by Jan Michael | Sep 9, 2013 | Exercise, General Health |
Morning time: The birds are singing, you haven’t checked your e-mail yet, and you have a moment of peace before the day attacks. This is your opportunity to start the day off right. Like the common belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, your morning exercise routine is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for your to do list and feel great all day. What’s a great way to get centered and wake up? Yoga.
HuffPost Hawaii asked yoga instructor Noelani Love of Noelani Studios in Haleiwa on Oahu’s North Shore to show us five poses that anyone can and should do to greet the morning.
1. The sun is up and waiting for you to greet it.
As soon as you wake up, try to get outside. You need the vitamin D, and your mood will improve. Live in a concrete jungle? Open a window, breathe some fresh air and fill your room with natural light.
Standing backbend and side stretches: Inhale the arms up straight and bend back slightly to feel elongation throughout your entire body. Exhale and let one hand slide down the side of your body with the other hand still raised. Allow your head and neck to relax, feeling an even deeper stretch in the ribs and side body. Slowly inhale up to center and exhale to the opposite side. Repeat this motion 5 times on each side.
2. You’re probably going to be sitting most of the day, so stretch out now.
There’s mounting scientific proof that a sedentary life leads to health problems. Unfortunately, many of us have no choice but to spend long periods of time in a car or a chair. Sitting shortens your muscles, and tight muscles lead to discomfort and injury. Stretch out while you have the chance.
Forward fold: Exhale, folding forward at the hips. Allow your knees to bend and try to bring your chest towards your thighs. Relax the neck and let the head hang heavily. You will feel this stretch in the lower spine as well as in the legs. This pose allows fresh blood to flow easily to the brain, cleansing and refreshing the brain, aiding the circulatory system. Stay here for 10 deep breaths.
3. This might be the only alone time you have all day.
Before you have to talk to everyone else, use the morning as an opportunity to have a conversation with yourself. Set an intention for the day, no matter how small, and meditate on that intention for a few peaceful moments.
Tree pose: With feet hip distance apart, spread the toes wide to help plant yourself firmly on the ground. Bring the hands onto the hips or to heart’s center. Inhale to bring one foot up, placing it either on the calf or the thigh (never place the foot on the knee). Exhale. Keep the core engaged, and if you have your balance reach your arms to the sky. Stay here for 5 rounds of breath. Exhale to slowly place the foot on the ground, switch legs. This balance pose is a great time to set an intention for your day — perhaps an intention of balance, perseverance, fun, or whatever you desire!
Continue Reading
by Jan Michael | Sep 3, 2013 | General Health, Low carb diet |
Over-indulgence in carbs (not just sugars) and being addicted to getting too full and to the desire for morecan be harmful to your health and diet. Yet, with some determination it is possible to break the desire for and reliance on carbs, and start to enjoy a range of low carb foods in balance. Don’t beat yourself up about it – just get started!
Steps
Stop eating bread — or at least avoid white bread and “wheat” bread and only eat just a very little multi-grain bread and whole grains. Breads to consider include breads made with rice flour, oat flour or rye flour.
- Look at your local food store/bakery for specialty varieties of high fiber, low sugar bread. Don’t be put off by the heavier texture of such breads. It may taste unusual at first, but if you persevere, you will discover that these breads are tasty, fill/satisfy you quickly and are a great aid to helping you eat less and stop cravings.
Do not eat processed cereals. Most such cereals are sugar-laden and carb-heavy and empty calories (little vitamins and minerals).
- Eat whole rolled oatmeal (not instant) with berries for a light and healthy start to the day.
Change to protein breakfast foods and add such things as fresh fruits, tomatoes, strawberries (but grapes are full of sugar), apple, peaches, or such.
Start each breakfast with warm water or tea with fresh lemon juice, to help refresh your digestive system after sleep.
Stop eating sugars and starchy veggies or treats of all kinds. This includes artificial sweeteners like Splenda.
- Sugar and sugar substitutes cause inflammatory responses in your body and sets upcravings for more – and more.
- Sugar reduces the effectiveness of your immune system and places a great strain on your body’s ability to extract and make use of nutrients.
Continue Reading
by Jan Michael | Aug 12, 2013 | General Health |
You have a mind of your own. Doctors can’t know everything. Perhaps some people trust doctors a little too much. They expect miracles and then blame the doctors when things turn out to be less than what they imagined. That’s not fair to you or the doctor.
So here are a few simple things to keep in mind when you are dealing with medical issues:
Listen to your body
It’s always sending you signals. If it doesn’t “feel right” then it’s time to re-evaluate your options.
Get a third and fourth opinion on major a major diagnosis
For example, your doctor tells you that you have cancer. Confirm with another physician.
Research your medical situation
The internet is packed with information. Go to discussion groups about your medical issue. Go to websites. Print out journals. Dig Deep. Why be in the dark about what’s happening with your body? This is your life!
