Charcoal - 025

SPEAKER A The following program presents principles designed to promote good health and is not intended to take the place of personalised professional care. The opinions and ideas expressed are those of the speakers. Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the information presented. SPEAKER B Welcome to healthy living. I'm your host, Margot Marshall. Activated charcoal is used worldwide in hospital emergency rooms to neutralize drugs and poisons. And it's also useful not to have on hand for a variety of everyday ailments. Stay tuned for more on this amazing. SPEAKER C Production of 3ABN Australia television, focusing on the health of the whole person, body, mind and spirit. You'll learn natural lifestyle principles with practical health solutions for overall good health. SPEAKER B Charcoal is able to absorb thousands of times its own weight in gases, heavy metals, poisons and chemicals, often making them ineffective. So it's a very useful item to have in your first aid kit and for all sorts of common ailments. Our guest, Dr. Eddie Ramirez, will tell us about this amazing product and show us how to use it. Welcome, Eddie. Lovely to have you on the program. SPEAKER D Thank you very much. SPEAKER B So what is mean? Is it just something we burnt some wood? Is that what we're talking about here? SPEAKER D Yeah. No, not necessarily. Charcoal is something that, in my opinion, every household should have some of it. And in a minute we'll talk about the different forms that we can find it. SPEAKER B What about activators charcoal? SPEAKER D But charcoal, what charcoal is, is basically a vegetable that has been burned completely. And the best type of charcoal is actually made out of hard wood. That's the one that makes the best charcoal. And you were asking about activated charcoal. Yes, as technology increased, we realized that if we put that charcoal under high temperature and high pressure, the charcoal particles actually becomes in a form of sphere. And by becoming more spherical and by changing their electric charges, they actually increase the ability to absorb much more things. SPEAKER B Yes, well, it's amazing. The capacity to adsorb is really incredible. But look, you've done some research on this. Tell us about your research. SPEAKER D Yes, I presented a study in pharma meeting, and the reason why they were interested in this pharma meeting about my study is because this pharma meeting was interested in environmental toxins, things that are foreign to the body and that cause damage. That is called a xenobiotic substance. So here I was showing in this study how spider bite, one of the most poisonous spiders that you can find is called the brown recluse, or also is called the violinist spider because if you notice in its very head, it has the form of a little violin. SPEAKER B Oh, goodness. SPEAKER D And in this study, we were showing how activated charcoal was an excellent aid to the other treatments that were being applied. See, this spider is so poisonous, it is actually more poisonous than ratlesnake, for example. SPEAKER B That sounds really bad. SPEAKER D Now, usually you will not die of this spider bite, but what this spider does, it has a poison that destroys tissue. And in some people when they get bitten by this. If you want to see something incredible how this can damage the tissues in the body, just Google Brown recluse bite and you will see it with your own eyes. As this benimin starts going to the tissues in certain people, not in everybody, the skin literally dies. And this becomes a huge problem because a little bite can become big, big problem. And usually when you get bitten by this spider, you immediately are not able to do much if it bites you in the leg. And in this case, it was in a feet where the spider happened, the bite happened. The person cannot walk after that. That's how tremendous this is. The skin starts to change color and so forth. So what we did, we started applying activated charcoal fermentations. And in a minute, we'll share with you the demonstration of how to do this at home. We start applying these fermentations every 6 hours, continually. And usually somebody with this type of bite will recover in three, four, five weeks. In this published study that is going to be coming up in the journal Drug Metabolism Review. It's called the name of the journal. The person was able to actually run by the second week, which is unheard of. How can somebody recover so soon? So we're actually proposing that as a standardized treatment, activated charcoal should be applied for spider bites. Now, I know that here in Australia, there are very dangerous spiders. In fact, I actually caught a red bag. Just for the fun of it, I. SPEAKER B Like to you caught it? SPEAKER D I caught it. SPEAKER B That wasn't a good idea. I hope you did it safe. SPEAKER D And also, you're familiar with the funnel spider and so forth. I am not saying that if you get bitten by one of these spiders, just put charcoal and everything is going to be fine. Absolutely. No, these are very dangerous spiders. You can apply the charcoal, but you run to the health professional to continue with the care and so forth. If you are in one of those desolate places, which there are many here in Australia, you're not able to get medical care. You get one of these bites. You can keep on applying that fermentation until you get to a health professional and then you continue with the therapy that is needed. SPEAKER B That sounds like good advice. I'd like to know how it works. How is it? What does charcoal actually do that made that recovery so much quicker? How does it work? SPEAKER D That's right. There are two key properties in charcoal. You have app sortion and you have adsorption with D and with b. SPEAKER