 I did a presentation recently to some manual therapists (osteopaths, physiotherapists, massage therapists, energy therapists) about how nutrition can benefit the effects of their treatment on clients. So in addition to my own assumptions and research, I asked for some feedback from colleagues in the field.
A respected colleague/osteopath compared working on a healthy body versus an unhealthy body to a gardener working with healthy soil versus working in compact clay or loose sand or otherwise unhealthy soil. Just as with farmers who are trying to grow healthy food on depleted soil, the manual therapist’s job is made more difficult when their clients have unhealthy diet and lifestyle habits. Just as plants grown in poor soil are prone to pests, weeds and bugs, and require pesticides and fertilizers to make crops grow, an unhealthy body requires many treatments, potions, prescriptions, supplements and is stiff, rigid, unpliable and lacks energy flow and tends not to respond as favourably or efficiently to treatments.  I posted a quote last week that pretty much sums up my philosophy of what I do as Nutrition and Wellness Consultant:
“Good health is a duty to yourself, to your contemporaries, to your inheritors, to the progress of the world.” Gwendolyn Brooks How many of us look at the state of the world with climate change, natural disasters, racism, domestic abuse, chronic disease and depression and think, “what can I possibly do about it”? I’m too busy, too tired, too apathetic to even think about it. Have you ever thought how improving your own health might save the world. Most of us know the drill when you fly on a plane to put your own oxygen mask on first, so that you can assist those who can’t help themselves, like children. What if we applied that concept to our every day health and wellness?  As the saying goes, “You are what you eat”, but the truth is we are only what we digest, absorb and assimilate. Even the best diet, which few of us consume, is only as good as what our bodies can process through proper digestion. So in the spirit of recovering from all the extra indulgences of the summer (or the holidays or whatever excuse you have), here are 10 tips to healthy digestion.
 The state of our health has become very disordered lately, with the alarming increase of chronic disease, obesity, digestive issues, depression, anxiety and other mood disorders. The World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization published a study in 2002 (WHO/FAO TRS 96) clearly indicating the correlation with diet and lifestyle that shows if we made simple changes we would prevent many of today’s common health problems. We have become a nation of 1st world malnourished people. How can that be?
 NEW Delicious & Easy Ways to Enjoy Vegetables
There is a reason our mothers have been echoing their mothers’ for generations with the refrain “Eat your vegetables”, or maybe a more stern “You’re not leaving the table until you eat your vegetables!!!” Well instead of debunking this challenging advice, science continues to reinforce the need for a plant based diet all around. Mainstream food manufacturers are happy to tell us French fries with our hamburger are a serving, or the tomato sauce on your pizza is a serving. Sorry to disappoint you, but neither of these qualify. We’re talking broccoli, asparagus, leafy greens of all sorts and every fresh or frozen vegetable you can think of.  Updated January 2018
Whether we are trying to lose weight or just improve our overall health status, we know the drill; eat healthy, nutritious, whole food (especially those vegetables your mom always tried to force down your throat), exercise regularly, and practice stress management. What could be simpler? Except that it’s never that simple. There are many factors that affect our ability to stick with the program. So let’s explore a few of them.  How Sugar affects immunity, sleep, mood, chronic disease risk etc.
In my early 20s I read a book that made me pause and analyze my sugar addiction. It was called Sugar Blues, by William Dufty and was written in 1975 and may have been one of the first books to seriously question the dangers of our diet of highly processed foods. He was also among the first to compare sugar addiction to that of drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and once free of his addiction claimed some surprising results beyond the obvious weight loss, clear skin, generally improved well-being, but surprising benefits such as reduced attractiveness to mosquitos, reduced tendency to sunburn his fair skin, and an assertion that sugar was a large causative factor in cases of mental illness and addiction. In fact, many recovering addicts, especially alcoholics, substitute one addiction for another, enjoying unlimited donuts and coffee at AA meetings and coffee shops. I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to healthy aging. It seems to me that most employers pay lip service to having healthy employees by providing sick leave, health and dental insurance, maybe providing gym or other exercise passes or discounts. But one area that seems to be missing is education and support for optimal health and wellness and reasons and guidance on the best way to use these health perks. There are often conflicts in how the stress of a job will undermine all of the health support employees receive through leave and benefits. There is also the issue of working in a supportive environment that encourages employee loyalty. I don’t know if loyalty was ever a tactic that employers regularly used to bolster their business success, but it certainly seems to me that there should be some way to work towards that direction. Employers particularly seem to forget how much influence their front line employees have on their customer satisfaction. It is always about the bottom line. A happy, healthy employee is going to support a happy, healthy business.   Top 10 Weight Loss Tips Part II
Last week in part I, we went over the first 5 tips for weight control, that is: Power Up with Protein, Curb the Crappy Carbs, Fat Friends and Foes, Harmonize Hormones and Move Those Muscles. Read last week’s post here. So we carry on from there. This is a bit of a longer post, but tough to shorten. 6. Crush Cravings This seems to be the age-old question; why do we have cravings? Cravings are one of the most complicated aspects of weight control. While we may have good intentions, we are easily derailed by uncontrollable cravings.  Top 10 Weight Loss Tips (Part 1)
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AuthorTanya Sullivan is a Holistic Nutrition Consultant with many opinions on the state of our food and health. Archives
November 2017
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