Willpower is one of the characteristics of the water element of Eastern Medicine and is connected to the energy of the kidneys and adrenals. If you are fatigued and the adrenals are low it is common to desire sweets and coffee. It is harder to be self-disciplined when your energy is off balance. Yet that is when you need the strength and resolve the most to help in the healing process.
Satisfaction is one of the characteristics of the earth element, which is connected to the energy of the stomach and spleen. This includes eating, digestion and the human need to feel supported and connected to family and friends. Holidays magnify this energy as we strive to connect. There are family and cultural traditions around food and parties that may be challenging. If you are on a restricted diet such as a weight loss, gluten free, diabetic or candida diet, feeling satisfied and having willpower can be exceptionally hard during social gatherings. Food is natural part of sharing and connecting to others and we all like the freedom to participate fully.
When you feel denied of something that you crave the mind becomes even more attached. This is why it is important to be prepared so you can feed your cravings with healthy and satisfying food and company. It is a good practice to inform others around your restrictions so they understand why you may turn down certain foods that are offered. Also request support from those around you in this process. You may need to eat before a party or make sure that you bring along some satisfying foods that you can enjoy and share. Use a gathering as an opportunity to educate others.
If you wind up eating something that you should not have, forgive yourself for not being perfect, renew your commitment to a healthy lifestyle and recognize that changing habits and educating others towards healthier eating is a learning process.
Unfortunately, there is no “cure” for temptation and food cravings. So be gentle with yourself. Much of a healthy lifestyle is about emotions and intellect in addition to eliminating unhealthy habits. Indulgence is part of our humanity. Eastern Medicine believes that occasionally treating yourself to something special and enjoying it fully without guilt creates good fire energy and feeds the heart and the spirit.
Listen to your body; trust your intuition when it comes to food or other things you desire. Let your body give you feedback and pay attention to how you feel. Learn something new about yourself around your experiences and then get back on track to what you are committed to in life and in health.
In a recent episode of Man vs. Food, Adam traveled to Alaska for a food-eating challenge that involved consuming a massive amount of crab legs and assorted side dishes in under 90 minutes. I was surprised when Adam chose to begin the competition by spending 15 minutes breaking the meat out of the crab legs; I would have thought it would make more sense to start eating other foods and then use the time cracking the crab legs as a digestion break in the midst of the competition. My girlfriend, who was watching with me, said Adam’s strategy was probably to eat all of the food at once without a break so he could finish before the feeling of fullness descended.
This latter strategy has physiological merit. Because it takes a while for the gastrointestinal tract’s hormones to signal to the brain to stop eating, the quicker we eat, the more food we can take in before hunger dissipates. While this may be a smart tactic for competitive eating, research presented in a recent Boston Globe article indicates that if we routinely eat quickly, we are more likely to be overweight.
Eating speed is not a cure-all for weight management issues, but it is a factor worth addressing. The Globe article mentions some techniques that can help, such as putting our fork down in between bites, eating with our non-dominant hand, or using chop sticks. These are great ideas, and I will add to the list with some additional suggestions of my own.
PACE YOURSELF WITH THE SLOWEST EATER
When I go out to eat, I am often the last one to finish my meal. My friends are done, the waiter has cleared their empty dishes, and I self-consciously finish my food in front of everybody. Spare your friends and family this awkward feeling by lengthening your own eating time. Be one of the first to start your meal (without being rude, of course) and one of the last to finish. Not only are you helping your health, but you are actually making those around you more comfortable as well.
SERVE YOUR OWN FOOD LIKE A WAITER
Recalling my college dining hall days, I remember that I used to load my tray up with everything (bread, salad, entrée, juice, and dessert) all at once. Sitting down to a multi-course feast has sensual appeal, but having all of that food in immediate proximity creates an environment conducive to quick eating. Instead, get your food in courses like you are receiving it in a restaurant, thereby giving yourself a chance to slow down and reevaluate your hunger as your meal progresses.
SERVE YOUR OWN FOOD LIKE A BAD WAITER
Diners demand quick service and generously tip wait staff who bring the next course as soon as the previous one is cleared, but that lazy and forgetful waiter who is slow bringing your food is doing you a favor (from a nutritional perspective, anyway). Take a break in between courses: wash some dishes, put away leftovers, use the bathroom, or simply stand up and stretch. For example, whenever I have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, I eat my hot cereal first and then wash those dishes before preparing my berries, thereby slowing myself down and taking a few minutes to figure out what quantity of berries I still want at that point.
