The emotional component is very important in preventing illness. I remember during one morning’s grand rounds many years ago asking an oncologist, the head of a medical school’s internal medicine department, whether there was a connection between grief and cancer. He answered, “Absolutely not.” We have learned a lot since then about the body/mind connection. The body is not a well-oiled machine that functions separately from the human heart. T cells drop, our natural immunity suffers, when we are shocked, grieved, or feel abandoned. I take special precautions against certain stressful activities. When  dealing with something or someone very unpleasant, whether because of them or my own feelings, I take natural remedies to feel safe. Asian anticancer foods and herbs do no harm and may accomplish a great deal of good. They detoxify the body of poisons, enhance circulation, and reduce stress. Many increase beauty. Feeling protected is good. “Youth and age are partly a matter of habit and training.” Personal Renewal

Here is an excerpt from my book Healthy Beauty:
Stress is aging and uglifying. Worse, it’s physically unavoidable. Back when we lived in caves, gathered roots and berries, and first discovered green tea, about 3,500 B.C., when faced with a wild boar or saber-toothed tiger, our body reacted immediately. The heart rate increased to supply oxygen for the heart, lungs, and muscles. Blood pressure increased as circulation was redirected. Blood coagulability increased to protect against bleeding to death from possible wounds. Protection against shock left the skin clammy, shivering, and goose fleshed to conserve body heat. We began to sweat. Breathing accelerated. Eyes opened wide with pupils dilated. The body tensed as adrenalin, noradrenalin, and hormonal support readied us to spring into action.
At that point we had two choices–run away screaming or use a natural remedy. Our stressors have changed over time, but our body remains genetically programmed to react as though we never left the cave. In the middle of a heart-pounding panic attack, you may fear imminent death. Your body is protecting you from an unseen stressor. By defining stress, it becomes manageable. Like naming a demon, you can take a deep breath and say to yourself, “It’s just the old fight or flight syndrome.” Then use what works for you—meditation, prayer, or visualizing an okay situation–so that you can move forward. My way of dealing with stress is to plan for it.

WHAT HERBAL STRESS FIGHTERS CAN DO
Herbs provide a powerful way to reduce stress and protect appearance. You need not buy exotic ingredients to take advantage of ancient herbal wisdom. Once you accept that herbs, foods and teas can enhance vitality, you can use the herbal tradition you know. Well-chosen Asian herbs, western health food store products, East Indian, Latin American, or African herbs work wonders regardless of your national origin. Herbs are rejuvenating. Because they are absorbed like foods, herbs work as catalysts to stimulate necessary physical reactions such as digestion, respiration, and elimination of toxins.

BASIC DEFINITIONS
Several categories of herbs for internal use are important for you to know. They are herbal cleansers, tonics, and adaptogens. The following foods and herbs for daily use can create a baseline for health and balance required for beauty. They will improve weight loss and anti-addictions programs, improve resistance to colds and flu, and enhance vitality.

Herbal Cleansers: Protection From Bad Habits and Pollution
A household cleanser or bleach kills germs and eliminates stains. An herbal cleanser for internal use such as a tea, liquid tincture, or pill eliminates acids, unabsorbed foods or other impurities. Often cleansing is accomplished by naturally increasing urination, bowel movements or sweating. You can use herbal cleansers to eliminate blemishes and reduce water retention. Most frequently they are bitter-tasting plants and green or yellow vegetables such as chicory, endive and squash.
Dandelion or tarragon increase bile flow. Bile is laxative, extremely bitter, green-colored and alkaline. It speeds digestion and cleanse impurities from the blood. After using a stimulant-cleanser, the body feels lighter and cleaner and complexion is smoother. Other herbal cleansers include parsley and cilantro, which are diuretic (increase urination), and rhubarb, which is laxative.
After eating cleansing foods, we feel cool and refreshed because they remove excess acid. I have seen plenty of people, who have red dry eyes; acne or flaky, itchy rough skin; thinning hair; dry cough; stomach ulcers; constipation; bad breath; nervousness or other signs of inflammation, but who continue to gorge themselves with hot spices, salt, alcohol, sugar, and greasy foods, as well as smoke cigarettes. For picante-eaters, using cooling herbs and spices such as cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds, mint, dill, cilantro, alfalfa, cucumber, zucchini, or spinach might seem a revolutionary dietary and lifestyle change. Without cooling, cleansing foods, their beauty will suffer. They will also suffer from stress, nervousness, and insomnia, which are increased by acid.
Traditional Chinese medicine’s energetic point of view, has become an international language shared by European and American herbalists as well as the Chinese. Laboratoire 5 Saisons located in Aix-en-Provence, France makes Elixir Energetic #2 (Depurgatif Fois) a concentrated liquid extract liver-cleanser which contains sirop d’erable (maple) as a source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese as well as romarin (rosemary), verbenone (vervain), pissenlit (dandelion), gattilier (Agnus castus), cimicifuga (black cohosh) , chelidoine (celandine), and alchemille (lady’s mantle). The line of  ten energetic elixirs is formulated by noted French author and educator, Dr. Yves Requena, who though trained as a western endocrinologist practices traditional Chinese medicine.

