Cortisone can have a lot of side-effects due to their mechanism of action. If they lower the inflammatory response, it follows that they will decrease one's resistance to all infections as the immune system is also based on an inflammatory response. General bloating/swelling occurs as a result of increased salt + water retention in the kidneys in this in turn can cause an increase in blood pressure. Weight gain is usually due to fluid retention, but since cortisone's can have an effect on hormones as well, this can have an accumulative effect. Higher calcium excretions can also lead to bone thinning and osteoporosis, but this is generally with prolonged periods of high to medium dose treatments.

All these side effects can be quite dramatic, especially the swelling and the typical skin thinning and bruising, but in such cases one must weigh up the benefits of taking steroids vs the side effects, be swollen and pain free or in constant pain.

No we do not condemn doctors, and yes, there is a time when we seek their advice. But they, the medical profession, obviously considers the side-effects of these drugs as an acceptable part of modern medicine. After all, if the side-effects are too bad, then you get another drug to counteract the side-effects.

We believe that true health comes from within. So one of the first things to do is to get rid of the toxins within your system. For this a fasting program with colonics and alternative therapies is highly recommended.

At Moinhos Velhos Health Resort we do not put too much emphasis on external beauty. We do not offer any manicures or pedicures, there are no facials or other beauty treatments. Yes we do have a Finish type sauna, as cleansing through the skin, which is our largest organ, is an important part of the detox process. After the sauna a swim in our chemical free salt water pool is always an enjoyable experience.

We have no fancy exercise equipment, no treadmills or other exercise paraphernalia. But you can go for a walk, for hours if you want to, in our unpolluted nature. We are away from the popular tourist resorts, in our valley we wake up to the songs of the birds in the morning, and retire with the silence of the stars at night. There are no newspapers or television , your cell phone will not work, we are located on one of the 12 syncronisety lines, which only convects at two points on the earth, in Tibet and at Damanhur in Italy. In the soil in our valley there are thousands of quarts crystals, all of which we believe gives a special energy to Moinhos Velhos Health Resort.

But do not worry, we are not completely cut off from the rest of the world. We are only 15 minutes from the city of Lagos, we have 3 telephone lines and several computers with Internet connections , so you can always be in touch for your family and friends. When you choose to.

Fasting is one of the oldest therapies known to man for physical mental and spiritual health. Most if not all religions recommends fasting. Swami Sivananda recommended fasting. (Scroll down). Jesus Christ recommenced fasting and colon cleansing. Quote from the The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ:

And from all the temptations of your body and your spirit, coming from Satan, withdraw beneath the shadow of God's heaven. Renew yourself and fast.

For I tell you truly that Satan and his plagues may only be cast out by fasting and prayer. And fast till Beelzebub and his evils departs from and all the angels of our earthy mother come and serve you. For I tell you truly, except you fast, you shall never be free from the power of Satan and from all diseases that comes from Satan.

Think not that it sufficient that the angel of water embrace you outward only. I tell you truly, the uncleanness within is greater by much than the uncleanness without. And he who cleanses himself without, but within remains unclean is like tombs that outwards are painted fair, but are within full of all manners of horrible uncleanness and abominations.

So I tell you truly, suffer the angels of water to baptize you also within, that you may become free from all past sins, and that within likewise you may become as pure as the river's foam sporting in the sunlight.

Jesus then goes on to describe how to make and do a gravity colonic. So colon cleansing is not something new, but has been practiced for over 2000 years. If diseases were caused by impurities and toxins 2000 years ago, how much more vital must it not be to fast and cleanse today, when we live in a world putrefied with chemicals and toxins.

I saw an article some time ago in a London newspaper, which claimed that a person living in London, UK is exposed to 500 different toxins every day. Children today are born with toxic blood: Go to Fasting, scroll down to Reporting by Roddy Scheer.