TALK WHEN YOUR MOUTH IS EMPTY
Independent of manners issues, eating with our mouths full also speeds up our meals because we are robbing ourselves of natural opportunities to take breaks from eating. Your mouth is poor at multi-tasking; let it serve one function at a time.
EAT FREQUENTLY
“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse!” The hungrier we are, the quicker we eat. Conversely, if we keep our hunger in check by eating more frequently, our eating slows down and we tend to make better food choices. Eat every two to three hours and save the equine population.
On October 21, Sun Life Financial opened the doors of its Learning Center at its Wellesley campus to several Boston area businesses sharing in one common purpose: providing health and wellness for our surrounding communities. For over 20 years, Sun Life Financial has partnered with these organizations to provide an opportunity for Sun Life employees to partake in their annual Wellness Day. Visions Medical Center was an enthusiastic participant and provided wellness services to approximately 400 people. We were excited to take part and offered complimentary massage and chiropractic treatments, body composition analysis, personalized nutrition and allergy consultations, and fitness assessments.
Now that the colder season has arrived, many find themselves wanting more carb foods – warm grains, hot oatmeal, sweet potatoes…..the list goes on. What is interesting is that as part of the “animal family”, we as humans are often susceptible to the hibernation influence and to the effects of less light on the pineal gland in the brain. Carbs can influence serotonin in the brain which is also known as the “appetite controller” and “feel good” chemical.
What is important to remember, however, is balance in the diet. A diet either too low or high in carbohydrate, can promote low blood sugar, rebounding blood sugar, and the net effect is the roller coaster ride of emotions and cravings!
Choose grain foods with 3 grams of fiber or more and 6 grams of sugar or less. Some of the stars in the grain category are: quinoa*, amaranth*, buckwheat*, bulgur, barley, millet*, brown rice* and wheat berries (* indicates gluten-free). A great way to cook these grains is to saute 1 cup mixed grain in 2-3 tsp oil, then add water or stock, cooking until the liquid is absorbed. Adding sauteed vegetables, seeds or nuts will create an interesting side dish!
When it comes to cereals, the same advice holds true. Choose cereals with 3 grams or more of fiber and 6 grams of sugar or less, and in addition, look for ingredient lists that contain few ingredients. The more additives, the more processed the food is likely to be. Also, watch out for excessively high fiber cereals, as they can cause gas, bloating and alternating constipation and diarrhea. Cereals are also great toppers for fruit and yogurt, and can be rolled with nut butters, dried fruit and flaxmeal for tasty treats!
In the midst of the movie Traffic, the White House’s newly-appointed “drug czar” discovers that his own daughter is abusing illegal drugs. At the press conference announcing his hiring, he stops himself in the middle of his acceptance speech and reveals, “If there is a war on drugs, then our own families have become the enemy. How can you wage war on your own family?” He walks out of the press conference, and his final scene shows him and his wife at a substance abuse support group with their recovering daughter.
My interpretation is that in the middle of his press conference, he experiences an epiphany that the way to solve the drug problem is not with negativity, blame, and aggression, but rather with grassroots support and healing for the people who create the demand for these drugs in the first place.
The people in our lives who are in suboptimal health are better off with the same kind of compassion too. I like to know what kind of support system my clients have as they attempt to make lifestyle changes, as it strongly correlates with their degrees of success. Where do you think you would fare better: an environment in which people call you fat and lazy as they eat unhealthy foods in front of you; or a setting where people support your desire to change, model healthy behaviors, and help you to overcome your challenges?
If you are a client of mine and your family or friends are not as supportive as you would like, consider this an open invitation to bring them with you to your sessions. Not only can this be an opportunity for them to learn why the changes you are making are critical to your health, but they may also become inspired to get healthier too.
There is a small Gluten Free menu featured, and servers and management are very attentive to Gluten allergies. There are several other locations outside Boston; including Arlington, Medford and Watertown.
109 Chapel Street
Needham, MA 02492
(781) 453-9800
Have you ever hit a pothole or a big bump in the road? If you drive anywhere in the greater Boston area, you have! Our roads are notorious tire chewers. They can be like the lunar surface, especially in the spring, after a long, tough winter of snowstorms and plowing.