Herbal Tonics Replenish What Age and Illness Have Depleted
A tonic is a food that helps the body to work better. Often we use a tonic to increase energy and endurance, for example, Chinese ginseng. Herbs with stimulating properties such as sage or nettle also stimulate energy and increase immunity to illness or fatigue. Asian tonics are sometimes semi-sweet fruits or fungi (the mushroom family) also roots, twigs, bark, shells or animal products.
Herbal tonics stimulate and nourish the body differently than vitamins. An herbal blood-enhancing tonic such as Rehmannia glutinosa (shu di huang) does not contain iron but improves the health of the liver and kidney, which are vital to blood production. Black Cherry concentrate, often used to reduce gout pains, supplies minerals that condition the liver. An herbal tonic does more than supplement nutrition, it stimulates organ functions.
Use a stimulating herbal energy tonic if you look and feel rundown, your complexion is pale and dull, your movements are slow, clumsy and you feel weak and achy. A blood-enhancing tonic such as dong quai (a.k.a. tang kuei) is sometimes recommended after a menstrual period if you feel chilled and washed out. Otherwise, a blood tonic such as bing cherries (Black Cherry concentrate) is good anytime because it is nutritious and cleansing. I like adding two or more tablespoons of Dr. Bernard Jensen’s Bing Cherry Concentrate to water first thing in the morning or as a mid-afternoon energy lift. Add sparkling water and a dash of lemon for tart flavor.
Nerve tonics (sometimes called nervines) are rejuvenating for people who think constantly, who break out in nervous rashes or suffer from nerve pains (neuralgia and sciatica), who lay awake at night unable to remember things, or who age mentally from stress. Among this respected category of tonics is an Asian star, gotu kola. Dr. Vasant Lad in The Yoga of Herbs, a book reread to shreds in my library, writes that gotu kola (Hydrocotyle asiatica) is recommended for “senility, premature aging, hairloss, chronic and obstinate skin conditions (such as eczema, psoriasis and leprosy!), and that it may be the most important rejuvenative herb in Ayurvedic (East Indian) medicine.”
A lovely man originally from Puna, India, he once opened an herb class I attended by singing from the Vedas about prana (the flow of life) in Sanskrit. I was totally charmed. About gotu kola Dr. Lad writes, “It increases intelligence, longevity, memory; it decreases senility and aging. It fortifies the immune system, both cleansing and feeding it, and strengthens the adrenals.” Founder and director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, Vasant Lad has penetrating, warm eyes and an easy, friendly manner. He writes well-researched, comprehensive, and charming books. When it comes to advice on nerve tonics, which impact on mind and spirit, it pays to consider the source.

Adaptogens Reduce Wear and Tear
Adaptogens are a special category of tonics used to prevent fatigue and illness resulting from stress and weakened immunity. In later chapters, you will learn how to choose the right ginseng and mushroom for weightloss as well as for performance strength and endurance.
Japanese mushrooms such as shiitake, reishi and enoki are famous sources of polysaccharides–very large, long chain sugar molecules that are structural components of many cells. Polysaccharides are active compounds in a number of medicinal plants and foods that are nontoxic but have powerful enhancing effects on immunity.” They increase ‘natural killer cells’, which are the main destroyers of malignant cells, as well as increased resistance to invasion of bacteria and viruses.” Mushrooms such as shiitake, oyster mushrooms, enoki, and maitake are a delicious way to protect vitality and reduce stress.
Merely knowing how healthy mushrooms are gives us reason for pause. They have survived dinosaurs, world wars, and human environmental stupidity. According to Paul Stamets in Mycomedicinals: An Informational Booklet on Medicinal Mushrooms, “The 5300-year-old Ice Man who was discovered in the fall of 1991 on the border of Austria and Italy packed three polypore species with him, implying that he considered them essential to his trek over the Alps.” Polypores are conk-shaped mushrooms that grow attached to trees and have pores underneath instead of gills. This cave woman also uses ling zhi (reishi) and shiitake.
Adding generous amounts of cooked medicinal mushrooms to diet protects us from health worries. That alone is rejuvenating! Asian mushrooms are often used as combination liquid extracts to combat environmental poisons and infection. Numerous Asian studies reported by distinguished authors and educators such as Dr. Andrew Weil and Paul Stamets suggest that the benefits of medicinal mushrooms reach far beyond their taste or any possible placebo effect.

