Hi All!
Here is your monthly dose of health updates.
3 ways to reverse and avoid inflamed joints
You’ve heard the TLDR of this 3 million times, but all too often taking a quick break as a precaution turns into months of paranoia fueled inactivity. Here’s a quick reminder of the habits that will help stave off or reduce the severity of inflammation.
Diet
This is arguably the biggest factor that creates or perpetuates inflammation. Whilst inflammation is a normal process within the body, prolonged or chronic inflammation is both a sign that something else is wrong, and a warning to do something about it.
To ensure that your body keeps inflammation on the down low, eat mainly the protein and fats from meats & fish, choose your plant foods wisely to avoid those that contain the least defence chemicals, avoid grains, beans and legumes, don’t consume vegetable (seed) oils, and generally keep total carbohydrate consumption low (approx 50g or less per day).
Not only will you be avoiding the dietary triggers for inflammation, you’ll be consuming the foods that enable your cells (including your connective tissues, cartilage, nerves and muscles) to repair themselves.
(Don’t forget to take advantage of our free guides helping you optimize your dietary habits – check them out here)
Exercise
Believe it or not, exercise (in most cases) actually aids the management of inflammation. From simply allowing your tissues to warm up, to cycle their fluids, and to get stronger, in addition to the induction of autophagy (old cell clean out), better blood sugar control, and improvements in blood markers. The benefits of exercise are endless.
Sometimes people fear that moving whilst in pain might be a bad idea, typically your body will not let you perform beyond your current capability. Avoiding movement often emphasises the psychological fear of pain way beyond the level of discomfort expected, thus perpetuating the cycle. It is well documented that the effects of being sedentary bring with them greater overall health risks than keeping moving regularly. Simply choose attainable activities that can be sustained for the long term and be sure to do them often.
Complimentary Treatments
Massages, cold baths, saunas, meditations and other holistic practices can all have their place.
Physically manipulating restricted tissues, breaking up fascial adhesions, increasing fluid exchange and blood flow and also the rewards of hot and cold exposure can be hugely impactful in the management of pain and the reduction of inflammation. Additionally, simply allowing the time to de-stress has a huge impact on our hormonal balance (and contributes to prolonged inflammation).
Bonus . . . Don’t forget to prioritise getting enough quality sleep helping to maximize the outcomes from all of the above habits.
Making your own baby formula for optimal nutrition and avoiding shortages
Whilst the last few weeks and months have been worrying for many parents of newborns with widespread shortages of common milk powders, perhaps this is an opportunity to reassess the type of highly processed products that have become so ubiquitous and normalised in western societies.
This article provides invaluable insight reminding us of the nutritional value and importance of human breast milk in the critical moments of a baby’s development, and discusses an option for how to prepare a quality milk substitute at home for when breastfeeding may not be possible.
New database helps you determine if your ‘healthy’ food has actually been chemically altered
We already know that many of the foods we have been brought up to believe as being healthy are at best not un-healthy, and sadly, are often actually detrimental to our long term health. From ‘superfoods’ to ‘planet saving’ diets, often our nutritional beliefs originate in marketing offices rather than science laboratories.
In an effort to help the consumer better understand what they are eating, and to expose common misconceptions, Foodome’s new database logs over 50,000 food products and details to what extent they may have been chemically altered (and often degraded).
Check out this article for a quick briefing or access the database here to make sure you’re not inadvertently hindering your health outcomes.
Inappropriate and excessive use of anti-inflammatory drugs found to lead to long term chronic pain
The findings of a new study suggest that the time has come to re-assess how we treat acute sensations of pain, highlighting the need to give greater consideration for the long term outcomes rather than just the immediate complaint.
. . . “In analyzing the genes of people suffering from lower back pain, we observed active changes in genes over time in people whose pain went away” . . . “inflammation occurs for a reason, and it looks like it’s dangerous to interfere with it” . . .
Check out the paper here
Every month we’ll recommend some of our favourite resources for additional learning or inspiration in the fields of Health, Fitness, Lifestyle and Self Development. If you’ve found a book that has made a positive impact on your life, do let us know!
Here’s this months selection! . . .
The Great Plant-Based Con: Why eating a plants-only diet won’t improve your health or save the planet – by Jayne Buxton – https://amzn.to/39FY3H5
Stay off My Operating Table: A Heart Surgeon’s Metabolic Health Guide to Lose Weight, Prevent Disease, and Feel Your Best Every Day – by Philip Ovadia – https://amzn.to/3xHaXwp
Eat Like The Animals: What Nature Teaches Us About the Science of Healthy Eating – by David Raubenheimer & Stephen Simpson – https://amzn.to/3A2Al2a
Every month we share tips, motivation and points to consider in order to achieve and maintain optimal health along with a few health related news and science updates that you may have missed.
Often we’ll share the answers to questions frequently asked by our private coaching clients and online course participants.
If there’s a topic you’d like us to explore next month we’d love to hear from you! Simply reply to this email with your idea or request.
