joint if you can , until the swelling decreases.
• Apply a cold compress. Place some ice-cubes in a cloth and keep it on your knee about fifteen to twenty minutes in order to allow to minimize swelling. Continue doing this every two to four hours, and when you use the compress, make sure to keep the knee elevated using pillows.
• If you are affected by arthritis at the knee, it is vital that you keep up with a stretching program and strengthening exercises. These types of exercises can help to warm and stretch the muscle tissue and are particularly helpful after long intervals of physical inactivity.
• Regular training to increase muscle tone and conditioning can be extremely beneficial. Don't forget never to push yourself very hard if you're unfit. Pick a soft training which won’t injure such as yoga exercise or swimming.
• For overweight people then now is the perfect time to look at slimming down naturally. Excess weight puts extra stress on all the muscles and articulations, in particular on the ankles and knees.
• Massage is an effective alternative treatment to enhance other treatment plans for knees inflammation. Therapeutic touch assists release of endorphins and other ache reducing substances,  additionally supports good blood circulation to enhance the articulation healing.

Here are a few videos with exercises for your weak knees:

How To Give a Back Massage

Back Massage

Learn How to Massage the Back

Learn how to give a back massage like a pro. If you know how to give a back massage you can relieve pain, aches and stress. A back massage is also a fantastic tool when it comes to a couple's physical intimacy. This "how to" will walk you through the whole back massage session an teach you how to do it like a pro.

Back Massage Techniques Sequence

• The patient lays face down, (prone).
• The therapist will cover the inferior part of the body with a sheet. Uncover only the parts that are massaged. This prevents the body to cool down and offers more comfort to the subject. The practitioner will need to warm up the hands by washing them with warm water if needed, or by rubbing them together.
• Start massaging with a very light effleurage of the entire back from sacrum to neck:
• Perform 10-15 long effleurage strokes for letting your patient become familiar with you as a massage therapist. The first moves don’t bear too much therapeutic value, but they are particularly important as they set up the climate of the following 60 minutes.
• Apply oil or lotion on the back of the patient, making sure the oil is warm, and spread the oil on the whole back.
• Execute two times a more deep bilateral effleurage of the entire back. Make sure you cover every inch of the back.
• Do shingles starting from the lower back toward the neck two times. If the patient is a small person four runs should cover the whole back, otherwise you may need 6 runs. Do each run twice.
• Perform Petrissage, (Milking), on the whole back. The hands need to be synchronized for this stroke.
• Execute a longitudinal alternating thumbs friction along the spine – this is great stroke for people with back aches. The back muscles are very strong, and you need to exercise strong pressure. If you want to protect your thumbs you can use your knuckles instead. Use plenty of oil for this technique.
• Execute one time cross-fiber friction using your thumbs on the whole back: close to spine, median line and the edges of the body. This move is performed from the opposite side of spine. Repeat this on the other side.
• Do the same thing with palm friction but two times. This should be lightly stronger than fingertip friction.
• Perform a peeling two times. The area peeled starts very close to the spine and it ends on the opposite side of the body.
• As a transition you can do the shingles again and then cover the back in preparation for the next body area to massage.

Back Massage Video

Back Massage Tips

Perform alternate thumb compression alongside the spinal column making sure you cover the whole length from coccyx to neck. Do not touch the spine! This helps relaxing and reinforcing the spinal muscles. Most of us, as products of our modern society, will benefit greatly from this procedure.It is an excellent procedure for pregnant women, but if you are not a professionally trained massage therapist stay away from massaging pregnant women. As an alternative, you can do an elbow compression for more muscular bodies, but you have to pay attention to the placement of elbows as you have less control on tiny spaces and you don’t want to press on the spine.