Medicinal Mushrooms and Beauty
The cleansing, anti-inflammatory actions of Asian mushrooms also prevent blemishes, rosacea, hair-loss, wrinkles, overweight, cholesterol-related poor circulation, grouchiness and stress-insomnia. That sounds like aging. Medicinal mushroom extracts are especially useful for students, athletes, dancers and performers, executives, media personalities, and for jet travel. When you need endurance and peak energy, you especially need their strong protection. Because they have many uses, I will discuss their uses throughout this book.
Stress always shows on the face. The more caffeine you consume, the more tired and wrinkled you look. With less coffee and chocolate, the face is fuller and complexion brighter. Your hair does not fill the comb. A medicinal mushroom tea can ease craving for sweets and acid foods. Mushrooms protect and nourish every fiber of your being.
I cook medicinal mushrooms in a crockpot set at a low setting for four to eight hours and drink the juice, which resembles a foamy bitter-tasting beer. You can sweeten it by adding one or two dried Chinese preserved dates while cooking. I often add some of the appropriate ginseng to cook with medicinal mushrooms because their energies are complementary. For example, I cook ling zhi (reishi) an anti-inflammatory mushroom useful for arthritis along with raw tienchi ginseng, a cooling ginseng that increases circulation and reduces pain.
Using a commercial mushroom liquid extract is convenient for work and travel. You can take 40 – 60 drops daily in water or juice. Persons dealing with immune-threatening disease, high stress, frequent jet travel, or who are at risk of environmental poisons should use a combination of mushrooms such as Stamets 7 Mushroom Blend, formulated by Paul Stamets. He, the author of several beautifully illustrated and carefully researched books, teaches classes in growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms at his laboratory Fungi Perfecti in Washington State. (See www.fungi.com)

Long Hay Flat makes a highly concentrated mushroom extract called Reishi+ for energy, endurance and immune enhancement. The dose is 3 – 5 drops twice daily. Read about their products in the Quick Fix section of this chapter.
Some people prefer capsules. Intelligent Choice, located in Los Angeles, supplies Japanese health foods to hospitals. Their website www.absolutelyhealthy.com sells fine Japanese consumer health products. For stress-management, Pristine, their line of  concentrated food capsules, includes Ashitaba root used to treat diabetes and stress acne and Suppon Japanese turtle shell (cooling and moistening), which increases stamina, improves sleep, and clears acne blemishes. LEM is a concentrated extract of shiitake, one of the world’s most highly praised and researched mushrooms, used to boost immunity to illness and chronic fatigue, balance blood sugar, and reduce cholesterol.
Skip Ishii is the dynamic CEO for Intelligent Choice as well as several Los Angeles healthfood companies. Originally a television producer in Japan and author of a book (in Japanese) on how to thrive in the United States, he and his family are doing the L.A. thing. Skip educates American consumers about the benefits of traditional Japanese foods. The largest population in the world aged 100 years and older lives in Japan.

Cordyceps sinensis
Cordyceps, one of the most popular medicinal fungi from Asia has potent adaptogenic qualities and is available in Chinese herb shops and on the Net. It maintains daily wellness and is suited to any sort of travel.
Cordyceps (dong chong xia cao) looks like a small dried worm. The empty pod left by a caterpillar, cordyceps takes the shape of its former tenant, sort of like the shell that remains after a snail leaves. Chinese herbalists value it highly as an anti-tumor and immuno-stimulant herb. Laboratory tests reported by Paul Stamets, confirm many other important uses. For example, the species has cholesterol-reducing and general cardiotonic properties. Hot water extracts contain compounds that relax the bronchial passages, easing breathing. Cordyceps also dilates the aorta by 40% when we are under stress. The increased blood flow benefits muscles pushed to the max and increases endurance. A clinical study done in 1985 with sexually dysfunctional men found that 64% improved in performance from ingesting one gram per day. Another clinical study in 1995 reported that 36 patients with advanced breast and lung cancer had “restored cellular immunological function” from cordyceps. A study done in 1994 found that cordyceps helped prevent kidney disease. Cordyceps has liver-fortifying actions and has been effective for improving hepatic function for Hepatitis B. The findings implicate that cordyceps has great value as a general nerve tonic.
Cordyceps, a super stress fighter, improves your looks, mood and performance. Fatigue and dehydration age the skin, increase falling hair, brittle nails, dark circles around the eyes, an ashen pallor and lackluster appearance. Asian herbal tonics such as this do more than cover up complexion problems: they prevent them.
Chinese chefs add a handful of cordyceps to improve the flavor of chicken or duck soup. You might add medicinal mushrooms such as cordyceps, ling zhi, and shiitake to leftover chicken bones along with a piece of dong quai (Angelica sinensis) and no salt. Simmer this at low heat for several hours in order to make a nourishing, tangy soup stock. For convenience, I recommend taking 20 -30 drops of cordyceps extract on a regular daily basis to avoid collapse from jet travel, overwork, and the inevitable saber-tooth tiger.

