UVU - Health Quest

Stress Relief in Four Weeks - Week 1:  Self Massage Techniques

This is the best thing short of an actual massage or someone else massaging you. Massage yourself! Obviously, its not going to be completely relaxing however something is better than nothing! I've been trying to do one of these every class period while I listen in class. It is so nice, it helps me get through classes and not be so antsy to get out of class.

First up - self massaging your shoulders. This is my favorite one and the easiest one to do while taking notes and listening. Concentrate on breathing (deeply and let it flow) and get those tender spots. Your neck and shoulders are MAIN areas where you collect stress (I ESPECIALLY do) so make sure to massage your neck and shoulders A LOT during main stressing situations.

Massaging your hands: Relax one hand and massage the fingers, palm, and especially the skin between the thumb and forefinger (TRIGGER POINT!) and get the knots out and soften up your muscles. Repeat with other hand.

Ears: This one is kinda weird, I've never rubbed my ears before however - it feels nice. Start with the rim of the ear up and down, up and down, then move towards the inside of the outer ear this will increase blood flow and give you more energy (I made up that part).

Forehead: I am excited to use this one when I get a migraine. Put your forefingers of both hands on your hairline and push and pull up and down and side to side going up and down your hairline. You can either lean over or just sit up. Make sure you do it for 1-3 minutes for de-stressing effects.

Try em out! They help (especially massaging your neck and shoulders).

Looking for a different way to heal?

Then you've come to the right place.

In THIS article gives a lot of examples about different ways to heal yourself or to get healed. Check it out!

I clicked on a few from each category just to get myself acquainted with some new ways of keeping myself healthy. First of all is acupressure (includes acupuncture and shiatsu massage). I have actually been thinking about doing acupuncture and honestly - I'm scared to death to try it. People sticking needles in me? Sounds a little like walking on a bed of needles or fire....completely idiotic. However, people have lived through it and it worked. All three of these are based on chi or your body's energy. This energy flows down meridians in your body and acupressure uses those meridians to help balance out your chi, which helps cure you because sickness comes from imbalance of your chi. (I'll have to think about this one for a longer period of time before I try it.....)

Now MEDITATION is something I've wanted to try for sometime, however I usually cannot focus, fall asleep, or just cannot bring myself to do it. But you know what? I need meditation. I'm going to start meditating. Every night before I go to bed I need to meditate and clear everything from my mind and body. I think it will help me get to sleep as well as sleep better. Check the link to learn how to do it.

When I read "humor therapy" I thought - yeah! I would love to do that. But then while I was reading it I realized that I already have humor therapy. My husband. He always seems to make something funny or make me laugh even when I do not want to laugh. He has seriously mad skills in this area. Laughter helps the  immune system, makes you feel more in control, makes life more manageable, and releases stress, fear, and anger. I really need to laugh at myself more and to not take life so seriously. So....laugh on.

Homeopathy. Or in lay terms - your body can heal itself. This post I do not agree with. I believe that the body has the ability to heal itself if you give it the right tools (nutrition, rest, exercise, sunlight, herbs) however I have never tried homeopathy and giving a very small dose of an herb seems like it would do little to nothing if you do not understand the underlying reason for the disease/illness.

The healing touch is used widely by nurses. I suppose it would be helpful, however - actually touching someone seems like it would help a whole lot more. While I believe that people are naturally healthy and just need to remove the things in their life that are causing them to be ill - not touching someone while healing touching them seems.....weird. Kind of like someone watching you. Stalkerish-like.

While I like this article because it gives a lot of examples of different ways of healing. I dislike that they only have short summaries of what the therapy is - not how to do it or where to find it.

UVU Health - Seeing it a little more...

Tell me you don't do this

A recent article in the Detroit Free Press contends that Americans may 'talk' eat well, but they don't 'walk' eat well. 47% of Americans 'talk' about restaurants having healthy choices only 23% 'walk the walk'. That is a huge difference, especially considering 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese. Because of this, high calorie and fat breakfasts sell more than Simple and Fit at IHOP and French Fries sell better than apple slices at McDonald's. Changing menus for restaurants is time consuming and expensive, especially when hardly anyone buys it afterwards. No wonder healthier items tend to be more expensive. I think there are two major flaws with this study. The primary one being, I eat 'Simple and Fit' at home, so when I go out - I want to splurge a little. For example, I eat a cup of oatmeal and fruit every morning for breakfast. Last week we went out to breakfast for my husbands grandma at Cracker Barrel. I'm not ordering oatmeal (even if it was a choice). I want waffles. I want eggs. I want bacon. I want a hefty typical breakfast. It doesn't mean I eat that every day, it means I don't eat it every day and I want it when I go out. The second flaw I see is about people not like me. Maybe those who eat unhealthy at home and then go eat unhealthy eating out. Or maybe those people who always eat out and never choose the healthy choice. And I think this is where Americans are. How can it not be when 2/3 of Americans are overweight+? Do I think having healthy choices is good in restaurants? YES! I think the more healthy tasty choices there are out there the more likely people are to buy them. However, I don't think the lifestyle of American's diet can be changed overnight. It needs to be a conscious effort on the part of every American to eat healthier and slowly wean themselves off of unhealthy fast food. Eat healthy almost all the time, and then you can eat unhealthy a small amount of the time. It will make you feel so much better not only physically, but about yourself as well.

Twitter Studies

In this article, Cornell University used Twitter to track not only American's behavior (such as bacon is more popular than sausage, Oprah airs at 4pm, and it takes seven hours to become drunk) but emotions as well (people are happiest in the morning and near midnight throughout the whole week [just different times on weekends]). I think this is a great idea. Its an easy way to track American's behavior and emotion without bothering them or without them even knowing (their fault - open twitter accounts). I think the only drawback to this is that, my two happiest moods peak at maybe noon and then eight pm. Mornings are NOT happy for me. I guess I'm just not a regular American.