B Okay? SPEAKER D When it's with the D, that tends to be an electrical property. See, when you are in the microscopic world, electric charges make a big deal. They have a big influence and the electric charges, as any magnet will attract things. In our world, only metals can be attracted to magnets. Well, in the microscopic world, many other things can be attracted with currents, with magnets. And then you have the other characteristic, which that one has to do with its ability to incorporate the substance to the charcoal itself. So that's a more chemical type of type of property. So using those two properties, this will help. And I also wanted to mention something. If you are in the barbecue and you say, oh, well, look at this, I have some charcoal there that I'm using for my barbecue, please don't use that. That charcoal that you buy in the stores for char broil purposes and so forth, that one has chemicals. That's the reason why when you put the match immediately, it fires very quickly. Do not use that. Also don't say, well, I have here an old piece of bread, I'm going to burn this and I'm going to make up my own charcoal. Please do not it needs to be completely burned. And things that are actually half burned actually could be cancer causing. Not a very good idea. SPEAKER B So where do we access the charcoal? The sort of stuff that we're going to be using for this purpose? SPEAKER D That's right. So you find different formats. This you can find sometimes in your chemist may have it, sometimes in your health food store, sometimes you can find it there. And you may want to give us a ring here. We can give you actually some tips here at three ABN where you can find it. And a disclaimer. I don't sell charcoal. I am doing this because I know it is very effective. In fact, as you mentioned very well in the introduction of this program, charcoal is something we find in the emergency department. I remember one time I was the physician in charge of the emergency department. And a particular day that I remember very well. Most of the things that came that day I could fix with charcoal. There were some diarrhea and little insect bite and so forth, and I actually end up using most of the charcoal of the emergency department. The nurses got upset with me, but they needed charcoal, not medication in that particular occasion. SPEAKER B Well, it's really nice to hear this coming from a medical practitioner, because sometimes when something's unfamiliar to people, they might think, I'm not really sure about that. And the fact that it was in the hospital too, shows that it's something that they use. They use it for overdoses, don't they? SPEAKER D That's right. There are many indications that in the official guidelines you use charcoal, you said one very well. In certain cases, for certain substances that are being overdosed, you can introduce charcoal to the stomach. The charcoal will help to bind those toxic substances, preventing those substances to continue further in your system and causing some damage and so forth. SPEAKER B So I guess it's not a good idea to have charcoal if you've just had medication or something like that. SPEAKER D Absolutely. Very good point. Charcoal absorbs a lot of things, including your medication. So please, if you are taking medication, especially delicate medication like blood pressure, heart medication, diabetes, if you take the charcoal too close to the time when you take the medication, the charcoal will bind that medication. And it's as if you did not have the medication, and there can be a little bit of a problem. So just beware of that. How much apart? I would advise you if you're going to be taking it early, between 2 hours or so. All right, now what do we use? Charcoal. Well, let me tell you how you find it. Usually you're going to find it in three forms. The charcoal, you're going to find it in little capsules, you're going to find it in tablets, and you're going to find it in powder. Personally, I like the best the powder format, because it's very easy to do many things. The amount of charcoal is less charcoal. And that's why if you put me to choose between the tablets and the powder, I would go for the tablets if I'm traveling and it's easy to carry with you and so forth. But at home, it's a good idea to have some of that activated charcoal in powder format. Now, what would we use that powder charcoal if we want to take it orally? Well, we would use it for things like indigestion, for things like gas. Okay. That time you go out and you go and eat and things don't agree. Very good with you. You can try some of this charcoal and see if it's improving your problem. SPEAKER B That's to drink it. SPEAKER D That's right. We're talking about right now, the oral format to drink it. And in a minute, we'll show you how you can actually prepare. SPEAKER B Yes, that would be good. SPEAKER D So you would use it in those cases. I just want to give you a little warning. If the abdomen is hard, if it's a lot of pain in the abdominal area, please don't say, oh, charcoal is going to take care of me. You call your emergency services, because this could be an emergency. Now, if you're in the boonies, far from cities and something, you could start with something, but if you have close by access, please do so. So let's go ahead and see the demonstration how you can use this charcoal. So we're very grateful to have a therapist with us. And what she's going to do, she's going to use two tablespoons of charcoal. Thank you. And then you put them in water very carefully do the mixture, because it can get messy. And it's a good idea to use a straw if you don't want to get the charcoal in your mouth. And the taste of charcoal is actually a no test taste. It doesn't taste like anything you can drink it