The guys at Got Respect in downtown Garberville are working to bring health and vitality to the community through a trifecta of alternative remedies that they call the Three Kings: Shilajit, CBD Max and Moringa Tea.
“For me, it’s a way to help the community I live in and have a good lifestyle for myself,” said Vincent Pollock, the 27-year-old who has owned Got Respect, a martial arts and healthy living business in Garberville since January this year.
“I was taking classes here and wanted to teach and participate in martial arts,” said Pollock. “I really like the idea of voting with your dollars and spending money on things that you believe in and what I saw here was everything I believe in—health and vitality.”
Shilajit is a tar-like, black coal shaped supplement. It’s known in the Himalayan Mountains, where it comes from, as the “destroyer of weakness.” CBD Max is a Cannabidiol (CBD) supplement that does not contain THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Dr. John Hayden discussed it on the radio program Cannabis Consciousness News on KMUD-FM and KYBU in Covelo, California. Moringa Tea, also from the Himalayan Mountains, is rich in calcium, potassium, beta-carotene, Vitamin C and iron. Moringa is commonly prepared as a vegetable or included in soups. But now many prefer to drink it as a non-caffeinated—yet energizing—tea.
The medical community lacks extensive studies on the effects of CBD due to the criminalization of cannabis. One study, conducted at Stanford University, did conclude that CBD treatment decreased the number of epileptic episodes in children in 80 percent of participants. The study was overseen by Catherine Jacobson, Ph.D. & Brenda E. Porter, M.D., Ph.D. working in the Department of Neurology at Stanford University.
“When traditional medications fail to control a child’s seizures, families look to alternative treatments to help their children. One of these alternative treatments that has become more widespread over the past year involves the use of a compound from the Cannabis plant, Cannabidiol (CBD),” wrote Jacobson and Porter. “CBD is a non-psychoactive compound that has been shown to have anticonvulsive properties in a number of animal models of epilepsy. In limited human adult trials, CBD has shown promise as an anticonvulsant with very few negative side effects. The purpose of this survey was to understand current use of CBD in children with treatment-resistant epilepsy.”
The Stanford CBD study consisted of a survey of 24 questions that measured the effect of CBD treatment on the children’s seizure frequency and its side effects. The CBD survey was initially presented to a Facebook group of parents who were coping with trying to treat the seizures of their children with treatment- resistant epilepsy.
Treatment-resistant epilepsy is a nice way of saying that the parents had tried an average of 12 anti-epileptic drugs that didn’t work for their children before beginning CBD treatment.
The survey link was posted for two weeks on the Pediatric Cannabis Therapy Facebook Group page. Twenty parents responded and nineteen responses met the inclusion criteria, which were a diagnosis of epilepsy and CBD use. Study responses were descriptively analyzed through a survey.
Results
- Sixteen of 19 parents reported a reduced seizure frequency during CBD treatment
- Three of these parents reported complete seizure freedom during CBD treatment
- Children had tried an average of 12 anti-epileptic drugs before the parent began CBD treatment
- The most often reported side effects were better mood, increased alertness, better sleep and drowsiness
- Common negative side effects often associated with other anti-epileptic drugs were notably absent from parent reports about CBD
The second key component to Got Respect’s Three Kings program is a little-known substance called shilajit, pronounced “shil-a-jeet.”
Shilajit is obtained from rocks in primarily the Himalayan region, although it can be found in many places. In its raw form it is a bituminous substance, which is the scientific way of describing a compact mass of vegetable organic matter composed mainly of humus. That’s humus- like the forest floor–not to be confused with humus, the healthy spread made from garbanzo beans.
Humus contains two components of interest, which are fulvic acid and humic acid.
Fulvic acid derived from humate usually contains 60 or more minerals and trace elements that are nutritionally essential for cell health and balance. In addition to helping transport minerals to living cells, catalyzing vitamins within cells and metabolizing proteins, RNA and DNA, fulvic acid also acts as:
A Powerful Organic Electrolyte: Electrolytes are used by the body’s cells to maintain voltages across cellular membranes and to convey electrical impulses to other cells. Fulvic acid helps cells achieve a vital electrochemical balance among the body’s cells.
A Free-radical Scavenger and Antioxidant: Fulvic acid can react with both negatively and positively unpaired free electrons to render free radicals harmless, changing them into new useable compounds or eliminating them as waste. Fulvic acid also promotes oxidation-reduction reactions of transition metals that can damage the body’s cells and tissues.
A Natural Chelator and Pollutant Detoxifier: Fulvic acid is effective in transforming metals and minerals into readily absorbable forms. It can also bind with organic pollutants (pesticides, herbicides) to form new types of metal ions, catalyze the breakdown of toxic pollutants and weather and decompose silica to release essential mineral nutrients.
An Aid in Increasing Nutrient Bioavailability: Fulvic acid’s low molecular weight helps render cellular walls more penetrable by reducing their surface tension, thus allowing cells to more easily and efficiently respirate, hydrate, absorb minerals, amino acids and other nutrients and eliminate waste.
“My wife was exposed to carbon-monoxide and had a seizure. She was having a hard time recovering from it. She started drinking shilajit and it helped,” said Chris Felt, a 28 year-old Garberville resident who owns an independent tree service company. “The shilajit helped bring her memory back and ease her mind.”
Felt had never heard of shilajit before. He trains a few times a week at Got Respect and discovered it there.
“We both drink it with green tea,” he said. “It’s not a bad taste, but it might take a bit to acquire the taste, which is not nasty, just a bit on the bitter side. I noticed a good energy gain plus more mental clarity—it’s a lot better than a cup of coffee.”
The final component to Got Respect’s Three Kings is Moringa Tea. Moringa is an important food source in some parts of the world because it can be grown cheaply and easily and the leaves retain lots of vitamins and minerals when dried. Moringa is used in India and Africa in feeding programs to fight malnutrition. The immature green pods are prepared similarly to green beans, while the seeds are removed from more mature pods and cooked like peas or roasted like nuts. The leaves are cooked and used like spinach, and they are also dried and powdered for use as a condiment.
But the guys at Got Respect don’t want you to eat moringa seeds, but drink the tea, which is made from the leaves. The tea is loaded with antioxidants and vitamins that help clear the mind and boost energy levels. It’s said that Moringa Tea will increase energy, help manage weigh, detox the body and nourish the immune system.
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