HEALTH PORTFOLIO (H-Portfolio)
H-Asset: Immune Wealth
Colds and flu are like a dip in the stock market, you still have to stay invested in your h-portfolio despite feeling the heat. Now is the perfect time to buy-in and get your Must Have H-Investments in place. Rebalancing your H-Portfolio might be necessary if you are not getting a good return on your H-Investment. Our immune wealth will support us through this year’s terrible cold, cough, and flu season. Rosenberg (2017) reported that this year’s “epidemic” is hitting small businesses particularly hard as they deal with reduced staffing and significant loss of revenue.
Diversify:
Review of the H-Investments
Honey:
My H-Investment: Manuka honey is used in a variety products including capsules, chewable, powders, and cough drops. Manuka honey is a daily MUST HAVE for me. I take 1 teaspoon of Manuka honey; 1-2 times a day.
History of this H-Investment: Although Manuka honey is more expensive than other honeys, I think health is wealth, and therefore is worth this H-Investment. Honey is as old as bees. Honey has been used as a source of food and valued for its medicinal properties. This HIinvestment has been around as long as there have been written records of mankind, and is known to act as an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agent. Further, honey can improve immunity and the respiratory system. Manuka honey has a particularly high antibacterial potency due to the high concentration of hydrogen peroxide, a known antibacterial agent. This type of honey in particular has been found to fight throat and other infections.
** Children under the age of 1 years of age should never be given honey. In addition, honey should be used with caution and under a physician’s advisement in an individual with diabetes.
Incentive Spirometer:
Photo credit: Lisa Williams Incentive Spirometer
My H-Investment: I use an incentive spirometer for 3-4 minutes, 3-6 times a day, depending on the severity of the respiratory problem. When I feel a cold, cough, or allergies coming on, this is another MUST HAVE. This $10.00 h-investment couldn’t give me a better return on my money. I write my name on the bottom of it to make sure it doesn’t get mixed up with my husband’s.
History of this H-Investment: As a licensed physical therapist, I have recommended incentive spirometers to respiratory patients for many years. It was not until I realized that spirometers do not need to be used only for patients in the hospital. You have probably seen an incentive spirometer on a patient’s night stand on a hospital visit. Every member of your household should have their own separate spirometers. Frequently needed when colds and flu are most likely, spirometers can strengthen the lungs and breathing, which can reduce the incidence and duration of the respiratory ailment. This H-Investment has been around since 1970. Incentive spirometry has been found to decrease post-operative infections, and improve lung function in individuals with asthma, COPD, or other chronic respiratory conditions. It stands to reason that those of us with “normal” pulmonary function will benefit from using the spirometer to promote our own improved respiratory function.
Essential oil:
My H-Investment: Essential oils have many uses, but I will share my MUST HAVES for cold, coughs, and flu. I add 3-4 drops of 100 percent Australian tea tree oil and/or 3-4 drops of pure eucalyptus oil into boiling water. I boil water and take it off the heat. I place the essential oil in a pot and add 2-3 inches of boiling water. I use a towel and create a towel tent over my head and breathe in the steam and oil for 4-6 minutes. I will repeat this process 2-5 times a day depending on the severity of the H-Problem.
History of this H-Investment: The use of essential oils dates back more than 5000 years ago, being used by the Greeks and Romans for a myriad of purposes, some which included health benefits. England in the 17th century, was struggling with the Great Plague. According to the Royal English Archives, a band of thieves who profited from robbing the deceased seemed immune to the Plague. As the story goes, the king at the time demanded to know their secret. The thieves had knowledge of the use of essential oils for medicinal purposes and would rub the oils all over their bodies, thus protecting them from the Plague. The king then used the essential oils on himself and his family, and all of them avoided the plague! Essential oils can help to detoxify a body that has been exposed to germs and other pathogens. The oxygen that is carried in essential oils pushes unwanted chemicals and irritants out of the cell when the oils are applied either topically or inhaled. Diffused essential oils have been found to kill many air-born microorganisms. Essential oils are powerful antiseptics, can encourage new cell growth, promote faster healing, and stimulate white corpuscles, an important part of the body’s immune defense system.