ANTI-STRESS BODYWORK
Sitting on board an aircraft or simmering from stress at an office desk, our movements are limited. Here are a few finger-pressure points located on the arms and hands you can use to redirect energy flow and help relieve anxiety.
Anxiety makes the heart pound and breath short causing panting. To relax the upper body and deepen breath, sit comfortably in a chair placing hands at the navel. Inhale slowly only into the lower abdomen. Exhale from the lower abdomen through your legs to the floor.
Cross the arms on the chest and place the middle finger into the crook of the L at the opposite elbow. Found where the arm makes a right angle, it feels like a crevasse where the elbow joint moves. If you can’t find it, put the palm of one hand on the top and front of your opposite shoulder. Slide it down from shoulder to elbow. The point is under your palm where the elbow bends.
Push firmly with each middle finger into the crevasse at the L. That releases stress stuck in the sinus area, head, neck and upper arm. It is an acupuncture point used to bring inflammation from the head downward toward the fingers. Inhale, and as you exhale, press deeper at each elbow.
Now, release the arm, turn each palm upward and find the line of each inner wrist. There are located points that help reduce stress from the heart and pericardium. With the thumb press the inner wrist of the opposite hand until you can breathe deeper. Often one area of the inner wrist will appear red colored or inflamed. The area of the inner wrist nearest to the little finger corresponds to the heart. Applying pressure there helps to moderate heart action and reduce panic. I press that point on both wrists for temporary relief from chest discomfort and to help sleep.
Finally, hold the index finger of the left hand with the right four fingers. Extend the right thumb and press hard with the thumb into the area between the angle of the thumb and index finger of the left hand. Hold the position for the count of fifty and switch sides. Left hand holds right index finger as left thumb pushes (hoku) an acupuncture point that eases stress and reduces pain.

HEALTH and BEAUTY MAINTENANCE
You need to take extra precautions with the change of seasons or when traveling to a different climate. All stress ages complexion and reduces vitality. Here is an easy way to observe what teas and foods you will need to use.

Your Tongue Mirrors Vitality and Digestion
Traditional Asian doctors always observe the tongue as an indication of vitality. Its shape and color indicate the presence or absence of inflammation, weakness, as well as circulation throughout the body. Observe your tongue daily when you awaken and later in the day to note changes in energy and metabolism. Observe it, when you are confused about your diet choices or the effects of pollution and weather conditions. Observing your tongue will begin an ongoing relationship with your evolving beauty persona.
To observe your tongue in a mirror, use bright, indirect lighting. Relax. Let your tongue hang like a dog panting in order to maintain its proper shape. Notice its color, shape, and any markings such as a coating, spots, cracks and bulges. The body of the tongue is a guide to long term health and beauty issues. The coating indicates temporary reactions to foods being digested.
Travel, especially to a different climate, compromises vitality and looks. You might fly from New York, Eugene, or Chicago to the tropics or from the country-side a polluted city. Stagnant air in-flight and smoke-filled rooms dull complexion, frazzle hair, and scorch nerves. If your tongue trembles when you observe it, a sign of chronic nervous tension or liver stress, your reactions to climate, travel, and pollution will be stronger than for other people. Here are other things to notice while looking at your tongue.

