The Body's Language

 

   Not only in class, but through this journey I've been on so far in life, I have learned and will continue to learn a LOT of different things. One thing I have realized that makes me very sad is that most Americans (especially) are sliding into this state of general illness. Since so many of us are living in this state of aches, pains, and dysfunction, this has become "normal". Sick is the new well! Isn't that great? So now we don't have to be "sick" unless we're REALLY sick. Awesomesauce.

   We are looking to our western doctors to help make us feel better, when the truth is most really haven't studied proper nutrition and states of wellness in the body. They have studied surgery, pathology, and the use of pharmaceuticals. I know that sounds like I'm poo-pooing western medicine, and I guess in a way I am. Am I glad it's here? Yes. Absolutely. I do believe certain medications and procedures are necessary and life saving- especially in states of emergency. But, my experience has been that some of our physicians really just want to make us stop whining. Here's a pill, be quiet, and go away.

   The symptoms we are so eager to be rid of are our body's way of communicating with us. These symptoms are conveying messages to instigate change and direct us back to a path of balance and wellness. As a society we've started cultivating this idea that our bodies are being disobedient and bothersome- and we'd better find something to take so we can get on with things. We are in a way shushing our best friend whenever they really need to get something off their chest. These are signs and signals that deeper reflection needs to take place.

   I would like to bring to light the idea of listening to what your body is saying. Every once in a while I forget too, but the next time you feel an ache or a pain or in my case come down with a nasty cold that won't go away- really try and stop to hear what's truly going on. Maybe things have been too stressful and busy and your body is finally just saying "Nope. We need down-time. We need nurturing, and we are not getting better until you listen up." If you're finding yourself with multiple issues, how can you take back your health? Is it diet changes, exercise, finding enjoyment in life, making meaningful connections, or finding closure to old patterns and beliefs that no longer serve? What do you need to replenish and renew? What do you need to cull from your life where more harm is being done than good?

   We all get these messages in one form or another- whether it's in our bodies or situations in life. First, we get a tapping on the window- some small sign that something is up. If we don't listen, there comes a knocking on the door. If we still have our head in the sand, the door gets broken down. As a last ditch effort the roof gets ripped off as a way of getting our attention that something is amiss- somewhere we need to be paying attention.

   When it comes to treating the physical body and symptoms using a more natural means, it usually starts with feeding. Feeding the body with care and mindfulness. Building up stores of vitamins and minerals to help aid in what the body already wants to do: be well. It's amazing what can happen when we see this as an option. For me, working with "alternative" health care providers is essential to getting back on track. I need the expertise of an acupuncturist, naturopathically-inclined nurse practitioner, naturopathic doctor, nutritionist, and psychologist with mad spidey senses who all communicate with each other and work together to educate and heal me. I also was lead to a couple of people who really helped me understand some things from a spiritual point of view. It takes a village sometimes!
 
    We can bring about great things with the use of proper foods and herbs as medicine, and begin to examine what our mind and spirit is going through as well. It takes time, though, to work through the sickness and begin again. I can tell you: it is worth it to keep digging down to the root and find the truth in the matter.

 

 

Miso Sick Soup

Our family caught some kind of virus right after Christmas and we seem to just keep passing it around. Lots of congestion, coughing, aches, that sort of thing. I concocted a soup to help with some of the symptoms, for a paper I had written for one of my classes, and it works fairly well- plus being delicious.

I start off with a nice chicken broth- home made would be best, but sometimes I opt for an organic store bought, or if I'm in a pinch, I keep a natural paste bouillon in the fridge. I get that heating in a pan on the stove, and add in a few dried shiitake mushrooms that I get from my local Asian market. While those are softening in the broth, I grate in some fresh ginger root and some fresh garlic cloves. I add in some red chili flakes and miso and let it warm over low heat. 