Acupuncture:
My H-Investment: Since I am a licensed acupuncturist, I have received incredible returns on this MUST HAVE H-Investment. With acupuncture the body’s vital energy (Qi) circulates through the body’s channels, called meridians. These meridians have branches connected to bodily organs and functions. Illness occurs when there is an imbalance or interruption of one’s Qi. Acupuncture increases overall energy and vitality, and helps the body achieve balance.
History of this H-Investment: Regular, monthly acupuncture treatments can help maintain good health and a sense of wellbeing. Both the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Health have recognized the use of acupuncture for many conditions. Research confirms that acupuncture stimulates immune functioning and promotes anti-inflammatory effects, which can increase resistance to bacterial and viral infections. Acupuncture has been found to be effective in treating various diseases, and preconditioning with acupuncture can be an important mechanism in preventing diseases in light of the benefits to the immune system (Liang et al., 2015).
H-Dividends
By considering your H-Asset, Immune Wealth, as carefully as you would consider your own financial nest egg, you will improve your immune health and never have it run out. This will lead you to significant returns and dividends on your “H-Investment”!
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LEARN HOW “H-INVESTMENTS” CAN MAKE A HEALTHIER YOU
What you invest in your health IS an important decision, and Dr. Lisa Williams can help you organize, prioritize, and maximize your H-Investments, using her unique Health=Wealth concept that will create health and balance, and empower you to invest and manage your own H-Portfolio. Take that first step and invest in your health and Contact Lisa today to schedule a free 15-minute phone, in person, or Skype consultation to discuss your individual health concerns. For over 30 years, Lisa has been helping people successfully overcome and manage a wide variety of ailments and conditions such as sleeping problems, stress management, digestive problems, sports injuries, orthopedic issues and musculoskeletal problems, among others.
About Lisa’s Fund Your Health Blog
Lisa developed the Fund Your Health Blog to inspire people to achieve their health and wellness goals, by sharing what she has learned throughout her career and from her own personal journey. With Lisa’s relentless pursuit to restore the natural healing process, she reviews specific health assets (H-Assets) and recommends sound health investments (H-Investments) for building health dividends (H-Dividends) that are the key to a healthy lifestyle and will pay off in years to come. Yes, it is all about the H’s in her Health Portfolio. Using her approach will empower you to find your own solutions for a healthy lifestyle.
About Dr. Lisa Williams
Lisa has developed a business culture of health equals wealth and a core philosophy that bridges the gap between health and wealth using what she calls H-Portfolios (Health Portfolios), which leads to overall health. Lisa’s quest for health answers began nearly 30 years ago, when she needed to start building her own H-Portfolio, and this led her to create a multi-pronged approach to health and wellness, and pursue other areas of medicine and attain her acupuncture license. Lisa has managed several health clinics and consulted in multiple corporate, health and wellness industries and branches of medicine. Her areas of practice and experience have included corporate wellness, fitness, health and beauty, internal medicine, neurology, pain management, pediatrics, rehabilitation, schools, scoliosis management, sports injuries, and weight loss clinics.
Photo credit: Lisa Williams
Disclaimer: This material is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information on this site is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. Doing anything recommended or suggested on this website/blog must be done at your own risk.
References
Goldberg, J. (2011, June 6). The Huffington Post. More than a scent: essential oils aid the immune system. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-g-goldberg-phd/essential-oils-health_b_868303.html
Jat, K. R. (2013). Spirometry in children. Primary Care Respiration J, 22(2), 221-229. doi:10.4104/pcrj.2013.00042
Kotani, T., Akazawa, T., Sakuma, T., Nagaya, S., Sonoda, M., Tanaka, Y., . . . Minami, S. (2015). Effects of incentive spirometry on respiratory motion in healthy subjects using cine breathing magnetic resonance imaging. Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 39(3), 360-365. doi: 10.5535/arm.2015.39.3.360
Liang, F., Cooper, E. L., Wang, H., Jing, X., Quispe-Cabanillas, J. G., & Kondo, T. (2015). Acupuncture and immunity. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015, 260620. doi:10.1155/2015/260620
Rosenberg, J. (2017, March 01). Sci-Tech Today. Slammed by flu season, businesses left scrambling to get work done. Retrieved from http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Businesses-Scramble-as-Flu-Hits/story.xhtml?story_id=0110008DXZKG
The Honey Association. (2011). About honey. Retrieved from www.honeyassociation.com
Worwood, V. A. (1991). The complete book of essential oils and aromatherapy. San Rafael, Calif.: New World Library.
