The Mayan Garden Club met for lunch at Lunita in Akumal Norte in April. Paul Auteri, an area horticulturist, talked to us about growing palm trees and also the beautiful flowering plant commonly known as beach cabbage or sea lettuce. You can see it planted around Lunita and other nearby areas. One of our future Garden Tips will focus on that particular plant.
We also discussed plans to help beautify Akumal Pueblo and our role in the upcoming Art Festival in November.
If you are interested in attending one of our meetings, contact [email protected]. Ours is an open club and we welcome visitors and new members. For security RSVP is required.
♦ Our next meeting is on 29 April at 11:oo am at Soliman Bay. Dr. Kirk, a naturopathic doctor from Alaska, will be the speaker. Everyone is asked to bring a dish to share of anti-inflammatory ingredients. RSVP your dish and beverage, and for further details.
The following was submitted by Dr. Kirk
Mayan Garden Tip for How to Keep Moving and Gardening From Dr. Kirk
We all know the phrase “Use it or lose it,” particularly when it comes to the physical body. But how do we decide which practices will best allow us to maintain good health and mobility through the years?
When considering keeping the physical body moving well through the world, we are looking specifically at the health of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue. Botanical medicine, diet, homeopathic remedies and specific nutritional supplements have a lot to offer as adjuncts to exercise. These approaches can help you increase mobility, function and flexibility and decrease pain, inflammation, and stiffness. Putting these components together into a reasonable and effective health maintenance program can literally change your day and your life.
We have plenty of options out there for maintaining flexibility and mobility either through exercise or massage, acupressure, shiatsu, yoga, Pilates, walking, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, weight training. These practices all train and keep the body moving.
In the world of botanical medicine, there are herbs that enhance important functions. Nettles and dandelion provide minerals; turmeric, devil’s club and ginger can decrease inflammation and pain; ginger and capsicum increase blood flow; willow and Jamaican dogwood decrease pain; and, ginger and capsicum improve blood flow. These can come in the form of teas, tinctures, capsules, standardized extracts and topical salves and lotions.
Of course what we eat matters! Foods that are high in calcium and magnesium contribute to bone health. Eliminating refined foods such as sugar and simple carbohydrates including white flour can decrease inflammation and thus reduce pain.
Homeopathic remedies can greatly encourage healing, reduce pain and inflammation of tendons and ligaments. They can also facilitate and speed up bone repair after fracture.
The biggest trick to creating an effective personalized program is knowing what to use when and in conjunction with what! This can be overwhelming and confusing. How many of us have a suitcase or 2 of partial bottles of supplements hanging around?
In the Mayan Garden Club talk April 29th, I will give you specific ideas, formulas and parameters for maximizing function, maintaining mobility and reducing pain and injury. I look forward to meeting you!
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