Once my mushrooms have softened, I scoop them out into my bowl to cool a bit before snipping them into little slices with my kitchen shears. Somehow I really enjoy this process- I don't know why. Once they are all sliced, I add them back in to my warm broth and put in a few pinches of my dried wakame seaweed. The little dried pieces swell quite a bit in the broth, so no need to go crazy with them. 

I chop up some toppings, and these change every time. Today I had some cilantro and green onion, sometimes I put in chrysanthemum leaves, or you could even add some noodles or chicken if you like. (I'd actually like to try putting burdock or some of my new dried astragalus in there.) The very last step before eating is to drizzle a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil on top. It is designed to get your nose running, so grab some tissues! 

2c. Chicken Broth

4-6 dried shiitake mushrooms

1-2t. grated fresh ginger (peeling is optional)

1-2 fresh garlic cloves, grated

1/4-1/2t. red chili flakes (to taste)

2T miso of your choosing- I use a chickpea miso

1T wakame flakes

2T cilantro, chopped, or other greens

1T. green onion, sliced

~Here is an excerpt from my paper explaining why I chose the ingredients I did in order to help with certain symptoms and to help with supporting the immune system. It's just a snapshot since I was taking  forms of Eastern medicine into consideration plus the vitamins and minerals that they contained- also keeping in mind the body processes that would benefit from them. 

Miso- trace amounts of B12, warming, source of protein, digestive aid

Organic chicken broth- folk remedy “Jewish Penicillin”, anti-inflammatory

Ginger- mucolytic, analgesic for sore throat, warming, calms stomach, anti-inflammatory

Chili- warming, thins mucus, vasodilator

Garlic- expectorant, antibacterial, anti-fungal

Shiitake- antiviral, dispels phlegm, immune support

Wakame- trace minerals, regulates excess mucus

Cilantro- diaphoretic, aids digestion, helps with nausea, cough, and headache

Chrysanthemum greens- helps liver and kidneys, increases chi

Onion- warming, helps blood and chi circulation, disperses cold, helps detoxify

Sesame oil- good source of vitamin E, antioxidant

Standard American Diet (SAD) and Deficiency

 

  So, we touched upon what real food is, and what it isn't. What does that mean for some of us who have been raised in families where meals came from a box or out of a drive thru window? Some people have grown up not knowing the difference and why it's such a big deal. Well, the body is kind of in this ruthless survival mode. All. The. Time. If you grow up in a way in which you are not feeding or can't feed your body what it needs, it doesn't just magically absorb what it needs out of the air. (That would solve a lot of problems though if it did.) Your lovely little body will start looking for what it needs internally and start breaking down your bones and tissues to fill the nutritional gaps and keep you alive. This comes at great cost to your health.

   Backing up just a little, let's say your mother when she was pregnant with you didn't know how to eat properly. As a baby, you will take from (or be given) whatever your mom had stored up in her body in order to sustain your life. So, mom is nutritionally deficient, and her body is taking whatever she has left to feed you. You are going to be nutritionally deficient, because you are already not getting what you need to have body stores at optimal levels. Typically these will be things like iron and B vitamins- D if you live in the northern areas. We already know how important it is for mom to get what she needs so you are born without defects or impairments. Here you are, on your birthday, suit and all, either being breastfed or given formula. Either way, the breast milk may not be as nutritive as it could be because stores are already depleted, or you're being fed a synthetic concoction that may or may not contain what you need or be tolerable to your brand new self.

   Fast forwarding now through your life- and you haven't really been getting a rich nutrient dense diet. What do you think has happened? You're alive, that's good. Probably you've had a lot of colds and infections, periods of depression, maybe some skin problems, fatigue, GI issues like constipation, or possibly the other direction, most likely some other things. Internally most likely your liver is working overtime to clean up the mess of unhealthy fats, sugars, and chemicals- the free radical gremlins are having a grand old time wreaking havoc however they can. Even the soda you are drinking is speeding up the breaking down of your bones. What you might see is a slow general decline in your health- a lot of systemic inflammation and symptoms that will earn you varied diagnoses from irritable bowel syndrome to fibromyalgia and everything in between in western medicine.

