Fat facts and fiction

Discrediting news about coconut oil this week. But is it as bad as the American Heart Association claims? 

Here's what I've discovered about fats, cholesterol and statins. There's lots on these subjects so I've given links to reputable sources for more information.

Debunking the Bad Fat Myth
Our bodies make cholesterol because it's essential. It is the building block for all our hormones. And it is vital for healthy brain function.

Understanding cholesterol
Cholesterol levels are not the best marker for measuring risk of heart disease, stroke or heart attack. One of the better measures is called 'oxidative stress'.

Five rules for cooking with fat
Fats high in Omega 6 (for example polyunsaturated fats) contribute to arterial damage.

Unsaturated, polyunsaturated and refined vegetable oils are less stable at cooking temperatures so they oxidise (go rancid) more quickly. Ingesting oxidised foods causes inflammation, which leads to cardiovascular disease. 

Saturated fats are more stable and therefore don't oxidise so easily. Fats high in Omega 3 however, such as fish oils, are anti inflammatory and balance the high levels of Omega 6 in our diets.

Yet the BBC news headline rang the alarm that coconut oil is unhealthy, and so are beef fat and butter. The BBC also recently announced a hopeful new human trial on a vaccination to replace statins for lowering cholesterol to reduce risk of heart disease. This report also states statins are safe and effective. Who to believe?

The NHS website says statins, like all medications, can cause side effects, and are not helpful for many people, such as those with an underactive thyroid (remember the link with cholesterol and hormones?) and the over 70's (who have a particular interest in conserving brain function.)

Consider that medications, designed to repress symptoms instead of addressing any causes, upset the body's natural ability to heal and rebalance itself (known as homeostasis.) 

Given the right conditions (diet, lifestyle, stress reduction) we have amazing abilities to get well and stay well.

If you would like help with your wellness, whether we talk about diet and lifestyle or you just relax and let the stress melt away with a massage or Shiatsu, give me a call.

Wishing you well,
Jane
07518 587434
p.s. Extra bonus info on coconut oil - here's how to keep your gums health by gum pulling.

Turmeric or Cider Vinegar?

Turmeric is becoming well known for helping with joint pain.
Cider vinegar is also a natural, nutritional and effective remedy for joints. So which is best?

Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory. The active ingredient works best in combination with some black pepper and a little fat.

Great! If you're cooking a soup, stew or curry, just saute the onions, for example, in coconut oil (or other fat that's stable at cooking temperature), add a teaspoon or as much turmeric as you fancy in with the other ingredients, season with pepper and enjoy!

Cider vinegar breaks down the uric acid crystals present in osteo-arthritic joints. But more than that it, surprisingly, has an alkaline effect on the body.

Now this is important because too much stress, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, meat - i.e the Western Lifestyle - has an acidic effect. And the body's coping mechanism for the effects of acidity is inflammation.

If you have a condition which ends in the suffix 'itis' which means inflammation - such as colitis, arthritis, cystitis, sinusitis, diverticulitis - then there is something in your diet, lifestyle or environment that is causing your body to respond with inflammation.

So is Turmeric best for you because it treats inflammation? Or cider vinegar because it addresses one of the causes of chronic inflammation - acidity?

I use both. When I'm cooking I add turmeric if it suits the recipe. I also drink cider vinegar every day.

Other helpful edibles include raw organic dark chocolate, vegetables in general, magnesium and Omega 3 oil (found in walnuts, oily fish, free range egg yolks, flax and chia seeds.)

Roast Veggies with Walnuts, Feta Cheese and Turmeric

           I rarely weigh ingredients unless I'm baking, so this is deliberately vague so you can adapt

           quantities to suit what's in your kitchen, how many you are cooking and to your own taste. 

           The oven temperature and time are accurate, though you'll need to check the veggies and 

           toss them around in the oil part way through. 

The most important thing is to find out what is causing the problem. What is causing the acidity? What is causing the inflammation? What is causing the pain?

Is it work stress, or Life In General stress? Do you rush when you eat? Is there something in your diet that causes inflammation or just doesn't suit your digestion? Are your joints painful because of a misalignment or mis-use such as RSI?

So I'll give a plug here for stress relieving Shiatsu and Massage treatments. During a consultation we can talk about work-life balance, we can look at diet and lifestyle changes to suit you, we can see if a re-alignment or different way to use your joints might help.

Relaxing in the treatment your stress hormone production switches off, your nervous system calms down and the recuperative, re-balancing, restorative processes that bring you back to feeling well have a chance to do their thing.

Don't put up with joint pain, inflammation or stress. Come and find out what might be causing the problem and see what solutions there could be. You never know, it might just be chocolate!

Wishing you well,
Jane
07518 587434

New Year's Resolutions and Good Intentions have a Bad Reputation.

Choosing goals, and focusing our intention over time on achieving them, pays dividends.
But fuelled by 'I should', 'I ought to' and 'I must', they soon fall by the wayside.

So how can we wholeheartedly follow through on the goals we set? Stick with improved lifestyle changes? Work consistently to fulfill our New Year's resolutions right through until next December?

Motivation lapses for many reasons. One pitfall is when goals are a mental resolution, based on rationally knowing what's best for us, but ignoring or trying to override our emotional or subconscious motivations.

The key to success is to use our whole brain - the left 'logical' hemisphere of rational thought and the right 'intuitive' hemisphere which includes the emotions.

Here is a 5 Step method to uncover any conflicting fears or feelings and 'take the handbrake off' in areas where we've felt held back.  

I've applied this process for 25 years. For more explanation and full details read Robert Langs fascinating book Decoding Your Dreams.

1) Put a notebook and pen ready before you go to bed.

2) Go to sleep, while your subconscious mind processes what you really think and feel about everything that's going on in your life. 

3) When you wake up, while you are still half asleep, start writing down your dreams. Do not edit. Use the first two thirds of each line only. 

4) Don't analyse at this stage but if an insight jumps out jot notes in the right hand third of the page. Include any insights, feelings, associations and tangents that come to mind, regardless of whether they seem relevant.

5) Re-read your dream and see what links, themes or associations you can find.

A bizarre dream can be random synapses firing. But a repeated theme or a cross reference, just like a cryptic crossword clue, looks absurd but hides an answer you'd normally never think of.

Here's an example from one of my New Year's dreams.

Driving and Red and Green Traffic Lights recur: so they are dream themes. 

Theme development - at the first junction I don't question my route or stop to review my choice. I am prevented from progressing and made to realise I should have stopped to check. 

At the second junction I know have to stop. There are other drivers and pedestrians. I realise I'm not clear on my route and feel fear about having to move before knowing which way to go. When I am given time to stop and think, I find I know the information, I just needed to pause and remember it. I feel relief, and I happily and confidently change course.

Being brought back to the junction is another aspect. Decoding this, I remember a recurrent thought from late 2016, a complaint regarding things I tried to progress with of 'one step forward, two steps back!' 

Theme development - Red and Green lights have a dual function. At the first junction they indicate which direction to take, Left or Right. As I ignored that, at the second junction Stop and Go is more strongly emphasised. Only after stopping can the best direction be taken. Right can mean a direction or certainty. At both junctions I assumed I was right, but it turned out I was wrong! However, at the first junction I needed a sign to show which way to go, and an authority figure to make the correction. At the second junction I knew I needed to stop and backtrack, and certainty about the correct direction came from Inner Knowing.

So the inner wisdom of the dream is telling me that whilst driving through life I need to stop and check which way to turn at junctions. In the past I've looked for 'red light/green light' signs but now I can rely on clear inner knowing. How I drive through life affects not just my journey but other 'road users' too. And if I'm not progressing with some area of life as fast as I think I should then maybe the delay is a good thing as it gives me time to re-assess the situation!

Have fun decoding your dreams and see what you can discover!

Jane

M 07518 587434
FB Press Pause Shiatsu massage
E prescottmassage@hotmail.co.uk

Physically Incurable or a Hopeless Hypochondriac?

"Illnesses are seen as either biological or psychological" writes Jo Marchant in ‘Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind over Body”?  Why, according to Peter White, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) specialist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, do “The vast majority of doctors have this dualistic understanding of mind and body – go and see a psychiatrist for the mind and a physician for the body”? Jo describes Peter’s frustration that this leaves CFS patients believing that their condition is biological and currently incurable or it’s psychological and they are hypochondriacs!