without the straw, it's fine and it's no problem. But if you prefer to be a little bit less messy, you can use the straw. And you need to use common sense. You just drank something black. So when you go to the restroom, you're going to see that your faces are going to become black. So it's okay, it's normal. Okay. Nothing to worry about. And this charcoal is something that you can use it. Be careful when you are handling it because of its electrical properties. It tends to fly quite a bit. If you hit it in the wrong angle, it flies and it's messy. It can stain your clothes very easily. So just beware of those things. Now, you not only can drink it orally, but you can also apply the charcoal directly on the skin. SPEAKER B Now, why would you do that? What would prompt you to do that? SPEAKER D There are many indications for that. When an insect bites you, you have bees. Here in Australia, you have hornets. And when you receive one of these bites from one of these creatures, what charcoal does, when you put it in the screen, it helps to absorb the poison. Now, if the person is allergic and starts having a severe allergic response as a result of this, please don't say, oh, just charcoal and that's enough. You need to call the emergency department. SPEAKER B Now, when you're saying an allergic response, that wouldn't be to the charcoal, that's to the bite. SPEAKER D That's to the bite. That's right. The person starts having problems breathing, whole body starts getting full of a reaction. I mean, that's the severe you call the emergency department. SPEAKER B Absolutely. I just wanted to be clear that charcoal wouldn't cause that sort of reaction. SPEAKER D That's right. And also beware if the skin is open and you apply the charcoal, you can have a little tattoo in your skin. So make judgment. Would you rather have a little tattoo type of mark with the charcoal, or should I rather do something else? So just be aware of that if the skin is open. That only happens if the skin is open. So we're going to ask our therapist to help us demonstrate how you use this activated fermentation poultice excuse me, on the skin. So what she's going to do? She has the powder charcoal. She's going to add it to a place to be mixed. Then we're going to add a little bit of water. You can add a little bit of grind flaxseed. I'll explain that in a minute. Then she carefully is going to mix this. And then you have a paper towel. And you apply that mixture in the paper towel, distribute it well. And then it's a good idea to protect the area because as I say, charcoal can be a little bit messy. He has a little hornet bite that he had received a few minutes ago. So he's going to receive that poultice. And if you notice, we put a little bit of plastic there so he can keep the charcoal. And then we apply a little bit of ice bandage so that it can keep nice and in one place instead of going all over the place. I also like to invite you to pray as you apply these simple remedies. It works much better. My personal experience and I mentioned grind flaxseed. So the grind flaxseed, what it does to the charcoal mixture, it helps to give them a little bit more consistency. If you don't use the flaxseed, like in this example, what's going to happen is that as the charcoal gets dry, it can even become a little bit powdery, it can be a little bit messy. And also the charcoal poultice made with the grind flaxseed will help them give a little bit better consistency. As I tell people, I like to have the consistency of peanut butter. So go ahead and do a little bit of experimentation about one tablespoon of charcoal with another tablespoon of grind flaxseed with enough water so that you can have that type of peanut butter consistency. If you don't have the flaxseed, don't worry. Use it as an example that we just show. SPEAKER B So the flaxseed is really just it's the charcoal that does the work. Flaxseed is just to make it so that it doesn't go dry and crumbly. And if you were having it on all night, for example, it might not be so messy. SPEAKER D This also can be applied to bigger areas like your abdomen, those times when you are a little bit too gassy and so forth. You can apply it in the skin, in the abdomen and that will help things get better. SPEAKER B So are you saying that if you had problems with gas, you could either have it orally drinking it or you could actually put it on the outside. SPEAKER D Of your or you can actually do the double one you drink and you apply? SPEAKER B I guess it depends on how big a problem you have. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER B But isn't that remarkable that you could actually apply it'd obviously be a larger area. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER B And that would actually draw out the gas. SPEAKER D That's right. It's fantastic. It helps the abdomen feel much better. Irritable colon syndrome, this type of problem, those also they can be respond very well by personal experience, I can testify of that. And this charcoal is very useful, as you can see. So use your creativity and just make sure when you're applying it and you're going to be there overnight with the poultice. Be careful that the charcoal doesn't go to your sheets and things because it can stain them and it's a good idea also if it's that type of condition, it's a spider bite that is taking a little bit longer to recover. As you change every 3 hours, every 6 hours, you need to discard that old charcoal because it has already absorbed things and so forth. So be careful with that. SPEAKER B Well, it's a remarkable product and it seems to be so versatile, doesn't it? To think that you can use it internally and externally and for all kinds of things. Even a snake bite, I suppose. SPEAKER D That's right, heal the snake bite. But while you get to the Er, you can apply a poultice like that. If you notice this is something quickly that you can do it. SPEAKER B That's right. And I was very interested that she just used the charcoal on a paper towel with something, things you would already have in the kitchen as long as you got charcoal. So you can use that. Not everybody's going to have flaxseed, and that's why we particularly chose not to do that. You can do it either way, but they'll both work. SPEAKER D That's right. Both will work. SPEAKER B The other will just very good consistency and give you a better outcome. Yes. SPEAKER D And also make sure that you're not eating it, taking it too close to your meals also. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER D Unless the problem was the meal per se, you can go ahead and take it. But I'm not saying that this is something you should be doing every day that wouldn't be a good idea. If you take it too close to your meals, it will literally start to absorb the nutrients of your food, so be very careful for that. SPEAKER B So you just weigh up what's more important, whether you can afford to miss the nutrients from that meal as opposed to the problem that you're experiencing. SPEAKER D The speed that it works is so fast, you will quickly get some relief. Now, in the case of diarrhea, if the diarrhea you're seeing with your eyes that it has blood and lots of mucus and this type of problem you call your health professional, charcoal may not be enough for this type of problem. But the type of diarrhea you get, you ate something you shouldn't have and you're having some diarrhea, you can use some charcoal for this type of problem. SPEAKER B It's certainly a good thing to have when you're traveling, especially to countries where you might not be able to get easy help. And if you run into that kind of difficulty, you get sick, vomiting or diarrhea, it's great to have it there and you can be using it while you're getting some other help. SPEAKER D And another hint I want to give you, in certain people, charcoal tends to constipate. So in order to help you with that, as you're taking the charcoal, go ahead and drink more water. And it's not only one time that you can drink it, you can drink this charcoal one, two, three, even four times in a short period of time of half an hour. An hour if the problem is continuing. Now, if this after a few hours is not improving or it's getting worse, you call your health professional. Also, another tip that I want to give you, when you have a case in which somebody drinks by mistake or by purpose, the wrong type of thing, and you call poison control, it's a good idea to volunteer the information. Look, I have some charcoal here. Could I give him some charcoal? And those people that have been professionally trained to give you advice, they may say, you, yes, go ahead and give them some charcoal. There are many poisons that would benefit if you take that charcoal. And when you're being guided by a professional like poison control, that will be very useful. SPEAKER B But it's not a decision that you make yourself. You get that professional advice before you. SPEAKER D That's right. When this is something poisonous and dangerous and so forth, please seek professional help. As these people have been specially trained, there are special guidelines that are used and follow to help you make those decisions. SPEAKER B Yes, charcoal has been used for thousands of years, hasn't it? SPEAKER D Absolutely. SPEAKER B It's not just a brand new thing, but it's probably something we haven't used as well as we might have or been as aware of as it would be useful to be aware of. So I'm really pleased that you've talked to us about this. And as I said, because you're a medical doctor and that you're endorsing it and that they use it in the emergency department, it certainly helps us to be confident that this is a great thing to have. SPEAKER D I have three daughters and they already know when they eat and something doesn't agree. Daddy, where is the charcoal? I need some charcoal. And they already know. We have been using them in them, and bites and things that kids get and so forth. So it is something very useful. In my opinion. Every household should have some of this activated charcoal. SPEAKER B Yes, I keep it. I have it on hand at all times. Really need to use it, but I always want to have it there because you never know when it just might be needed. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER B Always have some in my toilet bag. When I travel, there's some there all ready to go so that I don't miss out. And it's really good. Yeah, just a great product. SPEAKER D So your homework today is going to be try some of these poultries. Try it out, try to make one and see if it works. SPEAKER B I mean, how hard was that? Honestly, that was just so simple to do, wasn't it? And I just think that was really good to be able to I'm sure your daughters could just do that. SPEAKER D Absolutely. Even in their dolls, they put them so let me put it that way. SPEAKER B They do it for their dolls, do they? Oh, well, they'll be very healthy dolls, won't they? Getting I hope they don't go back to me. But look, anyway, this has just been a very useful program. Not the sort of one that we probably hear at all times. Lots of programs we hear repeatedly. But charcoal is just a great product, and I hope that you will add it to your shopping list because you'll be so glad that you have it on hand. And remember, you can watch our programs on demand by visiting our website. That's at 3abnaustralia.org.au and just click the watch button. So join us next time as we discuss more secrets of healthy living. SPEAKER C You’ve been listening to a production of 3ABN Australia television.