Healthy Living DIY

Oh happy day! I turned on my computer this morning and scanned the news headlines, as I've become accustomed to doing. (Yes, I scanned the local paper, too. So I'm a news hog...)

Turns out there was some grand research released recently that tells us something we already new. I love it when that happens!

According to a statement from the Center for Consumer Insights at Yale (notice this study was done by marketing folks, not health folks), people are less likely to seek information about their health status if they believe their condition is untreatable.

"Why would I want to pull up that old painful stuff?" If you recognize this as a real question from a real user of my Ultimate Stress Buster Kit, you're right on.

At my suggestion, she's been working her way through the booklet "Incubate Your Best Solution: How to Answer Perplexing Life Questions by Connecting with Your Inner Voice of Wisdom." And in her feedback to me during our last conversation, she offered up one of the most common reasons that people often block out the wisdom their subconscious mind is literally SHOUTING at them to pay attention to.

In my language now, not hers, she was just a little wary of what was going to be inside the magic envelope she was about to ask for.

Did you get some extra rest last weekend? I know that most everyone has an agenda when it comes to holiday weekends. (This post originated on May 29, 2006. Due to technical difficulties, it's out of order.) This one is generally about paying tribute to our veterans and getting the garden planted. But I hope you saved some time for a few extra zzz's.

How come?

Easy. Everyone wants to lose weight, right? Well in case you missed it, there was a breaking news story last week (I read it on Yahoo! and the teenager in my life saw it on the morning news) that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to be fat.

It's true!

A charming gentleman came into my practice the other day. Charming, but frustrated with his healing process and rather disconnected from what was going on in his body.

I could understand his frustration. He'd been injured two years ago and was still dealing with more pain than he wanted, despite having tried a number of different therapies that he'd hoped would help. If I'd been in that situation, I would have been frustrated, too.

She came in this morning, back sore. In a way it was good news. She's been feeling so much better lately that she decided to go out and work in the garden, and ended up overextending herself. Who among us hasn't been there?

Before we really even got started, though, she hit me with the big question. "Can you give me some exercises to strengthen my back?"

"Hoo-boy," I thought. "Now here's a good question!"

In yesterday's post, we discussed why tight muscles, muscles that can't relax, feel sore. Today's mission is to distinguish between YOU being relaxed and the condition of your muscles.

Basically it's apples and oranges. While it's true that your personal state of being influences your general muscle tone, it doesn't carry over inch by inch across the body. Here's why.

When you say, "I'm relaxed," you're discussing your state of being. What you mean is, "I am in a state of relaxation." [Learn more about states on the WordCures site.] It is true that your state of being affects your muscles in some very obvious ways.

Everybody's got an opinion on the healthy foods question, I suppose, and since someone just emailed me the question, I'm happy to offer my 2 cents.

Really happy, as it turns out, since contained in the answer is one of my pet peeves!

A number of factors are involved when we talk about healthy food choices. What does the reader mean by "eating naturally"? Since no one food plan seems to work for everyone, let's agree on basics like these:

Which is better, natural medicine or the mainstream approach? Another question that popped into my box last week. Let's make it easy and break this down into two questions.

Q-1. Is natural medicine better than the mainstream approach (Western, conventional, Allopathic)? My answer - no, not always and not for every situation.

Q-2. Is mainstream medicine (Western, conventional, Allopathic) better than the natural approach? My answer - no, not always and not for every situation.

You probably see where I'm going with this already...

Did you ever wonder why your dog won't mind? Maybe it's your posture.

Last night, while over at a friend's house, we watched a couple of episodes of "The Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic Channel (which I unfortunately don't get at my place).

Cesar Millan, the dog behavior expert, was incredible! It was absolutely fascinating to watch him as he took on the state and posture of the dog behavior he was exploring. He became the dog.

Twice in one day this week I entered the same conversation. Was it deja-vu? No. But it was a clue - about an experience that more than those two people might find helpful to explore.

In both cases, the conversation went something like this. "Blah, blah, blah, back hurts. It just went out for no reason..."