MY Health Quest

Today was my second consultation with my nutrition specialist?, I'm not really sure what to call her. Anyway, we went over my goals and started on nutrition. Here is what we went over.
Nutrition Labels: 5% or less is low and 20% or more is high.
I should stop drinking whole milk. :(
Eat snacks!! Your body is programmed to eat every 2 1/2-3 hours. This boosts your metabolism and helps you eat less. And you skip the whole, my blood sugar is dropping and I need that candy bar.
Eat Breakfast! Your metabolism slows at night and hits a low right before you wake up. It gives you energy to start a day out right (not to mention helps mood.....boy did I learn the hard way today). And if you are one of those people that isn't hungry in the morning, its probably because you had too hefty a dinner or ate too late (remember, your metabolism slows at night?....this means your body doesn't digest it very fast and likes to just store it). Which means you should not eat about 2-3 hours before you go to bed.
Check out www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate/index.aspx and see how many calories you need a day and how many servings of what you should be having. It's really convenient. 
Tips:

• Go for complex carbs: whole grains, fruits, veggies. 
• It's whole grain if whole wheat is the first ingredient.
• Eat five fruits and veggies a day (get those veggies!).
• Get you some poly and mono unstaturated fats. These include nuts, avacados, peanut butter, and fish. 
• Eat your lean meat (or lentils, whole grain, beans, and nuts). Your body needs those proteins it can't make itself.
• Whole milk is probably not the best dairy.
• Moderate sweets - if sugar in any form appears first or second on the ingredients list - its high sugar. 

I also learned about organic. 100% organic means just that. Organic means it contains at least 95% organic ingredients. There is no legal definition for natural food, free range, and hormone free - anyone can use it, for anything. 

So go to the website and start your responsibility to your health. You can do it.

Food Matters

Food Matters is a documentary about .... food! Crazy huh? It focuses on the fact that you are what you eat. It starts out with explaining what is in food because of how it is processed. Then it turns to explain lifestyle and drugs/supplements/nutrition. 
I thought it was incredibly interesting and it makes me want to do something. Eat healthier. Become a nutritionist. Something! 


Did you know that your food is already a week old when it gets to the store? This is called globalized food industry. Your food has to travel from 1500-2000 miles just to get to you. Did you know that most soils that grow your food only get three minerals when food needs 52? If they don't get it from the ground where do they get it? Did you know that when you cook/steam/heat your food your body treats it as a toxin? It also loses enzymes and nutrients with heat. 


Their solution? Eat local produce. Eat organic. Eat 51% of your meals raw and your body will not react to your meals as toxins. Plus 1-2L of water with every meal (to flush the toxins out).


106,000 people die every year from procedural medicine (taking medications as directed, routine medical operations). I mean, wouldn't you die if you lived in a hospital with all its white bread and jello? Studies have shown you come out of the hospital more malnourished than when you went in. The medical field totes 'pill for an ill'. One pill for one ill. Even though they say this, it isn't true. Medication made for certain things have come to be known for its uses in other areas. You have 24 nutrients that your body needs. Just 24 for every single thing your body makes, does, and runs. If you lose just one of those nutrients - a whole myriad of things can go wrong. The theory behind nutrients or nutrition (instead of drugs) is that if you identify that nutrient (or more) that you are missing, you will cure not only the main thing that is ailing you, but everything else as well. The body doesn't heal selectively. It is the idea that you have a problem, you give your body the nutrient it needs and it takes it and uses it to heal your body and voila you are healed. This idea is put in practice by the Gerson Therapy. They have a 50% cure rate of cancer (not just the 30% that survive five years, which really means 70% of cancer patients actually die, it truly means cured). I think its interesting that 25% of the commercials out there are for drugs. The drug companies rule. Why? Because they have money and they want to make money. Nutrition doesn't make money. It makes people healthy. Drugs. Now there is something that can make a lot of money. A drug is a substance that doesn't cure an ill, it just makes it bearable with a side of effects (that need more drugs, ironically). Why do we feel ill? Because we eat crappy. So, when we feel sick, we shouldn't run to the doctor and the drug companies, but run to the source - bad nutrition. They stated an interesting thing about doctors. 


Doctors go to medical school where they learn about medicine and then they prescribe medication. But doesn't this sound so much better? Nutritionists go to nutrition school and learn about nutrition and then they prescribe nutrients. It sounds SO much healthier and it is extremely true. When have you gone to the doctor and they haven't prescribed you a medicine? That's what they do. They also say a lot about what they don't know. "Well, we don't really know much about that yet..." And you're still prescribing medicine for something you really don't know anything about? How can that be healthy?


Is the solution to healthcare more access to medicine? Or more access to education about nutrition and health? 


Food Matters does make a good point that when it comes to medical breakthroughs with prosthetics, emergency surgeries and such they do a superb job, but when it comes to chronic illness and disease - they suck. The underlying factor of disease is lifestyle. And doctors never talk about lifestyle and no one actually changes their lifestyle - even if their life depends on it. Although people think about making healthy choices, they hardly ever make them. The leading disease in America is cardiovascular disease and it is a lifestyle disease, fully preventable and reversible. 


If we switch what we buy consistently and make that healthy change of lifestyle, eventually the industry will catch on and will have to change. The squeaky mouse gets the cheese. And in the end the best nutritionist for you - is you. You need to take responsibility for your own health. 

Food Matters is on netflix - go watch it.