Sometimes after a rough encounter on the mean streets, your car will feel funny or off when you’re driving. It may pull to one side or clunk or jerk when you apply the brakes, or shake or shimmy or vibrate on the freeway. If you let it go, it will only get worse, and your tires will start wearing unevenly, and require replacement much sooner. Your gas mileage will decrease.
Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, you go to the mechanic, and they tell you your front end is out of alignment. They align it, and you leave feeling like you are driving a new car!
In many ways your spine and nervous system are similar. The speed bumps and potholes of life can knock you out of alignment. You may even feel off-kilter, as if you are pulling to the left or right. You may feel tilted or twisted. One shoulder may feel/be higher than the other, or one hip, or a hip may feel ahead or behind the other. You might even feel a bit like a crab, walking sideways!
Patients will frequently tell me that they feel pain or tension or distortion in various parts of their body, and often what ails them is not directly related to where they feel it. For example, when your lower spine is misaligned, you can feel it anywhere in your lower body, your low back, your hips, knees, ankles, and/or feet. Everything is connected.
When your spine is out of alignment, when your body is out of alignment, just as with your car, you do not move properly or easily or gracefully. Distortion in one one area of your body will cause or contribute to distortion, tension, stiffness, pain, and restricted or difficult movement in another area. And just as your car’s fuel efficiency declines until you get it aligned, so too does your body’s energy efficiency suffer until you get your spine re-aligned.
And just as the physical impacts in your life affect you physically, so too do the mental and emotional speed bumps and potholes of life affect you and your nervous system, your spine, your body, your LIFE.
So call the front end alignment specialist of life, Greig Andrews DC, at Visions Medical Center, at 781-431-1333, and get your spine, and your life, back in alignment. You know that the longer you wait, the worse it gets. So why wait?
When one is raised in the West, no matter what religious tradition one inherits, there is a Judeo-Christian subtext in the very fabric of our society.
You don’t have to be Christian to use this prayer full of affirmative ideas. The most important part of this practice is to Pray the Lord’s Prayer, not to Say the Lord’s Prayer. Anyone can say it, but praying it is an entirely different matter.
The first part of the first line is a prayer unto itself:
Our Father
Ours. Not the father of someone else, but the father of all someones. If you, like I, follow the path of the Divine Mother, try this:
Our Mother
I truly believe that God doesn’t care what we call Her, only that we call Him.
The best way to pray The Lord’s Prayer is to conjure whatever is bothering you, and speak the words slowly whilst considering the problem.
Our Father, which art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
In earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever.
Amen.
Another way to pray this prayer, and one which I have found very powerful, is to rewrite the prayer in your own words while thinking about your challenge.
When I was dealing with my father’s death, many years after he’d died, I started my first rewrite of this prayer, “Papa! Daaaaaddddyy!” I cried out old grief, and knew my father anew by the end.
There is growing interest in natural ways to influence a variety of health conditions and diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and hyperglycemia (the high before the diagnosis) are no different in this respect.
While the market continues to provide oral agents that push the pancreas to pump out insulin and other medications that sensitive the muscle cells to pick up and utilize insulin more effectively, there are foods that also provide a blood sugar lowering effect as well.
Some of the nutrients found in foods that positively influence blood sugars are as follows:
INSULIN SENSITIZERS
Resveratrol – found in the skin of red grapes and supplements
Vitamin E – found in wheat germ and vitamin E supplements, but look for the d-alpha form which is the most active
Vitamin D – found in eggs yolks, dairy foods, leafy greens and fortified foods, as well as in supplements, but look for the D3 form which is the most active form
Zinc – found in protein sources such as meat, fish, poultry, dairy foods, nuts and seeds, as well as in supplements
CELL PROTECTORS
CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) – found in meat, butter, eggs and whole milk, as well as in supplement form
Alpha lipoic acid – found in red meat and brewer’s yeast, as well as dietary supplements
Omega three fatty acids – found in fatty fish, nuts, green leafy vegetables, as well as supplements
There are other key nutrients that aid in managing diabetes such as biotin which helps with metabolism of carbohydrate foods and vitamin B6, which helps in the prevention of neuropathy.
The take away-message here is that there is power in food and beginning the treatment plan from the kitchen is a great way to start!