How are you creating your health this weekend?

This past week, I had one of those "everything is due" weeks; working 2 jobs, probably logging about 60 work hours. Add in lots of errands, bills, family issues, all while feeling that foreboding..low grade fever, scratchy throat, tired thing that's always "going around". (*Something always is!). Top off the week with a great Friday night out with girlfriends I adore. I rallied. You know you all do this! This included trying several different foods, a couple glasses of champagne that (while it was more than worth it!), had me waking up not fully rested, blood sugar a tad unstable (as evidenced by the craving for simple carbs), and that "going around" thing having now lodged itself in the chest cavity.

I was listening to a little Wayne Dyer in my car this morning, and on comes the story I've heard him tell before about the coughing man at the gym; Wayne says to him, "That sounds terrible, how long have you had that?", and the man replies, "In three weeks, it'll be a month!". Ha! I needed to hear this today. You see, we all have choices each day. This "man at the gym" appears to have forgotten this, forecasting a month long coughing bout! We always have choices as to how we respond to life's stressors; whether they be physical challenges, challenges at work, or stressors arising from anticipating the holiday season.

Today, I thought, I can choose to take responsibility for my health, listen to my body's messages, respond in kind. I can choose to be responsible for the thoughts I choose regarding what I tell myself about how I am feeling physically. I can choose whether or not to wallow in the negative projection that a lasting flu bug or bad cold is inevitable. I could choose to draw the curtains, prepare to call in sick on Monday, and hunker down for a week long "feel sorry for me, I'm ill" fest. I could do this. Basically, I could talk myself into feeling miserable. Or....

I can begin to gently pay attention to what the symptoms I'm experiencing are telling me, take good care today, and project a positive outcome. It sounds much "Ease" -ier to choose the better feeling, gentle, and optimistic approach, doesn't it? This idea of taking 100 percent responsibility for my life doesn't mean that I can control everything, but it does mean that I can choose my thoughts and behaviors. ( see Wayne's book, *Change your thoughts, Change your life). Taking responsibility for your life is really very simple. It's just not very easy sometimes for us, humans. We like to think we are "Human Doings" instead of "Human Beings". I'll try to explain a little bit more.

You see with us humans, our egos get in the way. We convince ourselves that with our increasing busy-ness, that this must mean that we are becoming more and more important. Yep, most of do this sometimes. I do this sometimes. I did it this past week to some degree. At different points, I felt that adrenaline rush of being busy.. My ego felt triumphant as I diligently crossed items off the "to-do" list. I even bravely told a couple people how I'm "fighting off a cold". Now, reflecting back, I'm laughing at my bravado in casting myself as the heroine in some self created battle. (This is similar to the man in Wayne's story who casts himself as the victim in his own psycho-somatic illness.)

Don't get me wrong, there are absolutely times when we need our valuable egos to "power through" certain circumstances, because it allows us to get things done. However, applying strength, (fighting or bound tension flow qualities), to every challenge or stressor that arises is not good for you. Trying to use sheer willpower, to "Create Your Health", will bring you to your knees. Why? Because there is a point when our bodies will break down, if we don't heed its messages. Creating Health, requires a different approach. Ideally, a person needs to have many different ways of coping with challenges. (In Dance/movement therapy, one definition of health is: having access to a broad movement repertoire (or having many different ways, i.e., movement preferences for coping with both internal and external stressors).

So, What can we do to Create our Health? 1. Your ego is required to take a back seat. This is one of the key tenets I've learned from my journey through illness in over the course of several years. This is because you need to first become conscious of the messages your body is sending you before you can make an informed healthy choice as to how to respond. The ego, wants to be in charge, and enjoys being right. The ego enjoys all or none thinking. It doesn't like listening, and interpreting messages from our bodies and spirits. So this is the "not so easy" part sometimes. One needs to gently nudge the ego and get it to move from the "driver's seat", so that we can begin to listen and learn from our bodies and spirits. 2. We need to become more conscious. Meditation is a great vehicle for helping you do this; for helping you begin to increase your awareness.

For example, once I was able to listen to my body, today, I learned exactly what I needed to do for myself in order to feel good. I learned this by removing distractions, and getting quiet. I didn't learn this from a book, a blog post, or googling cold remedies.

So how did I create my health today? Here's a few things: Warm water and lemon; *A great Nutrimeal Shake from USANA, with almond milk, berries; taking * "My Health-Pak" vitamins; going for a walk while the sun was out today (a great hit of vitamin D); making a big pot of vegetable soup, and *gluten-free biscuits; Lots of *reading, rest; A bath with epson salts, grape seed oil, and *eucalyptus.

Why go through this process? Because we are human beings, not human "doing's". Eventually, you won't be able to hear anything else, and your body will break down. This doesn't have to happen. But some people have to get pretty darn sick, in order for the ego to first take a back seat, in order to start to listen, become more conscious (aware) of your body and soul's messages. Once you become aware of what needs to be communicated, you can decide on a conscious choice of action, then call back up your ego, to assist you in making this happen. Make sense?

How are you creating your health this weekend?


To your health,
~Chris



Eucalyptus is used traditionally to promote healthy respiratory system, improve lung conditions, help clean bronchial passages; and time spent with family, pets, friends..

*products, books are available in the Creating Your Health Bookstore, and The Creating Your Health with USANA link.