  How do you move away from this pattern and towards a better one? It's fairly straight forward. Pack in as many nutrients as you can at every snack and meal. Nutrients from real, whole foods, lots of vegetables first and foremost. Fruits are good too, but the veggies are really important. And lots of different veggies. Maybe you try one new vegetable a week in a couple of different ways to see what you like. Swapping out iceberg lettuce for green lettuce or spinach would be a good way to start- even sneaking extra veggies into your spaghetti sauce or lasagna. You can even sneak them into your smoothies in the morning. If you're not a smoothie person, maybe you change your idea of breakfast and have a brown rice bowl topped with steamed broccoli and some kind of curry sauce and a healthy fat source like coconut oil or avocado. Maybe you make muesli and top it with greek yogurt and honey. I frequently have left over dinner for breakfast. You can make conscious choices in order to replenish your stores of vitamins and minerals. You could find a good multi vitamin, omega 3, and a good probiotic to help with this task. Omega 3 fatty acids are important because of their role in brain function and in an anti-inflammatory capacity among other things. The probiotic will help to replenish any gut bacteria that has been damaged or lost due to antibiotics and poor diet habits. Our gut bacteria is so important to the manufacturing, digesting, and absorption of nutrients.

  Do you have to be perfect starting right NOW?!? No, you don't. But any changes you make in a positive direction will serve you well and be another step towards healing. A lot of times these changes begin with some soul searching over self worth. Feelings of anger and self loathing can make us feel like we aren't worth the trouble of making life changes. Maybe we feel lonely and this is how we "fill up". We get into a spiral of eating unhealthily to fill a pit of bad feelings, and the unhealthy food causes more bad feelings- sometimes we are not even aware of it. Sometimes we have to look outside of ourselves to find the resolve. As a mom of three, I didn't have time to feel sick and tired. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I didn't want my children growing up with a mom who couldn't enjoy life with them. That was the fuel to my fire.

   The equation goes like this: if you have nothing in the way of nutrition, and you add nothing to it, you will have nothing in the end. Right? Simple math. If you have nothing but strive to add to it, it is actually possible to kick start the healing process and reverse symptoms and certain conditions. You actually have control over most of the situation, and that is what I'd like for you to know.

   To view a much more realistic version of the food pyramid designed by the kids at Harvard, please click here.

Food

   "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -Michael Pollan

   This pretty much sums it up. Still, the word "food" seems to be a general term that can mean a lot of things. Some good, some bad, and some just downright ugly. Even within these three categories there lies a gradation and some grey areas. We will get to that.

 Food is defined by Wikipedia as:

"Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth."

   Nutritional support, plant or animal origin, essential nutrients, assimilated to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. So much of what is in the typical American's pantry at this moment does not actually fit this definition. Much of what you will find on store shelves and in fast food restaurants is simply filler and chemicals. Yes it helps with hunger pangs- however, many manufactured products are completely devoid of nutrition. What happens in these cases is the manufacturers load the products up with salt and sugar so that it is palatable, but the body is looking for nutrients to facilitate function. It's looking for vitamins and minerals, antioxidants to stop harmful processes, building blocks for muscle, and components for energy. So our stomachs get filled, we get a jolt from the sugar, then once the body finds there's nothing really to work with, we get hungry again and eat more. We've eaten the calories, technically we've filled the tank, but it isn't the right fuel. We begin to feel run down, sick, and turn to our nearest prescription to help us feel better. This process does not produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. In fact, it does just the opposite- very slowly and often painfully. 

   "Eat FOOD." If it has come from the earth, and has had a minimal amount of things done to it, it's food. If it has been pulled, picked, washed, possibly cooked, and served, it's food. If it has been picked, washed, had the holy moly cooked out of it till it's grey, had colorings and flavorings added back in so you can't see that it's really overcooked and grey, been topped with preservatives for good measure and packaged, it's really NOT food. Any vitamins it once contained will be destroyed and we are back to chemical filler status. If you are reading labels (yes, you should be reading labels!) and are finding ingredients that you cannot read, pronounce, or identify, it's not food. This is a good time to ask "What's in it for ME?" 