Psychological and environmental stress contributes to quite the majority of illnesses these days. The link to tension headaches and ulcers is well known. Less obvious is the effects of stress hormones in creating hormonal imbalances such as underactive thyroid and menstrual or menopausal discomfort. Back pain can be made worse by stress.

Research shows that chronic stress leads to high levels of inflammation and, according to a study described in a Huffington Post article, 'chronic inflammation has been linked with a range of conditions such as heart disease, depression and even cancer. “This study provides a nice mechanism for how psychology impacts biology,” study researcher Nicole Powell, a research scientist in oral biology at Ohio State University.'
 
So why settle for a treatment which helps only the mind or just the body when you can have both! At Hits the Spot we have many practitioners who support welbeing holistically - we work with the mind and body partnership: the 'whole person.'

The Alexander Technique teaches that 'Man is not a machine, but he has a machine which he operates.' Yoga literally means 'yoking' – the unification – of mind, body and spirit.

And Shiatsu and Meridian massage works with the flow of 'life force' (Chi to the Chinese, prana to the Indians) which interconnects all areas of the body and all aspects of being.

So sooth the stress right out of your system with a Shiatsu or Meridian massage. It's not just pampering, it's preventative!

Wishing you well,
Jane

M  07518 587434
FB Press Pause Shiatsu Massage
E prescottmassage@hotmail.co.uk

Too hard? Too soft? Or Just right?

My little nieces are coming for a sleepover this weekend and, for the second time only, their toddler brother. Along with the bedtime stories required before they will settle down, Aunty Jane has learned that she now has to give not just two but three sets of hand and foot massages. 

Goldilocks style, I always ask them if it's too hard, too soft or just right. It's so important with children not to apply heavy pressure. That's also the case with adults.

How many of us have had 'No pain, no gain' instilled into us? Or we think 'I can bear it', 'it must be working' or 'She's the expert' when really your body knows it's counter productively too much?

The central topic on the 'Treating trauma and vulnerability' Shiatsu training I went on in March surprised me. It was not learning the most calming pressure points or gentle techniques. It was simply how to encourage people to give feedback.

Many studies have shown that healing best occurs when the body and mind are relaxed, such as in deep sleep and holistic treatments. Insensitive, overly firm or invasive treatment will trigger the 'fight, flight or freeze' defence response. Feeling safely supported and not a victim of having something 'done to you' allows your energy flow to open up again for rebalancing, reconnecting and tension release.

Shiatsu and Meridian Massage allow you to take responsibility for your own health whilst being supported. That equal partnership between therapist and client includes the encouragement to say 'too much, not enough or just right.'

Amphora Aromatics

Did you see the feature on The One Show about mini plastic beads in face scrubs? Who would have thought that plastic beads make good exfoliators? Well, they don't really, if you care about plastics slooshing around in the water system polluting the environment.

I have used organic face creams and cleansers on principle ever since I worked at a pioneering Wholefood shop and health clinic, The Haelan Centre in Crouch End, London, in the 90's. Mineral oils such as Johnson's baby oil, I learned in my massage training, are pore clogging by-products of the petro-chemical industry and not good for anyone's skin let alone babies!

I am not a fashion follower or a beauty therapist. I could care less about which face creams the latest film star advertises or on spending £60 on a wrinkle cream. What's important to me are simple, pure and affordable products which use essential oils, no petrochemicals, not animal tested, and where I can understand the names of the half a dozen or less ingredients listed.

My personal favourite is Amphora Aromatics. UK produced in Bristol. For my skin type I prefer their Frankincense and Rose face cream. This is also the variety of Shea Butter I use in clinic for massage, in addition to the Lemon and Lavender oils I add to the Grapeseed oil. I've been in their shop off Cotham Hill, and know that when I'm ordering online that the products are travelling just a few miles.

I use their candles as well as their oils as they are soy based, so no petrochemicals or fake scents there either. My favourite in clinic is Juniper and Pine, and I use Rosemary and Thyme in the kitchen at home. Did you know that artificial scents, such as those used in candles and air fresheners have been linked to increased asthma and depression?

If you want quality, inexpensive and unharmful candles, face creams, candles or even bath oils take a look at Amphora's website here.