A Coated Tongue
A thick coating indicates slow or difficult digestion and mucus congestion, which can affect digestion, breathing, joint comfort and mental clarity. To reduce mucus, eat more cleansing foods like barley soup and digestive herbs such as a tea made with ginger and mint. Avoid overly sweet, sticky, heavy and oily or fried foods and beer. A thick white, yellow, grey or green tongue coating will often indicate nausea and food retention. “Spring cleansing” with foods and herbs is required no matter what the season. Don’t eat heavily during long flights and take extra digestive herbs. I often take along apples and a thermos of green tea.
A Puffy Tongue
During travel, we tend to retain excess fluids. If your tongue is puffy and water-logged, a sign of slow metabolism and low energy, cleansing herbs normally used for humid languid weather such as dandelion will reduce water retention. A humid climate requires laxative and diuretic (cleansing) herbs that cleanse the liver. They perk up energy and enthusiasm, while reducing ingestion, bloating, puffy skin tone, and blemished complexion. Homeopathic natrum sulphate 6x (sodium sulphate) is recommended to ease digestion and breathing problems made worse by humid weather and rich foods. In the tropics (hot, humid weather), avoid heavy or oily facial creams and moisturizers that clog pores.

A Pale Tongue
A pale tongue can correspond with weakness, chills, or poor endurance. It may be more frequent during wet, cold weather, but can also persist from overwork or a diet of too many cold raw foods and iced drinks. If tongue and gums are very pale, often a sign of anemia, you may require additional nutritional support and stimulant herbs such as sage tea or Chinese ginseng normally recommended during convalescence or during harsh, cold climate. An energy tonic can boost energy and lift spirits.
In a cold climate, use a facial moisturizer or night cream, depending on your skin type. The moisturizer will help your body to hold in moisture and warmth.

A Red Tongue
A reddish, dry tongue can correspond with inflammation resulting from smoking, drinking, or eating spicy foods. It can indicate chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, or menopausal symptoms. If your tongue is dry, red and cracked, a sign of internal dehydration or inflammation, add more cooling green vegetables and avoid hot spices in order to reduce irritations, rashes, and blood-shot eyes. Homeopathic iron in the form of ferrum phosphate 6x is always useful in cases of inflammation and blood deficiency.
To help prevent dry skin, wrinkles, and rosacea (broken facial capillaries), spray your face with pure rose water and avoid all facial products that contain alcohol. In the desert, use a rejuvenating moisturizer with Vitamin C or Jason Natural Cosmetics’ line of Super C skin products. Products that contain Ester C are anti-inflammatory and recommended to slow signs of aging.

Without Sleep Beauty is Lost
There are many causes for insomnia, including anxiety, hunger, and inflammatory conditions from blood and moisture deficiency. We will look at these and related issues throughout the book. However, one quick, effective remedy is homeopathic Calms Forte. It is made from a combination of minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium as well as relaxing herbs such as hops can reduce the underlying causes of nervous insomnia and restlessness. The dosage is 1 – 2 tablets as needed during the day or evening.

A QUICK FIX ANTI-STRESS AND ENERGY TONIC
Long Hay Flat brand Chinese herb supplements available from East Earth Trade Winds in Redding, California (eastearthtrade.com) makes a number of highly concentrated liquid extracts that are easy to carry in your purse or pocket. Among single herbs, Schizandra berry extract has been shown to strengthen and quicken reflexes and improve visual acuity. It curbs excess sweating and energy loss to fortify beauty and vitality over time.
My favorites Long Hay Flat combination extracts are Energy, Gentle Rejuvenator, Soothing Balance, and Supernourishing Extract.

ESPECIALLY FOR MEN
Damiana (Turnera diffusa) provides a generally stimulating and enhancing influence on the male reproductive system. According to Simon Mills, director of the Centre for Complementary Health Studies at Exeter University and author of the excellent, carefully researched, and gracefully written book, Out of the Earth , damiana’s alkaloids are thought to have a testosteronal effect (similar to sarsaparilla) and contain constituents similar to those of caffeine. Other glycosides in the herb provide a relaxing influence. It is a stimulant that does not increase stress.
The shrub grows in Texas, Mexico and Central American and is used by Native American women to increase sex drive after menopause. They may be attracted to the herb’s adrenal stimulant qualities. It also makes a nice bitter aromatic tea. The herb has been used by both sexes as an aphrodisiac and herbal euphoric. It improves stamina and mood as a tonic for the central nervous system. Simon Mills has written, “Damiana may be recommended in any debilitated condition of the central nervous system (from depression to neuralgias and problems such as herpes–it has a particular use in containing genital herpes). Although male-oriented it is not contra-indicated for women with debilitated conditions: its main contra-indications are in the very excitable and those with irritable bowel syndrome. Otherwise, it often fills a desirable place in a prescription for those simply too sad.”
The dosage Mills recommends is 1 – 4 grams of the dried herb or the equivalent taken for a total of three times daily either in an infusion (tea) or a tincture made with 60 per cent alcohol. That translates into approximately 30 to 90 drops of alcohol-based extract or 3 – 4  capsules (1,520 mg) three times daily.