Let's temporarily ignore the obvious question of where your back goes when it goes "out" and press on to the real issue. Which is ...

The idea that your back (or any other body part) would fail for "no reason."

Turkeys? Come on, Elizabeth. What do turkeys have with creating my healthy lifestyle?

Here's the story.

I was out in a friend's yard last evening about 9:30...

With today's entry, we'll begin to bust 10 common healthy living myths. Of course you're smarter than to believe this stuff yourself. These posts are for your friends ;-). (Be sure and share!)

One concern people have with health-enhancing strategies that aren't covered by their health insurance company is that the strategies might be unproven or dangerous. If the strategy was really valid, so the logic goes, it would have been tested, proved, and approved by the powers that be.

I'm certainly not going to suggest that you simply jump headfirst into any goofy-looking health program that comes down the pike. I won't even suggest that you jump in simply on the basis of the explanation making sense (though that may be a good start).

The countdown continues as we bust another Healthy Living myth. (Remember, I know you're smarter than this -- work with me a bit here for the sake of your friends.)

"Good food tastes bad." I suppose you've heard it, and I know I have. Here's the deal. Whole, minimally-processed foods do taste different from the pre-fab substitutes that many of us have switched to, at least occasionally, out of convenience.

Here's the question I really want answered. "Do those pre-fab substitutes really qualify as food?" To find out, I clicked over to my favorite source of technical information - the www.m-w.com online dictionary. According to Webster, here's what it takes for a substance to qualify as food:

Tastes change as we mature. Certain foods that appeal to you as an adult no doubt were on banished from your kid-cool list years ago. Still, the myth about kids not being open to healthy foods is not unrelated to the previous, "Good Food Tastes Bad."

This myth really got my attention a few years ago when someone innocently enough said to me, "Of course kids don't like Chinese food! Everybody knows that!"

I just did a little checking. According to the US Government's World Fact Book (www.cia.gov), ...

This myth is so popular that it occsionally shows up in the syndicated self-help column you'll find in your local newspaper. "I tried therapy. It didn't work. My case is hopeless."

Usually the person is talking about having visited a psychological counselor or social worker who couldn't "make" them forgive a perceived wrong, "make" them stop smoking, or "make" their spouse turn into a different person. Occasionally, you'll hear the same thing from a patient whose doctor or health care practitioner couldn't "make" them healthy.

Sometimes it's tinged with anger. Other times, the person is simply at their wit's end.

Though I think we can all relate to the frustration the person who unintentionally buys into this myth must face (I sure can), it's misplaced. Ultimately, though, the person is in for some extremely good news.

Hey! It's a break from the Top 10 list! For today, just sit back and listen to this awesome recording I came across on the Internet (just 2-1/2 minutes long). It's completely uplifting - and the title "Beautiful Feeling" says it all.

Play "Beautiful Feeling" by Elizabeth Eckert

For those of you who want to learn more about the artist, click on Elizabeth Eckert. Strange coincidence isn't it? Let me be very clear. This Elizabeth Eckert is a supremely talented musician - and she's definitely not me!

Listening to uplifting music like this is another excellent Healthy Living strategy. I recommend doing it as much as possible!

It seems we fall into two camps, we humans. Some of us apply quite a bit of effort toward keeping ourselves healthy, doing what we can to avert future problems. I usually call this strategy, "making yourself an inhospitable host for disease." A simpler was to refer to this group would be "apple a day" people.

Others of us figure differently. "They've got a pill for everything nowadays," you'll hear them say. "So I'll just do what I want." We might refer to this group as "live for the moment" people. Others would call them hedonists, but that's not completely accurate, as I'll explain shortly.

I'll bet you expect I'm going to come right out and tell you that the first group (the apple-eaters) is right and the second is wrong. Guess again!

Another great question! I recently spoke with a gentleman who had been to an acupuncturist a couple of months ago. As he related the details of his first visit, he mentioned something that had puzzled him. The acupuncturist had said his "energy was low."

"What does that mean?" he asked. "And how could she tell?" What really intrigued him is that he had a feeling she was right on.

Let's answer the "how could she tell" part first. It's easier. Here's what I told him: