Healthy habits

Just as it is wise to think long term about your financial or business health, it is just as wise to think long term about your physical health.

With this in mind I encourage a longer-term approach to getting into shape rather than a six or eight-week burst that you can’t sustain.

Optimal health is about having daily practices that rebuild all the systems in our body. How we live on a daily basis is what replenishes these systems.

Our nervous, musculoskeletal, digestive, endocrine, immune, lymphatic, circulatory and reproductive systems are constantly renewing themselves or breaking down through our lifestyle choices.

We all know that we should drink water, exercise and eat good food. But if you look a little deeper, and understand that this is actually how we rebuild our body, then maybe we will take our lifestyle a little more seriously.

It does not matter how big your house is or how many cars you have if you are to sick, tired or too constipated to enjoy them

The Dali Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “man.”  Because he sacrifices health to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health.

It takes years for poor health to accumulate in our bodies it does not happen over night. But the good news is our bodies are also constantly renewing and rebuilding.

Here are some fundamentals to work on below:

1.     Deal with emotions that cause fear, anger and sadness.  Many studies link emotions to poor health now.  The more you feel chaotic on the inside the more important it is to deal with these symptoms. Many amazing therapies can shift our emotional states for the better.

2.     Deep diaphragmatic breathing. The eastern world has practised this for thousands of years through meditation, yoga, Thai chi, qui gongs and other techniques. Shallow breath creates toxicity, sore tight neck muscles, acidity and poor physical function. Find a practice that you enjoy that involves breathing even if it as simple as 20 diaphragmatic breaths before you go to sleep.

3.     Take notice of how much good quality, clean filtered water you are consuming daily. Every system in the body depends on water.  We are all different. For every 30kg of body weight you need 1 litre plus a cup. (For 60kg you need 2.5L; for 90kg you need 4L daily. Herbal teas are a great way to increase your water intake.file

4.     Eat living food like clean proteins (anything with eyes), vegetables, legumes, fruits and good quality fats such as avocados  oils,  nuts. Stay away from food that lives in packets; if it can live on the shelf for a long time it has no life force for you.

5.     What would you enjoy doing to stay fit and healthy? Find an activity that you look forward to instead of begrudging. Include family and friends in your daily exercise.

6.     Getting to bed around 10pm will improve your health significantly. We get our physical repair between 10pm and 2am, and physiological and nervous system repair from 2am till 6am. 

Have a wind down routine of relaxation such as dim lights, hot baths and enlightened reading so your body knows it’s getting reading to sleep. Make sure your room is dark like a cave, as this promotes melatonin our recovery and repair hormone.

      

There is no magic pill to health, only basic life principles. The more you do them consciously the healthier you will become. Our bodies love routine. Focus on one thing at a time and when that is a habit you can add another.

Michelle Owen is a CHEK practitioner, holistic lifestyle coach, and corporate health and wellness speaker. For more detail, www.michelleowen.co.nz

michelle@michelleowen.co.nz

Cut the wheat and lose the weight

The world’s most popular grain is also the world’s most destructive dietary ingredient.

When it comes to wheat it doesn’t matter if it is disguised as a white French stick, pasta, muffin, pancake or a piece of organic whole grain bread – wheat is wheat no matter what form it comes in or what we have been taught in the past.

Wheat that we eat these days is very different than what our grandmas used to eat. It’s a plant that has been created by genetic research in the 1960s and 1970s that has a new protein called gliadin. 

Everybody is susceptible to the gliadin protein, which is an opiate and in most people stimulates appetite making them consume 400+ calories per day, 365 days a year – that’s a lot of weight.

There are many diseases that result from wheat consumption; celiac disease is the devastating intestinal disease, which develops from exposure to wheat.

Alongside celiac disease is an assortment of neurological disorders, Crones disease, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, skin rashes, schizophrenia and irritable bowel.

More subtle symptoms are bloating, excess mucus, brain fog, diarrhoea, constipation, weight gain, muscle ache and joint pain, leg swelling, acid reflux and depression.

Case studies

If wheat can cause so many problems, will removing it from the diet cause amazing benefits?

William Davis, cardiologist and author of the book Wheat Belly, says he has seen protuberant flopped over the belt belly fat vanish when his patients have eliminated wheat.

One of the amazing things he writes about is a 38-year-old woman with ulcerative colitis who was facing colon removal but was cured by eliminating wheat – with her colon intact.

Another is 26-year-old man, who was barely able to walk because of joint pain. He experienced complete relief and not only walked but ran after taking wheat off the menu.

These events may sound extraordinary but there is ample scientific research to implicate wheat as the root cause of these conditions.

Diet benefits

So the advice over the years to eat more healthy whole grains has not done everyone any good at all.

There is not an organ in our body that isn’t affected by wheat, although the waistline is the most visible way we see it.

According to Dr Jeffery Bland in The Rejuvenation Diet, mildly to moderately ill patients – “the walking wounded” – can improve their health substantially in just 20 days by eliminating wheat gluten and dairy, and adding phyto-nutrient rich foods.

These are derived from plant material that has been shown to be necessary for sustaining human life.

If you have any signs or symptoms that are unexplained or you just want to improve your health, weight or function, I challenge you to cut wheat totally from your diet for 20 days and see how you feel.

I am sure you will notice many benefits.

There is no such thing as a wheat deficiency: The side affects of being wheat free are slim, energetic, more energy, toned, clearer thinking, etc.

Eating wheat-free

Back to basics vegetables are one of the best foods on the planet – they are rich in nutrients such as flavonoids and fibre.

Extend your vegetable variety beyond your normal habits: steamed asparagus, kumara chips (baked), Greek salads, healthy coleslaws, steamed spinach, avocados and olives.

Carrots or celery dipped in hummus and tapenades, eggplant sliced and baked with olive oil, Caprese salad with sliced tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil.

Mix meaty mushrooms with good quality meat, fish, and eggs.

Roll food in large lettuce leafs instead of wraps.

Replacing wheat with gluten free can be okay for someone who is wheat intolerant to have a treat. But it is better to clean up and get rid of all of these processed foods. Gluten free does not necessarily mean healthy.

Stay away from food in packets.

Michelle Owen is a corporate health and wellness speaker, and a level III CHEK practitioner.
www.fitness-n-function.co.nz
michelle@michelleowen.co.nz