At Moinhos Velhos Health Resort we believe that true health comes from within. Cleansing and detoxification of the body is a vital part of our program, but if your mind is polluted you will not experience optimum health. That is why Yoga and Meditation is a vital part of our detox process. If you are filled with anger, frustration, jealousy or despair, if you hate your job or your boss,, if you are living in the past or in the future, you are not likely to obtain optimum health. To balance this Yoga and Meditation is a vital aspect of the purification and detox program at Moinhos Velhos Health Resort.

Nutrition is an other aspect of ultimate health. If you eat a lot of the the junk peddled by the supermarkets, you are sure to acquire plenty of toxins. We suggest you read Not on the Label available from Amazon, and you may think twice about entering your favorite supermarket again. At Moinhos Velhos Health Resort we only use organically grown fruits and vegetables.

But in the end the mind is the ultimate factor. A survey was conducted some years ago in a small town in the USA where all the inhabitants came from the same region in one of the Mediterranean countries. The population did not adhere to what today is considered a healthy lifestyle as far as food, drinks etc is concerned. But they did adhere to the traditions of their old country, the poorest man could live next to the richest man in town, and everybody was supportive of everybody else. There was a general feeling of happiness and support in the community, and the incidences of our modern diseases, like heart problems, cancer, diabetics, asthma etc, was only one third of the American average. The children of this community however, grew up to become typical Americans, isolated in their environment, and showed a higher than average disease factor.
So what does this tell you?

Our religion teaches us that we are born sinners, and unless we repent we will suffer for eternity in some hell. Like the doctors who are responsible for our physical health, the priests are the only gateway for spiritual salvation. So we are thought.

As a teenager, I Frank, was filled with spiritual aspirations. So on Sundays I was saved in the Protestant church. On Tuesdays I was saved by the Methodists, who did not consider a Protestant salvation much good. On Wednesdays I was saved by the Baptist, as neither of the previous salvations counted in their heavens. Thursdays I joined the Holy Rollers, where everybody was speaking in tongues, rolling on the floor or translating the tongues, of which I understood nothing, including the translations.

The Jehovah Witnesses of course considered all of these to be of the devil, there is only one Jehovah, and salvation can only be had through the Jehovah Witnesses church.

As a spiritual aspirant all of this made me rather confused, to the extent that in the end I denounced them all and became an agnostic. I really wanted to be an atheist, but I was too chicken, so just in case, I became an agnostic sitting on the fence.

Years later when I returned to Norway I missed the spiritual life that I had in the yoga ashram, and when I heard of the evangelist Arild Edwardsen in Sharon Dahl, I went to a midsummer festival conducted by him. Arild Edwardsen was a very popular evangelist, he held spiritual tocts in the far east with 100.000 people participating. In his little village with only 3000 inhabitants, he had a meeting hall with a seating capacity for 10.000 people.

It was a great festival Several of the then popular American evangelist first came on the stage, and then Arild Edwardsen himself. He was extremely charismatic, expounding how at Sharon Dale we were all equal brothers and sisters, it did not matter from where we came or to which organization or church we belonged. To him we were all the same, Methodists, Protestants, Catholics, Baptists or whatever. As long as you were a Christian. All others were heathens to be saved, and he asked for heavy donations to send missionaries to India, to save the heathens there, and to educate them to stop venerating the cows, which were free to wander around in their cities, and if we could just make the Indians understand that if they would stop venerating the cows, and start eating meat, most of the problems in India would be solved. We have to convert these heathens, was the proclamation put forth by Arild Edwardsen, the great evangelist. At this point I had to restrain myself from not throwing up, and I left as soon as I could.

I got into yoga because of my bad back, and my prayer used to be: Thank you God for my bad back, because that brought me back to you. Here at Moinhos Velhos Health Resort we believe that all religions are equal. We recognize that there are many different path, but in the end they all will lead to the same mountain top. We believe that there is only one God, with many aspects, and that this divinity recedes within each and everyone one of us. God is not some mystical entity sitting in heaven to judge over us, but is the divine Christ energy within. And Yoga helps to show the way.