* The information contained on this Web site has not been evaluated by the FDA. This information is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any disease.

All material provided on this blog is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise or other health program.

Your Immune System: To protect or destroy?

Your Immune System: To protect or destroy?

Autoimmune Disorders:

You probably know several people that have been diagnosed with an “auto-immune” disease. I have a close relative with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and a good friend with Lupus. Did you ever hear of these disorders growing up?? There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders. Examples include: Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Pernicious Anemia among many others.

Normally, our immune system’s white bloods cells help protect our bodies from antigens (i.e., bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells). Our immune system releases antibodies that destroy these harmful substances.

According to the US Library of Medicine, an Auto-immune Disorder is defined as: when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. The immune system can’t tell the difference between antigens and healthy tissue. This kind of hypersensitive response is similar to what happens with allergies.

The Inflammation Response:

Response to Injury or Irritation: This response is also referred to as an “inflammation response”. The Inflammation response is the body's complex response to injury or irritation. If for example, you accidentally cut yourself while cutting up veggies in the kitchen, what happens is, Compounds (called eicosanoids) that instruct other cells how to behave send signals that bring more blood cells to the hurt area and help it heal. The increased blood cells and fluid make the tissue become red, warm, swollen and painful—what we normally think of as inflamed.

Chronic Inflammation: But experts are now concentrating on another type of inflammation that is within cells. It’s generated in the most primitive part of the immune system, called the innate (or nonspecific) immune system, which provides generalized defenses against intruders (as compared with, say, antibodies that are adapted to specific bacteria). Once this inflammation response is activated, a wide number of inflammatory proteins are produced in the cell. These proteins and other inflammatory mediators can create a disruption in hormonal signaling, which causes the pro-inflammatory eicosanoids to continue at a low level. The result: chronic inflammation.

“The process that normally heals the body can become the driving force behind chronic disease.”, Dr. Weil.

Where? An autoimmune disorder can affect different tissues and organs such as blood vessels, connective tissue, endocrine glands, skin, joints, muscles, and red blood cells.

Symptoms? Symptoms of an autoimmune disease vary based on the disease and location of the abnormal immune response. For many, this chronic inflammation produces aches, pains, fatigue and malaise. And if the inflammation continues for too long, it can have more devastating consequences. It can lead to autoimmune disorders. Now, Inflammation is being blamed for cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, heart attack and low-level depression, as well as everyday muscle aches and joint pain.

How are autoimmune disorders diagnosed? Tests that may be done to diagnose an autoimmune disorder may include: Antinuclear antibody tests, Autoantibody tests, CBC, C-Reactive Protein, and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate.

The goals of Treatment: Reduce symptoms, Control the autoimmune process, Maintain the body's ability to fight disease.

Treatments: Which treatments are used depends on the specific disease and your symptoms.

1. Hormone or Vitamin replacement: Some patients may need supplements to replace a hormone or vitamin that the body is lacking. Examples include thyroid supplements, vitamins such as B12, or insulin injections.

2. Blood Transfusions (If the autoimmune disorder affects the blood).

3. Immunosuppressive medicines are often prescribed to control or reduce the immune system's response. Such medicines may include corticosteroids (such as prednisone) and nonsteroid drugs such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate, sirolimus, or tacrolimus.

Why? The medical community states that the exact cause of why the immune system “no longer becomes able to tell the difference between healthy body tissues and antigens” is unknown.”(according to the US Library of Medicine).

However, there have been several studies to suggest that some people may have genes that make them more susceptible to getting an autoimmune disorder. In addition to having some genetic susceptibility, there has been much research on this subject, and many interesting findings

This is interesting to me, because still our Dr.’s are trained to stomp out symptoms, and not to question, “Why? They will prescribe these immunosuppressive medicines, some with difficult side effects, but not look for what was causing the disorder.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman ( http://drhyman.com/how-to-stop-attacking-yourself-9-steps-to-heal-autoimmune-disease-1778/): “That’s like taking a lot of aspirin while you are standing on a tack. The treatment is not more aspirin or a strong immune suppressant, but removing the tack…..Luckily, Functional medicine, the emerging 21st paradigm of systems medicine teaches us to treat the cause, not only the symptoms, to ask the question WHY are you sick, not only WHAT disease do you have”.

My Story: I found this approach used by doctors and nurses with regard to my past heart disease (mentioned in previous blog posts). I didn’t have traditional risk factors: I was not a smoker, I did not have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and I was not overweight. I did have a genetic predisposition, but the medical community was not interested in looking at the reasons, “Why?”

I had to puzzle out the origin of my own heart condition. There was no one willing to assist with working to put together the puzzle for me, and ask the question, “Why?”. This was left for me to uncover and it took awhile to put all of the pieces together, (mind, body, and spirit), and find a healing plan that worked for me. In other words, I had to go to work looking for imbalances, toxins, within my body, my environment, my relationships,… my whole life. It wasn’t just one thing. You can’t do “one size fits all” medicine with everyone.

While the genetic predisposition was one causal factor, Inflammation was one of the main physical causes.

Next week: part 2 (The role of nutrition in healing from chronic inflammation in the body)

Nakazawa, D. (2008). The Autoimmune Epidemic. Simon & Schuster. New York.