Continue Reading
by Jan Michael | Aug 5, 2013 | General Health |
Let’s be honest: raising children and teens isn’t easy. As parents, we come to many forks in the road when deciding how to react to specific situations with our kids. No matter the parenting style — laid-back, nurturing, authoritarian, over-bearing, or (likely) a fusion of multiple approaches — whichever direction you take is influenced by past experience when you’ve had to cope with and support your child through issues he or she has faced. I began to see stories recently, this summer in particular, about children in middle schools and high schools bullying other students that have food allergies, and I was taken aback. If my child had severe food allergies, how would I deal with this kind of problem?
All forms of bullying — on social media, school grounds, or in the workplace — follow the same model; the perpetrator has a thirst to elevate his or her status over the victim. I want to shed light on food allergy bullying not only because it inflicts so much psychological devastation on our kids and teens, but also because these allergies can be life-threatening.
For example, a classmate who doesn’t realize the gravity of the situation might sneak peanut butter into the lunchbox of a child who can’t touch, smell or ingest peanuts. That ‘joke’ ends with a trip to the emergency room. A bully crosses the line with verbal taunts; it’s even more frightening if the harassment fuels the possibility of a severe physical reaction. However, it is possible to help stop food allergy bullying, and that effort starts by preaching reminders like these.
Bullied kids and teens will start feeling unsafe, may become afraid to go to school, and might not talk to you about it; this is even more worrying if their lives are in danger because of severe allergies.
But I realized that it’s not just kids who bully out of ignorance. Erika Dacunha, a young teen with multiple severe allergies, wrote a beautiful article about her struggles. What struck me most was her account of the parents who complained that Erika’s allergies would inconvenience their children and dip into the school’s funds. Apparently some later apologized after her mother explained that food allergies weren’t a lifestyle choice. But this is proof that we don’t just need to educate children.
Continue Reading
by Jan Michael | Aug 2, 2013 | General Health |
Food intolerance, also known as non-IgE mediated food hypersensitivity or non-allergic food hypersensitivity, refers to difficulty in digesting certain foods. Food intolerance is different from food allergy. Food allergy triggers the immune system, while food intolerance does not. Some people suffer digestive problems after eating certain foods even though their immune system has not reacted – there is no histamine response.
Foods most commonly associated with food intolerance include dairy products, grains that contain gluten, and foods that cause intestinal gas buildup, such as beans and cabbage.
It can be difficult to determine whether the patient has food intolerance or allergy, because often signs and symptoms overlap. When it is an allergy even small amounts result in symptoms, as may be the case with peanuts. With food intolerance tiny amounts will usually have no effect. Doctors can also test for Immunoglobin E (IgE) antibodies.
The best current treatment for food intolerance is to either avoid certain foods or eat them less often and in smaller amounts, as well as taking some supplements that may help digestion.
[header 3]What are the signs and symptoms of food intolerance?[/header]
A symptom is something the sufferer feels and describes, such as pain or discomfort, while a sign is something others can detect, such as a rash.
The symptoms of food intolerance generally take longer to emerge, compared to food allergies. Onset typically occurs several hours after ingesting the offending food or compound and may persist for several hours or days. In some cases symptoms may take 48 hours to emerge.
Some people are intolerant to several groups of foods, making it harder for doctors to determine whether it might be a chronic illness or food intolerance. Identifying which foods are culprits can take a long time.
The following are the most common symptoms of food intolerance:
- Abdominal cramps
- Asthma-like symptoms
- Bloating
- Dark circles under the eyes
- Diarrhea
- Dry cough
- Eczema
- Fatigue
- Flatulence (farting)
- Headache
- Irritable bowel
- Joint pains
- Mouth ulcers
- Nasal congestion
- Night sweats
- Rashes
- Sinusitis
- Throat irritations
- Vomiting
What are the causes of food intolerance? Continue Reading
by Jan Michael | Jul 26, 2013 | General Health |
Your stress level is a major player in your overall health, impacting your risk of chronic health conditions like heart disease, depression and obesity.
But unlike other more obvious risk factors, like over-indulging in junk food or not exercising, stress is more insidious, subtly sneaking up on you over time, increasing your risk of health problems even as you don’t noticeably feel sick or realize that your late-night work habits and financial worries are slowly zapping away your vitality.
That said, you may very well feel stressed, and if you do, this is a warning sign that should not be ignored.
People Who Believe Their Health Is Affected By Stress Are Twice as Likely to Have a Heart Attack
In a recent study of stressed individuals, those who said that their health was “extremely” affected by stress had more than twice the risk of having or dying from a heart attack, compared to those who believed stress had no impact on their health.
This could mean that these individuals were highly in tune with their bodies, and correctly perceived that stress was wearing them down. On the other hand, it could also be an example of the mind-body connection, in that if you believe stress is harming your health, it increases the likelihood that it will.
Either way, this is a significant increase in heart attack risk, so if you currently feel stressed to the point that you believe it is affecting your health, it’s time to take stress relief very seriously.
Continue Reading
Morning time: The birds are singing, you haven’t checked your e-mail yet, and you have a moment of peace before the day attacks. This is your opportunity to start the day off right. Like the common belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, your morning exercise routine is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for your to do list and feel great all day. What’s a great way to get centered and wake up? Yoga.