   Eat your natural food rainbow. Food is beautiful. It's supposed to be! We are attracted to color for a very good reason- they are indicative of the vitality that lies within. If you want to feel bright and fresh and vibrant- eat foods that reflect that. Raw fruits and vegetables will contain the most intact vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (natural plant enzymes and compounds). There is nothing wrong with a light steam, good soup or stir-fry either. 

   What else comes as a fruit and veggie bonus? FIBER. Fiber is wonderful in whole food form. It helps with peristalsis (the churning and movement of the digestive system) and can help with intestinal cramping. It works as a broom- internally whisking away the grime and nonsense, and improves elimination. It helps with satiety or the feeling of fullness, and also acts as a buffer between you and the good sugars you will be ingesting. It delays the uptake so we don't get that instant sugar high and then the plummet. Chia seed and psyllium husks are also good sources of additional fiber and goodness. Psyllium really needs to be soaked in water before ingesting. If you are looking to add fiber into your diet, start slowly and work your way up to avoid any discomfort. 

   As for animal foods, the same rules apply. Opting for naturally cured (nitrate free) meats if you must have things like bacon or luncheon meats. Here, though, there are a few more things to take into consideration. Many animals are given hormones and antibiotics to either increase growth, maintain milk supply, and prevent or treat infection. When you choose an animal food, it bears keeping in mind that you may very well be ingesting some of these medications. Another thought is; what has your animal been exposed to? Were there toxic substances present in the environment or feed? These can remain in the fat tissues and also be passed along down the food chain. Many people also like to take in to consideration the life of their animal. Was it well raised and cared for? Was it's dispatching done in a humane manner? Often times this includes knowing your farmer and choosing local sources. 

   Keep in mind as you move from a processed diet over to whole foods, your body will go through a detox process as it cleans up the chemical mess. Is it horrifying and scary? No. You could expect cravings for some of the old processed foods- or mood swings as your blood sugar starts to find an even keel. Some people will experience some headaches. Keeping healthy snacks like nuts or dried fruits available can help- along with drinking plenty of water. Side effects may include increased energy, skin clearing, weight loss, and an increased sense of well being. 

Holistic Nutrition

   

   Since my last post (forever ago), I have decided to dive in feet-first into the wonderful world of Holistic Nutrition. "What is THAT?!?" you may be asking. Well, in a nut shell it's looking at the human body and self as whole, multi-faceted, and unified. It's understanding that treating one isolated symptom may provide relief in the short term, but the real goal is true health. Not only physical health, but health in every aspect of human life. 

   I am currently looking towards my sixth class in a series of fourteen. After I complete this course, I get to look forward to an internship and completing my requirements to become certified as a Holistic Nutritionist. I've learned so much thus far and am so excited to see what more is in store as time goes on. I had the realization last night that even as I practice, I get to be a student for the rest of my life! For some reason I find this very exciting. 

   The thought occurred to me that even though I do hope to earn a living consulting with individuals and families at some point, everyone needs to know this information. What you do with it after that is completely up to you- but while we are here in these human bodies, we need to understand how to make the most of what we've been given- and hopefully be happy and healthy while we're doing it! We've all been given a body to live in and use, but so many of us forgot about the user's manual… or were never taught about it in the first place. 

   My goal over the next little while is to share with you some of the things I have been learning- some are really no-brainers but good reminders, and others have blown my mind and really changed the way I think and will approach certain issues. It's certainly changed what I am teaching our children. I'd like for them to grow up already knowing and having the tools to feel good about being here. It would be nice for people to not have to go through a health crisis before finding out how to really take care of themselves. I can tell you from experience, it's not the preferred route, but sometimes is a necessary wake up call. RING-RING!!!