Have you listened to your body lately? Our bodies communicate with us in a variety of ways every day of our lives. So why don’t we listen? Why do we so often only pay attention when there is a crisis or some type of pain that forces us to slow down? We frantically look for the quick fix solution to hush the body and lull it back to its normal function so we can carry on with the “important things” in life and then promptly jump back into the whirlwind we have become accustomed to.
Food is one of our most valuable commodities. It offers us the tools we need to sustain this complex and reliable machine that houses our hearts, our souls, our minds, our emotions and our every organ. . If the food we eat is so vital and in fact holds the keys to our very quality of life, why do we take it so for granted? Many modern day people treasure and protect their cars and other valuables more than their bodies. If you neglect to change your oil your engine breaks down. If you neglect to feed your body nutritious food your heart and other organs break down. The body can often withstand a tremendous amount of abuse and overuse before the signs of wear and tear begin to surface. Just like that new car in the garage that comes with a user manual, to instruct us on the best way to preserve the many working components and assure a long life of use, we have to read our own body’s user manual. We are all born with an internal manual that communicates through sensation, intuition or conscience. The media offers us an endless sea of information on how to fuel this machine of ours. All this information and stimulation can be confusing, especially if we are not in tune with, or ignore, the internal manual. Every day your body emerges from a short hibernation in need of fuel…breakfast. Your body needs more than a cup of coffee after all that time. If your body can’t find some protein it will go to where it knows it can find it, your muscles. This is counterproductive since your muscle is the active tissue that revs your metabolism. Less muscle means lower metabolism. Have you ever gone on a diet and lost weight only to quickly gain it back along with a few extra pounds and some sagging skin? This is the result of losing muscle.
It is no secret that big food companies have been selling us a cheap substitute for sound nutrition. We are hypnotized by the media which is driven by big business. We are distracted by packaging, add campaigns, and bargain prices. Few take the time to study the ingredients, that is if you can pronounce most of the chemical jargon. Big business is chiefly concerned with growing things in large quantity and fast to preserve the bottom line while adding an array of additives, preservatives and hormones which our bodies often don’t even recognize as food. In the meantime the incidence of lifestyle-related illness is increasing. Obesity is one of the most common health disorders in the United States, affecting the majority of Americans. More than 60 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure. (*) At least 2,600 people die each day from CVD, which is one death every 33 seconds, and hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and poor nutrition are some of the factors that contribute to this alarming statistic. Hypertension alone accounted for 32 million office visits to medical practitioners in 1999 and is associated with 5 deaths per 100,000 population. (*) All of these conditions have a common thread. Altered body composition which can results in an increase of fat and/or loss of muscle mass. This leads to every day your body emerges from a short hibernation in need of fuel…breakfast. Your body needs more than a cup of coffee after all that time. If your body can’t find some protein it will go to where it knows it can find it, your muscles. This is counterproductive since your muscle is the active tissue that revs your metabolism. Less muscle means lower metabolism. Have you ever gone on a diet and lost weight only to quickly gain it back along with a few extra pounds and some sagging skin? This is the result of losing muscle.
. Lifestyle influences like a poor diet and a lack of exercise are the main factors that contribute to altered body composition. Altered body composition is a disproportionate amount of fat-to-lean body mass. We may be more familiar with the terms “spare tire”, “muffin top”, “double chin”, or “back fat”.
The body will often tolerate abuse for a while until it has so many mixed messages floating around in its neurological pathways that it begins to become bogged down sluggish and broken. Often at this point the body’s language volume goes up a few notches and communicates loudly through pain and dysfunction. You have been busy at work and your lunch has been selected from the vending machine or the convenience store at the corner. Now you are wondering why you feel so sluggish and those spring clothes just don’t fit. Maybe you have ignored that small ache in your back and now you can’t sit or stand without nagging pain. Inflammation from improper diet can cause an array of aches and pains in joints and muscles. In essence your body is saying “I’m not being respected, nourished and loved and I’m going to throw a temper tantrum until I get your attention”.
Most of us respond to tantrums as we would with a two year old…either we ignore them, hoping the whole problem will end soon like ignoring that small ache in the back. We can overact by calling in the paramedics, the therapist, mom, sister, and the priest; we go to the doctor and ask for pain meds and a back brace talk about the possibility of surgery or we give a time out until the behavior seems to be “fixed”, like taking the day off, going fishing with a six pack.
There is a reason for the tantrum and when it comes to our bodies, instead of looking for the latest self help book or Doctors prescription, it would do us well to consult the inner manual and go back to the basic language of sound simple nutrition and self awareness and nurturing. We can listen to what the body is asking for.
Some of us have a fairly decent idea of what is nurturing to the body and what is clearly not. Did you know every time you make a decision about what goes into your mouth you are either choosing health and healing or disease? Food is a complex combination of chemical reactions and messages that when ingested are interpreted by the cells and receptors in your body. When the body is overloaded with a substance it has no recognition of like hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, or it has no immediate use for, like a large meal with a lot of starch or a candy bar, the pancreas pumps out excess insulin to help escort the glucose into the cell. When this cycle is repeated thousands of times the insulin receptors within the cells become resistant and ignore the signals and this sets the stage for diseases like Diabetes and Hypoglycemia as well as excess belly fat . If this occurs often, the body becomes bogged down with excess fat, cholesterol, insulin and cellular byproducts and cellular debris and toxins. I have a woman who comes to me for therapy complaining of fatigue and irritability. When we look into her diet she had a pattern of reaching for a cookie or sugary snack about 3 in the afternoon. This temporarily spikes her blood glucose and insulin level and gives a short supply of energy, like pouring gas on a fire, only to sharply dip into a low blood glucose level resulting in cravings for more high sugar food. Another man with a similar complaint would go through his busy day skipping lunch and having coffee for “energy” just to get home starving and consume a large meal with a few beers before crashing into bed. He complained of being groggy in the morning and needed a couple cups of coffee to get going and some antacids and was complaining of a backache and extra weight with no energy. This type of cycle repeated over time can cause a wide variety of unpleasant symptoms from bloating to excess fat, diabetes, inflammation, arthritis, Cardio Vascular disease, gastrointestinal complications, high blood pressure, cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, and many other chronic diseases.
A balanced lifestyle with proper nutrition, exercise, rest, and relaxation offers the body a reservoir to draw upon to fuel every aspect of our existence and helps combat the negative effects of our environment, accumulated tension and stress, and past neglect. This can begin to reverse damage and rebuild health and vitality so the body can function at full capacity. It seems too simple but that is the language the body understands best.
So what is a person to do when they have a busy life, a family, career, and a home to look after and food is just one more of those things to check off the to do list so we can get to the more rewarding aspects of our day? Eat food as close to its original state as possible..Simple, balanced, colorful. Your body came into this world understanding this basic language of nutrition and this is what it craves and requires for the many tasks required for healing, energy production and vitality. It starts in the morning. Choose a balance of protein such as eggs or Greek yogurt and complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal or whole grain bread, and fruits or vegitables to give the body the sustainable fuel it needs. This type of meal digests slowly allowing a gradual release of glucose into the body and prevents spikes and dips that can create cravings for sugar and other high carbohydrate foods and allows the body the proper nutrition it needs to thrive. Eating small meals every 2 ½ to 3 hours is another way to sustain a healthy balance of glucose in the body.
There is a shift occurring, an awakening, an awareness starting to emerge like the “slow food movement“ from Italy, that is finding its way slowly to the media through research and science that cannot be ignored, even in this hardened world of western medicine. Here is a scientific statement from American Cancer Society/American Diabetes Association/American Heart Association on preventing Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes “
•Cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes account for nearly 2 out of every 3 deaths in the US
•Cost of $1400 billion per year
•“While healthcare costs skyrocket, the national investment in prevention was estimated at less than 3% of total annual health care expenditures.
•“Current approaches to health promotion and prevention of CVD, cancer and diabetes do not approach the potential of the existing state of knowledge.”
•“Health care providers and medical organizations must transform this model into systems that provide preventive care and early detection as an integral part of standard medical practice”
•“…a new opportunity for clinicians to focus on important risk factors that, if avoided or modified, could have beneficial effects for reducing incidence of and premature mortality from the leading chronic conditions.
•The American college of Lifestyle medicine: “a growing body of scientific evidence has demonstrated that lifestyle intervention is an essential component in the treatment of chronic disease that can be as effective as medication but without the risks and unwanted side effects.
•The field of lifestyle medicine has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last two decades.
•Traditionally, food is thought to influence human health through its nutrient content, whereas drugs are recognized to act through molecular pathways. However, consumption of a meal stimulates the release of numerous hormones that can powerfully affect signal transduction and gene function.
Decades ago in Eastern medicine, doctors were only paid when their patients were in good health. When they became ill it was assumed that the doctor was not effectively doing his job. What a contrast to our Western Health Care system where the doctor is paid more the sicker you get….not a great incentive for preventive medicine. Modern day doctors are so busy with the overwhelming task of helping people control chronic disease; there is not much time to communicate therapeutic lifestyle changes to the millions of patients who need to be educated. With the present state of “health care” and the costs of the epidemic of chronic disease, something has to be done to turn this ship around and an emphasis placed on preventative medicine
Clinical intervention with nutritional support for reestablishing and maintaining a healthy body composition can play a key role in promoting optimal health. A certified lifestyle educator like myself can offer a customized plan that incorporates nutritionally dense food, gentle movement therapy, and stress response modification. I can work together with your physician to accomplish your health goals and decelerate the aging process.